What WAS I Thinking?

Looking UP!

Like produces like and only after its kind. … Cause producing an exact effect. The Law of Karma is the first basic law of life established on the planet. … This means that every thought equals itself in another thought or action. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Creativity – March, 2009)

I often think about the impact of our thoughts as contributions to the quality of life on the planet.  For good or ill our thoughts collectively matter on a global, planetary level.  They matter up close and personal in our own day to day lives as well.

As I come to end of another trip around the sun and prepare for the next, I find myself reflecting on the law of cause and effect and I wonder just what thoughts created my experiences this cycle. 

What was I thinking that led to the experience of a hiatal hernia flare-up?  More importantly, what thoughts led to the actions that supported my recovery? What thoughts led to a controversial situation that had me choose ‘flight’ over fight since no other options seemed available?  What thoughts bring forth the ease with which my life mostly flows?

Although I’m still in the midst of this review and reflection, I’ve noticed that specific thoughts are challenging to identify in these situations. Patterns of thoughts and the beliefs underneath them are much easier to spot.  My thoughts tend to be grounded in trusting that the Universe is unfolding just as it should, accompanied by a strong sense of self-belief and an abundance of gratitude. At least that’s my aim.

And, sometimes my thoughts miss that target.  Perhaps I took in a bit too much of how the world thinks about health (‘there’s something wrong, find the problem and medicate to fix it) and allowed that to overshadow my own belief in the body’s capacity to heal and maintain health when I provide the support it needs. 

Sometimes thoughts can feel just as tight and tangled as these trees ... yet, they are beautiful in the midst of nature's beauty.

And, sometimes my thoughts just take off on a mindless journey of their own. I feel helpless to reel them back in. ‘How dare she/he …?’ ‘Can you believe (blah, blah, blah)?’ Then, I remember that those thoughts just like the beautiful ones are creating equal thoughts or actions and I stop.  Mindless thoughts have no place in a universe characterized by abundance, beauty, harmony, joy, love, light, life, peace, and power.  It occurs to me as I write that a ‘find and replace’ feature in my mind would be an awesome app. Heck, while we’re creating, how about a ‘virus’ screen for negative thoughts?

For now though, self-awareness and making each change will need to suffice. Notice a worry about health or a concern about not having enough ________ (you can fill in the blank for you)? Thinking snarky thoughts about someone or some event? Don’t extend by feeding. Cut off its life line. Return to my core.

While I may not be able to identify the specific thought that led to an experience, I observe the patterns and the trends.  I’m exploring which ones I want to nurture and expand in this new cycle.  And, I know which ones I want to post the ‘access denied!’ message to.  And, the beat goes on into the new …

Bluebird, blue sky. Beautiful Day!

Conspiracy Theories

Beauty in the Broken

You cannot separate yourself from the Universe, period! You just cannot do that and nothing can. That is the Law, and that is how the Law operates. The premise is that you are not different from the Universe from which you are drawn. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Polarities – February, 2009)

So there. That’s that. You are the Universe. You are all its qualities. I am too, along with 7.125 billion humans scattered over the planet. In Universal terms none is greater or lesser than another. Oh to see one another through the eyes of the Universe, and then live from that perspective. I aspire, but I’m no saint. Yet my aspiration has offered up new insights this week.

The world constantly yaps that we are separate and, thus, should live in fear of one another. Some of those messages are overt and obvious. We hear them and recognize that we have a choice about whether to accept or reject. Others are more subtle and insidious. We may not even be aware that messages suggesting “that’s just the way things are” are swirling about. Hence, we don’t clearly see that we have a choice. We go along to get along. Both are messages of a system that puts power in the mundane, fame, fortune and seeks to control based on fear. And, both are erroneous.

In my quest to discover beauty in every thing last week (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/an-atmosphere-of-well-being), I found myself going beyond the five senses to find beauty in those ways of the world that I abhor. Yet, beauty I found.

I discovered beauty in the vast learning opportunities our chaotic world is offering moment to moment, day by day, 24/7. Perhaps the greatest learning of all is to remember that we are at the very core of our being all of the qualities of the Universe from which we can and of which we are a vital part.

