Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Leap Day!

Picture out my office window.  That line in the clouds isn't a UFO.... it's a light fixture reflected in the window.  I love these clouds.  Leap Day.  A day to do something a little bit different.  :)

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sleep

There is something great about a good night's sleep.  We all need it.  We all feel better when we get it.... we regain our resilience, energy and sense of humor when we get enough.  When it's hard to sleep, or we are interrupted during sleep, it's harder to manage even little things.  Calm your mind when you lie down.  Imagine a bubble around you where nothing can come in unless you want it to.  There are gentle guards outside your bubble, turning people away so you aren't interrupted.  thank them for helping.  Relax in your bubble, knowing that for at least the time you are lying there, you have nothing to do but sleep.

Friday, February 24, 2012

nobody but you

You are the only one who can do it. Whatever it is that you need in your life, it is up to you. Make it, heal it, break it, leave it, change it beyond all recognition. It's your life and your power. No one can do it for you. Seek a good helper, someone who can point you in the right direction, someone who can facilitate your work. It is your job to do that work.

Today

I hope that everyone who reads this today has a day full of miracles, love and kindness.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Becoming Neutral

The universe is a big place, and when you take it all in, each of us may seem small.  In a way, that could make one think each of us is unimportant.  When you really look at it, though, there is no 'large' influence in the universe... what happens here is a collective effort by individuals.  We create our own reality and contribute to the reality of others.  No great unknown power creates what we think of as big events... they all start small and grow from one individual idea that influences something else... and then the ball gets rolling.  We could judge things as 'good' or 'bad', when in fact everything that occurs in the universe could be considered 'neutral'.  Only when we add human assessment and value assignment, do things become good or bad.  Together we also create peace and safety and compassion, which are basically neutral things.... they aren't loaded with judgement.  These are words that are used to describe acceptance, non judgement and lack of influence on others, allowing the individual or event to exactly and only what s/he or it is. 

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Concrete vs. Abstract

Some of us are comfortable with theory and conceptual constructs that are neither verifiable nor specific in nature.  Others are not.  If you can't touch it or smell it, it can't be real.  I exaggerate of course.  Many of us take certain things on faith, and things like gravity leave evidence, but you can't use your senses to verify it.... well I'm wrong about that.  We know it's here because we can feel our weight, and we see that we are kept from flying off into space.  Hmmm.  Another example then... Maybe it's more about things we can quantify or document vs things we know in our hearts to be true that can't be adequately expressed in words or figures.  Two people with two different definitions of what/who god is for instance.  Do we take spiritual writings as litteral or figurative?  Actual fact or illustrative lesson?  Does it matter if we agree with our peers on anything if our intentions are to be honorable and accepting?  Does the concrete thinker have the right to judge the abstract thinker?  Are either of their positions correct?  Who decides what is correct and what's not?  Who says THAT'S ok?  Ow.  makes my head hurt.  In short, the lesson I learned this week is about love and the possibility that it can and does transcend time and space, and concrete vs abstract mean nothing.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Perfect Moment

I found myself driving north on the I5 near Longview, Washington, where the road is near the river.  It was late afternoon, and sunlight reflected off the river from the west.  The mountains, covered with pine rose away from the highway on my right.  No rain clouds were in sight.  On my iPod Judy Collins was singing "La Chanson Des Vieux Amants".  Perfect moment of peace and beauty.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Allowing

Let it be.  Whatever needs to happen will happen in good time.  No need to rush.  Even that plane that you're trying to catch.  There will be another one.  Think of life as infinite possibility.  There is no lack of resources - especially time.  Sit back a minute and breathe.  Appreciate the things around you, the people you see and how it feels to be there.  Allow the world and the people in it to be just the way they are for the smallest of moments.  Find yourself smiling. 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

I Feel Old

Not old, like aged or aging, but old like ancient.  Today I feel like the thousands of years of human existence on this planet is all collecting in my head and heart.  I feel connected to the world in a different way today, not so much about just now, and more about being the recipient of ancestral understanding.  It's not about knowledge.  It feels like absorbed awareness, and it's not just limited to humans, but all the things that sentient beings experience and process.  Its quiet and sure.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Aging and Work

We are all getting older all the time.  At least, the number of years, or the amount of time we have experienced in this life keeps getting larger.  Does that mean we are aging?  What is 'aging' anyway?  It could be a totally false idea.  What would it be like to never grow old, or mature socially, or turn lessons into personal changes?  I still feel young, whatever that is.  I certainly don't feel old.  And as I pass more birthdays, my idea of 'old' has changed dramatically.  It helps that my mother is still alive and quite well in her 90s.  I remember a time when I thought 45 was old, then 60, then 80.  Now I'm not sure I think we're old until you get past that.  Retirement for my parent's age peers happened pretty regularly at 60.  That's in two years for me.  I can't imagine.  Of course, by that time, some of them had worked in the auto industry for nearly 40 years.  My dad worked into his 70s. Sometimes I think he did that just to have something to do every day.  My grandfather died when he was 74; Dad was 82.  So, I guess the upshot for me is that maybe I'm aging along with everyone else, and as long as I feel like working, I'll work.  Just to have something to do.  My retirement years will just have to wait.  I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of them.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Peace in the Eye of the Hurricane

