Prelude to Solstice 2017

Curious Buck in the Evening Light

This post was originally published 10 Dec 2015 and is being shared in the spirit of the season as I travel and take a winter break.  This year rather than feeling pushed by last minute demands, I’m on the road to visit family and taking a break from weekly writing. Although the events are different this year, I take with me the desire to honor the season and create my own prelude to the Winter Solstice.

All of heaven and all of earth coordinate at the Winter Solstice. Gregge Tiffen (Winter Solstice: The Christmas Story)

This week amidst a community controversy in which the board that I chair is being challenged, I’ve felt out of sync with the season and out of sorts with myself.  I want to stop. I want to stop not just for a few minutes to catch my breath, center myself and move on to the next task or conversation, but I want to STOP and BE the winter. Quiet. Still. Peaceful.

My time for that will come. I feel her on the horizon. Until then, there are ‘miles to go before I sleep’ in these last days of autumn before that moment when heaven and earth synchronize at the Winter Solstice. I know without a doubt that I will be there.

I know too that I alone am responsible for choosing how I walk through the tasks along those miles. I choose calm, confident, clear, kind as my foundation. These are grounded in love.  My choice is simple; implementation, not always easy. Often when I’m challenged, fear interrupts and invites me to its prickly path of tension, harshness, unkind words spoken and not. Too much of the world is on that path. I don’t want to be a part of that crowd.

And, so I pause. Make time for a long morning walk with Luke to visit a favorite spot along the creek. I ignore the ringing phone and resist the temptation to see what new jab is posted on Facebook. I pick up Gregge’s booklet Winter Solstice. I find this message, perfect to remind me of the choices I can make now and moment to moment, before my time of winter solitude, and beyond winter into the spring:

Prelude*

There is nothing I can give you which you have not got; but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.

No Heaven can come to us, unless our hearts find rest in today.

Take Heaven

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take Peace

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see, and to see, we have only to look, I beseech you,

Look!

In the quiet there is tranquility. May your life move and radiate in that unity and your heart sing the hymn of peace to all mankind.

And so, at this time I greet you not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with prayer that for now and forever the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.

* Gregge Tiffen (Winter Solstice: The Christmas Story)

Will There Be Snow by Solstice?

'Tis the Season - Nourish Your Inner Santa

Winter Sunset

NOTE: Originally posted 8 December 2016 – and brought forward to this season as I take a break and travel to be with family.

 Santa is the outgrowth of the natural child in humanity’s mind that bears good tidings.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Sacred Passageways – December, 2011)

Confession:  I love Santa! And, I BELIEVE!  After all, there's a certain canine who consistently brings good tidings to my life. 

Just who is the jolly fellow that we remember this time of year? Most every culture, religious or not, has such a sacred icon.  Yet in the hustle, bustle and hyper-commercialism of this season, one can lose sight of just what Santa Claus represents. That is to our detriment individually and collectively.

One of my personal early season rituals as I bring out the lights and a small, festive tree that’s travelled with me for 10 years is to bring out Gregge Tiffen’s writings about the season. I like to start with Santa as I did as a child sitting on his lap early in the season.  Today, I do so as a point of reflection and a reminder of what the jolly ol’ soul represents. And that provides just the reminder I need to nourish my own inner Santa.

Through Gregge’s mystical eyes, Santa represents faith. Not faith in things or people outside of us, but faith within.  And, in these times, that faith needs nourishment more than ever.  We need to nurture and nourish our innate ability to know what is right for us moment to moment, choice to choice and to trust that what is, simply is and is unfolding as it should.

… when you have the willingness to accept who you are, you become aware of an internal flame that burns with a fire that is unquenchable. It’s your acceptance that dispels fears and inadequacies. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Sacred Passageways – December, 2011)

As I have written before, we live in a world that at every turn gives us choices to pull us away from who we truly are.  The world fears our power, and it invites us to put our faith in systems, institutions and even other people.

Turn down those invitations of the world that are not true to who YOU are.  RSVP to yourself. Take time during this season and beyond to recognize that YOU as a point in an infinite and benevolent Universe need only have faith in you and that Universe of which you are an integral part.

