Upping Our Vibes: Grounding in Higher Consciousness

Daily Reminder Above My Desk

The level of consciousness is the most crucial aspect in health. I’d wager it will improve relationships, improve our self-esteem, lift us up to really live, all without drugs. Our level of consciousness is that part of us that is unsullied. It is waterproof, fireproof, age proof, bulletproof. If the mystics say that our primary purpose in life is growing in consciousness, then the intention broadcast marks very significant progress in science and medicine. It is revolutionary. As conscious humans, we have a responsibility. We cannot remain Homo dubitat for much longer. We must act and overthrow the programming of our cellphones, unplug from the TV. We are being called to become alert, awake, in charge. Nisha J. Manek, MD (Bridging Science and Spirit)

Early this morning as I settled in to focus on today’s post, I was clear – or so I thought – on our direction. Then I read something that offered a mindful detour to which Muse didn’t seem to disagree. Amid the detour, life called for my attention. It was time for morning walks and breakfast. Then a series of distractions rendered Muse incapable of settling me down until late morning.

With life’s details handled and the detour set aside, my original direction returned, clearer than before: our intentions and the level of consciousness from which they rise are key to powerfully navigating the events of life.

My clarity rises from a recent experience during a consultation with a specialist veterinarian when she made a strong declaration that momentarily took me aback. She was, she said, 100% certain that because of ‘x’, ‘y’ would follow. In other words, ‘Y’ was the only possible outcome.

After a moment, I realized that her certainty was not aligned with my understanding of how life works. I asked her to pause, and I challenged her perspective. “What about intention? What about miracles? Where in your certainty is the space for that?” I probed calmly.

The vet paused for a moment before a thoughtful response. “You’re right,” she said acknowledging that while ‘y’ seems to be the most likely outcome given ‘x’, it is not a certainty. Our consultation continued from her new perspective, a shift from certainty to possibility.

The moment was powerful for me, standing in my truth as I was seeking advice and making decisions based on advice from trusted professionals. I stood in my power and in the truth of what I understand about intention and consciousness.

I did so not from a stance of fear, denial, or defensiveness, but rather from a place of strong conviction, of heart-centered, coherent love, care, and understanding. From MY truth.

I deeply believe in the power of our beliefs and our consciousness to affect the trajectory of most anything. Countless research by Lynn McTaggart, Bruce Lipton, and others bears this out as does the research of Dr. David R. Hawkins (Power vs. Force). Nisha Manek deepens my understanding further in her outstanding study of Dr. William Tiller’s work, Bridging Science and Spirit.

Key it seems is the level of consciousness or frequency from which we are operating. Is my conviction and my action grounded in love, in reason, in gratitude, trust, and/or reverence for all life? That is the consciousness from which so-called miracles rise.

Or am I operating from anger, fear, grief, hopelessness? That is where miracles are stymied, and the world’s predictions of doom and gloom can manifest.

In a sense the choice is for life and all that generates life or for death. The paths of life and life generating are not always easy or clear. Sometimes choices for life seem to counter the mainstream and the experts as my experience reminded me. Choices for life may even be unpopular in some circles, though this truth may be hidden. But as we ‘up our vibes’ to higher frequencies our choices become clearer and easier with practice. Choice by choice. Step by step. Day by day.

‘The Thinker’ - a Favorite Tree Stump in the Woods Out Back

Life: Opportunity For Love

Heart Rock Love from the Woods Out Back

Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to love everyone and all species on Earth.  . . . This is the real message of love. Thich Nhat Hahn

Muse chuckles and says to let you know that this post isn’t your quick fix guide to romantic love as we approach Valentine’s Day here in the U.S. and many other parts of the world. Though its origin and history are somewhat mysterious, my cynic’s view is that it has become yet another day where the opportunity for sincere ritual has been coopted into a capitalistic ritual of buying and consuming. That said, I can love my Fair Trade, Organic chocolate and appreciate all who contribute to putting on the shelves.

Setting aside the cynic, the day offers an opportunity to look more closely at love as a way of being. A way of being that is the underlying requirement for creating a world that turns its back on the culture’s bias toward separation and fear mongering and puts attention on unity, oneness, the whole of which we are each a part.

