Astrology Points the Way if We Listen

I really enjoy using my voice and giving the best value packed experience I can to all of you who stop by my blogs for some food for thought for your mystical minds :)

Here at The Mystic I mean to serve all who have intention to live in the Light.  We could all use a little help keeping the faith when we read the news of a world gone mad, whether we refer to the weather, the politics or the inhabitants.  If I can make this often challenging journey even a shade less formidable, then I've done what I am here to accomplish. 

I recognize that some of you are more engaged in the game plan that's going down here on Planet Earth than others are - and that some are more able to step up and take your place in the natural order before we all "have to" in order to survive - and this is a crux issue if there ever was one.  

Generally, we can all improve our relatedness to what we can do to serve, but only those who recognize their own power will choose the doing with freedom verses force.

Here are some simple examples on the physical level: do you eat healthy food out of a natural desire for sustainability and wellbeing - or do you eat well because you had a big scary heart attack and your doctor says you'll be dead in 10 years if you don't.  Do you choose to exercise for the inherent health benefits or do you exercise because you were told you better loose 20 pounds "or else"...  

These are simple examples that give rise to the question of why we do what we do, and how much NEED is associated with our actions before we are willing to step it up into action.

I have faith that every healthy organism, whether single celled or a massively complex ecosystem, has an inherent wisdom that drives it toward survival.  That includes you and I. 


The difference between acting on knowing what we must do, and acting like we don't know what to do is, to me, a matter of recognizing what is true versus what is convenient.  And this we can learn with greater ease when we tune in our emotional genius and move from apathy to a true ability for caring.  


I refer again and again to the words of Paul Hawkin who says "do not be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done."  

Very simply, it's time to be far more mindful about what is going on, both within ourselves and in our world, and address the fears that we will inevitably encounter as we really, really look. 


A person who is emotionally free to progress WILL find a way to engage.

We can all keep doing what we're doing well enough, but if you know that there's something more, you can learn a language of emotions. That you can do. 

Experienced through seven energetic centers of human energy anatomy, this content is not behavior modification, mechanical intervention or hypnotism, although I am a hypnotherapist.

The work of emotional freedom is more practical than you might think and it is accessible to all who reach for it because it is a system. You will recognize the territory and the language itself in a way that is simple yet profound.  




Eric Francis is an astrologer and activist in investigative reporting (and you know how I like activists!) whose insights I both appreciate and enjoy. He works from a broad body of knowledge, and you can find him Daily at PlanetWaves.net or purchase his full year in review at Light Bridge from the same website.


Referencing this Year, 2011 - he speaks of what we are experiencing:

"Chiron is about to arrive. Where Chiron goes, we tend to focus awareness and invoke a healing process. We get the option of mustering some maturity and directed intention, or courting serious problems. Chiron moves slowly enough to be a collective influence; it's one of those concepts at the meeting place of individual experience and shared experience. But mostly, Chiron calls on us to focus on our healing needs and to respond to the reminders that we hear and feel.

Chiron in Pisces will call us to focus on our emotional injuries and to seek ways to bring them to healing. I've noticed in myself and others...a tendency not to seek healing until the pain is too great to bear.

Working with Chiron, I have noticed it helps a lot to respond to our needs sooner rather than later -- no matter how long you may have waited."

Like astrology, we are connected to more than the eye can see.  Just because we can't see a blockage that stands in our way doesn't mean it isn't there (as we have learned throughout history over and over again.)
 
So...it is time.

I agree with Eric that one of the things that keeps many people from embarking on a healing process is an awareness of how much they must face, and how much they will need to change. It can all seem so daunting that there is no point in starting - or - the starting is delayed or postponed. However, much like doing the dishes, it's easier once you get the process in motion.

Now is definitely the time to take the first necessary step in being honest about what you want and need, and about what may be hurting you.


If you are one who resonates with learning more for yourself to pass on to your clients and your community, join us for an upcoming Healing the Energy Body Certification Weekend August 27-29, 2011. It will be held in Valley Forge Pennsylvania. I welcome your presence.  

Coming soon is a six-month Spiritual Warrior Training deepening the subject of Yoga and The Emotional Genius which will be offered both in New York and PA. Guaranteed to be powerful and uplifting. 

As for what you can do right from where you are, go back through the blog archive and reread posts on the subjects of "chakras" or "emotional freedom" or listen to a CD or download program.  Learn to navigate your emotional landscape and you will be a powerful force for good.  The mystic says "desire is the software of the soul"  but we can only access the result of that desire when we remove all the rest that stands in it's way.

May you be blessed this day and in all the days to come,
Gael
www.yokibics.com

Handling World Events

I love scanning the New York Times online in the morning and taking in whatever dose of world news is tolerable to me at any one sitting...

Today the article I am reading is Japan Nuclear Disaster Put on Par With Chernobyl.