To whatever it might mean to you, in reality or symbolically, give yourself a period of time as a gift to yourself in which your faith is renewed. This gift is not faith in others or in the world around you but in yourself as the continuum of good operating in your life at all times under all circumstances.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Sacred Passageways – December, 2011)

This is the greatest gift of all.

It’s the faith that you are what you are that brings about miracles. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Sacred Passageways – December, 2011)

 Spending time in nature’s beauty, singing, quiet time by the fire, laughing, and putting on a fun hat are some of the ways I renew my inner Santa. This year Luke and I are taking a leisurely road trip to the northwest. How are you tapping into your inner-Santa?

Moon Rise over the Sangres - Super Moon 12-2-17

Magical Morning Moments

Morning Magic over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

A cycle that is finished is finished. What is done is done. You cannot go back and change one element of it.  Gregge Tiffen (The Winter Solstice: Giving To Yourself – December, 2007)

This morning just as I was about to settle in with my tea, journal, and a nice fire going, I glanced outside and saw the beginning of a brilliant pink sky. It gently invited me out to see the beauty unfold and to feel the chill of a 20 degree morning in the air.  So, camera in hand, out I went to watch the show.

Such pink and orange morning moments don’t last long. Their cycle is short. Like our children and our cuddly puppies who all too quickly grow up, the sky transforms into a mature day, open to discover whether it will be clear or if clouds will form to bring forth needed moisture to the earth below.

Raven flies high as the color begins to fade, a reminder of magic, shapeshifting, and creation in its many forms.  Raven’s cycle of power (Ted Andrews, Animal Speak) is the Winter Solstice.  I’ve already begun to think about the Solstice.  I wonder how I will celebrate the end of this cycle. I ask myself what remains undone in this cycle that seeks completion before the cycle is done.

I know the importance of recognizing that ‘what is done IS done’. I cherish the truth in that.

As one cycle ends, another is sure to begin as it has throughout all time. And, that’s a post for another day.

Morning Magic in the Woods

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

Turn OFF The Sound

Aspen Grove

One of the greatest areas of breakdowns in our society, individually and collectively, is our communication process. We honestly do not understand the basic communication procedure. … We have a way of communicating that does not communicate. We talk but we do not say what we mean. … It is true, we talk a lot and say nothing. Gregge Tiffen (Deeds Are Fruit, Words Are Leaves – October, 2008)

An unintended experiment this week has me reflecting on all the noise in our world, especially the empty words we all hear and that, sadly, most of us speak from time to time just to fill space.

Nowhere is this more evident to me than in television. Even though I mute most commercials, I find myself mindlessly watching pundits blather endlessly often making no sense. Sportscasters do the same, mixing statics, history and their biases into nonsensical run-on sentences. Noise, peace disrupting noise, (and a reason I watch so little TV).

But this week finds my beloved Houston Astros in the World Series. At the same time, I have guests here at the Dragonfly House (lovely, interesting poets from Wisconsin) who don’t share my passion for the team I once followed closely.  How could I fulfill my desire to watch the games and honor that my guests were here in part for the quiet beauty of the southern Rockies?  The obvious solution: watch without sound AND keep my cheering (and jeering) to myself.

In doing so, I discovered a most enjoyable experience (well, except for not cheering wildly when the ‘stros scored and won game 2). Turning off the sound required that I watch the screen to see what was happening. And, as the game unfolded that framed how I felt and how my body responded. I discovered a much lower, calmer level of intensity. Without the babble of the commentators to incite my nervous system, I could simply watch the game and observe my reactions to what I was seeing.

Late in the game messaging on Facebook with a Houston friend who was watching there, didn’t ramp up my adrenaline flow, even as Houston took then lost the lead and finally won the game. With this lower level of intensity, I found that I could truly enjoy watching these men perform their craft. I also happily discovered that it was relatively easy to get to sleep when the game was finally over.

My unintended experiment opened my eyes to the high cost of over-reliance on sound and demonstrated for me in a new way just how distracting the noise of the world can be.  It reminded me that some things are best enjoyed with a single sensory focus. In not allowing myself to be over-stimulated, the peace and satisfaction of the quiet hike in the mountains stayed intact as the highlight of my day.

