Live What You Know

Waking up is more than it seems. You KNOW more than you've ever been "taught"! You chose to be here now. Make yourTRUEself proud!

Category: The Flow

December 31, 2013

Honor The Little Things and Big Things Will Happen

It is in the air right now…setting goals, making resolutions, trying to make changes.  This is all fine and can be a lovely experience…until it isn’t.  For this process to go well, it is important to remember, it is the little things that make success possible.  All things are made up of lots and lots of little things that connect to each other in ways beyond our imagination.  Honoring the little things we do brings more awareness and roots us in presence that allows us to live a conscious and authentic life.  Doing little things well, with our fullest attention and awareness can keep us awake to life and bring peace to us and everyone around us.  The intention we put behind each little thing comes back to us in direct proportion.  Let’s talk about socks…

Little things done well is probably the greatest secret to success.  –Coach John Wooden

Coach Wooden has shared many great lessons about the little things and paying attention to detail.  Coach describes paying attention to detail as the difference between champions and near champions.  In many of his books, he gave us the beautiful story of how he instructed his players to put on their socks.  At the first squad meeting each season, he personally demonstrated with explicit detail how to start with the toes, how to run your fingers along the side to prevent wrinkles, how to handle the heel and much more (it is actually quite a long explanation).  He would demonstrate and then watch each player do it.  Then he would move on to the other foot and do that one, first demonstrating, then watching.  Next, how to tie your shoes.  He speaks passionately about preventing blisters and avoiding laces coming undone.

In various interviews with Coach’s players, they share their perspective of the sock lessons.  They recall being excited and ready to have their first meeting with the greatest coach of all time.  With enthusiastic anticipation, waiting to hear how they would win the championship, how he had been so successful, the secret to winning, etc., anxious to get down to those legendary practices, they would soon find themselves learning how to put on their socks.  They would start the season with intense sock training and end winning the championship; quite a powerful lesson on little things.

Coach left a great gift behind by recounting  his dedication to  the little things for us.  He planned his practices down to the second.  He was all about proper preparation and attention to the smallest detail.  No matter what success his team encountered, he always stayed true to his Pyramid of Success, living all of the little things explained within and doing his personal best in all things (big and small).  He started every single season with the socks.

I have heard Eckhart Tolle talk at great length about noticing how it feels to pull on your pants, how to feel the fabric on your skin, how to experience every part of getting dressed in the morning, bringing presence to it all.  He talks about truly experiencing our morning shower instead of not really being there because we have allowed our mind to distract us with thoughts about the day or worry about the past.  He describes the difference in really being there and feeling the water hit our skin and the joy of that everyday experience we so often miss.

Thich Naht Hanh tell us, “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.  Live the actual moment.  Only this moment is life.”  I have heard him describe the experience of tea.  It is lovely.  When asked how long it takes him to drink a cup, he said it was about an hour.  A mindful cup of tea is an hour well spent.

If you do little things well, you’ll do big ones better.

I have a plaque on my desk that says the quote above.  It has no name attached to it; someone said it, someone made the plaque.  I am grateful they did.  It is a nice reminder.

Years ago, my son found his favorite poem.  He recited it quite frequently, even in front of his preschool class.  It just so happens, it is called Little Things.  It is by Julia A. F. Carney.  I included this image below in a previous post about Beauty.  To me, this is a beautiful image because it is my boy’s sweet young writing and because the words are so powerful and contain so much wisdom.  On his own, at three years old, he connected to these words and repeated them countless times throughout our days.  That little thing he did for us was really a huge blessing.

Little Things

Nothing big can happen without countless little things happening just as they should.  We create and design our world with each and every little thing we do.  This isn’t about doing things perfectly, there is no such thing.  It is about bringing presence to everything we do and doing it with our fullest attention and awareness.  It is also about learning how to set goals that will allow enough room to keep all the little things in sharp focus.  I have noticed how awful it feels when I cannot do things to the best of my ability and with my full attention.  I would rather choose not to do something than have to rush through and half-way go through the motions.  My soul knows about the little things and what grounding myself in them feels like, anything less is numbing, inauthentic and brings suffering.

