I am sure you have experienced a little bit of heaven now and then without realising it. You did when you last went on holiday and collapsed on the beach or another sunny spot and declared, ‘this is heavenly I could be here forever!’ In that moment you stopped thinking. This is where eternity touches time. Here is when the essence of your being shines through momentarily.

Across all authentic spiritual traditions from East to West, those who have experienced ‘samadhi’ or ‘heaven’ have been described as ‘shining ones.’ Moses was no exception. The record explains he had to put a ‘paper bag’ over his head so he could mix with the people! Personally, I like the concept of Moses experiencing heaven in the cleft of a rock up the mountain. Being ‘up a mountain,’ is a fairly common euphemism for being in deep meditation, the ‘cleft of the rock’ fits with my strap line, of being in the present moment ‘in the gap between your thoughts.’ The glory of God passing by, when glory in Greek - ‘doxa,’ in the first instance, means ‘opinion,’ therefore indicates (in my opinion!) Moses discovered God’s opinion of him in the present moment. What was God’s opinion of him in the present moment? I AM. You and I are simply I am, without further qualification. In the present moment we all can discover the acceptance, peace, rest and bliss of our true self - the essence of our being which shines through as vibrant energy.

What can block out the bliss of just being, are the persistent thoughts and accompanying emotions from our past. The root of the most disturbing can be discerned as accusative, questioning and doubtful thoughts about ourselves. The result of such thinking is guilt - unwarranted guilt - ‘I have done something wrong.’ This can quickly lead to shame - ‘I am not good enough,’ and one can end up thinking God hates me as well. This is a very dark place. We try to avoid such thoughts by distracting ourselves through entertainment and/or trying to perform better to gain shallow acceptance elsewhere. These toxic thoughts will seek to impinge on our future considerations and result in fear. Such thoughts are like reefs hidden just below the surface of our everyday focus on our responsibilities. They surface at the most inappropriate moments and wreck any sense of peaceful solitude we may have found. There is a reason they do this.

These toxic thoughts are just that - toxic. The ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ syndrome is well known. In moments of trauma, such as walking round a corner and being confronted by a hungry tiger, the shock and immediate high stress level releases chemicals into the body, as the major blood flow shifts from major organs to the legs and arms to enable one to fight or run away having greater strength and energy. However, once a safe place is reached and the stress level subsides, these toxins dissolve out of the body. Studies show that in today’s modern frenetic world perceived dangers confront us everyday, so the toxin levels due to continual varying levels of stress, never get a chance to subside or be released. 

These major traumatic moments of your past with their accompanying emotions made up from these toxins are stored around the body in pockets. The body seeking to get rid of them, because of the physical harm building up, sees an opportunity when your mind is not caught up in focusing on your immediate issues. These thoughts pop up just when you don’t want them too. The body is screaming - please release me let me go! It is these thoughts that the body seeks to release that pile in when you choose to begin a mindfulness or meditation course to find inner happiness or a place of tranquility within. A mindfulness mentor should be able to help you release these thoughts through a guided mindfulness practice.