•         We are beauty. Learn to BE that beauty.
•         We are harmony. Learn to BE that harmony.
•         We are abundance. Learn to BE that abundance.
•         We are peace. Learn to BE that peace.
•         We are power. Learn to BE that power.
•         We are joy. Learn to BE that joy.
•         We are light. Learn to BE that intelligence.
•         We are life. Learn to BE that life.
•         We are love. Learn to be that love.

I found beauty in unexpected places because I was making the choice to see beauty in those places. I was reminded to remember my Source and to choose THAT as my expression in the world.

Love on the Road!

And, I discovered that the qualities of Source (or the Universe, if you prefer) are inseparable from one another. Where I found beauty I found each of the others.  No matter which is the focus or the lead, when I found beauty, love, peace, joy and the others easily followed. Then, just beyond I found the gift of gratitude.

So, while some conspire to conquer and control others, the loving Universe seems to have a conspiracy of its own: granting us the opportunity and privilege to learn along with the power to make that choice.

While our individual choices may separate us from the pack, choosing to learn offers something the pack can never offer: strengthening awareness of our connection to the Source from which we came and of which we are forever a part. That learning becomes wisdom to carry with us into the great beyond. 

Last week I conspired with beauty to take the lead. This week, I’m choosing joy. What about you?

Elephant in the Woods (can you find it?)

Directing Energy

Sometimes even the 'best good boy' needs to explore the edge ...

And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. Genesis 1:3

You give energy direction. When you focus on something, you magnetize raw energy.  Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Originality - January, 2009)

Continuing the theme started last week (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/a-sound-beginning), the Bible as a code for how to operate on our planet, directing energy with awareness and clarity is the means by which we create joy and deep satisfaction in life.  Developing the skill to do so masterfully is perhaps the most powerful learning opportunity of life.

When we direct energy with awareness and clarity, we stay in the driver’s seat and avoid the ‘woe is me’ path of victimhood.  This doesn’t mean things always turn out the way we want. And, for sure, it is not about controlling others or even events.

It is about learning to take and experience life step by step with each step leading to the next.  It is the recognition that I’m always directing energy.  If my experience seems off course, I can choose to be angry, fearful or frustrated or I can choose to reevaluate and redirect the energy available to me.  If I’m feeling that the world is against me and throwing too many obstacles my way, I can take the time to remember that I alone am in charge of me.

As he so often does, my teacher, Cool Hand Luke, provided just such opportunities this week.  I humbly admit that my initial reaction when he disappeared during a morning walk was worry.  Although I was calm, the situation was in control. I was in reactive fear.  So reactive that, without thinking clearly, I walked home  to get the car, returned to the area where we’d been walking and drove down a road that never sees a snow plow in winter. 

Not a good choice, especially in the absence of awareness and clarity and direction.  You’ve probably guessed that I got stuck in a snow bank when I attempted to back out.  In my reactive, doing mode, I hadn’t taken time to give direction to the energy available to me, and I wasn’t paying close attention. 

I see this now, in hindsight.  In that moment, a call to a friend for help provided the reminder that I needed (and a suggestion as to who could get my car out of the pickle I’d created). “You need to be home. Luke knows his way around. He’ll be back. Take some deep breaths.”  And so I did just that. I took a breath. I began to walk home remembering that while I had no control of the outcome, I was in charge of the energy available to me.

I’d like to report that Luke was waiting on the porch by the time I got to the house, but that wasn’t to be.  It was an hour or so before he bounded up the steps (muddy, cold, matted with stickers and a very upset tummy – he apparently had quite an adventure in the snowy woods).  I welcomed him with open arms and a joyful heart. Not a trace of anger emerged in the two hours of tedious clean-up that followed.  In that period of waiting, I made a clear choice.  I let go of the expectations and plans I’d had for the day.  I put my focus on love and care for both of us. 

Just as I finished cleaning Luke up and settled him in his kennel to rest, help with the car arrived. Within a few minutes an easy tow and turnaround had my trusty vehicle back in her berth.  Life had presented me with a day of unplanned opportunities.  It was time for gratitude and a nap.

Although it is simple and in our design as humans on this Planet, mastering directing energy is not a single lesson we learn, but rather a commitment to lifelong learning through practice.  As I learned this week, it starts with simply remembering that the energy is ours to direct.

