The Power of Curiosity

What’s ahead on this path of life?

You can apply curiosity to all your experiences in life. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Air of Optimism – May, 2011)

 These words leapt off the page this morning as I began my Thursday immersed in the question: What wants to emerge in The Zone this week?  It isn’t that this is a new idea to me, in fact ‘curiosity’ has made an appearance in no fewer than 66 issues (yep, I was curious and counted them). This week makes 67 … but I digress.

 Being curious is a choice we make, a powerful tool to help us navigate all aspects of life. Is it any wonder that as children before our natural curiosity was snuffed out, most of us constantly asked ‘Why? Why? Why?’ Somewhere along the line our culture, parents, teachers trained us that it is better to know than to ask. So, we stopped asking and started knowing (or acting as if we do, even when we don’t). At least I did. And, although life worked out pretty well, some of the results along the way weren’t so pretty.

 Today, thanks in part to my coach training and 25+ coaching clients to see choices where they think no choice exists, along with my ongoing study of metaphysics, I find myself invoking curiosity quite often. Perhaps it’s become a habit. If so, it’s not one to break, but rather one to nourish so that I can flourish.

 Curiosity is a powerful tool for creating a shift in our personal energy.  Asking yourself a question with a sincere desire to discover an answer can move you from being angry, stuck, fearful (and a host of other low energy places) to being calm, ambitious, loving, and in action (even if that action is simply reflection or research).

 I experienced a reminder of just that this week, after enrolling in a program to give my writing a boost. My excitement quickly shifted to dismay as I read the ‘Welcome Letter’ which included an ‘offer’ for yet another program, which it sounded as if I needed in order to get value from the one I’d just signed up for. My immediate reaction was ‘Ugh! Here we go again …’ 

 Somehow I remembered to pause and take a breath. I stopped myself from holding on to the assumptions that I’d made (They just want more money. This program will never work for me.). Then, I decided to get the facts (i.e. is my success in the program conditioned on the info in the second?). In that pause, I saw clearly past disappointments in programs.

 Rather than blaming the programs, I questioned my level of commitment to make them work for and provide value to me. My answer wasn’t especially pretty, yet it opened the door that allowed me to become clear about my commitment to this one: I will engage fully from a place of curiosity about how I can make the program work for me (rather than expecting ‘it’ to do the heavy lifting that is mine to do). The first day of engagement was fabulous! Curiosity energized the process (and no cat lost their life in the process).

 In an earlier post, I wrote ‘Stress flies away on the wings of curiosity.’ Today I can add that applying curiosity to the experiences in life is a pathway to peace, joy, creativity and satisfaction.

 How will it serve you to be curious today?

Curiosity is never at rest here.

Let's Do This!

Robin signaling the spread of new growth ... a sign to me that YES! We Can!

In effect, negative levels of earth consciousness will contribute to defeating the positive levels of non-physical consciousness. … when we have someone who is nasty, or when we get depressed, we are in league with the devil. … The battle between good and evil can increase to enormous proportions commensurate with the mass attitude of humans at any given point in history. Gregge Tiffen (Do The Angels Take a Vacation? – August, 2007)

Amidst a week of ‘more than usual’ activity, the message flow that came through yesterday seemed right on target. That was affirmed on our morning walk when a car speeded by, kicking up dust on our dirt road. I was trying to signal ‘please slow down’ but I was thinking and feeling ‘slow down ____’. My signal evoked an angry sign back.

That’s not the way I want to start my day. And, it’s now how I aim to feel about and interact with the world any time of day. So, today’s message is for me. Possibly it will resonate for you as well – as always that’s my wish.

Yesterday’s ‘download’ started with “Having the right, doesn’t make it (or you) right.” Hmm, I thought, not a new idea; it resonated. And then it continued something like this:

Since everything we do is magnified by the Universe; and

Since we are each one cell in the whole that is the Universe; and

Since we humans inhabit and depend upon this planet for our physical survival …

We need to exercise our ‘rights’ with care.

We need to know and understand that this body, this life is but one little dot in the infinite journey of our spirit. THIS is NOT ‘all there is’!

We need to live and make our choices knowing understanding the law of karma.

This is true for EVERY thought we think, EVERY word we utter, EVERY action we take.

EVERY thing is subject to the law of cause and effect.

Because we don’t always witness or experience immediate effects from our thoughts, words and deeds, I wonder if we’ve forgotten that everything we think, say and do contributes to the quality (or lack thereof) of life on this planet, both the incarnate and discarnate sides of the planet (and beyond into the entirety of this infinite Universe).  Yes! WE are THAT powerful!

