Cycles

WSU Museum of Art Staff Loving Pack One of Many Art Pieces Donated to the Museum. Zadie Byrd ‘Supervises’

Stress is produced when you try to regulate productivity based on manmade time. … You lose your creative drive when you are under pressure. … Do what comes to you in sequential order, or the situation becomes a demand, and once there is a demand, there is stress. Gregge Tiffen – The Language of a Mystic: Cycles (August 2009)

As the cycle of being in my cousin’s home and executing her last wishes begins to come to a close, I’m noticing that I’ve used the above words of wisdom from Gregge Tiffen, consciously and unconsciously, throughout my time here. What could have been a quite stressful experience has been relatively stress-free.

That said, I’ve experienced the stress of deadlines – most self-imposed. In unconscious moments of rushing, I’ve begun to catch myself. Noticing that I created the demand. Recognizing that I can operate differently. Recognizing cycles rather than time. Step by step as each presented itself for attention.

Although many things have required scheduling, approaching them sequentially and thoughtfully, and being flexible has eased what could have been many stressful days.

I noticed there’s some magic in this approach. For instance, help packing appeared from an unexpected source just when I needed it most.  Looking in the basement for some antique items, a local friend in need of a freezer found just what she needed, along with some useful antique boxes. I suspect that had I been operating on a rigid schedule I wouldn’t have experienced this and other ‘magic’.

When stress creeps (or roars) in uninvited, take a step back and notice what demands are present. What can you shift to ease the pressure?

Mother Nature’s Art Stays in Place

Always We Have Choice

Underneath a Nurturing Ancestor Pine

You’re always in a position to decide if you want to have any reaction to what’s going on.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Air of Optimism)

This is one of my favorites of Gregge’s quotes. Forgetting that we have choice is a giant generator of pain and stress especially in a world that takes every opportunity to suggest that we aren’t at choice about so much.

Years back when I was in the middle of divorce, I was ordered to allow my soon to be ex to read my journals, where I muse and bear my soul almost daily.  I felt invaded and as if I had no choice. I was gently reminded by my coach at the time that indeed I did have a choice. For example, I could choose to defy the order.

She was right. I could defy the order. What? In that moment, I understood that I simply wasn’t willing to face the consequences of doing do. But I did have a choice. That awareness has served me well. It was a pivot point in coming to understand and accept that there are always choices, even in the darkest times when I can’t see them.

Choice has been on my mind this week as I continue the process of executing my cousin’s last wishes and navigating the legal hoops of settling her estate. Along the way someone suggested that I didn’t have a choice about coming up here since I was named as her Personal Representative.

I don’t agree with their suggestion. I chose to come. It was a responsibility I accepted years ago. I chose to honor it to come and do the job at hand.

Not only was I at choice about making the trip, how long to stay, and other logistical decisions, daily I get to choose how I want to be in the process. I’m aware that I could choose to take on the tasks with an attitude of burden and resentment. I do not do so. Why would I choose misery when given the opportunity to serve in this way?

While I experience waves of sadness that my ‘cuz’ and I won’t share another hike in nature or glass of wine or holiday fun, I bring curiosity, appreciation and gratitude into most every day’s ‘to do’ list. I find joy in early morning walks with Zadie Byrd as she explores the different environment and relishes green grass to roll in.

This morning she led me to a giant pine in the park nearby. As I stood beneath the towering branches and allowed nature to enfold and nurture me, she sniffed to discover just who else had been in the area.

The sense of community here is palpable with her friends checking in, bringing food, and offering to help all manner of tasks. In choosing acceptance of the events and the environment, I am blessed by abundance in many forms. I’m clear I could choose differently and create a very different experience. But, so far, the choices I’m making are working out just fine.

Taking a Break for a Hike Along the Snake River

Adaptability Required!

Rolling Hills of The Palouse

Movement and change is the real element and essence of life. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Cycles – August, 2009)

For almost everyone I’m working with as I handle my cousin’s estate, the requirement to be adaptable, flexible, nimble is top of mind. Gregge Tiffen spoke about it often, noting that change is the essence of life. And, that rising to and flowing with that change represents opportunity for growth – physically, mentally, spiritually.