No surprise really. It is one month and one day since the earthquake and tsunami that started it all. Risks are escalating. Conditions are worse than previously reported. The whole world is affected. Not looking good. I don't mean to add to your freak out quotient - but rather to ask a powerful question...

What can we do? What can YOU do?

I know we all feel the same challenge tolerating news of worsening conditions.  How much bad news - how many challenging events - and what new world catastrophe can be absorbed without going into overwhelm or deep sadness or anger or hopelessness or - something.

Why do we react - or push it all away in helplessness or apathy?

We react because we care.

We shut down because we care.

We are bewildered and upset - or vague and apathetic - because we care.

You might hear a world of difference in opinion making regarding what should be done, who should be doing it, how stupid - or smart - we are, who is the villian, who the hero, and whatever else looks a diversity of approach.  Yet I guarantee you from the deepest part of the soul of mankind, we do care, each and every one.

If you are active in relief efforts - sending donations, writing letters, finding a passionate outlet - you may have diffused your own personal agony.

For most of us who are not wearing the hat of President or Minister or Billionaire though, it might seem like our offering is too small...too insignificant to even matter, or try.
 
Yet I tell you it is necessary that you offer something anyway... and that there is something we all can do successfully. 

So what is that you ask?

Big windup with drumroll...

Activate your sixth chakra and get on board with a simple solution to your own stuckness - and perhaps save the world in the process.

Here's the cliff notes on how the human energy system reacts to stress when viewing life through the lens of energy anatomy - and btw you can practically apply this mini-lesson to any circumstance or issue:

1. As communal beings dependent from birth, we inherently reach for the idea that somebody will rescue us, and when our beliefs get crushed we feel betrayed. First chakra of the tribe is not the answer to what we can rely on with issues that are out of our control. 
2. We move to "apathy" when caring becomes overwhelming.  This is second chakra movement away from nourishment and relationship when the nourishment of doing something significant about caring isn't available - therefore we say we "can't care so much anymore." 
3. We look to ourselves for action and find we are individually powerless to make a difference. Third chakra of Self and the concept "I am able"  is distorted into "I am not able."
4. We activate fear as faith in our surroundings breaks down. Fourth chakra of the heart. 
5. We switch to active anger when boundaries are crushed and when we feel powerless with our will to have life be different than it is.  Fifth chakra territory activates, spins and spins and burns us out.
6. We go back again and again to one or more of the above. 

It is exhausting.

We are playing energy anatomy pinball with the chakras. 

It is exhausting.

Are you exhausted??

Something new must be activated so that you yourself will have some grace and freedom to continue to create and breathe and smile.

Time to send in the special ops - onward to the Sixth Chakra!

On The Monkey Blog, a forum I created for discussing higher consciousness, quantum physics and other fabulous topics, I wrote about the work of Dr. Masuru Emoto and his dynamic water crystal research in the post Healing The Waters of Japan.  Even if you read it, follow me on this one...

You will find exquisite Sixth Chakra work in action.

Read the post and connected links to get more of the back story if you want some interesting mind food, but for now do tuck the exercise below into your Daily Bread Basket...

Dr. Emoto suggests that each of us engages in one achingly simple exercise. 

It is a prayer that  opens the door to the sixth chakra of insight and connectedness.  It affords individual and communal movement in the direction of healing.  It may seem too simple.  You may not recognize the power of something so mystical as a simple prayer - or you may say yes with all your heart!..yet skip the regularity of the action.

My post today is a reminder that this requires action in addition to awareness.

Continuous heartfelt action.

Routine action. 

Bigtime action.

I know, I know - if you're a regular reader you have seen me post this prayer on The Monkey, facebook, twitter, my Newsletter, my emails, and now here again on The Mystic - yet this is the venue that explains why the action itself is so important - and freeing.

Will you do it?

"To all people on the earth, we are water.

Let’s become one by offering love and gratitude to Water...

Water is what connects everything.

(Say to yourself)
I’m sorry,
Please forgive me,
I thank you,
And I love you." 

The brilliance of this simple action is stunning if you recognize the energy anatomy conversation and directional flow that marks it's foundation.  Not only does it activate the Sixth Chakra of insight and focused mind, effectively eliminating the pinball game I described above, but it leads us squarely to the seat of the Seventh Chakra where LOVE is all there is - not just in theory but in practice.

Get onboard kids!

Samadhi here we come!

For whatever support I can give you on the framework of the Chakras and a deeper explanation of the emotional territory, see Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom.  For a greater insight into the energy body pinball game I described, check out Anatomy of a Trauma. Commission a unique Personalized Audio Program scripted and produced for your own individual care and co-creation as the journey unfolds.

Whatever you do, we are all at the point where we must do what we can.


Love and blessings to each of you!  May you feel the relief of movement and energy expressed.