In these days when we seem to be swimming in a sea of intense events, the experiment also offered a reminder to be self-observant and to choose carefully the quantity, quality, and sources of input and types of stimlus we allow in.  And, for all of that, I am most grateful.

Creek Flow Contrasts

Points of Reflection

Flowing Reflections

In principle, ideas, people, and events reflect back to you, according to your individualized consciousness, through the life you live. … The benefits you derive in life are the influence of frequency vibrations. The idea is to erase limitations through new points of reflection. Gregge Tiffen (Echo - September, 2010 in The Collected Works of Gregge Tiffen)

With a break of several days between having guests here at the Dragonfly House, I turned my attention to other things. Beyond the personal satisfaction of beginning to work through that list, I discovered a deeper understanding of the universal law of reflection, especially the power of new information and insight when used as points of reflection with awareness.

We each have some understanding that major life changes – new careers, new jobs, new relationships, changes in any one of these, moving, marriage, death, birth – create new points of reflection. We observe. We learn. We adapt to the new. We fight change or we embrace it. When we resist, we create struggle and stress. When we embrace an event as a learning opportunity, we create greater ease and flow – yes, even in the most challenging situations.

I notice that in my reactions to the world. For example, what do I experience when hearing the words and tone thrown recklessly out by politicians and further stoked by media reporting. When I observe with curiosity (What is this saying about the world? What can I learn about how the world works? What do I need to know about this to inform my choices?) I hold the possibility of learning something new and useful for my life. But, when I watch for entertainment or to be distracted or with no sense of why I’m watching I find myself agitated (or worse).

Do I have new information, insight, or a new point of reflection that may be useful? Or, am I taking in garbage (and we know the output from that!).  Either answer provides valuable insight a presents a pivot point to shift. So don’t go shaming on yourself for going through the garbage. Take a moment to consider what you’re looking for. Then decide the best place to find it.

Among the things I’m attending to this week are health – both mine and Luke’s. (We’re both fine, but the change of seasons is presenting some symptoms that I felt deserve attention.) In the process I’ve discovered new information for each of us that resonated as accurate and useful – new points of reflection to support us both.

Points of reflection can drag us down, or they can lift us up. They can provide magical insights that protect, heal, and spur our growth. Points of reflection are abundant. Anytime can be harvest time. We simply have to wake up and see the rich potential in whatever is in front of us. But, harvest with care. Like mushrooms, some varieties can be hazardous to your health.

Moon, Blue Sky, and Leaves Ready to Fall

Magnetic Fields

There is always flow whether we see it or not.

You own the magnetic field that surrounds you. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Mysterious Investigations – October, 2010)

That’s the good news, excellent in fact. Our challenge is taking responsibility for ourselves and our field – first, last, always in all ways. That’s the rub, because the world tells us a very different story.

The world sees ownership as possessing and hanging on to things – houses, cars, clothing, investments, etc. – and bristles at any change that might threaten them.  Hence, we take up violence – in our language and as a way of navigating life. We fight. Someone ‘wins’ and another loses, in a never-ending cycle until we (individually and collectively) develop our capacity to say ‘enough!’.

Our bodies, convinced by the world’s ways that survival is the issue, find it easy to enter the fray. We suffer. We live in fear. We lash out. We defend.

We ignore the field that we create around us when we choose this path.

Deep in our soul is the wisdom that knows we err. The soul understands that the nature of our being is just that – nature. The soul knows that what is ‘ours’ is not things or even a body, but rather our infinite beingness. The soul knows that the body is but a borrowed vessel for navigating the planet and acquiring all the experience that it can.

The soul knows that the magnetic field we create is formed and fed by our beliefs, our thoughts, our words, and our actions. It knows that the field is ours to tend to – no matter what events we encounter.

We tend to our field like the wise gardener, tending her crops. She takes care that the seeds she plants are pure and the varieties nourishing. After carefully planting the chosen seeds, she nurtures them with proper food and water. She weeds out other plants, volunteers that don’t have the nourishing qualities she has chosen. She harvests with gratitude and allows the soil time to lie fallow.

We tend our field by remembering, despite the world seeming to crumble all around us, that what we see crumbling is not real in Universal terms. What IS real is you and your field, me and mine, and the infinity in which we and our fields dance forever.

Abundant evidence of change in the woods.

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.