We don’t tend to think of love as a process or, perhaps more aptly, a learning curve (steep and never ending). We’ve forgotten that love is our essence. Love in its essence is pure and simple, but today we engage in histrionics and fantasy more than in being true to and allowing life to flow from that essence.

We separate good and bad, winning and losing, right and left, right and wrong, ill and healthy, et cetera forgetting that love is the essence in each, indeed love permeates ALL. You, me, us, them, bad, good, … So, despite being our essence love requires experimentation, learning, practice, commitment: the learning curve of life.

Thinking back on a few prickly events this week, I wonder ‘how might I have engaged differently?’ What would Love have done in that instant of beginning to feel the slightest irritation, a crossroads missed as I hurdled toward the path of loveless reaction?

Love would pause, breathe. Love would look both ways before choosing which road to take. Love would offer a reminder that the road of reaction and judgement is barren of love. Having found myself on that dismal alternate route from time to time (indeed more frequently than I’d like), I know its barrenness, its discomfort, its treachery.

I know too that I can create new crossroads and choose different paths, paths of love. I can replace judgement with loving discernment. I can restore trust, knowing that cancelled appointments and unreturned calls are guideposts to change direction. I can remember that ‘everyone has their story … we are all different, we are all the same’. While trusting a positive outcome, I can relax into curiosity about what will be revealed as Zadie Byrd faces a health challenge.

Reflecting on these little blips stirs deeper questions from which new possibilities can emerge as I/we co-create our world: What if I/we practiced love and allowed life rather than resisting and insisting that life be ‘my/our’ way? What if I/we looked at every interaction, every relationship, indeed everything as an opportunity for love? How beautiful will our world be when we can truly be love and embrace love for ALL?

HEARTY Welcome!

Strengthening Immunity

Morning Clouds over the Sangres

Every act of kindness on your part is a boost to your own immune system. Marianne Williamson

There are oh so many ways to strengthen our individual immune systems. It occurs to me that when we do so individually, we are contributing to strengthening the whole.

Whether through acts of kindness as suggested above, nutrition, exercise, or other means attending to your immune system is critical. Curiously, most media outlets do not add this to the list of ‘must do’s’. Rather they keep us in the drama of wearing masks, distancing, washing our hands, and, oh yes, when a vaccine will be available to erase this pandemic.

I’m not knocking any of these approaches, although I personally won’t be lined up for a vaccination when the time comes (that’s a muse for another day). Rather I notice that I experience deep disappointment that more attention to the importance of a strong immune system is front and center to our approach to Covid-19 and indeed to most illness.

A poem that made the rounds early in the pandemic when lockdowns and ‘stay at home’ orders first debuted greeting me upon rising this morning:

And the people stayed home -- by Kitty O'Meara
And the people stayed home.
And read books, and listened, and rested,
and exercised, and made art, and played games,
and learned new ways of being, and were still.
And listened more deeply.
Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows.
And the people began to think differently. And the people healed.
And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways,
the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed,
and the people joined together again,
they grieved their losses, and made new choices,
and dreamed new images,
and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully,
as they had been healed.  

It struck me that the poet has a strong pulse on the need to act in ways that support our immune systems, individually and collectively.

We need deep strength in these days. Not just to navigate to the other side of this pandemic, but to sustain ourselves and one another in creating the world, our worlds, anew. For the old world is crumbling. How we attend to its demise, how we hospice what no longer serves will in large part determine what emerges in a new world – the world that will be inhabited by our children, our grandchildren and beyond.

May we strengthen ourselves so that we are up for the tasks ahead. May we live fully into the words of activist, writer, friend Rivera Sun: Be kind. Be connected. Be unafraid.

PS – So often we think of the immune system as only a physical internal system. My colleague and friend, Kathy Wilson, expands this view in a recent post, a list of tools to support the immune system, developed over many months as she addressed her own compromised immune system (http://www.warrior-priestess.com/Newsletters/coach-newsletter11-15-20.html).

Sunset Moon

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’.    

