Do You Know You Are In There?

 When you are not being pulled down, there is a force pulling you up.

Michael Singer

Are you in there?

Yes.

Do you have thoughts and feelings?

Yes.

Is something "bothering" you? Are you down?

Yes.

How do you know? 

Your thoughts are something you look down at! You are not what you are looking at. You are the one looking.

If you were capable of being in there, aware of what is going on in there, you would be an enlightened being.

All is well.

Micheal A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe/ Sounds True ( October, 2024) From Thoughts to Awareness/ Reclaiming Your Divine State. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLQvNB92h-A&list=PLyOuAoSmZkKoESr2acNWwhznusbBkKXsT&index=4

Being Love

Once you love all of it, you disappear into being love.  Be love!  Be love! 

Ram Dass

Is our purpose in this lifetime...to "get" whatever we can from the world in order to serve  this idea of 'little me' or is it to remember who we really are...which is love...and to serve ourselves and the world by being that love?  I do think it is the latter, don't you? 

First we must, according to Ram Dass's formless friend Emmanuel, fall back in love with our Selves. Once we remember who we are ...light and love...not seperate little entities with big fat neurotic egos...we can radiate that love and light onto the world.

Hmm! Keep your mind open and have a listen.

Ram Dass ( August, 2014) Ram Dass Webcast with Jo Clarkson/ Emmanuel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfHRTuObTvw&t=1s

Recognizing the Formless 'I Am'

 I am without form; without limit. I am beyond space; beyond time. I am in everything. Everything is in me. Everywhere I am. I am existence Absolute, knowledge Abosulute, bliss Absolute. I am That. I am That.

I am without body or change of the body, I am neither senses, or the objects of the senses. I am existence Absolute, knowledge Absolute, bliss Absolute. I am That.  I am That. 

Swami Ram Tethra ( from: https://www.inner-quest.org/Ramatirtha_I_Am_That.htm)

I basically use this as a mantra when I hold my breath during Kriya every morning.  I say in the center of that held breath "Tat Taum Asi"...then ..."Sat Chit Ananda"...then "Tat Taum Asi" again. 

My intention during every practice is simply to expand my ability to find peace in  what is.

Ram Dass, this morning, echoed my intention and desire in the below linked podcast.  He built his talk around  this mantra "Love it as it is!" from Thaddeus Gollas, in  The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment.

Allow "it is as it is"

Who would we be if we could live life in that way?

Dass tells us in order to truly live like that we need to do so from the formless state of "I am". 

Beyond the causal plane there will just be "isness" being.

We are not these forms we have come to identify as.  We are not bodies or personalities. We are simply using these things for a period of so called time. We are not individuals, nor are we the many.  We are not a "me", nor are we an "us". We are simply part of the one "I am".

I seek to find peace in the isness of Life but as long as I identify as a body and personality, as form, I will not truly be able to do that. 

It is only from the place of "I am" that you and I can be here like it is.  It is only from the place of "I am" that you and I can look at Life and death and pain and suffering and see it all as the unfolding of law...the laws of form...because 'I am' has no form.  Who you are has no form

Your container is a lawful container including your thinking mind.  Everything you think is lawful but everything that you are is beyond law.

There is one "I am."

All is well. 

Ram Dass/ Be Here Now ( April 29, 2024) Ram Dass on Accepting Life As It Is- Here and Now Podcast. Ep 250. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTdyVPM_ti4&t=1805s

Steps to Transforming the Lower Self

I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.

Einstein

How do we  handle those lower self energies we tend to push away like anxiety, tension, and insecurity?

1. Pay attention to what is bringing you down and closing your heart. See how you are letting the lower part of your life runn the show...how you are feeding this energy. 

2, Recognize the energy you have expended over the years running from it, hiding it, resisting it, struggling against it only to make it stronger.  

3. Commit instead to work at the root.

4.Intend to work directly with this lower energy, this lower self."I am willing to feel with this."

5. "My intent is that I will do work on this thing that keeps closing my heart,  so I stay open and allowing no matter what happens."

6. Recognize that you cannot ask anxiety or any of these lower energy emotional expereinces to relax.  That is not in their nature.  They are just doing what they do.  It is not anxiety that needs to relax.  It is you that needs to relax.

