The Core:: Spirituality & Daily Material Life - Softcover

Assedo, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1452548137 ISBN 13: 9781452548135

Publisher: BalboaPress, 2012

Synopsis

"

Are you ready to fulfill more of your potential, for both inner peace and tangible success?

Are you ready to expand both your spiritual side and your practical, material world of mastering daily stress, money, relationships, and health?

Discover how to cultivate double the satisfaction with The Core: Spirituality & Daily Material Life, a handbook of higher wisdom made down to earth. Twenty-six simple universal truths dispel the most common yet limiting myths of personal freedom and enjoyment. And of course, every truth has its dare-your personal call to action-to awaken your life inside and out.

The Core imparts Michael's advising via Lara's writing to uncover:
The way and why to upgrade and update your lease on life now
The edge that comes from adding awareness to the daily grind
The easiest yet foremost breathing technique for daily practice
The golden rule for much more satisfaction out of any situation
The missing link that makes it easier to shift from victim mode
16 simple truths and dares to approach daily friction for success
10 simple truths and dares to approach critical topics for success
Learn more about the book and its coauthors at TheCoreBookstore.com."

About this title

About the Author

"

Michael Assedo has been a modern spiritual teacher for 30 years in Jerusalem, and a contributor to the spiritual capital's leading online magazines. He teaches simple higher wisdom for both internal and physical, material enjoyment. His wisdom is not a derivative of any tradition; he was born with the knowledge he shares. Without a single business card, but by word of mouth, his lectures, meditations, and consultations have lit-up folks around the world.

Lara Sragow is a Columbia, Cornell, and UCLA trained health and wellbeing expert from New York City and Los Angeles. She has taught many walks of life (executives to kids) three main keys (meditation, nutrition, and fitness), through multimedia (speaking, writing, and television). Her longtime professional practice, Lara Life, helps unlock the potential in your life. She has also coauthored The Core, as the writer, capturing its higher wisdom in plain language.

"

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Core

By MICHAEL ASSEDO LARA SRAGOW

BALBOA PRESS

Copyright © 2012 Michael Assedo and Lara Sragow
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-4813-5

Contents

Preface from Lara..................................ixPreface from Michael...............................xiiiIntroduction.......................................xvii1. Awaken Your Core................................32. Think Inside a New Box..........................123. Inhale..........................................204. Own Your Reality Show...........................285. Meet Your Real Needs............................366. Look in the Inner Mirror........................447. Never Mind......................................518. Metabolize Not Visualize........................579. Don't Fear the Fear.............................6310. Love the Now...................................6911-16. Remember the Rest...........................75Summary............................................8617. Reprioritize Money.............................9118. Expand Your Circle.............................9819. Don't Push the Dancer..........................10220. Meet Yourself..................................10921. Open to Your Soul Mates........................11622. Agree to Disagree..............................12323. Eat Light for More Might.......................12924. Make Your Body Your Window.....................13525. Lead without Carrying..........................14126. Practice.......................................147Conclusion.........................................153

Chapter One

Awaken Your Core

Picture that classic angel and devil (or what I call angel and animal) on each shoulder. Animals are simple. They have animalistic needs and abilities. We call it survival of the fittest. Angels are simple. They have angelic needs and abilities, which are not just about surviving but thriving and not just about the fittest but the lightest, highest, or other measures. The struggle, of course, is that we are part angel and part animal with simultaneous yet opposing needs. As we know all too well, this is the complexity and conflict of being human.

As I explained in the introduction, with evolving consciousness we finally have a new need, ability, and capability. It is to embody our angelic side within our animalistic side and the physical world around us. We can finally ground our higher, brighter, mightier creative forces within our daily world, reaping all the vitality, freedom, success, and joy they bring.

Until now, the angel and the devil (again, what I call the angel and the animal) have been depicted on each shoulder. Metaphorically speaking, however, they were not even on each shoulder. We could have depicted our angelic voice as somewhere up above us, and our animalistic voice as our physical body and instincts.

