Day 17 – Reaching the Creative Solution [Oprah and Deepak Chopra Teachings]

Getting Unstuck – Creating a Limitless Life – Oprah and Deepak Chopra 21 Day Meditation Experience

 

These are amazing notes – not transcripts –  from Deepak and Oprah’s meditation challenge, Getting Unstuck, Creating a Limitless Life, written by DoinTheGratefulDance .  I have enjoyed several of the meditation series Oprah and Deepak Chopra have shared.  I am not affiliated with them – just a grateful listener too and wanted to share these wonderful notes.    I couldn’t have done a better job!  Thanks for sharing these notes!

 

Day 17 – “Reaching the Creative Solution”

“When wisdom overrides, our heart produces immense ideas with solutions.” – Adedayo Olabamiji”:

 

Sanskrit Mantra:  

“Om Gum Namah (sounds like Ohm Goom Nah-mah)
Limitless awareness solves all problems”

 

Oprah says….

A common form of stuckness is staying rooted in a problem without exploring solutions, or believing we’re right.

Quoting Oprah’s story, “I used to think other people were wrong if they didn’t think and feel the same way I do.  I’ve told this story before but I think it’s a great teachable moment worth sharing again..For many years whenever Stedman and I drove home from our farm in Indiana, I would always tell him which way to turn.  This is because if he turned left, when you’re going out of the gate it would be 8 miles on the interstate to Chicago.  If he made a right, it was 12.  He would always go right and I would invariably say, if you turn left, you can save 4 miles.   For 2 years that was our routine.  I knew I was right.  But he liked to go the other way because he said he got to see more deer.  So every time Stedman reached the gate I would tense up and then one day I said to myself, do I want to be right (because I really believe I’m right), or do I want peace?  The answer was obvious.  When we got to the gate and Stedman as which way I wanted him to go, I replied, anyway you want.  I decided not to push about which way was fastest or the route I would choose, but instead to just sit back and enjoy the ride and for years after it made the drive a lot more pleasant for both of us and I saw that once I chose to let him – and then other people too, let them be themselves, lots of other things improved.”

When we go to the more expanded place within ourselves – our generous, creative, giving selves, solutions are just waiting for us – we find answers and solutions

Deepak says….

He reminds us of how we can let awareness work for us instead of struggling to find answers – any problem or challenge that we need to solve.  When we’re not living in awareness, we are constricted and fight and argue, insist we’re right and have the solutions over other’s objections.   This results in power struggles, and sometimes using underhanded tactics to get our own way.  Dwelling on problems without envisioning a solution is futile.  Complaining and feeling defeated makes others contract and they mirror our negative attitudes.  Through meditation, we can find  a better way – awareness.

When we find ourselves facing problems with family, friends or at work and want to find a solution, here’s how..

• Make it clear that I  believe there is a solution.   Be open-minded.  Encourage others to make suggestions without bias or preference.
• Listen and pay attention.  Every little bit helps reshape the picture.  Be tolerate and allow others to get things off their chest – if they aren’t allowed to do this, they can’t really contribute. We all need to able to “unburden”.
• Realize immediately that the level of the problem isn’t the level of the solution.  Solutions come from the creative self.  Deepak gives an example..”Think of a mother with a cranky child.  The level of the problem is the child’s upset and the stress it produces.  The level of the solution, however, might be as simple as the child needing to take a nap or being hugged and reassured. Adult problems are more difficult but we often display child-like responses such as anxiety, insecurity, feeling weak and complaining.  These behaviors contribute the level of the problem by constricting our awareness and closing us off in a defensive posture.  The level of the solution always feels like opening a window to let in fresh air and sunshine.”
• AHA moments are a break-through from the confusion in conflict and it happens by by being optimistic and expanding our awareness.  Foster optimism and being open-minded.
• Wait and have patience – Don’t grab for instant solutions but let one unfold naturally in our awareness.  Return inside to our center, our creative self and the best solution will come spontaneously.

Repeat to myself,
I trust that creativity can solve any problem
I trust that creativity can solve any problem

Listen to some relaxing music, breathe slowly and deeply,  become more and more relaxed, and meditate for about 10 minutes using the Sanskrit mantra –

“Om Gum Namah (sounds like Ohm Goom Nah-mah)
Limitless awareness solves all problems”

Deepak says the mantra “aligns our awareness with the creative problem-solving power of nature”.

Continue meditating  for about 10 minutes and then release the mantra.  Concentrate on the centering thought:   being fulfilled and being who you want to be and repeating:

I trust that creativity can solve any problem
I trust that creativity can solve any problem

 

Reflections on Day 17 –  write about it…

• Choose a problem or conflict in my life that I would like to solve and make it clear to myself that I really believe there is a solution.  Write about my situation – the positives and the negatives.

• Be very candid about my part in not reaching a solution for this – anger? emotional resistance? needing to be right? Write about how it would feel to not have these attitudes

• Center myself and when I’m in a calm state, ask within myself to see a solution.  Don’t force anything, just wait to see what comes to my awareness and journal about the possible solutions that I visualize. Once I feel clear about the issues and solutions, consider discussing them with the other/others involved.

Oprah lessons  written by by DoinTheGratefulDance