7. You...not it...relax. Relax around the edges.  This nature energy may be taking over your core...so relax around it...hands, shoulders, jaw, feet, arms, legs etc

8. Learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

9. Breathe. "Put a nsotril on your heart and breathe into and out of it."

10. Next, allow yourself to feel what is there. "This is my opportunity for dealing with this lower part of my being that keeps holding me down."

11. Then be kind and compassionate with this lower energy. See it as a suffering entity that was created by your own unconscious need to protect self. Treat the lower self with compassion and understanding...befriend it ...change your attitude about that part of yourself you are most uncomfortable with. See it as something that needs your support. Think of helping it to get better. 

12. Say: "Its okay.  I will take care of you," to the part inside that is freaking out. Reach down and get underneath all that mess and lift it up...bring it higher...bring it to God ...offer it as a gift. 

13. Stop closing and running away from the uncomfortable. Know...you can handle it. 

14. Realize spirituality  is never about running to God or staying open.  It is simply about choosing not to leave God or to close.

All is well. 

Michael A. Singer/ Sounds True/ Temple of the Universe ( September, 2024) Transforming the Lower Self Into Spiritual Liberation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f7EMrI7hvI&list=PLyOuAoSmZkKoESr2acNWwhznusbBkKXsT&index=7

The Practice of Handling Reality

What lies before us and what lies behind us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I woke up thinking about reality.  I was thinking of "this human's" ability to handle it at times, and its inability to handle it at others.  I see now when  this wonderful expanded consciousness within this body and mind is pulled down to lower energy things and when it is focusing up and away from the lower energy.  Two totally different experiences. 

In the first scenario, Life seems to be pollutted with problems and negative things. Consciousness is pulled down and identifies with what it is watching. I see myself as the problematic self then  and I feel afraid, insecure, depressed.   I feel  down. I resist reality.   In the second scenario,  I see nothing but the beauty of this Life experience, allowing and honoring all of it. There is no good or bad...just Life with all its contrasting colours. This human feels "up" or at least not so identified with lower energy, with what is going on. "I am", at those times,  moving towards a higher experience.

 

Which do you think is the most life affirming way to live Life? Being stuck with face down in the mud or standing on a mountain summit with face turned up towards the sun?    I much prefer it when I am not distracted by lower energy. I much prefer it when I am allowing reality to be as it is, when I am accepting and appreciative of all of it. I much prefer the higher energy.

So why do I still get pulled down into the lower energies when Life hands me these multiple things to handle all at once?  Why do I resist and say things to myself like, "This isn't fair. I don't know what to do here to make this better.  I wish thisng were different.?"This amazing consciousness of "I am" still gets pulled down into lower energy things. It still reacts in an unwholesome way to Life. 

I know what I want and need.  I want to learn to accept reality. To allow and appreciate all of it.  I am so tired of building my life around catering to the lower energy vibrations. I want to keep my focus up.  That is why I practice yoga. It is obvious, then, that this practice I have committed myself to is a life-long learning journey. Hmm!

This is what I heard today related to this thought topic from listening to Michael A. Singer

•  God is everything...and everything is everything
• Lower vibrations are just slower vibrations
• All of Creation is God...from the unmanifest (higher vibration) to the grossest manifetsed...(lower vibration)
• It is easy for the lower vibration to bring the higher vibration down...draws consciousness down
• Depression is a very, very low vibration of energy that a person identifies with
• Depression is a down slope we might experience...it is not who you are.
• Spirituality is not about getting rid of the low vibrations. They too are a part of God. The goal is simply to just observe and participate to some degree in these energy flows before letting them pass through
• "I dont wan't to be distracted by this....I do not want to devote my life to the lowest vibration rates inside me, any longer."
• Most of us are devoting life to distracting self from self...
• Consciousness is distracted by the lowest thing going on...because it is often the noisiest.
• Resisting is the yogic term for suppression.
• The answer to Life's so called problems is not in getting what you want so the garbage inside doesn't get disturbed. The answer is getting rid of the garbage. 
• You do not need to manipulate life.
• The life of spirituality is never about getting what you want and avoiding what you dont want. It is about allowing Life to be Life...reality to be as it is without resistance. 
• What are you doing with your mind?  You are allowing the lowest vibration rates to distract your consciousness. 
• You are resisting reality.
• Reality cannot be wrong because it is reality
• "I want to learn to handle reality!" Is the mantra of the yogi: person wanting to go deeper. 
• Your job is to honor and respect that things will unfold in front of you...if you can't handle it, then that thing  is for your growth.
• You are welcome to change the level of how you interact with things. 
• RAISE SELF
• Instead of beating up self when it pulls Self down, take self by the hand outside to explore the galaxy.
• When you see yourself condemning self...when you see yourself frightened or afraid...reach down and hug that self ..support that self , be self's mother...(Self -compassion is as important to yoga as it is to psychology).
• Observe yourself when you fear failure. Ask, "What is failure?"  Failure is the inability to handle reality....success is the ability to handle reality.
• Participate in Life fully without concern for outcome. The result is not what matters...what matters is doing the best that you can and honoring what comes back when you do.
• Yoga is a practice of handling reality...

