Novel Experiences

When a tree falls in the woods …

Your body is always looking at the planet through its five physical senses. It never looks beyond the planet. It looks at physical action only. … You find living here easier and a lot more fun when you respond to the planet and nature as you are designed to do. You understand that experience is here to increase your awareness at a certain point and for a certain reason. Gregge Tiffen (Learning Without Experience Is A Bell Without a Clapper – September, 2008)

 If the only prayer you said was ‘thank you’, that would be enough. Meister Eckhart

 It’s often said ‘the reason is love’. In this week of two ‘novel’ experiences, my reason is gratitude, feeling grateful and expressing my thanks.

The two experiences were vastly different, each novel in its own way. The first was a project occurring over several days with concentrated focus for a few hours each day. It was planned and orderly with the beginning, purpose and completion clearly defined at the outset. The second experience was an event that occurred instantly, no advance planning and ending in less than a minute.

 The project was ‘novel’ because I was reviewing the manuscript of a yet to be published novel. The event was novel because it was a first for me: a tree falling in the woods within arm’s-length of where I was standing. Only in hindsight do I connect them beyond the word ‘novel’. Upon reflection, I see how each brought me to gratitude.

 The project, being a beta reader for the forthcoming sequel to Rivera Sun’s fabulous novel, The Way Between, brought to awareness my gratitude for writers and activists who, like Rivera, are on the ‘front lines’ of change, working tirelessly to manifest social justice, equality, and non-violence in these times lacking all three. I’m grateful too for the opportunity to support this work doing something that I enjoy.

 The falling tree gifted me with an instant of simultaneously not knowing whether Luke and I would be alive in the next moment AND absolutely trusting that we would.

The adventure started with an afternoon break, heading out for a short hike on a beautiful, calm afternoon.  We’d reached our ‘turn-around’ point and were about to head back down the trail when I heard the unmistakable (though I’d never heard it before) sound of a tree cracking, breaking, about to fall. With no time to think, I made and executed two snap decisions – don’t call Luke and get face-down on the ground. In the next instant, I felt a thud as the tree hit the ground. Realizing that it hadn’t hit me, I called for Luke. He appeared quickly, a bit shaken (heck, we both were!), but otherwise just fine.  

 “Thank you!” I repeated several times, thinking in that moment only that both of us were safe. But as we walked back – on a road, not the trail - my shakiness gave way to a deeper, expansive gratitude. I felt gratitude to be alive in this body, on this planet, at this time, as well as gratitude for all life in all forms, formlessness, and infinity.  

 This week and beyond, may I not forget gratitude. May I feel it, and remember to say a heartfelt ‘thanks’.

Coming Soon to a Bookseller Near YOU …

The Source of Aha Moments

A Sudden Burst of Fall!

… there is an inner beauty within each of us that is hungering to be matched in outer experiences. When that moment happens in truth, some great affirmation leaps up within us and for a moment out of time we move beyond hope and belief to the conviction of certainty. Patrece, From Concept to Conviction: Experiment, PS 52, Series 10 Week 50 (Post Scripts is a weekly series written by Patrece on behalf of P Systems, an independent 501(c-3) non-profit corporation she established in 1983. www.p-systemsinc.com

The source of your aha moments is YOU!

The moment I read the above quote, it resonated deeply. Isn’t life about bringing forth what lies dormant in each of us, creating experiences that do just that: matching what Patrece suggests is our ‘inner beauty’ with our ‘outer experiences’.

My own ‘aha moment’ was recognizing this light within as the source of insights we call ‘aha moments’. The source of my aha moments is me, just as the source of your aha moments is you.

We tend to look upon ‘aha moments’ as those times when an insight comes to solve a problem or to see our way through a challenging situation. While that is certainly the case, the real beauty of an ‘aha moment’ is that it reveals more us to ourselves. And, in discovering more of self, we discover more about others, our world, and our relationships with both.

Perhaps we would do well to savor our flashes of insight by taking time to express our gratitude and to reflect on what our new awareness has to offer beyond the current concern it appears to address. What is the wider, deeper message of this insight? Where is its application in my life?