Doing the little things well is truly living, it’s really being where we are and honoring every little detail.  All the little activities, choices, thoughts, etc., turn into how we are creating the world we live in.  Treating every little thing as sacred brings more presence, more love, more peace, more joy, more miracles, more alignment with our soul’s purpose — more of everything we are meant to live.  As you set your goals and resolutions this year, be sure you have enough room for honoring the little things.  Those little things add up, multiply and come back to bless you in countless ways — big and small.

May the goals you set for yourself this year be blessed with the proper attention, awareness and presence for honoring the little things necessary to achieve them.  Wishing you joy and presence found in putting on your socks, pulling up your pants, taking a shower and drinking a cup of tea.  Sending you love!

 

 

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December 22, 2013

Stillness and Spaciousness – Making Room For It Throughout Our Days, Living From It…It Isn’t a Future Goal or Luxury When Time Allows…It’s Who We Truly Are

In the journey of life, all roads worth traveling point to the stillness and going within.  Life cannot be lived well or peacefully focused without.  It doesn’t work.

“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.” ―Eckhart Tolle

Spaciousness is essential to realizing who we are and where true peace comes from.   As we put more space around everything — every choice, every word, every action, every emotion… we open up more room for peace and the experience of stillness to take hold.  The space and stillness is who we really are, it isn’t empty space, it’s where our essential selves are.  All the rest is our personality covering over the real us.  We can spend a lot of time working on the personality and training it to be all kinds of things, but, underneath it lies a joy and peace that we are all meant to dwell in.  This is the connectedness we share with all things.

We have all experienced how a few deep breaths can allow us to make a much better choice by cooling our temper or gathering our courage before a bad choice or reaction.  That breath took us to who we really are and allowed more of our true self to emerge and make the better choice.  We can work hard on our self-control, which is important; but, we must allow our self-realization to emerge so that we can live in the peace and joy as a permanent state of being.

We can put more space around each and every thing by really experiencing it, from the most challenging situation, to the sweetest gesture from a loved one and everything in between…simply being there with it in a more meaningful way, with a lot of pause and breath and attention.  It is the path to joy and peace.  Avoiding things or distracting ourselves from things we don’t like only keeps us stuck in the repetitive lessons of a shallow life.   Judging and labeling situations and people robs us from our peace and joy by keeping us swirling in our thoughts about things instead of immersed in life and being; those thoughts keep us from the space and stillness.  Accepting whatever comes our way and giving it the most of us will deliver us to our truest selves.

“Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it.” ― Eckhart Tolle

I haven’t yet mastered the ability, nor found the time to sit on my meditation mat for hours each day.  Sometimes I wish I was better at it and could give more time to it, then I remember that there will be time for that.  I am sure of it.  I understand that I am in this busy time of life right now with so many different roles, goals, responsibilities and others counting on me, etc., and that is all just as it is meant to be.  I don’t have to wait for more space and stillness in some future that would allow more time, I can use my life situation just as it is now to bring more space and stillness to all that I am doing.  I can use all the little “doings” in my life to allow more of my essential “being” to emerge.  This is my practice.

“In today’s rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.” ―Eckhart Tolle

To live a life of non-reaction means to live more deeply from your essential being.  It is so easy to let the personality respond to every little thing; it is also a dreadful way to live.  Adding space and stillness as you accept what comes is what can allow you to skip reacting and shift to being.  It amazes me how often I stumble into the truth that it is all in the little things.  I have heard that lesson from countless teachers, poems, quotes, signs, etc.  I tell my kids, “This family has big ideas, but we implement them with our little choices again and again.”  It is a great practice to honor all the little things…

“The significance is hiding in the insignificant. Appreciate everything.” ―Eckhart Tolle

Loving all little things and honoring them with enough space to be is a great practice.  Slowing down to be with each little thing.  Add a breath before and after everything.  Feel things more deeply.  Before you do or say or think anything, just be.  All the doing can become more miraculous.  Life can feel more meaningful; the key is in honoring each and every little thing you do…it all connects to the next moment.  Everything is sacred.  Cherish everything.