There is so much energy flowing inside of you, you couldn't handle it until you learned to...That is what happens when you stop being drawn down to negative energies. You are a great being.

All is well.

Michael A. Singer/ Sounds True/ Temple of the Universe ( September, 2024) Overcoming Lower Vibrations and Embracing Spiritual Freedoms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMF1ZajBIx0&list=PLyOuAoSmZkKoESr2acNWwhznusbBkKXsT&index=8

Testifying to Time's Relentless Melt

 To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs tesitfy to time's relentless melt. 

Susan Sontag

All is well!

Not a Problem

The organism is part of its environment...afterall is an object,a process in nature, in the cosmos just as much as anything in its environment.There really is no way of seperating the two. Instead of speaking in this terminology of doers and done to's, attackers and victims...we simplify things considerably just by confining ourselves to a description of what is happening, and as we do this we get a peculiarly clarified perception of the world without all sorts of ghosts. And it is in this way that we also begin to be able to have some preliminary intuition or sensation of the meaning of the fact that life is not a problem. In other words, not a contest between ourselves and our environments. 

Alan Watts

Hmm! I woke up at four (still on Eastern European time) with a perception of "problems".  Since I have been back from my amazing trip I have had a download of life problems unfolding in front of me. Some of the things were so sad ( involving illness, addiction, depression, death, and loss) and others just frustrating  (like a lengthening to- do list beyond what I feel capable of handling, the loss of luggage, money issues,  and an apparent diagnosis of osteoporosis).  Regardless, there were what appeared to be "many" so called problems to deal with, to solve, to accept.  My little human brain and body felt the pressure of it all. So I lay there at four feeling my usual body symptoms and on top of that the heaviness of this concept of "problem". 

So I meditated and then got up to listen to Alan Watts. I heard him speak this truth...that I am not a reactive human organism on this planet experiencing problems. I am simply just a part of what is happening in nature, and in Life.  Sigh!

I am not a problem ridden human. Life is not a problem.

All is well!

Alan Watts/T&H () Alan Watts for When You Think Too Much/Life is Not a Problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_Tv-VfP88&t=656s

Beyond Disappointment

 Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Well there will be no RAW shots. When I had set my camera on jpeg compression I didn't select the "and RAW" choice...so the camera thought it just had to shoot in jpeg.  That is very disappointing but I guess it is what it is.  I will work with what is and do my best not to cling to what could have been. 

Another disappointing thing is that they lost our luggage on the way home. In that luggage I had some dress clothes, my favorite jean jacket ( preference...I know) , shoes, sweaters, jeans, all my sandals and sun dresses, as well as my fitbit watch that I was quite dependent on to get around with. It has been days with no word. Sigh! 

Anyway two disappointing things out of a host of many positive things is not too bad is it? 

All is well in my world. 

Moving Along Like Water

 In reality there are no seperate events. Life moves along like water, it's all connected to the source , like the river is connected to the mouth of the ocean. 

Alan Watts

Falling Freely

 Mana eva manusyanam karanam bandha moksayoh

As the mind, so the person; bondage or liberation are in your own mind.

Sanskrit saying found in Satchinanda's translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, page 5.