Beyond recognizing (remembering to be more accurate) inner beauty seeking expression as the source of insights (and for that matter, inspiration), I put attention on the words ‘within each of us’.  I invited that to settle in … each of us: all inclusive, each and every one. Not just some. Not just those with whom I agree. EVERYONE.

Aha! We each hold a piece of the Universal ‘puzzle’ that is beauty waiting patiently (or not) to be expressed. Those who make choices and take actions that I loathe are part of this great unfolding. Yes, even ‘him, her, them’. And …

NO! This awareness does not mean I give them a pass or that I look the other way, rather it reminds me that a part of my expression is compassion and care. It reminds me that diversity creates unity. It reminds me that polarity is a requirement for creation. It moves me ‘beyond hope and belief to the conviction of certainty’ that life in this chaotic time is but a blip in the eternity that is our infinite Universe.

My job, and yours, is to express the inner beauty that is ours and ours alone in everything we do moment to moment, day to day with love, not fear; with clarity, not confusion; with trust, not doubt. These expressions are our contribution to feeding the collective hunger for a world whose outer manifestation reflects what our hearts most desire.

A Shroud of Clouds and Blessed Rain in the Sangres!

The Antler

The Antler of Wisdom & Awareness

Shedding is nature in action, the easy, effortless flow of life. Clinging upsets this natural flow, creating suffering, stress, and dis-ease.

The whole object of pruning is that it improves your growth, it regenerates your brain, and it opens up new opportunities. Experiences that are no longer being used in a positive manner should be cut from the creative tree inside of you and taken away. Gregge Tiffen (Give Nothing, Get Nothing – August, 2008)

Take a moment to imagine a male deer resisting shedding his antlers (my first thought was a beautiful buck dashing into the market looking for super glue) or a snake holding on to its outgrown skin (duct tape anyone?).  Imagine an autumn walk in the woods if the leaves weren’t falling from the trees. Or what we humans would look like if we didn’t constantly shed cells of our skin.

While no deer, snake or tree was interviewed for this musing, I’m quite certain that they don’t resist this natural process. And, I’m hardly aware of the daily loss of my skin cells.  Shedding is nature in action, the easy, effortless flow of life. Clinging upsets this natural flow, creating suffering, stress, and dis-ease.

Yet we humans cling. We hold on to ‘stuff’ – so much stuff that our garages have no room for our cars and ‘storage’ is a thriving business. We hold on to jobs, relationships, as well as to ideas, habits, and beliefs that, at best, we no longer need. Sometimes in our busy-ness we simply aren’t aware of what we are holding on to, much less its toll. For the most part we don’t look at events in our lives to discover their meaning, their gifts, and their clues to what we need to change.

One morning tending to my garden on the deck, I discovered several beautiful, almost ripe tomatoes had been partially eaten. Argh!!! I suppose the pesky pack-rats I later trapped (and relocated several miles away in an open field) concluded I didn’t need them since there was a box full in the house awaiting the dehydrator.  

Harvest time brings allergy season – itchy eyes for me, shedding and itching all over for Cool Hand Luke. In my angst over his apparent discomfort (and my annoyance at the almost constant biting, licking, scratching) I lost sight of the fact that shedding is natural, normal, and that I know how to ease Luke’s discomfort.

I was ‘dealing with’ these events without much thought and no reflection. Then, I found ‘the antler’.

Shed sometime in the late fall or winter by one of the many bucks that hang out here in our woods, ‘the antler’ woke me up, cueing me to the theme of ‘shedding’ present all around me and inviting me to that thoughtful, reflective place. I accepted the call.  As I walked home with the antler, I understood that I’m in a shedding period of my life. I’ve ‘shed’ the bed & breakfast creating the spaciousness for something new to emerge.

I became aware of Luke’s shedding as a normal part of canine life. I was aware of an eating habit that contributes to my itchy eyes and that now can be ‘shed’. And (ugh!) I was aware that the pack-rats, which come by that name quite honestly, were suggesting it was time to complete the culling of ‘stuff’ that I began several months ago (yep, what I culled in the house, is in the garage!).

