...you have a mind and a body that are currently inhaling and exhaling in a gravitational field. Therefore, you can benefit immensely from a process that enables you to think more clearly, breathe more effortlessly, and move more efficiently. This is in fact our starting point and our definition of yoga practice: the integration of mind, breath and body.
Leslie Kaminoff
Are You in your body?
Are you aware at this very moment, what your body is doing, feeling, sensing? Of course, when I ask that question, you are likely to stop and start searching the body to see how it feels, right? But prior to that question...you might have forgotten the body you are in. Heck, you might have forgotten you had a body at all.
We often get so lost in our busy minds and our constant doing that we lose touch with our bodies. We become like those heads in bell jars viewed in some old horror movies. We are all mind.
When we are not in our bodies we are not in the present moments of our lives...heck we are not truly living. Your body is what gives you what we call human life. Without breath, heartbeat, neuronal firing, activation of the trillions of cells in it, and the circulation of all its components... where would you be? I believe your consciousness would be( Yep! I am one of those.) but you would not be a human being without the human component of you.
The body is what allows us to experience this world. It definitely doesn't define us but it is an important tool in our being human. When we disconnect from it and live in our heads, we are not experiencing life in this moment.
We need to get back to breath and then back to body.
Yoga: A Way to Get Us Back To What is Important
I practice and teach yoga and mind-body integration is what hatha yoga is all about
I begin each yoga practice ( after a quick warm up...don't stretch cold muscles !!! lol) with pada bandha...a grounding technique. I make the students aware of the triangle created by three points on the bottom of their feet ( Leslie Kamonoff) and to visualize that they are being rooted into the earth with those points. I also get them to imagine a long sturdy chord on the top of their head that pulls them up toward the sky. From this position they are encouraged to breathe. As they breathe I want them to be mindful of the belly expanding on each in - breath, a quick pause, and then the belly contracting on each out - breath.
We then do a quick body scan from the souls of their feet all the way up to the top of the head so they can feel and become aware of each muscle they will be stretching in the upcoming asanas. I need them to remain in their bodies while we are moving so no injury occurs and so they get all the relaxing, calming and centering effects of yoga. I will not begin a practice without doing this.
At any time
I would encourage people to begin a yoga practice during tis time of isolation. There are so many great teachers on line.
Even if you don't want to do yoga full out, we can all do this little grounding exercise throughout our day just so that we have moments of body-mind integration at least.
We are going to slip away
We are bound to forget and slip out of our bodies and into our minds throughout the day. But if we can keep bringing ourselves back we will be partaking in a very noble and healing practice of mindfulness and awareness.
Keep coming Back
Just keep coming back...to breath. When you feel stressed or super busy take a moment and breathe...feel that breath going in and out.
When you are sitting for hours at the computer make it a point to stop every now and again, schedule intervals if you have to...to breathe, ground with your feet, stretch up tall with the crown of your head and just quickly go through your body to see how it feels. Just notice any tension, numbness, tingling, pain...don't worry about naming it or judging it or coming up with a story about why you feel what you feel...just notice it.
Keep coming back.
So you are going to slip away from body and breath awareness...that is a given. But the moment you realize you slipped away...you are already back.
So breathe and scan...and breathe and scan again and again throughout the day. I guess there is even an app for that? But you don't need an app or a meditation bell going off every fifteen minutes as it does in monasteries to remind the monks and nuns to become mindful ...just do your best to keep bringing yourself back...again and again and again.
Keep coming back to breath and body and you will be doing a great thing for you and the entire world!
All is well
Leslie Kaminoff & Amy Matthews (2012) Yoga Anatomy Second Edition. Champaign: Human Kinetics.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
Listening to Mother Earth
You need to hear this if you never happened upon it before. Breath taking!
It is as if Mother Earth is indeed singing to us.
Genadi Tkachenko is the amazing performer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9VjiTDbVDk
I cried! Opened me right up in a very beautiful and healing way.
This is the kind of thing we can do in our isolation to help us reflect on what we have failed to hear before. Find inspiration to help us open up!
All is well
A Time Out; A Noble Moment
Dear Mother Earth ...
Even though we your children have made many mistakes, you always forgive us. Every time we return to you, you are ready to open your arms and embrace us.
Thich Nhat Hanh
This is a very challenging moment in our history, for sure, but it is also a "noble moment." I heard that description used in a beautiful dharma talk today (linked below). ...and it stuck in my head and in my heart. This is a noble moment in our history.
What is a noble moment?
A noble moment is a "teachable" moment, a moment we can learn from, grow from and awaken from. In the Buddhist teachings a noble moment consists of both enlightenment and suffering.
Say what?? How can suffering be noble?
Suffering can lead us to the edge of our comfort zones, where we have been hiding with our eyes closed. It can force us to open our eyes , see where we were, see where we were heading and put us back in the very here and now....so we can change our trajectory.
We as a human species have been stuck in a comfort zone furnished by collective and personal egos. So caught up in our struggle to avoid suffering through striving, gaining, attaining, clinging and doing we were unconscious to the reality of what type of imprint on this world we were leaving.
We have been trampling unconsciously and busily over this planet and not looking down to see the foot prints we were leaving behind. We had this absurd idea that it was "all ours" and we could do with it what we wanted in order to keep these greedy egos fed and happy within this comfort zone. Mother Earth (I will borrow this beautiful description of our planet) has been crying out to us for years with her gentle warnings and her maternal pleas but we were not listening.
We didn't listen well enough to her when it was the earth's crusts we were digging up for fossil fuels and minerals; when it was the forests we were clear cutting or the coral reefs we were poisoning. We didn't get it enough when the climates began to change; our landfills filled up with pollution she couldn't digest or when species of precious animals and plants, her other children, began dying off .
We were not listening!
She is a kind mother. She teaches with love. We forced her to become the "disciplining" parent for the good of all. She is not punishing us because we were "bad"...she is simply "teaching" us by gently showing us what we were doing. I believe, she just wants us to learn. When we didn't learn in other ways, she had to get stern and make us feel a bit of pain. She put the human race in a "time out" .
Are we ready to listen now?
We need to use this time in "time-out" to listen to her. To reflect on what we have done, to see clearly and understand the consequences of our actions. This social distancing is a quiet time to reflect and learn. Sure it can cause some temporary suffering and some of that suffering can be great...touching on our worse fears as human beings: "illness" and "death". But it can be a healing time, as well...a time to grow up a bit.
We are not bad children. We are simply unconscious. We do not need to feel "guilty" and hang our heads in shame over what we have done. That will not get us anywhere but down...and this is not a time to feed the negative ego. We simply need to be aware and see.
Each of the physical beings on this earth are fragile, impermanent and inter dependent. We need to take care of our own little selves, our species as a whole ( humanity!) and the entire planet better.
We humans are grouped together collectively in this crisis because it seems...we are the ones being targeted rather than the ones doing the targeting. It is our lesson to learn and we must suffer it with grace and humility not only for our own healing but for the healing of the entire planet.
Make the most of your time Out
In stillness, in quiet we can open up to that awareness. We can hold this idea of impermanence and inter-being in our minds and hearts. ( dharma talk) We can reflect, sure, on the error of our ways but more importantly we need to set an intention to do better. Mother Earth doesn't need our apology, she needs our awakening.
The Use of time Out in My Own Life
Whenever I used to put my kids in time-out when they were younger for hurting each other in some way, they had to do three things before being let out. They had to show me (and the one they hurt) that they reflected on what they did. I also asked them to take the anger they had towards their sibling and rework it...to turn it back into Love. To do that they had to come up with three things they liked, loved or admired about the sibling that was hurt by their words or actions. They also had to come up with a plan to make it better in the future.
For example, if one of the twins was hurtful to the other in a fit of rage, the offender was ushered to the time out bench or their room. Before being released from time out, this "prisoner" had to come up with a reflection on what happened and on how the other twin would have felt by those comments. "I felt mad when she took the feet off my Bratz doll and glued them to the wall so I said those mean things to her. It probably made her sad to hear them."
I would then get them to step away from their negative angry place and write or speak three positive attributes like , "I guess she is funny and she makes me laugh. She has a nice smile." And I would have been happy with "Just her feet are smelly. The rest of her smells okay," for the third positive.
Finally, they had to come up with a plan, "The next time I feel myself getting angry with her, I will step back and away, take a big breath or punch a pillow before I talk to her again ."
Of course the effects of such learning may have only lasted all of two minutes but you get the point, right?
Not A Punishment
The time out wasn't just a random automatic punishment. It was meant to serve a purpose...to calm the misbehaving child down, to give them space to reflect, to help them find compassion and empathy within themselves, to connect their own feelings, to sit with those feelings, to find the blessing in the other, and to find a more positive way to relate with others and the world around them.
I am not saying it always went well because it didn't!! The offender would often initially resist and demand that they be allowed out or off the bench. They would frequently say, "It isn't fair!" or "I'm not doing that, this is as stupid as she is!" And if I let my guard down, for even a second, they would walk or even run away giggling (in the early, early time -outs) from their forced isolation. The longer they resisted, however, the longer their time out.
We are in a time out like that now.
Let's not resist! We don't want to make this time out longer than it has to be. Follow the protocol and accept the situation.
We can reflect on what got us here, and how we feel. We can learn to sit with our feelings instead of running from them . We can use this time to build our compassion and empathy muscles by praying for, reaching out, holding in our awareness all humans effected by this virus. We can also show a little more respect for and connection with Mother Earth. We can find the blessings in this situation, in this world and in this Life. Hey, not all of it is smelly!
And we can decide what we are going to do when we get out. How are we going to respond to each other, and this wonderful beautiful world we live in then? Are we going right back to the old behavioural patterns that got us in time out in the first place?
Hmm! I hope not.
I hope after this is over we have many more reformed, compassionate, empathetic, aware, mindful and conscious people in the world. That would be so nice, wouldn't it?
All is well.
Plum Village dharma talk (March 30,2020) This is a Noble Moment.
(I cannot seem to re-upload this site to get the url . I will keep trying....it is really worth listening too.)
Even though we your children have made many mistakes, you always forgive us. Every time we return to you, you are ready to open your arms and embrace us.
Thich Nhat Hanh
This is a very challenging moment in our history, for sure, but it is also a "noble moment." I heard that description used in a beautiful dharma talk today (linked below). ...and it stuck in my head and in my heart. This is a noble moment in our history.
What is a noble moment?
A noble moment is a "teachable" moment, a moment we can learn from, grow from and awaken from. In the Buddhist teachings a noble moment consists of both enlightenment and suffering.
Say what?? How can suffering be noble?
Suffering can lead us to the edge of our comfort zones, where we have been hiding with our eyes closed. It can force us to open our eyes , see where we were, see where we were heading and put us back in the very here and now....so we can change our trajectory.
We as a human species have been stuck in a comfort zone furnished by collective and personal egos. So caught up in our struggle to avoid suffering through striving, gaining, attaining, clinging and doing we were unconscious to the reality of what type of imprint on this world we were leaving.