Give a comment and let us know how it works out.

Namaste,
Gael

Photo credit: Bob Alba

Forgiveness

Recently a student asked me if yoga can help a person forgive toxic people - harmful events - the inadequacies of others - and ourselves.

I started teaching yoga in 1977, and if you simply count the years - and imagine, then you must know I have had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate through a lifetime of experience if yoga is even remotely helpful to such a heartfelt - or heart-breaking topic, and if, after all these years, I can say that the answer is yes. 

I do.

To me, since yoga embodies the essence of "yoking the powers of body, mind and spirit" it is a philosophy, a practice and a way of being.  I remember the intention "to yoke" each time I engage in any one of the practices, whether an asana, a breath, a yama or whatever. 

Here's a really good payoff - a wonderful result - and I'm relating it to forgiveness.  My body may not like the idea of forgiving one single bit.  After all, it naturally responds to stimuli ("What?? I'm gonna just walk away from this one? Where's that eye for my eye - that tooth for my tooth?") and so my body may be reactive, sick, queasy, humiliated, shamed... just awful. 

Now my mind may not be that much help on the forgiveness front either ("What??  {same initial reaction you will notice} - I'm gonna give in? Let go? Ease up? That's not fair! Not right! Not... not."

So what will save me from myself?

Ahhhh...my spirit of course, that sits like a bird on the limb of the tree - the observer watching the observed, and says "look at you all wound up.  Remember who you are.  This cannot hurt you.  Remember who you are. Bliss of the blissful is your way of being.  Bliss of the blissful is what you strive to experience - and in yoking your powers, do you not want this for the "other" as well?" 

Right.  I forgot... :)

Then yes, for-give. Give to the other the ability to handle their own life consequences as you handle yours.  Give to yourself - and to the other -  the freedom from recurring karma.  Let us return to the desire at hand - to live the life of peaceful intention where holding out on forgiveness just doesn't work.

Well then!  Now I must go to my practice, which yokes my powers of BodyMindSpirit and Spirit informs Body and Mind through the routine.  Each asana demonstrates "you ACT as one with this intention." Each breath embraces "you LIVE as one with this intention." Each conscious thought says "release all that is not this intention."

And so it goes...

Now some of the practices I have found most valuable here might seem contrary to the state of peaceful zen I just described...but it is true that the kind of hurt that demands forgiveness is usually married to anger at the unforgiven, therefore addressing anger is numero uno on the list. 

The energy of it sits at the throat chakra and demands boundaries and proper alignment of will.  So then - go get upset - get in touch with it - safely and in a way that will not harm. Write it out, yell, pound that pillow, wail, scream, yell, throw yourself on the ground and pound if you need to!  Again and again RELEASE the energy into the field of all possibility!!

...then... breath... in...

Fill yourself with the blessing of new breath - new openness - new possibility - new freedom - sparkling energy - radiant prana - freedom from the demands of the anger itself.  This is the essence of non-attachment, not some round about saintly oblivion, but rather a straight beeline into and through the anger itself until we can get up and dust ourselves off on the other side.

Now get up and go to your mat and let BodyMindSpirit take care of the rest :)

A final reflection for this short post - there is a difference between simple and easy.  Simple means uncomplicated.  Easy means "it's a snap."  This may not be a snap.  The challenge of arriving at the place where you can actually BE the forgiveness you intend can be a long and arduous journey of self-discovery and self-care.  Yet knowing the territory and the pay-off is like having a light shine bright at the end of the tunnel.  You can.  You must. You will...succeed.

The simple part is don't get off the train.  Your practice will inform you again and again.

If you want to explore the eight limbs of yoga in a practical way, click the label "Simple Steps" on this blog. There are 40 of them in previous posts reaching out to you like little jewels for the taking.

If you would prefer the steps consolidated you can go to 40 Simple Steps on our website and you'll find the eBook version ready to download and able to print.

Blessings to you in your journey,
namaste

Emotional Freedom for Everyone

My friend and fellow mystic writer Edie Weinstein just published an article in Wisdom magazine that features an interview with Dr. Judith Orloff on the topic "Emotional Freedom" and I realize more clearly every day how very significant this information has become - and will continue to become - for all of us as we evolve into the people we are growing up to be. 

I think you'll love Edie's interview (read it here) and the clear awareness that Judith Orloff has on the subject can only benefit your own deepening instincts about who you are and how you are becoming. 

I believe that emotional freedom - the sister topic of emotional genius - is the new frontier in human consciousness.  Daily we are gifted with new ways of knowing the body - and our investigation into the realm of the mind has fascinated us for eons whether through investigations of the unconscious, conscious or super conscious mind, the study of psychology and the intellect, or the delving fascination we have with psychic and intuitive abilities. But recognizing the source and purpose of emotions? In my experience we have misunderstood their role more completely than all of our misconceptions about body and mind put together.

