Intention and Attention

Interestingly I have recently enrolled in an online course "Himalayan Wisdom for a Life Beyond Fear" and the first lesson just happens to be about finding your intention.  I am up to lesson three but I am unable to make progress because I am still working through lesson one "Intention and Attention". Is this a coincidence or life supporting me where I am at?  And then I open my Facebook page to find a message from my meditation teacher Thom Knoles

"SYNCHRONICITY/COINCIDENCE/MIRACLE
The word "coincidence", literally, means simply that things 'coincided'. 
We may have been trained (hypnosis of social conditioning) to place the trivialising qualifier "Just...", before using the word, "coincidence", in order to convey a safe disbelief in there being any order greater than that produceable by the human. 
The fact is, there is no moment, there is no event that is any more or less synchronous or coincidental or miraculous than any other moment or event. 
That is because there is only an inexorable continuum of synchronous miraculous coincidences occurring ceaselessly. 
On average, we fail to perceive almost all of this continuous stream of synchronous coinciding, so when suddenly it occurs to us that something coincided with something else, it appears to be "an event"; a miracle, a synchronicity.
Actually, the "event" is an event of becoming conscious; we have had a snapshot moment of clarity, and we need a name for it-- we like to credit some outside force for having arranged an outside "event".
Because it appears to be a miraculous isolated phenomenon, we call it "synchronicity" or "miracle".
The truth is, there are no events, there is a continuum.
And there is realisation, followed by breaking the habit of ignoring that which you have realised.
That last bit, ceasing ignoring, is by far the greater part of one's spiritual evolution than merely acquiring realisation of Truth.
Jai Guru Deva."

Adjusting to 80xwashed ghee

After 30 times washing and whisking my arms were almost going into spasm. Time to head off for a little walk and and have a well earned coffee hit at my favourite cafe.  I am only a third of the way into my project but I can't give up even though my arm is screaming out.  Come on keep going, I tell myself, because you will probably never want to do this again. Its wonderful what some cafe nurturing can do as I walk back home again with a new enthusiasm to engage once again with my ghee mix.

I decide to be a little less purist and use my electric hand mixer which certainly makes it so much easier.  Its not long before I've done 40, then 50, then 60.  It's getting late the sun is going down I continue on 70 times then 80.  I notice there doesn't seem to be much difference from 60 to 80. It has grown in volume and lightness but it is not as white as I saw on the internet.  As there has been little change over the last 20 washings I decide to call it quits and adjust my face cream to being 80xwashed ghee

80 times washed ghee

Getting into action

ghee, filtered water and whisk

Preparation is important.  My state of consciousness will have an effect on the finished product. I set up outside in my courtyard garden with the sun shining and my Deva Premal CD playing in the background assisting me to stay in a good space. I love to cook with the Gayatri mantra playing and infusing the food so imagine a face cream with that spiritual energy.

Having looked at several techniques on the internet, some using 2 litres of water to wash each time - so times that by 100 and that's 200 litres of water - that doesn't seem very eco friendly.  I chose one that uses equal amounts of water to ghee. Not wanting to waste the water I decide to have a big bucket to catch all the used water and put it on the garden later.

Now I am ready.  The instructions are to whisk and wash with equal amount of water for 3-5 minutes then discard water and repeat 100 times. (they do say that many people just do it 30 times). My purist attitude is to do 100 times or even 108 (the vedic number) if I can.

Wash 1 - my goodness this is not easy I am finding it hard already. Three minutes times 100 = 300 minutes so at least 5 hours to complete.
Wash 3 - and then I hear terrible screams coming from my grandson, then I hear my daughter in law scream too (I live in a beautiful granny flat behind my son)
That's the end of the whisking as I run to see what's happening.  My grandson had got his little finger squashed in the door and his mum couldn't get it out at first.  He and his mum were so upset - the pain of it - to see a little being so distressed. Time to reassure his sister that its ok it was an accident she is not to blame herself. We try and provide comfort with running cold water over his finger, then some arnica applied and finally some children's panadol.  Cuddles with mum and his dummy, some warm juice in a bottle.  Things are calming down. Everyone is quite exhausted.

Back to the ghee washing.......
I continue washing and whisking and find my arm is getting quite tired only 80 more times to go.

ghee washed 20 times

Making 100xwashed ghee

This is my first blog project.  While looking up an ayurvedic remedy for the start of a cold I stumbled upon a face cream made of 100 times washed ghee.  Well that sounded interesting and intriguing so why not give it a go.
First I made my ghee from organic unsalted butter the night before and allowed time for it to rest and set. The next day was put aside to make the cream.