We have been trampling unconsciously and busily over this planet and not looking down to see the foot prints we were leaving behind. We had this absurd idea that it was "all ours" and we could do with it what we wanted in order to keep these greedy egos fed and happy within this comfort zone. Mother Earth (I will borrow this beautiful description of our planet) has been crying out to us for years with her gentle warnings and her maternal pleas but we were not listening.
We didn't listen well enough to her when it was the earth's crusts we were digging up for fossil fuels and minerals; when it was the forests we were clear cutting or the coral reefs we were poisoning. We didn't get it enough when the climates began to change; our landfills filled up with pollution she couldn't digest or when species of precious animals and plants, her other children, began dying off .
We were not listening!
She is a kind mother. She teaches with love. We forced her to become the "disciplining" parent for the good of all. She is not punishing us because we were "bad"...she is simply "teaching" us by gently showing us what we were doing. I believe, she just wants us to learn. When we didn't learn in other ways, she had to get stern and make us feel a bit of pain. She put the human race in a "time out" .
Are we ready to listen now?
We need to use this time in "time-out" to listen to her. To reflect on what we have done, to see clearly and understand the consequences of our actions. This social distancing is a quiet time to reflect and learn. Sure it can cause some temporary suffering and some of that suffering can be great...touching on our worse fears as human beings: "illness" and "death". But it can be a healing time, as well...a time to grow up a bit.
We are not bad children. We are simply unconscious. We do not need to feel "guilty" and hang our heads in shame over what we have done. That will not get us anywhere but down...and this is not a time to feed the negative ego. We simply need to be aware and see.
Each of the physical beings on this earth are fragile, impermanent and inter dependent. We need to take care of our own little selves, our species as a whole ( humanity!) and the entire planet better.
We humans are grouped together collectively in this crisis because it seems...we are the ones being targeted rather than the ones doing the targeting. It is our lesson to learn and we must suffer it with grace and humility not only for our own healing but for the healing of the entire planet.
Make the most of your time Out
In stillness, in quiet we can open up to that awareness. We can hold this idea of impermanence and inter-being in our minds and hearts. ( dharma talk) We can reflect, sure, on the error of our ways but more importantly we need to set an intention to do better. Mother Earth doesn't need our apology, she needs our awakening.
The Use of time Out in My Own Life
Whenever I used to put my kids in time-out when they were younger for hurting each other in some way, they had to do three things before being let out. They had to show me (and the one they hurt) that they reflected on what they did. I also asked them to take the anger they had towards their sibling and rework it...to turn it back into Love. To do that they had to come up with three things they liked, loved or admired about the sibling that was hurt by their words or actions. They also had to come up with a plan to make it better in the future.
For example, if one of the twins was hurtful to the other in a fit of rage, the offender was ushered to the time out bench or their room. Before being released from time out, this "prisoner" had to come up with a reflection on what happened and on how the other twin would have felt by those comments. "I felt mad when she took the feet off my Bratz doll and glued them to the wall so I said those mean things to her. It probably made her sad to hear them."
I would then get them to step away from their negative angry place and write or speak three positive attributes like , "I guess she is funny and she makes me laugh. She has a nice smile." And I would have been happy with "Just her feet are smelly. The rest of her smells okay," for the third positive.
Finally, they had to come up with a plan, "The next time I feel myself getting angry with her, I will step back and away, take a big breath or punch a pillow before I talk to her again ."
Of course the effects of such learning may have only lasted all of two minutes but you get the point, right?
Not A Punishment
The time out wasn't just a random automatic punishment. It was meant to serve a purpose...to calm the misbehaving child down, to give them space to reflect, to help them find compassion and empathy within themselves, to connect their own feelings, to sit with those feelings, to find the blessing in the other, and to find a more positive way to relate with others and the world around them.
I am not saying it always went well because it didn't!! The offender would often initially resist and demand that they be allowed out or off the bench. They would frequently say, "It isn't fair!" or "I'm not doing that, this is as stupid as she is!" And if I let my guard down, for even a second, they would walk or even run away giggling (in the early, early time -outs) from their forced isolation. The longer they resisted, however, the longer their time out.
We are in a time out like that now.
Let's not resist! We don't want to make this time out longer than it has to be. Follow the protocol and accept the situation.
We can reflect on what got us here, and how we feel. We can learn to sit with our feelings instead of running from them . We can use this time to build our compassion and empathy muscles by praying for, reaching out, holding in our awareness all humans effected by this virus. We can also show a little more respect for and connection with Mother Earth. We can find the blessings in this situation, in this world and in this Life. Hey, not all of it is smelly!
And we can decide what we are going to do when we get out. How are we going to respond to each other, and this wonderful beautiful world we live in then? Are we going right back to the old behavioural patterns that got us in time out in the first place?
Hmm! I hope not.
I hope after this is over we have many more reformed, compassionate, empathetic, aware, mindful and conscious people in the world. That would be so nice, wouldn't it?
All is well.
Plum Village dharma talk (March 30,2020) This is a Noble Moment.
(I cannot seem to re-upload this site to get the url . I will keep trying....it is really worth listening too.)
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Learning From Savasana
Savasana is said to be the easiest asana to perform but the hardest to master. Whatever gymnastic demands the other asanas may make of your balance, strength or flexibility, the challenge of maintaining awareness without effort or exertion is perhaps the most revealing exploration of mind-body integration we can engage in.
Leslie Kaminoff Yoga Anatomy. Second Edition
I begin most of my savasana guided relaxation for students at the end of every yoga sequence with this little mantra: Right now, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do but breathe.
I know those words have helped me in my own practice over the decades to settle into the mat and let go of any mental resistance I might have to the moment. When I say them to myself, I can actually sink into the here and now peacefully.
I would like to offer you those words now as you find yourself in an forced "slowing down" that your mind might not be too accepting of; as you find yourself on the proverbial mat of your social isolation after years of busy doing and distracting.
For this time, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do...but breathe.
Of course, I want you to continue with your self and other protective protocol...but relax and just breathe in to this...Right now. This will not last forever but it is happening right now. And no amount of resistance, denial, or avoiding is going to make COVID-19 disappear into thin air.
Think of this as somewhat of a unusual reward for a challenging sequence.You have put yourself in all kinds of "awkward positions" over the course of your life...straining and stretching muscles you didn't even know you had. Now time has been provided for you to lay back and slow everything down.
Take this time and make the most of it. Put down your compulsive need to go somewhere else, to get to another moment or another place and your need to do something. Just breathe.
Allow life to support your weary body and mind, just like a yoga mat does. Feel it holding you, protecting you. Then relax into it. Let go, release and breathe!
Right now, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do...but breathe.
It is not a perfect situation we humans are in right now. It certainly is messy in many ways...but it is. It is as it is. You might as well settle into it. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
Breathe!
All is well in my world.
Leslie Kaminoff Yoga Anatomy. Second Edition
I begin most of my savasana guided relaxation for students at the end of every yoga sequence with this little mantra: Right now, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do but breathe.
I know those words have helped me in my own practice over the decades to settle into the mat and let go of any mental resistance I might have to the moment. When I say them to myself, I can actually sink into the here and now peacefully.
I would like to offer you those words now as you find yourself in an forced "slowing down" that your mind might not be too accepting of; as you find yourself on the proverbial mat of your social isolation after years of busy doing and distracting.
For this time, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do...but breathe.
Of course, I want you to continue with your self and other protective protocol...but relax and just breathe in to this...Right now. This will not last forever but it is happening right now. And no amount of resistance, denial, or avoiding is going to make COVID-19 disappear into thin air.
Think of this as somewhat of a unusual reward for a challenging sequence.You have put yourself in all kinds of "awkward positions" over the course of your life...straining and stretching muscles you didn't even know you had. Now time has been provided for you to lay back and slow everything down.
Take this time and make the most of it. Put down your compulsive need to go somewhere else, to get to another moment or another place and your need to do something. Just breathe.
Allow life to support your weary body and mind, just like a yoga mat does. Feel it holding you, protecting you. Then relax into it. Let go, release and breathe!
Right now, there is nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do...but breathe.
It is not a perfect situation we humans are in right now. It certainly is messy in many ways...but it is. It is as it is. You might as well settle into it. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
Breathe!
All is well in my world.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Remaining Walls
Remaining Walls
The Walls
are still here,
leaning stoic and strong
against an imposing landscape.
Though they have been hit
many times
and have fallen to rubble
in many places,
they maintain
a definite silhouette
in this world
I am so convinced
is real.
Though the tower
has crumbled
to the ground
and the draw bridge
remains open
and descended
over the dry
and cracking moat...
these mighty walls of stone,
now mossy
and discolored with age,
still stand stubbornly
around me.
I sit behind them,
in amongst
the weapons
I have stacked in rows
of guilt and anger
to defend
my little self with....
just in case someone
or something
gets through.
I have collected
their weapons too,
and they lay
in messy piles
around me.
Charred and broken
remains of arrows,
sticks and stones
that have made it over
these walls
are my collected grievances,
a reminder
of why I am here.
I shiver
as I look upon them.
It is cold
within these walls
despite the
impressive strength
and the formidable illusion
of protection
they provide.
Sun can only filter in
through the broken pieces
and the cracks
that life's storms
have created.
Though I reach
a hand out
longingly
to grasp and capture
each tiny ray
that makes its way to me,
this "me"
I think I am
is turning pale and weak
without Its Brilliance,
a brilliance
I have not known
for too long.
The laughter
and singing voices
of my many enemies
out there
echoes in a muffled,
far away music
I can only mutely hear.
I place a lonely ear
against the cold stone
so I can feel
the sweet vibration
of every giggle,
every whisper,
as if it were coming
from my own kin.
I long to connect
to someone,
something
other than
this pathetic shell
I am in.
But I have
given up trying
to make my harsh
and raspy voice
extend beyond these
massive walls of stone.
I no longer cry out
to be heard.
I know that
every noise
I make
will just be
boom -a -ranged
back to be,
like an empty note
that makes no sound.
So I just listen
and I wait
for the sounds
of some phantom rescuer,
on a clomping steed
to reach me...
a sound I know,
I will never hear.
My eyes are blurry
from the darkness.
My limbs are weary
from underuse.
And my heart remains
a shrivelled
underplayed instrument
when I know
it is meant to beat
like a mighty drum.
Yet, what can I do
but wait?
Wait for some force,
to come and save me.
This saviour
I now know,
will not be found
out there.
The world beyond
these walls
has already failed
too many times,
to protect me
or to at least
destroy
what I have created.
No, I suddenly realize
in this "alone"
and separate state
that I am in,
is that what I need
to save me
is something
already here,
hidden within
my fortress of stone.
Inspired
by a tiny ray of light,
I get on my knees
and I close my eyes.
I look inward away
from the mossy walls
and into a different type
of emptiness.