I wondered, what else would it serve me to shed? Perhaps it’s time to shed my habit of using my ‘critical eye’ to judge the actions of others and aim it lovingly on my own actions.  

What other thoughts, beliefs or ideas no longer need to reside in me? Perhaps it’s time to banish thoughts that undermine my conviction that the Universe is a friendly place, unfolding as it must despite so much evidence to the contrary.

What distractions are blocking the emergence of something new? Perhaps my protective reaction to signs of growth and change popping up in our community provide a clue.

As I go about life, these questions are alive in me. No push. No rush. No clinging. Open heart to discover what to shed and prune next. And, simple gratitude for the space to receive these gifts.

Signs of Growth, Signs of Change in The Woods

Reclaiming Softness

Prickly Labyrinth Path

Your voice was meant to be a lullaby giving comfort to the weary and security to the young. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Economical Rates of Progress – August, 2010)

The Eco-Heroine’s Journey … is a path to understanding how deeply enmeshed we are in the web of life on this planet. … it is an antidote to the swashbuckling action-adventure that is the Hero’s Journey: it is a woman’s journey, based on a woman’s way of being in the world. Sharon Blackie (If Women Rose Rooted: The Journey to Authenticity and Belonging)

I just finished reading a book. I didn’t want it to end. And, I wanted it to end so I could begin to discover what it will come to mean in my life.

Sharon Blackie’s If Women Rose Rooted changed me – with my permission, my invitation in fact – in ways that today I only sense. I know few, if any, words that would do justice to how this book touched my soul. Read it!

For a while now my muses (surely I must have more than one!) have guided me to reflect on the nature of the feminine, a part (and only a part) of which is the softness so missing in today’s harsh world.  Blackie’s book arrived right on time to deepen that reflection, shining light on ideas I’d not yet considered and deepening my understanding of familiar themes.  

Having a sense of roots in a (geographic) place is a key point woven throughout the beautiful stories Blackie tells. My love this place from the vastness of the valley to the stunning beauty of the 14,000 foot peaks is no secret to anyone. I feel at home here, consistently nurtured by nature, and sometimes challenged by her harshness. From time to time, I’ve had a hunch there was more to know – really know at the deep soul level. Blackie’s book has inspired me to discover not only more of the stories about people and place, but to listen – really listen – to the land, the trees, the furry and feathered inhabitants. Perhaps, an awareness of the unseen, unheard beings in these woods and waterways will grace my knowing.

“Step out of and more deeply into your habits, your routines. Deepen your awareness.” I feel the subtle nudge of this message. And, I respond.

This morning, Cool Hand Luke and I forged a new route on our morning walk. When we returned home I walked the labyrinth as I often do. Today, though, I walked it barefoot. After dozen or so steps, each slow and gentle my feet seeking any softness they could find on ground made prickly with dried pine needles and broken pine cones, I sank first one foot, then the next under the surface. Softness! I found the softness of sand beneath the brambly surface. Softness! Like the crab soft under its hard shell. In the softness of the sand I experienced the softness of crab, symbol for the zodiac sign of Cancer, and this on a day when the moon is transiting that sign. Softness!

My journey continues, reclaiming softness and bringing my soft side more fully into the world. Not a particularly new or different journey, but the path has new illumination. I carry the beam, fueled with gratitude and joy and curiosity for this moment, the next, and beyond.

Come on Mom. It's not that prickly!

Breaking Free of Comparison

Evening Thunderheads - Bring On the Rains

You are not separate from creative Source. … the creative Force of the Universe is creating without any evaluatory bent. … your greatest creative defeat is often that you have set yourself up in some kind of comparative mode that is working against you. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Creative Power Released – July,2011)

Comparison is a trap that has us believe that we are separate from Source and from one another.

Comparison and competition are antithetical to the Universe. Just look at nature. In the woods out back the pines don’t compete or compare themselves to one another or to the cottonwoods nearby. They simply (or not so simply if you dive deep into the science of these woods) live, breath, and grow with the season. They do so without regard to standards the world sets about how a pine tree should be. Likewise, they don’t give a wit about how they grew last week or last year.