Emotions are the gateway into how our energy circuits are running - a soul connector - and there isn't a bad one among them.  There is plenty of inappropriate or misguided response though (response-ability) that gives the emotion itself a bad name.

Here are a couple of examples from my work in the territory of the emotional genius...

Feeling angry?  That's a popular one to misunderstand. One might be coached to "get over it" or sided with by friends who are on your team with "yeah you're right! The rest of the world is against you/me/us!!"  But here is where anger is your guide and teacher. Where are your boundaries about the subject? Really.

Are you doing all you can to create clear words and a strong will in the area? Are you willing to make the changes you are being called to make in order to co-create a different outcome? So much easier to be "angry at the boss" than to get up and out and create a different life.  Yes, the answer to the presence of anger might be that drastic. 

No wonder we don't "understand."

Anger serves to tell us change is required.  Listen to it well.  Be honest with yourself.  Be honest with others.  Be willing to be the change you wish to see. 

The emotion of anger will always involve your will and your word.

What about grief? There is indeed great reason for the expression of it in the world - more than enough to go around.  Death itself has been built into the program of life. There  is no escaping the powerful appearance of grief in your life at one time or another. Yet like all emotions, grief is meant to ebb and flow. Deep sadness when caged is like sinking into the bottom of a well. It serves to bring us deeper and deeper into awareness of what we really value - and it holds the potential of letting go. A more authentic version of our former self becomes the gift.   

How many survivors of even the worlds worst atrocities have come out on the other side helping mankind in a way that only they could when fully embodied and fully charged?

Grief stimulates the 3rd chakra and is the harbinger of a more genuine you.

Fear? A natural request to place your faith wisely.
Pain? What insights are you being given?
Apathy? What get up and go is necessary for you to care about something greater than yourself?

How about the emotion of joy?? Ahhhh....

Joy is inherent in the system just like all the other emotions. It is not reserved only for the special few, yet joy too is meant to ebb and flow - to rise and fall - to sing it's song in your life - in every life! It doesn't do well if you try to hang onto it.  It was never meant to sit static like a crown jewel.  Joy arrives unbidden as a result of transforming the entirety of your emotional body into a functioning alive system - not despite it.

What practical key then can I leave with you? What wish for your success?

• allow yourself to change outdated beliefs about how miserable things are.
• stop brushing off your feelings as if they don't matter.  They do.
• be willing to learn to identify what feelings you have
• become able to develop good discernment about what choices are available to help you transform your emotions rather than stuffing them away.
• become able to pause when a feeling arises and recognize it without judgement
• validate validate validate yourself
• be willing to let go
• recognize the the joy you seek is already there
• know that becoming an emotional genius is an inside job unrelated to circumstances outside your control.
• be willing to be new. 

If you are a conscious journeyman into the subject, read Edie Weinsteins' interview, buy Judith Orloffs book Emotional Freedom or download one of my audio programs Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom or Meditations for Emotional Freedom to help guide you.  You can achieve more clarity, greater ease and a deeper connection to your own interior through the process of honoring your emotions than you might ever have imagined. 

We are all destined to become masters in this life. Whether or not we can achieve that destiny depends upon the clarity of our objective.  May you be blessed in yours.

Namaste,
Gael
 .
Photo credit: Bob Alba
Exiting Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
 

Solstice Quotes

I've spent a lifetime collecting quotes...I think they are like gems of understanding that bypass the long winded explanations and be-causes we usually rely on.  Quotes are like friends who can whisper in your ear and set you straight - or remind you of what you already know - only they say it better :)

As we enter this holiday-holyday time of year end, here are just a few thoughts for you as we go into the darkness and seek what is true. 

Wisdom Across Ages

“Never be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."
-John D. Rockefeller

"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit."
-Napolean Hill

"If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self."
-Napolean Hill

"It is always your next move."
-Napoleon Hill

"Adversity is preparation for greatness"
-Andy Andrews

"The only limits to the possibilities in your life tomorrow are the buts you use today."
-Les Brown 

 

"Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds."
- Albert Einstein

"I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end." 
- Abraham Lincoln

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill 

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."  
- Maryanne Williamson  
 
"Do not be afraid to give”

- Albert Einstein

"Think on these things" as the Mystic Krishnamurti said. 

May the words of the wise lead you through rich territory as you dive deep this season.  May you surface with more light than you ever imagined.

Blessings to you!

Namaste,

Gael

photo credit: Bob Alba

Remember When Waking

My Thanksgiving gift to you from poet David Whyte

"In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake, 

coming back to this life from the other, more secret, movable, and frighteningly honest world where everything began,

there is a small opening into the new day...

which closes the moment you begin your plans.

What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough for the vitality hidden in your sleep.
To be human is to become visible while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.

