Before you go to sleep at night...

Before you go to sleep at night, take a moment to feel your whole body. I try to do this every night in bed, but it is so relaxing I usually fall asleep before I finish feeling my whole body. I start at my toes and I am passed out by the time I reach my torso. Another thing you can do is quietly lie there and listen to the sounds outside. There may be crickets chirping, cars going by, wind in the trees, dogs barking, people talking, airplanes in the sky etc, listen for anything and be aware of everything that you hear. Use every thought that passes through your mind as a cue to start trying to listen again. If it is warm feel the warm air on your skin, if it is cold feel that cold but cozy feeling you get under your covers. Feel every part of your body and the sensations that you feel; cold, warm, soft, hard, pulsating, and the up and down of your breath in your chest and stomach. 

If you are likely to fall asleep during this process, say a prayer before. A prayer does not have to be to someone else or a god, it can help you by evoking your deepest intentions and remind yourself of your spiritual journey. Before I go to bed, I say the Lord's Prayer, but only to myself. Our father (life, that which is, Truth) who art in heaven (heaven is where the truth lives) hollowed be thy name (I revere the Truth) Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (when people wake up to the truth, there will be heaven on earth), give us this day our daily bread (i replace this with give us this night our restful sleep) and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us (let us be forgiven for things we do when we do not know the truth, and we will forgive those that know not what they do), and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil (and don't let our minds control us and tempt us, but let our spirits be in control of our minds and live) Amen (it means "i surrender" i surrender myself, i realize i have no control. i surrender my ego. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVUzTZ5dgwQ

Solitude

Solitude is really important for spiritual life. The ego is created in reaction to how others perceive you, so you have to spend time alone to find out what you really are. Not to mention how pleasant it is; you can do anything you want without outside judgment. When you are alone you are left to hear the thoughts that are going on inside you, without outside distraction. You realize that your thoughts are all from reactions to external events from the past. You may worry about how someone perceived you during the day, if you got everything done that you needed to, whether or not you are a good person, why you are the way you are, why your friends/partners are acting the way they are etc, the list is endless.  It is difficult to rid yourself of these thoughts, but you can only take the time to really deal with them and observe them when you are alone. You can follow them to their source, and figure out how to end them. And you need to remember the truth to do it (see "the present" at www.truthcontest.com). 

The outside world is harsh and uncaring. It demands that you play mind games or it will shut you out. Play the mind games knowing full well what you are doing, but when you come home and you are alone (well maybe not if you have a family) you owe it to yourself to be yourself. Mind games suppress and deny who we really are, whether it is bad or good, so you owe it to yourself to see the ego/beast within you that is supressed by society. It needs to be made visible to be eliminated. You need to see the problem to make a solution. You cannot see the problem when you are playing the same phony game as everyone else. You need to look at yourself without makeup, to be able to see the flaws. Do not think of anything about yourself as bad or good though, that is also ego, just learn to see yourself objectively, and how to recognize your ego.