A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen.
John O'Donohue (http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/blessings-quotes/)
It is all good! It truly is. I seem to be very much reminded lately about the blessings I have all around me. I have a loving family, D., lots of furry companionship and love. I have enough of the material things to be comfortable. I have an opportunity to do what I love: teach yoga, write, photograph and learn all I can about Self discovery. I have so very much to be grateful for!!! So I am not focusing on what I don't have as much or what could be in the future. Right now I am feeling blessed!
Sometimes blessings show up when you need them the most. I had such a wonderful serendipitous reconnection with a very dear old friend during this worrisome adventure. Fifteen years had passed since we seen each other last. I was actually thinking about my old high school friends when I received the message from her, out of the blue, a message I would not normally have even gotten because I am no longer on Facebook. For some reason it came through and we had a chance to reconnect in person. It was like it had only been fifteen days since I last seen her rather than fifteen years. (Well she is such a special person in that regard...always been so positive, open, nonjudgmental, accepting of people unconditionally.) Still, it is a testament to true friendship when you can resume after so many years as if no time had passed between .
That visit reminded me of how blessed I was and changed the downward trajectory my mind was pointed in. I had previously been fretting over my social isolation, feeling sorry for myself that I was not "remembered" ( typical ego trip for me when I am down lol) and also fretting over the fact that I was retired so early and embarrassed about it like I was doing something wrong. Then she pops in, out of nowhere, we have a wonderful visit and she tells me she too is retired. It was like the visit was a little gift from heaven putting my weary mind at ease. I am so grateful for that!
Anyway, I am rambling. I am appreciative!!! Appreciation feels so much better than worry!
It is all goo
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Listening to the Breeze
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.
-Rumi (https://www.poetryverse.com/foreign-poets/rumi-poems/dont-go-to-sleep)
Once again I ignored Rumi's wise suggestion to get up and hear what the breeze is saying. I went back to sleep! Only to awake again and again, and to ignore the breeze each time.
My sleep is disturbed again...I am trying to get a handle on this thing going on so I don't allow mind to drag me into the trenches like it so wants to do. I think if I were to awaken, gotten out of bed and come here at those times, the breeze would have told me: We use the mind, the mind doesn't have to use us! I need to keep reminding myself of that.
My mind likes to analyze. It picks up everything that is going on around me even when I am not consciously aware of it doing so. Then when I need to figure something out...it draws on all those snippets creating a picture or an analysis of a situation. When someone is giving me news or sharing their opinion about something I will pick up how they are standing, the tone of their voice, the position of their arms, what they are saying and why they might be saying it...what have they got to personally gain from it or lose. I won't be aware of what I stored until afterward when I have to make some type of judgment about the situation or a decision. Then it comes back...creating a film reel projection in my head....especially in the middle of the night.
Sigh! All that information is coming back to me now as I deal with accepting what I have been told by someone whose opinion I value and trust...someone whose diagnostic intuition is somewhat of a marvel. The relief I was feeling over the last few days is dissipating like the air from a balloon with a slow leak. It is, I am afraid to admit, being replaced once again with worry.
Ego is saying, "See...you are not out of the woods. You need to worry. Take the "not" out of your bucket list just in case." That worry, like a slow acting poison lingers in the back of my mind even when I rationalize and pull myself away from it. It awakes me at night with its chattering.
I know that worry is a completely senseless emotion not serving anyone! I know that projecting into a future that never comes is not a way to live. I know my mind is just a tool and though thinking is a natural process of this tool, I can rev it down! I know that nothing "out there" can harm what I truly am.
Whatever this is...it offers a wonderful learning opportunity to deal with worry once and for all. It gives me a chance to practice pulling myself away from future and past to present, from thinking to Self, from attachment to what is fleeting, temporary and unpredictable to that which never changes. It is a stretch I know...lol...but that is what I want to be able to do.
Besides, the biggest part of me still doesn't believe this is anything to worry about even if others and ego does. So I won't be putting away my "Not dying bucket list" any time soon.
It is all good!
-Rumi (https://www.poetryverse.com/foreign-poets/rumi-poems/dont-go-to-sleep)
Once again I ignored Rumi's wise suggestion to get up and hear what the breeze is saying. I went back to sleep! Only to awake again and again, and to ignore the breeze each time.
My sleep is disturbed again...I am trying to get a handle on this thing going on so I don't allow mind to drag me into the trenches like it so wants to do. I think if I were to awaken, gotten out of bed and come here at those times, the breeze would have told me: We use the mind, the mind doesn't have to use us! I need to keep reminding myself of that.
My mind likes to analyze. It picks up everything that is going on around me even when I am not consciously aware of it doing so. Then when I need to figure something out...it draws on all those snippets creating a picture or an analysis of a situation. When someone is giving me news or sharing their opinion about something I will pick up how they are standing, the tone of their voice, the position of their arms, what they are saying and why they might be saying it...what have they got to personally gain from it or lose. I won't be aware of what I stored until afterward when I have to make some type of judgment about the situation or a decision. Then it comes back...creating a film reel projection in my head....especially in the middle of the night.
Sigh! All that information is coming back to me now as I deal with accepting what I have been told by someone whose opinion I value and trust...someone whose diagnostic intuition is somewhat of a marvel. The relief I was feeling over the last few days is dissipating like the air from a balloon with a slow leak. It is, I am afraid to admit, being replaced once again with worry.
Ego is saying, "See...you are not out of the woods. You need to worry. Take the "not" out of your bucket list just in case." That worry, like a slow acting poison lingers in the back of my mind even when I rationalize and pull myself away from it. It awakes me at night with its chattering.
I know that worry is a completely senseless emotion not serving anyone! I know that projecting into a future that never comes is not a way to live. I know my mind is just a tool and though thinking is a natural process of this tool, I can rev it down! I know that nothing "out there" can harm what I truly am.
Whatever this is...it offers a wonderful learning opportunity to deal with worry once and for all. It gives me a chance to practice pulling myself away from future and past to present, from thinking to Self, from attachment to what is fleeting, temporary and unpredictable to that which never changes. It is a stretch I know...lol...but that is what I want to be able to do.
Besides, the biggest part of me still doesn't believe this is anything to worry about even if others and ego does. So I won't be putting away my "Not dying bucket list" any time soon.
It is all good!
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Greatest Awareness
The greatest awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of life long learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one.
Scott Peck (http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/spiritual-awakening-quotes/)
What a beautiful day out there! My new "not dying' bucket list requires that I go out for a walk with the dogs once a day in my beloved woods. I will but it won't be a walk. It will be more like a dog sled race without the sled. Instead of crying "Mush! Mush!" I will be screaming, "Stop! Stop!" as I am pulled over the snowy path by arms that painfully get longer and longer. God help us all if we encounter a squirrel or a snowmobile. I will be dragged at record speed down trails not meant for people on foot, through every piece of wild brush, and up and over trees until I am bruised and bloody. (I won't let go!) Walking those three dogs is not a relaxing adventure. :) Oh well! It is on the list!
So what did I learn from my little scare the other day:
Scott Peck (http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/spiritual-awakening-quotes/)
What a beautiful day out there! My new "not dying' bucket list requires that I go out for a walk with the dogs once a day in my beloved woods. I will but it won't be a walk. It will be more like a dog sled race without the sled. Instead of crying "Mush! Mush!" I will be screaming, "Stop! Stop!" as I am pulled over the snowy path by arms that painfully get longer and longer. God help us all if we encounter a squirrel or a snowmobile. I will be dragged at record speed down trails not meant for people on foot, through every piece of wild brush, and up and over trees until I am bruised and bloody. (I won't let go!) Walking those three dogs is not a relaxing adventure. :) Oh well! It is on the list!
So what did I learn from my little scare the other day:
- My mind was the only thing that caused any perceived suffering. (As always). It was not the circumstance, or what anyone else said or did. (All acted exactly as they should have in such a situation. I appreciate the quick judgment and speed at which things took place!). My sense of suffering was related to what my mind did with that circumstance and what I was told. It ran off with it.
- I am a lot closer to being evolved than I was say four years ago. I don't "react" anymore in extreme ways. I never told anyone about my "dying" experience but mentioned it briefly to D. I was going to wait until a biopsy confirmed it. I did go on with my life. So on the outside ...I looked non-flushed, unworried and calm. I did not pull anyone else into my drama. I was more concerned about their experience of this than my own...seeing how they may perceive it in comparison to my own clearer way of seeing it. This tells me that the spiritual excavating I have been doing over the years does work at diminishing suffering, making a better me.
- I am not yet where I want to be. I still have more uncovering to do. Though on the outside I was fine and so much more at ease on the inside than I would have been in the past...I was still suffering. I was still scared. I was still projecting my life into the future. I was still missing the moment I was in.
- I have to renew my practice !!!
- It reminded me that, contrary to popular belief, I have a clear and bright mind when I decide to use it instead of have it use me. I knew what this was, like I knew what the pelvic pain was, and the heart issues were. I can put pieces of pathophysiology together pretty quickly. (Thanks to 14 years of teaching that subject!)
- I can trust myself. ...no matter if others agree or validate my experiences. My body and I have a good communication process. When I am willing to listen I usually "know" what it is saying. (Thanks to 22 years of yoga :)). Of course, ego and my fear of shaming can pop in and get in the way of me hearing what it has to say. Shamer ego is still hanging around wanting to cause trouble.
- I am healing in ways that go way beyond the body!
- I am grateful for the experience! The greatest awareness comes slowly but every bit gained makes the process of finding Self a joyful one!
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The Now That I'm Not Dying List....
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force-that thought rules the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/spiritual-quotes)
The List
I have created a list. I call it "The Now that I'm Not Dying..." list. lol It is like the counter poses we do in yoga to realign and create balance after an intense posture or stretch. I had twisted, bent and locked my mind into a mental version of Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One Legged Pigeon) for four freaking days and I desperately needed to stretch it out in another direction. Thus my list...
