Presence - Up and Over the Divides

Quick Pic of the Divide on a Cold, Blustery Day

The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. Thich Nhat Hanh

Zadie Byrd and I were up and, on the road, early this morning, traversing the Continental Divide at North Cochetopa Pass (10,135 feet), occupied land of the Utes, Cochetopa being the Ute word for ‘pass of the buffalo’. The two-lane road of our route winds through short canyons on either side of the pass, each with distinct characteristics, both beautiful in their distinctness.

As mind wandered in many directions, Muse called me to the present moment, to attending to the drive and to keen awareness of the sense of home I feel in canyon country. Wondering about that, I asked ‘what is it about canyons that is so comforting?’. Immediately I felt the presence of ancestors, life in these mountains across the ages, human life, animal life – I could almost see the buffalo roaming, abundant life with no fences, utility poles, pavement or other modern accoutrements. I sense that I lived in that time and eons before. I felt the infinite nature of life and the reality that everywhere is home.

The felt sense was a gift of the present moment. One only accessible when wandering mind was invited to rest and gems of the moment allowed to rise. The rubble of worry about past and future is just that: rubble. Gemstones are in the awareness of this present moment. So too is attention to the matters of the road, sensing the need to slow down then discovering deer crossing the road around a curve ahead.

The purpose of our trip over and back was for a new veterinarian to examine Zadie’s eye, which has continued to be inflamed. The level of attention and care we received was extraordinary (in contrast to the recent surgery and follow-up), and we returned home back over the divide weary, but pleased and confident that the new approach and protocol has Zadie Byrd on the road to being her bright-eyed self in both eyes once again.

As I settled in with Muse to reflect and write, I’m present to Zadie’s irritation in the left eye, the ‘input’ side of the body. I’ve thought about this throughout this experience, wondering what irritations in me she may be reflecting. What do I need to clean up to support her healing (and my own)? Am I exercising dominion that serves me when I react to the absurdities of elected officials in ways that are perhaps equally absurd? What about when I feel and express annoyance toward another? What am I present to in those moments?

Mind says, ‘surely there is more to say this week …’. Muse says, ‘enough – presence in the moment requires few words or deeds, simply awareness; just BE that’. And so, for now, I BE. Clearer dominion and choices to follow!

Winding Our Way Through Gunnison Canyon

The Continuum That Is Life

Heart in the flow of life - Cottonwood Creek 4-2-2021

Life everlasting … . … World without end. Amen

These two phrases from my youth when I was engaged in the Methodist Church came front and center in my awareness this morning as I was journaling, curious to discover what message wanted to form for today’s post.

The phrases startled me a bit until I realized that they had emerged in a stream of consciousness about life as a continuum of events, each of which is a gift: an opportunity to learn, to grow, to add to our base of knowledge and wisdom. This morning I felt their truth.

In that stream, I recognized how frequently I devalue and rush through an event, a task, etc. so that I can get to ‘what’s important’. Or I begrudge something that I need to do. I fail to recognize that whatever is in front of me at that moment is important. Whatever it is, in that moment IT is the gift.

These life experiences, events in our lives, choices we make, are the ground from which our knowledge, our understanding, our wisdom grow. Not just in this life, but in our continuum of lifetimes. This truth I have learned in my many years of exploring metaphysics. We have access to all the learning that we have garnered over many lifetimes. While we may not have awareness of this knowledge, it is in us, in our cells. Indeed, it IS us.

As I sat with this stream, I felt deep gratitude for being reminded that I grow with and through every experience in my life. I felt a wholeness of me with life that I have not experienced in this way before.

I recognized how that oneness or wholeness deeply supports me in ‘getting things done’ from the ‘no rush/no push’ approach that I adopted last summer. I have no need to ‘get this done’ so I can ‘move on to something important’. If it is in front of me to do, it is important to my learning and growth.

I sense that this is self-motivation at its core, its essence. And I know that I have all the time I need in this continuum of lifetimes. So Be It. And So It Is!