Or as Michael Singer would say:

If you stare at your mind, your mind becomes a prison.

Michael Singer

Most of us are staring at our minds. We are so focused on the noisy mind as it reacts to everything that unfolds in front of us, clinging and struggling, that it imprisons us.  It imprisons the consciousness that we are by pulling us into its never ending dramas, its preferences, its dislikes. When all of our attention goes there it limits  what we observe and expereince. It traps us.

Alan Watts once gave  the analogy of our journey through life as being like this:  When we are born we are pushed off a precipice and we fall to our deaths.  At the same time a large boulder is also pushed off. We spend our life falling as the  boulder falls with us. Instead of enjoying this amazing ride we spend our time terrified and worried. We cling to the boulder with all our might which increases tension and struggle...yet we are so afraid to let go.  We don't realize that letting go will make the inevitable  journey downward pleasant and relaxed, peaceful, and fun. Our struggle is not in the falling but in the clinging to this boulder. The boulder could be the mind or the mental modifications as Patanjali referred to them.

The thing is...with this clinging and preferring, stuffing and storing we tend to do...we create samskaras that lead to a further need to cling and prefer, to stuff and to store. This becomes so distracting and our consciousness gets pulled in to this drama and eventually trapped by it. Each samskara, Singer says, is like a bar in our prison cell.

The thing is it doesn't have to be that way.  We cannot change the fact that we are all falling to our physical deaths in this very temporal world. We cannot change the reality of the things that happened. The world will, afterall, unfold the way it unfolds. This is Life's reality, and has little to do with what this falling little me wants. The mind we cling to with its likes and dislikes, its fears and expectations becomes a prison when we focus like this. If we were, however, to use the mind to contemplate something bigger than us and our puny little fall...than it can actually liberate us. If we use the mind to focus on and explore consciousness rather than the boulder, we can be free.

Spending our time falling emptying and purifying the mind and then using it for higher purposes us can certainly set us free. 

The purified mind is no different than the Self.

RamaKrishna

All is well.

Allan Watts: not sure where or when I heard this

Michael A. Singer/ Sounds True/ Temple of the Universe (October, 2024) The Mind: Prison or Liberator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpU1N80-35w&list=PLyOuAoSmZkKoESr2acNWwhznusbBkKXsT&index=3

Swami Satchidananda (2012) The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Integral Yoga Publications. 

A New Way of Seeing

 

One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.

Henry Miller

I am home now and trying to get the Circadian rhythm of body and mind aligned with the clock on this side of the world. I am also processing my experience away. I mentioned before how my mind works like my double card slotted camera. In one slot I shoot in jpeg...and the camera does most of the processing of data to come up with some acceptable picture quickly. In the other slot I shoot in RAW where all details are taken in and stored for me to process later on. I can't see the images clearly but later in Lightroom, I am flooded with detail. I am given the chance to select what details to enhance and what details to diminish.  I get to choose how I will remember this trip. 

I haven't taken the pics to Lightroom yet because that is a big endeavor to begin. It will take days. But I am beginning to process the RAWness of my memories. 

It was truly something else.  I absolutely love experiencing culture, language, history, and landscapes, different from my own. It offers me a wider perspective, a new way of seeing things.  It helps me to evolve.

Sure, it was nice to get away, to relax in the sun and I did.  That was truly healing...but what I truly enjoyed was immersing myself in all the above. I love exploring differences because it always brings me back to similarities...and similarities brings me back to this truth: We are all one. I see how small the world is now...how united all humanity is whether we accept that fact or not.

I do not believe I will ever be a fan of the touristy spots on this globe that offer superficial things.  I will, however, always embrace the depths of history and culture in an area that few see as a travel destination. That is why Croatia was the best place to begin my travelling experience. It is a hidden gem, for sure. I am a different person now because of it.

Anyway, all is well. 

Optimistic Sunshine on the Turgoise Sea

 There is nothing like a sea voyage to restore one's sense of optimism, a sense of being cleansed of your own past. 

Robert D Kaplan from Adriatic: A Concert of Civilizations at the End of the Modern Age

We did an Adriatic Island tour during our first week in Croatia.  It was amazing!! I felt my optimism restored and my being cleansed with every drop and breeze from the Turgoise water. 