On that list, I jotted down a number of the things I want from Life, fears I intend to confront and reminders of the things I did as a child that made me giggle in delight. I took my attention away from the possibility of loss, limitation, ending and put it back on Life's potential and beginning again.
More about the Being
Though I have things on that list that involve physical doing...like perfect a toe loop/axle combination on the ice without breaking a hip, and rock climb a half decent mountain without breaking my neck...I also added things like get to the top of the only pyramid that really matters...Maslow's hierarchy. I want to be Self actualized. I want true peace . I want to embark on a journey inward to discover the loss treasures of the Self. These things really do not require doing. They require being. (and a lot less risk to my 56 year old bones :))
Put Getting to Know the True Self at the Top
I truly, truly know now that nothing out there will fulfill me for long, if at all. Nor will anything out there break me ( my bones maybe but not me.) The top of every bucket list ( and we should all have one regardless if we have a terminal diagnosis or not...because we are all dying someday!!!) should be getting to know Self. Without that compass pointing inward, you will only find yourself lost and unfulfilled no matter how many planes you jump out of or how many triple axels you nail.
Hmmm! My little scare (and yes I was scared even though I wrote that I wasn't :)) has taught me that. I wrote an article about breaking our life down into 24 hour increments and I wrote a chapter in my book about living as if you only have a month to live because I believe we need to make the most of the precious life we have. It will not last forever. Yet I forgot what I was teaching...for a moment I forgot...but I am back on track now.
All is well.
http://www.globalharmonycrew.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-life-the-24-hour-life/
Ralph Waldo Emerson (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/spiritual-quotes)
The List
I have created a list. I call it "The Now that I'm Not Dying..." list. lol It is like the counter poses we do in yoga to realign and create balance after an intense posture or stretch. I had twisted, bent and locked my mind into a mental version of Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One Legged Pigeon) for four freaking days and I desperately needed to stretch it out in another direction. Thus my list...
On that list, I jotted down a number of the things I want from Life, fears I intend to confront and reminders of the things I did as a child that made me giggle in delight. I took my attention away from the possibility of loss, limitation, ending and put it back on Life's potential and beginning again.
More about the Being
Though I have things on that list that involve physical doing...like perfect a toe loop/axle combination on the ice without breaking a hip, and rock climb a half decent mountain without breaking my neck...I also added things like get to the top of the only pyramid that really matters...Maslow's hierarchy. I want to be Self actualized. I want true peace . I want to embark on a journey inward to discover the loss treasures of the Self. These things really do not require doing. They require being. (and a lot less risk to my 56 year old bones :))
Put Getting to Know the True Self at the Top
I truly, truly know now that nothing out there will fulfill me for long, if at all. Nor will anything out there break me ( my bones maybe but not me.) The top of every bucket list ( and we should all have one regardless if we have a terminal diagnosis or not...because we are all dying someday!!!) should be getting to know Self. Without that compass pointing inward, you will only find yourself lost and unfulfilled no matter how many planes you jump out of or how many triple axels you nail.
Hmmm! My little scare (and yes I was scared even though I wrote that I wasn't :)) has taught me that. I wrote an article about breaking our life down into 24 hour increments and I wrote a chapter in my book about living as if you only have a month to live because I believe we need to make the most of the precious life we have. It will not last forever. Yet I forgot what I was teaching...for a moment I forgot...but I am back on track now.
All is well.
http://www.globalharmonycrew.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-life-the-24-hour-life/
Monday, November 25, 2019
Four Days of Dying
Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.
Buddha (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fear-quotes)
OMG! I have to laugh at myself. I laugh and laugh and laugh until I cry! I have not lived the past four days wisely. :)
The Movie: Four Days of Dying
Though I was far from panicking or being remotely dramatic on the outside, since Wednesday evening, I was actually starring in and directing a whole Block Buster in my head lol. One where the brave and tragic heroine would face yet another major obstacle, her greatest yet, where her new found faith would be tested and where she would, like a true and selfless martyr, put aside all remains of "little me" to focus on making the world better for all, in the remaining time she has left. I would have gotten an Oscar for my mental performance, let me tell ya. I was superb!!
I was so very sure my life was going to change today big time! I thought the radiologist was going to look down at me and say, "That's it lady...you are a goner. Go home and get your affairs in order." To which I was going to respond in a perfectly rehearsed Scarlet O'Hara way, "I already have!"
Oh the mind, the mind, the mind. It is such a funny entity to watch.
Missing Moments
In the last four days I have projected my whole life onto the moment that happened at about 1045 today. It was like my mind cut everything out beyond that moment other than how I was going to tell my loved ones, how I was going to proceed with this life altering change. Everything else was petty: the weather...my sleep...Christmas...my yoga classes, a social event D. and I were planning to attend on Saturday...what my house looked like...everything that was not attached to that one imagined moment was irrelevant.
So that also meant that each of those moments of the last four days that I was actually in was also irrelevant. They were just moments I had to get through until I got the big news. I wasted precious time "dying" when I could have been living and the only place that living and dying happened was in my bloody head. OMG!
The Background Information
I knew what this was. Two weeks ago I was suddenly ill with something and though my medically orientated mind was saying, "Go in Lady, you need an antibiotic."...the other voice within me that presumes shaming for going in for nothing said, "No! No! Don't you dare!" I didn't want any more embarrassing false alarms or unnecessary tests on my file to lead to even more presumptions about me misusing the system. Besides, I knew how to handle such an infection. And I did. The infection went away but I was left with a lump, different than the other kinds, I get.
At an appointment I had previously scheduled for something totally different ...I mentioned the infection and the subsequent lump.....I wasn't going to mention it...but I did. And that led to the discovery of something that looked very suspicious at that time. An urgent request for Radiology was made. My drama loving ego mind was then ripe and ready to ignore my gut knowing of what was going on, and to hear that it could be more than that. It ran off with that suspicion , taking the possibility to a whole other level.
And I'm off....
So there it was. Off I go on my four day dying adventure that takes me to the climax of precisely 1045 this morning. At that overly anticipated and dreaded moment, where the music becomes slow and mellow in the background, when the tears fall down the bystanders face and the heroine clears her throat in preparation for her profoundly wise monologue, I discover that all the lump was, was what I thought it was...a left over from the infection. Not only am I not dying physically, I have had another unnecessary test added to my enormous file anyway and most sadly, I lost four days of precious life dying in my head.
Why?
I ignored my gut, my wiser Self that was perceiving only life in the present moment and I listened to my ego that was expecting only death in some future moment up ahead. Like really???? When am I going to learn?
Anything that takes us away from the present moment...whether it is through the fear of some ominous upcoming news or the excitement of an approaching happy life event....is ego created! Don't listen. Don't follow it where it wants to take you.
Life ( or death) is not up there...it is in the only time it can ever be in...right here and right now. Get out of your head and live wisely now!!!!
(Some positive things have come from today's experience and I will write about them at another time).
All is indeed well!!!!
Buddha (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fear-quotes)
OMG! I have to laugh at myself. I laugh and laugh and laugh until I cry! I have not lived the past four days wisely. :)
The Movie: Four Days of Dying
Though I was far from panicking or being remotely dramatic on the outside, since Wednesday evening, I was actually starring in and directing a whole Block Buster in my head lol. One where the brave and tragic heroine would face yet another major obstacle, her greatest yet, where her new found faith would be tested and where she would, like a true and selfless martyr, put aside all remains of "little me" to focus on making the world better for all, in the remaining time she has left. I would have gotten an Oscar for my mental performance, let me tell ya. I was superb!!
I was so very sure my life was going to change today big time! I thought the radiologist was going to look down at me and say, "That's it lady...you are a goner. Go home and get your affairs in order." To which I was going to respond in a perfectly rehearsed Scarlet O'Hara way, "I already have!"
Oh the mind, the mind, the mind. It is such a funny entity to watch.
Missing Moments
In the last four days I have projected my whole life onto the moment that happened at about 1045 today. It was like my mind cut everything out beyond that moment other than how I was going to tell my loved ones, how I was going to proceed with this life altering change. Everything else was petty: the weather...my sleep...Christmas...my yoga classes, a social event D. and I were planning to attend on Saturday...what my house looked like...everything that was not attached to that one imagined moment was irrelevant.
So that also meant that each of those moments of the last four days that I was actually in was also irrelevant. They were just moments I had to get through until I got the big news. I wasted precious time "dying" when I could have been living and the only place that living and dying happened was in my bloody head. OMG!
The Background Information
I knew what this was. Two weeks ago I was suddenly ill with something and though my medically orientated mind was saying, "Go in Lady, you need an antibiotic."...the other voice within me that presumes shaming for going in for nothing said, "No! No! Don't you dare!" I didn't want any more embarrassing false alarms or unnecessary tests on my file to lead to even more presumptions about me misusing the system. Besides, I knew how to handle such an infection. And I did. The infection went away but I was left with a lump, different than the other kinds, I get.
At an appointment I had previously scheduled for something totally different ...I mentioned the infection and the subsequent lump.....I wasn't going to mention it...but I did. And that led to the discovery of something that looked very suspicious at that time. An urgent request for Radiology was made. My drama loving ego mind was then ripe and ready to ignore my gut knowing of what was going on, and to hear that it could be more than that. It ran off with that suspicion , taking the possibility to a whole other level.
And I'm off....
So there it was. Off I go on my four day dying adventure that takes me to the climax of precisely 1045 this morning. At that overly anticipated and dreaded moment, where the music becomes slow and mellow in the background, when the tears fall down the bystanders face and the heroine clears her throat in preparation for her profoundly wise monologue, I discover that all the lump was, was what I thought it was...a left over from the infection. Not only am I not dying physically, I have had another unnecessary test added to my enormous file anyway and most sadly, I lost four days of precious life dying in my head.
Why?
I ignored my gut, my wiser Self that was perceiving only life in the present moment and I listened to my ego that was expecting only death in some future moment up ahead. Like really???? When am I going to learn?
Anything that takes us away from the present moment...whether it is through the fear of some ominous upcoming news or the excitement of an approaching happy life event....is ego created! Don't listen. Don't follow it where it wants to take you.