Water, Roots, Rocks - Cottonwood Creel

Life! The Adventure Continues ...

Early Morning Beauty in the Sangres - The Adventure Continues!

Living well is, after all, the most important task that lies before every one of us. Gregge Tiffen (Life in the World Hereafter: The Journey Continues)

Gregge continues: … As most of us go about our everyday lives, what we experience is really more “doing” than it is living. There’s a big difference. In just doing it is impossible for us to know that we are a part of Omnipotent Intelligence. Yet eventually each of us comes to a time when, as a result of events or experiences, we reach out to the Universe – whether we call it God or something else – as the source. When we do, we awaken that part of ourselves that recognizes the fundamentals of life, and we start to feel alive. We then manifest that feeling into action, and that action moves us to embrace the infinitude of the Universe by becoming an aware, living part of that reality.

That “feeling alive” that he speaks of is what I think of as ‘being’. And, most of us are familiar with the ‘doing vs. being’ distinction.  Some suggest that we are either being or doing. I believe however that, whether with awareness or not, we are always in some state of being.

Who am I ‘being’ when I ‘do’? For instance, when I’m engaging in tasks of converting from winter mode to spring/summer mode here at the Dragonfly House, what am I feeling? Am I approaching each task as a burdensome chore that must be done and checked off my list so that I can do something else? Or am I connecting with my gratitude for living here and joyfully engaging in each task as an opportunity for my unique creative expression?

Watching a short video preview posted by Gregg Braden (view it here) I realized (in a ‘duh, of course, moment) that, just as our understanding of death (read last week’s post here) is foundational to our stories, so too is how we define life. Braden shared a common chemistry textbook definition of life: Life is a behavior pattern that chemical systems exhibit when they reach a certain level of complexity. Say what? Sounds classic, brain-based, and very limiting to me.

If I/we accept such a definition (and Webster’s first 10 are in a similar vane!) how likely am I/are we to see daily life as a joyful, adventurous, creative, generative, process? Is it any wonder that our culture finds itself in a morass of confusion and conflict? Our creative power is sucked out of us by such definitions that become prevailing stories in a culture. Ugh!

What’s possible if I/we embrace life as vastly different and far beyond behavior and chemical processes – something that science is rapidly discovering (AND that you won’t see reported in the daily news)? What if life is an infinite continuum – a spiral perhaps – encompassing many dimensions; forms, seen and unseen; formlessness; physical, mental, spiritual planes of existence?

I smile and feel tingles of joy just thinking about expanding our stories in this way. This generative perspective allows new discoveries to create new stories rather than forcing such discoveries into old paradigms.

Isn’t it time for scientific discoveries such as those of the HeartMath Institute to be mainstreamed? The folks at the Institute have been researching the heart/brain connection for almost 30 years, developing tools for creating heart coherence, an important key to health and well-being. Here’s a great offer!

YES! IT IS time for NEW stories, NEW paradigms, NEW systems that honor the adventure that life is intended to be?

A New Story for Zadie Byrd — A Brief Moment Off-Leash

Using These Times to Benefit YOU!

Gleaming Peaks in the Morning Light

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

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

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

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

This week I began to ask myself:

• How are you using these intense times?

• How do you want to use them?

• What do you want to learn?

• What do you want to contribute?

• What more do you want out of this sojourn?

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

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

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

Icicles

Anchoring In What Is Real

A Clear, Cold Winter Morning …

Life is apparently going to be more complex than we could have ever imagined. If we do not have something real to anchor ourselves we will possibly be swept away at sea. Gregge Tiffen (The Significance of Beginning – January, 2007)

I chuckle as I read Gregge’s words first published 12 years ago.  Indeed life is and seems to continue to become more complex, more chaotic.  THAT is our opportunity! WE get to deepen our learning in how to navigate the stormy seas of life on planet earth by anchoring in a foundation of what is real.