To remember the other world in this world is to live your true inheritance."


 

Fundamentals of engaging your energy anatomy tell us the 6th chakra of insight and grace will help you enlarge the awareness of who you are and what you are here for.  Slow down...pay attention.  Meditate now. This is the time for harvest in all ways and between all worlds. 

There is noone - noone - quite like you.

Listen to your dream.  Live your unique pattern.

May we all be blessed by your creation.

Namaste

Napolean Hill Quote

"Who said it could not be done? And what great victories has he to his credit which qualify him to judge others accurately?" Napolean Hill

Great quote.

I bumped into Napolean many years back with his work Think and Grow Rich.  It struck me because I was also reading the mystic Krishnamurti who famously said "Think on These Things."

hummm...it all sort of made sense to view them both, but the outcome wasn't - and still isn't - the party line I have found. Thinking and doing and being get all mixed up.  

We think we can think one way and act another, and all is well.

We think we can think apart from our essential way of being, and squish and squash the song of the soul with no negative effect.

 "What was she thinking!" we exclaim. "Who does he think he is?"

Think think think.

Then we all hear about passion these days.  Studies have clearly shown that people get better jobs, make more money, become more popular, get the girl, sell more widgets and keep more customers when they just show their PASSION!

Yeah yeah - let's just think that we can mock up the emotion, speak the words, act the part and all will be well with that.  What I have noticed is that half of these passionate people are passionate about the wrong item! Influencing people to buy your story because you are so passionate about it only matters when your story is in alignment with who you really ARE.  

Kids - there is a difference.

And if your ego is in the way, you've found a big clue that your passion is taking you away from your soul's desire not toward it..

Slow down!

Pause...

That's it.  First we must quiet the thinking altogether.  Listen.  Listen well.  Listen to your heart rhythm...the sensations of ease that accompany a quiet breath.  Sigh...

Now observe your true desire - the thing that draws you to it with grace and light and love.  What is the song of YOUR soul? You probably knew it when you were a little kid. Remember your connection to your true passion.  The one that makes you unique in all the world.

Take your time. Allow the embodiment of this passionate reminder as you breathe...

Who are you...really? Find that and be passionate about that...

Some questions for you:

How can your authentic self serve the world? Find that and think of ways to offer that.

What do you think of your neighbor, your friend, your enemy, your competition? Be the change you wish to see and think about that.

What  greater good can be accomplished through the thoughts you send out to the world? 

Think on these things as Krishmamurti said.  Then think and grow rich as well.

May we all be blessed by your thinking :)

namaste

 

Live the Questions

There is a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke that I keep near my desk.  When I stray it brings me clearly back to the journey - and the journey itself is where I am, and where it's at, in times of ease or struggle.

Take a minute and see what his words mean for you...and may you find some grace in them.

i beg you...

to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart 

and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms 

or books written in a very foreign language.

don't search for the answers, 

which could not be given you now because you would not be able 

to live them.

and the point is to live everything.

live the questions now.

.

perhaps then, someday far in the future, 

you will gradually, without even noticing it, 

live your way into the answer...

blessings and namaste

The big OM

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step.

Georgie faces the big OM at Being Five.  He's always got something worth checking out ;)

What a riot!  George Sfarnas frequently hits the nail square on the head through the voice of his little friend.

I'm going to leave it at that for you with just one reflection.  All the really good stuff is like this.

Seems too easy - too boring - too ordinary - too, well, who has the time?? to make much of a splash.

So we go outside and play (or work, as the case may be) searching for better answers than the ones that are right in front of us.

Don't be fooled my friends.

The single step is gigantic. It is important beyond explanation. The rewards are great.

May you enjoy them all.

Carry on then...

namaste

It's Heeeere!

My treasure map.

20 years ago today my trusty astrologer told me that good things were in the stars for me.  Yup - clear sailing ahead! I was overjoyed at the possibility.  After all, at the time I had no idea how to protect my 13 year old and 10 year old from the doomsday I saw mounting around the family-run business we were a part of, the pile of bills that made my head spin, a marriage that held only the promise of my imagination, and talent in a new age field that was called "pioneering" at best (code for bleeding edge) and fringe at worst.

"Gonna be good for you someday..."

ok, great! When? Next year? Two years? 5 years?

Nooooo....not that soon...

"Somewhere in your late 50's you will begin to feel like it's all clicking."

Yeesh.  Not good.

I kicked.

I screamed.

I disavowed her insight and clearly created a path for happiness NOW.

That was forever ago, and life happened - lots and lots of it - rich and full - oh so very full - inspiring and challenging, but not for one minute was it easy.

I did learn however the skill of creating happiness right where I stood.

Now here I am.

Finally.

Today is my birthday - always a time of self-reflection, contemplation and gratitude - along with a healthy dose of reassessment of  circumstances and readjustment of strategy where needed.