Life ( or death) is not up there...it is in the only time it can ever be in...right here and right now. Get out of your head and live wisely now!!!!
(Some positive things have come from today's experience and I will write about them at another time).
All is indeed well!!!!
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Fear's Prison
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is the freedom from fear.
-Aung San Suuky ( an introductory quote from Day 21 of Deepak Chopra's meditation series, The Path to Empowerment)
Hmmm! I am going to add that quote to my book somehow...the one I have out there looking for a home. :) Anyway, it suits me today as I await on tomorrow's verdict. I am not afraid. Oh ego keeps chiming in with, "You should be afraid. You should be very, very afraid!" I just say to ego, "Shut the front door...you annoying little chatter box!!!! I am not listening!"
It is like all the things I have had to endure, all my learning, all my mistakes :), and all my growing pains have led me to this point in my life. I can now look upon something that would once have me cowering in fear and see it for what it really is...not that big of a deal! The outcome will be whatever it will be. I am so grateful for that perspective. It is like I have been given a key that has opened the prison door I have been hiding behind for much too long.
All is well!
-Aung San Suuky ( an introductory quote from Day 21 of Deepak Chopra's meditation series, The Path to Empowerment)
Hmmm! I am going to add that quote to my book somehow...the one I have out there looking for a home. :) Anyway, it suits me today as I await on tomorrow's verdict. I am not afraid. Oh ego keeps chiming in with, "You should be afraid. You should be very, very afraid!" I just say to ego, "Shut the front door...you annoying little chatter box!!!! I am not listening!"
It is like all the things I have had to endure, all my learning, all my mistakes :), and all my growing pains have led me to this point in my life. I can now look upon something that would once have me cowering in fear and see it for what it really is...not that big of a deal! The outcome will be whatever it will be. I am so grateful for that perspective. It is like I have been given a key that has opened the prison door I have been hiding behind for much too long.
All is well!
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Reality is Personal
Reality is always personal.
-Deepak Chopra
Hmmm! Do you agree with that or are you still under the impression that there is only one reality we all share? Do you believe that the world is just a certain way and if we do not see it the way the majority does, we are psychotic? Or do you suppose all the ancient masters are right...that reality is an internal experience that differs from individual to individual?
I am looking out at a tree under a grey November sky. Is that tree real outside or inside me?
My eyes pick up the photons of light around the tree and those rays pass through my cornea, are bent and refracted a certain way depending on my lens physiology and are sent to my retina. There the rods and cones do their thing and a visual message is created and sent to the optic nerve. It then travels along a sorting out pathway and is finally taken to the occipital lobe of the brain where "the tree" becomes "my" reality. I perceive a lovely little tree with some remaining red leaves on it, under a silvery November sky with precious light escaping through. I perceive the world at that moment as beautiful.
I have a perception of reality. Is it yours?
Say you come along and you are near sighted while I am far sighted. You are colour blind and red just looks like dreary old brown to you. You also have a thousand things going on in that head of yours ...making you feel stressed and depressed. Is your reality of that tree going to be the same as mine? Probably not. At that moment you may look out at that tree and see a scrawny little dying thing under a dreary dark sky, to justify your present moment impression of the world as being so darn depressing.
Your perception of reality was not like mine.
Say...another person comes along and they are completely blind. They do not see the tree or the sky and no one tells them about it. All they see when they look in the direction of it is darkness. so what is real: their darkness or the tree?
Reality is personal. It takes place within us, not outside us. So guess what that means?
You and you alone are responsible for your version of reality. If it isn't the way you want it to be don't go around chopping down dreary little trees and complaining about dark and dreary skies making your life miserable. Go inside, take ownership of what you see and change what is going on in your mind. Okay, okay...you cannot fix your colour blindness maybe but know that tree is a heck of a lot more than how you see it. You are just perceiving it and the world outside of you in your own unique way. But ultimately it is not outside of you, it is inside of you. Reality is personal.
If we can change what is going on inside us, we will ultimately change what is going on outside of us. If I choose to see beauty, (even if I can't see a thing), the world will be beautiful. If I choose to see dark and dreary, it will be dark and dreary.
Choose to be optimistic. It feels better. Dalai Lama
All is well.
-Deepak Chopra
Hmmm! Do you agree with that or are you still under the impression that there is only one reality we all share? Do you believe that the world is just a certain way and if we do not see it the way the majority does, we are psychotic? Or do you suppose all the ancient masters are right...that reality is an internal experience that differs from individual to individual?
I am looking out at a tree under a grey November sky. Is that tree real outside or inside me?
My eyes pick up the photons of light around the tree and those rays pass through my cornea, are bent and refracted a certain way depending on my lens physiology and are sent to my retina. There the rods and cones do their thing and a visual message is created and sent to the optic nerve. It then travels along a sorting out pathway and is finally taken to the occipital lobe of the brain where "the tree" becomes "my" reality. I perceive a lovely little tree with some remaining red leaves on it, under a silvery November sky with precious light escaping through. I perceive the world at that moment as beautiful.
I have a perception of reality. Is it yours?
Say you come along and you are near sighted while I am far sighted. You are colour blind and red just looks like dreary old brown to you. You also have a thousand things going on in that head of yours ...making you feel stressed and depressed. Is your reality of that tree going to be the same as mine? Probably not. At that moment you may look out at that tree and see a scrawny little dying thing under a dreary dark sky, to justify your present moment impression of the world as being so darn depressing.
Your perception of reality was not like mine.
Say...another person comes along and they are completely blind. They do not see the tree or the sky and no one tells them about it. All they see when they look in the direction of it is darkness. so what is real: their darkness or the tree?
Reality is personal. It takes place within us, not outside us. So guess what that means?
You and you alone are responsible for your version of reality. If it isn't the way you want it to be don't go around chopping down dreary little trees and complaining about dark and dreary skies making your life miserable. Go inside, take ownership of what you see and change what is going on in your mind. Okay, okay...you cannot fix your colour blindness maybe but know that tree is a heck of a lot more than how you see it. You are just perceiving it and the world outside of you in your own unique way. But ultimately it is not outside of you, it is inside of you. Reality is personal.
If we can change what is going on inside us, we will ultimately change what is going on outside of us. If I choose to see beauty, (even if I can't see a thing), the world will be beautiful. If I choose to see dark and dreary, it will be dark and dreary.
Choose to be optimistic. It feels better. Dalai Lama
All is well.
Friday, November 22, 2019
Undisturbed Mind
Like water that can clearly mirror the skies and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed.
Indra Devi (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/undisturbed-quotes)
It is almost like we have two people in our heads, isn't it? Some of us even appear to have more when we notice the fragmented nature of our self concept.
There is ego who is always chattering on about nothing but convincing us how important it all is, always frenzied, wanting things a certain way, trying to fix or control things, constantly telling us what we should or should not be doing and pointing out what is "right" and what is "wrong" or what is "good" or "bad" about Life. He is the guy we usually listen to and come to see as who we are. And he is the part of us so often "disturbed."
Beneath him, in the deeper levels of our Being is a wiser Self that doesn't chatter on, has no need to fix or judge Life as being one way or another. It is the part of us that peacefully accepts Life for what it is. It doesn't get disturbed. This is also the part so few of us know, that so few of us tap into for more than a moment or two accidentally or without even realizing we are doing so. When we do connect to this part of us...we "feel" something warm, loving, open, and accepting of all without judgment. We feel at peace with Life and it is so nice...but too often it slips away too quickly.
The busy little ego mind then convinces us that the warm peaceful feeling was something it created by "making" all the things in the outside world to go exactly right. In truth that moment of peace had nothing to do with the ego or the outside world. It had to do with opening up and connecting with who we really are.
Every time we don't feel peace, we don't feel warm and open, we don't feel compassion and love...is because ego is standing in the way of us experiencing this deeper Self. Ego wants all the glory, all the credit for any good feeling we may have and it points the finger at the outside world, at others when things do not go our way and we get "disturbed". When ego is in charge , we are often disturbed.
In order to not be disturbed...we do not need to "fix things out there" ( that is ego's motto). We need to fix them "in here." We simply need to find our true Self beneath all of ego's crap.
Hmmm! Monday may mark a turning point in my life. And instead of turning to ego to prepare me for it with all its warnings, and its drama, its "what ifs" and its frenzied need to fix and control, I am making a conscious effort to seek the guidance of my higher Self. I want to approach this with peace and acceptance. I want to approach this with my beautiful undisturbed mind and I will.
All is well!
Indra Devi (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/undisturbed-quotes)
It is almost like we have two people in our heads, isn't it? Some of us even appear to have more when we notice the fragmented nature of our self concept.
There is ego who is always chattering on about nothing but convincing us how important it all is, always frenzied, wanting things a certain way, trying to fix or control things, constantly telling us what we should or should not be doing and pointing out what is "right" and what is "wrong" or what is "good" or "bad" about Life. He is the guy we usually listen to and come to see as who we are. And he is the part of us so often "disturbed."
Beneath him, in the deeper levels of our Being is a wiser Self that doesn't chatter on, has no need to fix or judge Life as being one way or another. It is the part of us that peacefully accepts Life for what it is. It doesn't get disturbed. This is also the part so few of us know, that so few of us tap into for more than a moment or two accidentally or without even realizing we are doing so. When we do connect to this part of us...we "feel" something warm, loving, open, and accepting of all without judgment. We feel at peace with Life and it is so nice...but too often it slips away too quickly.
The busy little ego mind then convinces us that the warm peaceful feeling was something it created by "making" all the things in the outside world to go exactly right. In truth that moment of peace had nothing to do with the ego or the outside world. It had to do with opening up and connecting with who we really are.
Every time we don't feel peace, we don't feel warm and open, we don't feel compassion and love...is because ego is standing in the way of us experiencing this deeper Self. Ego wants all the glory, all the credit for any good feeling we may have and it points the finger at the outside world, at others when things do not go our way and we get "disturbed". When ego is in charge , we are often disturbed.
