Humbowl - Spirituality, Personal Growth, Meditation, Higher Consciousness

 One of the most enlightening exercises I've done is to simply look back at your entire life, watch it like it is a movie, from the first day of school to the last. The awkward moments, the tough times, the best times, the adventures, the lessons, the miracles, the synchronicities. All of it.  As you're watching this movie, think of your purpose, why you are here, what you are going to create, do or be in this life. Notice that everything that has happened in your life has been a necessary piece of your purpose. I say "necessary" because it happened, wouldn't have happened if it wasn't necessary.  If you can't quite understand this from where you are currently, just have a little faith, that even the hard times happen for your benefit, for the benefit of your higher purpose.  When I did this, it opened my eyes to so much. I became not resentful or regretful of my past, but grateful! I actually thanked the universe for these moments. I realized that I would not have the friends I hav

I don't know about you, but I have struggled for a long time with caring about what other people think of me. It's weird too because when I was a kid being loud and weird in the supermarket, my mother would say "Can you stop? You're embarrassing me, people are watching." I never understood the concept of embarrassment, of worrying about what others think of you. Until the ego develops and we begin identifying ourselves with our bodies, our clothes, our skills, our accomplishments and of course, what others think. This is an incredible trap, I started feeling nervous walking down the street because I would feel judged by the people driving by. I remember one time I got a hair cut that I did not like so I stayed home from school until I could get another cut to fix it.  I started being somebody that I am not, just to please others, so that I could build up this ego identity. The big issue here is that all of this is totally out of my control. I don't control whether or not you will like me, we all have fr

Shadow work is an important part of spiritual evolution and your journey to higher states of consciousness. Learning to accept and love the shadow within unconditionally is fundamental in accepting and loving others unconditionally. The shadow self, the way I have experienced it, is simply a part of your psyche that is pushed down, judged as wrong, suppressed, unwanted and does not serve you in your spiritual endeavors. Traumatic experiences, embarrassments, insecurities, hatred, addiction, doubts, worries. For me, these were the pieces that made up the shadow within.  Think of the shadow like a dark room in your home, a room that you never visit. You toss garbage in there, broken things, old food and so on. But you've never seen what the room looks like, you simply open the door, throw things in there, shut it and move on with your life. Soon you begin to smell something rotten in your home, you buy air freshener and the problem is solved. Until you see a couple rats scurry under the door of this

  When you hear someone say to you "you aren't good enough" or "you can't do that" or "that is dangerous" soon their voice becomes your inner voice. You start telling yourself that you are not good enough, that you can't do certain things. Someone else's doubts and fears, become your doubts and fears. Our subconscious mind is always taking and storing information, this happens without our consciously being aware of it. So you may have seen someone in a movie talk about how nasty tofu is, and so when your pal offers you tofu you tell them without hesitation "no, that's gross, thanks though". This is a small example but I promise you it happens constantly!  I'm not saying stop watching movies, and don't play violent video games. What I am saying is be present with yourself and do not allow the mind to pull out random thoughts that were placed in you without your conscious awareness of it. Meaning, we are being programmed by the things we expose our 5 senses too, what people tell us, what we see, what

One of the things that give me the most energy and willingness to get up and take action each day and take care of my self is belief that my dreams can come true. That whatever I have a burning desire for, it is possible to attain. For many, they have a desire, maybe a burning desire that they cannot stop thinking about, but they more than likely are told it is not possible or they do not believe that they can experience whatever it is they desire. The moment this happens, it is like pouring a bucket of water on the fire. Doubt, worry, and overall insecurity completely immobilizes people, they stop doing what it takes to get what they want. They lose excitement for life, and worst of all, they settle for what's "realistic". I'm not telling you how to be successful. I'm just telling you that the life of your dreams, and I mean what you desire with all of your heart, is possible. I'm also saying that we might as well try, we might as well take a chance on faith. Waking up each day, with a goal or dream that ex

Before you know it, after years of this, you will become the kind of person that is able to turn negatives into positives, to find the good thing in a seemingly terrible circumstance. Let’s all choose to be happy, to be grateful, to be excited about life. We may not know how this can be done, but let’s just make the choice and clearly remind ourselves as often as possible that we want happiness. We don’t want cars, clothes, money, attention, or any of these worldly things, we just want happiness. We are open to whatever might bring happiness into our lives and we are no longer attached to the specifics, to the details.  I’ll end with this, I remember hearing that depression or sadness comes from wanting to be happy, but EXPECTING it to come from a specific thing or person or circumstance. Do not attach yourself to an expectation. This will drive you mad. Just be happy because you want it! Go and celebrate! Let loose! Learn! Soon you will find that happiness is much simpler than you’d think. It is here

Rediscovering who you are is a lovely process in becoming your greatest version. I say this because when you're living in alignment with you're higher, authentic self, everything in life becomes effortless. Not only that, you reach a point where you are no longer trying to get somewhere that you're not. You're complete and there are no more doubts, questions, insecurities, and fears. You are now living the human experience you came here for.  1 - Establish what you are not. You will notice that there are sometimes feelings of guilt, shame, sadness that come up when you are straying away from your authentic lifestyle. I specifically went through a period of guilt recently when I had hurt a friend emotionally without intending to, my actions were not aligned with my purpose, actually the opposite. So I was met with a deep resentment towards myself and it felt awful. I realized then and there that this was not in alignment with who I really am and so I learned to be more present and realize when I am about

