LAST MONTH, I DISCUSSED how cultivating Bodhichitta via consciously chosen applied mindfulness and a compassionate, fearless heart aids us in clearing away all sorts of useless and even harmful mental clutter. Bringing scrupulous attention to our thoughts, and the choices, actions, and behaviors that arise from them, as well as dedicating our hearts and minds as impeccably as possible to achieving full spiritual awakening in order to benefit all sentient beings is the constant, eyes-open intention of a Contemporary Bodhisattva.

The Earth-bound realm wherein we find ourselves in this lifetime, albeit transitory, is our karmic playing field during this incarnation, and every dedicated Spiritual Warrior/Activist brings full attention to the fact that every act he or she undertakes could be our last in this go-round. There are no insignificant thoughts or deeds in this or any other lifetime, and therefore, nor is there any time to waste in consciously indulging that which will impede our own growth or contribute to collective human darkness. This attitude is one of common sense and practicality, not one of superiority whatsoever, and has immense power spiritually if held with unwavering humility, integrity and grace. Actualizing Bodhichitta is about attaining inner peace and balance inwardly so we can transparently reflect it back into the world, and there is no more important place to focus than the impact our mental actions have upon us, and subsequently to all whom we come into contact with.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Once we begin to clear away our mental junk, we create space for healthier fare that nourishes us spiritually. Positive mind control keeps us from spinning into thoughts that will spiral us into pain and anguish within, as well as help to safeguard us from acting out in neurotic, chaotic and often destructive ways toward self and others. Taming our cluttered mind is even more important than organizing the outer appearance of our lives; in fact, if we do not clear away the clutter between our ears, doing so in our outer environment alone will ultimately fail.

One of the most valuable personal benefits of cultivating Bodhichitta is the ability to quickly find the calm center of any hurricane that crosses our path, literal or figurative - otherwise we become caught up in the destructive nature of mental spin and negative reactivity. Finding ground if all is pulled up and out from underneath us in terms of health, relationships, finances, jobs, etc., when our sense of stability in any of those areas is wiped away in an instant is not an easy task; however, if we work constantly on our own mindfulness, how we handle and cope with great stresses and losses on the human plane can be strengthened and keep us away from Self-harmful responses within and without.

But it's not just the "big stuff" that can take us out of our calm center; in fact, the little stresses and annoyances we encounter every day can actually be more troublesome spiritually because they are rather insidious and can quickly throw us off course, often before we realize it. If you are caught up in traffic that may make you late, someone in front of you in line at the store has twenty items when you're only supposed to have ten, a small child is screaming in a restaurant, someone's cell phone goes off during a movie, your computer is malfunctioning - and your immediate response is anger toward any of these common scenarios, then you have lost your calm center and still have mental muck to sweep away. The question to ask yourself is, "Do I wage peace in every area of my life - or not?" Spiritual transparency is not confined to where and when you feel like practicing it. I've witnessed many self-proclaimed peace-lovers to be very hostile and aggressive when they don't want "their space" messed with.

Patience and a healthy sense of humor are antidotes to angry reactive thoughts and behaviors, especially in situations we have no control over. When you begin to feel your blood pressure rising and your jaw clenching after someone cuts you off while driving, know that what you are in control of is how you respond to it. You can spin into a mental state that will make you feel worse, or you can say "no thanks" to an unproductive emotional escalation, and instead take deep tonglen breaths to release the emotion and bring you back to calm sanity. By doing so, you can mindfully transform the negative energy pattern you were racing head first toward into an alternate one of compassion. Indulging in being annoyed by unimportant-in-the-Big-Picture situations is referred to "bourgeois suffering" and with all of the deep suffering going on in the world, we can begin to see what are "no biggie" inconveniences by comparison. By shedding our small self-importance and a "me-me-me" orientation to life, we can see how petty some of own reflexive, habitually ingrained addictive mental patterns truly are, and consciously choose to work on being done with them.

Bodhichitta is a precious gift that grants us greater compassion for ourselves as well as for those who are not as blessed to have such a powerful tool to help them cope with the stresses of life, and it is worthy of our gratitude as well as our extreme reverence. You were likely once in the same boat, and so you can choose to feel empathy toward every sentient being - no matter who they are. Each time you re-mind yourself to choose differently and adopt positive mental reframing toward whatever you are facing in the moment, also feel thankful you have such a tool that not only benefits you spiritually, but also physically, emotionally and mentally. As you can readily see, not many are blessed with the technology of mindfulness, but you can share this gift simply by leading by example. Positive energy is no less contagious than negative energy, and this is just one way your own transcendence of darker reactive behaviors benefits humanity. Staying grounded, calm, compassionate and patient creates an impression upon those around you just as much as frantic chaos and aggression will, so doesn't it simply make sense to choose the former? Any situation can courageously be turned around in a way that keeps our hearts open, and makes us kinder people no matter who or what is pushing our buttons. We don't have to be triggered into ungrounded mental chaos and spin in our own clutter.

