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Monday, November 09 2009
A Separation Story
Overlooking oneness,
Forgetting connection,
Right hand hacks at left.
Head, detached, watches
Heart go hungry
And waste away.
Denying health care to feet,
Mouth wonders aloud:
"Why am I limping?"
Monday, November 02 2009
Autumn Seasoning
I awoke this morning with my inner jukebox playing Magic Carpet Ride, a Steppenwolf song from 1968. The lyrics include lines like: "Well, you don't know what we can find. Why don't you come with me ... on a magic carpet ride ... Close your eyes, look inside ... come with me on a magic carpet ride."
I'd just returned from a magic carpet ride, of sorts - two days of backpacking on the Superior Hiking Trail with lifelong friend, Kirk Lamb, a fellow traveler into the wilderness areas of mother nature and human nature.
Birds were rare. Deciduous trees were bare. The action, the beauty, the story of the forest was on the ground - the gray-brown-taupe of fallen birch leaves, the muted oranges, browns and maroons of maples. These leaves were not newly fallen. They'd been on the ground for a while. They'd been drenched, weathered, seasoned.
My thoughts turned toward seasons.
In the spring and summer, most of the action in the forest is above ground - buds, blossoms, birds, blue (and not-so-blue) skies. Likewise, in the spring and summer seasons of human life, our attention is drawn upward and outward, toward activity and accomplishment.
Autumn, for us humans, is a time of deepening, a time to journey downward and inward. Like fall's forest floor, the colors and textures of this season might appear dull to a cursory glance, but a closer look reveals richness, subtlety, beauty - the magic carpet of mature autumn.
Life's invitation is clear: James, it's time to ride.
Monday, October 26 2009
Two Rememberings
As I think about the journey to more fully realize who we are in the larger scheme of things, I see two things we need to remember:
Our lovability
and
Our love-ability
Lovability is not so much about personal characteristics - though we are, of course, lovable in that sense. It's mainly about the nature of the universe, which is to love. Ready or not, aware or not, "worthy" or not, we all bask in this radiance - 24/7.
Likewise, our love-ability is partly a personal capacity and mostly a manifestation of who we are - beings of light, inseparable from, and vibrating in union with, a universe whose first expression is the energy of love.
As we remember the universal, the personal deepens and expands. Try to remember.
Tuesday, October 20 2009
De-Fault Position
We humans are naturally wired to see danger, to look for problems, to focus on what's wrong, to find fault. I like to think of this as our "de-fault" position.
With mindfulness, conscious effort and persistent practice, we can shift to a different default position - a new way of perceiving that becomes just as natural and automatic as our fear-based orientation - a way of perceiving that cultivates peace and a grateful heart.
We can re-wire to see beauty - within and about.
Monday, October 12 2009
Love's Wisdom
After 35 years of doing couple's therapy and even longer at navigating my own relationships, I continue to be struck by our deep wisdom in selecting intimate partners.
Perhaps you've noticed: we don't necessarily pick the easiest people to be with. In fact, we seem to have an uncanny knack for picking just the right person to help us grow.
Whatever lessons we need to learn, whatever wounds need healing, whatever skills we need to develop - whatever is necessary for our wholeness - we can rest assured: it will be called forth in our closest relationships. Wherever we need work - in showing up, perhaps, or in letting go - we'll get ample opportunity.
Love is wise. Surrender to its teaching. Trust its work within you. Trust relationship as a path to growth - even when you don't know where that path is leading.
Monday, October 05 2009
Vulnerably Indestructible
As life experience continues to humble and enrich me, and as a spiritual sense of connection to cosmos continues to deepen, I'm struck once again by the mystery of who we are.
Psychologically, we are vulnerable - perhaps more than we'd like to admit - sensitive to insult and injury, easily captured by fear and old stories, doing our best to stay in control.
At another level, we are indestructible - beings of light, in love with all, dancing in the flow, embracing the adventure of expansion - not the least bit inclined to hang on or close down.
Vulnerable, not fragile. Indestructible, not impervious.
Can we soften to both realities?
Can we make room for all of who we are?
Monday, September 28 2009
S.M.I.L.E.
At its core, the concept of Softening to Love is an invitation to flow with an energy that permeates all that is - an energy that creates, nourishes, heals, and ultimately defines us. Love is one name for that universal energy.
Master Chunyi Lin - an extraordinary teacher, gifted healer, and founder of Spring Forest QiGong - spoke recently to a gathering in St. Cloud about the healing power of unconditional love. At the beginning of a guided meditation to help us soften to love and become "love radiators," he invited us to smile.
Have you every noticed how the physical act of smiling affects your spirit?
Using acronym, Chunyi redefined smile as a way of setting intention, prior to meditation or any other engagement with life.
Start
My
Internal
Love
Engine
Smile. Fire up that love engine. Let it purr. Let it roar.
Monday, September 21 2009
Mystic Bumper Sticker
In The Way Things Are, Huston Smith, a preeminent scholar of world religions, concludes that humans approach the God-question in four ways. Atheists proclaim there is no God. Polytheists say there are many Gods. Monotheists contend there is one God. And mystics believe there is only God.
What if there is a loving, creative energy inherent in this universe, inseparable from all that is?
What if everything and everyone is an expression of that energy - God in disguise?
Mystic bumper sticker: Start Seeing God!
Monday, September 14 2009
Ideally Imperfect
Ideals are beautiful. They deserve to be cherished and nourished; for they are a vision of what's possible - what's possible in ourselves and what's possible in the world - a vision that propels us.
There is a challenge inherent in the gift of ideals: the challenge to forgive ourselves, to forgive others, to forgive the world, and to forgive life itself - as we, they, and it routinely fall short of what we envision.
Can we honor our ideals and soften to inevitable imperfection? Can we hang on to what we hold dear and, at the same time, nurture a forgiving heart and a compassionate spirit?
Can we make room for goofiness - within and about?
Friday, September 04 2009
Internal Boundaries
I've been working lately with a discipline I call "internal boundaries." The idea is that, just as I wouldn't invite a thug or a robber into my home, I deny entry and refuse to entertain "thug thoughts" that rob me of joy and life energy.
Helping me in this endeavor is a quote I recently read:
"What other people think of you
is none of your business."
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