 I received a comment from someone who was unfortunately extremely self-conscious about her body. This had been going on for 10 years, she had tried everything but she hates her body, and most of the time completely disassociated from it altogether. I won't get into detail about some of the things that were mentioned but this was my response.  "Notice that through all this time, your body loved you unconditionally. Your heart continues to beat, your food is digested, your eyes can see. No matter what kind of energy you throw at it, it continues to love and serve you. This is God, or the universe or whatever label you prefer. This energy is always rooting for you, always serving, always sending you an endless amount of support guidance and well-being. Regardless of what you think or how you behave. Just take a moment, this moment, to breath and say thank you, and realize, this is not you, you are not hating your body. Take a step back, you are not these thoughts, these feelings, these emotions, thes

Living a life you enjoy is a much simpler equation than you'd think. In fact, it's beyond thought itself. Thought is the one thing that is creating the suffering in your life. Thought, in this context is the meaning you give to the circumstances of your life. How can there be a human being who seemingly has nothing to live for, living in absolute poverty who is happier than someone who has a relationship, money, friends, and opportunities? The answer is the meaning the human has given to these situations. You have all the happiness, peace, love, and joy you could ever ask for, within you right now! You can decide, wherever you are, to be here in the present moment and appreciate life, accept life, and be happy. You really have that power, and if you don't believe you can do this, then you are still trapped in your thoughts of the past, of the future, of the way life "should" be.  Ignore the details, details don't matter, the past doesn't exist, the future has endless possibilities, but the present momen

This was the question of the summer, my friend and I were looking within to the core of our being. Not how are we here, but why? Why do we continue to do the things we do? We have one go at this human life, there are many paths we can choose, which one resonates with us? What does life mean to us? We honestly drove ourselves a little crazy with these questions, because the answer is usually much simpler than you think. For me, when I ask these questions, when I contemplate the fact that this human life will come to an end, I feel empowered and excited. I begin first with listing my favorite things about this life, and my favorite memories. This gives an idea at what my heart gravitates towards. But the answer to that question "Why am I alive?" still felt so distant. Then I realized that it is a much simpler answer, and there are two parts.  First, it is not for me to understand fully why I am here until the unfolding has taken place, until I am at the end of this life, looking back from that perspectiv

  What's right, when it's easy. Kill the monster when it's a baby, before it grows to destroy everything. I was watching Wayne Dyer interviewing Abraham Hicks and they were telling an interesting story that got me thinking about this concept. Esther was in San Francisco when she finally vocalized "why on earth would anyone want to drive, park or live on these massive hills?!" If you don't already know, San Francisco is known for its massive hills where building and roads have been inconveniently built.  Abraham made a lovely analogy for procrastination. Imagine for a moment there was a car parked at the top of one of these big hills, and it started to roll very slowly downhill. Which scenario seems more pleasant. Stepping behind this car right away when it doesn't take much to stop it from rolling? Or running to the bottom of the hill and stepping in front of this massive car that is dashing down this hill, bashing up against other cars, nearly killing people? You would stop it when it is most

 I read a wonderful article that gave me a whole new obvious perspective on self care and self love.  When a mother is pregnant and they offer their body as a vessel for new life, most likely, the mother will provide this growing child with the most loving, caring, nurturing and healthy environment that they possibly can. They now take their physical and mental health very seriously. After all, it has been proven that stress and poor health habits can affect the child's development. The woman who wrote the article went on to describe her experience of love for something so innocent, something that she has never seen with her eyes yet. During her pregnancy, she made the firm decision to provide her child with the most loving, positive and healthy environment to grow.   "self-care should be no less loving than the glowing, giggling, pure and unguarded LOVE you would give to a sweet and innocent baby." - Heaven Leigh That was my favorite quote! When there is an innocent child., counting o

Relax, chill out and stop being so hard on yourself. It is great that you have such a high standards to become the greatest version of yourself. It's fantastic that you are willing to make sacrifices to become a better you. You are trying, you are putting forth effort most people unfortunately do not. This is all so beautiful and you should be giving yourselves a pat on the back for your efforts. But you care too much, you expect too much, and this is eating you alive. Just take a step back, and stop taking yourself too seriously. You are guided, you are taken care of, and every moment will pass regardless of your worry and anxiety driven thoughts about it. So be here right now, present with this moment. Because this all you life is, and all it will ever be. This moment is the most important moment of your life. Once you realize this, that voice that disguises itself as you, kicking and screaming that you are worthless, lazy and a failure, this loud voice, will cease to exist. Just breath, see the beauty of t

