Awareness and Ira Riklis

Ira Riklis

Sweet Basil

Dress Attire:  Casual elegant

Location: 193 Gore Creek, Vail, CO 81657

Phone: 970.476.0125 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 970.476.0125 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Website: www.sweetbasil-vail.com

Located in Vail Village, nouvelle cuisine, friendly service, expensive.  A Riklis family first choice (especially Diana).  Might want to go here without small children, but we’ve done it and lived to tell the tale.  They are child friendly.

Larkspur

Dress Attire:  Casual Elegant

Location: 458 Vail Valley Dr, Vail, CO 81657

Phone: 970.754.8050 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 970.754.8050 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Website: www.larkspurvail.com

On the extreme eastern side of Vail Village.  Very expensive, stuffy service, but really great food and excellent wine list (sometimes that even is enough to make up for the obnoxious service).  REALLY don’t want to show up here with small children.

Splendid at the Chateau

Dress Attire:  Casual Elegant

Location: 17 Chateau Lane, Avon, CO 81620

Phone: 970.845.8808 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 970.845.8808 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Website: www.splendidobeavercreek.com

Practice is a word used in many situations. It is both a noun and a verb. The dictionary sites several different definitions in both categories but both boil down to a repeated performance that becomes more skilled or turns into a habit.

Ira Riklis knows the answer to the ever popular question: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall”? Well, yes, when one hopes to learn to play music on any instrument one must put in a lot of practice.

Practice is important to those pursuing language skills and ballroom dancing also to name only a few. And let us not forget golf and tennis (although some of us would like to forget them).

Ira Riklis knows that currently there is lots of talk about practice involving yoga and meditation. One doesn’t “do yoga” but has a “yoga practice”. The same is true of meditation. When meditating and becoming distracted, one then “gets back to the practice”. Yes, one has a meditation practice where one “sits” in practice.

What we are talking about here is a form of self-discipline that centers on focus (at the risk of being redundant). Well, what does practice mean to you? I guess the most popular way of putting it would be to call it the forming of habits (hopefully good habits). Some might even label practice as brain imprinting.

More later………..

What’s your mantra? Not a frequently-asked question (FAQ), and it probably should not be. As Ira Riklis knows, a mantra,if you have one, is a highly personal possession. Hopefully this is a word, phrase or expression that has deep personal meaning for you. Maybe it is something that is, on the surface, helpful at any point in time such as an aid to meditation or even in times of distress.

Do you have a mantra? Perhaps this is a less intrusive or less threatening question. Many use a phrase in some Eastern language given to them by a guru or at least that has been reported to be so.

Ira Riklis knows that a really helpful phrase is: “Breathe, relax, focus”. This can be used in many situations but in particular used for addressing distractions during meditation bringing the person meditating back to focusing on the breath. This also can be used in any situation to decrease anxiety. Use this as a form of exercising self-discipline or of the further development of self-discipline.

Why is focus so important? We need to focus to “get the job done” whatever it is — learning/study, creative tasks,—–any task. Focus can in fact increase your creativity. Focus can improve behavior in the area of safety. It is wise to focus on your driving, for example, instead of the usual diversions: radio, cell phone, etc. Just be aware of what is going on around you.

Ah, summer (or, as Ira Riklis knows, any time of year at the beach-local or tropical). Beach walking can be a form of walking meditation.

Breathe the sea air. It’s got to be good for you. Beware (or be aware) of the sun. Cover up with a large T-shirt. Use much sunblock. Please wear a hat!

Stride unencumbered. Keep it simple. Look ahead. Stop and gaze at the ocean.

Be aware of your surroundings. Keep your mind on your walk also. Riptides can knock you over. See the waves, seagulls, ships off the coast, the color of the water, and the color of the sand.

Hear the sounds of the ocean. Smell the saltwater and the sea greenery. What else? Taste the salt when the water sprays into your mouth and perhaps taste your sunblock that you spread over your face and also taste your lip balm applied against the sun.

Feel, feel, feel, the sand underneath your feet. Feel the ocean breeze on your skin. Feel the sun shining and/or perhaps the sprinkle of light rain.

Notice other people. Smile. See the good (God) in them. Offer silent blessings upon them.

The whole experience is wonderful. Ira Riklis knows it is too rich to describe completely. Just experience and be grateful.

Are you aware of how your money is spent? Do you care? Ira Riklis knows that in today’s economy we could all benefit by taking a new look at the direction our funds are taking. The key may just be to see if we are really getting satisfaction from our spending.

Do we continue to fund activities that no longer give us enjoyment? Take a look at club dues for example. There may have been a time when you needed and wanted to belong to a country club. Do you spend much time there now? Do you really like to play golf and/or tennis or do you have to force yourself to participate in these sports for the sake of socialization? It’s OK to change your mind about how you want to spend your time. Friends that you once spent time with at the club may have retired or changed jobs and moved away.

Also Ira Riklis knows that what interests us seem to evolve as we get older. Maybe the local family YMCA is now a better fit for you and your spouse as you strive to maintain your physical fitness with each passing year.

Are you planning pleasure travel more because everyone else in your social circle has traveled extensively or do you really want to go? Think about those vacation times that you really have enjoyed and follow your own interests and not the pack. In these and other ways you will be getting the most satisfaction from the money you are spending.

