Just M.E.: August 2012

Friday, August 24, 2012

Space

Hmmm...what's missing?

Even "Little Monkey" wonders, "What's up with this?"

No more crib...just room for the occasional big-boy bed.

And look what appeared!

Sailing, sailing...

Bon Voyage!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Of magic doors there is this,

you do not see them even as you are passing through.

Anonymous

Collage created with Smilebox

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Beneath Arriving

I'm only lost if I'm going someplace in particular.

Megan Scribner

A friend was traveling around Europe, training from city to city. Despite her plans, her interest drew her in different directions, and a path unfolded that she couldn't have foreseen. Each point of discovery led to the next, as if some logic out of view were guiding her. During this phase of her journey, though she often wasn't sure where she was, she never felt lost. It was when she needed to arrive at a certain station at a certain time that she felt she was off course, astray, and at the fringe of where she was supposed to be.

All this led her to realize that the more narrow her intentions on any one day, the more she felt behind, late, and lost. In contrast, the wider her net of designs, the more often she felt a sense of discovery. Regardless of where she had to be, it seemed that the more open to possibility and change she was, the more she felt like every moment she came upon was holding a treasure she was supposed to find.

Of course, there will always be times that we need to find our very precise way. But more often than not, our image of a destination is only a starting point that we cling to needlessly. When we can free up our sense of needing to arrive in a certain place, we lessen the weight of being lost. And once beneath arriving and beneath our fear of failing to arrive, the real journey begins.

Pracice letting go of your plan and discovering the path of interest that waits beneath your plan.

Mark Nepo,

The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

Well, yes!

More positive thoughts from Suz:

Live the life you love.

There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.

There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:
This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel,
love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me. . . or leave me.
Accept me--or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person,
just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change
me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.
When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad--
you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.

Stacey Charter

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Evening meditation

May I respectfully remind you,

Life and death are of supreme importance.

Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.

When this day has passed, our days of life will be decreased by one.

Each of us should strive to awaken.

Awaken!

Take heed!

Do not squander your life!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Chapter 14: Loving Eyes

"If we could see the molecules that make up our 'self,' we would see ourselves as bits of energy zinging around in empty space, surrounded by other temporary clusters of energy in an empty space that has no beginning or end. When we are able to quiet the mind in meditation and then look inward for direct evidence of a 'self,' all we can find are bits of sensation, warmth and coolness, pressure, and movement (which is actually a group of sensations that seem to occur in sequence), plus sensations in the mind that we call 'thoughts' and sensations in the body that we call 'emotions.' When thoughts cease, even briefly, the 'glue' that holds this tangle of sensations together dissolves and we can see the self for what it truly is, a mass of sensations floating in empty space."

Jan Chozen Bays, MD

How to Train a Wild Elephant

Cute Lottie, et al

Can you find her?

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Retrospection

Today I decided to walk to the drugstore.

So I left the Sweet 16 and headed toward the park.

Instead of walking on the sidewalk paths,

I cut straight across the park, knowing I'd reach

my destination much faster that way.

(something about shortest distance between two points...)

The further I walked,
the closer the CVS loomed
in the distance...

until,

right before my eyes,
it became totally evident,

that the CVS I had always driven to
via a very circuitous route from my house
was actually just

RIGHT OVER THERE!

In fact,
it appeared that if I kept walking
in this direction,
I would be there in less than five minutes.

Hmmm...
Now why hadn't I realized this before?

I mean, how easy could it be?
A mere ten-minute walk!

And then it happened.

I reached the end of the park property and
all at once,

the wide open range between me and my goal

became fully visible.

The wide swath of rugged terrain
and barren playa bowl
were fully revealed.

Oh yeah...
that's why it's not a straight shoot...
never has been...
even though, for all the world,
it sure looked like it from back there.

And so I took the only way around...
across rugged trails,

through snatches of free-range plant life,

crossing two large parking lots and

buildings under construction
to get to the drugstore.

On the walk back home,
it was just so very obvious.

Of course,
there was always the drainage culvert and
that huge expanse of rolling scrub.

I've seen it hundreds of times from the street.

It was the lay-of-the-land
that was always totally expected and viewed
from the driver's seat in my car...

but down here in my walking shoes,

it was,
for just a few moments in time,
a totally new experience...
and just as real.

8/16/2012

Getting out of the way...

"True healing has nothing to do with 'you'. It reveals itself when 'you' - the apparent controller of life, the one who thinks they know all the answers - get out of the way, and the vast, incomprehensible intelligence energy that is life itself is allowed to move freely. 'You' cannot heal or get healed, for true healing is prior to the healer and the healed. True healing is the absence of a separate 'you' - and this absence we could also call love."

- Jeff Foster

Another perspective...

Run for Your Life

Cut-Ups by Sarah

Jeff Foster (www.lifewithoutacentre.com)

BE PASSIONATELY ALIVE

They used to say, "follow your dreams", "fulfil your destiny", "achieve your life's purpose", "listen to your heart's true desire", "follow your passion", and I never knew what the hell they meant.

So I compromised and settled for less than what was possible and worked in jobs where I felt half-alive and so, so far from the wonder of existence. Life and creativity and adventure and passion wanted to burst out of me, but I had no idea how to facilitate or release them, and besides, I was too terrified to unleash these energies lest they disrupt the status quo too much... or destroyed me completely.