From Trogir

Blue Lagoon

Solta

Coming Back to Trogir

Again, these pics will be so much better when I develop my RAW.

All is well! 

Using Nothing But Time

 

Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but foot prints, and use nothing but time.

Found on wooded placards throughout Croatia's National Park. 

Pure natural beauty that rivals, without surpassing, the Canadian landscape can be found in Plitvice Lakes, Croatia. Words can not do it justice and either can these jpeg photos.  Hopefully you will still get an idea how amazing this spot is to visit. 

                                                    

All is well!

Slovenia! Slovenia! Beautiful Slovenia!

 

God's blessings on all nations who long and work for that bright day!

National Anthem

Most beautiful place I ever seen. The JPEG pics do not do it justice...hopefully when I get into Lightroom with my RAW shots, I can display the true colour and texture of this little country that took my breath away. 

All is well!

In the Quiet Morning

 

U mojem srcu pjevale su ptice

U tiha jutra, za sunčanih sati.

Birds were singing in my heart, in the quiet morning during the sunny hours.

Dobrisa Ceasric (missing accents over the first s and the second c), Moje jutro u Maksimiru

The words from this sad poem written by one of Croatia's famous temporary poets seems to fit, in an odd way, with what I am experiencing this morning. In the quiet morning, during the sunny hours, I find myself sensing something in the air.

What is it that is in the air here? Something subtle yet soothing, gentle yet powerful.  It is true that it is my first trip to Europe and I have nothing to compare it to, but I feel this place is special in some invisible way I have yet to understand. There is something in the air carried with the aroma of strong coffee steaming from the cup I hold in my hands, with the salt from the Adriatic, with the hum of the native tongue vibrating in the background.   It is a peaceful feeling I am left with, a sense of being home even though I am thousands of miles from where this human I call me has circled a spot on the map and labelled as home.  I realize as I hear the ancient church bells in the distance that the world is a small place...much smaller than I ever imagined when I boarded the plane days ago.  That is what is in the morning air during this sunny hour, I guess: The truth of the inter-beingness of all humans. There is some connecting force carried by the morning breeze reminding me that we are no different, regardless of what language we speak, the colour of our skin, the religions we practice, where we were born on this globe, or whatever we tell ourselves and the world we are. There is only the superficial distinctions but no difference that matters. ...that really matters. Under our skin, our flapping tongues, the flags we wave in the air...we are all one. That is what the Croatian morning air has brought to my attention. We are all one. Sigh.

All is well in my world. 

Ageless Ragusa: Dubrovenik, Croatia

Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditura

Liberty cannot be sold for all the gold of the world

I had the once in a lifetime opportunity yesterday to walk the walls of Dubrovnik. What an amazing, enclosed city.  In its ageless beauty it continues to survive, still, the onslaught of modern life outside and inside its walls. The walk was breathtaking and a photographer's dream. I had to soak up more of its history through research when I returned home. 

What I love about Dubrovnik history:

• Very, very old dating back to 616 when Roman refuges and the Slavs settled around the rock of Laus
• Touched by, dominated by, conquered  by  or protected by many different influences over the years from its Slavic and Roman roots to the  Byzantines (what  the Christian empire was called  in Constantinople), the Venetians (Venice was once a thriving state on its own),  the Islamic rule (when Islam gained and regained its power in Constantinople), to the Normans,  to the Serbians, to Ravenna, to Bosnia, to Russians, French, Austrian-Hungarian,to the  German influence,
• Pure in its intent for liberty. The words inscribed on Fort Lovrjenac built in 1038 and which proved to be the mantra of its people for centuries to come: Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditura which can be loosely translated to, Liberty cannot be sold for all the gold of the world.  How beautiful is that coming from a renown trade center and an independent republic lasting for centuries. 
• It was accepting of  people other than Christians, like ...for example...the Jewish people.  Though the Jewish population is not given the due it deserves in the middle ages...there was a very important Jewish population in Dubrovnik dating back to 1352. The third oldest synagogue in all of Europe was later built in 15th century here.
• Democratic and non autocratic in its leadership (for the most part) until after WWI when Peter I of Serbia became its first sovereign. 
• Created an equal access for all social system that could make any Canadian pleased. The first public hospital in all the Balkans...Domus Christi ...was built in 1347. ( And just in time for the shadow of Black death soon fell upon the city (grad).) The first public school was opened in 1435. Protected its textile workers with a law in 1428
• Understood the necessity of disease prevention and health promotion. Was the first port to establish a quarantine in 1377. First pharmacy was founded in 1420. Clean water supply through the fountain that is still running clean water today was established in 1438. (I drank from that fountain yesterday...over a 1000 years later)
• Became completely built of stone as of 1413