One comes into this world alone and one goes out alone. There was a sign (something one would buy in a gift shop) in the 1970′s that said “I lived half my life before I realized it was a do-it-yourself project. Ira Riklis knows that the theme of self-reliance that this conveys is an important life lesson.

In this day of government handouts with more on the horizon, what is really called for is more creativity and self-discipline including fiscal discipline. Everyone knows about that classic intervention of not just giving (or throwing) a fish to someone but actually teaching that someone to fish. Our government seems to have forgotten this but we as individuals need to remember this point of view also.

In addition, Ira Riklis knows that you can control yourself but you really can’t control anyone else. (Controlling ourselves is a hard enough task for some of us.) You can give your best wishes and perhaps offer up some prayers and you can give information or try to educate but you can’t make someone act as you think they should. Knowledge of this fact is the beginning of wisdom and is also very “freeing”.

Independence like this brings to mind all those Clint Eastwood characters in the early spaghetti westerns.

It has been said that when we have “our person” put together then the world looks just fine. Putting your person together is recovery.

Ira Riklis knows that the first step in recovery is admitting that you are powerless to control your tendency to do the wrong thing. (Religious people sometimes refer to this as our “sin nature”.) One might say that we think that we are God and therefore we attempt to play God. How do we do this? You might say by trying to control everything in our lives for selfish reasons. We try to control our image or how we look to others. We are always putting up a good front  and are overly concerned with our appearance and our possessions especially how our possessions reflect upon us. Isn’t it true that many of us try to control other people especially the people in our lives like husbands, wives, parents, and children. How about the workplace? We might say that we are “influencing” or “role-modeling for” our co-workers when we are really attempting to control these people.

Ira Riklis knows that we often try to control our problems stating that “I’m fine” when we are really hurting. We then are trying to control the pain and hurt in our lives.

The consequences of these actions might be fear (that people might find out who we really are), fatigue (we get very tired) and maybe failure.

The antidote is admitting that we are powerless to change our past especially hurts experienced in the past, powerless to control other people, and powerless to cope particularly regarding our harmful habits. We need to draw on a power greater than ourselves to bring about change in our lives. We need to look for a transforming power that brings about change from the inside out.

A shadow mission is that part of our life that doesn’t get exposed. It has to do with thoughts or patterns of thinking and behaviors involving temptations and selfishness that cause us to betray our values. Our shadow mission leads us to focus on the dark side of our life that we don’t want others to particularly know about. Can you recognize your shadow mission? Maybe it has something to do with revenge or competition at all cost.

Ira Riklis and all of us remember the difficulties two of our recent U.S. Presidents got into when their shadow missions surfaced. Richard Nixon’s shadow mission evidently was to get power and keep it. Bill Clinton’s shadow mission was being able to carry on extramarital affairs even if it required lying about them in order to stay in his party’s and the country’s good graces.

Other shadow missions can have to do with extreme self-involvement, money, putting on a good front to avoid conflict, putting professional achievement ahead of the people in your life, and maybe hidden addictions.

When you become aware of your shadow mission, you see that acting on it is really not very fulfilling or satisfying in the long run, that it is not in line with your real values and that sometimes the  people in your life are just objects.

Ira Riklis knows that overcoming our shadow mission has to do with focusing on character—-who we are when no one is looking. Also necessary is spending time with people and in activities that don’t necessarily lead to “getting ahead”. Lastly time spent in reflection is of the utmost of importance.

Take your seat (in a chair for most of us) and sit with your spine straight. Place your hands lightly palm-side down on your upper legs to ground you. Tuck your chin in slightly and cast your open eyes downward to a distance of about four feet in front of you. Take three deep belly breaths in and out through your nose.

Ira Riklis knows that the next step is to focus on body sensations (or the absence of sensations). Let your attention scan your body from the top of your head, to your neck, to your shoulders, down one arm to the fingertips and then down the other arm to the fingertips always being aware of your breath and breathing evenly. Focus attention on your chest, then abdomen, lower back, pelvis, down one leg to the toes, and down the other leg to the toes. Then be aware of all of your body at the same time.

Next turn your attention to the space around you. What do you hear? Are there birds chirping, cars going by, someone talking in another room? Are there any smells in the environment? Anything touching your skin –like a breeze?

Awareness of inside and outside of your body can be practiced at the same time then. There is nothing else to do and no where to go. You are just right here right now. Ira Riklis knows that this is the practice of awareness meditation.

How aware are we of the way we speak? Ira Riklis knows that words can inspire or suppress another person. In order to be a healing presence in the lives of others we need to be aware on a 24/7 basis of how we talk to others.

What kind of conversation do we engage in? We can choose to speak from our ego in a selfish, self-centered fashion or we can be more creative and involve the other in our exchange. If we continue in our awareness practice we can change our way of relating verbally.

Ira Riklis knows that we are really speaking for the listener. Do we use too many words? Do we use a lot of filler words such as but, because, if not for — etc.?

It really is just as easy to say a kind word as it is to say something unkind. We need to give some thought as to what kinds of conversations we participate in. That is we need to be more mindful. Do we engage in conversations that go no where such as complaining of the same things over and over again? Do we participate in gossip sessions? How about our work conversation? Do we tear down the institution or company for which we work? How can we change the conversation by being a healing presence? A healing conversation is alive, alert, and full of life.