A Formula for Ending the Pandemic

Cottonwood Creek - A Feast for the Senses

There was a forest fire in the mountains. Birds and beasts fled as fast as they could. Among them there was a little bird that thought she would try to put the fire out. She dipped her wings in the river, then flew over the fire again and again, sprinkling drops of water. The other birds laughed at her and said it would only exhaust her and come to nothing, but she continued anyway. That was all one small bird could do. A heavenly deity felt sympathy for the little bird and sent a great rain that put out the fire. —Anonymous [Daily Inspirational post for 15 April 2020 from Pace e Bene Campaign Nonviolence - https://paceebene.org/campaign-nonviolence]

One morning earlier this week, I woke thinking about what I (and WE) can do to end the current pandemic. A list emerged which I shared with a few friends, and I was gratified for the positive responses. I wasn’t thinking about my ideas being a blog post, yet when I read the quote above this morning, my thinking shifted in a flash. We each need to be the little bird with the faith that what we do WILL make a difference. Indeed, as I’ve written about in various previous posts, EVERYthing we do (and think and speak) matters!

Like me, you're probably already doing much of what I've come up with in my 'formula'. And, I’m sure you have practices and ingredients to add (Please share what you’re doing!).  

My belief is that, if we take action with strong purpose and intention, we WILL extinguish this Covid-19 ‘fire’.  Science tells us this is so. Your heart knows this truth just as the little bird knew.

Yep, it's a big job. And, each and EVERYone of us has a role to play. 

Do these with strong purpose and intention …

1.      STAY HOME!

2.      IF you must go out - cover your face, wear gloves, and use sanitizer frequently. Think of the postal, grocery and other essential workers as your most endeared family member or friend who you would never put in harm's way.  Do only what you absolutely MUST do. Go Home -- sanitize what you bring in, wash the clothes you were wearing, take a relaxing hot bath or shower. Rest.

3.      BOOST your IMMUNE SYSTEM! This is where our true power is! (a) be curious and find a regimen that feels right for you (mine; Vitamins C & D, Zinc, Magnesium + a healthy diet that includes some comfort foods - yes, chocolate - and lots of veggies); (b)get outdoors -- soak up some rays and move your body ... find beauty wherever you are! (c) maintain a positive attitude -- fear, stress and negativity work against the immune system. If you feel down in the dumps, fearful, or stressed be curious about the source; work with it, read something inspiring or to help you understand and move through it. Get help from a coach, a counselor, or a friend. (A few of many resources: Brene Brown's work -  https://brenebrown.com/;  Dr. Gerald Jampolsky's Love is Letting Go of Fear; recent articles on fear from my colleague & friend Kathy Wilson -  http://www.warrior-priestess.com/Newsletters/#archives)

4.      Embrace the pandemic event as an opportunity to learn, stretch, grow and to create life anew. Be inspired by stories of how the earth is responding, e.g. canals in Venice, pollution reduction in China, India, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-earth-pollution-noise/609316/)

5.      Stay informed without excessive exposure to news. What do YOU need to know in order to make wise choices for you?

6.      Ban drama, complaining and judgement of others from your environment (the ‘judgement’ thing? THAT is my biggest challenge!). Note: This does not mean denial or avoiding important conversations and decisions.

7.      Discipline your thoughts, words, and deeds. As my friend, author Rivera Sun (www.riverasun.com)  says "Be Kind. Be Connected. Be Unafraid." Our thoughts, words, and actions live forever as energy in the Universe. What are you contributing?

8.      Keep a gratitude journal. What are you grateful for today?  Share your gratitude.

9.      Laugh! At feline and canine videos, at silly posts, and, heck, even at yourself.

10.   If you've completed all these and still need entertainment - watch your favorite sports reruns, an inspiring movie; read an uplifting book; discover a new inspiring podcast (check out Sounds True's resiliency tools -  https://product.soundstrue.com/resilience-in-challenging-times/); love on your pet(s), Zoom chat with a friend. Find joy!

BONUS! Become an activist! Find a cause that you care about and become an active participant in creating a more beautiful world, one that cares for the earth and offers true economic and social ‘liberty and justice’ FOR ALL.  

We CAN do this! Humanity and our Dear Mother Earth are counting on it.

Onward and upward (with wings)!

REST! Gentle, easy rest.

The Power of Our Thoughts

His Holiness, The XIV Dalai Lama

The history of humanity is, in some respects, the history of [human] understanding. Historical events, wars, progress, tragedies, and so on, all of these reflect the negative and positive thoughts of [humankind]. All the great personalities of history, the liberators, the great thinkers, all such people reflect positive thinking, whereas tragic events, tyranny, and terrible wars have resulted from negative thinking. Therefore the only thing that is really worthwhile is to increase the power and influence of positive thinking and to reduce the occurrence of negative thinking. If you let anger and hatred run loose, you are lost. And no sensible human being wants to be lost.  Tenzin Gyatso, The XIV Dalai Lama

Seventy years ago this day my consciousness accepted this vehicle to navigate life on planet earth. What a journey it’s been. What a journey it continues to be! What a journey it is in this moment!