With clearer vision,
I seek
beyond the captivity
I have become
too familiar with
to the perfect rescue,
the only true salvation
and the Source of Light
I long for.
I then wrap
a weary hand
around the
long and flimsy pole
that is presented me.
With weak
and trembling limb
I extend it up and over
the tallest wall,
so the flapping
white flag
on its tip
can make my surrender
known to all,
so it can make it
known to me.
The echoed voices
in the fading shadows
around me
will sing in
triumphant gratitude
for this sweet surrender
that will allow
all remaining walls
to crumble to the ground.
Dale-Lyn ( March 28, 2020)
I know! I know! It just came out here, so I put it here. I tell myself to suck it up and learn from it lol. There is some type of message in here somewhere.
All is well.
The Walls
are still here,
leaning stoic and strong
against an imposing landscape.
Though they have been hit
many times
and have fallen to rubble
in many places,
they maintain
a definite silhouette
in this world
I am so convinced
is real.
Though the tower
has crumbled
to the ground
and the draw bridge
remains open
and descended
over the dry
and cracking moat...
these mighty walls of stone,
now mossy
and discolored with age,
still stand stubbornly
around me.
I sit behind them,
in amongst
the weapons
I have stacked in rows
of guilt and anger
to defend
my little self with....
just in case someone
or something
gets through.
I have collected
their weapons too,
and they lay
in messy piles
around me.
Charred and broken
remains of arrows,
sticks and stones
that have made it over
these walls
are my collected grievances,
a reminder
of why I am here.
I shiver
as I look upon them.
It is cold
within these walls
despite the
impressive strength
and the formidable illusion
of protection
they provide.
Sun can only filter in
through the broken pieces
and the cracks
that life's storms
have created.
Though I reach
a hand out
longingly
to grasp and capture
each tiny ray
that makes its way to me,
this "me"
I think I am
is turning pale and weak
without Its Brilliance,
a brilliance
I have not known
for too long.
The laughter
and singing voices
of my many enemies
out there
echoes in a muffled,
far away music
I can only mutely hear.
I place a lonely ear
against the cold stone
so I can feel
the sweet vibration
of every giggle,
every whisper,
as if it were coming
from my own kin.
I long to connect
to someone,
something
other than
this pathetic shell
I am in.
But I have
given up trying
to make my harsh
and raspy voice
extend beyond these
massive walls of stone.
I no longer cry out
to be heard.
I know that
every noise
I make
will just be
boom -a -ranged
back to be,
like an empty note
that makes no sound.
So I just listen
and I wait
for the sounds
of some phantom rescuer,
on a clomping steed
to reach me...
a sound I know,
I will never hear.
My eyes are blurry
from the darkness.
My limbs are weary
from underuse.
And my heart remains
a shrivelled
underplayed instrument
when I know
it is meant to beat
like a mighty drum.
Yet, what can I do
but wait?
Wait for some force,
to come and save me.
This saviour
I now know,
will not be found
out there.
The world beyond
these walls
has already failed
too many times,
to protect me
or to at least
destroy
what I have created.
No, I suddenly realize
in this "alone"
and separate state
that I am in,
is that what I need
to save me
is something
already here,
hidden within
my fortress of stone.
Inspired
by a tiny ray of light,
I get on my knees
and I close my eyes.
I look inward away
from the mossy walls
and into a different type
of emptiness.
With clearer vision,
I seek
beyond the captivity
I have become
too familiar with
to the perfect rescue,
the only true salvation
and the Source of Light
I long for.
I then wrap
a weary hand
around the
long and flimsy pole
that is presented me.
With weak
and trembling limb
I extend it up and over
the tallest wall,
so the flapping
white flag
on its tip
can make my surrender
known to all,
so it can make it
known to me.
The echoed voices
in the fading shadows
around me
will sing in
triumphant gratitude
for this sweet surrender
that will allow
all remaining walls
to crumble to the ground.
Dale-Lyn ( March 28, 2020)
I know! I know! It just came out here, so I put it here. I tell myself to suck it up and learn from it lol. There is some type of message in here somewhere.
All is well.
Friday, March 27, 2020
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Thank You Readers!
Thank You!!
I neglected to thank all you wonderful readers for reading this blog!!! It is for you and all of us that I do this and it is to you that I am forever grateful!!
With much appreciation and hope for your well being!
I neglected to thank all you wonderful readers for reading this blog!!! It is for you and all of us that I do this and it is to you that I am forever grateful!!
With much appreciation and hope for your well being!
A Time to Sit
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Blaise Pascal (Pensee 139)
This forced social distancing may be causing a lot of us to squirm. Our minds might be racing with , "What do I do now?"
If we are stuck at home, not able to work, not able to socialize, not able to get lost in one busy project after another, as we are in the habit of doing, we fear we might go a little stir crazy, right?
We don't want to sit quietly in a room alone but atlas that is what we may have to do. Without all our outer world distractions and busyness we might find ourselves having no other place to run or to escape to. We are stuck with out very Self...the thing we have been trying to avoid for eons.
Yet, what a wonderful opportunity to begin solving humanity's real problems. This virus, as a gentle nudge , can take us closer to Self awareness and with Self awareness we can be healed ( or at least healing) cogs in humanity's squeaking wheel.
It is only through stillness and silence can we come back to clarity. It is there we can see the errors of our ways. We can discriminate what we thought was real from what is truly real. We can see that what we have spent most of our lives doing was running away from what we thought was the problem and can discover that the only real problem was the running away.
We ran away in out mind streams. We ran away in our incessant need to do. We ran away in our distracting and numbing activities. What the heck were we running away from?
We were running from the here and now...this very moment... because we feared and assumed it was not enough. We were always striving to get to the next moment in hope that it would be better than the one we were just not willing to sit in!
"I will be happy when..." "I can rest and be at peace then..."
When the only moment that really matter is this one...not the one we were running toward! This one...right here and right now. This is Life. Whatever is in it right now is Life and it does us no good to push it away, ignore it, resist it, struggle against it, numb from it with mind and body activity or use it as a stepping stone to get to the next moment.
And guess what? Who you truly are can be discovered in this moment. You are not the roles that lead you into one important action to another. You are not whatever thoughts or ideas you have in your mind. You are not a human "doer". You are a human being. You are the stillness, the quiet, the essence of this perfect moment that is Life.
When we sit in stillness and quiet we can realize that and connect to that Self that is us. We can heal. And instead of giving into collective panic, we can thank the pandemic for leading us towards the healing we really need.
I found this blurry and very imperfect video I did a few years back on the Buddhsit Gatha, Just Sit.
I swallow what is left of my prideful ego lol and offer it now in hope that it will help someone out there to just sit with Self for a while. To heal just a bit so the world can begin the healing it truly needs.
All is well.
me ( 2017) What I Learned from Blaise Pascal. The Wisdom Daily. http://thewisdomdaily.com/what-i-learned-from-blaise-pascal-about-the-power-of-stillness/
Blaise Pascal (Pensee 139)
This forced social distancing may be causing a lot of us to squirm. Our minds might be racing with , "What do I do now?"
If we are stuck at home, not able to work, not able to socialize, not able to get lost in one busy project after another, as we are in the habit of doing, we fear we might go a little stir crazy, right?
We don't want to sit quietly in a room alone but atlas that is what we may have to do. Without all our outer world distractions and busyness we might find ourselves having no other place to run or to escape to. We are stuck with out very Self...the thing we have been trying to avoid for eons.
Yet, what a wonderful opportunity to begin solving humanity's real problems. This virus, as a gentle nudge , can take us closer to Self awareness and with Self awareness we can be healed ( or at least healing) cogs in humanity's squeaking wheel.
It is only through stillness and silence can we come back to clarity. It is there we can see the errors of our ways. We can discriminate what we thought was real from what is truly real. We can see that what we have spent most of our lives doing was running away from what we thought was the problem and can discover that the only real problem was the running away.
We ran away in out mind streams. We ran away in our incessant need to do. We ran away in our distracting and numbing activities. What the heck were we running away from?
We were running from the here and now...this very moment... because we feared and assumed it was not enough. We were always striving to get to the next moment in hope that it would be better than the one we were just not willing to sit in!
"I will be happy when..." "I can rest and be at peace then..."
When the only moment that really matter is this one...not the one we were running toward! This one...right here and right now. This is Life. Whatever is in it right now is Life and it does us no good to push it away, ignore it, resist it, struggle against it, numb from it with mind and body activity or use it as a stepping stone to get to the next moment.
And guess what? Who you truly are can be discovered in this moment. You are not the roles that lead you into one important action to another. You are not whatever thoughts or ideas you have in your mind. You are not a human "doer". You are a human being. You are the stillness, the quiet, the essence of this perfect moment that is Life.
When we sit in stillness and quiet we can realize that and connect to that Self that is us. We can heal. And instead of giving into collective panic, we can thank the pandemic for leading us towards the healing we really need.
I found this blurry and very imperfect video I did a few years back on the Buddhsit Gatha, Just Sit.
I swallow what is left of my prideful ego lol and offer it now in hope that it will help someone out there to just sit with Self for a while. To heal just a bit so the world can begin the healing it truly needs.
All is well.
me ( 2017) What I Learned from Blaise Pascal. The Wisdom Daily. http://thewisdomdaily.com/what-i-learned-from-blaise-pascal-about-the-power-of-stillness/
A Milestone?
Life is not a matter of milestones, but of moments.
Rose Kennedy
50K
I reached 50K readers a few days ago. I have been watching the numbers closely over the last little while noticing I was getting close. I was wondering what it would feel like to hit that particular number.
Now I know that in this cyber world 50 K might not be a lot...especially when it is linked to an all time readership and I have been writing this blog for years. I see some vlog videos that receive 50 K in hours lol. And it has, I repeat, taken me years to reach this number.
Of course, I didn't put much effort into increasing readership. I don't advertise. I don't tell many people about this site. I might link it to an article I get published but I am not really putting a lot of effort into getting me or it noticed. I don't do the SEO stuff. I even use a pen when I am here.
My intention , when I started, was to just put it out there and let "the universe" take care of readership. I did not want to make this at all about ego. I knew if I got concerned about proving "myself' or writing to get numbers I would get lost in "little me" agenda rather than what Self wanted. I thought it would interfere with my mission, so to speak, of coming here to teach to learn and to learn to teach.
Ego Checks the Stats
My ego, however, still wanted a readership. It led me to the stats page everyday to see how many tapped into my words over the last 24 hours. I always felt good if I got over 10 ( imagine...some people get over 1000 a day and I am happy with ten lol) . So though 50 K might not be a lot by others standards, it is a lot by mine. Even my ego gets a little puffed up about that number. Wow! There have been 50,000 readers tapping into my blog. That is a lot more than I ever anticipated really.
In the deeper sense...I feel satisfied knowing that I have reached 50,000 readers ( or the same reader 50,000 times lol)...regardless...I have reached a fair number of people. Well...let me rephrase that...this message I share has reached a number of people. Whether people clicked off as soon as they clicked on is another matter but still it makes me assume that I fulfilled some obligation I had to share, to teach, to heal.