Think about the power that YOU (yes YOU!) hold. Then take a moment to acknowledge the world, its chaos, cruelty, harshness, unkind words, poverty, climate extremes … any and all of those things that worry you, break your heart or cause anger to rise from the core of your being.

Now – with NO blame, shame, or judgement – ask yourself: how am I contributing to ‘this’? Consider others. Consider yourself, your life. Take some private, personal, quiet time to examine the thoughts you feed about each.

Ask yourself, what comments do I make about others? Yep, the words I uttered about the speeding driver this morning count and, sorry, so do the snarky comments that most of us have made on social media at one time or another.

Identify and consider the comments you make about yourself, your body, your life? Do your thoughts and comments contribute to creating the life, the health, the environment in which you can be healthy and thrive? Consider how you begin and embrace (or reject) each day – each moment for that matter. Do you worry about what ‘shoe will fall’ next? Do you wish that you weren’t on the planet? Those thoughts matter. The words you utter matter.

There is no thought, word or deed that isn’t energy, and this energy counts when it comes to cause and effect. Indeed all energy (and everything is energy) ‘counts’.  In this system, there is no shame, no blame, no judgement – only the Universe, perfect in its design, responding to the energy that issues forth from each of us 24/7.

What a beautiful thing that we are contributing to, creating the quality of life on our planet! Remember this truth when you feel powerless to impact the world: YOU ARE CREATING IT EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY. There is no time in which you are not impacting the world with your very being. 

Today, in this moment and each one thereafter, each of us individually, all of us collectively, our planet and, indeed, the Universe need for us to come to this awareness, to understand our power, and to think, speak and act accordingly. Let’s open our hearts. Let’s open our minds. Let’s open our arms. Let’s do this people!

'Come On People!' We'll show you the way!

Step By Step

On The Road ...

Whatever step you choose will take you closer to where you want to be.   … Creative force is the energy necessary to begin a new experience. … Energy is always in motion.  Gregge Tiffen – Life: The Staircase of Many Steps – January, 2008

Happy New Year! The page has turned, and here we are with the blank canvas of a new year to paint. 361 more days to engage in life - to live, to love, to experiment, to learn, to grow - before we complete the cycle of this calendar year.

Traditionally we set goals, make ‘resolutions’ and plans, to start a new year. And, all too often ‘life’ steps in with other ideas. Or, resistance in some form rears its head.

Overwhelm happens when we forget that all we need to do is take a step. Then another and another, continuing on step by step allowing each step to reveal the next.  When we do this moment by moment, day to day we have the potential to make huge progress on our journey.

The Beauty of Exploration - Hoar Frost on The Palouse - Pullman, Washington

It’s oh so simple, yet from time to time most of us find ourselves stopped, stuck, resisting anything resembling movement.  For me, that’s the time to remember that my body doesn’t give a hoot about love, life or learning. It sees the new, the adventure, and growth as dangerous threats to its sole concern – survival.

Clever in its ways, the body throws out all manner of reasons to not participate in life.  I’m tired. It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth it. I don’t know how. These are the cloaks my body wears to hide what I’m coming to understand is simply resistance. They are clues that I need to step up, challenge, and command my body to MOVE, to take a step, to be in action.

In responding to these clues I’m strengthening my ability to call forth my will.  It helps me to remember that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with turning on the ignition and that the journey is complete mile by mile. The 2656 mile road that I took in December is a fresh reminder as I look ahead to what I want to accomplish in 2018.

I also find that engaging curiosity counters the lethargy of resistance. The simple shift from ‘I don’t know how’ to ‘I wonder how/what I can learn’ is powerful fuel for moving into action.

As I practice these skills, I notice that the creative force needed to engage in new experiences comes forth more naturally and that a gentle flow of life’s events seems to emerge. Step by step through these events I live, I love, I learn, I grow.

Step by step we can accomplish much in this year that is just beginning. May we each step fully into the energy that is always in motion!

Almost Home ... Sangres in the Distance

Energy Management: Our Inside Job

Season's first snow on the peaks

Energy management has to issue forth from the inner you before you can do anything about the outer conditions in your life. Gregge Tiffen (Deeds Are Fruit, Words Are Leaves – October, 2008)

It’s late this Thursday, hours after my weekly musings are usually drafted. By this time most Thursdays, my blog is written, posted on my website, and I’ve hit the ‘send’ button to my email list. Luke has taken me for my second doggie walk of the day, and I’m ready to engage in the day’s other tasks.