• Home of famous art and artists like Blaz Jurije Trogiranin (painted the church in Ston), Marin Drzic (playwright) and Marco Marulic (poet)
• Self defended by the creation of magnificent walls and fortresses, that I walked upon yesterday, in the years between 1461 and 1570. The white gold manufactured in Ston was protected by the greatest and longest man-made wall, next to the Great Wall of China, in the entire world. 

• Had a long peaceful and prosperous history under the rule of the Turkish sultan from 1526-1808 where it remained a fairly independent state?
• Its creation of the salt market in Ston in 1581 which showed great ingenuity and innovation making it the greatest salt ( white gold) industry in the world...even today. 
• Its resiliency and ability to become stronger with adversity: It bounced back from the great fire, the black death of 1348, the great earthquake of 1667 and so many take overs and assaults on its walls...the greatest occurring during Croatia's War of Independence in 1992. 
• Abolitionist Mandate. Its mandate against slave trading was bought about in 1416.   The walls of Ston were built without slaves. People were paid for their work. 
• Was able to remain fairly independent as a republic until Napolean's conquest in 1808. It fell under French rule until 1813 when the Congress of Vienna gave it to Austria-Hungary where it remained until 1915 when it joined with other countries to become the Kingdom of Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes and later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. In 1943 during WWII it became a puppet state for the Axis, under Italian, then German occupation. After WWII it became a part of the Socialist Federal  Republic of Yugoslavia and a communist state until the end of the War of Independence on November 12, 1995.
• King's Landing in the Game of Thrones. That series was shot here. The filming of this amazing series has boosted tourism in Croatia allowing it to increase its GNP
• and so much more....

Wow! That is a lot of history.  I am just amazed by it all.

Please visit this amazing city if you ever have a chance, especially in the Winter time to help balance out the crowds and the tourist economy for this very special country.  It is worth seeing.  And you do not even have to be a Game of Thrones fan to appreciate it.  

The ghosts that walk the stone walls here, I am sure, will reach out and grab you as they did me. 

Again the pics will not do it justice until I get a chance to bring out the true colours of this place in Lightroom.

All is well.

Dubrovnik Online ( n.d.) Chronology of Dubrovnik fro 600 AD until 1808.https://www.dubrovnik-online.net/english/chronology.php 

Wikepedia ( Sept 12, 2024) WWII in Yugoslavia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_in_Yugoslavia#Axis_invasion_and_dismemberment_of_Yugoslavia

Wikepedia ( ) Hundred Years Croatian-Ottoman War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_Croatian%E2%80%93Ottoman_War#:~:text=Nevertheless%2C%20the%20Ottoman%20Empire%20held,Herzegovina)%20which%20remained%20in%20Ottoman

dubrovnik -travel.net ( ) The History of Dubrovnik. https://www.dubrovnik-travel.net/history/

Prekrasna! Volim Hrvatska!

Hrvatska je prekrasna, apsolutno prekrasna.

 Wow!I did not realize how much I needed a break and how perfect this place was to offer a withering mind and body one. So, so beautiful. And the language is like music to my ears for some reason.  I am learning it. I had to try out the method I used in my book to understand this tongue. Definitely will never be fluent while here but I am recognizing and understanding the alphabet and the phonemes.   Croatian (Hrvatski) is so phonetic.  It is actually written in phonetic symbols....so, unlike English, this version of the roman alphabet ( Gaj) sounds like it looks.  Anyway...Learning a new language (jezik) is a fun way to pass a few hours a day in the sun. Oh...and I am shooting again. What a joy that is.  I got my camera working better...not perfectly...but better. I forgot how good it feels to capture life on this amazing planet in a few stills. I feel so blessd right now.  I am so very grateful....that this human I call "me"  has been given the opportunity to experience all this.  I will do what I can to share it with the world. ( Most of the pictures will have to wait, though, until I get home to post process on Lightroom...all good.)

