Taming the Beast

Spring Snow Cuddles the Grasses

The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way. Heraclitus

That war is an essential part of life is a point of divergence between my views and those of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. His quote however aligns with my belief that we become what we think. We experience where we focus our attention. If we hold the belief that war and violence are necessary in life, our thinking will follow that belief. Then as our actions follow our thoughts, war and violence are the reality we create. The key is that we are at choice as to whether our ‘soul is dyed’ the dark colors of violence or the brightness and light of nonviolence.

Choice was one of the themes this week as I continued to follow the Gandhi King Season for Nonviolence and to reflect each day’s theme in terms of my own life and life experience. Each week has deepened my understanding of, appreciation for, and commitment to contributing to the seismic shift that seems needed to have nonviolence be humanity’s default operating system. Remembering that I am always at choice in what I think and how I be is key. I’ve needed to bring that understanding to the fore often this week as I experienced feeling unsettled and even agitated, as if picking up the disruptions of both humanity and the planet.

In the wake of two mass shootings in a short six-day period along with significant earthquake and volcanic activity, I’m grateful to engaged in the Season for Nonviolence during this time when it both Gaia and humankind are erupting. I feel a personal connection to both mass shootings. My daughter-in-love is from the Philippines and my grandchildren carry that lineage. While all violent targeting of others lands heavy in my heart, the events in Atlanta brought them closer to home. The shooting in Boulder, the community where I lived and worked when I first moved to Colorado, likewise felt personal as I sometimes dined in the shopping area where it occurred.

On some level, the simple themes for each day seem inadequate to support a collective shift to nonviolence. Yet no brick is insignificant in building a home and no act of caring is too small to matter. As I’ve so often written, EVERY thing matters. Every thought. Every word. Every deed. EVERY one!

Like choice, each day’s theme in its own way is an important thread (yes, I’m mixing metaphors!) in the fabric of nonviolence: giving, action, equality/equity, advocacy, honor, and ecology. Strengthening one builds others. Giving, whether ‘things’ or oneself in service puts attention on our interrelatedness each as one of the One. Taking heart-centered action no matter how small it may seem ripples far beyond where your eye can see and lives forever in the Universe.

I don’t know about you, but I’m challenged to see and hold some of those with whom I strongly disagree as equal. While my heart desires to cross the vastness that divides us, I hold back unless I know that I have an adversary whose heart is likewise open. How and where might I open more dialog with those whose life experiences and views are so different from my own? How can we advocate nonviolence in the face of those whose ways are violent, honoring the words of Thich Nhat Hanh: When someone stands up to violence a force for change is released. Every action for peace requires someone to exhibit the courage to challenge violence and inspire love.

In his words I notice themes for earlier days in the Season: courage, inspire. A reminder that no thread stands alone in weaving nonviolence into the ecology of our culture and of the planet. Every choice we make creates the environment in which we live. Our daily habits determine much more than we dare imagine. How willing am I to look ever more deeply at my choices?

The beasts we meet are many on the path of nonviolence. May we meet each one with the loving desire to tame whatever deters us from being the nonviolence we wish to see in the world.

Fuzzy Buck Agrees! Nonviolence Please!

Stewardship in The Great Turning

Sunrise in the Sangres

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taking stewardship to heart is a bold act of caring.

Evening Shadows

The Work of Freedom: Harmonizing With The Universe

Good Morning July!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life: The Great Experiment

Opportunities As Vast As the Valley, As Beautiful As the Sunset

View your whole day as a fantastic learning opportunity. Welcome the next moment with love and excitement. Today’s experiences are different than yesterday’s and tomorrow’s will be different from today’s.  Gregge Tiffen (Fanned Fire and Forced Love Never Did Well – February, 2008)

Life isn’t so much a singular experiment but rather a laboratory where we are each given full access to opportunities to learn:

•       to live in a physical body that is with us for only a blip of time;
•       to use mind and discover what emerges;
•       to discover spirit, that part of us that is infinite, had no beginning and has no end. It simply is.