Today I am at the end stage of my 50's and everything - everything - about those previous times has changed.  Different home.  Different state. Different husband. Different life.

I look at my interior and ... I ... feel...it is true.  My astrologer was on to something.

Does everyone feel like this at this stage of life? Or did I just outlast all the drama and trauma until finally I could see the light of day from the mere fact of my longevity?

Ha. I don't think so actually.  I believe to everything there is a season, and the season of my own harvest is here.

What a wonderful world! (I always loved that song)

And the lesson? The takeaway? ahhh..the takeaway.

• Hang tough.

• Don't give up and don't feel sorry.

• Be your authentic self and always do your best.

• Mostly... recognize that there is a time for everything and everything in it's time.  

If you are railing against your circumstances today, I say "gonna be good for you someday..."
May you do your best with what you have as you live the moment and look forward with great anticipation to what is yet to be.

Many blessings to you along the way.

Namaste
 

The Path of Spring

I've been watching my neighbors lately as they glory - and I mean revel - in the slightest sign that Spring is coming.  Maybe it's the big snow we just saw the end of - perhaps it's just me, but I'm seeing folks showing  big desire for new beginnings.  Tiny green shoots pushing up through the ground...baby crocus heads...specks of color amidst all the brown...each sign speaking of new life in a new season.

I look at the Medicine Wheels that are found in every ancient tradition. Whether they are laid out in sand or in stone or experienced inwardly, sacred circles teach the laws of life.  A wheel turns.  Though the form may change, what you place at one point you will find again later on.  

The Mystic knows that the wheel of life returns what is given, and though it may seem unexpected, like Spring it is not entirely unpredictable.  It is just that often by the time the results come in we have long forgotten our own initial output and so its connection to the result may come as a surprise.

The Medicine Wheel invites us to face the four directions of life and relate to what we see.  In the East, Spring rises.  It brings the energy of the dawn and ushers in hope, renewal and inspiraton.  There is a drive to plant whether it is a handful of new seeds or new purposes.  The Earth surrounds us and says "if plant you will, then now is the time!"

Pay attention and tend well to the energies that are being called forth from you.  As the wheel turns, when the time is right you will see the results of what you have planted.  Your labors will bear fruit and that which needs to be put to rest will depart.

May you plant well this season.  May you too dance with the joy of new beginnings. May your coming harvest be rich.

Namaste  to you.

The Spirituality of Being Open

Could it be that spiritual growth can be likened more to having a baby than some alternate, otherworldly or angelic analogy?

I think so.

Today I'm reading A Year of Daily Wisdom, a simple rotating calendar by Marianne Williamson based on A Course in Miracles (always rich territory fyi.)  As is usual for me - and this only gets better with time - I can pick up a book, or put on a song and 'bang!' there is the exact right item to give me solace or put me back on track.

The Course lesson for today is the following:

"Spiritual growth is like childbirth.

You dilate, then you contract.

You dilate.

Then you contract again.

As painful as it all feels, it is the necessary rhythm for reaching the ultimate goal of total openness."

Ohhh, total openness.  So that's the goal.

No wonder it feels hard.  For me, I'm as open as I want to be and that varies with time...and circumstance.  I find sometimes the less intimate I am with a person the easier "open" seems to be.  I'm certainly not the first to notice that particular logic.  So knowing what the goal is is helpful to me.  I can set my sail, head in the direction, clear my mind...intend...yes, intend...

and like all good intentions, may it be blessed and may it be so - for me, and for you too.

Namaste

Love and Death

                                    

These days have been sad for me.  Very sad...and rightly so.

My parents are changing - aging quickly - growing closer to death. My father actively so in these moments. They are suffering.  Having been a twosome since they were 16 - Jo and Lo - one can only imagine what they have been through together.

My Dads' is the more obvious passing as he withers daily.  My Mom hangs in there and serves - and worries - and rallys - and serves some more.  I wonder at the worry she has carried all her life.  Would that I could take some of it from her - and yet - for better or worse, I have been the cause of much of it, so she says.

How formidable is fear when the thing feared most is staring at someone who lives life with faith as their guide?  How does one reconcile their own child living and breathing in it, while you (as the parent) look always for a more tangible reason for living - one that makes more "sense."

If only I had acted less the mystic I might have offered more to the god of fear - and pleased them.

I might have seemed more...normal.

Yet - I did not.

I stepped up and out (and often in front) especially when it scared me silly - like that first day of first grade when I bolted into school and ran up the endless marble stairs so fast that I alone burst out onto the roof! Can you imagine my shock pushing open the big, heavy door and finding wide-open blue sky?! 

In many ways it feels comforting for me to remember that moment, as if it set the stage for open sky to be my companion throughout life.  This is one of the experiences we might have shared if you were called 'different' yourself ...and the sky above would feel safer and sounder than all the money in the bank or 100 pedigrees and titles.