Just over six and a half years ago (346 weeks, but who’s counting?) I began this weekly practice of sharing ideas, musings, challenges and such. I’ve written, though not published/shared, throughout the decades of my professional life, especially my almost 30 years as a coach. 

I share this to provide a context for the essence of today’s message, which was written almost two decades ago on September 13, 2001 when our country was gripped in shock, fear and grief as a result of the events two days earlier.  I can imagine that similar fear swept the country in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and in the depths of the Great Depression as well as other tragic events.  I find myself longing for leaders that utter positive words of conviction as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in his first inaugural address:  So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. (emphasis mine!)

Yet as I look deeply at my longing, I realize that I have a responsibility to go within. To find my own conviction, and to act from that alone as, like each of you, we navigate multiple new terrains. The Dalai Lama’s words above strengthen my belief in the power of our thoughts as the starting point that sets direction.

His wisdom echoes the message that I wrote just after 9/11. It’s title: Most Important Now is What We Think. Here’s what I said then and what I believe even more strongly today:

Our strength as a nation and as a worldwide community lies in our beliefs. Each of us contributes our individual thoughts to that belief. While governments will take the actions deemed appropriate and necessary, our individual thoughts are part of the collective consciousness that will set the direction. We will move either deeper into hatred and anger or out of conflict and into peace. Each of us has the opportunity by our thoughts and intentions to bring light into this darkness. By our thoughts we each have a role, a responsibility, to determine whether the responsive actions that are certain to come lead to a world of hope, peace and freedom or to revenge which fosters more hatred.

As individuals, our greatest challenge today and in the days ahead is to wake up, to become aware of and to choose our thoughts carefully. We need courage, stamina and time to go beyond our reactive anger and to explore what we believe, what we want for our country and for the greater global community of mankind of which we are a part.

How can you meet this challenge? First, don't get sucked into the drama and repetition of media reports. Take from the media information that you need to make intelligent decisions for yourself, your family, your business. Then turn the media off. Don't let anything outside of you determine how or what you will think. Give yourself time to be clear about your beliefs and your thoughts. Take time to go beyond your anger and the desire for revenge. Take time to go beyond even your thoughts and prayers of comfort to those most directly impacted by the events. Take time to have bold, courageous, clear thoughts about the good that may follow.

Each thought you think is a powerful thing. Today more than ever in recent history, is a time to become aware of that reality and to take responsibility for thinking thoughts that contribute to the peaceful world we all desire. The collective thoughts of all of us will establish the direction of the future. What thoughts will you choose?

Our opportunity as we navigate the current pandemic is to find the information we need to make decisions on a daily basis without getting hooked into the media fear factory. That requires not denying when we feel afraid, but rather acknowledging and working with our fear until we can put it to rest. The choices that will serve us best, individually and collectively, are those flowing from positive thoughts grounded in love and care, not fear.

We can do this, my friends. Indeed, we must.

I gain strength from all of nature, especially these mountains

Lifting the Fog of Indecision

A foggy spring day in the Sangres

Weariness can occur as a result of thinking we know but not knowing that causes all sorts of indecision. Patrece on behalf of P Systems (PS 52 Series 11 If So, What Now? Week 31) www.p-systemsinc.com

Earlier this week, the words above landed on me like a bright ray of sunshine breaking through fog. This week’s PS 52 landed in my inbox right on time, adding clarity to my morning journaling and connecting the dots of energy and indecision.

My early morning observation started with awareness that when I speak of ‘my energy’ (as in ‘my energy has been really low’) I separate myself from the pure, raw energy that we all create with/from. Yep, I know, that’s not possible to actually do, but I had one heck of a mental construct supporting my illusion.

I was the victim of my ‘low energy’. I’d been experiencing a sense of feeling scattered, unfocused, and unable (or perhaps unwilling) to exert my will. I felt tired. I remembered hearing Gregge Tiffen share his practice of speaking the words ‘let the energy flow through me’ to energize action. THAT felt like an invitation to life and living fully. I felt an internal energetic shift (it’s truly challenging not to write ‘my energy shifted’ here, but I’m clear that I hold no ownership of energy) head to heart to toes.