Life swirls around us.  Social and family responsibilities are numerous and frequent.  There is always some incomplete project or upcoming event or plan to have a plan.  Yes.  Of course.  Along with that is the present moment where in each instant we are alone, quiet, at peace, centered, knowing, calm, here.  In each moment, there is no where else we can be and we have all the options.  We can learn to string these present moments together for longer periods of time where life is suspended.  In that quiet, our own personal bubble of peace, we see clearly and are encapsulated in love.  It seems to take a string of these moments brought together for us to have sufficient time to notice this feeling of peace and safety.  We create the hurricane, don't forget that we also create the peaceful eye.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Sitting on Planes

When you travel as much as I do, you spend a lot of time sitting on planes, in airports, in cars driving to and from the airport, and I once joked about the most exercise I get is walking from the car to the gate.  In Las Vegas, if you're flying out of the "C" gates, you can take the long way and have yourself a good half mile walk.  Of course, that means you don't take the moving sidewalk or the tram and you check through security the old way, by the "D" gate security check. But to my point.  Sitting on planes is completely empty time that can be used to sleep, read, play games on your mobile device, or talk with your neighbor.  It is up to you.  There are no demands except to follow the crewmember instructions, put your seat back and tray in their upright and locked position, and move out when you can.  Not too hard.  It can be easy time, or tough time depending on your outlook and attitude about families with small children.  Whenever possible, I make it easy time.  We're all on the same plane, we'll all get there together, and we can be loving on the trip.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Working with Intention

Sticking with something until you get it right takes time and focus and intention.  Heck, sticking with something until it's complete is sometimes hard to do, let alone getting it 'right'.  When we do accomplish something, get through it, wrap it up, or pass it along, we can always do the best we can do.  Of course, we can NOT do that; we can take shortcuts, make compromises, delegate to others.  How does that usually feel?  Unsatisfactory.  We let ourselves down, we let our family down, we pass along something incomplete and ask someone else to pick up where we left off.  In some case, of course, it's not our job to be the finisher, and when it is our job and we do it, there is satisfaction, confidence and peace.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Your Circle of Friends

We all have social connections, and I don't mean Facebook or other social media [like blogging... ;)].  We all have people in our lives who are family, or who knew us when we were younger, college roommates, people we went to AA with, 'drinking buddies', best friends, new acquaintances, teachers, partners, all that.  Every day we may or may not interact with one or more of them.  There are hundreds of people who populate our lives.  Take a look at who they are, what they bring to your life, what demands they place on you.  Tend to this group of fellow souls as you would to a garden.  Nurture and feed those that offer the most, and weed out gently those who offer nothing that you want or hinder your progress.  Keep those closest to you who fill your heart and lift your spirit.

Monday, February 6, 2012

My own special judge

Yep. I have one. Its a personal, special part of myself that I let run rampant at times, telling me what the think or do, or what to believe about something someone else said. As much as I dislike this part of me, it's part of me Sometimes my judge has good things to say, making me feel special, and sometimes it has less than productive things to say, urging me to feel like I'm not so bright, too much something or too little something else. All these opinions/judgements based on something I can't even identify with the same mind that has created the judge in the first place. I can see [meaning, I can understand] that this is fiction, and yet I can't really take that fiction to heart and just plain fire the judge altogether. As much as I love my life, this continues to haunt me.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Man Who Lost His Leg

Yesterday I met a man who had lost his leg in an auto accident.  A small car with a young mother and a child had hit him.  He was driving his truck and he remembers the child's eyes looking up at him when the car hit.  "Eyes so wide."  He said, holding his hands up to his face, making big circles with his fingers and thumb in front of his own eyes.  I asked him if his leg hurt.  He described that mostly it was OK, that when he locked the knee on the artificial leg it was better, and he has to be gentle with it when he jumps down from the truck.  I'm not sure how he drives; it's his right leg.  He expressed appreciation for how the people in his life came together for him when he was hurt, and that he's a cat person.  He said that part of his job is to be responsible with the resources he comes across and to give back to the people he works for and the community.  He spelled my name "Jone".  I don't even care.  You can re-build a house, you can't re-grow a leg.  We all have something to be thankful for.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Words

Choose your words carefully.  There is power in them.  When you find yourself listening to things that make you feel sick, upset, anxious; excuse yourself from the conversation.  No need to explain, just politely back out.  When you find yourself spreading rumours or communicating your judgements about someone to another person, stop yourself.  As much as you can, use positive words that open up conversation, not shut it down.  Be able to disagree with words that state your opinion and allow other opinions as well.  Start with words like; "for me..." or "from what I know...." and end with "what do you think?" or "how does that seem to you?"  Now there's a conversation.  Now there is a space for open communication.  Now the words are working for you, and a better relationship is possible. 
On the topic of "actions speak louder than words".... What you do, how you act can totally negate what you've just said.  "Walk the Talk".  Don't say what you don't mean.  More on this another time.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Blue Skies

Where I live now there are lots of days with blue skies, or at least some part of the day, you can see blue sky somewhere if you look for it. Very rarely do the clouds hang around, low and menacing, all day. There are places where people aren't so fortunate; where clouds hang around all day and often leak rain or snow [especially this time of year]. Sometimes life feels like a really cloudy day; you can't see very far, there is a heaviness in the air around you with no blue sky above and no forcast for sunshine tomorrow. Well, maybe we just have to provide that sunshine/blue sky for ourselves, and for those around us. Maybe we just take that "nothing day, and suddenly make it all see worthwhile" by bringing a smile to strangers, a gentle word to someone we rarely speak to, or simply holding the door for someone whether or not they 'need' it. Start the blue skies where you are, the weather will change quickly for yourself and everyone around you.