The stats show me that this blog has readers all over the world ...in the Ukraine, France, England, Germany, Romania, Asia, India, South America, Mexico and of course Canada and the United States. That is pretty cool even by ego standards.
The Deeper Milestone
What is even cooler is the realization that these readers were brought here by something other than me. They were brought here for reasons that go well beyond my puny little need to be read. And if they stay for more than a few seconds ( many might not :)) it is because something that resonated in me, resonated in them. How cool is that? Being that what I speak about is so "out there" and "strange" by the standards of many, in some ways that makes it even cooler. Could this mean that the world is actually waking up??? And can relate to the experiences I share?
Anyway...I guess 50 K is a milestone for me if not for anyone else. I will take it gratefully and happily as I continue to write here everyday for no other reason than it brings me learning through teaching, teaching through learning and therefore joy to do so. If I get another 50,000 or not won't matter one lick to me because I have already accomplished something I never thought I would. I can put ego aside now and focus on what is really important.
It is all good.
Rose Kennedy
50K
I reached 50K readers a few days ago. I have been watching the numbers closely over the last little while noticing I was getting close. I was wondering what it would feel like to hit that particular number.
Now I know that in this cyber world 50 K might not be a lot...especially when it is linked to an all time readership and I have been writing this blog for years. I see some vlog videos that receive 50 K in hours lol. And it has, I repeat, taken me years to reach this number.
Of course, I didn't put much effort into increasing readership. I don't advertise. I don't tell many people about this site. I might link it to an article I get published but I am not really putting a lot of effort into getting me or it noticed. I don't do the SEO stuff. I even use a pen when I am here.
My intention , when I started, was to just put it out there and let "the universe" take care of readership. I did not want to make this at all about ego. I knew if I got concerned about proving "myself' or writing to get numbers I would get lost in "little me" agenda rather than what Self wanted. I thought it would interfere with my mission, so to speak, of coming here to teach to learn and to learn to teach.
Ego Checks the Stats
My ego, however, still wanted a readership. It led me to the stats page everyday to see how many tapped into my words over the last 24 hours. I always felt good if I got over 10 ( imagine...some people get over 1000 a day and I am happy with ten lol) . So though 50 K might not be a lot by others standards, it is a lot by mine. Even my ego gets a little puffed up about that number. Wow! There have been 50,000 readers tapping into my blog. That is a lot more than I ever anticipated really.
In the deeper sense...I feel satisfied knowing that I have reached 50,000 readers ( or the same reader 50,000 times lol)...regardless...I have reached a fair number of people. Well...let me rephrase that...this message I share has reached a number of people. Whether people clicked off as soon as they clicked on is another matter but still it makes me assume that I fulfilled some obligation I had to share, to teach, to heal.
The stats show me that this blog has readers all over the world ...in the Ukraine, France, England, Germany, Romania, Asia, India, South America, Mexico and of course Canada and the United States. That is pretty cool even by ego standards.
The Deeper Milestone
What is even cooler is the realization that these readers were brought here by something other than me. They were brought here for reasons that go well beyond my puny little need to be read. And if they stay for more than a few seconds ( many might not :)) it is because something that resonated in me, resonated in them. How cool is that? Being that what I speak about is so "out there" and "strange" by the standards of many, in some ways that makes it even cooler. Could this mean that the world is actually waking up??? And can relate to the experiences I share?
Anyway...I guess 50 K is a milestone for me if not for anyone else. I will take it gratefully and happily as I continue to write here everyday for no other reason than it brings me learning through teaching, teaching through learning and therefore joy to do so. If I get another 50,000 or not won't matter one lick to me because I have already accomplished something I never thought I would. I can put ego aside now and focus on what is really important.
It is all good.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Lessons 156-160
The light in you is what the universe longs to behold. All living things are still before, for they recognize Who walks with you. the light you carry is their own.
ACIM-W-156:5:1-3
Lesson 156 is beautiful and poetic and I believe it can be summed up in one word Namaste. The light in me offers homage reverence to the light in you. The light in you does the same for me. Why? Because we cannot help but to walk with God in perfect holiness. You cannot walk the world apart from God, because you could not be without Him. He is what your life is. 156:2:4-5 If this is so and of God is holy we too must be walking in holiness. If we are holy how can there be sin, punishment and death?
We can turn from days of fearing death and instead feel the joy of life. We can do this by finding presence in the here and now, the only place where we can find the Self. Yet you have come far enough along the way to alter time sufficiently to rise above its law as, and walk into eternity a while.157:3:2 The Holy Instant is the present moment and it is here, according to this lesson, we will find Christ's/God's shining presence and perfect Love. ( Lesson 157)
Lesson 158 speaks to the issue of time and how it is a creation of the mind...not the one mind...but the individual mind. Past and future are not real. For time but seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is over. Yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us. 158:35-7. We have already taken all the steps we need to take to get to where we think we need to go. There are no mores future steps up ahead. There is just this moment. What we want we already have because there is no past or future . All there is is now and we and it are already complete. Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. 158:4:1-2
We can not teach experience because we cannot learn it. It can only be revealed to us. What we can teach is what Christ sees when He looks at us. See no one as a body. This vision beholds a light beyond the body when it looks at another. This light is pure and beyond mistakes, fear, guilt and sin. And it uses this vision to look out about the world and when we look with this light the light does not dim. What we recognize and then teach is that the world we look upon with the body's eyes can offer nothing compared to recognition of this light. When we shine this light on the illusions ( all the sin, all that is "wrong' with it) in the world, they simply disappear. Thus do you learn to give as you receive. 158:10:1
To give is how to recognize you have received. It is the proof that what you have is yours.159:1:7 We are aware that we have received miracles only after we have given them away . We know we have been healed when we give healing. We know that we have been forgiven, when we forgive. Lesson 159 speaks of Christ's vision again and states it is the bridge between our physical world and our spiritual. All that we give from this vision: compassion, forgiveness, Love and healing by simply recognizing who we are and who are brother is...will remain in the storehouse. Nothing is lost when we give. There is no limit as to what we can give, who we can help, what we can do when we receive this miracle, when we recognize our brother as our self.
Lesson 160 tells us that Love is our home. Fear is a stranger to the ways of love and it is present , keeping us from home, because we asked it to take our place. Love and fear cannot coexist. If you are real, then fear is an illusion. and if fear is real then you do not exist at all. When we chose fear we chose ego over Self, over God, over home, over truth When we see a stranger in our brother we are denying Self...who we really are. We are reminded by this lesson that we are not strangers to God and that He has not forgotten us. We must see Self in the other and return home where there is only Love.
All is well!
ACIM-W-156:5:1-3
Lesson 156 is beautiful and poetic and I believe it can be summed up in one word Namaste. The light in me offers homage reverence to the light in you. The light in you does the same for me. Why? Because we cannot help but to walk with God in perfect holiness. You cannot walk the world apart from God, because you could not be without Him. He is what your life is. 156:2:4-5 If this is so and of God is holy we too must be walking in holiness. If we are holy how can there be sin, punishment and death?
We can turn from days of fearing death and instead feel the joy of life. We can do this by finding presence in the here and now, the only place where we can find the Self. Yet you have come far enough along the way to alter time sufficiently to rise above its law as, and walk into eternity a while.157:3:2 The Holy Instant is the present moment and it is here, according to this lesson, we will find Christ's/God's shining presence and perfect Love. ( Lesson 157)
Lesson 158 speaks to the issue of time and how it is a creation of the mind...not the one mind...but the individual mind. Past and future are not real. For time but seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is over. Yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us. 158:35-7. We have already taken all the steps we need to take to get to where we think we need to go. There are no mores future steps up ahead. There is just this moment. What we want we already have because there is no past or future . All there is is now and we and it are already complete. Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. 158:4:1-2
We can not teach experience because we cannot learn it. It can only be revealed to us. What we can teach is what Christ sees when He looks at us. See no one as a body. This vision beholds a light beyond the body when it looks at another. This light is pure and beyond mistakes, fear, guilt and sin. And it uses this vision to look out about the world and when we look with this light the light does not dim. What we recognize and then teach is that the world we look upon with the body's eyes can offer nothing compared to recognition of this light. When we shine this light on the illusions ( all the sin, all that is "wrong' with it) in the world, they simply disappear. Thus do you learn to give as you receive. 158:10:1
To give is how to recognize you have received. It is the proof that what you have is yours.159:1:7 We are aware that we have received miracles only after we have given them away . We know we have been healed when we give healing. We know that we have been forgiven, when we forgive. Lesson 159 speaks of Christ's vision again and states it is the bridge between our physical world and our spiritual. All that we give from this vision: compassion, forgiveness, Love and healing by simply recognizing who we are and who are brother is...will remain in the storehouse. Nothing is lost when we give. There is no limit as to what we can give, who we can help, what we can do when we receive this miracle, when we recognize our brother as our self.
Lesson 160 tells us that Love is our home. Fear is a stranger to the ways of love and it is present , keeping us from home, because we asked it to take our place. Love and fear cannot coexist. If you are real, then fear is an illusion. and if fear is real then you do not exist at all. When we chose fear we chose ego over Self, over God, over home, over truth When we see a stranger in our brother we are denying Self...who we really are. We are reminded by this lesson that we are not strangers to God and that He has not forgotten us. We must see Self in the other and return home where there is only Love.
All is well!
Understanding Some Concepts
Essence identity = Self
Foundation= deep= built in rock=never changing=invulnerable
fear=future=product of conceptual mind
conceptual mind=foundation-less=built on sand= offers no security or happiness, just an illusion of it= veils
shadows behind veils= spirit, true Self, spiritual energy, "Holy Spirit", angels?
cellar= place to hide in a tornado or hurricane=safety=peace
darkness=eyes closed in meditation=away from light on the surface
being a healthy human being= balance between darkness and light, spirit and physical being, deep and superficial levels
COVID 19= gentle wake up call for humanity to save itself from its own unconsciousness -induced destruction
These are the words , concepts and analytical connections floating around in my mind right now...that I feel compelled to share with you. Yes, they are in my conceptual mind but they were somehow put there by a deeper part of mind.
Say what crazy lady?
Do you ever wonder why you think certain things? Why you see certain things in amongst the myriad of things your eyes could pick out? Why you remember certain details with the exclusion of all else, it seems?
The Deeper Mind
I believe that sometimes a deeper part of our mind, the foundations (so to speak) of who we really are or that which is behind the veils of our conceptual understanding /illusions pushes through to our very limited human awareness to allow for certain thoughts, perceptions or experiences to "stick". I don't think it is merely coincidence ( well I see coincidence not as a random sequence of circumstances but the coinciding of deep consciousness with our awareness) but a purposeful act of consciousness. These pointers...and that is all words and concepts are...show us where to look for true "knowing". This thing/no-thing beneath our surface identity, our veils of illusion, uses our conceptual mind, our physical reality, the human part of human being to teach us about the truth that lies beyond it.
