Thursday, June 30, 2005
Plant Dreaming Deep
May Sarton has written a number of reflective books about her own and her family's life. Her father, George Sarton, was
a world-renowned historian of science. May Sarton wrote Plant Dreaming Deep from her family home, and long
after her parents had passed on. In the book, she shows us the various pieces of furniture in the home, and speaks of events
and memories she associates with each. Sarton's memories associated with each chair, table, and room reconnect her with
her family, and invite us into a gentle appreciation of the quality and kind of community they shared.
An anthroposophic friend suggested some time ago that merely focusing our attention on one small item, perhaps a pencil,
and allowing our consciousness to rest on and with it for a period of time--perhaps ten or twenty minutes--would allow us
to know more about that object and about ourselves than any other means might. Without grasping or analyzing, but just encountering
and experiencing, we touch softly into life.
May Sarton touched softly into the objects in her life and allowed their presence to remind her of the presence of graciousness
and love in her life. Insight and imagination are within you.
8:31 am edt
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Phantom of the Opera
Have you seen Phantom of the Opera? No doubt you have heard the music--the haunting, beautiful soul-wrenching
songs; but have you seen the play and do you know the story line? More than a love story, the Phantom of the Opera
is an invitation to explore your own inner world and soul; it asks you to engage in a deeper introduction to your "dark" side,
which we each have.
The "dark" side is the fear-filled, emptiness which we often find ourselves grasping and seeking to fill. We so often
dismiss and deny our dark side, that we fail to recognize that it presents us with opportunities to address and fill from
within rather than from the outside through addictions, compulsions and escape. Carl Jung called the dark side, our "shadow"
and he suggested that it may contain our creative side-- our inherent opportunity for deeper understanding and fulfillment.
Rather than escape it, we may learn from our dark side. We may learn to take care of the needs it presents from within. We
may embrace our shadow and come to value it as a teacher from within asking us and inviting us to work with it rather
than dismiss and deny its worth and contribution to our lives.
C.S. Lewis wrote a book which was made into a movie some years ago, "Shadowlands." When we become aware of and
work with our shadows we develop a sense of completion and wholeness; of self-appreciation and love. The lyrics from the Phantom
of the Opera invite you to reconsider your shadow side.
Insight and imagination are within you.
7:58 am edt
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Organize from the Inside Out
There are so many advice columns and books on organizing your life that you may need help organizing them according to
types and kinds of advice. Organizing gives a sense of management, control and even personal power, and there is nothing wrong
with organizing in order to be more efficient.
A woman we know is so organized she has clean towels on her refrigerator shelves. When she buys a carton of eggs she
washes each individually and places it on the clean towel. This gives her a sense of control over her environment. Perhaps
she is over-organized, we may think. She needs that sense of control, though, and it works for her.
A publisher we know began every letter he wrote with the words, "Your letter has now surfaced on my messy desk." This
man's desk was perhaps difficult for others to navigate, but we think he actually knew where every manuscript and letter was
at every moment. He was comfortable with the way he organized his desk, though others may have felt it reflected disorganization.
When we practice meditation we allow ourselves to release all of the externals and needs for control. We release the
desire to manage and control and we let ourself go back to the basic contact and sense of completion we have in the moment
of connection with a greater sense of life. We allow the particles of the glass of apple juice to settle and land gently on
the bottom of the glass. In the process, our apple juice and our consciousness becomes clear and, as Thich Nhat Han says,
"limpid." We organize from the inside out. Practice organizing by meditating on an ongoing basis. You have the opportunity
to change your life.
Insight and imagination are within you.
7:13 pm edt
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Be-Attitudes
There is a difference between being and doing. We are a doing culture and we measure our achievements by what we have
done. What we take with us from this life, however, is who we are and who we have become. Allow yourself to think about that
for a moment.
There is an old expression that what we keep is lost and what we give is forever ours. Giving is living. We live more
fully when we give to life and not when we grasp and seek for our own satisfaction. We are built at our core to be full of
being as well as giving individuals.
Being still is a lost art worth practicing. Taking time to savor the fragrance of a flower; to enjoy the view of a grand
yellow moon on a warm Summer's night; to notice that the crickets have returned, is to practice and affirm that just being
is enough to fill your cup.
Being is fullness. There is no doing necessary in it. Being acknowledges the completeness of life and its cycle. Come
full circle. Shift your perspective from the half empty cup to the full and overflowing fullness that being celebrates. Practice
your own be-attitudes.
Insight and imagination are within you.
8:56 pm edt
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Success
How do you define success? How do you know when you have accomplished something? Where do you get and find validation
for your accomplishments?