Here at ground level on Planet Earth humanity seems to have lost sight of this enormous learning opportunity. Despite the wisdom of the ages coming forth through many voices, we have forgotten why an individual consciousness enters a body for a period of time, then moves to another realm, equally exciting and important for learning, but of a different sort.

For most of us, our experiences in school were more about being controlled and forced to learn ‘facts’ that we never used. We weren’t taught to think, to be independent, to embrace life with joy and wonder. 

I wasn’t encouraged to experiment with life to discover what would happen, learn from it, and adapt as the next experiment unfolded.  But slowly, step by step, day by day, moment to moment, I’m waking to this purpose. As I prepare to embark on an experiment to experience life away from home for an extended period, I’m doing so with excitement and curiosity. There are new landscapes to see and new people whose paths I’ll cross. There will be a few familiar places and faces, an opportunity to care for a friend’s beloved pets while she travels.

And, there are a few trepidations. What if …?  Each gives me the opportunity to choose. Is this something I need to attend to or something to let go? I’m discovering lots of opportunities to let go; to trust.  After all, it is “fantastic learning opportunity”!

How grand is life when we come from this perspective – life as a “fantastic learning opportunity” in which we welcome each moment with love and excitement?  Does it seem like a fantasy as you navigate yours world today?  What is front of you right now? What happens when you look at it from this lens?

A Morning Walk Starts Another Beautiful Day!

The Challenge of Independence

A Road Less Traveled ...

It is a crucial requirement that each of us become an independent thinker an independent person as an aware consciousness. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of A Mystic: Innovation - October, 2009)

Those who know me, would likely agree that I’m fiercely independent.  A leader in the coaching community once labelled me a ‘contrarian’ (I would wear the badge proudly). And, some of you might be smiling or shaking your head in agreement about now.

This week though I’ve begun exploring independence from its opposite: dependence. The exploration comes forth from this musing in my journal in a couple days ago:

If the truth of lack is abundance, how can truth be applied to the budget of the local water district where I serve on the board? How can I apply this truth more powerfully to my own finances?

The vast San Luis Valley reminds me that abundance is the truth.

Warning: you won’t find the answers in this post.  I’m still in the exploration.  I have more questions than answers (and, that’s a good thing!).  What I’ve come to see (in a BFO – blinding flash of the obvious) is that independent thinking leading to innovation requires experimentation.  In our culture, we’ve erected numerous barriers … dependencies, if you will … to truly independent thinking and the action that follows. 

These dependencies create a complex web that is often ignored. Take for example being dependent on a job (or having enough clients) for money to meet the needs of self and family. Or, in the case of public agencies like the water district, being dependent on generating sufficient revenue to pay the costs to keep each tap flowing. The complexity encompasses not just the issues on the surface, but a dependency that values knowing, order, and getting things right over curiosity, experimentation, and possibly needing to make course corrections.

Dependencies are embedded deep in our culture from systems and life experience. In school, we learned that good grades come giving ‘right’ answers. We carry this forward to careers, jobs, businesses, institutions – praising what’s ‘right’, condemning what isn’t – our dependency on being accepted and approved trumping our willingness to experiment, learn, grow, change and, yes, be alone in taking our stand.

Now that I see the challenge more clearly, what new possibilities will emerge? What would an innovative approach to public finance and a budget shortfall look like from the perspective of knowing that abundance (not lack and its associated fears) is a universal truth – that there is always enough?  What conversation can open that door?  What dependencies and pre-conceived ideas must I let go of to invite and engage the conversation?  How will I tap into the courage to do just that?

Yep, more questions than answers. I’ll let you know what emerges in the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, what are you dependent upon that is in the way of living the independent life you were designed to live?

Morning light and the Zigguraut never fail to offer just what I need ... calm, inspiration, beauty (and the list goes on).