I felt gratitude for the awareness of what seemed to be deepening into my bones. I was ready to bring on the list of projects and to-do’s so I could focus and take action. I had new clarity about energy and a reminder that it’s my job to direct it. Onward!

But before I dove in, this week’s PS 52 landed in my box, offering even greater clarity. What I’d labeled as ‘my low energy’, weariness if you will, was (at least in part) the effect of not making clear, intentional decisions to take action.  Indecision was leading me to meander wearily through many days, scattering my attention, and, if I was ‘lucky’, accomplishing a few tasks in the process.

I (re)discovered that when I do make clear, intentional decisions, the action (mostly) comes easily. The energy flows through me from one action to the next.  One decision paves the way for another. A course of action becomes clearer. My sense of ‘low energy’ dissipates. My will is strengthened.

I’m feeling deeply grateful and blessed for being shown this connection. And, I’m under no illusion that my new awareness is a ‘magic pill’ or ‘silver bullet’. I’m betting I’ll have days where I simply want to pull the covers over my head to rest. I’m sure to experience days where the path doesn’t seem so clear and choices seem hard. I aim to allow such foggy days to be and to bring to them my curiosity about what they have to offer, for surely they too have purpose. The energy flowing through me is here for me. And, it’s here for you. Let it flow! Let us flow!

And, as she always does, the sun breaks through!

Keep Your Faith!

And there was light!

Evil thrives in darkness. We must let our courage and conviction shine, so that not even the smallest shadow shall find a doorway in which to hide. … No sacrifice is too great. No undertaking is too demanding. No commitment is too excessive, in order to maintain faith. Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime: Flow With The Power of Nature – March, 2007)

Light! Light! Light! The world needs our light, the light of our faith, the light of understanding, the light of knowing that we are here in this moment in time as a small, yet integral, part of an unfolding Universe. The darker the world seems, the more brightly our light is needed. The more we sense fear, the greater we need to love.

That is how we change the world. That is how we learn and grow.

Reversing its letters, ‘evil’ becomes ‘LIVE’. LIVE! Live is life. Life is light. In Universal terms, life is also abundance, beauty, harmony, joy, love, peace, power.

Evil is none of these. Indeed it is their absence. From ancient times to this moment, history is replete with the horrors of evil. Hence, the conviction of faith and strong beliefs along with courage are necessary for us to say ‘no’ to evil and ‘yes!’ to live life in its truest sense.

History is overflowing with examples of this choice as well: the love exuded by the man known as Jesus; the sage wisdom of the Buddha; and in more recent times the sacred, loving activism of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and elders who the peaceful ‘Water is Life’ movement at Standing Rock.

While we know these names, it is wise to remember that throughout history countless others have taken a stand for light as well. You have. I have. Each of us in our unique ways dared to shine a light to break the darkness where evil dwells. 

Daily we have innumerable opportunities to do the same. We do so when we choose kind thoughts and speak words that match them. A patient smile while standing in a slow moving line radiates light as does a sincere, quiet ‘Thank you’ when we are served.

We shine light in the darkness when we receive and return the love of our pets and of all the flora and fauna of nature. And, who among us has not experienced the shift of a good belly laugh (or, even a slight chuckle)? We shine light when we sing, whether alone in the shower or in harmony with others.

These seemingly small acts are, in fact, huge. When taken collectively, they have the power to crack open hearts and shift mass consciousness to a higher vibration from which evil gets no support.

Up close and personal, choosing light is important as well. Each of our seemingly small acts of light strengthens our personal capacity for compassion in the face of evil. Each builds our conviction and our courage to be bold in choosing light, to keep the faith. We hold the power to shine the light of life in the darkest shadows where evil dwells. May we do so moment to moment, step by step.

Need of a little inspiration to shine? click here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yUK0S_cEXY     

Morning Light Filters Through the Woods

Harmony Is Our Nature

Listen to the wood …

Nature cannot step up and act upon us, except as it must respond to its basic need to be in balance. We have the power either to create a flourishing cornucopia of life to nurture and support us or to create hurricanes, melting polar ice caps, and swarms of locusts. … Every thought we have has an effect on us and our planet as well. We can be mindful of our thoughts. Gregge Tiffen (Life In The World Hereafter: The Journey Continues)

Listen to the wood.