Great place for a canine adventure!

Life Flows - Take 2

An eye in the woods - "Here's lookin' at ya!"

We are part of a natural flow of experiences in which all that we are really doing is allowing ourselves to participate in the flow. Gregge Tiffen (Deeds Are Fruit, Words Are Leaves – October, 2008)

In a culture that drives us to ‘make things happen’ and creates the illusion that we are somehow ‘in control’, it can be discomforting to consider the possibility that we humans have it all wrong about how we ‘make’ things happen.

That same idea can be comforting as well. What if life is simply about showing up for events that have already been created, deciding what attitude and approach we’ll choose to ‘wear’ for each?  Like choosing a Halloween costume: Who do you want to be today?  What if that flow is about experimenting and acquiring knowledge that at some point is distilled into a drop of wisdom that stays with us forever? What if in our life today we have in our cells wisdom collected over eons of experience?

I woke this morning and picked up paper and pen. After a few quiet moments, these words came forth to begin the natural flow of this day.

Rivers flow

Money flows

Life flows

And, so it goes

I

With the flow

I

Knowing that I know.

Oh, that.

Ease

Follows remembering

Who I am

And my place of grace

In the Universe.

Gratitude floats like a leaf on the surface

And as a fish swimming below.

Gratitude embraces the flow.

Hi There!

It was a few moments before I recognized that this week’s post had ‘arrived’.  Sometimes a quote provides the inspiration for the words that follow. This week the words came first, so I set out in search of a quote. Then, when I found the quote above, I discovered that it’s the one that I used exactly one year ago for the post in the third week of October, 2015 (you can read that take on ‘Life Flows’ here - http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/life-flows.  I think I’ve stepped into the flow of this day … now, off for a walk, breakfast and discovering what other delights I’ll have the opportunity to participate in.

How are you flowing in the river that is your life?

A beautiful fall day on a favorite trail.

Director of My Thoughts

Beyond Harmony & Caprice, Autumn is Coming to the Sangres

I find most people will simply not monitor their thought processes. It’s as if they allow the thought process to deal out to them anything the thoughts want without realizing that the thought process itself is the direct extension of their own will.  

Thoughts are energy being transmitted through your nervous system unimpaired and unhampered. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: One Original Thought, September, 2011)

To Gregge’s first comment above, I plead ‘guilty as charged’.  The evidence, as suggested in the second quote can be found in my physical body in the form of effects caused by rampaging thoughts going where they go until I step up and impose my will. The opportunity is to observe, experiment, practice using the free will that was gifted me by the universe.

I’m discovering that observing my thoughts with the awareness that I have the authority and the responsibility to manage them to my benefit is a full time job.  This is especially true when I’m in the midst of a challenging situation where thoughts about ‘it’ and ‘them’ rush in and reinforce the illusion that we are separate from one another.

I’ve had lots of practice opportunities over the last couple weeks as I aim to glean all the learning that I can from the events. I’m challenging myself to not dwell in the stories or even in what I see as the solutions, but to be at choice about what thoughts have my attention. Required ingredients: awareness, discipline, will.

Awareness requires that I observe where my thoughts are dwelling in every moment and remember that I am the director of my thoughts (cool new title eh? Director of My Thoughts!).  Discipline asks me to be consistent in my awareness and to practice, practice, and, yes, rinse, repeat and practice again. Will demands that I live into the power of being the director of my thoughts and that I deny access to wasteful, energy draining, disempowering ones and choose to bring forward thoughts that are productive, generative and empowering.

The reminder that ‘thoughts are energy being transmitted through the nervous system’ asks that the Director of My Thoughts observe my physical well-being and respond by giving it the care and protection it requires. My body signals with tightness in my chest, tension in my neck and shoulders, and, on occasion, a rumbly tummy.  Luke’s interaction with me offers a gauge to how my thoughts are moving into the environment.

I can use these signals as warning signs that suggest ‘Thoughts off-track. Reboot with new ones please’.  And, I know that nature and my five senses provide a path to that reboot, to restoring me so that I can engage different, fresh thoughts.