I said to myself, "a life of adventure is not possible for little old me. I'm too introverted, too afraid, too weak, too ugly, not intelligent enough, not brave enough..."

I comforted myself with spiritual concepts like 'there is no choice', 'all is One', and 'everything is predestined' and lived each day waiting for the evenings, the 'remains of the day', when I could breathe again and be authentically myself for a few brief moments.

What was my destiny? What did my heart really want? What was my life's purpose? Where was my passion? I didn't know where to begin. Everyone else seemed to have answers, and I had none. What was wrong with me?

I felt numb and bored in my jobs, but at least I felt safe. I was hiding from possibility but at least money was coming in. I 'fit in', and I had a solid story about myself that I could regurgitate in polite conversation. But there was no risk in it. I was half dead, and only in my twenties. I often thought of suicide. At least then I'd feel alive, if only for a few moments.

What to do with this one precious, fleeting gift of life? That is the question. To be, or not to be, or to be but only half-heatedly, living out of the 'shoulds' of others?

And the answer is simple, because life is short. Do whatever makes you feel passionately alive. Find a way - however much you have to struggle at first - of making a living from truly living. Honour your unique talents and abilities. Do what moves you and connects you to the deepest truth of yourself. Trust prosperity and passion over profit and comfort and the approval of others, because all the approval in the world is empty if it is for something your heart was never really in.

Breaking out of the known can be terrifying, and you may lose what you thought was yours, and your trusted images of yourself may melt in the fire of newness, and you may face fear and trembling, uncertainty and doubt, rejection and even ridicule. You may have to learn the hard way to open yourself up to more pain and life may become more uncomfortable than ever... that is, until you fall in love with the deep comfort of insecurity, and the security of doing what makes life worth living.

You will be swimming in the unknown, but you will be vast and alive. You will feel life running through your veins once again - as it did when you were young and you hadn't yet settled for a life of compromise and clock watching and justifications for your quiet desperation - and you will channel this aliveness back into creation, and the cycle of prosperity will keep flowing, and yes, you may even make a good living, better than expected.

But however much money you make, or don't make, you will be making a unique contribution to the world, doing something that nobody else can do, at least not in the same way as you, creating something original and fresh, giving something back to life, honouring your total uniqueness and your own talents, and so you won't feel second hand, a slave to others, a piece of wood, and a deep trust of life may replace your fears of failure and poverty, and your cynicism and jealousy of others may die completely.

Sometimes you will doubt what you are doing, and you may romanticise the old days when things were easier and more predictable, but then you will suddenly remember that the old way was false and never worked for you and that's why everything had to change.

Yes, it's a risk to donate your life to what you love and what moves you and brings you joy, but I can only speak from experience and say that it's absolutely worth it, because having a comfortable and predictable life pales in comparison to feeling deeply, passionately alive and meeting each new day with fresh eyes and an open heart.

If, many years ago, someone had told me that one day I'd be traveling the world, holding meetings and retreats, speaking my intimate truth in front of people I'd never met before, having published several books which had been translated into several languages, I would have laughed out loud - perhaps in disbelief, or perhaps out of the fear of the overwhelming vastness of life's possibilities.

Honour this life that is trying to express itself in and as and through you. You are not nearly as limited as you may have been led to believe by those who have not yet come alive.

47

Good news from Suz!

No thing and no one outside you can give you or make you more than you already are.

Happiness is a choice you make, an attitude you step into, a state of being that runs deeper than conditions. It is more available than impossible. Can you and I find a way to be at peace with ourselves and our lives right now, even before the mortgage is paid, we resolve our differences with our ex, or global warming is offset?

I have wanted many things in my life, and I still do. It had always seemed that I would be happier if I found my soul mate, lived in a bigger house, saw my book on the bestseller list, or toted the latest-generation iPad. Then I met a man who turned my belief system upside down. Shin-ichiro Terayama is a Japanese physicist who radiates joy more brilliantly than any soul I have ever met. He wears a perpetual smile and lights a room simply by entering it. I have never known someone so genuinely happy.

When Shin was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he was catapulted into deep soul-searching. He went to a Japanese garden and considered what would make his life meaningful, whether he lived one more day or another 40 years. His answer was: to be grateful for everyone and everything—including his cancer, as a wake-up call. From that day on, Shin said, “Thank you” for every event and experience that showed up in and around him. Within a few months, the cancer disappeared. That was 25 years ago. Now Shin teaches others to find health and happiness by practicing the lost art of appreciation.

The word content holds the secret of how to attain this consciousness. Content means “to contain.” You contain what you seek. It is in you, as you. No thing and no one outside you can give you or make you more than you already are. The treasure you seek, you already own. The treasure you seek, you already are.

We have all engaged in relationships, business situations, and living arrangements that demean us or lack integrity. Upon recognizing that we have sold out to fit in, we must say no to what does not serve us so we can make space for what does.

You cannot afford to settle for any situation that dampens your spirit. When you discover you have “detoured,” you must do whatever it takes to return to the path of joy. Putting your foot down is a prerequisite to stepping ahead.

The sage Sri Nisargadatta stated, “In my world all is well.” In what world did he live? Was it the one we see on the news, or was he watching a broadcast the rest of us are missing? Can we take up residence in the domain he described? Can we experience wellness even before the economy turns around, our spouse understands us, or wars come to an end?

Let’s take that adventure together. This is not a journey into getting more. It is a journey into having more and being more, beginning by claiming the riches you already own and are.

R.Holden.