In taking a bit of time for reflection this week, I’m aware of how true this is. In the cycles of my life the month of August has brought significant events requiring me to adapt: my mother’s death 41 years ago, Luke’s passing just last year, the start of The Zone (now The Pivot) seven years ago and an unplanned move. And this year, the need to travel cross-country during Covid.

As I begin the eighth year of these weekly musings, I took at look at one of the very first posts. The topic? Being flexible. While the events were different in 2013 than today, they called on me to be nimble. You can read that post here.

We are each being called to reflect and to choose anew. Often moment to moment. In doing so we are creating what’s next in our lives and the world beyond our door.

Adaptability is the skill set that as we build keeps victimhood at bay. As we create within the environment we are given, we are creating the environment that will be our tomorrow. Let’s do so with a sense of purpose, clarity, and joy.

Campus on the Hill — Washington State University, Pullman

Ponder THIS Possibility

Water’s Response to Love and Gratitude

To give your positive or negative attention to something is a way of giving energy. The most damaging form of behavior is withholding your attention. … Water records information, and while circulating throughout the earth distributes information. This water sent from the universe is full of the information of life... … If we consider that the human body is a universe within itself, it is only natural to conclude that we carry within us all the elements. Masaru Emoto - Hidden Messages in Water

You operate beyond negativity when you are in control of you not by attempting to control conditions. We live in the ocean of consciousness that is boundless. All things in the ocean have available to them the same things. All of love, happiness, and freedom are available in the ocean of consciousness. Gregge Tiffen – The Language of a Mystic: Awareness

Throughout the time since March when Covid 19 was declared a pandemic, I’ve been curious about what messages, what lessons the event and the virus itself might teach us. I’ve observed our fear and how it is being used to divide us and further our sense of separation. I’ve explore my own fear as it has arisen and invited me to put it to rest.

I’ve observed and experienced love, the best within us supporting one another showing our care and love. Being masked and keeping our distance without allowing those masks or physical distance to isolate.

Indeed we are navigating a different world and in so doing we are creating the world that will be in the future. This time is ripe for reflection, consideration of new perspectives, especially ones that challenge the mainstream thinking seeking to control conditions rather than gracefully ride the waves.

A thought-provoking idea crossed my path last week. What if the coronavirus is an evolutionary driver?

Viruses like all life contain information. What if we became curious about what this virus has to teach us? What if we loved rather than feared it?

Thinking about that reminded me of Masaru Emoto’s powerful work and images demonstrating the power of our thoughts and the impact of sending love and gratitude to water. I first heard of his work in the film What the Bleep do We Know? The film’s website (click here) has some of the stunning images of from Emoto’s work. Take a look. Contrast water’s response to love, gratitude, Mozart to its response to ‘you make me sick’.  Then consider, what perspective you choose to hold about this virus?

What if, like water as it circulates through the earth, this virus (perhaps all viruses?) imparts information as it moves through our body?

When fear is used to control us, love is how we rebel. Rivera Sun – The Dandelion Insurrection

Let’s spread some new thinking. Keep wearing our masks while we unmask new possibilities for creating life in harmony with all of nature.

Living in YOUR Rhythm

Home Sweet (Away from) Home

Conditions become chaotic when you are not in a position to manage the harmonics of your core energy to create. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Time Travels – July 2010)

I’m reminded of this Gregge Tiffen wisdom as I look out at the multi-faceted chaos in our world. And, as I walk through current events in my life.

Maintaining order is an inside job. Peace within creates peace and order as we walk through the events presented to us on our path. Managing personal energy by living in your unique rhythm is key.

While others can support us on our walk and may even help discover our rhythm, the responsibility is ours alone to manage our energy whatever the conditions, whatever the event. When we move through life in our unique rhythm – our pace, our style, our ways of being – we can experience life in its glorious flow.

Your rhythm is unique to you. It is the beat of the drum to which you naturally and easily respond. It knows no stress, no overwhelm. There is no right or wrong. Simply there is your rhythm, your tempo – YOUR way of life. When we operate in our unique rhythm we experience harmony in body, mind, and spirit. Life flows.

We find our individual rhythm by experimentation and discovery, listening for our beat, noticing when life flows easily even in challenging times. When that is our experience, we are living in our rhythm. Notice it. Nurture it. Allow it to speak and inform. Notice times when you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or that conditions are in control. These are clues that you are not living in your rhythm.