I breathe. I see and I invite the visual beauty of the landscape where I live to sink deeply into my cells.

I breathe. I hug a tree and I invite the strength that I feel to nurture me.  I breathe. I hear the soft gurgling of a nearby creek and I invite it to carry away those thoughts that don’t serve me. I breathe. I smell the freshness of a gentle rain and I am simply grateful. I breathe. I taste the sweetness of a tomato just picked from the vine and I know that I am nourished. I breathe.

I notice my thoughts and am ready to engage anew. What about you?

Here Comes the Sun!

Shifting Sands, Shifting Focus

Another beautiful sunrise in the Sangres

The minute you can get your gaze, your attitude, and your focus off someone or something you don’t like, the influence is gone. Will is the only tool you’ve got.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: One Original Thought – September, 2011)

I don’t know anyone who isn’t experiencing shifting sands in some form or another.  If not in our own personal experience then perhaps in someone close to us and most certainly in our society as a whole.  Change is life. 

I’m in the midst of some influences and experiences that I don’t like. They remind me that I’m not in control of them and that it is my choice to what extent they control me.  That reminder is a gift.

They call on me to choose how I will apply and use my will. Where will I put my attention?  How long will I dwell in the negative event, beating up myself and perhaps others with my thoughts?  When will I put my gaze elsewhere? 

Now, in this moment I shift my gaze.  I didn’t get here as quickly as I would have liked. I inhabited the negativity of an event and opened the door to later events that seemed to pile on.  I started the shift enjoying a glass of wine and conversation on the deck with a lovely B&B guest.  I noticed how easily I could step into a conversation about what I love about where I live.

A bit later as I felt the negativity come creeping back in (okay, honestly it was rushing!) I reached for one of Gregge Tiffen’s September booklets, took a breath and asked ‘what do I need to see right now?’  Voila! My gaze landed on the above. The shift in my cells was palpable as the frequency of my energy began to shift. I also noticed how easily it slipped in that instant when my gaze didn’t have a clear focal point. 

I read a bit more and shifted my thinking to this week’s post. That’s a luxury usually reserved for Thursday mornings, but I felt inspired by the words and the experience.  Writing is a place to focus that shifts whatever is influencing me.  And, selecting photos from this week’s stunning landscapes provided yet another soothing place to land my gaze.  My will to shift the energy is taking root.  The lightness I feel contrasts where I dwelt earlier in the day.  With that lightness I feel gratitude and a hint that in this event the answer to a seemingly unrelated question is being revealed. How cool is that?

Memo to self: When shifting sands feel as if they are about to drown you, shift your gaze, your attitude, your focus and see what new frequency you can muster.  Then, be tenacious in maintaining it.

One of several stunning sunsets this week.

Morning Moon

Chasing Thistles. Removing Quills.

Yes, it is August. And, yes, that is SNOW.

If God bids me to chase thistles, I would gladly do it.  Dionysius

If you transpose ‘God’ to mean ‘universe’, you will understand this to mean that whatever the universe is asking me is my greatest joy. Trust that the universe is intelligence and therefore wisdom, harmony, understanding, and love, so you can’t go wrong. Gregge Tiffen (Echo – Sept. 10, 2012)

I’m coming to understand that the universe doesn’t distinguish between what we might think of as ‘major’ events and those we probably consider minor.  All events are opportunities to learn and to be our best self no matter how great or how small we think they are.  In this intelligent universe every event holds the bidding for that which is being asked of us in that moment.

Two events among many this week stand out as reminders that what the universe places before me is where I’m being asked to put my attention. They reminded me as well that, indeed, the universe IS intelligence.

Shortly after arriving, weekend Dragonfly House guests with reservations for a two-night stay informed me that they would “be out of here tomorrow morning.” I was a shocked and started to go down the path of a fearful (how will I replace the lost revenue?) reaction. I stopped me. Turning off the tap of negativity, I tapped into knowing that this event is meant to unfold in exactly this way.  I wished them a good night’s rest, reminded them of breakfast timing, and I let go.  Within a few hours of bidding them farewell the next morning, I had reservations in both guest rooms for appreciative guests who needed accommodations at the last minute.  Memo to self: Yes, things do unfold for the best.

