Finding Whimsy Whilst Addressing Concerns
I have been checking out bird houses recently on my morning walks. I delight in spotting them. Great care and love go into them and it makes bird watching all the more enjoyable.
A friend up in Ojai has hand made two huge ones in his beautiful old California Oaks for owls. I get a kick out of how intricate some of the bird houses have become, with second stories and architecture stylings.
I remember my mom had one in her yard on top of a pole and the squirrels would climb up and steal the bird seed. So, my mom would grease the pole with oil so that the birds seed would not be snatched by the squirrels. She, my son, and I all got a great laugh watching the squirrels slide down the pole. We should have videoed it. But the memory still does the trick of amusing me.
There is some irony in that we make homes for birds when we don’t need to as they are fully capable of making their own nests. Would that we take more care as a society in the housing and providing services for our own human homeless population. Interesting how I focused on something delightful and it brought about a thought of something of serious concern. We can do both and we need to for ourselves and our community.
I hope you all find something to uplift your spirits like Bird Houses does for me and may we all work diligently to provide housing and services to our homeless population. For as Mahatma Gandhi said, “THE TRUE MEASURE OF ANY SOCIETY CAN BE FOUND IN HOW IT TREATS ITS MOST VULNERABLE MEMBERS.”
Hard to face…..
American novelist James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Chris Rock echoed this quote in his opening of Saturday Night Live this week.
It is incredibly true. You cannot change what you do not acknowledge. And yet, acknowledgement takes a person who is willing, ready, and able to face the truth, the challenges, and the hardships.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, more unexpected events and issues hit the forefront daily in the news. We are living in incredibly challenging times. Keep informed, but do not become a news junkie. Take care of your mind/body/spirit. Meditate, exercise, eat healthy and focus on what is working in your life and in the world. Find a way to fill your heart with gratitude. It will give you the energy and strength to face the immenseness of the issues.
We can keep positive and still face difficulty. They do not operate to the exclusion of one another. We can have opposing emotions simultaneously. You may meet the love of your life at the same time a dear friend is undergoing a severe illness. We can hold the space to process everything. We are limitless beings in that regard.
We often hear the saying, “choose your battle”. This is usually in reference to not allowing everything someone does upset you. A battle does not have to be fought in order for issues to be addressed, but challenges do have to be faced. There are challenges to be face personally & professionally, in our immediate society and our global community now more than ever. And yet, we must choose where we will put our attention. Then we must decide DIRECTION. If your attention does not have direction, then there is no action, no purpose and nothing can be resolved. So, give your attention direction and know that you don’t have to tackle everything. Choose what you can face and what you must. Choose what you’d like to and what you need to put your focus, energy, and effort toward.
We get triggered by emotions. We can use that fire to spur us on like jet fuel to take a positive plan of action. But that burst of jet fuel quickly burns out once we launch and we must NOT try and create an explosive atmosphere to continue our work. Consciousness should be the driving force behind the wheel, not emotions. If we keep reacting and creating explosive habits, then our purpose becomes tainted with the toxicity of our anger. Let the emotion spark you in a direction but the tank must be filled with the wisdom of consciousness and we must continuously work to be self-aware, understanding and to be centered in our being. Operate from peace, understanding and compassion or the fire of emotion will burn you out and deviate you from your purpose & principles.
It is an incredibly overwhelming time in the history, but how we face challenges personally and in the world is a choice. We choose how we vibrate and experience the cosmos. Elevate your vibration be gentle with yourself, find your calm in the eye of the storm.
Today is International Gratitude Day! (09/21/2020). Woo Hoo! I love that every day has some extra special purpose. Personally, Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is a favorite (August 4) but let’s get back to gratitude.
In many religions there are prayers of thanks. In today’s world we often hear about having an Attitude of Gratitude. When I am giving thanks and in a state of gratitude, I like to get specific with it. When I say I am grateful for my family & friends I pick out specific people and qualities about them or things they have done that I am grateful for. When I focus on my home, I get specific about what it provides me that I am grateful for. It is easy to get swept up in negative chatter about what needs fixing or what we don’t like about our living space. It is far too easy to get irritated with people, work etc. But if we can focus on what we are grateful for in different aspects of our lives then we can change our relationship to it. We can live more peacefully. That my friends is a good thing.
Gratitude is more than rambling a list of things. It is putting yourself in a consciousness of gratitude. That vibration is very high. It carries you. It elevates you. It is a state of being.