“Doing is never enough if you neglect Being.” ―Eckhart Tolle

There are many practices that can help bring more stillness and spaciousness to our days.  Many have gone before us and provided wonderful examples and paths for us.  Our souls lead us to the best path for us.  All paths lead to the same place. There is no need to wait until we can be great at our spiritual practice and fashion it after the great teachers before us.  We can just BE with the truest part of ourselves right where we are at doing whatever we are doing.  Yesterday, I found my space and peace (which had escaped me for a bit) by sitting in the middle of my son’s self-created game of “Airport” in which all his cars were in various lines waiting to take off on one of his planes.  He was completely immersed in the joy of playing and happy to share this imaginary world he had created.  He shared it with me so joyfully.  His playtime was naturally in the peace and joy that we all have waiting for us; I joined him there and blessed my soul with really truly being there.  He had set his game up right in front of my bedroom door; I was simply passing through.  I could have walked right though that amazing moment; instead, I stopped and found my soul right in the middle of his “Airport.”

I am wishing us all the wisdom to stop and be where we’re at and cease walking through the precious moments we are meant to experience.  I am wishing us spaciousness and stillness as a permanent companion so we can truly feel who and what we are and live in the peace and joy that has always been there waiting for us.

Thank YOU for visiting me here!  This is an important part of my practice and your visit honors it and encourages me so very much!

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December 18, 2013

Just Right — Letting Go of the Ups and Downs

Years ago when I began watching my thoughts and making the connections between my mind and my life, I noticed all sorts of interesting things.  The work itself is in not becoming attached to the myriad of thoughts that are constantly coming our way; it’s noticing the thoughts floating by like clouds trying to get our attention and being okay with letting them pass…not resisting them, just choosing well which ones we allow in.  When we do give certain thoughts our attention, they come down right in front of our face and grow and seem to hold us captive in their aura until we can release them.  We are left sort of under the influence of whatever thoughts we have allowed to grow and take hold.  I love this work and I understand the practice it is to remember it fresh in every moment.  What about the emotions…what do we do with them?

As I continued working with the thoughts and in-a-sense changing my mental habits or taking responsibility for the thoughts and energy I bring to all things, I noticed a lot of things about happiness in general.  I was devouring books like crazy, trying new practices, praying for guidance and in general just working towards a joyful, purpose filled and meaningful life.  Often, I would pack my babies up in the car and head out to start our day feeling like I could take on the world and remain in bliss all day.  The mornings always felt fresh and ripe with possibilities for using all my new tools and truly living all I was learning.  I distinctly remember the day I was driving in my car feeling like I was so very happy.  I was thinking, “I am soooooo happy” over and over again.  It was great, completely exhilarating!  It wasn’t the first time I had done this of course, but I remember the day that the help for this condition came.  The happy thoughts were followed by a clear voice (my own voice from a deeper place) saying something along the lines of, “Wait, relax, don’t do that, just be here, just be okay with here.”  I found myself breathing and grounding myself in something deeper behind the “happy” feeling.

I knew instantly that I didn’t want to jump on that happy train anymore.  I could feel the knowing that if I did, I would inevitably find myself in the opposite direction later.  It is no fun to come down from the happy and find yourself on the other side.  I was growing very tired of that.  I could see the rhythm and pattern emerging out of the clouds for me.  I wanted out of the thoughts about how I feel and into the practice of living in the middle way.  Living — just right.  It was a strange feeling to know that I didn’t want to achieve that “happy” feeling anymore.  I was sure though.  I wanted to dwell in the real peace and joy that can sustain all things.  I felt ready to release myself from the ups and downs.  I caught myself that day and grounded myself in the joy that lives in the moment without over thinking it and labeling it or my mood.  The real joy and peace isn’t in the extremes.

It makes sense.  If I go around attached to the idea that “I am so happy”, then anything that challenges that idea or brings me back down to dealing with life’s little challenges, choices and behaviors creates massive resistance.  I would be so attached to my “happy” that anything threatening it would be most unwelcome and incite all kinds of reactions I don’t want to succumb to.  The “happy” brings resistance and struggle, making it very difficult to live each moment joyfully the way we are meant to live.  The peace behind the happy that is “just right” allows all things to be as they are and isn’t dependent on what happens.  Whatever happens is just right.  Whew!

I continue the work to this day of course…chipping away at it as I go, grateful for all the progress, as well as all the work ahead.  The joy is in the journey.  I fall often, dust myself off, and get back into the stream of life that I know is always there waiting for me.

