Facing What Is Changes What Will Be

"The act of running shuts off almost all of one's Universal flow since the body and mind are focused on escape." - Gregge Tiffen

Sometimes in life an event occurs that triggers our flight, fight or freeze response. When we shift into this mode we lose our receptivity to Universal flow.

We forget everything we 'know' about how life really works. We experience losing access to our power, the power that we use easily in course of our normal daily activities. We flee. We blame someone else. Or, perhaps, we ignore the event, hoping it will go away.

Tax time in the United States, the April 15 date on which tax returns and taxes are due, is a time that brings this out for many. And, this year, I had just such an opportunity to step out of my power, when I learned that I'd made an error resulting in a significant tax due. I could ignore it and face the consequences later. I could step into anger at the government for taxing me or at myself for being so stupid. Not good choices I decided.

On the other hand, I could face my mistake, pay the taxman, be grateful for the income, and correct the error to avoid the same situation this time next year. I chose this course, and the results I experienced were nothing short of miraculous! My thinking was clear and I could see several options for meeting the obligation. I reached out to explore the best approach and to ask for help. A gift arrived that covered the amount due. Then, magically other projects that had seemed stalled began to move again. Best of all, I didn't experience the stress so common in our culture around this issue we are blessed with the free will to choose how we face what life presents us. Fight, flight, fear and blame beget results that cause stress, worry, and dis-ease. This approach is rather like imposing a personal emotional tax on ourselves. It makes us rigid and, like the pine above, we may break.

Our other choice is to allow and dance with what is. That's how I imagine that the cheerful mountain bluebirds move through life. When we face and embrace what is with responsibility and gratitude, the form of what comes next is forever changed. We stay in our power, allowing Universal flow to course through and guide us on our path.

Exploration for the Week: Notice where you are taxing yourself by choosing to fight, flee, or freeze from some event in life. Consider choosing differently.

The Gifts of Our Stories

"Through sharing our stories we discover our connections, our unity and our diversity. And, we discover ourselves." - Cindy Reinhardt

We share our stories in many ways: through conversations, writing, the choices we make in life and simply in our habits of being.  Through our stories we discover what connects us as well as what divides us.  In sharing our stories we create opportunities for deeper connection, expanded awareness and peace.

In talking with some people our stories seem naturally connective.  Through them we discover common interests, shared experiences, and passions that reinforce our unity.  When I’m out in the beauty of nature, the story that I hold deepens my sense of being a part of something greater than me.  Even now, looking out the window at falling snow, I feel that unity with all that is.

When we discover mutual interests, it’s easy to engage, building on one discovery to explore what may be possible in the future from our common ground. These are the friendships, partnerships and collaborations that we embrace and build upon.  They are easy gifts to receive, and we can see our unity with humanity in them.

It’s not so easy when we discover interests, views, habits that are divergent from ours.  ‘Ugh! More snow? How can you embrace the beauty in that? It’s spring …’.   ‘How can you ignore the bad things that are happening in the world?’ (I don’t by the way, I simply choose to put my attention elsewhere – but that’s perhaps a story for another day.)

We may walk (or run) the other way, seeking to avoid confrontation with the other or perhaps with ourselves. We may feel threatened at anything which we interpret as a challenge to our perspective.  Yet, these can lead to new awareness.  Therein lies the first and, perhaps most precious, gift.

Another gift is the possibility of stepping beyond the diversity. When we can take a breath and call forth the best within us from a place of curiosity, we have the opportunity to discover there is unity in all that is.  Somewhere, beneath our differences is common ground.

With a commitment to respect others, we have the ingredients for forging new alliances, bridging divides, and healing one more cell of the divisiveness that stands in the way peace, personally and on the planet.  With curiosity and a willingness to step outside our comfort zones, we have another piece to the puzzle of creating peace, internally, ‘me to me’ and externally, ‘me to we’.

After all, isn’t peace one of the greatest gifts there is?

Experiment for the Week:  Observe how you interpret the stories you hear, read, and see. What do you notice?