The classic game, Monopoly, poses the question and invites players to choose a formula for success,
whether that be riches and wealth, fame or happiness. If you have played Monopoly, you know that any one
formula or combination can win as you go around the board, collect $200, land in jail, buy properties and build your monopoly.
The game treats the question at a superficial level, but also can provoke some of your own questions about how you define
success.
Whoever has the most toys wins! Do they? We spend much of our lives accumulating the newest gadgets
and "conveniences" and then we complain that our lives are cluttered with objects. Whoever has the most toys may also need
someone to manage their estate and objects, so is that success? At what point do we have too much, and lose our freedom and
that happiness those possessions once brought?
Years ago there was a book, Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude, largely focussed on achievement
and accumulation of wealth. Another book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill, had inspired Clement Stone
to write it. Both men were successful, very wealthy, and had a good deal of fame as a result of their approach and books about
it. They were validated successes by the media and the public. Their wealth was material. Would they themselves have said
they were successful? One wonders.
What is success to you? What gives you a sense of satisfaction and peace of mind when you think over your past and present
challenges and opportunities? To what can you say, "I'm glad I did that. I feel good about that!"
What gives you a sense of satisfaction and peace? Success is really defined one person at a time. Give yourself
some credit. When you go to sleep at night, recall just one success you have had and appreciate and compliment
yourself for that achievement. Success. Its an inside job.
Insight and imagination are within you.
1:08 pm edt
Friday, June 17, 2005
Relativity
Einstein's Theory of Relativity opened new insights and understandings about life and the nature of the universe. Einstein's
theory put in wider perspective the truth of being. If you are in a car at a stop sign you may be at what you perceive to
be at a stationary place, but the earth beneath you is moving/rotating and the solar system is moving; the universe is moving.
All is relative to your place within the wider system. All is movement; all of the time.
Within your body, your atoms are in constant movement; nothing about you is stationary. Light itself
is but small particles in movement, and if we could hear these particles they would sound like raindrops falling. Nothing
ever stops. Life is movement, though we may perceive it as stationary.
There is a book from some years ago entitled, Nothing Never Happens. Another book announced, Something
is About to Happen; Something is Always About to Happen. We may believe things haven't changed, but this is, in truth,
more of a statement about our perceptiveness (or lack of it) than it is about reality. Life is change. Something
is always happening.
Deepak Chopra, an endocrinologist by training and expertise, talks about the psychopharmaceutical changes that go through
our bodies as our emotions change. In a split second we send messages through our system to produce the very drugs we take
for relaxation, for stimulation or energy enhancement. Tuning into our emotions and working with our internal resources
addresses our chemistry and our state of being.
Practice awareness. Its all relative. Insight and imagination are within and all around you.
4:08 pm edt
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Inspiring Minds
There is an old expression, "Inquiring minds want to know." Inquiring minds do want to know why things are the way they
are; why some dream dreams and ask "why not?", instead of just "why?" There is a world of difference between the two
questions.
Why are things the way they are? Because we have not inspired minds to dream of other ways they might be. Inspiring minds
to dream dreams and have visions of possibility rather than just understanding is an invitation to a new and more exciting
way of living.
How often do you find yourself asking, whether in silence or aloud, "why" are things this way? How often do you take
the next step toward the possibilities and ask "why not?" Inquiring minds want to know. Inspiring minds takes you there. As
you become an inspiring mind you make way and issue an invitation to others to join you on the journey.
Life is a creative process which we can shape and fashion beyond what is fashionable. Inspiring minds--your own and others-- is
the energetic spark which ignites the passion and the possibility.
Insight and imagination are within you.
10:39 am edt
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Co-Incidence
Open your heart and live from your life center, and your purpose will be revealed in a shining instant, if only
for a fleeting moment. Reveal yourself to life and life will meet you with co-incidences which affirm and celebrate your
presence here. Acknowledge your truth, and be grateful for these moments and for your receptivity to them.
Receptivity is a gift we all are bestowed with, but too often we reject and dismiss what comes to us. Whether it
is an invitation to go to a dance, a party,a dinner or an invitation to take a world cruise and see the pyramids, we shut
the door to possibilities for some small reason and our world shrinks within us. We dismiss co-incidence while life energy
waits at a closed door for awhile, but then it moves along looking for and finding other hearts open to and joyful for the
opportunities it presents.
Co-incidence is a knock at the heart's door asking if it is open and receptive to life's possibilities. Co-incidence
invites new life energy in, bringing participation and reunion with your soul's highest interests. Co-incidence seeks
you out and suggests you take it to be an invitation for further communication and action on your part. Open your heart; live
from your life center. Welcome co-incidence in.
Insight and imagination are within you.