We’ve turned the page on yet another year. We made it through a year that for many was tumultuous at best. Hopefully, we made some progress – not simply in terms of how the world measures progress (money, career, etc.) – but progress in our capacity for self-awareness, self-belief, self-love and faith in the ultimate good of the Universe. THAT is where our opportunity lies.

Deepening our capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to respond to unexpected events is a requirement in a world that seems ever more chaotic. Otherwise we may be swept into the sea of the world’s chaos and find ourselves contributing to its intensity rather than living a life that counters the craziness.

We need more than a life raft. We need a solid foundation in which to anchor ourselves and our choices.  We need to be stable yet remain flexible. We need not to be stuck, but able to move. Adaptability is the key.

And, we won’t find adaptability ‘out there’. It’s an inside job that requires consistent attention and care if we are to deepen our capacity to not get caught up in the world’s chaos or in the unexpected events that life brings our way.  We measure our progress in how we navigate these each and every day.

Does the ringing phone that I ignore as I write this disrupt my train of thought? Yes. How much? How do I adjust and refocus?   Do I allow an event that could disrupt my holiday plans to do so?   Do I participate or not? How do I do so in a way that contributes positively and expresses my true being?

These are the choices we face each and every day, dozens of times. Many seem insignificant. We may not even notice them. Yet each is a building block that contributes to our quality of life AND to the atmosphere and quality of consciousness on the planet. Positive contribution is our opportunity.

Beyond reporting of the so-called news and the punditry of opinion that follows it is an unseen world of cycles within cycles, vortexes within vortexes. This infinite sea of pure, raw energy is what is real. This is the Universe. Events occur. We choose to step into an event or not using this energy. Play or don’t play. These are our choice points, new beginnings.

We are either caught in their chaotic spin or operating with the self-awareness, self-belief, and self-love to sail our own ship.  When we sail our own ship, we discover the Universe is pretty friendly, and our faith in something beyond, yet connected to, ourselves grows.

I continue to discover that when I make decisions that are true for me, choices from this foundation, they tend to serve me well, if not immediately, then certainly long term. Even decisions that don’t work out as planned turn out in my favor in the long run.

This week I invite you to take a deep look at what anchors you in the sometimes stormy sea of life. How rock solid is your foundation?  How might you strengthen it in the year ahead?

… And Cool Hand Luke LOVES It!

Smart Cells

Gentle Observation

The universe does not make ninnies. The universe has created you in Its image as strong, dependable, creative, self-assured, intelligent, harmonious, and complete. This is true for everyone. These qualities reside in every cell of everyone’s body!  Gregge Tiffen (Tax Time: Are You Taxing Yourself? – April, 2007)  

No, this isn’t a post about smart phones or any other ‘smart’ technology – other than the ‘technology’ of you and every other human being on the planet. You – yes YOU – are imbued with each and all of the qualities that are this universe! So are your family, your friends, those you love, and those whose behaviors you loathe.

This week as I began my 68th sojourn around the sun has been a reflective one, looking back at the cycle just completed to celebrate victories and to acknowledge where I want to invest in growth this year. So, I wasn’t surprised when today’s quote leapt off the page both as a reminder of how blessed I am/we are and a way to identify growth areas for investment.

Like apps in technology, these universal qualities are in our cells available 24/7 for us to tap into and use. The key is to sync ourselves with our cells. We listen. We observe. We choose. We act.

Unlike those same apps, these gifts of the universe never go out of date. The only upgrades required are those we choose as our own individual understanding deepens, expands, and grows. These upgrades flow naturally as we call forth, experiment, and apply each quality. How we define and express them changes as we change.

As the world presents us with new opportunities to use our ‘apps’, we have the Free Will to apply them – or not.  We choose whether to be bound by the culture’s standards or to define each quality in a way that expresses our individual highest and best.  ‘What are the culture’s standards,’ I wondered. And, more important, what is my aim?