I ‘heard’ those words one morning recently just after adding logs to my early morning fire, wondering afterwards whether I’d added too many too fast to get a quick hot burn going in the wood stove.  It reminded me that all of nature speaks her gentleness, consistency, stability, strength. In these mountain woods, I’m surrounded these gifts.

Nature also has the quality of harmony. Harmony is central to nature’s existence and she will do what is necessary to reach and maintain her harmonious state. If nature’s harmony is upset, she will respond, violently if necessary, in order to bring harmony back to the planet. Yes, those so-called ‘acts of God’ have a purpose.

Mother Nature will prevail. Our beautiful blue/green planet will exist as long as she has a purpose in the heavens, though we humans may not always be along for the ride. We have plundered too much, exploiting natural resources as commodities to be used up, sold for profit. We dominate and attempt to control rather than practicing the dominion of the planet we were granted: loving and listening to mother earth and considering her needs and her care as part of the equation of an abundant life.

We do so not just with destructive deeds, but with our negativity as well: fearful thoughts that in their angry expression forget the truth of our being, angry thoughts that in their fearful expressions resort to war and violence in both words and deeds.

This is not just ‘the other’, it is us – me and you – for none of us are yet free of anger and fear as sometime motivators and guides. And, that’s another gift, for planet Earth provides us the place to learn, to experiment, and to nurture the seeds of our infinite sojourn through an infinite and energetic universe.

May we do so as reflections of nature’s highest and best qualities!

Gentleness on the road out back.

Using These Times to Benefit YOU!

Gleaming Peaks in the Morning Light

If there is anything you don’t want in life, it is to plateau out. You want life to challenging. You want it to give you all sorts of elements which allow you to use yourself in a variety of ways. … Humans have the opportunities to move within events and gain something from them. Gregge Tiffen Down to Earth as quoted in Open Secrets: Revealing Habits – February, 2011

Over my years of coaching I frequently heard ‘I just want to retire, stop, get out the rat race, do nothing’. I see it today in social media posts and in financial institutions advertising their services to lure people in to get to the so-called ‘good life’.  Like the side effects of drugs that seem, at least to me, to outweigh their benefits, stopping for anything other than a respite to restore is not in our interest. Doing so removes us from the flow of life and the energy of learning, our prime purpose on this sojourn.

In these, shall we say interesting times, we may find it easy to want to retreat from where the flow of life seems to be heading. For many it’s easy to fall into despair, anger, fear, overwhelm, or faithlessness when looking only at the surface of events globally. This is especially true when we forget that we are here to learn and that, indeed, we learn from the experiences provided in the events that engage us. The magnitude of those events matters not. We can learn from them all – from the ginormous life changing ones right down to our daily walks with the dog and taking care of ourselves.

Without a doubt, these are intense times. In the midst of such intensity we may forget that there is no ideal end state that we’re aiming to create (then everything will be hunky-dory) or that ‘if I just do this’ then ‘that’ suddenly everything will be okay (whatever the heck that means). 

This week I began to ask myself:

• How are you using these intense times?

• How do you want to use them?

• What do you want to learn?

• What do you want to contribute?

• What more do you want out of this sojourn?

Questions like these bring me back to my center. That’s my purpose in reflecting on them.  I’m not aiming for enlightenment level ultimate answers, rather for a simple guidepost to my next step or two. Importantly, such questions remind me that I’m not a victim to the extremes at work in all aspects of life.

Remembering that I am an integral part of an infinite, intelligent, kind Universe moves me forward rather than into destructive patterns of thought. Coupled with remembering that I am here, now, on a brief learning journey – just one stop in the infinite journey that is my individual consciousness – puts the world in perspective. That world, crazy and hostile as it may seem, is merely the environment of the campus on this current school called ‘life’. From this place I can choose how and what I want to create and contribute.

Without a doubt, these are intense times. And, they are but a teeny, tiny blip on the infinite timeline of the Universe. Systems are crumbling and we know not what will be created in their place. Whether or not we are front and center on the lines of creating what is to come we are contributing, consciously or not, to their form and their qualities with every thought we think. Ponder on that. What are your contributions?

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