In order to not be disturbed...we do not need to "fix things out there" ( that is ego's motto). We need to fix them "in here." We simply need to find our true Self beneath all of ego's crap.
Hmmm! Monday may mark a turning point in my life. And instead of turning to ego to prepare me for it with all its warnings, and its drama, its "what ifs" and its frenzied need to fix and control, I am making a conscious effort to seek the guidance of my higher Self. I want to approach this with peace and acceptance. I want to approach this with my beautiful undisturbed mind and I will.
All is well!
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
From The Inside Out
The creative force flows from the inside out.
-Deepak Chopra
I am on day 17 (or is it 18?)( I have lost all track of time lately), of Deepak Chopra's 21 day Meditation series, The Path To Empowerment. Anyway in this video he speaks of four A's that can help guide us to empowerment. I, coincidentally, have written about some A's way back in an entry a year or so ago. I mention that now because I think it so cool how what I learn or come to see as real, gets validated by experts later on. I have used these four A's before in another context(getting rid of ego identification). The four A's discussed in the video, Four Aspects of Total Empowerment are:
Miss my girl.
My blog of A's: https://dale-lynwritin.blogspot.com/2018/09/getting-beyong-egoic-identification.html
-Deepak Chopra
I am on day 17 (or is it 18?)( I have lost all track of time lately), of Deepak Chopra's 21 day Meditation series, The Path To Empowerment. Anyway in this video he speaks of four A's that can help guide us to empowerment. I, coincidentally, have written about some A's way back in an entry a year or so ago. I mention that now because I think it so cool how what I learn or come to see as real, gets validated by experts later on. I have used these four A's before in another context(getting rid of ego identification). The four A's discussed in the video, Four Aspects of Total Empowerment are:
- Awareness, which is being conscious of what is going on around you and in you. Of course our busy monkey minds and our ceaseless need to "do" can take us from awareness. Make it a point to be aware of your present environment by using your eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodily sensations to create awareness of this right here, right now experience.
- Attention. Once we gain awareness we pay attention...focus our will on keeping that awareness for as long as we can. We focus on that which will keep us anchored in the present moment like our breath, or how our body is sensing and feeling at this moment.
- Alignment. Instead of pushing against this wonderful creative force, this energy of chi or prana...whatever you wish to call it...we need to line up with it. It naturally wants the best for the world...so we set our goals and our direction through life with that in mind. We go with Its flow, instead of "little me's" agenda. We open ourselves up so it can flow through us easily.
- Allowing. Hmmm! This is the biggest one I believe. We allow this force to use us and flow through us. We allow Life to be Life without closing up to it or struggling and fighting against it. There is something so peaceful and healing in allowing. Let's learn to say "yes" to Life, rather than "No...not now."
Miss my girl.
My blog of A's: https://dale-lynwritin.blogspot.com/2018/09/getting-beyong-egoic-identification.html
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Changing the World Begins with Changing You
If you want to change the world, first try to improve and bring about change within yourself. That will help change your family. From there it just gets bigger and bigger. Everything we do has some effect, some impact.
-Dalai Lama
It all starts with the individual. You know that eh?
So if you are on a mission to make the world a better place by getting rid of all its vices, putting an end to violence and war, and preventing further damage to the planet...give yourself a big pat on the back. Your intentions are wonderful. But ...I am sad to say...you won't make one lick of lasting difference ...until you clean up the numbing, the violence and the pollution that is in you...more specifically in your mind. All world change starts with you.
What vices are you using to keep you asleep and numb enough to process through your day? What types of activity have you got whirling around in that head of yours that keeps you at war with the world, yourself and others? What type of smog is covering the pure essence of who you are? Be aware of that first. Close your eyes to the perceived mess "out there" and look inside to what really needs some cleaning up.
And I firmly believe, once we do that, we will see the world in a whole new way and things may just fall into place.
All is well
Sunday, November 17, 2019
In our best interest
...even from the most rigorous scientific perspective, unselfishness and concern for others are not only in our own best interests but also, in a sense, innate to our biological nature.
-Dalia Lama
Hmm! We go through life creating and maintaining this idea of a little self we use to make sense of our world with. We attempt to give it all we believe is necessary to make it happy: material abundance, recognition, special people, and some form of socially determined success. We build borders and walls around it, separating it from others. We defend it and we attack to protect it. In so doing....we are very "little self -centered but we are not Self centered.
Say what?
This little self we created is just an idea of "me, my, and mine". It isn't real. It is just a mental construct. Who you really are is real and exists beyond anything your mind can create. This being is not a little self but the Self.
Sometimes we tap into Self and feel an "Oh Wow!" We feel love and peace and joy. We have this overwhelming openness and compassion for everything and everyone. This is the experiencing of a reality in the present moment, here and now. We have tapped into our innate biological nature. This is who we are and this is how we are supposed to feel.
But.... (you knew there was going to be a but, right???)....
We often can not feel Self because the little self has us pointed in the wrong direction, away from who we really are. We spend most of our lives with our backs turned away from this pure and natural state of being. All the things we think and do to keep "little self" going, get in the way of us experiencing this reality of who we are. We become selfish and our concern for others gets muffled by our need to provide for and protect the demanding "me".
When we are feeling unselfishness and concern for others we are operating from the true Self. It is within our best interest to do so because it feels amazing to be who we are!
All is well
-Dalia Lama
Hmm! We go through life creating and maintaining this idea of a little self we use to make sense of our world with. We attempt to give it all we believe is necessary to make it happy: material abundance, recognition, special people, and some form of socially determined success. We build borders and walls around it, separating it from others. We defend it and we attack to protect it. In so doing....we are very "little self -centered but we are not Self centered.
Say what?
This little self we created is just an idea of "me, my, and mine". It isn't real. It is just a mental construct. Who you really are is real and exists beyond anything your mind can create. This being is not a little self but the Self.
Sometimes we tap into Self and feel an "Oh Wow!" We feel love and peace and joy. We have this overwhelming openness and compassion for everything and everyone. This is the experiencing of a reality in the present moment, here and now. We have tapped into our innate biological nature. This is who we are and this is how we are supposed to feel.
But.... (you knew there was going to be a but, right???)....
We often can not feel Self because the little self has us pointed in the wrong direction, away from who we really are. We spend most of our lives with our backs turned away from this pure and natural state of being. All the things we think and do to keep "little self" going, get in the way of us experiencing this reality of who we are. We become selfish and our concern for others gets muffled by our need to provide for and protect the demanding "me".
When we are feeling unselfishness and concern for others we are operating from the true Self. It is within our best interest to do so because it feels amazing to be who we are!
All is well
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Hurry Slowly
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender to the attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace.
The Bhagavad Gita
Hmmm! What does that beautiful piece of wisdom from the Gita mean and how does it apply to our practical lives?
Knowledge...conceptually knowing why we do what we do... is better than blindly and numbly going around doing one activity after another without our awareness of its purpose and only because everyone else is doing it. Yet...meditation is better than conceptual knowledge. Being able to put aside "thinking" for the true understanding that comes with "Self" awareness is meditation. But even better than meditation is this surrendering, this letting go of a need to control the outcomes, this acceptance of Life as it is. This is what brings peace.
We don't stop doing and we don't stop "being" ( meditating) we just find the balancing point between the two which is surrender to what is.
There is an old Latin phrase that helps us to remember to keep balance between the doing and the being: Fetina Lente or "Hurry Slowly".
All is well!
The Bhagavad Gita
Hmmm! What does that beautiful piece of wisdom from the Gita mean and how does it apply to our practical lives?
Knowledge...conceptually knowing why we do what we do... is better than blindly and numbly going around doing one activity after another without our awareness of its purpose and only because everyone else is doing it. Yet...meditation is better than conceptual knowledge. Being able to put aside "thinking" for the true understanding that comes with "Self" awareness is meditation. But even better than meditation is this surrendering, this letting go of a need to control the outcomes, this acceptance of Life as it is. This is what brings peace.
We don't stop doing and we don't stop "being" ( meditating) we just find the balancing point between the two which is surrender to what is.
There is an old Latin phrase that helps us to remember to keep balance between the doing and the being: Fetina Lente or "Hurry Slowly".
All is well!
Friday, November 15, 2019
Are you standing back and judging?
To see, to experience, and to honor is to participate in life instead of standing back and judging it.
Michael A. Singer ( the untethered soul (2007) New Harbinger/Noetic, page 177)
Once again, I come here not knowing what to write about...allowing whatever wants to surface to surface.
Today....I guess I am talking once again about suffering and happiness. I cannot stress enough the major point of all my rantings: The outside world, what happens to us or around us is not responsible for any suffering we may experience. It is our own mental response to it that determines if we suffer.
When Life throws you a curve ball what do you do with it?...That determines if you will be so called "happy" despite or if you will suffer because of it.
So what do you do when you lose your job, your partner, your reputation, your health or all your material belongings because of some outside force?
Michael A. Singer ( the untethered soul (2007) New Harbinger/Noetic, page 177)
Once again, I come here not knowing what to write about...allowing whatever wants to surface to surface.
Today....I guess I am talking once again about suffering and happiness. I cannot stress enough the major point of all my rantings: The outside world, what happens to us or around us is not responsible for any suffering we may experience. It is our own mental response to it that determines if we suffer.
When Life throws you a curve ball what do you do with it?...That determines if you will be so called "happy" despite or if you will suffer because of it.
So what do you do when you lose your job, your partner, your reputation, your health or all your material belongings because of some outside force?
- Do you spend months, years or decades feeling angry or blaming and attacking something out there or do you quietly assess your responsibility in what has happened?
- Do you seek ceaselessly to get it all back believing you are nothing without it or do you question quietly Who am I without this thing I lost? Does it define me? Does it make me? Can I "be" without it?
- Do you fight, struggle and resist the parts of it you have no control over or do you quietly sigh and say to yourself , "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference?"