My mind or the mind ( however you view it) had some help from Eckhart Tolle this morning too. I sat at the table with my tea and I listened with my eyes closed to what was being said. I made a promise to myself to not jot one word down until I was done my meditation. And when I was done I picked up a pen and a piece of paper. This is what came up.
Pointers to the Truth
These are not my words any more than I believe they are his words.. They are just very valuable pointers to a truth we all have access to, a truth we merely need to remember. The truth was breathed into him and he breathed them out to the world with the words he used. And being in an open receptive state of mind as this little form I identify as... the truth within those words "stuck", only so that I could breathe that truth out of me to someone else in the way I do!
It is not about Tolle and his mind or his physical form or his physical reality and the symbols he uses to express truth with. It isn't about me and my conceptual mind, my form or my physical reality or the symbols I may use...and it isn't about you, your mind, your form or your physical reality or any symbols you may use or be receptive to. It is about something so much deeper. It is about a truth that we are being guided towards.
If you are not allowing that deeper part of yourself to slip through the veil to reach you...if you do not see the rock you are grounded into...if you are not open...you will not get one word I am saying here. The concepts I am using and the manner I am expressing them in will not "hit home". You will definitely see me as crazier than a bag of hammers. And in that outer reality I would be. You would not see how crazy your own mind is...how crazy the minds of billions of people on this planet now are. It is much more rational to see me as crazy and the few million (if that) maybe who think like me as crazy.
So what is this crazy lady trying to share with this concepts? What truth lies in them?
This "essence identity", as Tolle describes it is the Self that Patanjali refers to, is the soul that many religions refer to, is the "consciousness" that scientists are trying to understand and it is who you are. Everything, everything necessary in understanding truth depends on you knowing who you really are.
Who you Really Are Beyond The Conceptual Mind
If you knew who you were...saw yourself as not mere flesh and bone, not mere thought and feeling, not merely "an in idea" ego has defined...you would see how deep your foundation goes, how you are changeless and invulnerable to the unpredictable changes that occur in the physical world. There therefore would be no need to fear the future or what might happen. In fact, there would be no future because future is only a product of the conceptual mind and rooted in Self means being here and now in the only time there is.
Most of us build our identity on the conceptual mind...on "an idea" and that is like building our homes in the sand. Without the foundation of spirit, of stillness, of truth...you are at the mercy of the elements of the outside world. All you will be given, at best, is an "illusion" of happiness that waxes and wanes with the wind. There will be no true peace or a sense of safety.
What Ego Wants
Ego ...this identification you have with conceptual mind...wants you building on the sand because it is the only way it can survive. It can not survive in truth so it does not want you awakening. It doesn't want you going deeper. It puts up veils between its version of reality and the reality of spirit so you do not see who you really are.
But spirit will sometimes shine through the veils giving us glimpses of who we are. At first these images will be like shadows and we will not be able to make out the form and we may actually fear them...so we stay away from that veil. We call it "metaphysical", "supernatural", "Woo-woo" stuff , even "evil" or we call it crazy.
What Moves Us Toward The Veils
Yet, for some of us that energy reaches us and we are compelled to make our way towards the shadows on the other side of these veils. Something/No-thing tells us that what is there is real. Even though we still doubt, we still fear, we still think we are not being scientific enough, "religious" enough...we walk towards the shadows beyond the veil anyway. It is more than idle curiosity but a compulsion for truth that leads us there.
This call we get is said to come from many different things. The conceptual mind has to call it something. It tends to personify so we can understand. Some may call it simply "spirit". Others may call it "spiritual energy", or the "Self". Some may feel they are being directed by the "Holy Spirit" or the "angels". And some who are more scientifically oriented may simply say they are trying to understand by proving or disproving what "consciousness" is or isn't. I call it God. These names and terms are all just pointers leading to the truth beyond the veils, all just roots of a greater foundation that take us deeper than what can be seen or perceived by the five senses.
Cellars in the Rock
This place they take us to, let's call it the "spiritual dimension" or the "formless reality" is home to us. It is the only place where we will feel completely at peace, completely safe and completely happy. The physical world around these forms we are in is constantly going to change ( as are the forms we are in) . We cannot control the unpredictability of Life. We can only manipulate it so much so it goes our way and doing that all the time is absolutely exhausting and crazy making. We may find some temporary semblance of peace when things "out there" are going calmly and smoothly. We may even feel temporarily and superficially "happy" for a while but it won't last. Things "out there" will not always go smoothly no matter how you attempt to control them, resist them, avoid them or deny them.
When the storm comes...and it will come...be it a hurricane or tornado ( Life's adversity) if we are aware we have a deeper foundation , we can always retreat to the cellar built within the rock and we will be truly safe there. We will find true happiness and peace there. Going back to spirit in times of challenge can be our saving grace.
We have to, first of all, realize that cellar is there, that foundation is there, that part of who we are is there...so we can access it. We can find peace in faith. We can practice building this faith in many ways including with prayer, meditation, mindfulness and present moment thinking. We can practice being the "being" in the human being.
Balance
So we can close our eyes in meditation and go inward. We can stay in the safety of our spiritual practice, in our being but that doesn't mean we want to exclude the human part of our journeys as human beings. We do not want to exclude the physical world all together. We do not want to be stuck in the foundation of spirituality and miss out on being human.
We do want the beauty the world offers, do we not? If we are in the basement we will not see it. It is important that we create balance between the human and the being aspect of our experience here. We were breathed into form for a reason. We do not hide out or away making spirituality our new comfort zone.To have balance ,we simply base who we are in that foundation. Then we retreat when we need to in order to build up our strength and we resurface, when we are ready, taking that peace and strength of who we really into the world of doing.
A Gentle Reminder
This pandemic gives us an opportunity to spend time looking at what we have been doing and thinking. We can definitely retreat into our foundations to gain the necessary strength and peace to deal with crisis. We can also look at the crisis from there. If we do, we will not see it as a violent storm beating against the walls of our physicality ...but as a gentle reminder for all of humanity to wake up from its unconsciousness.
I stress the word "gentle" because this is a gentle reminder. This is not the bubonic plague, eboli, HIV or small pox...it is not even like other corona viruses like SARS. This is a gentle virus.
I believe nature is simply telling us in a gentle way that it can only let our unconsciousness do so much damage to her before she does what she needs to do to protect herself. It is a gentle nudge. How we respond to tis nudge will make the difference.
Maybe she wants us to retreat into our root cellars deep within the rock, to get beyond our veils and wake up a little bit. Maybe she is nudging us to come to terms with what we are doing before it is too late...not for her but for us. She might be asking us to reconnect with the truth that will save us all.
Hmmm! That is a lot of stuff that came from one listening meditation, eh? No wonder why they call me crazy!
All is well.
Eckhart Tolle (March, 2020) Staying Conscious in the Face of Adversity
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Lesson 151-155
The world is an illusion...To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity.
ACIM-W-155:2:1,5-6
I happen on lesson 151 ( for the third time) after I wrote about building our identity of who we are in the rock of our spiritual Self and about the veils of illusion that are between us and the truth. It is quite serendipitous that I run in to these words : His lessons will enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and the truth. ACIM-W-151:9:7
That is what it is all about, isn't it? Getting beyond the veil of illusion to the truth of who we really are. Part of that veil is based on our judgments ...well on ego's judgments that we believe to be the truth. We see the world through the eyes on our heads and assume that is all there is. Part of us knows what ego offers us is not the truth yet we stay on this side of the veil, we build our "little mes" in the sand because ego convinces us that that is all there is. We can instead listen to The Voice of God that echoes in all things and in Christ's lessons to us. We can hear that wisdom and do it!
Are you willing to hear in everything no sound but the echo of God's Voice? 12:4
Lesson 152 speaks to the all inclusiveness of truth. Salvation is the recognition that the truth is true, and nothing else is true. 152:3:1 Who we are in this truth remains unchangeable regardless of what is happening to us or around us, no matter what we are thinking or believing or feeling. Who we really are beneath these veils ego has put up to convince us otherwise are innocent, healthy, whole, limitless beings of Love. Ego will do whatever it can to convince us that we can get sick, we can suffer, we can sin, we can lose and we can die. As long as we follow ego's arrogance which defies the truth of what God created us to be, we will experience these things. We do, however, have a choice. We can decide to listen to God's Will for us. The power of decision is my own. This day I will accept myself as what my Father's Will created me to be. 152: 11:3
Many of us feel threatened by the world we see as changing and dangerous. We are anxious and en guard. We become defensive. Lesson 153 speaks to this defensiveness and how it only makes our fear worse. Defense leads to a cycle of defense and attack in the name of self righteous, self -protection. When we see through ego's eyes, we see ourselves as vulnerable victims but it is all illusion. As long as we defend and attack we see ourselves as vulnerable victims . When we put down our defenses, on the other hand, we recognize and embrace our strength and the truth of who we really are. Fear is a part of ego's game not what God willed for us. And we must make it a point to put down our defenses and sit in stillness frequently throughout the day to be faithful to the will we share with God.
We are all messengers/ministers of God through the One voice we share. It is our purpose to deliver the message, first to our very Self and then to our brothers. But it is important to remember We will not recognize what we receive until we give it. 154:12:1
Lesson 155 speaks to the need for us to get out of our own way. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest,. 155:10:3 We need to trust that we will be lead to truth, away from our illusions and our fantasies to what is real. This will free us from our false ideas of suffering.
All is well!
ACIM Workbook , Lessons 151-155
ACIM-W-155:2:1,5-6
I happen on lesson 151 ( for the third time) after I wrote about building our identity of who we are in the rock of our spiritual Self and about the veils of illusion that are between us and the truth. It is quite serendipitous that I run in to these words : His lessons will enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and the truth. ACIM-W-151:9:7
That is what it is all about, isn't it? Getting beyond the veil of illusion to the truth of who we really are. Part of that veil is based on our judgments ...well on ego's judgments that we believe to be the truth. We see the world through the eyes on our heads and assume that is all there is. Part of us knows what ego offers us is not the truth yet we stay on this side of the veil, we build our "little mes" in the sand because ego convinces us that that is all there is. We can instead listen to The Voice of God that echoes in all things and in Christ's lessons to us. We can hear that wisdom and do it!
Are you willing to hear in everything no sound but the echo of God's Voice? 12:4
Lesson 152 speaks to the all inclusiveness of truth. Salvation is the recognition that the truth is true, and nothing else is true. 152:3:1 Who we are in this truth remains unchangeable regardless of what is happening to us or around us, no matter what we are thinking or believing or feeling. Who we really are beneath these veils ego has put up to convince us otherwise are innocent, healthy, whole, limitless beings of Love. Ego will do whatever it can to convince us that we can get sick, we can suffer, we can sin, we can lose and we can die. As long as we follow ego's arrogance which defies the truth of what God created us to be, we will experience these things. We do, however, have a choice. We can decide to listen to God's Will for us. The power of decision is my own. This day I will accept myself as what my Father's Will created me to be. 152: 11:3
Many of us feel threatened by the world we see as changing and dangerous. We are anxious and en guard. We become defensive. Lesson 153 speaks to this defensiveness and how it only makes our fear worse. Defense leads to a cycle of defense and attack in the name of self righteous, self -protection. When we see through ego's eyes, we see ourselves as vulnerable victims but it is all illusion. As long as we defend and attack we see ourselves as vulnerable victims . When we put down our defenses, on the other hand, we recognize and embrace our strength and the truth of who we really are. Fear is a part of ego's game not what God willed for us. And we must make it a point to put down our defenses and sit in stillness frequently throughout the day to be faithful to the will we share with God.
We are all messengers/ministers of God through the One voice we share. It is our purpose to deliver the message, first to our very Self and then to our brothers. But it is important to remember We will not recognize what we receive until we give it. 154:12:1
Lesson 155 speaks to the need for us to get out of our own way. Step back in faith and let truth lead the way. You know not where you go. But One Who knows goes with you. Let Him lead you with the rest,. 155:10:3 We need to trust that we will be lead to truth, away from our illusions and our fantasies to what is real. This will free us from our false ideas of suffering.
All is well!
ACIM Workbook , Lessons 151-155
How are you spending your day?
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Annie Dillard
What are you doing with your time?
Well I don't know about you, but my time right now is not that different than what it had been before the self imposed "social distancing". I was already somewhat distant for other reasons.. I was already well deep into learning to be still, to "be", to settle in this "here and now". I am grateful for that. And as you may know by now, I am not that big on the concept of "doing" anyway. I prefer to be and then do from there...if that makes sense to anyone.
So this is how I spend my time if anyone really cares lol. I suppose at this point you just may be bored enough to read my big long rambles. :)
- I get up in the morning and I look out at the world. I need to see nature first thing. It was snowing this morning and everything looked so pure and clean because of that new layer of fresh fallen snow on it. It was like all sins ( or notion of sins) were forgiven.(And we all know what forgiveness really means at this point, right? :))
- I put the kettle on for tea and as I am waiting for that to boil I greet all my animals ( that takes a while...there are many) and feed them all. Of course if others are home or awake I greet them too..if D. is off we enjoy our tea/coffee together.
- I then sit in my dining room which is surrounded by windows and light. It is almost as if I am outside. And I just sit with my tea. It is my favorite time of the day.
- The animals, after they finish eating, usually surround me or crawl up on my lap and we just sit there in stillness and silence. If my mind is too active, I will put on a you tube video to listen to some words of inspiration and wisdom from one of my many mentors. I am selective as to who and what I listen to. I seriously limit any time on social media or the news and I definitely do not start my day with it. . Today I listened to an address from Marianne Williamson. She was the one who led me to A Course in Miracles so I feel a bit of a spiritual connection with her.
- I may then do a twenty minute meditation right there as I am sitting in the chair. It may be a guided meditation from You Tube, or I will meditate on my own. I love the Who Am I? meditation that Kim Eng offers us. Sometimes and often...I will just focus on breath going in and out.
- I write in my devotional and I record my dreams from the night before...what I can remember which seems like a great deal sometimes.
- I put something that I am grateful for in my gratitude book
- Then I come here to write...and I don't know what I am going to write. I may have a few words jotted down from my mentors. I may build on those or I may have a page in one of my books opened to something that catches my eye and I will write about that. Or I may just start writing and see what comes out as I am doing now. Sometimes what I have to say comes through me so fast it surprises me...as it is with my poetry. Other times...it comes out in awkward spurts...like this is doing now. I find if I am writing about myself...unless it is a profound life changing experience...it does not come out easy because it is ego doing the writing, trying to create image or something foolish. So this entry right here is not natural...I have been up and down since I started to switch laundry over, wash a few dishes, put some clothes away , roll my bread and refresh my tea in the short time I sat here. I will finish it because I started it but it isn't the usually "trip" I get from writing lol. I prefer to have that Something within me carry me away. I prefer this to be more than about "me"....you know. I would rather "teach" and "learn" at the same time...feel purpose in that. Can't say I feel that purpose now. I have, however, an awful habit of finishing what I start...so I will.
- I will read throughout the day...from a Course...these days because I am reviewing the lessons...Michael Singer...and oodles and oodles of other books that land on my lap. Love that...and as you can probably tell...I love poetry so I like to sink my heart into a good poem or two.
- I do some house work but I do not knock myself out doing it either. I pay extra attention to the bathrooms, door knobs, electronic surfaces that are touched often and kitchen area because of the virus but by no means is this place as clean as could be!
- I open all my windows for twenty minutes every day. There is nothing like a fresh cold Canadian March breeze to cleanse a house!
- I make it a point to get up every hour when I am writing to walk around the house, stretch, shake out my legs etc.
- I talk to my daughters who are here throughout the day, listening to them as they share and I reach out to my daughter who lives elsewhere. I may send a text out to my son but he works long hours and I usually wait for him to contact me.
- I bake a sour dough bread everyday. In my way of establishing the positive focus on microbs in our lives to counter the negative, I am perfecting my bread! So though the process usually begins a day or two before with the leaven and folding every hour...a bread goes into my oven every single day. I am producing something of value for myself, my immediate family and my siblings...with the minimum of resources...flour, salt, water and a bit of Canadian maple syrup to sweeten it naturally. (I don't like my bread too sour). And of course, all the microorganisms that are on the flour and in the air join in to make an almost perfect loaf of bread...if I say so myself! It took me over three years to get my starter and my skill to this level but I am getting there. Being home everyday has allowed that to happen.
- I try to make at least one nutritious meal for my family a day and supplement with a green smoothie in the afternoon for all who want to partake.(Great way to boost the immune system and I have been doing it for years)
- I do yoga. Right now I am videotaping some yoga sequences for my students to do at home since I cannot lead classes here and I will open them to the public. (I am giving a little of what I have to give). I think yoga is a gift that will be of much benefit during this crisis.
- I keep an eye on the stocks. I have a very, very limited pension and am trying to make that go as far as I can through investing. I invest very consciously...being mindful of the impact my chosen stock has on the world around me. I need more guidance in that area...not from investment mogul's...though I do listen and study them...but from what the planet is saying and what my heart is telling me during meditation. I am determined to invest consciously, leaving as little negative footprints as I can!
- I enjoy one family meal a day...I insist people sit at the table without cell phones or devices!
- I try to get outside in nature once a day...even if it is only to go out in the yard to throw the Frisbee to the dogs. I love it when I have the energy and ability to go for a walk in the woods!!! I love it out there.
- I try to get a second meditation in a day.
- I take online classes in photography, yoga and writing. I also am hoping to do a "Meditation Trainer" course on line
- I continue to fold my dough throughout the day. I may also bake some muffins. (oatmeal or bran)...believe me I am no Betty Crocker
- I do answer texts and emails but I barely have my phone on me. I will go to my phone only when I am ready to do so.
- I do watch Netflix with D. after supper and after the dishes are done. I do not watch TV before then. It is our time to cuddle on the couch together .
- I like to take my shower or bath...hot...before bed because it relaxes me and helps me to sleep.
- Then I crawl into a very crowded bed with a 6'1'' man and three dogs, one of them weighing in at 80 lbs.
- I read something wise and inspirational before bed or listen to a guided meditation
- and then I dream...lucidly throughout the night...telling myself I will remember all the important details.
All is well in my world!
Monday, March 23, 2020
A Thousand Veils
The soul is covered by a thousand veils.
Hazrat Iyanat Khan
Hmm! I have heard others use the term veil over and over again it seems lately. I have seen the word used in several of the books I have been recently reading or studying as well. I close my eyes and see veils blowing in the wind like laundry on the line. (Thus the poem).
I know in my heart I want to get through these veils to the truth that remains a mystery to me...the truth that is on the other side of what "I think'' I know. I speak of these veils to loved ones who feel helpless and in pain...hoping they will recognize them as blocks to their happiness and see that all they have to do is walk through them. Of course, it is not that easy for any of us who are just waking up. It is especially hard for the individual still lost in mind, which is the creator of these veils. Oh, I know there are so many layers of veils...so many clotheslines full of flapping sheets that are standing before what is real...what is beckoning all of us.
Of course these veils I am speaking of are those that lay between who we think we are and who we really are; between ego and God; fear and Love; form and the formless; the physical and the spiritual and between our suffering and freedom from our suffering.
The veils are so flimsy yet we see them to be as solid as rock most times, don't we? If we are lucky or if we are committed to a spiritual practice...we may see or sense shadows beyond the veils and hear the compelling invitation to go forward through them. But most of us will not even notice their transparency and assume the world stops at each veil and goes no further. Sigh!
Anyway, that was the inspiration for my poem and where my mind is at. When we think about digging into rock to find what is real, it seems like such a challenging thing to do yet it is probably as simple as walking through a veil. Someday, hopefully , we will all realize these veils are as flimsy as worn cotton sheets on a line. Maybe then we will all lift them and go through them. Hmmm!
All is well.
Lift the veil that obscures the heart, and there you will find what you are looking for.
Kabir
Hazrat Iyanat Khan
Hmm! I have heard others use the term veil over and over again it seems lately. I have seen the word used in several of the books I have been recently reading or studying as well. I close my eyes and see veils blowing in the wind like laundry on the line. (Thus the poem).
I know in my heart I want to get through these veils to the truth that remains a mystery to me...the truth that is on the other side of what "I think'' I know. I speak of these veils to loved ones who feel helpless and in pain...hoping they will recognize them as blocks to their happiness and see that all they have to do is walk through them. Of course, it is not that easy for any of us who are just waking up. It is especially hard for the individual still lost in mind, which is the creator of these veils. Oh, I know there are so many layers of veils...so many clotheslines full of flapping sheets that are standing before what is real...what is beckoning all of us.
Of course these veils I am speaking of are those that lay between who we think we are and who we really are; between ego and God; fear and Love; form and the formless; the physical and the spiritual and between our suffering and freedom from our suffering.
The veils are so flimsy yet we see them to be as solid as rock most times, don't we? If we are lucky or if we are committed to a spiritual practice...we may see or sense shadows beyond the veils and hear the compelling invitation to go forward through them. But most of us will not even notice their transparency and assume the world stops at each veil and goes no further. Sigh!
Anyway, that was the inspiration for my poem and where my mind is at. When we think about digging into rock to find what is real, it seems like such a challenging thing to do yet it is probably as simple as walking through a veil. Someday, hopefully , we will all realize these veils are as flimsy as worn cotton sheets on a line. Maybe then we will all lift them and go through them. Hmmm!
All is well.
Lift the veil that obscures the heart, and there you will find what you are looking for.
Kabir
The Veils
The Veils
The veils flap back and forth before me,
blowing in the sweet breeze and
soaking up the precious sunshine of this world.
I gingerly approach them from a distance,
intending to walk through them,
to feel them part with my presence
as I push this weary body and mind
from one line to the next.
Cautiously intent on getting to
the giggling shadows
that dance mysteriously on the other side,
I take one slow step at a time.
I extend my hand before me,
partly because I am curious
to know how my touch
will respond to these delicate soft fibers
and also because I feel
the need to protect myself
from that which lay beyond each veil .
I reach the first line and
watch in awe as the veils there
flap noisily in the wind...
I watch as they lift high towards the clouds,
billowing with a freedom and a looseness
that traps the whole world in makeshift parachutes
and then I watch as they are snapped back
with a whoosh to the other side....
Their threads are like long ballerinas on point shoes,
leaping into this world I am a part of and
then bowing and tip toeing back
into the shadows of the stage,
in a perfect choreographed response
to the music of Life.
I grasp a veil and
I hold it in my hand,
bringing it to my nose,
so I can breathe in
the fresh clean realness of it.
It seems so flimsy , so transparent
like a worn cotton sheet
against my weary flesh.
How could I not see beyond this
to the mysteries it hid?
How did I think this would protect me
or keep me warm?
I drop my hand to my side.
I allow every inch of this veil to
caress me as
I walk through it, under it, beyond it.
The light around me changes as I do,
warming me to the core
and making me shiver at the same time.
Though the grass beneath my bare feet
is still familiar,
I know I have stepped beyond
my comfort zone of physicality.
Part of me wants to go back...
but the shadows up ahead ,
beyond the deeper veils,
continue to whisper my name,
as they giggle and run about
with their promises of more.
I continue to make my way towards them.
I am going home
to the truth beyond the veils.
Dale-Lyn (March 23, 2020)
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Digging Deep into the Rock! Go deep!
Be rooted in the rock that is your essence identity.
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle's Address
I listened to a lovely address today that Eckhart Tolle offered the anxious world during this pandemic. (see link below). He used the parable from Matthew and I thought it fitting to cite what he cited because it really got me thinking. It inspired me to look at these words in Matthew a little more carefully. Of course, I suggest you tap into the link below and listen to the master speak...I am just his unknown and most amateurish self-appointed apprentice lol and in my yet to be evolved state my interpretation may differ more than slightly.
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. And the rain fell, , and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house in the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Matthew:7:24-27
Go Deep
I look at this parable in terms of how we can respond to this pandemic but I also look at in terms of how we can respond to all of Life's adversity. ...how we can choose to be. The key message, I believe, is to "Go deep.". We need to go beyond the superficial when we build our identities. We need to dig into the rock of truth and find the foundation of who we really are there.
Building this idea of self on sand
If we base/build our sense of self only on the outer surface, on the physical world only, on what can be determined by our five senses, our thinking and image making it is like building a house on the sand. There is nothing substantial to it, no roots , no true foundation and that "little me" we create will be blown away at the first drop of rain or the first breeze of Life's unpredictability. If we see ourselves as that "flimsy" and vulnerable to adversity, no wonder why we are terrified, feeling so limited and fragile in this idea of "me" we built.
A True Foundation
If we seek more...that Kingdom of Heaven that is within...as our foundation and dig deeply into it...building there...we will discover that not even the greatest storm Life blows in our direction can knock us down. Who we really are cannot be harmed! We are connected, rooted into the Source...God..."essence identity". We will experience true Faith that will see us through anything.
The Storms of Life Can Awaken Us
Tolle tells us how these adversities we face, like the pandemic, can wake us up...especially when the walls blow down and we no longer have a comfort zone to hide in. Challenging times can get us to abandon the flimsy houses we have already built in the superficial desserts of materialism and physicality, and erroneously call home ...so we can rebuild in the deep foundations of rock. It often takes adversity, struggle, challenge, loss and the storms of Life to awaken us.
I see Christ telling us in the above passage...to build this foundation from the beginning, rather than later. Get rooted in Truth first...then deal with Life. Prioritize the spiritual over the physical, God over the ego, Love over fear. Don't waste your time building in the sand ...come to truth first. It will certainly save us a lot of unnecessary suffering if we can do that.
Hearing and Doing
Yet, He probably knew as he spoke those words how humans can be. He knew that many of us would "hear these words" and still not do them. Many of us will not follow this direction, this wise guidance and will turn our backs on what cannot be seen, heard or felt for what can. Mind will tell us that only what the eye can see is real and that blasting through rock towards what we can not see is a foolish thing to do.
We need to hear Christ's kind and wise counsel beneath the chaotic chatter of our minds. We need to learn to "hear these words" and do them. If we truly want peace we will not find it on the sands of this existence no matter how wonderful and comfortable our houses seem to be. We will always be dependent on good weather and favorable outside forces to keep us safe and comfortable....We will put all our energy into attempting to manipulate those things we cannot control to prevent them from knocking us down. And that is not peace. That is crazy making.
We will only find true peace when we build ourselves in a deep foundation of faith, knowing we are so much more than a flimsy house that can be blown down.
Dig deep into the rock! Go Deep!
All is well.
Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A24-27&version=ESV
Eckhart Tolle (March 21, 2020) Staying Conscious in the Face of Adversity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKpmXhGVMxI
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle's Address
I listened to a lovely address today that Eckhart Tolle offered the anxious world during this pandemic. (see link below). He used the parable from Matthew and I thought it fitting to cite what he cited because it really got me thinking. It inspired me to look at these words in Matthew a little more carefully. Of course, I suggest you tap into the link below and listen to the master speak...I am just his unknown and most amateurish self-appointed apprentice lol and in my yet to be evolved state my interpretation may differ more than slightly.
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. And the rain fell, , and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house in the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Matthew:7:24-27
Go Deep
I look at this parable in terms of how we can respond to this pandemic but I also look at in terms of how we can respond to all of Life's adversity. ...how we can choose to be. The key message, I believe, is to "Go deep.". We need to go beyond the superficial when we build our identities. We need to dig into the rock of truth and find the foundation of who we really are there.
Building this idea of self on sand
If we base/build our sense of self only on the outer surface, on the physical world only, on what can be determined by our five senses, our thinking and image making it is like building a house on the sand. There is nothing substantial to it, no roots , no true foundation and that "little me" we create will be blown away at the first drop of rain or the first breeze of Life's unpredictability. If we see ourselves as that "flimsy" and vulnerable to adversity, no wonder why we are terrified, feeling so limited and fragile in this idea of "me" we built.
A True Foundation
If we seek more...that Kingdom of Heaven that is within...as our foundation and dig deeply into it...building there...we will discover that not even the greatest storm Life blows in our direction can knock us down. Who we really are cannot be harmed! We are connected, rooted into the Source...God..."essence identity". We will experience true Faith that will see us through anything.
The Storms of Life Can Awaken Us
Tolle tells us how these adversities we face, like the pandemic, can wake us up...especially when the walls blow down and we no longer have a comfort zone to hide in. Challenging times can get us to abandon the flimsy houses we have already built in the superficial desserts of materialism and physicality, and erroneously call home ...so we can rebuild in the deep foundations of rock. It often takes adversity, struggle, challenge, loss and the storms of Life to awaken us.
I see Christ telling us in the above passage...to build this foundation from the beginning, rather than later. Get rooted in Truth first...then deal with Life. Prioritize the spiritual over the physical, God over the ego, Love over fear. Don't waste your time building in the sand ...come to truth first. It will certainly save us a lot of unnecessary suffering if we can do that.
Hearing and Doing
Yet, He probably knew as he spoke those words how humans can be. He knew that many of us would "hear these words" and still not do them. Many of us will not follow this direction, this wise guidance and will turn our backs on what cannot be seen, heard or felt for what can. Mind will tell us that only what the eye can see is real and that blasting through rock towards what we can not see is a foolish thing to do.
We need to hear Christ's kind and wise counsel beneath the chaotic chatter of our minds. We need to learn to "hear these words" and do them. If we truly want peace we will not find it on the sands of this existence no matter how wonderful and comfortable our houses seem to be. We will always be dependent on good weather and favorable outside forces to keep us safe and comfortable....We will put all our energy into attempting to manipulate those things we cannot control to prevent them from knocking us down. And that is not peace. That is crazy making.
We will only find true peace when we build ourselves in a deep foundation of faith, knowing we are so much more than a flimsy house that can be blown down.
Dig deep into the rock! Go Deep!
All is well.
Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A24-27&version=ESV
Eckhart Tolle (March 21, 2020) Staying Conscious in the Face of Adversity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKpmXhGVMxI
Saturday, March 21, 2020
The Pandemic
Transparency is critical in public health and epidemics; laypeople either become effective force-multipliers or stubborn walls.
T.K. Naliaka: author of In Times of Peril
Are you an Effective Force or a Stubborn Wall?
I have been thinking a bit about COVID-19 and how it has entered our lives. I am not preoccupied or paranoid...probably just the opposite. Yesterday we handed the gas attendant cash without thinking of what we were doing...we hand sanitized our hands afterwards and just assumed she would do the same. I retrospectively felt very regretful for that action and assumption. It got me thinking about the lesson this virus leaves us with and how we can handle it.
Not All About "Me"
The wonderful thing this virus can teach us...is to get beyond our own sense of "me, my and mine" and to think of others... To stand together, connected, as One human race in protection and support of all parts of it. We do not need to stand "against" the virus, fight it, resist it, make an enemy out of it or deny its presence in our world...but we can stand together and take precautions to ensure wellness of our species.
If you have a healthy immune system...the virus will likely just make you...in your individual body... feel yucky for a couple of days and it will be over for you...no big deal right? But your neighbour may be older and less likely to recover like you did. Your cousin with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) can not risk getting a pneumonia like infection. And the person you may be handing cash to may have a weakened immune system because of chemotherapy, AIDS or for some other reason...they may not survive such a viral infection.
So what does that have to do with "you" and "me" with healthier immune systems? Absolutely everything...you can pass it on! You can create a wonderful bouncing board for it to spring from your body to the next, from one section of your community to the next...from one community to the next...from one country to the next. You get that right? This is pandemic meaning that it is an infection that is jumping from continent to continent.
It is all so New
The thing is...we do not know exactly how the human host will respond to such a viral visit. This virus is new and when it began there was absolutely no herd immunity...no way for a host to build up antibodies against the onslaught. Viruses, especially corona viruses, are virulent and very adaptive. They therefore spread easily. They also have the potential, like any virus, to mutate and create more virulent strains.
Epidemiologists will have a very hard time predicting what a new virus will and can do. That's why National Public Health organizations and WHO make such a fuss over a new virus like this one. Creating international panic was not on their agenda. They just wanted to make sure everyone ...every single one of us little beings in bodies that could become hosts or spreaders...did their part to contain it and prevent its spread.