Yesterday Luke had his first (and I pray his only!) encounter with a porcupine, returning from a foray into the woods during our walk with a face full of quills. He was clawing and rubbing his face on the ground, obviously uncomfortable, yet not seeming to be in pain.  I moved into action more calmly than in hindsight I could imagine, first removing a few that I could easily grab with my fingers and a gentle tug.  The easy ones out, we began to walk toward home. Two B&B guests who had arrived earlier in the day crossed our path and followed us. With their help, only two pesky quills remained, one lodged just inside Luke’s upper lip.  Luke wasn’t so keen with the removal process despite my consistent efforts to keep him calm. Our local vet came over, but our efforts to get the quill removed from his mouth were nil.  After consulting we decided to leave it for a day to see if the quill would come out on its own.  Yes, it did – within the hour. Second memo to self: Yes, things do work out.

Later, when it was time to lay my head on the pillow after each of these events, I did so with gratitude for the event and with satisfaction for having met each, consciously or not, with the knowing that, indeed, the universe IS intelligent and I benefit when I tune into that intelligence.

The beauty of an early morning start to our first walk of the day.

The quills ...

Banishing Negativity

Grateful for another day of the sun rising over the Sangres!

Negativity can’t create anything. It can't even create further negativity because that energy just maintains itself.  Gregge Tiffen (PS 52, Series 8, The New Experiment, Week 47)

Negativity is a misapplication of the laws of the universe and the rules of the planet.  Patrece on behalf of P-Systems, Inc. (PS 52, Series 8, The New Experiment, Week 47)

I don’t know about you, but some days it feels like our world has become a cauldron of negativity. Is it any wonder that we don’t seem able to move forward, given that negativity doesn’t create anything? How can we possibly address what is on our own plates in terms of life, not to mention the plethora of critical issues needing the best of each of us collectively when fear and hatred are being hurled at us from so-called leaders, the media, and even one another?

While turning off the news or taking a break from social media may give us relief from time to time, do these tactics sustain us in maintaining a positive approach to life?  While I’ve long preferred and, hopefully, been successful at maintaining positivity in my life, I can’t claim to have banished negativity completely. Hey, I’m still human after all.

And yet, I honestly think that I’m doing pretty darn well with my personal positivity score.

But a weekend experience of allowing my ‘inner snarky’ to surface at about the same time as this week’s installment of PS 52 arrived, coupled with wondering why a project I’m involved in can’t seem to move forward, prompted me to take a look at negativity – that within as well as that beyond my reach. I was quickly reminded that my ‘inner snarky’ surfaces when things don’t turn out like I want them to (duh!): a show is late starting and I leap to ‘they are wasting my valuable time’, leaving in the dust relaxing and enjoying the moments of peace or extra time with a friend.  I quickly return from negativity-land, but I wonder: why do I go there in the first place?  Answer: habit (‘nuf said).  Solution: awareness + choosing differently.

As I reflected a bit more, I allowed myself to see and acknowledge the shifts and pruning of habits and beliefs that I’ve done over the years that contribute to my capacity to maintain positivity in our sometimes negative and chaotic world:

• Practicing gratitude for ALL
• Immersing myself in nature, self-care, and care for Cool Hand Luke
• Nurturing curiosity, especially when I don’t know how to move forward, shifting from declaring ‘I don’t know how’ to asking ‘How can I? What if …?’
• Taking responsibility vs. blaming others
• Developing my capacity to say ‘no’ to opportunities, events, and others that don’t represent the quality I want at that moment
• Nurturing and developing my core belief in the abundance and intelligence of the universe
• Nurturing patience for myself and for others
• Learning to enjoy my own company
• Continuing to learn about and experiment with how energy works
• Remembering that life is an experiment and events are here not for me to be right, but rather as gifts for my learning, AND that I have a band of personal guides that are with me all along the way
• Make and take time for fun!

For the sake of the universe, the angels, the planet, nature, humanity and ourselves we need to banish negativity.  Ground zero is right where we live. It’s you. It’s me. It’s up to each and every one of us to forge a path to banish negativity in all of its insidious forms from our lives. The quality of our future – this life and beyond – depends on it.