Now the metaphor and its depiction have upgraded. Now our inner angel is not inherently on one shoulder or even up above us. It can be increasingly grounded within our physical body. And in turn, our inner animal is not inherently on the other shoulder or even just our physical body and instincts. It can be our physical body embodying our inner angel. In other words, we can become a much better laboratory intermixing these two sides of us than ever before, for new and improved joy inside and out.

Myth vs. Truth #1

The first myth is that the higher forces, sources, and resources reside just above us. The universal truth is that they reside within us to the extent that we cultivate them. The related myth is that our purpose lies in doing something specific. The universal truth is that our purpose lies in cultivating our forces, sources, and resources, no matter what we do.

First, let me clarify a few terms. That angel on one shoulder is our higher wisdom. It is the high road. It is the voice of our higher self. It is the voice of our soul, our spirit, and our heart, depending on what you chose to call it. In the field of spirituality, these terms are oftentimes used interchangeably. (Technically, they are all different angles of our inner angel.)

As I will explain below, this whole continuum—our inner angel, higher self, soul, spirit, heart, or whatever you chose to call it—is the most powerful creative force and spark within us. Throughout this book, I call this continuum simply our spiritual side. And what I teach is the awareness of how it works in daily life for more satisfaction.

On the opposite side, that little devil on the other shoulder (or animal, as I call it) is our lower self. It is our animal instinct, body, ego, mind, and fear thinking in terms of food, sexuality, and money (even though animals only think about food and sexuality, since they do not need money).

Our core is the intersection of these two spiritual and physical continuums within us. Our core is our inner angel flowing through our inner animal. Our core is our heart flowing through our ego, and soon. Our core is not just the inter section of who we are. It's the center of who we are. It is the middle line of our body and being from our lips down to our hips, along but in front of our spine. It is also our inner screen, from where we project and receive double of what we have projected (which I will explain in "Own Your Reality Show").

The significance of this new time is that the consciousness has been raising and accelerating, such that this merging is more possible than ever. As I said in the beginning, let's say that our inner angel has been above us (instead of on one shoulder) and our inner animal has been our physical body (instead of on the other shoulder). We could say that our inner angel has been like a yo-yo, in and out of our body, rather than rooted within it.

How rooted it has been has depended upon our level of awareness, which until now has not been very much (generally speaking). Additionally, the relationship has been more vertical than horizontal. Meaning, we may have focused on aligning with this part of us during a particular timeslot, like in a class or when reading a book. However, then expanding it outwardly in to the day-to-day, nitty-gritty material world through business, relationships, and so forth has not been so easy.

Now, however, we can finally embody our own angelic avatars and their creative forces even within the daily grit and grind. These forces, which we had considered to exist outside of us and which actually did to a large extent, can now operate from our core more than ever if we foster it. They always could to some extent but at a fraction of our potential. Now after thousands of years, all of us from humans to animals to plants are privy to this ability, as a natural spiritual evolution. Just as this last creation began with the separation from it, this new emerging world ushers in the unification of it.

This is why bigger things are finally possible that previously were not, not just collectively but individually. We always knew bigger and better things were possible, but it was always difficult to fully reach them. We always had the right ideas, but there was still too large of a gap between these two continuums with in us. That gap is narrowing more and more with each and every day.

You could compare this shift to when more primitive humans evolved into more advanced human beings. Only now, we humans can become more like angels, not up in the clouds but here down on earth. Yet this does not mean we are becoming saints or monks who sacrifice good food, good romance, or good business. Rather, it entails expanding our spirit through the material world instead of by transcending it. And it entails expanding our material world, just through our spirit versus selling it or even simply ignoring it. As I started to mention, of course we have to foster this potential. We can actually be the angels, but only if we begin and continue to cultivate this side of ourselves physically and materially in the day-to-day, nitty-gritty friction points of life.