- Do you use it to determine how your future will be, and create walls and defenses to prevent it from happening again or do you stay peacefully and naturally open to whatever life gives you?
- Do you stay stuck in the story of it and therefore in the past or do you live in the moment without the story interfering?
- Do you look at this very moment, at life with trepidation or do you embrace it with awe and curiosity?
- Do you cling to these event or let them go?
Thursday, November 14, 2019
The Main Source of Inner Strength
A heart full of love and compassion is the main source of inner strength, willpower, and mental tranquility.
-Dalai Lama ( desktop calendar, Andrew McMeel, 2018)
Keep your heart and mind open if you want to feel Life. Well that is what I take that to mean. Or as Michael Singer would say...just stop closing. We miss too much when we do.
To understand all, is to forgive all. (from Deepak Chopra's meditation series)
All is well.
-Dalai Lama ( desktop calendar, Andrew McMeel, 2018)
Keep your heart and mind open if you want to feel Life. Well that is what I take that to mean. Or as Michael Singer would say...just stop closing. We miss too much when we do.
To understand all, is to forgive all. (from Deepak Chopra's meditation series)
All is well.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Universal Responsibility
...Universal responsibility is ...is the realization that even our enemy is entirely motivated by the quest for happiness.
-Dalai Lama
We are all seeking "happiness"...which I personally(and hesitantly) describe as a freedom from suffering and a certain contentment with life...whether we know it or not. Even those who purposefully cause us harm or distress are seeking it, in misguided ways. They somehow may misconstrue that if they make us suffer, unhappy, or eliminate us altogether they will succeed at their personal or collective mission, which in turn would make them happy. Their ultimate goal, however , is not to cause harm to others or the planet but their own happiness. They are seeking a freedom from suffering (maybe our enemy truly believes we are the cause of that suffering) and a certain contentment with life (maybe they erroneously believe that the world will be a better place without us in it) . It certainly is more than a little crazy but we are all a little crazy, are we not, when we undertake this pursuit of happiness?
Many of us are persistently and relentlessly seeking it indirectly through the attainment of worldly success, material gain, and recognition from others. We keep pursuing it and pursuing it "out there" and wonder why we never find it in a lasting way, other than for a few moments of "Oh yeah! I did it!" which is too often followed by a "Now what?"
What the attacker succeeds at doing will not bring happiness for more than a brief moment of accomplishment, achievement and recognition amongst his allies with the same mission...but not happiness. What the majority of us do in our outer world seeking, does not bring happiness either.
Happiness...(man I really don't like that word for some reason lol) ...is not found out there. It is not found in attack or defense, in what we do or what we gain from the outside world. This sense of suffering is really not found there either so the outer world will not eliminate our suffering or make our life worthy of contentment. Life is already worthy and we are the ones responsible for eliminating our own suffering. Both suffering and this so called happiness are products of the mind.
Our thinking has created a veil over the truth of who we really are beneath these notions of suffering or happiness. Who we are is peace, joy, love. We already have everything we need to be happy and life, no matter what it throws at us, cannot harm or hurt this inner being. The more we pursue our happiness elsewhere, the more we will suffer and the farther away from the contentment we seek, we will be.
Hmmm! It is our universal responsibility to realize that we all want happiness even if we go about it in a less than effective way. Redirecting our own personal missions inward is a start. If we exemplify that happiness is found there and not in attack or outer world pursuit, than maybe the world will follow suit.
All is well.
-Dalai Lama
We are all seeking "happiness"...which I personally(and hesitantly) describe as a freedom from suffering and a certain contentment with life...whether we know it or not. Even those who purposefully cause us harm or distress are seeking it, in misguided ways. They somehow may misconstrue that if they make us suffer, unhappy, or eliminate us altogether they will succeed at their personal or collective mission, which in turn would make them happy. Their ultimate goal, however , is not to cause harm to others or the planet but their own happiness. They are seeking a freedom from suffering (maybe our enemy truly believes we are the cause of that suffering) and a certain contentment with life (maybe they erroneously believe that the world will be a better place without us in it) . It certainly is more than a little crazy but we are all a little crazy, are we not, when we undertake this pursuit of happiness?
Many of us are persistently and relentlessly seeking it indirectly through the attainment of worldly success, material gain, and recognition from others. We keep pursuing it and pursuing it "out there" and wonder why we never find it in a lasting way, other than for a few moments of "Oh yeah! I did it!" which is too often followed by a "Now what?"
What the attacker succeeds at doing will not bring happiness for more than a brief moment of accomplishment, achievement and recognition amongst his allies with the same mission...but not happiness. What the majority of us do in our outer world seeking, does not bring happiness either.
Happiness...(man I really don't like that word for some reason lol) ...is not found out there. It is not found in attack or defense, in what we do or what we gain from the outside world. This sense of suffering is really not found there either so the outer world will not eliminate our suffering or make our life worthy of contentment. Life is already worthy and we are the ones responsible for eliminating our own suffering. Both suffering and this so called happiness are products of the mind.
Our thinking has created a veil over the truth of who we really are beneath these notions of suffering or happiness. Who we are is peace, joy, love. We already have everything we need to be happy and life, no matter what it throws at us, cannot harm or hurt this inner being. The more we pursue our happiness elsewhere, the more we will suffer and the farther away from the contentment we seek, we will be.
Hmmm! It is our universal responsibility to realize that we all want happiness even if we go about it in a less than effective way. Redirecting our own personal missions inward is a start. If we exemplify that happiness is found there and not in attack or outer world pursuit, than maybe the world will follow suit.
All is well.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Security Systems
The most secure person is not the one with the latest, greatest, most technologically advanced security systems; it is the one with no defenses.
Deepak Chopra (loosely paraphrased from the 21 day Meditation series, Path to Empowerment, Chopra Meditation Center)
Hmmm! I think and write a lot about fear in all its many forms, from worry to panic, and I cannot agree with Deepak Chopra more on this truth. So many of us, when we feel insecure and vulnerable, will seek to build fortresses around ourselves for protection. We may invest resources, time, energy, or our own authenticity to build actual walls or images we can hide behind. We end up avoiding the thing we "perceive" we are afraid of, when the best way to handle it is to step through it. The less walls we have around us; the less we struggle and fight against fear or hide from it, like so many of us do, the sooner we will realize that fear isn't necessary. It is just a tool used by the ego to keep us stuck. Ego wants us stuck and small so it can look powerful. Ego isn't powerful; fear isn't powerful. We just "believe" it is. Once we stop avoiding it and simply learn to sit with it ...we will see fear for what it is and we will realize it never had the power . Who we truly are does.
All is well!
Deepak Chopra (loosely paraphrased from the 21 day Meditation series, Path to Empowerment, Chopra Meditation Center)
Hmmm! I think and write a lot about fear in all its many forms, from worry to panic, and I cannot agree with Deepak Chopra more on this truth. So many of us, when we feel insecure and vulnerable, will seek to build fortresses around ourselves for protection. We may invest resources, time, energy, or our own authenticity to build actual walls or images we can hide behind. We end up avoiding the thing we "perceive" we are afraid of, when the best way to handle it is to step through it. The less walls we have around us; the less we struggle and fight against fear or hide from it, like so many of us do, the sooner we will realize that fear isn't necessary. It is just a tool used by the ego to keep us stuck. Ego wants us stuck and small so it can look powerful. Ego isn't powerful; fear isn't powerful. We just "believe" it is. Once we stop avoiding it and simply learn to sit with it ...we will see fear for what it is and we will realize it never had the power . Who we truly are does.
All is well!
Monday, November 11, 2019
Dreams
Your vision will become clear only after you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
Carl Jung (https://www.azquotes.com/author/7659-Carl_Jung/tag/dream)
I dreamt a poem last night as I often do. It was coming through me, told to me, forming so quickly I had no time to think about it. That is the way it usually is. It is so beautiful when I experience that in a dream...I can't explain it. I tell myself in that dream...that I will remember it word for word when I get up but I don't lol.
It was about grapes on a vine. The vine wilts because it is time but it is all "fine". Sounds awful when I put it like that lol. But it was so amazing in my dream...the way it came out...perfect rhythm and meter, profound almost in depth and meaning...but alas...I cannot remember it. Sigh.
It is funny too... because I remember a lot about my dreams as bizarre as they may be. I meet so many people I have never met before in waking life and see and talk to so many who have passed on...it is nice if not more than a bit weird.
The situations and places I encounter are usually so "different" than anything I would even imagine in my waking life. That leads me to think dreams are very special and we as humans truly do not know what is going on in those hours of sleep, do we? We know the stages of brain activity and the effects of sleep on the body by watching EEG tracings and the rapid movement of eyes but what about consciousness...what is happening with consciousness? Dreams have to be more than just a compilation of memory all mixed up and jumbled together as we solve some external world issues we were unable to work through in the day light hours. Yeah... there is something very special about dreams.
I would like to look into that a little more.
All is well.
We have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions.
Carl Jung https://www.azquotes.com/author/7659-Carl_Jung/tag/dream
Carl Jung (https://www.azquotes.com/author/7659-Carl_Jung/tag/dream)
I dreamt a poem last night as I often do. It was coming through me, told to me, forming so quickly I had no time to think about it. That is the way it usually is. It is so beautiful when I experience that in a dream...I can't explain it. I tell myself in that dream...that I will remember it word for word when I get up but I don't lol.
It was about grapes on a vine. The vine wilts because it is time but it is all "fine". Sounds awful when I put it like that lol. But it was so amazing in my dream...the way it came out...perfect rhythm and meter, profound almost in depth and meaning...but alas...I cannot remember it. Sigh.
It is funny too... because I remember a lot about my dreams as bizarre as they may be. I meet so many people I have never met before in waking life and see and talk to so many who have passed on...it is nice if not more than a bit weird.
The situations and places I encounter are usually so "different" than anything I would even imagine in my waking life. That leads me to think dreams are very special and we as humans truly do not know what is going on in those hours of sleep, do we? We know the stages of brain activity and the effects of sleep on the body by watching EEG tracings and the rapid movement of eyes but what about consciousness...what is happening with consciousness? Dreams have to be more than just a compilation of memory all mixed up and jumbled together as we solve some external world issues we were unable to work through in the day light hours. Yeah... there is something very special about dreams.