Cycles End and New Ones Begin

"It takes a period of time (a cycle) for you to recognize what you have learned before you are ready to initiate your new cycle …" - Gregge Tiffen

Cycles are in my thoughts this week as spring has arrived and as I enter the final week of my 63rd year and prepare to launch a new annual cycle in my life.  I feel pulled just a bit in this time between the arrival of spring’s warmth with its pull of new beginnings and my own annual cycle wrapping up with its invitation to reflect and evaluate the experiences of the year.

I’ve been dancing with each this week. I’ve engaged in conversations about getting our garden started as well as participating in conversations about creating a new culture in an organization that I work with. Exciting to be sure, but before I rush into the new, I’m giving myself the time and space to review the year just ending and life to this point.

As a part of that review, I’ve just completed reorganizing materials collected over 34 years of working with two of my guides on this life’s journey, Gregge Tiffen and Patrece. You’ve seen them both quoted here from time to time and you’ll likely see more as I dive back into the rich learning that’s now neatly organized into six giant binders.

Organizing the material in a new way brought forth new awareness, some of it humbling. Questions asked years ago. Answers and possibilities forgotten; opportunities not seized. Reminders of life’s challenges faced with courage or grace; lessons learned and lived.  All are indicators of my progress this life.

In this sacred week of ending another annual cycle, I look forward to several days of review and reflection here amongst the trees and in the shadow of the Sangres. I hold these questions in my heart and mind as take that look back:

• Where am I?
• What have I accomplished?
• What is my progress?
• What do I choose next on my journey of progression?

While these are especially powerful questions to reflect on as one cycle ends and another begins, it occurs to me as I observe the chaos in our world that they are worthy questions at any time and in most any situation.  They create a container within which we can reach the clarity of thought needed to take life’s next step.

As I look ahead to my new year, that is the clarity that I want to bring and to apply in new ways.

The mountain weather conspires to keep me comfortably indoors and inside myself with wind, clouds, snow and rain.

Does life get any better than the joy of learning and experimenting and feeling the deep gratitude for whatever I’m experiencing moment to moment, cycle to cycle?

Question for the Week:  What cycles do you observe and honor in your life?  What richness do they add?

What am I Thinking?

"With every thought we are creating our present experience and planting the seeds for our future." - Cindy Reinhardt

Happy Spring!  Winter in the Rockies continues to slowly cast off her warm, cozy blankets making way for the sun to provide more warmth as the days lengthen.  Small blades of green grass are breaking through the soil.  The pine trees are showing the first signs of what will become pinecones, seeds of future trees, over the next few months.  And, the creeks are beginning to flow, offering one of my favorite mountain sounds.

I awoke this morning a few hours before the official arrival of the new season with the words and melody of Bette Midler in my mind’s ear: Remember in the Winter, far beneath the fallen snow, lies the seed that in the springtime becomes the rose.

Every seed has within it the idea of and blueprint for what it will become. No matter how deep, when the snow melts and the ground warms the rose, the dandelion, and the grasses give us the gift of their new growth.

They are new. Each blade of grass, each yellow dandelion, each branch on the rose represents new growth from the seed within where its journey began.

My thoughts (yours too!), each and every one, are seeds as well.  They are the power that creates what I’m experiencing in this moment and the next and beyond.  They are the power that shapes my future, the experiences I will have, how I will feel, and what I will learn.  That power presents the opportunity and the responsibility to choose wisely.

Thoughts are the seeds of my life.  They are my most powerful and potent creative tool.

As I plan and plant my garden this Spring, I will carefully and lovingly cast out those seeds that would lead me down paths not mine to follow.  I will plant seeds of love, of abundance, of beauty, of light, of harmony and happiness, of joy, of service and generosity, of enterprise and infinite possibilities.  I will plant rows of understanding, action, integrity, learning and growth.  Throughout the garden I will scatter seeds of hardiness, courage, and tenacity those qualities of nature that I think of when I observe a small tree that has broken through the rocky soil and survives with little moisture.  I’ll sprinkle in some seeds of ease, grace and luck.  Anchoring my garden will be trees of justice, idealism, humanitarianism and peace.

A lush, full garden for sure, one that will inspire me daily to be aware of my thoughts and to choose them oh so carefully.

Question for the Week: What seeds are you planting with your thoughts this Spring?