It’s tempting to say pine trees have an easy life, but in a year of drought, I doubt the pine would agree. They deal with such challenges in their authentic way, honoring the pattern of the seed from whence they broke through the ground. They are tapped into the creative power that is the Universe without the blocks and barriers to that Source that we humans create with our awareness and our intelligence. (Yep, I find that humorous too!)

Universal humor aside, our awareness and intelligence are the ground from which the gift of free will is called forth. We say that we’re connected to Source, but the truth is we ARE Source. Free will is the right and responsibility to choose how we direct that energy. The more we know about and honor our uniqueness, our blueprint, our ‘seed’ if you will, the more ease we experience.

Sadly we live in a world that operates under the false belief that comparison is beneficial and that good, better, best are real measures of success. We compare our lives, our work, our financial wealth, our health (and the list goes on) with others. We’re surrounded by messages – some of them very well-meaning - that success means measuring up to whatever the world declares as standards (and it keeps us in chaos by constantly, often subtly, changing those standards). Rather than learning from what we’ve experienced, we often compare our experience today with that of last week or last year.

Personally, I unconsciously gravitate to comparison when I’m feeling a little off, having lost awareness of the reality that I’m not separate from Source. From this place, I simply don’t measure up to what others have done/are doing or to the world’s standards or to what I’ve done in the past.

Comparison is a trap that has us believe that we are separate from Source and from one another. Breaking free and staying free of the trap requires practice and awareness. From the point of awareness that you’ve fallen into to the comparison trap, here are some useful techniques for breaking free:

• Move (stretch, shake it off, or better yet, get outside for a walk)
• Touch the earth (a few minutes with my feet in the sand is a great elixir)
• Remind yourself that you are not separate from creative Source and feel into that energy
• Return to gratitude
• Engage curiosity (how can I live more fully into what I know?)
• Laugh (and the world laughs with you! – how silly of me to forget who I AM)

Enjoy a comparison free week!

The Three G's of Power

A Beautiful Afternoon in the Woods

Today I sing my song with gusto, grace and gratitude. Rev. Dr. David Goldberg - Daily Guide for 7 February 2018 in Science of Mind magazine.

Power doesn’t need anything to support it other than the conviction that the Power is there. Gregge Tiffen - Fanned Fire and Forced Love Never Did Well – February, 2008

… security is silent and insecurity is loud. Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) – 7 February 2018 interview, MSNBC

I love life! Even the ‘dumps’ and whatever events seem to take me there have gifts to share (though, being human, I don’t always recognize them in that moment).  I especially find joy in discovering several ideas which at first seem totally separate then, upon reflection, converge to create yet another gift. And, I’m quite jazzed when I see both a personal and a global application.

So, this morning finds me pumped, inspired by three words in an affirmation yesterday: gusto, grace, gratitude. Upon reflection, I discovered just how powerful those three words are up close and personal in my own life, as well as how relevant (and much needed!) they are in the world.

The three words resonated deeply when I first read them. ‘Gusto, Grace, and Gratitude’ gained more life during a conversation with a colleague/friend across the pond.  Later, I wanted to make an honest evaluation of how I measure up to each (not against any worldly yardstick, just my own self-satisfaction).

• Gratitude – my strongest of the three G’s. I’ve come to live in deep gratitude and express it frequently. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this day” is the mantra that begins and ends each day. I’m aware of my gratitude when I step out the door or look out the window at the natural beauty that surrounds me and when I get a gentle nudge from Cool Hand Luke reminding me to take a break. The list could go on (and on, and on …). What I’ve come to understand from practicing gratitude, is that she opens the way to all of the good in my life. She even lights the path that helps me see purpose in the ‘monsters’ that lurk in the corners.
• Grace – gaining strength in my life, in part thanks to gratitude. I’ve come to walk through life with a greater sense of ease and patience with myself and others. I aim to have a strong sense of what is right without being self-righteous and to be thoughtful in how I respond to people and ideas that I find repulsive. Remembering that we are each part of a larger whole, each with her/his unique and individual learning to do on this earthly sojourn helps me maintain (and, hopefully, express) grace.
• Gusto – at first glance, not my strong suit. Yet, as I explored its meaning (keen enjoyment, enthusiasm, appreciation, zest, relish; great vigor or liveliness), I realized that gusto doesn’t need to be loud or flashy. Like power and security, gratitude and grace, gusto is very much an inside job that finds reflection in how I walk through the world. What I wrote to begin this post sounds a lot like ‘gusto’ to me.