'Strong’ in much of our culture means physical strength and/or weaponry to show force. The strength I aim for is the internal strength to stand with courage in the face of force. ‘Dependable’ often means doing what society thinks you ‘should’ do. The dependability I aim for is the discipline to follow through on my commitments to myself and to others. Our culture tends to think of ‘creative’ as artistic or talented. The creative I aim for is remembering my status as co-creator with the universe of all my experiences; thus, recognizing in every moment that I am creating that moment.

‘Self-assured’ can look like ego driven self-aggrandizement. The self-confidence I aim for comes from within, from applying what I’ve learned about how the universe and the world work. It then manifests outwardly in calm clarity that is both intelligent and harmonious.

In the world ‘complete’ is often measured by how much we have, we do, leading to a sense of incompleteness, scarcity and never enough. The complete I aim for is comfort in knowing that there is always ‘enough’. Right where I am is the perfect place in this moment, and it will lead to the next and the next, infinitely.

This week I invite you to tap into the ‘apps’ granted you by the universe. Embrace them. Define and sync each to YOU. Then, step into the world each day as the unique and beautiful you that you are.

An Old Stump in the Woods -- What wisdom does it hold?

You Are The Universe

Bear in the 'Hood, just off the back deck

You have to accept the same fundamental characteristics of the Universe as yours. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Creative Power Released – July, 2011)

This morning finds me feeling deeply into a sense of being a part of this vast, infinite Universe. The words ‘You are the Universe. The Universe is you.’ are in my head and felt in my heart, despite living a world that seems hell-bent on denying my true nature. Sometimes that world leaves me spinning as I try to make sense of it and its small, controlling, finite ways.

But then Bear, a teacher who brings forth the unconscious, visits.  Not in a dream, but in the flesh (or the fur) outside, just beyond the deck.  The world doesn't make sense in mystical terms. It can't. It won't. 

Bear helps me remember the vastness that extends infinitely, of free will regardless of circumstance, and of the qualities of this amazing Universe that we are. To define infinity is to make it finite. I am infinite. So are you.

Unlike our world which labels things ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as part of its effort to separate and control, the Universe simply IS. I am. So are you.

The Universe doesn’t compare. It doesn’t worry over whether what it does or experiences today is more/less, better/worse that yesterday, last year, or eons ago. It doesn’t compare you to me or a pine to an oak. It simply flows as ever present energy. I am that energetic flow. So are you.

The Universe IS qualities that are present as potential in each and every one of us: abundance, beauty, harmony, joy, peace, power, love, light (intelligence), and life.

I am abundance. So are you.

I am beauty. So are you.

I am harmony. So are you.

I am joy. So are you.

I am peace. So are you.

I am power. So are you.

I am love. So are you.

I am intelligence. So are you.

I am life. So are you.

Imagine a world where we have learned to step beyond our potential and more fully into who we truly are.  Imagine your world when you dare to journey on that path. From a speck of awareness that You are the Universe and the Universe is You, what’s possible? What step will I take today to live more fully into that potential?

Cheerful Journey Inward

Snowy Trail on the Journey

Let us look to Nature for guidance as our code book for everything we need to know or to understand. Gregge Tiffen (Tax Time: Are You Taxing Yourself? – April, 2007)

I saw my first meadowlark of the season (a Western Meadowlark for those birders among you) on April 1st (no joke!) and heard its song the following morning, a snowy one, on a hike to the Ziggurat. The cheerful song accompanied beautiful views in all directions: the Great Sand Dunes and Blanca Peak to the south, San Juan Mountains to the west, the Collegiate Peaks to the north, and, our home, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east.  The beautiful, vast San Luis Valley floor surrounded us on three sides.  Ah, nature.

The Great Sand Dunes and the vast San Luis Valley

This vastness is in contrast to the woods that surround us here at the Dragonfly House.  Except for a few glimpses of Crestone and Kit Carson Peaks, there’s little indication of the vastness to be seen a short walk away.  Here I see each tree, up close and personal.  I see the unique form each has taken on its journey of life. I see how shape is formed by how much light, space and moisture are available and by storms that have broken or redirected limbs.  I can gaze with contentment on a tree for a very long time, imagining its stories.