Sending you love and joy and wishing you a day full of all things just right!

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December 8, 2013

Swimming in The Deeper Currents of Life

Every single moment of our lives is trying to tell us something.  Life itself is the moment.  We must make room to allow enough listening to hear what the true message of the moment is.  We must bring honor and sacredness to the art that is listening.  Every encounter with any being or even just in stillness is an opportunity for deeper listening.  More than just a portion of our attention while we multi-task is required for the type of listening we’re talking about here.  How do you hear well enough to truly receive a smile?  What could be worth skipping a smile meant for you or missing the sound of laughter?  Why have we allowed so much noise to creep in and take us from the deeper currents of life?

In a recent Eckhart Tolle talk, he was discussing his teachings and he said, “The person got out-of-the-way enough for the teaching to come through.”  I love this idea.  If we allow our personalities and all our distractions in life to dominate our experience each day, we don’t leave any room for the sacred to come through.  We all know about intuition and we can feel the pull that comes from our “gut” telling us something.  We choose if we take the time to practice really listening to life and following where it is leading us.  We have the stillness inside that has all the answers we seek.  We often cover it up with one distraction after another or we let others tell us what we should do.  Perhaps we fear our own authentic power.  There is nothing to fear; only love to be found.  We are meant to hear the messages, they will get louder if we stay focused on noise and reside in distractions.

“We are evolving
from five-sensory humans into multisensory humans….
The perceptions of the multi-sensory human
extend beyond physical reality
to the larger dynamical systems of which our physical reality is a part.”

~ Gary Zukav ~

Our perceptions are everything.  They create our entire world.  How we choose to look at the world determines what we will see.  How we listen to the world determines who we will be, what we will create and how we will live.  It must be noted that our thoughts aren’t always worth listening to.  In fact, most often, they are not.  We aren’t talking about listening to our thoughts and acting from them.  We must go deeper and let the thoughts be what they are — only thoughts.  They will pass.  We don’t want to make choices because we are under the influence of our thoughts that crept in.  We want to listen deeply and use more than just the five senses as we expand and live more fully as our essential being.  There is more to listen to.

A simple act of slowing down can help on the path to listening to more of life.  I know deeply that the more we can listen to life, the more we can live.  I also cannot emphasize enough the importance of clearing the mind and touching the stillness as we slow down.  Watch those thoughts and lean back into the space that hears them.  There is much more to you than the thoughts.  Be the space behind them.  Resist jumping on the thoughts and allowing them to grow.  Choose your thoughts and choose your life.

Another great practice to bring more listening is accepting what is.  Even if someone is being rude, speaking with a harsh tone, interrupting you constantly, saying something you don’t want to hear, acting stressed out…whatever it is, there are reasons why these things are happening.  Being the space of loving listening can help ease the suffering of others in so many ways.  Accepting what is brings more love into the world.  We can love all the great things we encounter quite easily.  We can also love the not-so-pleasant things we see as well.  There is truly only love and fear.  As you see love, of course, love it and spread it.  As you see all other things, remember — it is only fear.  Give it love too and you can ease suffering and bring more love to the world that way.  Even the most dreadful behaviors come from a place of fear.  It sounds simple, but it is true.  Just love the love and accept the fear as you provide a non judgmental place for it to transform.  Any energy spent resisting what is will bring suffering to you and those around you.  Resisting what is doesn’t allow you to see and hear what life is telling you.  Accept it all as you listen deeply to whatever you are supposed to hear.

Simply put:

  • slow down
  • choose your thoughts wisely, letting the others pass like clouds
  • accept what is no matter what form it comes in
  • waste no energy resisting what already is…hear the message instead
  • listen with all your senses – the five and the multi-sensory ones beyond
  • spread love, by celebrating the love you encounter and accepting the fear you encounter…your acceptance just may allow it to turn towards love
  • courageously swim in the deeper currents of life; trust your knowing…treat life like one big doing meditation…it is.

One more thing, it is a great hint in life to follow the beauty…true beauty that is.  God/Life/Universe/All is in the beauty.  See that, hear that, be that and you’re on to something.  Hopefully you have time to follow the beauty in this lovely poem below by Mark Nepo.  He has gifted the world with amazing work on listening.  His latest book is called Seven Thousand Ways To Listen, it is definitely worth the read.  Enjoy this gift from those pages.