All is well! Dobra!!

 

Inspiration from the Dalmatian Coast

 What inspires me most to write is the act of traveling.

Tea Obreht, Croatian author

Sitting here on the deck overlooking the Adriatic Sea.  The water is as blue as a clear sky and the horizon is outlined by a series of perfect green hills. Houses of white stone with orange terracotta roofs splatter the landscape on both sides of the sea. Sail boats float on the surface of what appears to be motionless water, their unneeded masts down while the land near the shore offers its bounty.  The world is rich with vegetation. In this yard alone I can see lime trees, pomegranate and olive trees offering up their abundant offspring to us the temporary guests of this ageless coastline.   The sun...bright and golden above my head shines down with its precious rays to warm the skin and the soul so quietly watching from within. The air is warm with a soft breeze blowing a tiny hint of almost scentless Oleander in my direction.   The Croatian tongue heavy with its Slavic roots humming around me feels as comforting and familiar as my own dialect, though I do not understand a word.  It echoes of a time long forgotten but that still vibrates off the ancient stone, reminding all who are blessed enough to hear it of the glory, the pain, and the splendor that will live on for ever.  Yeah, this is a place that soothes the soul, warms the heart and calms the mind emptying it of its ceaseless chatter. “Rest, rest, rest”, the ghosts of many ancestoral lines whisper and I can do nothing but obey.  

Poem Reworked: Elixir Labelled Hope

  Elixir Labelled "Hope" 

The world sold me a sticky syrup...

snake oil...in a bottle labelled "hope".

I was assured by crooked smiles this magic elixir

would assist this "me" to cope; 

it could numb and put an end to pain, 

taking away all fear;

and it could make all moments bothering me

 simply disappear.

 

So, I took the bottle in my shaky hand

and opened up the cap.

I lifted the glass to my mouth

as the world around me clapped.

I swallowed down the sweetened water,

leaving not a drop.

It burned my throat, caught in my chest,

 and made my breathing stop.

Dizzy with the effect of it,

my being began to spin 

and I was pulled so quickly 

from the moment I was in.

I was carried to a pleasant time 

 that existed up ahead,

 a wonderful place of joy and bliss

where fantasies were fed.

I left the pain I knew  in the moment,

the one I left behind

and in this new time Life matched my desires.

It was so very kind.

 

I could have staid in this new place forever 

but the high soon wore away

and once sober, I was pulled back into reality, 

back to the present day.

 

Here, I found myself facing the world of twisted smiles

with an empty bottle in my hand.

 The weight of existence fell on my shoulders

making me heavy once again.

 

Voice trembling with the effort, I held out

the drop-less bottle to ask for more

of the sticky syrup, the magic elixir

I would, like most humans, come to adore.

I knew then that I was addicted to

this thing in the bottle labelled "hope,"

and that if I ingested it daily, 

it would become nothing more than dope.

Whatever it gave humanity, I learned,

 would simply never last.

The solution it offered was not real 

and the high wore off too fast. 

 

A knowing voice inside me whispered

in a tone so soft and sweet

that my preference list was never something

Life was here to meet.

The magic elixir is not what is needed 

in order to get by.

What we need is reality, 

to embrace what's real without the high. 

A sober moment has its blessings

despite the pain and grief,

 acceptance and allowance of what is 

could bring us true relief.

A potion can never save u. 

It cannot give us what we need.

Once we realize the beauty of this moment, 

all humans could be freed.  

 

So, I put the bottle on the counter

And turned to walk away

with hesitant mind I began to open

to the beauty of this day.

I observed as mind surrendered to the truth:

The only way out of pain is through.

I opened my heart to the life in front of me.

There was nothing left to do.

My head then cleared, and the forgotten breath

dropped back into my chest

I found the peace I longed for.

Finally,

my soul could rest.

© Dale-Lyn, 2024

Hope and the Finite

... Never seek for the Eternal in this world of finite things.