I would like to look into that a little more.
All is well.
We have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions.
Carl Jung https://www.azquotes.com/author/7659-Carl_Jung/tag/dream
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Be Happy Anyway
The real question is whether you want to be happy regardless of what happens. The purpose of your life is to enjoy and learn from your experiences. You were not put on Earth to suffer. You're not helping anyone by being miserable...You can be happy just to be alive.
Michael A, Singer ( the untethered soul, 2007, New Harbinger/ Noetic Books)
Life is short. It can be unpleasant. Heck...sometimes it can be down right miserable but that doesn't mean you have to be. How you respond to life will determine how much you enjoy it, not what happens to you or around you. Though I still see happy as an ego word and I don't particularly like it, I often use it to describe that feeling we have when we are okay with everything the way it is.
We have a choice . We can look out at our lives and say "Oh this sucks!"...and complain, resist, fight, struggle against it, focus only on what is wrong with it as we dig and dig our way to complete and utter misery.
Or we can look at it and say, "It is what it is." I might as well make the best of it. It is all good because really that is all it can be. I am alive! I will enjoy the life I have while I am here and will learn whatever I can. "
We are not here to suffer and the only thing that causes suffering is choosing it over the "happiness" that comes with acceptance.
All is well.
Michael A, Singer ( the untethered soul, 2007, New Harbinger/ Noetic Books)
Life is short. It can be unpleasant. Heck...sometimes it can be down right miserable but that doesn't mean you have to be. How you respond to life will determine how much you enjoy it, not what happens to you or around you. Though I still see happy as an ego word and I don't particularly like it, I often use it to describe that feeling we have when we are okay with everything the way it is.
We have a choice . We can look out at our lives and say "Oh this sucks!"...and complain, resist, fight, struggle against it, focus only on what is wrong with it as we dig and dig our way to complete and utter misery.
Or we can look at it and say, "It is what it is." I might as well make the best of it. It is all good because really that is all it can be. I am alive! I will enjoy the life I have while I am here and will learn whatever I can. "
We are not here to suffer and the only thing that causes suffering is choosing it over the "happiness" that comes with acceptance.
All is well.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Cultivating the Awakening Mind
After meditating on the advantages of solitude and having calmed your discursive thoughts, you should cultivate the awakening mind.
Dalai Lama (Andrews McMeel; 2018)
Why are all most of your quotes from Eckhart Tolle or the Dalia Lama?
Hmmm! I do read, listen to and study a lot more than the quotes on my desktop calendar or the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. lol I am actually all over the place with my interests and what intrigues me in the area of waking up. As I have said before I began this process way before I even heard of Eckhart Tolle and while I was still fearful of any religion other than Catholicism. It began back when I was 19 after picking up a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale. There have been many, many different books, messages, lectures, and teachers since then. But...yes there is a but...I am very fond of Eckhart Tolle's message and the way he delivers it.
After reading the first few lines of The New Earth a decade ago..I was completely blown away. It was like...Yes!!!! This makes so much sense. Where have you been all my life? I was so excited with the message . It resonated in every cell of my being, finally putting all the pieces of my own seeking into a conceptual map that made sense to me. Not only that, I felt it to be true. It was literally life changing.
I ran around for months trying to tell people about what I learned, so sure that once they heard it put the way he put it...they would understand and be so awed!!! They weren't lol. They literally thought I went over the deep end. They didn't get it at all!
Still...I did and I was hooked. My seeking took off even faster and more intensely after that. It changed direction from a more secular, psychologically based understanding to a deeply spiritual one. People I knew stood back, with their arms crossed and shook their heads as they watched me delve into this. I began to explore eastern philosophy and went a little deeper into my own yoga practice. I began to slowly disentangle from years of conditioning through which I operated. I knew there was no going back...only forward and forward I went.
So even though I have studied many different teachings and am determined never to be lost in the teacher of a teaching...I have yet to find a messenger put this very universal message into a package for delivery the way Eckhart Tolle does. It resonates with me. So I read or listen to him for a few minutes almost everyday. And of course, since his message has much of its basis in Buddhism...I studied Buddhism a little more deeply...thus the Dalia Lama quotes. I am not a Buddhist, nor am I an Eckhart Tolle groupie ...or even a follower. I am merely someone who finds peace in the message these individuals share. I bring their wisdom and their words into my writing. Actually, they are often the basis or the inspiration for most of my writing here.
That is why I quote them often.
All is well.
Dalai Lama (Andrews McMeel; 2018)
Why are all most of your quotes from Eckhart Tolle or the Dalia Lama?
Hmmm! I do read, listen to and study a lot more than the quotes on my desktop calendar or the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. lol I am actually all over the place with my interests and what intrigues me in the area of waking up. As I have said before I began this process way before I even heard of Eckhart Tolle and while I was still fearful of any religion other than Catholicism. It began back when I was 19 after picking up a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale. There have been many, many different books, messages, lectures, and teachers since then. But...yes there is a but...I am very fond of Eckhart Tolle's message and the way he delivers it.
After reading the first few lines of The New Earth a decade ago..I was completely blown away. It was like...Yes!!!! This makes so much sense. Where have you been all my life? I was so excited with the message . It resonated in every cell of my being, finally putting all the pieces of my own seeking into a conceptual map that made sense to me. Not only that, I felt it to be true. It was literally life changing.
I ran around for months trying to tell people about what I learned, so sure that once they heard it put the way he put it...they would understand and be so awed!!! They weren't lol. They literally thought I went over the deep end. They didn't get it at all!
Still...I did and I was hooked. My seeking took off even faster and more intensely after that. It changed direction from a more secular, psychologically based understanding to a deeply spiritual one. People I knew stood back, with their arms crossed and shook their heads as they watched me delve into this. I began to explore eastern philosophy and went a little deeper into my own yoga practice. I began to slowly disentangle from years of conditioning through which I operated. I knew there was no going back...only forward and forward I went.
So even though I have studied many different teachings and am determined never to be lost in the teacher of a teaching...I have yet to find a messenger put this very universal message into a package for delivery the way Eckhart Tolle does. It resonates with me. So I read or listen to him for a few minutes almost everyday. And of course, since his message has much of its basis in Buddhism...I studied Buddhism a little more deeply...thus the Dalia Lama quotes. I am not a Buddhist, nor am I an Eckhart Tolle groupie ...or even a follower. I am merely someone who finds peace in the message these individuals share. I bring their wisdom and their words into my writing. Actually, they are often the basis or the inspiration for most of my writing here.
That is why I quote them often.
All is well.
Friday, November 8, 2019
Stop Waiting
If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you will never enjoy the sunshine.
Morris West (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/waiting-quotes)
Are you waiting? I mean are you projecting your self forward into the future either with fear of what may lay ahead up there and dreading it or by anticipating and seeking some sort of fix that you assume that future time might offer you? Are you stuck in time and mind? Are you walking around asleep, i.e. over identified with what is going on in that head of yours so much so they you don't even notice the moment you are in?
Well if so...stop it!!! Step out of time and mind and step into the now and the alert "presence/present" it offers. Stop wasting the only Life you have which is right here and right now. Stop waiting and start living.
All is well
(A little wisdom gained from all I have learned from Eckhart Tolle over the years )
Morris West (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/waiting-quotes)
Are you waiting? I mean are you projecting your self forward into the future either with fear of what may lay ahead up there and dreading it or by anticipating and seeking some sort of fix that you assume that future time might offer you? Are you stuck in time and mind? Are you walking around asleep, i.e. over identified with what is going on in that head of yours so much so they you don't even notice the moment you are in?
Well if so...stop it!!! Step out of time and mind and step into the now and the alert "presence/present" it offers. Stop wasting the only Life you have which is right here and right now. Stop waiting and start living.
All is well
(A little wisdom gained from all I have learned from Eckhart Tolle over the years )
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what is going to happen next.
Gilda Radner
I don't know where to begin today so I will just sit and let whatever comes up to come up. My mind wants to figure out what I should write and something else just wants me to sit here and type. Hmmm!
I have been asking such "big" questions of myself and others lately and I am realizing that I will never get the answers in a form or way that will satisfy the mind. Whatever this is that is getting me to sit here and type without a mentally constructed plan has the answers and is answering me as I question.
Hmmm! But I cannot speak of it or write of it because it is not understood with words or concepts. Knowing that is so strange . What is a writer supposed to do with that, I wonder?
Just be with it...I guess.
All is well.
Gilda Radner
I don't know where to begin today so I will just sit and let whatever comes up to come up. My mind wants to figure out what I should write and something else just wants me to sit here and type. Hmmm!
I have been asking such "big" questions of myself and others lately and I am realizing that I will never get the answers in a form or way that will satisfy the mind. Whatever this is that is getting me to sit here and type without a mentally constructed plan has the answers and is answering me as I question.
Hmmm! But I cannot speak of it or write of it because it is not understood with words or concepts. Knowing that is so strange . What is a writer supposed to do with that, I wonder?
Just be with it...I guess.
All is well.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Conversation With the Mind
Conversation With The Mind on Your Waking Up
The Mind: I've been wondering where you were. You haven't stopped in for a while. What's up?
You: Oh not much...I've just been lazy I guess.
The Mind: You sure you are okay? You seem a little different. Slower...doing less...more distant. Maybe together we could find out what's going on with you and fix it. I probably have what you need.
You: No, no. Thanks, though. I'm fine. Actually, I am feeling better than I have in a while.
The Mind: Really? You are? Without me? That doesn't make sense.
You: ( chuckling) I know eh? It's kind of weird but I feel pretty good, a little lighter.
The Mind: What? How can that be without my input? You know I am the one who figures things out for you. There is no way you could be feeling better on your own. It certainly doesn't seem healthy to me. Something has got to be wrong.
