| Our Work Here in this Life... is to Be Happy. | 5 comments |
  14 Aug 2008 @ 19:26That's not some hackneyed cliché' that just wants to roll off the tongue because I don't have any real thought to add. It is my core belief, instilled in me in a perfect moment on a swingset as a kid (and probably much before that), and honed in 48 years of personal work on the planet. This is basically the ingrained knowledge I came in to share, and its time to be expressed seems to be now. There is a balance to what I will say here, but I will swing the pendulum far enough beyond center, to the side opposite and of a measure equal to countering the doom-and-gloom that well-meaning "cause people" have swung it to the other. I love cause people. I have been and continue to be one. But I feel a reframing of our outlook has been in order for quite a while. So here goes. All of this is Illusion. All of it is material we have co-created, along with Spirit… to work with, in order to learn all the lessons we signed on for... most of which can be boiled down to... Our Work Here in this Life... is to Be Happy. Yes we know we care. No we don't want the Earth to be trashed, species to be rendered extinct, people not honored fully for who they are, treated fairly, etc. No, I am not saying, "Stop the good work you are doing." But I am saying-- if you continue to do this good work, and the things that good people do-- do it from perhaps a different perspective, that can be developed out of the following questions:
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| On Humility: Smaller and Dumber… and Very OK With It | 9 comments |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 20:04 [excerpted from DoingIt!, April, 2007] I have been finding myself feeling much smaller and aware of being way more ignorant each passing day, and that it feels… swell, and freeing, to be in the midst of this. No, this is not some masochistic tendency aimed at satisfying self-loathing on a large, Freudian scale; rather, it feels like I have stumbled on a precise way to regain a sense of marveling at the creative force, its process and we as examples of that which has been created. It feels like a discipline that can bring us back around the wheel from the jaded, show me people we have become (and there is even a whole state reserved for a certain breed of ‘em), to the wide-eyed child discoverers we once were. In my meditations and prayers I continue to ask to be humbled; to know humility; to be shown how wondrous any given bit of creation is and can be; to be broken down from the sense of being a know-it-all and being built back up, re-membered, into a being capable of infinitely more gratitude and awareness, with more questions than answers. I have done this since a kid. Where others wished for ponies, Barbies, G.I. Joe’s… this is the sort of thing I asked and prayed for, having come into this world seemingly aware of a few pieces of the puzzle being out of place. Over time I had come to realize how we worked ourselves, over time, into this spot of managing our world by this elaborate naming and filing system that stripped awe and astonishment from the equation, and decided I wanted it back. This is the path that has brought me back into the mystery and magic of the world; back to the idea of my universe as a living, growing organism; back to chewing and gnawing on words like awe and wonder, magnificence, beauty and many more out there on the high, extreme ends of human experience. More > |
| 40 Days in the Desert | 5 comments |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 19:54 [excerpted from DoingIt!, April, 2007] As winter is yielding to spring I bear witness that a number of people in my sphere, myself included, seem to be somewhere in the middle of a bout of 40 days in the desert, a visionquest, a sundance… whatever equivalent of a time of immense purification and cleansing of all resistance standing between one and their deeper connection to their peace in the world. The committed ones really seem to be laying themselves bare, and having every unnecessary, unwanted thought and bit of resistance stripped from them. The hounds are barking, whispers of doubt are swirling. A time of being tested seems to be at hand, and somehow at a level of intensity beyond “the curve” of what we have becoming used to of-late. In a more unspoken way than sometimes occurs with Harmonic Convergences and various significant alignments of the stars, it feels like an opening is present that is allowing much interior movement and change for the positive… albeit the kind that is stretching those standing in the fire to their max. No one has put a name on this time of trial and reward that I have yet seen or heard. And I feel it might offer a bit of relief to those going through their particular distress… to know that there are a lot of us in this space wrestling right alongside of you. We truly are in it together. All I have witnessed are bearing up admirably. And immense grace seems to be the soup du jour. More > |