Vivekananda

Man I know what it sounds like when someone expresses a lack of hope as I did yesterday. Hopelessness is listed as one of the biggest symptoms of depression.  It is like one has given up on life.  I have, by no means, given up on Life.  I have given up on "me" and that maybe considered a problem to most who still identify as their "me". Though, I too still identify and am certainly struggling to find and discover the light and beauty in some of the moments that have unfolded  to satisfy this "me" (because man...is it whiney and complainy)...and this is where hope normally steps in......I realize that "me" cannot be satisfied because "me" is just a hungry little self concept. Who I am,beyond this "me", cannot be satisfied either by the things of this world. It is seeking the infinite not the finite.It is seeking the eternal not the temporal. 

Hope, is about satisfying "me" not the Soul or spirit or deeper Self...or consciousness ( whatever you wish to call it). Hope is about creating mental images of the temporal, not the eternal; the finite, not the infinite. I know now in the deepest part of me that the finite and temporal may satisfy "me" for the briefest of seconds but it will not satisfy who I really am. My practice is all about satisfying who I really am. Thusly, hope doesn't work for this human anymore. :)

I am going on a trip to Europe tomorrow...something I used to hope for like crazy.  Since I was little I wanted to travel and especially  travel to Europe. So much history! It was always on my vision boards and smart goals lists lol. I used to get so excited about the prospect of any trip away...vibrating and not able to sleep for days before hand dreaming about what it might be like. 

Now, that I no longer wish  to  jump from my moment  into my mind like I did then...now that vision boards have been put away and goal lists have been deleted...and now that the trip is a day away...am I excited, hopeful?  

No  I mean I am not adverse to going...I did the things needed to get ready to go...all the planning and packing etc...but I am not up ahead...I am not already on the airplane or walking the cobblestone streets in my mind.  My body and mind are still here in this moment writing you.  I am not envisioning what it will be like.  I have no expectations.  I am still trying to make the most of this moment...observing as the words come out as I drink my tea. I still have things to do to get ready to go but there is no panic or excitement.

Well isn't it good to get excited?

Of course, it is good to "be" excited. But it is important to remember that  excitement is a flow from inside. "Getting" excited because of some external thing  is not the reality...right? The actual or potential external event simply was a trigger that opened up what was already in us. We come to believe it is the trip that is bringing excitement but it isn't. Enthusiasm and excitement are natural flows of energy that are meant to pour through us freely. We don't think of it like that though...do we? We just know that sometimes we feel good and sometimes we feel not so good. We "assume" that some things make us feel good and somethings make us feel bad. Trips to Europe are things that should make us feel good and excited. We fail to recognize that we are so stuffed with blockages and expectations that the external world is here to satisfy us and make us happy,  that we are constantly looking for temporal and finite things out here to open us enough just so the energy can flow.  Like a trip!

The trip is nothing but an experience this human gets to have...one of a trillion number of potentials. It doesn't make it excited.

So am I excited at all?

The reason why I am not feeling the natural flow of abundant excitement in me right now is because I know, number one, that no finite thing has the power to give me that. So...the idea of this trip doesn't trigger a small opening. I want more than what the world can give me.  I know not to seek the eternal flow in a finite and temporal thing like a trip. Secondly, I am in the process of releasing that which is blocking me from feeling excited and open all the time.  These shifting samskaras that are getting ready for release are still blocking the internal flow of this beautiful natural energy. I am fully aware they are still there. My short term smart goal is to release what is there and to avoid putting anymore samskaras on top of them.  Looking for the trip to make me happy and excited will simply be another samskara slowing down the release of the stuff that so desparetly wants to be cleansed. 

So will I even enjoy this trip?

I do not know what the trip will be like but I know I am at the stage of my waking up where I can observe, appreciate and enjoy the human experience as it unfolds around me. I still have a mind that loves history and natural beauty and culture...so yeah this human and this "soul" will likley enjoy this trip no matter what happens in it. Long term forecast is calling for ten days of rain lol. So be it. I want to experience and enjoy each moment as it unfolds...in whatever way it unfolds. I don't wnat "me" in the way dictating how it should be and how I should feel. That make sense?

It is all good!

Note: Bringing this with me so I might be able to write a bit while there. (I can't imagine not writing for two and half weeks lol)