The Appointment
by Mark Nepo

What if, on the first sunny day,
on your way to work, a colorful bird
sweeps in front of you down a
street you’ve never heard of.

You might pause and smile,
a sweet beginning to your day.

Or you might step into that street
and realize there are many ways to work.

You might sense the bird knows some-
thing you don’t and wander after.

You might hesitate when the bird
turns down an alley. For now
there is a tension: Is what the
bird knows worth being late?

You might go another block or two,
thinking you can have it both ways.
But soon you arrive at the edge
of all your plans.

The bird circles back for you
and you must decide which
appointment you were
born to keep.

Wishing you the courage to swim in the deeper currents of life as you spread love by truly listening to everything!  Sending you love and joy!

 

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November 21, 2013

Life is Teaching You Something…Are You Listening?

The Universe / God / Higher Self / Life is always showing us something, growing us in some way, pushing us toward becoming more of ourselves.  The name of my work here is inspired from this fact.  I realized that I had learned so much, so fast and I knew that I wanted to close the gap on how much of it I could actually apply and live.  I think closing that gap between what we know and what we live is life-long work, but I am so very grateful for this space to ground me in the work and create a place to share it and connect with others through learning to live what we know and ever-expanding what it is we know.

I am sure that it is a natural flow of life for many…you just do better when you know better.  Naturally over the years you become more of your essential self and you “do” better.  Then you try not to cringe when you look back at what you used to do.  Sometimes life has been teaching us so much that we have much work to do to create new habits and new ways of thinking that allow us to live what we are learning.  In my case, I feel like I am trying to figure out how to change my entire way of thinking — take it from my head down to my heart…takes some major re-training and new habit forming — switching from thinking to being.  Our world is so busy now that some people seem to just be living in a state of survival and distraction, just taking what comes and perhaps not necessarily seeing what life is teaching.  In those cases, it seems as if life teaches us the same lessons again and again until we can get the lesson and move on.

No experience is a waste.  Everything is happening as it should and for a reason.  I believe these statements and I am so grateful for knowing that there is something in every experience to take as sacred and to grow and evolve with.  Sometimes we fall, make silly mistakes, say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing… sometimes we soar and surprise ourselves.  None of it is truly right or wrong, it’s just part of the process.  Whatever we do, when we are ready, we can join in with Life and give it more attention and listen more closely and co-create with Everything.  We are not living, we ARE Life.  We can BE the dance of Life instead of watching it and reacting to it.  We really can.

Wishing you the opportunity to think about what you know and to listen closely to life as you think about what you are doing to live it.  Give yourself the gift of truly living what life is trying to teach you right now.  I pray I may close the gap just a little bit today.

Sending you love and joy!

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November 4, 2013

A Clear Mind

My new morning mantra…

Today, I go out into the world with a clear mind.  I leave all thoughts behind.

I spotted a great quote recently that inspired it…

When I walk out into the world, I take no thoughts with me.  That’s not easy, but you can learn to do it.  An empty mind is hungry, so you can look at everything longer, and closer.  Don’t hum!  When you listen with empty ears, you hear more.  And this is the core of the secret:  Attention is the beginning of devotion.”  –Mary Oliver

Last Monday morning, I was driving the children to an activity and I paraphrased Mary Oliver’s lovely words above sharing where I had seen them.  I then naturally turned them into my new mantra.  I kept saying, “Today, I go out into the world with a clear mind.  I leave all thoughts behind.”  Next thing I knew I was looking at things fresh and clear and miracles were appearing before my eyes.  Simply from looking at them with a clear mind.  The miracles are always there and God and the Divine are always ready for us to show up and see them, experience them, and BE them.

On that Monday morning before I had used my mantra, I did have things on my mind that seemed to need my attention.  I even had a few things I thought needed fixing or my own interference really.  After using my mantra and then truly entering the day’s activities with fresh eyes, open ears, and a clear mind with pointed attention…nothing needed my “fixing” anymore.  I was simply left grateful and alive.

This weekend someone asked me, “Where do you fellowship?”  I said, “Everywhere.  I love looking for the Sacred in Everything.”  This is my devotion.