You: ( shrugging shoulders) Yeah maybe...but it doesn't feel wrong.
The Mind: No...it's not right! How can you function without my fix of thoughts and ideas? How can you even see what is going on around you without me? Something has to be wrong. You are going to fall apart. Come on in and we can talk about it, at least?
You: Naaaah ! I don't think so bud, but thanks. I would probably use what you got if I do and I don't think I need it. I am actually seeing clear and feeling pretty good without it. I don't want to screw that up, you know? To be honest, I am starting to wonder if it was the stuff you have been giving me that was messing me up.
The Mind: What??? Of course not. It's the same stuff I am giving to everyone and you don't hear them complaining, do ya? Geesh Man...get a hold of yourself.
You: Sorry, sorry...don't mean to offend.
The Mind: What the hell is wrong with you? Come on man...we really need to figure this out. There has to be an explanation for what is going on with you, something we both can understand.
You: That's just it...I don't think there is. I don't understand it and something tells me it is too deep for you to understand.
The Mind: Now that's a burn! You know I devote all my time to understanding things. I can make sense of everything!
You: Not this I don't think...it is beyond you.
The Mind: Are you losing faith in me? You used to come crying and running to me with every bo-bo like I was your Gosh darn mother, for F*&^ sake. Now you are ignoring me, blaming me and insulting me by telling me I can't do my job. WTF?
You: Sigh...It's not you, it's me. I am not the same person I was.
The Mind: OMG! Are you breaking up with me on top of everything else????
You: Relax!!! Just chill man...it's all good. I am not breaking up with you. I just think our relationship has to change , you know? I just kind of want to explore the world beyond you a bit more. I have an inkling there is some real cool stuff out there that I need to experience for my growth.
The Mind: What stuff??? What stuff could ever be better than what I can give you? After all I have given you. After all I have done. I can't believe you are leaving me.
You: Take it easy. I am not leaving you. I am just going to take more time for myself away from you. That's all. I couldn't leave for good, even if I wanted to. I need you. I still value what we have...I always will. I just need a little more space.
The Mind: Space? What the h#$% is that? I don't understand it. I don't understand any of this. I need to figure out what is wrong with you and fix it! I won't stop until I do.
You: (sighing deeply) No I suppose you won't even if I assure you 100 times over that this stuff will never be understood by us in the way you like to understand things. You are going to keep trying to figure things out. You wouldn't be you if you didn't. Okay Mind...you do what you have to do while I do what I have to do. We will meet up in the middle whenever we can. ... okay? It is all so very good.
The Mind: Good!!??? You are going to crash and burn, become an absolute nobody in that space of yours. Just you watch and see. And when you do... don't you daresay I didn't warn you!!
You: Maybe you are right about that but I need to find out. Thanks Mind for everything.
The Mind: Humph !!
The Mind: I've been wondering where you were. You haven't stopped in for a while. What's up?
You: Oh not much...I've just been lazy I guess.
The Mind: You sure you are okay? You seem a little different. Slower...doing less...more distant. Maybe together we could find out what's going on with you and fix it. I probably have what you need.
You: No, no. Thanks, though. I'm fine. Actually, I am feeling better than I have in a while.
The Mind: Really? You are? Without me? That doesn't make sense.
You: ( chuckling) I know eh? It's kind of weird but I feel pretty good, a little lighter.
The Mind: What? How can that be without my input? You know I am the one who figures things out for you. There is no way you could be feeling better on your own. It certainly doesn't seem healthy to me. Something has got to be wrong.
You: ( shrugging shoulders) Yeah maybe...but it doesn't feel wrong.
The Mind: No...it's not right! How can you function without my fix of thoughts and ideas? How can you even see what is going on around you without me? Something has to be wrong. You are going to fall apart. Come on in and we can talk about it, at least?
You: Naaaah ! I don't think so bud, but thanks. I would probably use what you got if I do and I don't think I need it. I am actually seeing clear and feeling pretty good without it. I don't want to screw that up, you know? To be honest, I am starting to wonder if it was the stuff you have been giving me that was messing me up.
The Mind: What??? Of course not. It's the same stuff I am giving to everyone and you don't hear them complaining, do ya? Geesh Man...get a hold of yourself.
You: Sorry, sorry...don't mean to offend.
The Mind: What the hell is wrong with you? Come on man...we really need to figure this out. There has to be an explanation for what is going on with you, something we both can understand.
You: That's just it...I don't think there is. I don't understand it and something tells me it is too deep for you to understand.
The Mind: Now that's a burn! You know I devote all my time to understanding things. I can make sense of everything!
You: Not this I don't think...it is beyond you.
The Mind: Are you losing faith in me? You used to come crying and running to me with every bo-bo like I was your Gosh darn mother, for F*&^ sake. Now you are ignoring me, blaming me and insulting me by telling me I can't do my job. WTF?
You: Sigh...It's not you, it's me. I am not the same person I was.
The Mind: OMG! Are you breaking up with me on top of everything else????
You: Relax!!! Just chill man...it's all good. I am not breaking up with you. I just think our relationship has to change , you know? I just kind of want to explore the world beyond you a bit more. I have an inkling there is some real cool stuff out there that I need to experience for my growth.
The Mind: What stuff??? What stuff could ever be better than what I can give you? After all I have given you. After all I have done. I can't believe you are leaving me.
You: Take it easy. I am not leaving you. I am just going to take more time for myself away from you. That's all. I couldn't leave for good, even if I wanted to. I need you. I still value what we have...I always will. I just need a little more space.
The Mind: Space? What the h#$% is that? I don't understand it. I don't understand any of this. I need to figure out what is wrong with you and fix it! I won't stop until I do.
You: (sighing deeply) No I suppose you won't even if I assure you 100 times over that this stuff will never be understood by us in the way you like to understand things. You are going to keep trying to figure things out. You wouldn't be you if you didn't. Okay Mind...you do what you have to do while I do what I have to do. We will meet up in the middle whenever we can. ... okay? It is all so very good.
The Mind: Good!!??? You are going to crash and burn, become an absolute nobody in that space of yours. Just you watch and see. And when you do... don't you daresay I didn't warn you!!
You: Maybe you are right about that but I need to find out. Thanks Mind for everything.
The Mind: Humph !!
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Pride and Inspiration
Look at me! Look at me! Look at what I did!
- Little me
Feeling Good About What We Do
Sometimes I find myself pleased when people compliment me on my yoga classes, when I look down at a photograph I've taken or a piece of finished writing and think to myself, "That is good! That's really good!" or when I realize that I was "right" about something I figured out long before the professionals did...and even when professionals kept telling me I was wrong for decades. Yeah I feel good at those times and I wonder if it is an ego reaction, I am experiencing, or a spiritual one?
Pride or Spirit's Wisdom
Am I feeling "pride"? Pride is of the ego. It is when the "little me" steps in to claim ( or openly disclaim) ownership of something that isn't its to own that pride becomes the culprit. Little me puffs up as it looks around and more or less says, "Look at what I did better than you." Not nice.
It is spiritually wise, on the other hand, to step back and realize that we, in this minute form, did not do this thing we may feel good about... this thing was just done through us, that's all. I suppose it is okay to feel good about it then, especially if it inspires, helps, heals, guides or brightens up the life of someone else. It is not pride then if we simply realize, that through the accomplishment of this thing, we are going in the right direction...toward what is real and important.
It isn't Mine
I constantly go back and forth between pride or ego's need to redeem itself and to just feeling good that I am opening up to something so much bigger than "little me".
I have learned, long ago, that my poetry is not mine to own (or reject) ...it just comes through me. It really does. I would, however, find myself puffing up like a peacock when others published my other work or commented on its merit. "Look at me! Look at me!" I would shout out to others and that was pride. I wanted others to see beyond my less desirable parts to something I was doing right or better than them. I took ownership of whatever came out on the page but I now realize that even my non fiction is not mine...it is just something that comes through me.
Inspiration, in whatever form it comes in, like inspired air, is just breathed through us. We are not the breather. We are the breathed.
When I teach a class and I am "present"...something comes through me that benefits the students. Ego, if it were active at those times, would just get in the way. It is not "little me" that teaches the best classes though sometimes ego wants me to believe it is.
When I figure things out in regards say, to what is going on in my body when others outwardly deny that it is, and when they are finally forced to see through the evidence that I was right all along...there is no need to puff up and say, "Look at how smart I am! I was right! I was right! And you were wrong!". It was not 'me' that figured it out. That intellectual knowledge did not come from my little mind. Something much bigger than me, much bigger than their educated opinions, was showing me what I needed to know. Hmmm!
Yeah pride and self righteous redemption wants to step in at those times but I don't want to go there. I have to really be aware of my tendency to want to and remind myself that what came through me isn't mine. Pride ( or shame) will not serve me or others.
In-spirit/Inspired
If we want to progress on our spiritual journeys we need to be aware of our tendency toward pride. We need to put it down and give the credit to spirit. We are inspired and "in-spirit" when these things come through us.
Stay open. Step back and let spirit do its wonderful thing through you. It will. Feel good about that!
All is well.
Eckhart Tolle (November, 2019) Is it prideful to own our accomplishments? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkzYqmmGoU4
- Little me
Feeling Good About What We Do
Sometimes I find myself pleased when people compliment me on my yoga classes, when I look down at a photograph I've taken or a piece of finished writing and think to myself, "That is good! That's really good!" or when I realize that I was "right" about something I figured out long before the professionals did...and even when professionals kept telling me I was wrong for decades. Yeah I feel good at those times and I wonder if it is an ego reaction, I am experiencing, or a spiritual one?
Pride or Spirit's Wisdom
Am I feeling "pride"? Pride is of the ego. It is when the "little me" steps in to claim ( or openly disclaim) ownership of something that isn't its to own that pride becomes the culprit. Little me puffs up as it looks around and more or less says, "Look at what I did better than you." Not nice.