So, what about ThreeG Power in the world? Military might, chest thumping, and parading the weaponry of coercive force are not signs of strength or power.  Name calling and negative comments keep us mired in the muck, distracted from the business of life, peace, justice, compassion and creating a world where all are honored and valued.  

I see amazing power from putting the Three G’s into practice in our lives. Imagine what’s possible when we add gobs of gratitude, grace and gusto to mass consciousness to counter the destructive forces of fear and negativity in the worlds of politics, commerce, religion, media, et cetera. Imagine the transformation that’s possible in our individual disagreements with one another.

Which of the Three G’s speaks most powerfully to you? What will you do this week to nurture them all?

All Seeing Eye of the Majestic Pine

When The Roast Is Done

Finally, some snow on the peaks!

... consistency establishes a vortex, and that is your responsibility to yourself. Take the information in, and distill it into your own knowledgeable terms because it is your essence that makes the system work for you. You then become strong in your conviction of who you are and what you are doing. No matter what the world says, you stick to it. Gregge Tiffen (Earth and Second Earth, a volume in The Collected Works of Gregge Tiffen)

When the roast is done, take it out of the oven.

I wavered this week. As I moved toward implementing my decision to close my bed and breakfast business (yep, I made that decision since my last post!), I hesitated. ‘Well, maybe it would work if I …’ I thought. ‘That last insurance quote wasn’t too bad, perhaps I should …’ On the surface, each thought was a good idea worthy of consideration. But they didn’t fit with what I know deep inside: I’m done with this.

I recognized the thoughts as doubts sourced in the all too pervasive scarcity consciousness perpetuated to control using fear. Recognizing the source helped.

But what tipped the scales and moved me into action was a keen awareness based in self-observation over the past several months. My enjoyment of hosting was waning, despite the lovely people who visit. When I received a very expensive insurance quote that simply didn’t work financially, my soul cheered. Every cell in my body knew it was time to end this chapter. Yet my gut clinched at declining to accept reservations as I weighed the decision carefully. ‘Maybe I can find a better insurance option’ I thought. One did emerge that made a bit more financial sense. In the end that didn’t shake the knowing that I was done and the soft calling of some new focus.

Remembering the high cost of continuing when something is done helped. Whether it’s a roast in the oven, a job that no longer inspires (or is barely tolerable), a stale relationship, done is done. Keeping a roast in the oven not only burns the roast, it leaves no room for the chocolate cake that you yearn to be bake. And …

Pouring water in a full glass wastes water and makes a mess.

Operating the B&B had become a ‘full glass’. Observing the energy I expended with a guest here recently confirmed that. This roast is done. To continue wouldn’t serve me or future guests. And, I’ve ridden in this ‘rodeo’ before, ending chapters (jobs, partnerships, relationships, housing, etc.) not knowing what the next would bring. Without exception each brought what I needed and, they’ve all turned out just fine.

As with changes past, I discovered that I changed, grew, expanded from the B&B experience. My future growth requires something new, and that’s not yet clearly defined. After a fantastic four year ride, that ‘something’ is calling for my focus, my energy, my interest and attention. I’m closing with much gratitude and the conviction that my decision to do so is as ‘right’ as the decision to dive in four years ago. That time too was one of questioning, not knowing, and being open to what’s next. Guidance and clarity brought the path. I stepped on it and began the walk, step by step. What a journey!

Each step (and the missteps too!) brought learning. With learning, a deepened understanding of who I am continues to emerge.

So, let the next chapter begin! And, let me stick to living life confident in what I know and in learning even more.

What about you? Is there a ‘roast’ in your oven that’s done? A chocolate cake yearning to be baked? This week, I invite you to take a look inside. Discover what may be complete. And, bake a new cake!