There are different angelic archetypes in spiritual history. The one who is the leader of the light has been called archangel Michael. This is the voice I have heard as clear as day, which has guided me since my youth and which in turn I have used to guide countless others (which I noted in the preface). I describe the archangel Michael as a collective higher consciousness on many levels. Just as there is the collective subconscious, there is a collective higher consciousness within that. That is the archetype of archangel Michael: an archetype, energy, or force that we can potentially develop within ourselves, each at our own level.

Within the collective higher consciousness, our own higher self is like a savings bank of awareness. Each and every time we apply some awareness it is deposited in this bank. It is the only bank that will never collapse. And finally, the time has come when it is accessible here and now instead of someday one day. Awareness is now the most valuable and secure stock investment. This in turn means that our patterns and memories of wasted potential are no longer the backdrop of our life. Now our bank of awareness is, to the extent that we invest in it.

However, this whole side of us (our inner angel, higher self, soul, spirit, and heart) can only cash in its savings through its counterpart. Our spiritual side has a mission: to upgrade itself through our physical side (ranging from our work to our body) instead of by transcending it. Our own mission is actually the same: to upgrade our physical side through our spiritual side instead of by separating from it. My whole life people have asked me about their purpose. This is the purpose. The purpose—the real purpose—is our core: merging our angelic and animalistic sides, higher and lower selves, soul and body, heart and ego, and the two continuums we consist of, expanding each one through the other.

Nothing is more powerful than merging all of our forces, high and low. When we close the gaps, then whatever we do, the whole world feels that we are on target. Then we feel that the whole world is with us instead of against us. Then we finally become bigger than any problem and the fear of it. Then we are clear that the fear is not an indicator of doom but the next place to improve our life. Then we are less paralyzed by the fear and the fear of the fear.

Then we have the ability to transform our problems into the blessings hidden within them. Then the material world (including money, relationships, and even food) becomes less self-destructive and more self-constructive. Then we can really choose life, create life, strengthen life, lengthen life, and thrive in life. Then we have an upward spiral versus a downward one and a double spiral at that, inwardly and outwardly. (Metaphorically, this is akin to the double helix that forms our DNA.)

Our core is not just our purpose but also our pleasure. Life really is based on the pleasure principle. As I will explain in subsequent chapters, even that comes from awakening our core (our whole self) as opposed to one side or the other. However, our core is not just our purpose and our pleasure. It is also our salary, our soul mates, our health, and our youth, which I will explain in "Part 2" of the book.

Until now, it has been hard to fully reach our creative potential. It has been hard to meet our soul mates. It has been hard to stay young naturally. Now finally it is getting harder to not reach our creative potential. It is getting harder to not meet our soul mates. It is getting harder to not stay youthful (because health and vitality are not a measure of years but of lightness). As I will explain throughout this book, for the first time we can finally flow with all the friction points and opposite people rather than be frustrated, depressed, or weighed down by them. We can finally transform the big anger, guilt, and loneliness of not yet having been able to be ourselves.

Now I'll say something even deeper. There is only one deeper or spiritual reason for all of our dramas, disasters, sicknesses, and so forth: to fix our priorities, awakening this sleepy yet most important side of our core within our practical reality and real life. We only tend to do that when we are backed against the wall. Then just maybe we will consider changing our priorities. Those of us who wake up, without waiting until we are backed against the wall, will no longer need to find ourselves in some sort of mess to finally do so. It's even more than being on the safe side. It's an updated and upgraded lease on life between the two continuums we are made of for more wholeness.

Despite this natural evolution and new potential, we still have to cultivate it. We already know how to respond to our daily stressors with our physical side, including our animal instinct, body, ego, mind, and fear. What we need to practice is the awareness of our spiritual side, which has been on standby for so long. Remember, that's all the inner angel on our shoulder really is. It is our bank of awareness. It is the awareness of our higher self, our soul, our spirit, and our heart. It is the awareness of how this continuum operates not in a vacuum but within our physical side for more wholeness inside and out.