Each week has its own unfolding. Sometimes I wake knowing what wants to be said. Sometimes more reflection time and/or reading are needed before clarity comes, an idea forms and the words follow. That’s how it is this day.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve paid attention to my energy with a particular focus on my physical energy. I haven’t felt up to par (whatever the heck ‘par’ is – I’m sure that I expect mine to be high). I haven’t felt that I was getting things done efficiently or that I was getting the support needed to do so. (Woe is me L)

So, it was no surprise when the quote above finally leapt off the page, bringing clarity for this week’s post.  Gregge’s words offered clarity about my sub-par energy AND how to address it: look within to discover what’s going on. In reading further, I was reminded that my thought patterns are feeding my cells 24/7.

This year, this autumn, this time feels different. I’ve felt different – more weary than energized, more dull than curious, more grudging than grateful. And, I feel more sad than hopeful for my fellow humans and the planet. And, all those thought patterns have been dragging me down. No wonder I felt pooped!

Time for a shift!

Often I experience that simply remembering to look inside and discover what’s going on there is an adventure that turns the tide. At least it begins the process. This day I didn’t find a cesspool of dark, smelly muck at the root (Whew!), and the internal click of awareness lifted my spirits.  I’m lighter and more energetic than when the day began. I’m curious how several ‘balls in the air’ will unfold and what I need to do to direct that unfoldment. I’m grateful for the guest who departed earlier today and for those that will arrive tomorrow and over the weekend. And, I’m looking forward to the satisfaction of completing the array of many winter preparation tasks yet to be done before winter weather arrives to stay.

Beyond the end of my nose, with so much chaos on the planet and discord among we humans, these days may be the most important time for us to look within, to be clear about our individual paths, our bodies, our health, ourselves, and to care about all of that from the inside out.

The turning of the leaves is in full swing here on our daily path.

Atmospheric Conditions

Perfect Atmospheric Conditions Required for Flight!

At times, by the use of a word, an attitude, or an action, you plug into some kind of energy that you are not aware is there.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Invisible Action – November, 2011)

There were times in my life that I took just a speck of inspiration that I could feel and expanded upon it to pump more vitality into that sense of acceptance. Patrece (undated personal communication)

In the midst of atmospheric conditions that feel, sound, and look dark and ominous, one can sometimes feel that other energy isn’t there for our use.  I find myself with that challenge more than I’d like.  At a time when I (and I think humanity and the planet) need an atmosphere of well-being, it seems that the overall atmospheric conditions are dense, dark and in need of lifting.

On waking the first day back from my week away, I found myself slipping into a funk. Beyond ‘the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket’, a closer look revealed a sense of obligation about many tasks and activities that needed my attention. Even activities that I wanted to participate in felt obligatory.

What energy had I unwittingly plugged into?  More importantly, what energy did I want and what atmosphere would I prefer to create?  The questions themselves along with recognizing that we each contribute to the overall atmosphere by the atmosphere we create for ourselves, provided an opening, a reminder that I could walk through a different portal to a different attitude, a different atmosphere.

Over the years, I’ve found many things that nurture and support me to create an atmosphere of well-being around me.  Daily walks in nature with the handsome Cool Hand Luke and joy of caring for him rank high on my list.  Music, listening and singing; poetry, reading and writing; mystical and spiritual works are other fertilizer to nourish and expand on little bits of inspiration. Creating a nurturing environment for my B&B guests supports me in many ways.

A Favorite Inspirational Spot on Cottonwood Creek

Gregge Tiffen’s work, both his general writing and notes from my consultations with him over 30 years, likewise is an always reliable source.  A look at my personal BiCircadian calendar (one of many tools of his legacy) provided just what I needed to shift from obligation to exploration: two planets in positions that supported lightness, fun, creativity, and spontaneity. Although I didn’t exactly jump up and shout “bring it on!”, I felt the heaviness of obligation lifting and the curiosity of exploration beginning to bloom.

All too often we accept the atmosphere we find ourselves in as ‘just the way things are’.  We forget that there is a choice about the energy we plug into and the atmosphere which that creates.  We wander away from ‘home’, look outside of ourselves (our cells), and latch on to whatever energy is present. In a world that needs the vibration of our well-being, perhaps that haste does indeed make waste, and taking time to make a conscious choice serves us as well as serving humanity.

Question for the week: How do you recognize specks of inspiration and what are your favorite ways to nurture them?