End of the Bed & Breakfast Chapter of the Dragonfly House

The Power of Giving Thanks

The Sun Sets on Another Glorious Day in the Rockies

The power of giving thanks gives life its vitality! The power of giving thanks comes through your awareness that you are always in a position to receive all the elements the Universe has to offer. Everything is available to you.  Gregge Tiffen (The Power of Giving Thanks, November, 2007)

A couple of Thanksgivings ago, sitting quietly by the fire on a cold morning, I began to write in my journal. The words that came surprised me and took me to an unexpected place: gratitude for being me.  Today as I began to reflect on what I wanted to share this Thanksgiving week, I found that post from 2015.  In this moment, it expresses exactly the prayer of thanks that is in my heart this day.

I am grateful for how I live my life, the choices I make, the insight and curiosity I experience, my love of quiet and of nature’s beauty. I’m grateful that I take reasonably good care of myself. I’m grateful that I take time to ease into the day and enjoy the morning quiet with Luke curled up near-by. I’m grateful for my introspection and for how I see the world unfolding perfectly in this human experiment/experience despite events that are horrific beyond my understanding.

I’m grateful for how I’ve faced the challenges in my life, even those events where in hindsight I saw a different way for me to be. Each offered a gift and I did my best to accept it.

I’m grateful that I enjoy my own company as well as being in the company of others. Both are so very important, yet we humans so very often shun being alone for fear of being lonely, forgetting that in our aloneness we hear Your voice and feel Your presence.

Thank You for always being with me/in me. Thank YOU for allowing and guiding me to be me. I feel so close You, God, in these quiet moments and I am so very grateful.

Thankfulness and gratitude are often expressed for things external to us – our family, our work, our homes, our pets, our friends.  Yes, I am grateful, deeply grateful, for these many, many blessings in my life.  This week I’m especially grateful for Cool Hand Luke Skywalker and our annual ‘anniversary’ hike to celebrate his adoption seven years ago.

When we give thanks for being who we are, we tap into the vitality of life. That vitality includes deep peace and the personal satisfaction of allowing myself to express gratitude for me. In whatever form you give thanks, may it bring you peace, joy, love and all that your heart desires.

A Shrine On the Trail High in the Mountains

Receptivity: Welcome Mat of The Mind

Morning Crescent Moon - Receptivity Peeks Through The Trees

Just as instinct guides the animal, so would intuition guide man, if he would allow it to do so. (Ernest Holmes - The Science of Mind)

To withhold ourselves from receiving Universal energy as a result of negative thinking and negative action, or to resist giving thanks from our point of awareness is to work against the flow of the Universal energy. (Gregge Tiffen – The Power of Giving Thanks – November, 2007)

Waking this Thursday, ‘Blog Day’, with no idea re this week’s topic, I felt a gentle nudge to start from a different place. Rather than opening one of Gregge’s booklets, I turned to today’s ‘Daily Guide’ (this month written by Rev. Dr. Christian Sorensen) in my November Science of Mind magazine. When I read Holmes’ quote, the focus was clear: receptivity.  That led me quickly to Gregge’s quote, a reminder to be receptive to the ever present flow of Universal energy.

I chuckled as I read Sorensen’s message, where he equates training the mind to be quiet and receptive with training a puppy to ‘stay’.  “Intuition,” he says “comes of a welcoming mind where it will impress itself upon the receptive medium.” 

Being that receptive medium or keeping our welcome mat out requires consistent intention, attention and p r a c t i c e. We have a lot of help in doing so.

Think of nature and her receptivity: plants grow toward light and animals instinctively know where to find food. Another chuckle as I thought of the bear that made a mess of my nicely stacked wood this week. He was simply following his natural instinct toward food, which just happened to be under my firewood stacks.

Bear Instinct

We’ve all experienced the joys of following our intuition. Seven years ago this month, I woke with a strong sense that I was to adopt a dog ‘this week’. I ended up being at the shelter at just the right time to meet Cool Hand Luke and his foster mom who needed to find a home for him quickly. Two weeks and a long hike in the mountains later ‘Luke’ came home to Crestone. These seven years have been a joy having him as my teacher and companion. Yes, I might have adopted another ‘good’ dog. But I would not have had the experiences that Cool Hand Luke Skywalker continues to offer daily.