Mary Oliver was right…It isn’t easy to take no thoughts with you.  She was also right when she said you can learn to do it.  It begins with watching the thoughts and then finding your way to quieting them.  The joy is in the still, open, attention.

This morning and always, I wish you a clear and open mind to experience the miracles that are ready for you.  You don’t have to take expectations with you anywhere you go or into anything you do.  Sending you love and joy!

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October 29, 2013

Reaction vs. Action

A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually.  One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.  –Rita Mae Brown

True answers come from within.  We cannot listen to the voice inside while constantly navigating what is going on outside.  Reacting to everything that comes our way, trying to please others, wallowing in emotions resulting from others’ actions, defending ourselves and trying to convince others…these are all reactions.  We are here to do something.  Deep inside we already know how to BE something.  We can quiet our minds and live our life.  Life is a beautiful dance between quiet-being and conscious-doing.  We don’t have to be constantly swayed this way or that depending on the way the world is blowing us.  We can connect deeply to our true self and allow more of it to show up in the world.

True questions come from within.  We can listen.  We can get comfortable with the questions.  We can lead lives of meaning and purpose by doing the work within.  We can stay with the questions and act out of our truest intention and desire.  We don’t have to react to others’ actions.  We can choose.  We can hear what we are meant to hear and allow the rest to pass through.

We can be compassionate loving people who listen well to others while still keeping enough space around our spark inside to stay the course of our own choices and our own conscious actions.  If we choose to react, it can come from a deeper place and we can know it was meant to be.  We can move slower and deeper.

The perfect questions and answers for each of us come at the perfect moment.   We must listen.  To give our joy away, even for a moment, for a reaction, is a waste of energy and an abandonment of our soul.  Wishing us all the ability to stay in the joy and nurture our soul today and always!

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October 23, 2013

What’s The Rush? Stop Rushing and Start Living!

Rushing through anything for any reason whatsoever creates stress and suffering and goes against the flow of Life.  The truth is that “on time” is when we get there.  We completely overlook the present moment and all the miracles found within when we rush or hurry in any way for any reason.  When we can let go and trust that all things are happening exactly as they are meant and in the time they are meant to, we can embrace the joy of truly going with the flow of Life.  These all sound like catch phrases and clichés unless we really understand what we’re turning on back on when we rush through anything.  We are turning away from life and creating problems in our head.

For years I was the chronically early type to most things and would get quite stressed over being late.  I rushed in my previous over-scheduled work life and I have even rushed like a mad-woman to countless mommy-and-me activities and kids’ birthday parties with my little ones simply out of the habit of doing so.  Yuck.  How many magic moments I rushed though makes me feel ill.  Good thing I know better than wasting any energy on regrets.  I made the connection some time back and realized I cannot continue creating the energy that comes with rushing.  It goes against everything I am.  I have been working towards new habits to reform and retrain my way of thinking that can help me slow down and flow.

I truly understand now and want to live in a way that allows me to arrive at events at exactly the moment I am meant to be there with calm pure energy that allows me to enjoy exactly what the moment has to offer.  If I get my head involved in time and rushing too much, I will miss all of the sacred stuff life has to offer (everything is scared when you take the time to be with it).  Truth be told, rushing doesn’t get you there any faster, just more stressed.  By the time you get to the next thing, the mind starts rushing you to the next and so on.  To truly be anywhere fully, you must quiet the mind created chatter that watches the clock so closely and creates reactions to it.  Of course proper planning and coordinating are necessary to function in society and arrange appointments, etc., but it is possible to eliminate rushing and still keep a tidy calendar and be courteous to others.

In most cases rushing includes resisting what has already happened.  Some little thing that made us later than we had hoped for, or some circumstance we really couldn’t control causes us to react in a panic and rush to get to the next thing because we think we are late or close to it.  If we are late, rushing only means we’re resisting it.  Resisting the moment in this way is in direct opposition to conscious living and honoring the present moment.  If we resist any part of the moment, we aren’t in it.  We are wishing for a new one or that the one we’re in were different from what already is.  We have lost trust that there is a flow to our life and that all things are as they should be.  Even when things seemingly go “wrong” we can trust that it happened for a reason.