Taking time for some fun at Crestfest 2016!

Another beautiful sunset on a beautiful day in the Sangres.

Mother Nature, Planet Earth

The early morning sun begins to shine on the peaks

Mother Nature, planet Earth, gave us our power, our life, our energy. Ideally, we learn and teach fidelity for the land. We are to take care of the planet and to take care of the body that birthed us. It is everything to us. Take care. Do not destroy it. Do not turn your back on it. That is taking dominion. Gregge Tiffen (Mother Nature – May, 2007)

Years ago when I lived in the city, it was an effort to escape the concrete jungle and put myself in the woods or on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. I always preferred the woods. After an interim move to a small canyon on the West Texas plains, I now find myself at home in the quiet woods of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Here appreciation, gratitude, and love for nature and for my physical body grow.

Here I am nourished by what my five senses take in:

• The distinguished song of the meadowlark and the gentle sounds of Cottonwood Creek as she flows down the mountain and through the foothills
• The beauty of snow-capped peaks by day and clear, vast starry sky by night
• The solid, yet uneven earth under my feet and chill of the morning air on my cheeks
• The freshness of the earth and the pines after a rain
• The flavors of produce fresh from a friend’s garden or greenhouse and of pine pitch when my hand is sticky and I lick to clean it

Here I notice how my senses work together: sight and touch keeping me upright as I walk on rocky trails.

Here my ‘sense’ beyond my senses becomes more known.  I deepen my connection to the earth and come to know her as the source that sustains me.  I aim for my choices to reflect this knowing.

Here I take care of the earth and of this vehicle that consciousness has chosen for the ride this sojourn.

Here as I plant the seeds that know they are carrots, beets, beans, and squash, I scatter seeds reflecting what I know about the Universe and what I’m curious about.

The seeds are sown. Let the growing begin!

And, here knowing now what I didn’t know when I lived in the city, I see that I can honor Mother Nature, planet Earth, my true family wherever in the world I find myself.

I invite you to join me in the experiment to embrace the dominion we were given. In the weeks ahead, wherever you are, take time to notice and honor the ground that you walk on.  See, hear, feel, smell, taste the planet that is your home. Remember that you are not separate from her indeed you are integral part of the play.

Learn your lines and play your part well.

A friendly junco greets the day

Humility

Spring is bursting out all over Southeast Hill!

All animals on this planet help forge a living energy chain, tying together the power of Nature to the manifestation of life.  Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime: Flow with the Power of Nature – March, 2007)

As I end this month that found me focused on caring for beloved canines far away from my home, my heart is touched by two aspects of nature: the beauty of flora and the steadiness of fauna.   

I’m writing this week’s post a bit early with the intention that, as it lands in your box on Thursday morning, I will be driving through the canyon lands of Utah.  Today, as I prepare to head home to begin a new month and another trip around the sun, I’m struck by how nature simply IS.

I’m humbled and in awe of the buds and the blooms that have burst forth in the past week here in the neighborhood that’s been my home this month.  I’m curious how spring will reveal herself along the 1200 miles or so of our journey.  How will spring be showing when I reach home in a few days?

But as much as I love trees and flowers, it is the animals that I hold dearest in my heart this day.  I’m grateful for all the animals on the planet and for the energy that they receive in support of all life, including that of us humans. In the year ahead, I want to deepen my understanding of this vital relationship.

And, I’m especially grateful for Luke and my cousin’s dogs. My three weeks caring for them were rewarding beyond measure. I’m humbled by what they have given me the opportunity to learn: grace, dignity, adaptability, patience (to name a few), and even humility itself. 

Happy Homecoming!

So often in life we avoid humility, fearing that we don’t or won’t measure up. That we’ll be humiliated, embarrassed, feel low or foolish.

Noticing my own feelings over these three weeks, led me to explore the word ‘humility’. I discovered that its root is the Latin humus, meaning grounded, humble, of the earth.  I loved that discovery! It put a whole new depth and light to my feelings.  They are right in tune with and flowing from the earth.  There is no humiliation in that, no matter what stories I might conjure up or comparisons to others I might make. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

And so it is with most everything we do if we are willing to make that our choice no matter what.