I’m particularly aware of this as I handle the estate of my dear cousin who died unexpectedly three weeks ago. Her passing necessitated a road trip across five states and 1200 miles. It finds Zadie Byrd and me away from home for an extended time, finding our rhythm in a new environment with new challenges, new opportunities, and more interaction than in our quiet Crestone life. Adjusting, while not allowing events and conditions to overwhelm.

As I began preparing for the journey, I promised myself that I would stay in my rhythm and practice extreme self-care throughout. ‘No rush.’ ‘Everything in its time.’ ‘Allow – don’t push (and don’t be pushed).’ These are my daily mantras. They help me live in my rhythm in this new territory with its rich opportunities for learning. They remind to adjust when stress or chaos creep in.

More than ever, I’m reminded that I/we are not the chaos in the world.  Rather, I am/we are each here to walk through, to navigate, to learn to live in our rhythm, whatever that is, in ways that maintain our peace within. No matter what.

Nourished by Art and Nature

What's In Front of You

Whatever is in front of you is what you have in front of you. That’s it! Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Creative Power Released – July, 2011)

For a couple days I’ve thought about taking a vacation from these weekly posts. This morning I pulled out one of Gregge Tiffen’s booklets, Do the Angels Take a Vacation?, thinking I might find a pithy quote supporting that choice. Of course, the angels, the etheric, the unseen worlds operate 24/7/365. So, where I was led instead was to a different booklet.

The quote above immediately jumped off the page and into the muse. I had an awareness of my commitment to showing up each week to discover what wants to be shared. THAT’s what is in front of me on Wednesday morning each week.

Yes, I could use the family matter that is the focus of most of my attention these days as a reason to take a break. But as I let that choice try to settle in my bones, that ‘reason’ felt more like a cop-out, an excuse. Not that I was laying a guilty ‘should’ at my feet,  taking a break was a choice that would not bring me any sense of satisfaction.  I would miss the connection that I feel when I tap the ‘send’ button.

As I realized this and shifted my choice, my spirit lightened. I didn’t need to choose ‘this’ OR ‘that’. Both are possible and when the post is complete, I can easily put the other matter right back in front of me without a sense of pressure or overwhelm. Whew!

What’s in front of me is what’s in front of me and I am at choice about the quality and the quantity of attention whatever that is receives.

There is much in front of each of us these days. Some of it very close and personal. Some a broader focus of our care and concern for humanity and the planet.

While we may not choose the details of the event before us, ever present is the choice of how we walk through each event and how we use them to contribute to our personal growth and expansion in a world that needs our unique piece of the puzzle in order for it to unfold.

So, what IS in front of you right now? How will you use it for you?

Sign of the Times

From Domination to Love

Sangres Sunrise

For thousands of years, Western culture has become increasingly obsessed with the idea of dominance: with dominance of humans over nonhuman nature, masculine over the feminine, wealthy and powerful over the poor, with the dominance of the West over non-Western cultures. Deep ecological consciousness allows us to see through these erroneous and dangerous illusions. Bill Devall, Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered

This week finds me immersed in a personal family event, so the weekly muse is taking a break from writing my usual post. Yet even with much of my attention elsewhere, the need for laying old systems to rest and bringing forth new ones is ever present in every aspect of our lives.

This week I invite - no, I encourage - you listen to Humanity’s Team co-founder Steve Farrell interview conscious business pioneer, Hazel Henderson. Find it here.

Then, think about, indeed dare to imagine an economy that is fair, just, equitable. One where dominance has no seat at the table. And, deep ecological consciousness has a voice.

What is possible? What will you do to contribute to the pivot toward this possibility?

Cottonwood Creek Nearby

Stewardship in The Great Turning

Sunrise in the Sangres

If there is to be a livable world for those who come after us, it will be because we have managed to make the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society. . . . While the agricultural revolution took centuries and the Industrial revolution took generations, (the Great Turning) has to happen within a matter of years. It also has to be conscious—involving not only the political economy, but the habits, values and understandings that foster it. Joanna Macy (from Pace e Bene’s This Nonviolent Life: Daily Inspiration for Your Nonviolent Journey - July 3, 2020)

Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care (emphasis mine).