We can even be thankful for the lessons learned from painful events in our lives. For example if you have been the victim of abuse of any kind then you have fully understood the pain and suffering caused by the misuse of power and are probably & hopefully very conscious to not misuse or manipulate power in any way, shape or form. You stop the cycle from continuing. You transcend those experiences with grace and wisdom.
In Gratitude to all of you who are on this journey of life with me. May we all have the fortitude to resonate our highest vibration.
Now on a lighter note, I am always grateful for Chocolate Chips Cookies. I never met one I didn’t like.
Plant your seeds of kindness and do not pull them out of the earth to see if they have started to grow. Let them gestate. If you continue to nurture your thoughts, words and deeds in consciousness, sincerity, peace & compassion then the fruits of your labors will be there for you when you need them. You will not have to question. Do not be set back by the ego’s tricks and false thinking. As the sun comes up daily, so should your acts of kindness and reflection be repeated. Just as instructed on the shampoo bottle; lather, rinse & repeat.
At the end of each day I ask myself what my challenges and my triumphs were. In the morning I set forth a plan to commit a random act of kindness. I like to commit at least one a day, but my goal is always 3. It can be as simple as holding the door open for someone or allowing someone else to go in front of you in line at the store or bank. It can be safely picking up trash that was not yours and properly disposing of it. I like my acts of kindness to be unknown, simple gestures that elevate how we interact with the world and each other. It’s really easy to get caught up in what isn’t working in life. Worries, fears and irritations take very little effort. Plotting kindness is incredibly rewarding and forces our focus on what really is important in life which is how we interact and experience life overall. That doesn’t mean I ignore what isn’t working, I just practice not letting it be the center of my focus. As the Ancient Greek Philosopher Socrates said, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
Resistance!
Do you feel me? I know you do. How many of us resist doing what we need to do or even what we want to do? Resistance is a real Son of A….
How many of you have said if I had more free time I would, learn a new language, instrument, clean my garage, paint with watercolors etc.? Yet here we are with valuable information much of it free at the tip of our fingertips on the internet and have you attempted any of those things? Many of us have more free time due to the pandemic than we have ever had and yet while some post success stories on social media the majority haven’t gotten around to doing what they had longed to do. My friends, there is NO time like the Present! Do not procrastinate and put off till tomorrow what you want to do today.
There is a great little book on resistance called “The War of Art”, by Steven Pressfield that I just love. He is a talented and accomplished writer and he speaks about resistance in terms of his art, but anyone can relate to and apply what he has to say to their own life. He said, “there would be no dream without resistance. The Dream comes first, and resistance follows”. We live in a world of polarities, so it makes sense. Yin/Yang, Night/Day, Masculine/Feminine, Right/Wrong, etc. He also said” Resistance is always lying and full of sh*t”. Isn’t it the truth! He wrote that resistance is pointing to the exact direction of action you need to take. Interesting isn’t it? In my opinion it is a great teacher and it can help us cultivate courage and craft our self-discipline. When the curtain is pulled back resistance is nothing but fear. You have to decide is it fear you want to feed or yours dream and mastery of the self?
One of the yogic teachings I had learned was to get the commotion of emotion out of the way. If I had heard that 30 years ago, I would have scoffed. I was an emotional young person. I felt there was something wrong with me for being so, “dramatic”. When I finally was able to allow my self to express myself emotionally, I felt free. Then time passes and I realized the tail was wagging the dog. I was at the beck and call of my emotions and that was not good. I realized that emotions needed addressed with understanding and at times compassion or commanded with strength depending on the need or circumstance. I learned that emotions are formed from thoughts and that emotions are held in the body. I also learned emotions are tools that when we address them with neutrality can aid us in commanding them with dignity and love. I have never (in my opinion) treated a physical ailment in a patient that didn’t have a mental/emotional component to it. The whole of our being is affected when we are sick or injured.
So now when I feel resistance to doing what I need to or want to do, I take advice from the shoe brand, Nike’s slogan and “Just Do It’. Sometimes it takes a while and real effort to move resistance out of the way. I have a curmudgeonly two-ton boulder of a resistant self, but I always get there, and you can too. Just do it and free yourself from the resistance.
And let’s not confuse what resistance is. Resisting doing something stupid or that isn’t safe or healthy, is a good thing. Resisting ill-fated temptation is not the type of resistance I am talking about. That isn’t true resistance. That is self-discipline and right action manifesting. That is courage. Which also by the way comes from the heart! Sound judgment and right action always does. That is why the word courage comes from the Latin root word for heart. Courage is not the lack of fear, it is the ability to do something even though we are frightened.