There is nothing better than knowing you are flowing…that you are really living your moments the way you are meant to.  It feels like magic and constant hugs from the universe as it sends you messages.  Taking the time to figure out how to slow down is worth the effort.  You can bring so much meaning and joy to your days by living the moments more fully.  A few things that are helping me remember not to rush and to support a life of flowing are as follows:

  • I say to myself “I have plenty of time” – this little mantra when rushing wants to take over helps time lose it’s power over us…it helps me step into the timeless realm of the moment
  • I breathe and clear my head when I feel the urge to hurry
  • I remind myself that “on-time” is when we get there
  • Think of poetry – we have a practice we do at night (posting on this soon), it helps if you let it.  You must read poetry slowly and then you can recall it and bring it to your days.  I would much rather live life like a poem than a hectic whirlwind.
  • Meditate – you can remember the stillness throughout the day and bring it to any moment.
  • Invite others to the moment – I notice my little ones showing signs of my former self with hovering and waiting too early to leave or rushing to the next thing.  I now have to try to help them embrace the idea that “on-time” is when we get there.  Modeling is the best thing, but sometimes we have to talk about it.  I am sure most of us are around people who are rushing, so it is nice to just invite them to relax and enjoy things exactly as they are without rushing to the next thing.
  • Saying “no” to things that don’t fit in the schedule or would cause things to be too hectic.  We can design our days to align with our values of slowing down.

Note – the whole idea behind the no-rush shift assumes that we are doing our personal best in many areas and not at all interested in using the slowing down excuse for being late and making others wait on us, etc.  I am sure this goes without saying, but just a reminder to always do our best to plan enough time not to rush.

Wishing us all the ability to shift to a slower pace that allows us to give our fullest attention to whatever is right in front of us now…listening better, looking better, touching life and everything around us more fully, seeing more deeply, understanding completely…embracing our true nature.  Now.  Sending you joy and love!

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October 15, 2013

Perseverance…Just Keep Going…

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.  ~Albert Einstein

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.  ~Buddhist Saying

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. ~André A. Jackson

At our house, we love Super Soul Sunday on Own, it is a spiritual practice for us.  We quit watching TV several years ago and made an exception for this wonderful program…it has proven to be a great choice.  It is a lovely way to see God in a variety of forms and ideas…a beautiful tribute to the Universal Oneness we can all benefit from understanding.  We get excited for new episodes.  Recently we watched endurance swimmer Diana Nyad talk about her life, her journey, her beliefs, her determination, her recent swim from Cuba to Florida and more.  She shared a piece of herself with Oprah and her audience in a very moving way.  Oprah enjoyed it so much that she made it a two-part episode that continued this past Sunday.  I must admit that when I first saw the topic the week prior to it airing, I wasn’t as excited as usual…I just didn’t feel connected to it and it didn’t seem like I would relate to it so much.  Well, I was wrong.  Very wrong.  It was relatable to me in a deep way.

I had seen the headlines of Diana’s swim from Cuba to Florida and never really bothered to read the story or details of it.  Now I know the story and I am a better person for having heard it and a grateful person for having heard it straight from her.  Long long story really short – she swam 110 miles in 53 hours straight at age 64 on her fourth attempt.  After hearing all the specifics of the challenges of swimming in the ocean (like jellyfish stings) and trying to wrap my mind around doing anything for 53 hours straight (even lying on my bed), the whole idea just seemed a bit crazy and kind of like a strange dream to chase for a lifetime.  That feeling didn’t last long.

Diana has an intense personality.  She is a force.  You can feel her when she talks and in my experience, something deep inside me connected to that spirit that showed so clearly in her.  It really is hard to put into words, but I felt it big time.  I was riveted and deeply moved.  My whole family was.  There is something beautiful about people who are trying to be the best version of themselves and willing to work really really hard to do it.

Afterwards, my eight-year-old daughter and I were talking about her dream and her perseverance.  We were walking through the house gathering laundry as we casually discussed what it meant to us.  We were talking about the swimming part of it and all she encountered, it seemed really really scary to my daughter.  I tried to explain that you take that example of perseverance and you put it in a form that relates to your life.  Without thinking of it, I blurted out what my Cuba/Florida swim equivalent is.  I explained that for me, what I am the most passionate and feel the most drawn towards and consider to be the most important thing in my existence is living in consciousness as a permanent state.  That is, transcending egoic states of mind and truly existing deeply in the present moment.  This may sound strange to some people but this is my truth.  Living in this way is the most important thing and will transcend and bring harmony to life and relationships all around me.