8:29 pm edt
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Alexander Technique
Alexander Technique is a system of awareness expressed in posture and movement. You become aware of how you are holding
your physical framework and gradually over a series of lessons you learn to use and carry your skeletal structure more thoughtfully
and consciously. The Technique works on one's consciousness as well as one's body. The two are, of course, inter-related.
One teacher of Alexander Technique we know often repeats the mantra, "You're taller than you think you are." She adds
"You're wider than you think you are." Our thoughts dictate our stance, and our physical presentation to the world. This and
other Alexander Teachers go through the physical frame to present other and more positive possibilities to the body...suggestions...and
the consequence is that one's thoughts about oneself may and can change in the process.
A Qi Gong teacher, years ago, often reminded his students "You are more than your brain. You are a body. You are an awareness."
Our thoughts reveal themselves in our posture. A Chiropracter we know teaches his clients to study the posture of those they
encounter. "Notice,"he encourages, "whether the left shoulder is high,the right hip shifted; the pelvis rotated. Notice
in order to learn to see what you yourself are doing with your posture."
Body knowledge speaks about what we are telling ourselves.
Insight and imagination are within you.
9:26 am edt
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Living Your Truth
Dare you live your truth today? Amidst all the meetings, the "To Do" lists, the roles and responsibilities you have,
is there a place or a moment for a pause in the day's midst? For a moment can you allow your truth to whisper to you
an invitation to live in authenticity? Is it too much to think of? Does it require too much courage?
We live our lives missing opportunities to live our truth. We are so caught up in our "essentials": making money;
managing our business; doing as best we can, that we never or rarely make space for our spirit's truth.
The truth of our spirit waits in silence looking for opportunities to speak and to express. The truth of our spirit gives
us the choice to follow or to subdue it. The truth of our spirit waits more patiently than any entity on earth, and it can
wait for our next life, if necessary. Sooner or later, our spirit knows it will express and live its own truth though our
lives.
Consider this day the opportunities you have to begin to live your truth. Even in small fleeting moments allow your spirit
to speak and invite you to follow it's journey toward joy.
Insight and imagination are within you.
10:49 am edt
Monday, June 6, 2005
Small Talk
Seemingly small events sometimes carry important messages. The universe of life sharing the earth with us may surprise
us with its intelligence.
This morning a charming older gentleman told us that his cat came every time he whistles a particular tune. He noticed
she was racing to him by the third note of "Three Blind Mice." He whistled over and over with the same results, though she
ignored any other tune or song he whistled.
Another friend went to a shelter to choose a cat and found herself saying "Chi" to one. As she said it, one kitten turned
around and came to her time and time again. No other kitten responded this way, and though she had not thought to get a black
and white kitten, this one had apparently already decided she was the one.
Pay attention to small talk from little beings. We should not underestimate the messages they bring,though we may ponder
the meanings of them. Insight and imagination are within you.
3:19 pm edt
Thursday, June 2, 2005
Spirit Communication
Spirit speaks many languages--some seen, some heard, some felt. The voice of spirit speaks in silence to the open heart
and mind. Spirit speaks in intuition and feeling and invites us to discover the life beyond the left brain/analytic way of
knowing.
There are many ways of knowing. Years ago Philip Phenix wrote a book entitled Realms of Meaning in which
he discussed the ways we know through various academic studies such as sociology, science, mathematics, religion, and the
arts. The book conveyed a sense of the entire curriculum and the values and languages each of the disciplines provides. Each
discipline has its own way of encountering and understanding life and "reality." We recommend Realms of Meaning
as an introduction to and appreciation for the ways in which human knowledge has been constructed.
Spirit speaks through any means it takes to engage our attention and involvement. Spirit speaks through knowledge, but
also through creativity, and through intuition or feeling. Knowing is showing and knowledge is not confined by intellect.
Einstein stressed the importance of the imagination as the more important quality; beyond all knowledge. Spirit communication
comes in many forms and languages.
Spirit speaks. Insight and imagination are within you.
9:51 pm edt
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Mandala
A Reiki Master Teacher we know has her students make and become aware of the beauty of mandalas. Mandalas are often Tibetan
patterns including geometric shapes and many colors. They invite us to spend some time with them as an entry to spending some
time with our spiritual selves. You can buy Tibetan Mandalas on line and in Asian stores which sell Buddhist bells and meditation
supplies.
Tarthang Tulku wrote of the Kalachakra Mandala:
In brief tranquil moments
when the senses are
relaxed and responsive
when the heart is easy
and the mind light,
we can hear the voice
of silent space speaking
through the shapes and colors.
Awareness responds to the
inner presence of the mandala
and the blessing of healing
and knowledge flows forth."
Insight and imagination are within you.
1:30 pm edt