Now go forth and manifest your best self, your destiny and your hearts calling! Find your courage. Fight your resistance. You can do it! You are worth it!
I was contemplating energy and the types of energy we experience with different places, people, situations, circumstances, in all aspects of life in general. Why do one day we have clear minded thoughts and others we find it difficult to focus? Is our mind pre-occupied elsewhere? Some days we are full of energy and easily can access it while other days we feel resistant, stuck, or feel simply depleted of energy. How much of that is physical due to an imbalance in diet, exercise, sleep, work, play and environment? How much of that is thought and emotion based?
The mind can create an imbalance in energy or enhance it. The mind’s thoughts signal the body and the body’s response signals our emotions which control a tremendous amount of our energy via hormones and other chemical releases. Once our emotions are out of control, we lose focus and ability to function effectively. Don’t get me wrong, people who are cut off from their emotions are out of control of their energy too.
Some people drain us. Seriously, you know what I mean. Some people are just disconnected, overly mental or emotionally reactive. They don’t consciously mean to drain us, but they do. Others are energy vampires. They literally suck energy from others as opposed to create it from within or receive it from nature. When you are unaware only two kinds of people can drain you; those that are stronger than you energetically or those that are weaker than you are energetically. When you are aware no one can drain you as you are constantly balancing the flow of energy in and around you in all aspects.
We are all highly affected by others energy, by the energy of nature, work, a building, colors, light, shapes, smells, sound etc. Energy is all around us. Pay attention to it and to yours and how you interact with energy in all its expressions. That is the homework assignment for the week and for your life. Once you start to observe your energy from waking, through daily life until sleep you will see how you energetically interact with your life and those in it as well as your environment. Awareness is the first step to transforming and transcending any out of balance thought, feeling or situation.
Become aware of your energy, the thoughts, and emotions behind them. When do you have more or less energy and why? How do others energy make you feel? How does the energy at work or school make you feel? How does your home make you feel? How does simply thinking about positive or challenging situations make you feel?
Start by sitting still and bringing awareness to your breathing. Is it full, tight, shallow? Are you breathing through your nose or mouth? Breathe through your nose in a relaxed but full manner with equal length breaths in and out. Relax the belly.
Sit upright off the diaphragm. Become aware of your posture. Where do you have tension in your body, where does your body feel strong or weak? Can you feel moving energy through your body? Can you feel your heartbeat? Do parts of your body feel warmer or colder than other parts? Can you sense the hair on your body?
Are your thoughts stuck behind you in the past or are they racing ahead in the anticipated the future? Focusing on the past or anticipated future places energy outside of the body and out the present moment, out of your presence.
Bringing awareness into subtlety takes some work. Is the energy of your thoughts harmonious? Is the energy of your home comfortable? Is the energy of your work purposeful? Is the energy of the people you interact with uplifting? How much of this perception is truthful? How much do you take responsibility for the energy around you or do you project responsibility outside of yourself onto others and view it as “out of your control”?
Awareness takes effort, it takes consciousness, it takes concerted attention in an honest, direction. It is not always comfortable to be aware of things. Truth be told we are either consciously becoming aware of who we are, or we are unconsciously and subconsciously led by those unbalanced thoughts, emotions, circumstances, places, challenges, impulses etc. like the tail wagging the dog.
I would rather be aware and begin to build my own consciously balanced life and bring that awareness to all I think, say, and do.
Remember start with awareness of breath, the body, and any tension. Move to awareness of your senses (smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing). Move to awareness of thoughts and feelings. Guide the awareness with equal length inhales and exhales. Try not to judge but be aware of judgment.
Energy can be transformed, it can be given and received, and it can expand and recede. Energy can be balanced. Awareness allows us to view our energy from a different perspective, one of consciousness. Awareness raises the vibration of our energy not only for ourselves but for the planet.
What do you do in the morning?
Make Coffee?
Meditate?
Check your emails, Facebook and Instagram?
Take an energizing walk?
Embrace or ignore your family and pets? Ha, ha, ha…keeping it real.
I am not judging. I am just asking. It is good to bring focus on our day and how we start it. I like to take time to observe and question the daily patterns I fall into. Do my actions align with my values? It’s okay to sidestep, as long as we bring ourselves back to our center.
May your mornings be an expression of your dignity, dedication and grace!