I have been on this journey of trying to live what I know for quite some time.  I fall down all the time.  I react.  I take things personally.  I resist what already is.  I fall below thought and just check-out with mind numbing distractions of various sorts, knowing this doesn’t bring real joy.  I always get back up and keep going.  I can admit that I failed and I don’t have to be mean to myself about it.  I can apologize to those I may have hurt or annoyed and tell them I know I can do better and I am not those choices.  Learning to be kind to yourself in your failure is a gift.  Still learning to receive that gift.  Getting better.

It is strange that watching a swimmer with a completely different type of dream and experience could connect to me so deeply.  I know why it did — It is the same story we all have.  I am grateful to Diana to have shared her story in a way that allows me to be able to consider those 53 hours and what it took to keep going.  I will think of it often as I keep going.  Many times this week, I caught myself right before I may have fallen into an old reaction or thought pattern and I felt deeply that now was the moment to choose to live all that I know.  I was able to sit in whatever was causing discomfort and not let it become me.  I could observe and stay true to who I am and what kind of person I want to be.  In life there are countless opportunities to continue to make that choice.  I am that choice, not the other things that sometimes interfere with my deeper self.  Maybe someday soon  I can live 53 hours straight without any thought chatter or egoic reasoning or reacting…just simply BEING.  The only time to do it is now.  I AM that choice.

Find a way.  ~Diana Nyad

There is an evolutionary impulse that wants to assist us in our growth and towards what we are meant to do.  It takes a lot of stillness and spaciousness to access that place that can guide us.  It doesn’t have to be difficult to persevere.  It can seem incredibly hard when we fall away from the impulse of the flow of life, but the flow is always waiting for us to return to it.  We can choose it at any moment.  It is true that we aren’t really headed to a destination…it is the journey and it is full of millions of opportunities to continue to persevere.

Wishing us all the space to embrace perseverance towards whatever we may feel drawn to.  Sending love!

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October 1, 2013

The Wisdom, Kindness and Courage To Celebrate The Joy and Success of Others

When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him you will see yourself.
As you treat him you will treat yourself.
As you think of him you will think of yourself.
Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself
or lose yourself.
–A Course In Miracles

As I learn and grow I marvel at just how connected we are to each other.  It really is amazing and awe-inspiring to try to grasp just what truly connects us and to what extent we are connected.

This week I have been feeling so very grateful for that fact and at the same time a bit sad from the longing it creates in my soul.  As you realize this truth and try to go about your business in this world it can sometimes feel difficult to function in environments that just don’t seem to understand what we’re looking at when we see each other and what is happening when we judge or compete with each other.  It can feel so brutal to see the many ways we create the illusion of separation.

I no longer feel sadness for me when I know someone doesn’t want to hear good news or share in my joy, I feel sad for them and I long to reach them and show them the beauty of celebrating each other.  I want to help people connect to the world around them and everything in it in a more meaningful way.  I think this desire came naturally from wanting to connect to it more myself.  You figure out that you cannot walk that path alone…we must go together.  How we choose to see, think of, feel about and treat each other is how we choose to live and how we choose to be with ourselves.

I know the answer is always love and I must give to the world that which I feel it is lacking.  I want to celebrate everyone and truly care about their joy and well-being.  I know deeply that I share in any success or joy anyone may experience.  I will choose to see the good that is in all of us and to be the space for others that allows them to feel it and see it in themselves too.  I will choose not to recognize what judging or competing looks like, I will simply be the space that welcomes joy and love and comforts others.  I will see the connection we have even when others can’t see it…maybe my seeing it will help them see it too.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
–Henry David Thoreau

Having this space to connect with followers, visitors and fellow bloggers comforts me so much and helps with the longing of my soul to feel the connection we all share.  For that, I thank each and every one of you so very much!  I am truly grateful!

Wishing us all the wisdom, kindness and courage to celebrate the joy and success of others today and always!  I pray I may live what I know today!  Sending you love!

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