Nature speaks deeply and wisely. I wonder how deeply and wisely I’m listening.  Meadowlark reminds me to let the journey inward be a cheerful one (Ted Andrews – Animal Speak).  Much like me, meadowlark lives and stays close to the ground, home, the self.  I’m reminded to not stray too far from that which is my responsibility.

Nature reminds me that in life there is no purpose for complaint, for blame, for competition or comparison. These distractions are created by man. They separate us from our true nature and from nature herself.

I smile knowing that in my humanness I engage in such acts, even though I know that they contribute nothing to my growth or to happiness and joy. They hold no beauty, harmony or love. The smile acknowledges nature’s wisdom so much deeper than my own.  In nature I see acceptance, cooperation, and the unfolding of its blueprint as each seed falls on fertile ground.  Nature has much to teach me.

Again, I wonder how deeply and wisely I’m listening. 

Before my walk this crisp, clear morning, that was the last sentence of this week’s post. But nature held a different plan. She gently reminded me of another attribute: there is no death, no end.  Snow melts or evaporates. That’s a simple change of form. A tree ceases to add new growth and slowly rots, providing housing for many creatures before it crumbles and returns into soil. 

And, so it is with you and with me.  At some point the body ceases to function, and it changes form.  Consciousness, the soul, moves onward as well, just as it has for eons of time, if only we remembered just how long our true journey has been.

Beauty Without End. Amen!

Count on THIS!

Reconnecting With Nature's Beauty Right Around the Corner!

Progress is the self love we exhibit in our daily activities. It is the abundance we embrace as a natural, Universal gift. What is significant is the personal power that we recognize and accept within ourselves as co-creators with an omnipotent and infinite Universe.  Gregge Tiffen (The Significance of Beginning – January, 2007)

I’m in the midst of an experience that, thankfully, is a rarity in my life: illness, slowly recovering from a nasty flu/cold bug that knocked me flat about 10 days ago.  For the first few days, everything I ‘know’ about how to care for myself and even caring at all went out the proverbial window.

And, so I slept. As best I could, I slept without fretting about Luke, the list of what I’d planned to accomplish, or about the state of our world.

Over several days with little awareness, that is all I could muster.  In fleeting moments of awareness over those days, I wondered whether I would ever remember who I am in the universal scheme of things.  Would I again feel my deep connection with nature and how a walk in the woods returns me to deep peace? Would I long to observe and reflect and share my discoveries?  Would I again revel in those winter activities that bring me a sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction as shoveling snow and stacking wood do?  Would I return to my powerful, fun-loving, peaceful self?

As my body slowly recovered and I began to restore my capacity to take care of the basics, my sense of self, my personal power, and my awareness of my status as a co-creator with the Universe returned.  They did so slowly at first and with a need to be nurtured and reassured.  Challenging as it was, I honored what seemed to be needed and, somewhere inside, I found a morsel of trust that all was well.

Like the Chinese herbs and other nutrients that were healing my physical body, that morsel of trust was just the seed I needed to restore my spirit and to give me the courage, curiosity and conviction to reengage by observing world. 

And, what a show the world was providing for me to observe! An inauguration, seemingly angry words from a new president, ‘alternative facts’, and the creative spirit of millions peacefully marching to have their voices heard.  We do live in interesting times!

While a part of me yearned to march with kindred spirits, I honored the physical need to take it slow. In my heart as Luke and I took an afternoon walk nearby, I walked in solidarity with the millions filling the streets world-wide. I was reminded that each and every action I take whether in solitude or with others matters as an expression of my personal power as a co-creator with the Universe.  That’s what I know I can count on, today, tomorrow, and every day beyond – no matter what!  You can count on THIS too!

Thanks Mom for Shoveling!

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!