| 3 Seconds of Bliss | 1 comment |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 19:19 [excerpted from DoingIt!, November, 2006] My friend Vicki summed up what I believe is the general quest of us all—the carrot at the end of the stick however we are maneuvering toward attaining it-- with eloquence and a simplicity that really drove the point home. She was relating an experience that came within a recent meditation. “Three seconds of bliss! I had three seconds of bliss. As soon as my mind noticed how great it was, it was gone. But for those three seconds…” Just a few moments of being in the present, the now. Freezing the mind. Refraining from asking that next question, holding onto something from two seconds past, worrying about some concern a couple of seconds hence. Three seconds. A lifetime. I so understood her ear-to-ear smile as she recounted this sacred blip of time… out of time. More > |
| Everybody is Doing Their Best All the Time: a Key to Forgiveness | 3 comments |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 17:28 [excerpted from DoingIt!, August, 2006] The heart of forgiveness-- of oneself and others—beats in time with my new mantra— everybody is doing their best all the time. Try it for yourself. Repeat that phrase. Over and over. And let it unfold layers and layers of its wisdom in the asking. It may be hard to accept. “Surely, with the state of the world as it is, we all can’t be doing our best?,” you might grumble. It may feel foreign or inauthentic as you mouth or think these words again and again. But swirl them around, play with them, chew on them, and just see if you don’t begin to feel a wave of relief, a deepening of the breath, a relaxing of the immediacy of that situation you are applying this phrase to, as something in the words begins to sink in. There is power here. Everybody is doing their best… all of the time. Regardless. Irregardless (yes these are the same. Check Webster’s. It’s Ripley’s!). When we know we need to eat right… and cheat with that special sugary or fast-food treat (Hey! Why are you looking at me?)… we are doing our best at that time. Yes, we could beat ourselves up for knowing better, for lack of will or fortitude, for choosing the comfort food over the nutritious alternative or nothing. But, in that moment, with all things considered… we grabbed for the yummy and it was the best we could do… at that time. Let it go. Set a goal to do better next time. More > |
| It’s All Happening!— the Quieting of Spiritual Madness | 1 comment |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 17:13 [excerpted from DoingIt!, August, 2006] I happened to watch “Almost Famous” a couple weeks ago-- for the first time since I saw it in the theatre-- and have had this nebulous phrase from the rock movie swirling around my head ever since— “It’s All Happening!” Then I got involved in this curveball of a friend’s temporary life-trauma. Add in some residual effects of recent conversations with Joan on the subject of spiritual madness… and some great and soothing synchronicity has congealed from the ethers. Joan and I speak regularly about this weird place we are in-- where we do all of this soul/energy/spirit work on behalf of ourselves, others, carnate and discarnate souls who might need it in whatever disjointed world they might be occupying… but may never know whether any of it might be having any effect. Maybe you can relate to this phenomenon of being called to pray, meditate, contemplate, send your love and your best to people and areas crying out for healing… and those tugs of the heart that question whether any of it is doing any good? How do you prove a negative? How do you know what might have happened had you not involved yourself, your thoughts and prayers? We have written a smidge about it within these pages and have commented on the delicate balance between thinking we are doing too much or not enough, and the quandaries that sometimes stem from the not knowing Spiritual madness, to whatever degree, kicks in as we work to strike that balance. Opening ourselves in faith to the following of guidance that has us doing all kinds of well-intentioned oddball stuff, and having to release any promise of feedback on, or reward from, what we are doing… can be a thankless proposition if that faith gets shaken the tiniest bit. Duh!-- It is exactly the not knowing that defines these as acts of faith. More > |
| What’s Working: Living Saints in the Batter’s Box… and the Rest of Us On-Deck | 0 comments |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 16:59 [excerpted from DoingIt!, August, 2006] I told a friend a while back that I thought she was a living saint. And caught her before she told me I was crazy or tried to prove me wrong, and described the definition as I see it. I have been seeing a lot of living saints these days. Joan is one on most days. I guess I am seeing them because I am looking for them. On any given day, for any given spell… you might be one. And I am doing my best to be one too. To me it boils down to a function of batting average. And it is for us only to try to extend our hitting streaks. In my world I see us all as works in progress, and can basically assign a mental batting average to how well any of us might be hitting, as a percentage of how we are playing with others on this playing field in comparison to our potential at a given moment. In professional baseball guys get paid millions for batting not much over .300—getting on base only 3 out of 10 times. And we, then, must be doing pretty good if we are getting things right 3 out of every 10 attempts, right? Would it be that we could be so lenient on ourselves. More > |