We are stewards, you and I. Each of us. All of us. Individually. Collectively. I’ve written here many times (hopefully not ad nauseum) that every thought we think, every word we speak, every action we undertake matters in the grand scheme of the Universe and Universal cycles. That is the nature of stewardship: careful and responsible management of our thoughts, our words, and our deeds.

Stewardship requires awareness and willingness to take full responsibility for every choice we make. Stewardship asks that we identify our values and commit ourselves to aligning our choices with those values.

Stewardship demands that we think and act independently and with awareness that we are part of the web of infinite and interconnected life. As frustrating and confusing all forms of media and the world of ‘alternative facts’ have become, when light is shined on their dark shadows, we are given the gift of seeing how media is used to promote particular agendas.

That awareness offers us a pivot point – a point of choice about what resonates deep within our being. Choosing wisely asks that we know what we value. And to act consistent with those values. It may invite us to swim upstream for a time, eschewing following the crowd. Perhaps it is akin to what Joseph Campbell called ‘the hero’s journey’.

Which brings me back to stewardship in this pivotal time. I value creating a life-sustaining society, one with true ‘liberty and justice’ for all. I value a deeper understanding of Universal law, Universal cycles and living life from that understanding. I value learning to live ‘in’ the world without being ‘of’ the world.

Aiming to filter my choices through these values, one of several domains of life I’ve begun to re-evaluate is financial, asking the question ‘are my money habits – what I spend and where I spend it, what and where I invest – consistent with what I value?’.  I am far shy of a ‘perfect 10’ in this domain.

Although I’m not aiming for perfection, I am looking to be a better steward in both the spending and investment categories. I’ve long invested in ‘socially responsible’ funds, but my exploration led me to wonder ‘is that the best I can do?’ How can I do better?’  It was no surprise that resources and helpful information began to flow my way as I engaged the question. Indeed, the Universe does respond and magnify our thoughts, words, deeds!

This introduction to Marco Vangelisti’s ideas of ‘no harm’ and ‘regenerative’ investing are getting me started on the path to improving my financial stewardship. His article Making Amends Through Regenerative Investing gives me hope as we awaken more deeply to our impact on ourselves, on one another, and on our precious planet.

Taking stewardship to heart is a bold act of caring.

Evening Shadows

The Work of Freedom: Harmonizing With The Universe

Good Morning July!

It has become crucial that we break away from dependency and become independent thinkers, independent teachers, independent people. Doing such is like swimming upstream, but once you find yourself in harmony with the way the Universe is moving, you get tremendous support for what you want to do and the swimming becomes easier. Gregge Tiffen (Finding Freedom: The Meaning of Independence Day -July, 2007)

This past week has presented a variety of experiences and learning opportunities, new information some of it conflicting, new resources, and a roller coaster ride with Zadie Byrd that reflects the tension of our world.  This morning, as I sat quietly to discover where the muse might guide me, Gregge Tiffen’s quote above came on my radar along with numerous other ideas. All faded except his idea of becoming independent.

And that led me to thinking about the work that becoming independent and maintaining it requires. It seems that we have lost our understanding that the gift of free will granted by the Universe requires practice, experimentation, adaptation, and adjustment. For too many it has become far easier to depend on others, on systems, on governments than it is to do the work of thinking and acting for ourselves. Work that is deep and requires knowing yourself intimately from the inside out.

Now, I’m not saying that we are not connected, interdependent, or that we shouldn’t care for one another! To the contrary, each of us is one of the One, just as each cell in our body is one cell of the one that is ‘I’. That is the design. That is the seed of our being. Just as does each cell in our body, we each have an individual and unique role to play in the unfolding of life.

Harmony is a basic element of Universal design. The cells of our body are designed to harmonize. The elements of ecosystems are designed to harmonize.

With every fiber of my being, I believe that WE are designed to harmonize – within and in our expressions and relationships in the world. All too often we have forgotten this truth and given ourselves over to systems and to others rather than doing our individual work: that of harmonizing within. We see the effects in chaotic events, addictions, violence, war … and the list goes on. In a world where dependency has become the norm, we shout demands for freedom without embracing the responsibility and doing the work that true freedom and independence require.

I witness and am appalled by fascist and authoritarian trends here in the U.S. where in a few days we will celebrate ‘Independence Day’. I do so not from the sense of loyalty to country that was drilled into me almost from birth, but from a knowing deep within my cells, cells that hold the wisdom of the Universe, that I (and you, and each and every one of us) have been granted independence, free will, freedom as a divine right. We have a distance to travel to bring this to fruition, individually and collectively.