When I was a child, and I’m sure you can relate, I was always in a total state of awe and presence. A walk down the street was so intriguing to see the shapes of the houses, the lights, the cars, the people. Eating was a game, I would save the best for last, I would eat all the marshmallows from my Lucky Charms. Television was a journey, video games were a whole new world I could delve into. I was goofy and always laughing. Long story short, I was absolutely immersed in the present moment. Not a worry in the world, no stressed, no sadness, I did not want my world to be different than it was because I simply wasn’t old enough to have expectations and demands on this world. I guess I was just so grateful to be here. Recently, I’ve been consciously placing myself back in the present moment. No thoughts of past, no thoughts of future. Just now, the glow of street lights, the shape of trees, the cold wind, the feeling of really connecting with someone through an engaging conversation. I found my bliss again. I fou

We’re taught being wrong is a negative thing, through the grading system in school, and even the workplace. If you get something wrong on a test you get your grade and that’s that. Most teachers won’t let you retake the test even though you just learned from your mistake! You get something wrong at work and you’ll have a strong chance of losing your job. I recently discovered how much I love being wrong. Our ego’s seem to avoid this at all costs, and once I became aware of this, it made me appreciate ignorance. If we had all the answers life would be boring. Learning, growing, experiencing is the reason life can be exciting. But we think we know it all. Once we’re out of school we rarely take the time to learn, as if school taught everything we needed to know. Imagine a circle representing the amount of knowledge you have, and the circumference of this circle is the amount of knowledge you are ready to learn. The bigger your circle of knowledge gets, the bigger the circumference of ignorance is. Meaning, life

I have no idea how to even start writing about this. As a musician, filmmaker and aspiring comedian, who has always done poorly in school and has never kept a "real job" for more than 2 months. I definitely never felt like I belonged here. Most people would define my worth by how many people listen to my music, how many people have seen my films, how many views I get on YouTube or how much money I make. If these were the factors by which I was defined, you might say "stay in school" or "get a job". But this is what I came here for. I feel like I am living my divine purpose when I produce a podcast and 12 people listen, or play a live show with 7 people attending, or even writing these posts when a handful of people read them. The scale doesn't matter to me, I do this because it is who I am. Because when I hear someone tell me that what I do has made their life even just a little bit more positive, I can die happy. I approached a good friend of mine with this dilemma, wondering what I should do, should I move

The more I get into spirituality and meditation, the more I’m realizing how simple it is to live in peace. One morning I woke up at 4am, got up to finish some work and went back to my bedroom to read. As I was reading I felt a massive depression hit me. Like big dark clouds covering the sky within seconds. In the past I would always distract myself from depression, and it worked! I would play video games, watch TV, talk to friends, eat food, I would do anything I could to avoid the dreadful feelings of loneliness and depression. But this time I became curious. I quickly realized what I read in “the Power of Now” nearly 3 years ago: there are 2 perspectives, the pain, the body or the ego and the awareness, the spirit or the consciousness. This “enlightenment” or “spiritual awakening” that everyone is buzzing about is simply just that realization. The final “aha” moment where everything clicks and these teachings become a way of life rather than an idea. I decided to meditate on this depression and simply becom

Infinity cannot be understood from a finite perspective. The way to feel at peace with life cannot be found from the "depressed" perspective. Here's is how I cured depression and how it is no longer something I ever have to deal with for long periods of time. For so long I was trying to find happiness while focusing on everything that made me upset. I was trying to find peace while diving into the stresses of life. Once I changed the perspective (my point of view, and what I was seeing) my life has never been the same. Once you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. That is one of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes and I never quite understood it fully until now. Here are some examples. Wayne Dyer mentioned, if you want to figure out how to get a boat to float above water, you do not sit around contemplating the sinking of things. We have massive boats made of materials like metal that definitely do not float. We figured out that once you displace enough water, metal can float extremely

This February marked the biggest turning point in my life, I had a spiritual awakening. After a series of synchronicities and miracles, I finally had a deep knowing of my authentic self and my true nature of being. My Ego was still present but it was dominated by my authentic self and the energy I was bringing forth. Much like darkness fades when you introduce light. It was amazing, for the first time in years, I felt confident, I felt I was whole, no “thing” can make me happier than I am because inside of me was the entire universe, the state of being I was living from was total love, abundance, joy, and peace. Out of this excitement, I started writing about my experiences and record videos, trying to help others get to where I was. Slowly but surely, the ego crept underneath my intentions. Disguising itself as me, I started to identify with this part of myself. My self-worth began to be defined by worldly things like accomplishments, friends, achievements, mistakes, possessions or the lack thereof. I starte

You cannot be alive without giving a few fucks here and there. You care about eating when you’re hungry, sleeping when you’re tired, you care about the people you love and the job that pays your bills. But some people care about the so-called bad weather, they have big expectations for the next holiday season, what people think, how they look, they care so much that they’re stuck in their heads and immobilized with fear and anxiety. I only have one tattoo on my body, and it says “NOTHING REALLY MATTERS.” I got the tattoo when I was in a paticularly dark place in my life and that idea saved me. I wanted to be the kind of person who is indifferent, content with what life gives him. Not that ass hole who lives a miserable life and is too comfortable to change. But someone who will work, who will struggle, but enjoy himself along the way. What “matters” is subjective, and different for everyone. We all just need to figure out our own balance. Sober people will drink because “who gives a fuck anyway?” Vegans will