| Drink First | 1 comment |
| 10 Apr 2008 @ 16:24 [excerpted from DoingIt!, June, 2006] But someone was there to pump for me. And so I drank. I drank. I drank my fill. I rested. And was replenished. With the energy to carry on again, I first happened to look over my shoulder. Others were coming out of the desert, heading toward me… and the pump… and the life-giving water. And so now it was I who pumped. I stayed, in service, while they took their fill. And all not only survived, but thrived. Often we wish to help… to do… to be in service… before we have ourselves been replenished. This is not the way it was intended. More > |
| Be Peace: A Call to Awareness | 8 comments |
 10 Apr 2008 @ 01:20[excerpted from DoingIt!, May, 2006] than we are against. May 1st. May Day. Traditionally a day of workers and the downtrodden of many cultures standing in unison against oppression and inequities of all kinds. A good day to be playing with the following concepts. Earth Day. Martin Luther King Day. Bastille Day. Demonstrations, rallies, boycotts. Many days, many festivals, many protests… many occasions for the socially-conscious to show their support of the world and each other… by exposing that which they are against. I have really been looking harder at current practices and ways of being in the world of causes and activism, how their effectiveness in many ways seems to be lagging, and how the well-intended and action-oriented seem to be chasing off a significant number of the like-minded. Of late, I have really felt myself leaving events organized by these well-intentioned ones with much heaviness, and fighting a sense of having less hope than that which I came in with. I support the ends of these, my people, but see that there is a disconnect between these and their means, that needs to be remedied here. In seeking to create our shambhala, our place in the sun, our heaven on Earth, our peace… we need to remember to begin first with finding that peace within ourselves and bring that forward. More > |
| The Battle of the Lightworker: A Challenge to Continue Dodging Fear... | 1 comment |
 10 Apr 2008 @ 01:03The Battle of the Lightworker: A Challenge to Continue Dodging Fear in a Fear-Filled World [excerpted from DoingIt!, April, 2006] Joan and I were talking one night recently—having one of those long, rambling talks that don’t necessarily end up where you think they would have based on where they started. Where neither is trying to be right and both come out with a new understanding and an entirely new perspective. Almost like an archaeological dig where the team knows there are some bones and fossils and shards present—without knowing what those might be or having any at-stakeness in what they might reveal-- and new knowledge of the past is achieved based on unearthing and piecing it all together. We came up with what feels—deep within me—like an awareness of what goes on with us “lightworkers”—any who fall under a heading of maintaining a focus on possibility and betterment for the human race, the planet and beyond-- and why we, as a group, tend to feel the urgency to change for the better as swiftly as possible. You can try this on by first remembering where you and/or others ever voiced something to the effect of—“I am doing everything I can to get it right this time… because I am not coming back into a body for another reincarnation.” Or something like that. I have said this. I have felt it. I have had conversations with numerous others and overheard even more spiritual folk, workshop junkies, healers, etc., voice this motivation, this drive, to shed every degree of attachment and resistance, small living and karmic debt… from deep places of seeming exhaustion, having gone through countless lifetimes of what is absolutely no longer desired. Been there, done that. Bought the t-shirt. Joan and I wound our way through a lot of backstreets and alleys of dialogue before she stumbled back on what I consider a main thoroughfare toward some degree of enlightenment on this subject when she began recounting her sense that… …perhaps our urgency to get “there”, is based first on remembrances of where “there”—home—is; then on numerous recollections of times we were “almost there” and didn’t quite make it; on the disappointment inherent in each round of having to begin again at square one, like a kid on a limited allowance having to drop another quarter in a pinball game upon the flashing red of another “game over”. All of those accumulated points and tokens… gone. Back to level one. Dejection. More > |
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