I ask questions. What is my role in bringing about the harmony that true independence represents? How might my choices be contributing to the disharmony? How do I harmonize within?

I do my best to listen and to respond. Action by action. Step by step. Day by day. For me, that is the work of independence. That is harmonizing with the Universe. Done from a sense of personal choice and with curiosity, love, intention, purpose, and care, it is work that brings me peace, joy, and deep sense of satisfaction. From that place I can authentically celebrate the ‘Independence Day’.    

Discovering and Creating The Ways Between

There’s always a Way Between … Think about it until you see it clearly. Shulen, the Old Warrior challenging his apprentice Ari Ara (Not This, Not That), a young orphan girl, in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Way Between. https://www.riverasun.com/

The Way Between must have been with me early one morning a few days before the Summer Solstice when this flow of words landed on the journal page in front of me.

I love being awake to watch the day dawn.

Dark mountain against the lightening sky.

First sounds of life

Winged beings flit about

Singing, not quite – testing their voice in preparation to

Greet the Day.

Hummingbird buzzes.

And, yet these woods are oh so quiet in their waking.

Gentle

in the cool morning air,

reminding me

Gentleness is the way – MY way.

Gentle with self.

Gentle with others.

Ah, ‘others’ …

Solstice Sunrise in the Woods Out Back

That particular morning I was thinking about creatures that we label as ‘pests’ – ants, mice, mosquitoes (it’s THAT season here in the mountains) - and, how often I mindlessly swat a ‘skeeter’ or squash an ant that, perhaps with at least equal mindlessness, has dared to crawl on my arm while I’m engaging in a Feldenkrais lesson. I think about this as I observe myself and others in our relationships and our conflicts with one another. I think about it in relation to working with my canine companion, Zadie Byrd, when I become frustrated or confused. I know that there are better ways.

Discovering and creating those ways, then practicing and following them with conviction and commitment is a sure path to creating a more peaceful and just world. This, my heart knows. These better ways? Most start with listening – listening to others, to nature, to self, listening within.

Shulen’s quote above is from a scene where he has told his apprentice in Azar, The Way Between, to put an end to the bullying she has been subjected to by another orphan. She is challenged to not fight (she’s committed to peace and, besides, she’d likely loose) or flee (report the perpetrator to the Head Monk at the orphanage). She must find The Way Between for this situation.

She does so, first by connecting to and acknowledging the boy’s pain and by listening to his angry, heart wrenching story. Then,

The moment opened like a door. Ari Ara saw his leap coming in slow motion. She stepped through the possibilities between fighting or fleeing and entered The Way Between. As Brol sprang at her, Ari Ara turned his momentum in midair. Softly as a snowflake in Shulen’s hand, she leveraged his flying weight into a flip and brought his body to the ground. ‘It ends here, Brol,’ she warned him in a low voice as his shocked eyes stared up at her. She held his gaze for a moment, until she saw something shift in his face. Then she stepped back and strode out of the monastery without another word. Rivera Sun, The Way Between

Ari Ara came to this strength and capability, not in a moment of sheer luck, but with months of study and training, of trials and tribulations. (Get the book, read the story, be inspired).

My own dive into exploring nonviolence and peace this summer is deepening my understanding that peace and nonviolence won’t happen ‘out there’ in our chaotic, violent world until we each create peace within and craft our lives and our systems from that place, from finding and creating The Way Between in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Listening. That is the opportunity, perhaps the necessity, of this time.

Acts and approaches that exemplify The Way Between abound in our world, often are ignored by a media seemingly trapped by the dark aura of violence and chaos. We are steeped in this culture by our language (think ‘war on poverty’); by products designed to rid us of pests of all kinds; by books, movies, games, cartoons and more. Activism can be as simple as unplugging from the systems and products that brought us to this place: being more mindful of what and from whom we purchase goods and services, and where we invest our time and our money.

I’m imagining a world where we relate, create, and make choices from The Way Between: a just and caring economic system, love for our precious planet, wellness and health systems that honor the body’s intelligence …

These are the pivots inviting us forward. What are you imagining? What are you wanting and willing to create?

Sunset - Day is Done, Rest for the Days Ahead