Life's Little Events

My mother is now 95.  She lives alone and drives now and then.  She lives in a very small town and knows where she's going.  She still keeps the house clean and has found reliable folks to care for her yard and do big projects around the house.  She sometimes uses the internet and has an iPhone on which she takes pictures and writes the occasional text.  She's pretty groovy.

Her brother died in World War II trying to save his plane from an enemy attack on the airstrip in the South Pacific.  Memorial Day is always a big day for her, as she remembers him as her big brother and best childhood friend.  We talked about how letting go is the best memorial... That holding on and dwelling on things that can't be changed end up poisoning your life and holding you back from really living the life that person would want you to live.

So, we move on... Knowing that each life event, whether it feels big or little at the time is just that - a life event.  Things happen all the time that change us; make us stronger or weaker, richer or poorer, smarter or not.  We put these things into the perspective of a life to be lived as a whole, not just a series of random events.  We incorporate each thing into a larger context and see what there is to learn.  The events are the threads we weave together sometimes skillfully, sometimes with great effort and sketchy results.  Nonetheless, a whole life emerges.  Every now and then, on birthdays and Memorial Days or any day, it helps to stop for a minute and look at life as the big whole thing... And be grateful for all of it.

I am Invincible Part 2

If you read my last post, you might be asking yourself how it really works...  What needs to be done after you've noticed that something isn't right?  How do those new thoughts and behaviors get created?  Once you've decided, and I mean REALLY DECIDED, to make a change and become the person you know your are meant to be, you start with forgiveness.  We have to forgive ourselves for letting others distract and redirect us away from our true nature; we have to forgive them for doing it.  Take a deep breath.  Take another one.  Really forgive yourself, and 'the other guy'.  You'll know you've done it when you start to smile and relax.

Then, start acting like yourself.... say the things you really want to say, resist saying things you don't really want to say, stop being polite, start saying 'no thank you'.  Start saying 'yes' without trying to justify it.  If it feels right to say 'yes', that's all you need.  When you're saying 'yes' or 'no' from that true place inside you, it is easier to stand firm in your word as the outward expression of who you really are.  "Yes" is a complete sentence.  So is "No". Period.  Practice them.

I am Invincible

...as long as I'm alive.  Those are the words to a song, and whenever I hear it, it just sounds odd.  Well, yes of course, we are all invincible until we die... at least in a material sense.

But what about emotional or spiritual invincibility?  It is possible to become immune to emotional death or spiritual disconnection - to become invincible on that level while we remain alive?  Part of our aliveness is our ability to experience events and people at an intimate level.  To do that there are a lot of challenges.  The first is to see that we may no longer have the depth of feeling for others that we once had, that it is hard to get excited about anything and that now and then we 'just don't feel like it', we don't feel that we belong or have a part to play in life.  To be honest about how easily our hearts and spirits may have been damaged takes a close, hard look and a lot of courage.

It takes courage to look at your own life and say "This isn't really me.  This isn't who I am or what I want to do.  I am more than this."  These are hard statements to make and hard conditions to change.  Our first inclination might be to minimize or altogether deny that there might be a problem.  But we must turn on the light of awareness.  When we can see what's going on can we create new thoughts and behave in a way that leads to the invincibility of our minds and spirits.

Love you like a dog

Some things I want to say about that... 

1.  My dog always treats me the same, no matter what mood I'm in.

2.  My dog doesn't comment on how I look naked.  

3.  He can eat the same food twice a day for YEARS and not complain... in fact, he's always excited about it and acts like food is the greatest gift ever.... maybe it is.  He always comes to find me after he eats to get a little pat on the head.

4.  My dog doesn't speak an unkind word, criticize, complain or whine about how clean the house is, how many dishes are left in the sink, or how much clutter is on all the 'flat surfaces' around the house.

5.  He likes to rest near me, yet out of my way.

6.  He conducts his life on his own schedule and lets me know when I can help him.

7.  I try to make his life easy and let him know I love him.... he seems fine with that.

We should all have someone, dog or human, who can be this way in our lives.

Fear - that's still here?

Yes, well, of course.  Fear lurks around us all the time, and this is what I know:  it is my job to see it. It is my job to name it.  It is my job to honor it as a message from my life that I have a chance to grow.  I am grateful for my fear, as it lets me know that I am at the edge of my life 'up until now'.  There is something greater than my current circumstances that is calling me forward.  The unknown can become known, the unexperienced can be experienced.  A limited life can become unlimited when we decide to say Yes, Of Course.  "Navigate into the storm, do it afraid."  I know that I am not alone; I know that my limitless life is beyond that storm, waiting patiently for me to arrive.

Albert Einstein said; "Match the frequency of the reality that you want, and it must be yours.  It can be no other way.  This is not philosophy, this is physics."  I want an expansive life, a possibility life, a life of abundant health, wealth and service.  I will match THAT frequency.