Another thing you would notice would be a penchant for peace; a deep need to create; or perhaps a wild desire rising within you when you sang out your song or danced your dance.  You would know it when you felt it, and know who you are...and it would be as right as rain.
   
So I've been reading about Love... and Death... and as it happens, I happily found the exact right words to offer me solace as I go into this experience of loosing the foothold of parents alive, and the big open sky before me again. (Thanks Bill) 

The following words are from the book of the same name Love & Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow by the soulful Unitarian minister Forrest Church, a deeply spiritual but always practical visionary who is a preacher, a poet and a man who calls us "to live life in such a way that our lives will prove worth dying for."

I have synopsized these passages from a series of meditations he wrote and adapted from two other of his twenty-four books (Life Lines and Lifecraft) offering them again for his readers upon learning that he was dying from esophogeal cancer.  He likened life to The Titanic and the iceberg it inevitably met.

                                  

                                    

"We are all here together in this extraordinary ship - different classes, yes - and not enough lifeboats - but when it comes to death there are never enough lifeboats.  The menus do not matter, nor do the size of our accommodations, not really - not finally. Neither does the speed our ship is going, or the weather, or ports of call.  

The ship is magnificent but one day it will sink.  It always sinks.  All hands will be lost.  

If we forget how dangerous the waters are, spending our lives rearranging deck chairs to catch the sun, we set up our lives to do only one important thing: watch them pass before our drowning eyes.

I admit, crossing on the Titanic, I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself very much just worrying …there is something to be said for routine, for semi consciousness, even for hiding.  That something is safety.  It may be an illusion, but it can be a sustained and useful illusion for a very long time. 

The over- planned life lacks wonder and spontaneity. We can want to be so safe that passion and connection are sometimes forgotten, as we choose from the wine list or worry about coming storms. 

The Titanic is a morality play, one not that different from Noah’s Flood or the fall from Eden.  By definition, morality plays teach us to be careful – but if all we ever learn in being careful is to not take chances, we will always be in the audience, and never onstage.

In other words, if life is a cruise, nine times out of ten, it will not be an adventure.  I have seen that some of you who come for counseling over the years are so wrapped up in your own and your parents underwear that I sometimes wonder if you will ever get out – if you will ever get naked.

The harder we work to get things exactly right the more cautious we become…the more careful not to fail.  Risking nothing, we stand to gain little beyond the security of a battened-down existence. 

We will know little failure - or have only “little failures” - but consider the cost.  If you are hiding to be safe, taking care not to be wrong, I commend you to ignore life’s dangers just as readily as you protect yourselves from them.

Often our most important actions are so fraught with danger that we will surely never get them exactly right, and if we don’t fire before we can take perfect aim – we may never fire at all. 

Life is fraught with danger. That is just the way it is.

Finally, the Titanic always hits the iceberg.  Hence this simple, if imprudent, bit of advice: take a few chances. Make the phone call. Pick up the gauntlet; do whatever it takes.  

Dare to live before you die.” 

  

So be it and so it is.  Namaste everyone...

Luminous With Age

I am a baby boomer, a mother, a daughter, teacher and friend.

I am graced to be here today, fully alive, beginning new and exciting projects as my career changes and grows.  So too is my body changing, no longer the young woman I have only just come to really know - and accept.

Here I am, having arrived at the entrance of the wisdom years in my life journey...the years my first yogi spoke of when I was just 22.  He was 90 if a day, vibrant yet serene, and unafraid.  He seemed to know who he was and where he was going.  He certainly knew why he was here.

"LOVE your life!" he said, "and work hard to stay healthy. We will need your voice to be strong when you enter the wisdom years."

I don't remember him qualifying his statement with "and don't forget the botox."

How can I describe the beauty of this time through the eyes of a culture that fears the look of aging?

The wisdom years are rich with experience amd insights that can only be earned through the maturation of time.  Yet not everyone who reaches time necessarily embraces the wisdom that is meant to come with it.

  

I recently came across an email from a few years ago that I saved. The content is from some anonymous person as far as I know, but the words were edited, and repeated, and forwarded from friend to friend...

On Aging

" I am probably now for the first time the person I have always wanted to be.

Though often I am taken aback by the 'old person' who lives in my mirror, I don't agonize about things for too long.  I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.


As I've aged I've become more kind to myself, and less critical.

I've become my own friend...


I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon, before they understood the great gift that comes with aging. 

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken...broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.  A heart never broken is sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.


I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.


As you get older it is easier to be more positive.  You care less about what other people think.


So, to answer your question, I like being old.  It has set me free.


I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here I will not waste my time lamenting what could have been or worring what will be..."