It is spiritually wise, on the other hand, to step back and realize that we, in this minute form, did not do this thing we may feel good about... this thing was just done through us, that's all. I suppose it is okay to feel good about it then, especially if it inspires, helps, heals, guides or brightens up the life of someone else. It is not pride then if we simply realize, that through the accomplishment of this thing, we are going in the right direction...toward what is real and important.
It isn't Mine
I constantly go back and forth between pride or ego's need to redeem itself and to just feeling good that I am opening up to something so much bigger than "little me".
I have learned, long ago, that my poetry is not mine to own (or reject) ...it just comes through me. It really does. I would, however, find myself puffing up like a peacock when others published my other work or commented on its merit. "Look at me! Look at me!" I would shout out to others and that was pride. I wanted others to see beyond my less desirable parts to something I was doing right or better than them. I took ownership of whatever came out on the page but I now realize that even my non fiction is not mine...it is just something that comes through me.
Inspiration, in whatever form it comes in, like inspired air, is just breathed through us. We are not the breather. We are the breathed.
When I teach a class and I am "present"...something comes through me that benefits the students. Ego, if it were active at those times, would just get in the way. It is not "little me" that teaches the best classes though sometimes ego wants me to believe it is.
When I figure things out in regards say, to what is going on in my body when others outwardly deny that it is, and when they are finally forced to see through the evidence that I was right all along...there is no need to puff up and say, "Look at how smart I am! I was right! I was right! And you were wrong!". It was not 'me' that figured it out. That intellectual knowledge did not come from my little mind. Something much bigger than me, much bigger than their educated opinions, was showing me what I needed to know. Hmmm!
Yeah pride and self righteous redemption wants to step in at those times but I don't want to go there. I have to really be aware of my tendency to want to and remind myself that what came through me isn't mine. Pride ( or shame) will not serve me or others.
In-spirit/Inspired
If we want to progress on our spiritual journeys we need to be aware of our tendency toward pride. We need to put it down and give the credit to spirit. We are inspired and "in-spirit" when these things come through us.
Stay open. Step back and let spirit do its wonderful thing through you. It will. Feel good about that!
All is well.
Eckhart Tolle (November, 2019) Is it prideful to own our accomplishments? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkzYqmmGoU4
Monday, November 4, 2019
Fleeting
Every-thing is fleeting on the backdrop of eternity.
-me
We have all heard the expression, This too shall pass, and likely erroneously believed it was straight from the bible. Yet this passage actually was uttered my Persian sages long before the bible was written. Its wisdom goes beyond religious ownership.
Eckhart Tolle refers to the going ons of our world as the "dance of phenomenon". This "continuous dance of form" is happening around us all the time...both internally with our thoughts and feelings; and externally with events, places, people and the circumstances of our lives.
No matter how great the phenomena is or how awful, no matter how much it seems to add or take from our experience...it...in its temporary form...will not last. No'thing' lasts.
This too shall pass.
There is no problem with the arising and dissolving of form as long as we can sit back and watch, occasionally play our part in it without getting "lost" in it, without seeing the phenomena as all important. What is important are not the roles, the actors/dancers, the things or events but the back drop on which they take place.
Who is watching? The true Self is watching.
How is the Self watching? In stillness, in presence, in alive alertness. It is watching without "thought".
When is It watching? In the only time there is.... the now.
Hmmm! How hard it is for so many of us to truly get that.
All is well!
Eckhart Tolle. (March 2016) Omega 8. Namaste Publishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FEft2FIcJE&feature=share
-me
We have all heard the expression, This too shall pass, and likely erroneously believed it was straight from the bible. Yet this passage actually was uttered my Persian sages long before the bible was written. Its wisdom goes beyond religious ownership.
Eckhart Tolle refers to the going ons of our world as the "dance of phenomenon". This "continuous dance of form" is happening around us all the time...both internally with our thoughts and feelings; and externally with events, places, people and the circumstances of our lives.
No matter how great the phenomena is or how awful, no matter how much it seems to add or take from our experience...it...in its temporary form...will not last. No'thing' lasts.
This too shall pass.
There is no problem with the arising and dissolving of form as long as we can sit back and watch, occasionally play our part in it without getting "lost" in it, without seeing the phenomena as all important. What is important are not the roles, the actors/dancers, the things or events but the back drop on which they take place.
Who is watching? The true Self is watching.
How is the Self watching? In stillness, in presence, in alive alertness. It is watching without "thought".
When is It watching? In the only time there is.... the now.
Hmmm! How hard it is for so many of us to truly get that.
All is well!
Eckhart Tolle. (March 2016) Omega 8. Namaste Publishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FEft2FIcJE&feature=share
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Stillness is the language God speaks. Everything else is a bad translation.
-Thomas Keating
-Thomas Keating
Simply put. We need to do what Eckhart Tolle teaches...we need to get into that space between perception and interpretation more often. We need to catch those beautiful pauses between words, thoughts and breath. We need to stop doing, striving, fixing and clinging for just a moment ...to sense what it is like to be. We need to cease the narrating, explaining, labelling and analyzing what is before us and just experience it for a while.
Hmmm!
Why is it so hard for so many of us to do that? Why can't we all be more like our dogs? :)
All is well.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Nourishing the Tree
The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.
-Saint Teresa of Avila (https://www.brainyquote.com/quote_of_the_day)
I love these words coming from a 16th century Carmelite nun who believed in the power to transcend thought and worldly demands for the rapture of understanding God. She believed this happened in four stages.
Anyway...what I see the lovely words above to mean...is the more we are connected to that which nourishes Life...creates Life...the more alive we will be and the more we will have to give.
If we want to serve...we must tap in there first...even if we do not do it in the above way.
All is well in my world
-Saint Teresa of Avila (https://www.brainyquote.com/quote_of_the_day)
I love these words coming from a 16th century Carmelite nun who believed in the power to transcend thought and worldly demands for the rapture of understanding God. She believed this happened in four stages.
- In the first stage "Devotion of the Heart", one begins to take their attention away from the outside world and immerses themselves in prayer and meditation.
- In the second stage, "Devotion of Peace", where one surrenders "will" to God...exchanging "my will" for "Thy will be done." At this point the memory, reason and imaginative mind is still easily distracted by the demands of the external world but one is committed to the spiritual pursuit.
- In the third stage, "Devotion of Union", one becomes "absorbed " in God...meaning that all reason, all "little me" defense is given up even if memory and imagination are free to ramble away from the union experience.
- In the final stage, "Devotion of Ecstasy", all awareness of being in the body disappears...one transcends bodily sensations for the rapture of union. Levitation may occur at this point. (Of course, it was later argued that Saint Teresa may have actually just been experiencing Grand Mal seizures at this point).
Anyway...what I see the lovely words above to mean...is the more we are connected to that which nourishes Life...creates Life...the more alive we will be and the more we will have to give.
If we want to serve...we must tap in there first...even if we do not do it in the above way.
All is well in my world
Friday, November 1, 2019
No Religion
God has no religion.
-Mahatma Gandhi
I broke one of the biggest rules of social etiquette yesterday, didn't I? I spoke about religion. Well that is okay, I suppose. Social etiquette doesn't mean much to me these days. I just do not want to hurt or offend with my expressions.
I can assure you that I am not propagating for one religion over the other...not judging or diminishing, even if I sometimes compare. My goal of comparison is not to further differentiate but to actually unify and show the connecting principals of belief.
Too many wars, too much heartache and retaliation has taken place in our world over the "differences" in religion which often just equates to the differences we apply to words and concepts. I just suggest that we see beyond the word to the "meaning", that's all.
I was raised Christian, Catholic, to be exact. It will always be a part of me. I just do not define myself as a Christian. Nor do I define myself as a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jew or a Muslim. I am not beating up on Christianity , nor am I beating up on any other religious system. I just want to be open to all philosophy that lies at the heart of each religion. In order to do that I have to be open in my approach. I sincerely believe , at the core of each doctrine or dogma, is a unifying belief system we all share. I simply try to get to the root of it.
I am much more a philosopher than I ever will be even remotely theologian like. I am not a threat lol. And besides I truly know so little about anything. So don't take what I say to heart unless it triggers something in you...then explore it further from inside you.
I believe we all need to put away our judgments and biases...our sense of self-righteous differentiation which leads too often to alienation. We need to search for what connects us, not what makes us different and separate. Often that involves not being so attached to constructs based on the "literal" meaning of things. Words are just pointers, right? The truth they point to is in each of us.
Anyway, that is what I believe. But, once again, what do I know?
All is well in my world.
-Mahatma Gandhi
I broke one of the biggest rules of social etiquette yesterday, didn't I? I spoke about religion. Well that is okay, I suppose. Social etiquette doesn't mean much to me these days. I just do not want to hurt or offend with my expressions.
I can assure you that I am not propagating for one religion over the other...not judging or diminishing, even if I sometimes compare. My goal of comparison is not to further differentiate but to actually unify and show the connecting principals of belief.
Too many wars, too much heartache and retaliation has taken place in our world over the "differences" in religion which often just equates to the differences we apply to words and concepts. I just suggest that we see beyond the word to the "meaning", that's all.
I was raised Christian, Catholic, to be exact. It will always be a part of me. I just do not define myself as a Christian. Nor do I define myself as a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jew or a Muslim. I am not beating up on Christianity , nor am I beating up on any other religious system. I just want to be open to all philosophy that lies at the heart of each religion. In order to do that I have to be open in my approach. I sincerely believe , at the core of each doctrine or dogma, is a unifying belief system we all share. I simply try to get to the root of it.
I am much more a philosopher than I ever will be even remotely theologian like. I am not a threat lol. And besides I truly know so little about anything. So don't take what I say to heart unless it triggers something in you...then explore it further from inside you.
I believe we all need to put away our judgments and biases...our sense of self-righteous differentiation which leads too often to alienation. We need to search for what connects us, not what makes us different and separate. Often that involves not being so attached to constructs based on the "literal" meaning of things. Words are just pointers, right? The truth they point to is in each of us.
Anyway, that is what I believe. But, once again, what do I know?
All is well in my world.
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