Handsome. That IS All.

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!

Difficult Times

An especially beautiful sunrise over the mountains: snow, a fog bank, and sunlight in the trees

When you are in difficult situations, ask yourself what your life is trying to show you. Gregge Tiffen, Life in the World Hereafter: The Journey Continues (available from P-Systems - http://www.p-systemsinc.com/publications.htm and on amazon.com)

I wanted to title this post ‘The Most Important Question You Can Ask’, but I resist the temptation to shout what I understand to be mystical truth.  I don’t know about you, but I learn best when something comes to me understated.  I like to be surprised when some new piece of knowledge or an experience exceeds my expectations. My ‘critical eye/I’ kicks in when I experience something as less than I thought was promised.

What is true for me now however is that approaching all of life, especially difficult times, as learning opportunities is the most important shift that I have made in my 66 years of this life.

Sincerely asking the question ‘what does this event in my life want to teach me?’ with an open mind and an open heart is an elixir that helps me move from struggle and suffering to greater ease and peace.  With an attitude of genuine curiosity, I can engage in necessary actions that step-by-step often lead to inspiration and deep insight. Hidden possibilities are revealed in holding the question lightly even in the darkest of situations.

Old habits and patterns stagnated some aspect of my growth can emerge with an invitation to be released to make way for new growth.  Shedding skins and dropping leaves are two of nature’s many reminders that the way must be prepared for the new. Difficult times in our lives are like weather changes that signal the time for growth is nigh.  New growth signals our resilience and our adaptability, and it builds these strengths.

Life’s events are meant to be our teachers. We are not meant to enter them knowing what to or what the outcome will be.

They exist FOR us, for our experimentation and our learning. They are opportunities to call forth our will. Though they may bring pain, sadness, angst, even fear, life’s events –each and every one- are gifts of an omnipotent universe. That universe knows what we need on our path of learning to navigate on this planet, in this life, and beyond.

Wherever you find yourself this week, whether easy or difficult times are upon you, give yourself the gift of tapping into that omnipotence with the question: what can this event teach me?  Then, be willing to listen and to learn.

And equally beautiful in the west, a morning rainbow across the valley

Energy Shift!

Cool Hand Luke: ever present teacher to a not always present student.

To accept an event as your opportunity to reveal more self honesty is the issue for effective and efficient rates of progress. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Economical Rates of Progress – August, 2010)

So often we think of self-honesty as a drag. And we forget, at least I do, that the discipline of using our will is a gift given we humans at birth. It isn’t hard, and it does require practice.

This morning I woke as if I’d not had a good eight hours sleep. I felt tired and, even though it’s my favorite morning, this Thursday had me thinking about spending the day in bed with the covers pulled over my head.  I stretched and got up anyway.  It is blog day you know.  Not only that it’s a special blog day: the 156th post, marking three years of weekly posts.

Good Morning from the Sangres!

Still dragging after making my tea, I picked up one of Gregge’s booklets from my bedside stack. The page that I opened it to reminded me that I have a ‘band’, a group of astral energy beings assigned to support me, just me, in life and learning.  How is it that I so easily forget that they are available 24/7?  More importantly, how could I remember?

About that time Cool Hand Luke woke up, stretched, looked at me with those soulful brown eyes, and took a few steps to come an put his head on my lap. Tears streaming, I knew in that instant that Luke is a messenger for my band.  I had not only the answer to ‘how can I remember?’ (duh, it’s right in front of me!). I also had an insight as to what Luke is trying to communicate when he sits patiently and just looks at me: ‘HI! Remember us? We’re here for YOU!’

Need I mention that my energy shifted immediately?  The weary me that had waked up less than hour before had shifted: Bring on the day!  Let’s get the blog done and see what else wants to be created.

At a time when our planet needs joy and all the positivity we can muster, this morning using my will to take just one step and then the next, I made that shift. No covers over my head this day!

Some might think differently, but there is no ‘one size fits all’ formula. We each need to experiment and discover what works for us.  Taking time to simply remember a few basics can be a wonderful place to start.

Remember who you are: a cell in the infinite universe of love.

Remember time is not the issue: you have all the time you need, eons of time, to learn and grow in wisdom.

Remember you are in school: earth school is not a cake-walk. You earned the privilege of being here at this time, just as you earned the gifts of learning that every challenge you face offers.

Remember that something beautiful greets you every day: if you don’t see it, look in the mirror and smile.

Treetops, sand dunes, mountains, sky!

Ever on duty!