So what worry would you like to let go of? Must you really wait any longer?  And if so...why??

For me, the truest anti "aging" devise has been to work on getting to know myself better and love myself more...to stand behind my most unique talents, and be willing to share my gifts.  To care less about being ridiculed and more about serving.  To give and forgive.  To laugh frequently...and loud.

Oh - and yes...to do the work of staying healthy so that I can still be here sharing my voice.

Blessings to you on your own journey.

Namaste

Don't Quit

I have had a touch of food poisoning these past two days - well more than a touch - and being sick always reminds me of the fortitude and grace we humans need to handle the very personal journey of living - and dying - well.

We just celebrated my Dad's 84th birthday, a huge milestone in itself given his physical condition. He quotes the famous Bette Davis frequently: "growing old ain't for sissies" and to me he exemplifies the quiet determination needed to just get on with it with few complaints.

In meandering through YouTubes this morning (an endeavor that can fill hours and hours of time as I'm sure you are aware) I came across a short and simple version of the famous poem "Don't Quit." Much as I wanted to know something of the author, anonymous was what surfaced from my search.

How amazing that we have such ability to transcend our identity and make our mark on the human heart!

One thing led to another and I found videos, blogs, short stories and quotes - all inspirational and supportive for hanging on (even if, as in my case, it's to the rim of the bowl and the knowledge that "this too shall pass...")

When you're looking for a moment of inspiration...when you feel let down or laid low...I invite you to indulge in your own search. Start by keying Bette's quote into your search engine, or begin with a YouTube link to the poem below.

Here is the original poem in it's entirety:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown



Don't Quit

You are sure to find that you are not alone in your challenge, no matter the content, and that there is something wonderful in witnessing the inspiring words that have laid a path before you.

Sharing...ummmm...that's always a good thing.

Namaste
ooooooohhhmmmmmmmmmm

The Imposssible Dream

"The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it."

Oh how I love this!! One of my favorite quotes!

I can't tell you how many times I've deflected the naysayers and the can't doers in my own life. Comes with the territory when you think big.

Are you one who has big dreams and a strong will to succeed? Then this post is for you.

If you are wondering where to begin to actualize your dream, how to get started, or simply want to read someone with a good head for advise, check out Chris Guillebeau and the free download he has provided in his manifesto called 279 Days To Overnite Success: An Unconventional Journey To Full Time Writing. .

I find his ideas helpful and easy to follow, and he's a giver.

You know I like that.

No matter what your goal, if you think you can do it, you can. Remember The Little Engine That Could? May we all succeed in our dreams...their expression is what you were born to accomplish.

Chris gives good practical advise on how he attained his goal, and offers support for the journey.

You can visit Chris here and get a copy of his manifesto for yourself.

Till next time -
Enjoy!!

ooooohhhhhmmmmm...

I'm Changing and You're Holding Me Back! Part 2

Ever notice that life can be sailing right along but as soon as you begin to get the itch for a change that says "somethings gotta give" - something does? Oh yes...and that 'something' is not always in the direction you wanted.

So you think.

This is the paradox in desiring happiness and fulfillment in life.

All that is NOT that will show up to be healed.

And don't you know, the higher you reach, the more "not thatness" you are going to have to handle.

Yes sirreee.

No worries though - eventually all will settle down and soon you'll be living the life that was waiting for you - the one you were attracting all along.

Having said that...

The last thing I mean is that the process itself will be all light and breezy, though it does get easier with practice ;)

The journey itself reminds me of something I once read on the process of change that I copied and tucked away during my own time of travail.

In alchemy, there is a stage called ‘the negredo’, the darkening.
There is a point in this process of turning base metal into gold when the earth shakes, the sky rains fire and the air fills with the smell of rotting flesh.

There is a point where all seems lost.

If the alchemist drops the cooking vessel, allowing chaos and smoke to make him afraid, the whole process must begin again.

The alchemist must believe in the process of change.
He must, in effect, reach outside himself for something larger, greater, and broader
than his own experience.

As he does this, "the shaking slows to a stop, the smoke clears, and the smell of death dissolves.

The impurities have been burned away.
The process begins its ascent from the dissolving, putrefying depths;

what was once disaster is now potential gold.

We never know what comes out of darkness while the whole world shakes.

When our vision is choked and all seems lost,
our task is to reach outside ourselves,
to connect to that which is larger, deeper, and wider than our own fear.

Chaos and outrage fuel movement, movement fuels transformation.

The mystic feels, then observes, and rising above
births life from the fire of his own creation."

This is the stuff of alchemy.

Heavy stuff...but then again so are the issues that we are all handling these days, and we will continue to handle as we Lighten Up!

What are you birthing during these times of change??

The ultimate realization is that noone else must change to make it easier for you to get there. The gift of the alchemist...is inside of you.

Blessings always!

ooooooooohhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm