Inspiration | Live What You Know

April 9, 2014

Resistance

Somewhere along the path, we come to the moment. We realize that life can only be lived in the exact moment we are in. We figure out that our head is full of chattering nonsense that distracts us from the moment and we embark on the work of clearing the mind and embracing the moment. We want to wake up. There are many paths and many wonderful souls to help us see our path and live our moments fully. We only need to listen and we are on our way. As we begin clearing the field of the mind, we realize right away that we must hack away at the thoughts of the past and all our reactions to it. Then, it is clear that we must chop down the thoughts about future worry. All this makes perfect sense. Get rid of past and future thoughts to clear the mind and come fully into the moment. Of course in the case of the mind, one cannot simply plow the field, we dance with the mind and attempt various ways of allowing the thoughts to pass through until they barely get our attention anymore. We don’t try to get rid of the thoughts, that would only make them bigger, we simply learn to put our attention elsewhere. We learn to awaken to alert presence and reserve our attention for the thoughts that come from our higher selves and actually mean something. That all makes perfect sense and will keep us busy for as long as it takes, but it is not the whole picture. Accessing the moment is made up of much more. Next up, resistance. It comes in many forms and we must learn what it does to the moment in both subtle and obvious ways.

It is easy to “be in the moment” when things are going our way or we like the circumstances. What happens when it is all going “wrong”? As soon as we are resisting anything the present moment has to offer, we have slipped back into sleep. Our mind will become busy wishing things were different or planning ways to make change. We must embrace whatever the moment brings. We won’t lose our way or become numb to life. Life will show us how to flow and live in a much more alert and awakened state. We will be one with life. For me, learning about perception has helped a lot. We must be willing to look at all our programmed perceptions on life. We must open to the idea that we really don’t know what is good or bad. We can evolve out of labeling everything and arranging things to fit into one category or another. Watching our resistance to things and letting go of our attachments to what “should” be is a wonderful practice. Not and easy one. But, a wonderful one. Peace replaces resistance, one moment at a time.

“To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them – while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.” ― Eckhart Tolle

These are wonderfully comforting words from Eckhart Tolle. Also ambitious. We can do it! It’s not too ambitious if it is grounded in letting go and letting life live us. We can set our intentions to observe and allow resistance to pass through or to teach us something. Let’s look at a few forms of resistance and its antidotes.

General Resistance – When we first begin watching our resistance to things in the moment, it may be surprising how much we resist one thing or another. We have a lot of ideas about good/bad and right/wrong. We spend a lot of wasted energy resisting what already is and wishing for something else. We live in distraction rather than actually living what the moment is trying to show us. We must be willing to accept that we don’t really know what is ultimately good/bad or right/wrong. We don’t have to roll over and accept everything, but we must really look at what is just a programmed reaction and what really deserves our energy and attention. It is exhausting to label everything and try to make it all go our way. Our resistance plays a part in this. Acceptance doesn’t bring more of what we think we don’t want, it actually opens up a place to receive more or what we are meant to have. We can know we are meant to experience certain things because we already are experiencing them; we don’t have to wonder if this experience is meant for us because it is already happening. With acceptance of what already is, no experience is wasted. It is a delicate dance. As we let go of all the little resistances we have in general, we can flow more deeply with our true being that allows us to know when something really is or is not right for us. Our general resistance to life can dissolve and then we can learn to trust true resistance in a more meaningful way.

Subtle Resistance – I noticed this one more recently. As our awareness of resistance helps us release it along the way, we can get better at accepting things and letting go of our resistance habits. Even just acknowledging that we are resisting is helpful in the process and will move us along in our practice. Then, we can hopefully open our eyes wider and see the ripples of resistance that are still playing a part in our interactions with life. Sometimes we have this little voice that continues to subtly resist things as we go along. A little nagging thing that says, “that is not right” or “that won’t happen to me” or “I can’t believe they did that.” One particular example springs to mind where I noticed my subtle resistance ripples. Many parents of older children seem to love to compliment my children on their choices/manners/habits and then proceed to tell me, “Just wait until they are older….” and then describe how horrible they will inevitably be when they become teenagers. I noticed myself having this little, “that won’t be us” reaction inside. Silly to give my energy towards resisting what someone else is experiencing or sharing. Who knows what will happen when my kids are older? Why give my energy and peaceful power away in the moment of someone else describing their situation? Resistance shows up in many subtle ways. After I noticed this particular recurring one, I consciously made an effort to allow people’s comments to just flow through me. I chose to truly be there to really hear them and listen with my heart about their situation rather than making it about me and what may or may not happen to my family. I can have an open heart rather than a reaction full of resistance. It is helpful to notice even the subtle ripple of this waste of time and energy response called resistance. We all have these subtle resistance patters happening to show us how to grow further into detachment and acceptance of all that is.

Providing Resistance – You know the saying, “Whatever you resist persists.” Well, it’s true. No exception. If you are resisting something in any situation, it grows in power and presses harder. You literally give the thing you are resisting something to butt up against and push on. If you let things pass through you and have detached acceptance working for you then things can flow through. Parenting offers a lot of opportunities to practice this one. It is always interesting to balance when to let things be and when to step in and handle the thing I think I can’t allow or tolerate. I have seen the magic of not providing that resistance anymore and the situation completely diffusing itself. All of our relationships allow places to practice no longer providing that resistance. Life opens up for us when we no longer resist it.

Avoidance and Numbing Resistance – Sometimes we just don’t want to feel something, don’t want to face something and/or don’t want to deal with something. We use all kinds of distraction methods to avoid actually experiencing the things we are meant to. If we are honest with ourselves, we know what methods we are using and we can see how it would feel to just drop the distractions and experience what is waiting for us in the magic of the moment. Maybe we don’t need the television on, maybe we don’t need to surf the internet or waste time on our smart phones, maybe we don’t need that cocktail to relax us, maybe we’re not really hungry and don’t need that snack, maybe we don’t need all those busy plans that keep us from going deeper inside to open to more of life. We know when we are avoiding and numbing out rather than pushing through and fearlessly experiencing life found in the precious present moment. The moment is Life. We can handle whatever form it comes in by grounding ourselves in the moment rather than in distraction and avoidance.

Past and Future Resistance – Often, we see someone or experience something through the veil of the past or worry about the future. We may see someone we have not had a “good” experience with in the past, and we only interact with them from the perception of the past. The person in front of us is completely different from the last time we saw them and so are we. If we remain stuck in past experience of them, we are not in the moment and we are using past experiences to resist what may be available to us in the present moment. Instead of living with an open heart in the moment, we are closing the door to the experience that was meant for us. The encounter with the very same person may be quite lovely if we can see them with fresh loving eyes that have only the present moment in mind. The same thing goes for future worry. We may be resisting what is happening in the moment because we fear what it will cause in the future. But, we are not really experiencing the moment if we are caught up in the future. We must stay right where we are at and allow all that is meant to happen in the exact moment we are in. The “future” will only come in the form of another moment. We can handle all of them as they come.

Creative Resistance – As we continue our practice of letting go of our resistance to life and opening up to the moment, we can observe and understand our resistance in a more meaningful way. We are all here to do something and we are all co-creators in this life. The more we get in touch with our truest purpose, the more we must be willing to push through our resistance. We are sure to encounter much resistance as we approach that which we are meant to do. The stakes get higher and fear can take a stronger hold on us as we muster our courage to try. Here are a few favorite quotes on this type of resistance.

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

There is only ever love or fear. Resistance is just another form of fear. Sometimes it’s just general stuff from programmed labels we resist, sometimes subtle ripples persist as we learn to gain more presence, sometimes we let resistance nurture bad habits and sometimes we listen to resistance and realize it is the strongest around things we are truly meant to do. As we become better masters of our own various types of resistance, we will be able to let the waves of fear pass through and turn to love and even push through the important resistance that came to show us we are on the right track. We can listen to the fear and resistance and act from our soul to overcome and pass through to our life’s purpose. We can live each moment in love.

Wishing us all the courage and wisdom to listen to life and let go of resistance. Wishing us the ability to know when to let resistance pass through without giving it our attention and when we should take note and push through it to our higher calling. There is so much waiting for us in the moment. Learning to listen and open with acceptance of with already is is a great way to open the door to the life we are meant to have with all the love we are meant to feel.

Sending you love and joy!

8 Comments

April 1, 2014

Self Trust = Faith In All

“Self-trust is the first secret of success.” ―Ralph Waldo Emerson

The true self is much more than words can express. I’ll continue attempting to express it anyway. 🙂

We are meant to evolve to completely trust ourselves. Our true self. The One that is connected to All. When we trust our truest self, rather than our ego, we can be sure of how we will handle any situation and circumstance that may arise. This kind of trust in ourselves isn’t about trusting our little personality that shows up in the world or our bodies and programmed logical perspective on things, it is about much much more. Self-trust is about knowing who and what we truly are in our deepest essence. It is Being. A deep self-trust can take hold and we can shift how we live in the world. There are many parts to this, of course, but, we can do it. We can know and live in our being so much that we can be sure and steady in knowing we are rooted in something deeper than the sway of daily events. This trust in something deeper is an important step in our evolution. Once we can trust completely in our higher self we open the door to all that we are meant to experience.

Self-trust is the only trust their really is. Placing your trust in and on others is a precarious endeavor. It adds expectations and burdens to them. People are out there doing the best they can and that is all we can truly expect. We are all evolving along our own path and pace and it is all fine. We don’t need to go around expecting people to pick up the pace or wait for us. We can accept and love people just as they are. We don’t need to trust them. We only need to love them. We can support the growth in each other and be authentic in our interactions with them. This may include helping others see themselves as they truly are or it may be a complete and utter acceptance of where they are at. We will know what authentic interaction is called for in each moment. This comes with the self-trust we can cultivate and share with the world. This self-trust blesses everything we do and everyone we meet. It is not a selfish endeavor, it brings peace, love and consciousness to All.

When we no longer feel the need to surround ourselves with people we can “trust” we allow people to simply be who they are and we know deeply that we can handle whatever that may look like. When we no longer need to have people behave in a certain way that works for us or makes us feel safe, then we can experience more of what life has to offer us and we can give back to life what we are meant to bring to the world. When we no longer need to control and manipulate situations and circumstances to fit our desires we can just be in the world in whatever way we are meant to. We open up to life and we open up to more of everything. We no longer need to limit life to the parts we have labeled as trustworthy or desirable. We are open-hearted beings. We have faith in All.

Years ago I was seeking a path to this shift — perhaps even a shortcut. Over time, moment by moment, I can feel that in my case it is a slow and gradual shift in being that gradually envelops our choices and state of mind so that it feels like a warm embrace from a peace that has been there all along just waiting to welcome us home. Love is home. Trusting our higher selves and radiating a light that helps others do the same is the divine glow that lights the path home.

Wishing us all the courage to forgive ourselves when we forget what we are. Wishing us all the courage to forgive others for everything as we realize there is nothing to forgive. It is All well. Sending you love and joy!

8 Comments

March 28, 2014

The Soul – Let’s Face It!

“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.” —Oscar Wilde

We are much more than our bodies and personalities. We have infinite depth to us that is always there. We are all souls. We are growing, sharing, learning and becoming more of ourselves all the time. Even if we are stuck in a distracted existence that isn’t aware of this, it is still happening. We will not remain stuck forever. Life moves us along with every single experience. Moment by moment, we evolve. Joy begins when we experience our soul. Joy occurs more frequently when we listen and allow ourselves to be guided in our choices by the soul. Joy becomes constant when we live from our Being on a regular basis. There are many parts to figuring out how to do this, and even more to remembering to let it happen in each moment. We are meant to let the soul shine through and see it in others.

Where should we look for the soul? The face. It’s in the face. It’s not the eyes, or certain features found in the faces we see. It’s in the whole of the face. It’s in every face. We can learn to really see each other and our seeing helps others see themselves and live from their higher self. In return we see ourselves in their faces as well. We can shift reality to a higher perspective. My soul has always known this deeply. I have intuitively done this on countless occasions. I just didn’t know exactly what I was doing. I had it spelled out to me recently in my reading and my heart soared at the description.

I’ve been reading through the Celestine Prophecy Insights again. I read the original book (The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield) about seven years ago and loved it. A fellow blogger reminded me of it recently and I dug it out of a drawer, dusted it off and picked it up again, only to discover that I am now able to understand it on a much deeper level. I am so grateful the Universe brought it to me years ago and picked now to remind me of it again. There are three other books in the adventure series and I am enjoying them immensely for the first time. Here is the excerpt from second book, The Tenth Insight, with the description I am talking about regarding the face:

“If we look closely at another person’s face, we can cut through any facades, or ego defenses, that may be present, and find the individual’s authentic expression, his or her real self. Ordinarily most people don’t know what to focus on when talking to another. Should it be the eyes? It’s hard to focus on both. So which one? Or should it be on the feature that most stands out, such as the nose or mouth?”

“In truth, we are called upon to focus on the whole of the face, which with its uniqueness of light and shadow and alignment of features is much like an inkblot. But within this collection of features, one can find an authentic expression, the soul shining forth. When we focus in love, love energy is sent to this higher-self aspect of the person, and the person will seem to change before our eyes as his or her greater capabilities shift into place.”

This lovely excerpt is part of a dialogue as insights are being explained along an adventure. It is a lovely way to digest spiritual truths in a thrilling story as a picture of what living what we know would look like. It goes on to explain more about sharing energy with people, it is a wonderfully exciting and spiritual read. This particular part about the face touched me deeply. I have seen people change before my eyes. I imagine we all have.

Faces have always meant a lot to me. The change in people when you really see them and send them loving energy is true to my spirit and deeply meaningful to me. My soul delights at authentic interaction with others souls. So does yours! Over the years I used to get somewhat impatient or irritated with people who wouldn’t look me in the eye. I understand and have a bit more patience with it these days, but eye contact has always meant a lot to me. Now I know it is more than just simple good manners or even eye contact in general I was seeking; the face holds the possibility for authentic connection and a window to the soul. Often, you can feel others’ discomfort with full focused energy. People look away or down. Sometimes they can pause and enjoy it and it always leaves both sides feeling more authentically joyful — more of their true selves. I feel it is so rare that people receive full attention with a complete focus of loving energy that they may even mistake it for other things. It would be nice if it wasn’t so rare. I am deeply interested in faces and seeing the real person rather than the representative they often present to the world. I know that with every interaction I have I can bring more loving energy to everyone around me and increase mine at the same time. We all can!

As a mom, I have experienced many amazing moments where I look at my child’s face and really see them for the first time in the day. I wake up from day-to-day stuff and look directly at the soul of my child. For that moment, I am not the mom and they are not the child, we are just two souls looking deeply at each other. They really feel seen and they shine. It can miraculously transform any situation or moment to utter joy. They usually beam back and giggle with delight. They aren’t uncomfortable with it yet, they still feel comfortable functioning from the soul because they haven’t been in their body so long that the ego has taken hold completely. Their willingness to show their soul to me has been the gift of motherhood, it has taught me a lot.

It is great to snap out of our day-to-day roles for brief moments and see the divine being in each other. We have all felt glimpses of this. How delightful it would be to function this way more frequently. We can appreciate the faces of the souls around us and really see them to allow more authentic interaction between souls growing and learning together. Every moment is an opportunity to allow more of our soul to shine through. Every moment is an opportunity to remember that all things come from love or fear and we can see past the fear and allow the love to shine through. We can see more than the personality, we can see the soul.

As we go out into the world today, let’s face the soul in each other and share our soul with the world. Let’s not look away, let’s send love and awaken the soul in others as we feel more of our own divine being. Let’s love every face and see the miracle that each of us are. Each of us is a soul. Each of us is a miracle. We are all the same miracle and we can feel and see this on the face of everyone we see.

Thought for the day — What are you reading? The Universe has something picked out for you now — be open to the signs. 🙂 Happy reading!

Sending you joy and love!

6 Comments

March 6, 2014

Living The Questions of Your Life

‘Instead of asking, “What do I want from life?”, a more powerful question is, “What does life want from me?’ —Eckhart Tolle

It is a miracle to be here. We are all here to do something. We are all shaped by our experiences. Every experience is meaningful. We become who we are meant to be so we may bring what we are meant to bring to this world. We are connected to Everything; there is no-one and no-thing we are not connected to. Our choices, intentions, interactions and energies ripple out to others and come back to us. Once we are aware of all this happening, synchronicities abound that connect us to more of ourselves while enhancing others’ ability to do the same. The Universe/God works perfectly in assisting all of this, but once we are aware of it, we co-create with Life. This all happens, not by figuring out the answers to life, but by asking and living the right questions. We all have specific questions we are working with at any given time to assist us along the way.

To live a question, we must acknowledge and accept that we don’t know the answer. We are then in the unknown. The unknown is where we can experience more of life. We must open to the present and live each experience fully to get from it what we are meant to. In this way, we embrace the art of not labeling situations and accepting that all things are unfolding as they should no matter what the details appear to be. We widen our perspective. We no longer need to declare if things are good or bad. We just flow with the circumstances and try to hear what life is saying to us and what question it is presenting for us. We let go of seeking the answers as we flow with the questions. Seeking answers requires future and creates the illusion that we will be somehow better or more complete once we have them. This can only create suffering as we long for a moment other than the one we are in. We receive only the answers we are ready for and they change over time and circumstance. The Divine joy and love is in the questions and allowing them to flow through you at the perfect time for you.

Once we know how to live the questions, we can dwell in peace that has tinges of fearless excitement within. We won’t sit idly by and simply watch everything, we will live authentically with clarity and purpose as we ground our actions in our true essence. Life will show us how to do this if we can only listen.

Watch the synchronicity in your life. Watch the dots connect. Notice what you are meant to receive from each person you come into contact with. Notice what you can give back in return. Be with nature in a way that fills your energy to assist your higher frequency vibration. Watch your conversations. Notice the books that appear at just the right time. Notice Divine energy assisting you. Be kind to yourself. Forget trying to know and embrace living the unknown. See the beauty all around. BE nature instead of in nature. Listen with all your heart. You can function this way always, you don’t have to return to surviving and struggling all the time. Peace can envelope you as you live your questions and evolve to the next, never rushing or resisting, just living in the present.

Lean back and look at the whole of your life. See how it has all connected in meaningful ways to shape you into who you are now. See all the ways that Life has provided for you. Let that feeling embrace you. I call it a Universe hug and I believe that the more you can feel those hugs, the more frequently you receive them. We all need hugs. Feel that hug from the Universe and love and embrace who you are now without judging how you got here or where you should be instead. Just love you now and connect to everything around you as you expand and fill up with peace.

Living the unknown and loving the questions, the “little me” in us quiets down and the larger “I” that is connected to all things Lives. It is a Divine paradox to realize that the only true knowing is found in living peacefully in the Unknown. The question IS the knowing. Living the question is living what you know.

Today I pray to be still and live the question of my heart. I pray to gratefully and peacefully abide in the joy of connectedness to All. I pray to remember this message as I live the moments of my day.

I am sending you love! May you hear your question and feel the joy of living authentically with it.

12 Comments

February 28, 2014

Fresh Eyes

Whatever we look at today, may we see it with fresh eyes.

All too often, we look with the eyes of yesterday. We allow our past experiences and judgments to drag us through our life and relive themselves again and again. This isn’t living. We can’t fully come to the present moment and live our soul’s purpose and essence until we can put down our veil of perception grown in the past and grounded in fear and future.

We can practice looking at the world and everything in it with fresh, clear, new eyes. When we do, we will experience the flow of life in miraculous ways. We can shift how we experience everything. Everything that passes through our vision has our thoughts attached to it as we take it in. We look and attach a label, draw on past experiences as we assume they will repeat themselves and then react accordingly. Living this way, we miss the actual moment and what may be possible within it entirely. We can change the thoughts we attach and open up to the Life we already have waiting for us to experience it fully.

I arrive again and again at the miraculous truth that the unknown is all there really is and it is much better than knowing everything…or at least thinking we do. We really don’t know what the future holds and we would have much more peace if we didn’t feel the need to know. As we shift our perceptions and feel what is really going on in the Divine Universe, we can begin to trust that whatever lies in the unknown is far better than anything we can conjure up with our little ideas about how things should go. Even when things seem to be against us, we usually see the reason it was the perfect for us later. We can trust it all. It is so much more meaningful and, in fact, fun, to just go with the flow and see what happens. My favorite saying lately is simply, “I don’t know, let’s see what happens.” It is a joyful relief that comforts me so…much better than gripping life too tight and continuously striving for some semblance of control. That “control” only blocks Life and all its miracles.

We never really know what we are looking at…even the most familiar things. Once things become familiar to us we no longer see them. We must make the effort to see them fresh. It will awaken our soul and we will come alive to Life simply by seeing what is really there in front of us rather than seeing our thoughts attached to it.

Yesterday at the grocery story, I saw my kids beside me with absolutely fresh eyes. The magical love I felt gave me chills all over. They looked like little miracles standing there near me. I felt like the luckiest person alive just to have them hanging out with me. I watched them for a few moments, one intently looking through items at the counter and one surveying the people all around…it was as if I had never seen them before. I saw them so clearly and I knew throughout my being that I have been blessed in the most amazing way. I could have been distractedly handling that grocery line moment that we have been through what seems like millions of times…instead I was there with fresh eyes and filled with the tingle of Life running through my senses.

I cherish John O’Donohue’s words on the unfamiliar…with gratitude I keep his lessons on seeing the unfamiliar in the most familiar things close to my heart. I love what A Course In Miracles taught me and continues to teach me about perception. I try to remember these lessons as I go through my days…sometimes with fresh eyes, often a bit blurry with flashes of clarity. Recently in my reading, Mark Nepo spoke of these ideas as “love at first sight”… it opened up a new understanding in me. I like the term “love at first sight” used in this way. That was what happened to me at the grocery store. I looked at two of the most familiar people in the world to me and my eyes were so fresh that it was indeed Love At First Sight! Perhaps that is why they say love is all that matters and love is all there is…because when you get your eyes right…love is all you can see and all you can Be.

These ideas are not reserved for easy situations and circumstances. We can apply them to Everything. These fresh new eyes are the ones to use even if we have people in our lives that we feel have wronged us or our loved ones or are in conflict with us in some way, we can look at them with fresh eyes and live only what is in the actual moment in our meetings with them. We don’t have to bring our past experiences with tough people to every interaction with them and we don’t have to replay old movies in our head of how we already know them and what they are all about. We are never exactly the same in any two moments, we can meet everyone fresh in the moment we are actually in. If we can do that, we will surely see that things are always much better in the actual moment without brining all the thoughts about it to keep us distracted or reliving past moments.

Everything around us can feel how we are using our eyes and other senses. Our eyes can bring love or fear. When we’re fresh and present, everything expands to be more fully and authentically alive…even the flower can stand taller. We open life up and we live authentically. The simple choice to use our senses to see things fresh brings the frequency of love that is all there really is to see.

Wishing you countless moments filled with the true and infinite “Love At First Sight” that is always available to us. May we all have the courage to look at it all anew. Let’s see it all fresh!

Sending you love and joy! May the tingle of Life run through your senses!

7 Comments

February 25, 2014

Sincerity

Given sincerity, there will be enlightenment. —The Doctrine of the Mean, 200 B.C.E.

These words bring me so much comfort. Since stumbling upon this quote in my reading, I have recalled them throughout my days many times and each time they have brought me peace. We never really stumble into these things…they are gifts we are given at the precise moment we can receive them. I am grateful.

Along the path towards truly living what I know and continuously expanding what that means, I sometimes find myself coasting, sometimes walking a steady pace, often crawling, intermittently hobbling along and occasionally standing still. Lately, I have been standing still and trying to let things come to me as I attempt figuring out Life’s whispers.

There are many helpful habits to support living peaceful presence and yet at the same time, so many things knocking on the door with their seeming need to get done. The beautiful dance of a balanced Life uses those healthy habits to prepare for whatever may come…but, what to do when there just doesn’t seem to be enough time or energy to get it all in? While standing still on my path lately, I have been fluctuating between my Life-giving habits that ground me in the peace that is authentically who I am at my essence and the smaller version of me that reacts and gets things done.

Over the past few weeks, I have struggled to find the balance and time to use my favorite habits to help me. My observations indicate that I am able to live my best Life when I can read, write, exercise, meditate, pray, cook fresh healthy vegan foods so my family can eat well, have soul-to-soul time with my family and great conversations with loved ones on a regular/daily basis. These are the things my soul craves. Lately I get into a groove on a few of these habits and then fall as I try to honor another important habit all the while leaving enough time for my real life duties and commitments to others. I have been trying to restructure, rearrange, reorganize, etc. It has been rather funny watching me thrive at one or two habits and terribly miss the others as I juggle them around with very little consistency…it’s hard to even call them habits right now. It will be fine. It always works out. It is just time for me to hobble about as I get my footing back. I feel it coming and I have the deep knowing that all is well.

I can make the choices that support me as I regain my balance of my peace centered habits. I have done it before and it will happen again. At this point in my life, the not being able to do it all is actually quite good for me. It is important to be able to be kind to myself even when I’m not at the top of my game. I have always been hard on myself. Over the past few years, I find myself fighting off the personality that won’t do something unless she can do it perfectly; it’s good to grow out of this type of pressure on one’s self. Life isn’t about doing things perfectly. There is no such thing as perfect. There is only Life and striving for perfection keeps us from living it.

The other night, as I sat in the bathtub at the end of a long day, I started to get down on myself and attempt a personal pep talk about getting up super early the next morning and really going for it with all of my habits…as if getting things done is the secret to peace. Ha! Then, I remembered the words from the quote above. My perception shifted and I started leaning back in my mind and looking at the picture of my life in larger portions. I quit looking at all the tiny little details and saw the bigger dots connecting throughout my years. As I looked from a higher position, I saw how I have heard the whisper and wholeheartedly followed it again and again. These whispers rushed through my head reminding me that no matter what my current status on habits looks like, I can still hear the whisper. I live for the whisper that my soul’s current provides. I saw so many beautiful connections that the whisper has provided and felt hugged and loved in the knowing that it is always there. I returned to the moment. Always the same answer.

Healthy habits are helpful and important and they can keep me centered in peace. I will always strive to honor them well, but I must balance that desire and keep them as a sacred practice rather than allowing them to escalate to disappointment when not achieved. Peace is not always found in achievement. The peace that comes from knowing I have been listening to and living from the whisper brings me back to the moment where now is the only thing that matters and Life is living me well.

One thing I am never lacking is sincerity. There will be enlightenment. I can peacefully breathe and join in the connectedness I Am to all things. Whether I am fulfilling all my desired habits or not, the moment is always there and love is all that truly matters. Whew.

Wishing you peaceful presence today and always! May you be blessed with the perception to see how life is whispering to you and the courage to follow it towards the joy it encompasses. Life is whispering to us all. Happy listening!

Sending you love and joy!

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February 6, 2014

Problems vs. Peace

We choose which we will bring to this world — problems or peace. Which one will we bring with us wherever we go today?

Finding problems is the easiest thing in the world. There is no shortage of them. It can always appear as if something has gone wrong, we made a mistake, something is happening that shouldn’t be happening, someone has wronged or offended us, something is annoying us, we can’t be happy until something else happens, etc. Living in a world of labeling, comparing and judging all things mixed all the while with the struggle to survive without awakened presence makes it feel impossible to see anything but problems…they just roll in…one problem after another. There is another way to live. We don’t have to see things as problems, we can turn toward peace instead. We decide.

As we come to realize that we want more peace in our lives, we have to find ways to practice peace that work for us in our current life situation. Observing how we see things and how we allow them to come through us is a great practice. As Life gives us things to work with, big and small, we can choose how we will let them come through us. Will we find a problem and stay stuck in our head as we resist it, find faults with it, label it, judge it and spend out time trying to convince others to see it as a problem as well? Or, will we put some space around it and let it be what it is (Life) without the label, content in not knowing whether it is good or bad while trusting that all thing are happening as they are meant to? It is as simple as that — each little thing…label, think, cause suffering about it or let it be and live in peace.

I have the good fortune of practicing with children. They are at the beginning stages of labeling all things. In many ways they must learn countless labels as they grow, figure things out and strive for a great education. Still, we make an effort in our house to understand the difference and dance between the labels that help us learn and the ones that aren’t necessary. It is an intense practice with them, because they are so open with their labels and judgements, they don’t hide them secretly in their head and fester, they just blurt them out or have a melt-down and present their problems. We always have a lot to talk about and practice with. It is my practice and it works for me…most of the time. Of course, I don’t have it mastered. I start the days saying things like, “okay, let’s not look for problems, let’s find peace”… I always tell them that problem-finding is just too easy, we could find a bunch at any time…but what we really want is peace…let’s find that. Then it takes helping them do that while keeping my peace in tact…a delicate balance. By the end of the day, it gets a little harder for me to stay with the peace. The more tired I am, the easier it is to judge things as problems. It becomes harder to put space around my reactions and choose peace. This week I began adding some quiet time with a clear-minded meditation for me in the afternoons to gather my energy and keep with my peace in an effort to start fresh even late in the day. Always something to work on.

Life isn’t trying to annoy us, it’s trying to wake us up. We choose again and again whether we will create problems or peace. We create with Everything. We can feel apart of everything and flow with it or get stuck slugging it out with the smaller stuff and trying to bend things our way. We can thrive in the ride of not knowing and truly living or we can think we know best and struggle through it all. We never really know when things are good or bad. We have all lived through thinking things were one way and finding out we labeled it wrong. Real Life is lived in the not knowing.

Just this morning after writing the above, I stumbled into this lovely poem that works so well here. I want to share it with you.

Repeatedly We Are Asked

to embody or consume;
to be in kinship with everything larger
or to order and manage everything smaller.

We are asked, every day, to align or separate;
to coordinate our will with everything living
or to impose our will on everything we meet.

And not choosing is a choice. Acquiescence
is different from patience or surrender.

All this leaves us needing to know:
whether to better the song through practice
or to better ourselves through singing.

–Mark Nepo

I want to better the song. Today I pray to answer well when asked again and again if I want problems or peace. I also pray for those that aren’t yet aware that they too want more peace. I pray that they may be blessed with a little bit of peace today so that they may learn to search for it and practice it. I add my gratitude for the practice to the song. Life is a great practice. It really is. Peace and blessing are all around and I am so grateful!

Sending you joy, love and peace today and always.

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February 4, 2014

Nothing Happened

“Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world.” –A Course In Miracles

Life IS and nothing happened. Sometimes it seems like something either good or bad has happened and we swirl in the aftermath of either label we chose to put on it. It really seems like something has happened; we’re quite sure of it. What if it didn’t truly happen? What if it is just our thoughts about it that make it seem like it happened? Aren’t someone else’s thoughts about that same occurrence possibly quite different from ours? In the after-current of seeming events, we often try to pull others into knowing what has happened by telling them our version of it and keeping the thing alive by continuously naming it and discussing how it feels and what may happen next. We then add all sorts of projected future scenarios on top of the thing that may or may not have happened. Our mind quickly begins living out future things that haven’t happened either. It is all a messy emotional surge that isn’t good for our bodies, minds or souls. It all takes us away from the only thing we can truly live…the moment we are actually in.

We get to choose how we see the world and everything in it. Often, we barely see anything before us as we rush through familiar surroundings and assume our way through our days. If we do encounter the unfamiliar, we label it right away and attached a bunch of thoughts to it. It is so easy to spend our moments assuming we already know how things will go and labeling anything surprising. Assuming and labeling isn’t Living, it’s viewing things through our skewed perception. We can easily see our version of things, but there is so much we are missing by living this way. We don’t want to view things, we want to Live them. We can open our hearts to the exact moment we are in and feel more of the life and peace that surrounds us waiting for us to tap into it. We can become open to the idea that it is just our thoughts about things keeping them alive. We can let go of the suffering we cause ourselves and others by staying stuck in these thoughts. We must practice letting the thoughts pass and opening up more stillness and silence to live how we are meant to…in peace.

Something I find quite comforting is the fact that there is ever only one answer to all of the questions we may have about the suffering we encounter or the journey to more peace…just come fully into the present moment…you can handle anything you encounter by fully experiencing it now. Not the now in your mind with all the thoughts about it, but, the now that just is and brings peace.

I have heard Eckhart Tolle answer hundreds of questions live on his website…sometimes after a lovely answer to exactly the question presented and formed in stillness exactly the way it needed to be heard, he gives a chuckle and says, “always the same answer”… so true. I love that he always patiently hears the questions and allows the answers to come through in stillness…of course, always the same essential answer with different words around it…but it is quite comforting to watch him reach the same conclusion again and again in peace and ever patient and present stillness. Watching what presence looks like brings more presence and makes all these things seem possible.

We all have sacrificed so many precious moments to be caught up in some other thing that we think happened to us. We hold on to other moments and give them so much more power than the one we are in. We turn away from love when we do this. I know and pray to live the truth that love is always accessible and we can live from love found in the moment rather than the chaos of a mind that isn’t free of the swirl of reactive thoughts. Whatever we give our attention to expands. Today, let’s let those thoughts pass through without our attention as we awaken fully to the life we have available to us now…each now that comes.

Today I pray for presence. This is my prayer. I pray to Live a lot rather than see, label and assume a lot, which leads to living a little. I pray for the only answer…living fulling in the moment. I pray to remember that each breath is a death of the prior moment and we constantly have a fresh moment to enter. I pray that I may bring presence and peace around me and help it spread, giving joy to others. I pray to live what I know.

Sending you love, joy and presence. Your visit sends me those things in return. Thank you!

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January 30, 2014

Love Everything…It Makes Everything Loveable

Meet Mouska The Duck!

Mouska has taught our family many lessons about love. I want to share some of what we have learned here. The picture above shows what Mouska looked like the day he came into our lives. We were on a family vacation and we told the kids they could pick out a souvenir in the hotel gift shop. George spotted a little duck on the top shelf in the back corner beyond our reach, we had to ask for assistance to get him down. Once in Georgie’s sweet little hands, he was immediately hugged and named Mouska.

George changed the day he got Mouska and the little duck changed as well. George tapped into his loving and nurturing side as he showered this little duck with so much love that continued expanding toward many more things in his life. Mouska ceased being a little ducky made of terry cloth and stuffed with cotton…he came to life for George, and soon after, for our whole family and even many friends. The love Georgie felt for him made him so lovable to the rest of us. We all love this little ducky dearly. He isn’t just a stuffed animal, he is love. He became lovable because he was loved so much. Georgie became more of his natural loving self by having the sweet relationship with his beloved Mouska.

George and Mouska have been together for over four years now. They have been through many things together. That sweet little duck has been all over with us. He even survived being left behind at a Disneyland hotel and getting a “makeover”… George fully understood what it meant that Mouska had gotten a makeover…he felt the loss and embraced the solution. When the new Mouska arrived in the mail all fresh and fluffy again, the love was no less. Mouska’s spirit and all the love and precious memories had moved on and inhabited the “refurbished” version. What a lucky duck and what a lucky ducky family we are. We all love Mouska so much.

Mouska and George’s little family has expanded over the years; they have plenty of love to share. Meet Coco and James. They are a loving little bunch. At first I resisted more and more animals coming to live and sleep in George’s bed…but Mouska and George live the lesson that there is plenty of love to go around…there is no limit. George does a great job sharing the love, leaving no one out, making everyone feel special and creating joyful moments with all his little buddies, no matter how many in number.

The family has continued to grow and much love is always beaming out of the room and lingering around the house. The current gang that lives and sleeps on George’s bed are Mouska the duck, James the Monkey, Coco the big bear, Ben the little bear, Dan the big giraffe, Bob the little giraffe, Snoopy the dog, Eagie the eagle and Jones the jellybean duck.

There are stories of love behind each animal. Many were precious gifts from loved ones, one was George’s first purchase with his own money. I have watched these little love stories and felt more of my own heart along the way. It truly is amazing to see these little spirits come to life just by being loved.

The lessons of Mouska and friends makes me think…What else could be changed just by being loved? The real question is…what wouldn’t be changed by being loved? I love this Emerson quote…

Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

If Mouska had been treated like terry cloth and cotton, none of this love would have been felt. He was treated like family and filled with love and he gave it back to us. More Mouska lessons show just how much we benefit from giving love. The more love you give, the more love you have to give. We all know all these things of course, but I am so grateful for our little ducky friend and Georgie who live them so clearly for us to witness, allowing us to expand our own love from having seen them.

Some things are easy to love and some are more difficult. We must learn to love it all and spread love wherever we go so there can be more love for everything and everyone to feel. Love is always the answer. No matter what we are going through or who is appearing before us, we can always step back and put some space between the thing or person and our reaction to it. If we can add space and stillness, very soon, we can feel our heart soften and our willingness to act from love expand and fill us. It is always possible and with more and more practice, it becomes much more automatic…we can more easily embrace what we are truly capable of…pure love. We truly can love everything and make everything more lovable. It is a practice, but it is worth it. I pray to get better and better at it each and every day…just a breath, or a moment can help us be our truest self, with plenty of love to give to every circumstance. Some things take a few more breaths or a bit more time, but watching the process can shorten the time between our little reaction and the true one that comes from our heart to add love to the world.

These days Mouska isn’t as fluffy as he used to be. He has lost his hair twice and he is quite worn by love now. Each year at his birthday party (yes, the kids throw him a birthday party each year), it is easy to see he is changing over time and his experiences are showing. But, no matter how flat he becomes or how much fluff he loses, the love for him is still growing. I love to think that all of us aren’t aging, we’re simply showing our experiences and being worn in with love.

Wishing you the space to live from the place of love for all things that transforms how you see the world and how you can BE in the world. Lets leave nothing on the top shelf unloved, lets pull it all down and fill it with love. No matter what it appears to be…love can change it!

Sending you so much love and joy today and always. Happy love spreading!

January 26, 2014

Words

Words have always meant a lot to me. They are much more than just communication tools; when treated with honor and respect, they become much more. The words we string together to express ourselves and the ones we choose to give our attention to as we gather information make up the fabric of who we are. Words are our bridge to the soul. They come from somewhere else, they come through us and they can reach out to another and bring them to us. They can be used well and allow us to be more of ourselves and they can be mistreated and keep us stuck in destructive patterns that take us off our true path. Words are the dots and our job in life is to get better and better at connecting the dots.

Words are always working with us; our relationship with them is how we grow and change. I have seen my relationship with words evolve drastically over time and I can feel the pull to a deeper connection with them now. Ever a crafty communicator, I remember in my younger years using my words carelessly at times. I was a bit of a people pleaser and could easily tell people what they wanted to hear or say things that might make people more comfortable, etc. During adolescence, honesty wasn’t really at the tip-top of my list either, words were more of a navigation tool to try to get what I wanted or seem like something I was trying to be. All these things were part of a natural progression through awkward years I suppose. I am so grateful to have passed through that time and to have it to look back on now to know the difference. I now know that compromising my own truth and absolute honesty is like cutting myself off from life and love and completely unnecessary in any and every situation. I can still make others feel comfortable, but compromising my words or using them carelessly is never ever part of that anymore.

Words have been everything to me on my path. I have watched them connect to each other to lead me to the next book, the next conversation, the next experience, the next challenge, life lesson, goal, etc… They have guided me, comforted me, confronted me, pushed me, loved me and helped me put pieces of my soul together as I journey toward aligning my personality with my soul to live in authenticity. They whisper and shout, they figure out how we hear them best and they never stop trying to get our attention, wake us up, lead us where we are meant to go to show up as exactly who we are and with what we are meant to bring to this world. Words are everywhere and they reach us through the perfect means for us…Life sends us a book, someone says something to us, a poem touches us, a loved one shares with us, we see a sign, watch a movie, receive a letter, hear them in silence, hear ourselves say them aloud, we spontaneously feel something deeply and try to put it into words…they are everywhere.

The first of the four agreements in Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements is — Be Impeccable With Your Word. He calls this agreement the most important and he is so right. This may seem straightforward and easily obvious at first, but it is much more than just telling the truth. It means really honoring your word and truly expressing your intentions and fullest expression of yourself in every situation and every moment. It means knowing that the words come from the source that creates your life. As you use your words, you create your life. Your inner peace is directly tied to how you are using your words in your life. By saying exactly what you mean, meaning what you say, using your words wisely and carefully towards and about others, selecting carefully which words you give your attention to, setting your intention clearly in all you do, not making compromises with your words to please others or make them more comfortable, etc., you bring honor to all the words in life and they start speaking to you more clearly. When you can hear the words more clearly, you can live more deeply…you can tap into the flow of Life.

I have never ever been accused of being a woman of few words. In fact, sometimes here in my writing I try to keep it short and sweet and it just doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t come naturally. I have always been pretty good at explaining things and communicating somewhat effectively, but doing so in just a few words has never been my strong point. I have been through many phases with words in my life and I feel myself entering a new phase with them in my daily life now…I deeply desire uttering less of them. It feels a bit strange for someone who thrives on good conversation and cherishes words so very much, but it is definitely what I am feeling drawn to. Here are some possible reasons saying fewer words may be so appealing to me at this point:

Perhaps I am getting more words out in my writing and I feel less of a need for over-communicating as my soul takes comfort in having expressed what is most meaningful to me. (It truly is a comfort to have somewhere to express all of these things!)
Perhaps I finally understand how many of the words we utter are wasted on labeling things and judging situations, which takes us from the joy of living.
Perhaps the prayer and meditation I am attempting to get better at is seeping into my daily life and calling to me there.
Perhaps my great love and deep gratitude for words and all they have done for me has made me want to honor them more. I do love words!
Perhaps, it’s because I am a sometimes tired Mommy who finds herself repeating the same things over and over and over again to the little ones, and I’m just tired of hearing myself.
Perhaps I am ready to give my energy towards being instead of saying.
Perhaps I have learned from the great sages that much wisdom can be said with very little to no words.
Perhaps I have figured out that the joy lies in stillness which can easily be covered over with unnecessary distractions and interruptions and I am finding more ways to live in the joy of the actual moment rather than talking about another moment.
Perhaps my being is growing and knows that it is okay to set the personality aside.
Perhaps I’m frustrated and wish I could live all that I know more and feel like quieting down to do it better and more consistently…
Perhaps its just human nature and we evolve toward it naturally… my beautiful Granny doesn’t say a whole lot, but when she does, its worth hearing. She says a lot more with her lovely spirit, always positive attitude and loving demeanor. Just to sit in her company is like having a great conversation.

Who knows why I want to say fewer words at this point in life…maybe it is a bit of all of these things. I just feel like saying fewer words as I honor each one of them more. As I try to listen and honor what I am feeling, its been a bit of a struggle so far…those around me seem to be used to me saying a lot…so they aren’t quite comfortable with it yet. Or, maybe its me who is adjusting to more quiet and letting things be as I allow more stillness and try to quiet the noise. It feels exhausting and disappointing when I revert back to too many words as I break this habit…it will come though I am sure. It’s a work in progress. I’ll keep you posted. It is a nice calming shift when I can do it and I am grateful for it…it has been interesting to feel the work of words inside me and to watch the relationship with words evolve. Love is always the answer I am sure…I can love myself and those around me through the process of growth and change. Love is.

Wishing us all the courage and wisdom to really look at what we are saying, how we are listening, what we are reading, watching, thinking, allowing in and sharing with others. Wishing us the joy of deep listening and the miracle of connecting the little dots called words.

Sending you joy and love (and lots of words) today and always!

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Tag: Inspiration

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