First I will help you to uncover and heighten your own awareness by distinguishing 26 universal truths from common yet limiting myths of the ego, mind, fear, and so on. Second, I will culminate every truth with a simple dare. The main question is whether we just have the awareness or we actually apply it to the stresses of daily life. Since it is as if we are awakening from a deep amnesia, we have to jog our memory (of our awareness) by proactively applying it. Accordingly, the dare culminating each chapter is not something to do. Rather, it is some awareness to apply to our daily friction points. Then, that friction quickly transforms into joy, first inwardly and then physically.

To bring it all together, the significance of this new time is that we now have a new need and ability to access our creative forces, sources, and resources from within. They are the continuum of our inner angel, higher self, soul, spirit, and heart as expressed through our animal instinct, body, ego, mind, and even fear. They can also be summed up as awareness—the awareness of our spiritual nature as it operates through our physical nature for more wholeness. The more we use it, the more we expand our two sides through each other, instead of just one or the other and the void that brings. The more we use it then, the more we awaken ourcore—thecenterandintersectionofallthatweare—andthe joy that brings. Then we reach more of our potential across the board, both inwardly and outwardly (in money, relationships, and health).

The purpose—the real purpose—is that. The purpose is our core (and the joy of it). However, since the purpose is our core, and the missing key is awareness, we could say that the purpose is awareness. All we have to do is awaken the awareness that has been on standby within our core. And then we awaken our core—our whole self. As the cliché goes, everyone dies but not everyone lives. Awareness is the difference.

Truth or Dare #1

Every myth of the ego or mind is dispelled by a universal truth. The first myth is that the higher forces, sources, and resources reside just above us. The universal truth is that they reside within us to the extent that we cultivate them. The related myth is that our purpose lies in doing something specific. The universal truth is that our purpose lies in cultivating our forces, sources, and resources, no matter what we do.

The question is whether we just have this awareness or we actually apply it. Every universal truth must have its dare, which is our call to action. The dare is not something to do but some awareness to recall, filling the missing gaps in our life. The awareness is not for a timeslot but for the friction point—whenever we are thinking about a challenge, speaking about it, or engaged in it.

Whenever you find yourself pressing the "snooze button" on the global alarm clock of life, instead seize the alarm to rise and shine. Don't let the opportunity pass you by to finally awaken both your spiritual side and your physical side, through one another. Don't let the opportunity pass you by to finally enjoy more of an upward spiral and double spiral at that. Step by step, we will build the spiral ramp. First and foremost, just dare to "Awaken Your Core" (your whole self).

Chapter Two

Think Inside a New Box

All of the awareness within our core and within this book is contained within a set of laws, whether we call them spiritual laws, universal laws, universal truths, or simply the awareness within them. Since consciousness has evolved into a new need of integration, as I explained in the previous chapter, spiritual laws are no longer just about our spiritual nature. Now spiritual laws could more accurately be called spiritual-material laws. They finally incorporate both sides of us, each as a conduit for the other. The laws, therefore, are not restricting but actually quite freeing. Each chapter will clarify another law and then help you to apply it in daily life. First I will clarify how the laws in general actually work.

Myth vs. Truth #2

The second myth is that spiritual laws are just about uplifting our spirit. The universal truth is that they are equally about uplifting our physical freedom and joy. The related myth is that such freedom requires us to think outside the box. The universal truth is that it just requires us to think inside a new box, called awareness.

In this day and age, we have considered a spiritual person to be someone who recites an inspirational quote over ambient music on a voice mail. We have thought that to be spiritual means to be "new age." We have thought that to be "new age" means to be somewhat "in the clouds" instead of grounded in the real world. We have thought that it means to denounce the material world more instead of dive into it more. On the contrary, a spiritual person is a champion of the material world. I have always taught that if a spiritual person is not self-expressed in the material world, then they are not really spiritual. What counts is not just how much awareness we have but how much we apply it to the real world (including money, relationships, and health).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Coreby MICHAEL ASSEDO LARA SRAGOW Copyright © 2012 by Michael Assedo and Lara Sragow. Excerpted by permission of BALBOA PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: BalboaPress
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1452548137
• ISBN 13: 9781452548135
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208