I’ve learned from those joys as well as from the not always joyous times when I wasn’t receptive, choosing to ignore a clear sense to choose ‘A’ over ‘B’.  We can all cite those examples as well.

I’m grateful for both. They serve as reminders, reinforcement if you will, of the good that comes when we listen from within to the whispers (that sometimes must grow louder to get our attention) of guidance from Source.

We are receptive beings. Receiving the flow of Universal energy is a blessing of the highest order. It isn’t ‘more blessed to give than to receive’ as we’ve been told. Receiving and giving have equal parts in the flow of life. What we receive opens the door to giving thanks as well as to giving ourselves as expressions of that energy flow.

In the week ahead I invite you to join me in keeping the welcome mat out for all the Universe has to offer. Notice what comes. Observe your response. And, walk through your world ever grateful for its bounty.

Hurry Up Mom ... Let's Go Eat Breakfast!

Coming To My Senses

A little cone that caught my eye on a branch in the woods out back.

We progress by experiencing what is happening with our full awareness. We should never go through any condition or event without perceiving the full essence of that experience through our own senses. (Gregge Tiffen – a selection from Life in the World Hereafter: The Journey Continues found in The Journey Continues: The Legacy for Generations – November, 2010)

This post could just as easily be titled ‘What the World Series & Two Lovely Brits Taught Me About Life’.  Beyond being extremely happy that the Houston Astros won (5-1 in Game 7 of a history making series – in case you haven’t read anything but The Zone), I learned and was reminded of how much our senses have to tell us.  I also learned about grace and embracing life. Who knew that the World Series and two British women guests could do that?

Beyond signaling that something may be amiss (food tasting spoiled, smelling fire where there should be none, seeing a car coming before we cross the road) it is through our senses that we experience life. We choose whether to experience it fully, noticing sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and how something feels to our touch, or to move through life doing one thing after another without that awareness.

There are times when we move through life mostly unaware of what our senses are telling us. We operate robotically through much of daily life.  The World Series reminded me of just how often I do so.  That started last week when I turned off the sound for  game 2 and noticed the effects on my other senses (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/turn-off-the-sound).

I was curious to continue the experiment in the games that followed – not just having the sound off, but rather intentionally being aware of the sensory experience while at the same time simply enjoying that ‘my’ Astros were playing in the Series (and trying not to obsess over the possibility that they might not win). Watching several games with different levels of sound (or no sound at all) and having B&B guests here for some games and not for others made for interesting self-observation and awareness.  As the series continued on, I was aware that the emotional roller coaster and tension was heightened with sound just as I noticed last week.  And, I noticed other senses as well.

During the final two games with the Championship on the line, I had the added bonus of two lovely British guests here at the Dragonfly House. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to watch the games here (yes I had a plan b!), as these guests had come early to prepare for going into a two-week spiritual retreat at a nearby center. I explained my interest in the games and asked if they would mind quiet TV in the background. They graciously said ‘yes, of course’ and became curious about this thing called baseball. Their grace had me wonder if I would be the same were the roles reversed and I was preparing for a spiritual retreat.

They joined me to watch, and one was especially curious about the game and how it’s played. Responding provided a direction for my energy, dissipating some of my tension. And, it was a joy to share.

Despite my intention, I’m aware that I didn’t taste much of the dinner I’d prepared and ate as game 7 began. But, I do believe that I tasted victory in the chocolate consumed as the game neared the end and the win seemed certain. I definitely felt the tingling in my body as the tension released and I reveled in the celebration unfolding on the screen. My British guests retired before game’s end, but one came out this morning with her ipad to show me the British newspaper Guardian headline ‘Astros Win World Series’ and noted that she probably wouldn’t have noticed or had a clue what it meant.

Their curiosity and grace highlights for me the importance of embracing what life brings as these lovely women did. Combined with coming to greater awareness of my senses, I opened the door to gratitude, not just for the Astros victory, but for my heightened awareness of how much our senses have to offer and a newfound commitment to sustain that awareness as I navigate through this journey of life.

Color me grateful!

Patterns in life