Because the virus is so new, scientists have yet to create a vaccine or antiviral to limit its ability to speread or cause fatal morbidity. It is going to take time for a natural response of herd immunity to develop and in the mean time there will be fatalities. We want to limit the amount of fatlity globally, do we not? We therefore need to reduce the spread. And that is where each and everyone of us plays a very important role.
Learning From History
Many of us probably don't remember first hand how small pox wiped out large populations of people who were never exposed to it before right? Or remember the Spanish Flue Pandemic in 1918 and the cost to human life that entailed. Not that this virus is as life threatening as these two, especially when we consider the advances in health care since that time. Still... we cannot take the chance. There are still many third world countries in our shared world where health care and public health education are not adequate. There are individuals, even in countries that are known for their excellent health care ( like my own) who do not have the innate or acquired immunity to handle a visitation from this virus.
Not a Time For Unconsciousness
Unfortunately, there are some unconscious individuals who do not think about spreading it. It is not a concern for them for whatever reason. Many are concerned about how it will effect "them" and knowing they will be okay , are not thinking about their potential to spread it to a nursing home full of vulnerable residents, for example. There are others, who may be well meaning in their convictions, that believe we must let nature do her thing and are more afraid of what modern science will add to this in terms of vaccines and antivirals than they are cooperative .
Understanding this as a part of human nature ...governments have to step in and order closures of heavily populated institutions and sometimes even force a quarantine. (I am not sure about border closures to protect one's own national identity when I believe we are all One World but I can definitely see the need to limit travel. ) It may seem "excessive" but I believe it is fundamentally imperative in order to protect the human component of what it means to be human being.
I thought you said there was no such thing as illness, crazy lady?
What I actually said was that there is a means for us to get to that understanding and to transcend a belief in illness that will make illness unreal. Very, very few of us are there.
If you still look outside your Self and see it all as real, ( like most of us still do) the virus is real, illness is real. The virus is real...it is nature doing her thing...as wise and as brilliant as she is. It is an external event that is blowing into our lives and will just as quickly blow out of our lives. Whether or not we "get sick" again puts my new theory that I am testing to the task but if you believe that you are in a vulnerable body and have not yet evolved to the state that so few have...we need to do the following to protect the One human race we are all tiny droplets of:
Just think...you are an important cog in that big, beautiful mechanism. How amazing is that?
All is well!
No real citation here but what came from my head from years of nursing and teaching and a fact sheet or two...sorry.
T.K. Naliaka: author of In Times of Peril
Are you an Effective Force or a Stubborn Wall?
I have been thinking a bit about COVID-19 and how it has entered our lives. I am not preoccupied or paranoid...probably just the opposite. Yesterday we handed the gas attendant cash without thinking of what we were doing...we hand sanitized our hands afterwards and just assumed she would do the same. I retrospectively felt very regretful for that action and assumption. It got me thinking about the lesson this virus leaves us with and how we can handle it.
Not All About "Me"
The wonderful thing this virus can teach us...is to get beyond our own sense of "me, my and mine" and to think of others... To stand together, connected, as One human race in protection and support of all parts of it. We do not need to stand "against" the virus, fight it, resist it, make an enemy out of it or deny its presence in our world...but we can stand together and take precautions to ensure wellness of our species.
If you have a healthy immune system...the virus will likely just make you...in your individual body... feel yucky for a couple of days and it will be over for you...no big deal right? But your neighbour may be older and less likely to recover like you did. Your cousin with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) can not risk getting a pneumonia like infection. And the person you may be handing cash to may have a weakened immune system because of chemotherapy, AIDS or for some other reason...they may not survive such a viral infection.
So what does that have to do with "you" and "me" with healthier immune systems? Absolutely everything...you can pass it on! You can create a wonderful bouncing board for it to spring from your body to the next, from one section of your community to the next...from one community to the next...from one country to the next. You get that right? This is pandemic meaning that it is an infection that is jumping from continent to continent.
It is all so New
The thing is...we do not know exactly how the human host will respond to such a viral visit. This virus is new and when it began there was absolutely no herd immunity...no way for a host to build up antibodies against the onslaught. Viruses, especially corona viruses, are virulent and very adaptive. They therefore spread easily. They also have the potential, like any virus, to mutate and create more virulent strains.
Epidemiologists will have a very hard time predicting what a new virus will and can do. That's why National Public Health organizations and WHO make such a fuss over a new virus like this one. Creating international panic was not on their agenda. They just wanted to make sure everyone ...every single one of us little beings in bodies that could become hosts or spreaders...did their part to contain it and prevent its spread.
Because the virus is so new, scientists have yet to create a vaccine or antiviral to limit its ability to speread or cause fatal morbidity. It is going to take time for a natural response of herd immunity to develop and in the mean time there will be fatalities. We want to limit the amount of fatlity globally, do we not? We therefore need to reduce the spread. And that is where each and everyone of us plays a very important role.
Learning From History
Many of us probably don't remember first hand how small pox wiped out large populations of people who were never exposed to it before right? Or remember the Spanish Flue Pandemic in 1918 and the cost to human life that entailed. Not that this virus is as life threatening as these two, especially when we consider the advances in health care since that time. Still... we cannot take the chance. There are still many third world countries in our shared world where health care and public health education are not adequate. There are individuals, even in countries that are known for their excellent health care ( like my own) who do not have the innate or acquired immunity to handle a visitation from this virus.
Not a Time For Unconsciousness
Unfortunately, there are some unconscious individuals who do not think about spreading it. It is not a concern for them for whatever reason. Many are concerned about how it will effect "them" and knowing they will be okay , are not thinking about their potential to spread it to a nursing home full of vulnerable residents, for example. There are others, who may be well meaning in their convictions, that believe we must let nature do her thing and are more afraid of what modern science will add to this in terms of vaccines and antivirals than they are cooperative .
Understanding this as a part of human nature ...governments have to step in and order closures of heavily populated institutions and sometimes even force a quarantine. (I am not sure about border closures to protect one's own national identity when I believe we are all One World but I can definitely see the need to limit travel. ) It may seem "excessive" but I believe it is fundamentally imperative in order to protect the human component of what it means to be human being.
I thought you said there was no such thing as illness, crazy lady?
What I actually said was that there is a means for us to get to that understanding and to transcend a belief in illness that will make illness unreal. Very, very few of us are there.
If you still look outside your Self and see it all as real, ( like most of us still do) the virus is real, illness is real. The virus is real...it is nature doing her thing...as wise and as brilliant as she is. It is an external event that is blowing into our lives and will just as quickly blow out of our lives. Whether or not we "get sick" again puts my new theory that I am testing to the task but if you believe that you are in a vulnerable body and have not yet evolved to the state that so few have...we need to do the following to protect the One human race we are all tiny droplets of:
- Breathe !!! Take a big, beautiful breath in and a breath out...focus on your breath. Be here and now. Get out of your monkey mind and all it is telling you about this pandemic. Do your best to limit thinking all together for a few minutes and when you are ready begin to see and think clearly. There is no need to panic and panic has never done anyone any good what so ever! So breathe...just breathe!
- Start meditating and praying if it is not already a part of your daily routine. Add these wonderful "stilling" and mindfulness practices to your day. And not because it is a time to be desperate but because forced quarantines and restrictions provide a wonderful opportunity for you to practice how to truly heal yourself and the world. Reconnect to your source...find moments of solace and peace in amongst the global panic. If you find peace, others will be more peaceful around you. If others are more peaceful...the world will eventually be too.
- Limit your time on the news and social media sites. Don't allow yourself to be swept up in collective panic. Man...the ego loves all this drama. It hears, "a state of emergency has been declared" and is in its element. Just make sure you are not thinking or seeing through ego here. Okay?
- Don't make an enemy out of this virus. It is not your enemy. It is just nature doing what nature does. It just is. Most of the suffering that arises from this is not due to the virus but what our minds tell us about the virus...we are getting swept away in the drama, the fear, the paranoia and the resistance. That doesn't do anything but keep us suffering. If you choose to see this virus as an evil thing out to get you, well you are just making the whole thing worse for yourself and others. Choose differently.
- Allow and accept. The virus just is...it just is. It is nature doing what nature does for a wise reason we will never understand in these human forms. We do not need to understand. It is blowing through our lives and I am convinced for some reason, that it is just as quickly going to blow out of our lives. The best thing we can do is just stand back ( take precautions) and watch it. Resisting it, denying it, struggling against it, will not make it go any faster. It will just make it worse.
- By all means, take precautions:
- Follow the mandated precautions. If you are asked to stay out of public places...stay out of public places. If you are asked to keep you and your family in quarantine for a time period ...do so.
- Wash your hands...wash your hands...wash your hands. Viruses are usually transmitted via droplets that come from coughing and sneezing. These droplets can travel a short distance in the air (6 feet) and they can land on fomites ( objects that help to spread disease) and live for a period of time....like railings, door knobs, glasses, taps, countertops, money etc but the most obvious fomite is your hand. Just wash your hands after you touch potentially contaminated objects or other people. Wash your hands before preparing food, before and after you eat, after using the washroom, after coughing and sneezing into them, after touching your mouth...you get the picture right? And wash for twenty seconds with normal soup and water. You do not need antibacterial...in fact right now you probably want to conserve as much normal bacteria on your hands as you can. I would also recommend putting perfume free hand lotion on your hands if they become dry from the extra washing to prevent cracking and breaking of skin. Keep those finger nails short if you can! If you do not have access to soap and water you can use a hand sanitizer.
- Cough and sneeze into the crook of your elbow rather than on your hands.
- Avoid touching your face...get someone in your family to act as the "face police' to help you monitor and remind us we are doing so
- Avoid using public services...drive throughs, churches, restaurants, banks etc as much as possible to limit your ability to contact or spread the virus.
- Use Debit card/credit card with tap rather than cash. Limit that ability to transfer by limiting shared handling of anything.
- Stand farther than six feet apart from acutance's you meet when talking
- If you do not know how to use masks and gloves correctly, don't use them. They too often give people a false sense of security and if used incorrectly can actually do more harm than good.
- Avoid visiting others, especially the elderly and those who have compromised immune systems. This is a good time to get your grandmother to learn how to Skype or Face Time so you can keep in touch without actual physical contact
- Stay away from nursing homes and hospitals as much as possible.
- Keep surfaces clean. Man I hate this one...lol...more housework! Keep counters, sinks, faucets, door knobs, toilet surfaces clean and disinfect regularly.
- Keep yourself healthy: rest, drink water, limit your work hours, eat healthy food that is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C. Exercise and get plenty of fresh air.
- If you develop symptoms, (fever, dry cough, sore throat and shortness of breath) quarantine yourself for 14 days. The incubation period is believed to be 4-14 days, meaning that is the time between contact with the virus and until you are no longer infective. Call the number set up in your community to get tested. It is important to public health that all cases are confirmed.
Just think...you are an important cog in that big, beautiful mechanism. How amazing is that?
All is well!
No real citation here but what came from my head from years of nursing and teaching and a fact sheet or two...sorry.
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