If you truly yearn for spiritual awakening for the benefit of others, your prayer is for anything and everything that will bring you closer each day, regardless of who or what it is. Spiritual growth is not about indulging your comfort zones, and your true spiritual companions and teachers are those who will not enable your darkness in any way. In fact, they may often infuriate your ego - but that can be good thing. And then there are the everyday ordinary people that who, by just being who they are, warts and all, will bring up all sorts of unpleasant reactive mental clutter to clear away. Each time you find yourself engaging in way-too-old inner operating system patterns toward anyone or anything that shows up in your life you are at a spiritual crossroads. You can choose which way you'll go in every moment by making a leap in consciousness - or not.

In one of Carlos Castaneda's books, don Juan talked about a former boss who he called a "petty tyrant," a man who made him do degrading tasks and treated him unfairly. This of course elicited thoughts and feelings of anger, humiliation, resentment, etc. in don Juan. But then don Juan went on to tell Carlos that this petty tyrant taught him more about himself than anyone else had up until then, after he chose to step back and observe his thoughts about this man and where they caused him to spin mentally - and the subsequent bourgeois suffering he indulged in. Once he recognized this, he was able to transcend his old mental reactions toward the boss. Don Juan told Carlos to "kiss the feet of these petty tyrants" as they present tremendous learning opportunities, as anyone who pushes our buttons or annoys the heck out of us can be a great teacher.

On the other hand, we must also work to see where we too are being petty tyrants and attempting to impose our will and beliefs upon others, even if we think it is "good for them." One of the greatest traps a spiritually oriented person can fall into is one of thinking he or she is superior to another simply because of his or her beliefs. This too is mental clutter that serves no one, and in fact can be extremely rude, insensitive and arrogant. After all, our beliefs are subjective, and what seems "right" to you may not seem "right" to others, and being mindful and respectful of how your statements will make the other person feel is very important spiritually - no matter how right you may be, if you are arrogant and elitist at all about your beliefs, you are wrong. Additionally, thinking judgmental thoughts about where a person is at in their life is also mental clutter that hardens the heart and creates separation. This includes thinking someone brought a challenging situation into their life merely by their thoughts; none of us knows for certain why anyone is experiencing anything, and to think we do is - you guessed it - more mental clutter that gets in our way.

When I work with clients and students, I use a multi-part-part strategy to help them clear away mental clutter and begin to cultivate Bodhichitta. Although it is not possible to explain it in detail in this column, the main components are reframing and carving new, proactive mental grooves via self-hypnosis, focused meditation and visualization; breathwork (including tonglen); self-inquiry via Process Journaling; and applied mindfulness exercises. The combination of these disciplines is a potent cocktail to help upgrade our mental operating system to a much more spiritually productive one. But no matter what techniques and tools I suggest to help a person think differently, I never tell anyone what they should think. Positive thought control is cleanest when it is done by you for you. None of us wants our thoughts to be controlled by any person or entity. This is why discrimination, questioning and road-testing any theories and concepts presented to us is so critical, as we can never be truly free unless and until we own our own minds, and proactively use our thoughts to increase our level of awakening and pure liberation. Easier said than done, but anything else is just another brick in the wall of illusion.

Mindfulness Exercises for the month: Take an inner inventory of where you still may be holding onto useless and even harmful mental clutter, and ask yourself what the payoff is in keeping it around, positive or negative. Write it all down in your journal without beating yourself up about it; simply view it all with emotional detachment. Then go about your days with heightened, mindful awareness as to when you find yourself indulging in reactive anger, dismissive judgment, feeling superior, slipping into jealousy, self-criticism, worried frenzy, etc., as well as just plain old neurotic mental spinning to the point it makes you feel frantic and out of control inside. Mindfully work to shift your attention field away from chaos and into calm, using deep breaths as a mental re-setting tool. Be kind, gentle, and compassionate with yourself, as this practice is not something you can master overnight, or even in one month. But as you begin to build a calmer center day-by-day, thought-by-thought, you will begin to know the power of cultivating Bodhichitta.