The Gift of Following My Heart (and My Dog)

"… we are born to happiness and fulfillment, but we sometimes get so lost and wrapped up in the everyday events of our lives that our happiness and fulfillment seem rare." - Ted Andrews (Animal Speak)

This morning as is my habit, the camera accompanied Luke and I on our morning walk.  Yesterday, in a bit of a rush, I left it behind.  Most mornings, especially Thursdays when the blog is calling to be posted, we walk a two-mile loop – down the road, turn, up a path to the next road, turn, then back to our road and home.  This morning Luke ignored the turn up the path and continued to follow a path toward the Ziggurat.  At the same time I called for him to come back, I felt a pull to follow his lead and the Ziggurat path, thinking that we’d follow it for a short while then back track to home, but not make the climb to the top.

When I reached to fork where the path veers off to this ‘stairway to heaven’, I veered. I felt a pull to make the climb.  The blog post would come in its time. And, Luke was delighted.  The path makes the climb fairly easy, and the views from the top are spectacular: the Great Sand Dunes to the south, the vast San Luis Valley to the west, Poncha Pass and the Collegiate Peaks to the north, and the stunning Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Crestone Peak to the east.

The views though were only part of the gifts this day.  On the way down, as I was photographing a tree stump, I noticed my shadow below me on another tree. What fun to welcome the sunshine and see myself as the sun came up over the ridge! Shadows, when we allow them to, offer us great gifts of insight and self-understanding. I paused for another few moments of gratitude and appreciation.

The next visual gift was a mountain bluebird who made a rare appearance in a tree top as we reached home.  These beautiful creatures remind us of ‘unassuming confidence and happiness’ according to Ted Andrews. I think of them as cheerful, for that’s the feeling they instill in me.  This gift was especially poignant since yesterday bluebird appeared on the Cheerful Way street sign near my home (and me without my camera!).

But the greatest gift of all is the gift of peace that comes with following my heart. Had I followed our normal path this morning, the post would be very different – no spectacular views, no fun with my shadow, and perhaps no bluebird or deep sense of peace.

Reminder heard – loud and clear. Over and out until next week when we celebrate Spring!

Experiment for the Week: Take a break from your normal paths in life and discover the gifts that await you.

Mastering Energy, Mastering Life

"Your level of energy (consciousness) creates your world each moment." - Bruce D. Schneider

As winter prepares to give way to spring and I prepare to close a cycle in my life’s journey and to begin another, I’ve been reflecting on levels of energy.  I’m reviewing my personal energy, where it’s been this year and what I may want to shift as I embark on a new one.  I’m curious about what my observations of the world tell me about the energy ‘out there’ and how I want to dance in it? This is taking me back to a variety of resources, and, as a result, this week’s post is a bit of a shift.

For all the years (20+ now) I’ve coached, I’ve had some level of understanding about our personal energy.  In the early days of my coaching when most of my clients were old enough to know what a switchboard is, I’d often guide them to unplug from unproductive energy and plug into another, higher level of energy.  In my personal development, I use a number of experiments and practices to shift and maintain my energy at levels that are expansive, constructive, healing.

In the system he developed called Energy Leadership, Dr. Bruce Schneider calls these levels ‘anabolic’, energy that is positive, productive, expansive, and fuels us to move forward.  He contrasts these with ‘catabolic’ energy levels, energy that is draining, contracting, and stressful.  Anabolic energy levels allow us to see more possibilities for innovation and problem solving. Catabolic levels, limit our vision.

At each level of energy (Schneider identifies seven) there is a defining core thought, a core feeling and, corresponding action or result.  Victim is the core thought of the lowest level of energy, with apathy as its core feeling and lethargy as its result.  My awareness of this correlation (victim to apathy and lethargy), helped me identify the source of what at the time I considered as ‘being lazy’.  I was able to identify a couple key behaviors and the beliefs under them that had me visiting the victim level of energy.  With that awareness (and some work!), I was able to shift to a higher level of energy.

At the top of the energy levels is non-judgment with the corresponding feeling of absolute passion and the action or result, creation.  It’s the level of the master of life who has the ability to tap into the other levels as needed.  I aspire to master my energy at this level.  Between these two polarities are remaining five levels: conflict (the second of two catabolic levels), and four anabolic levels: responsibility, concern, reconciliation, and synthesis.

Whether I’m using a contemporary system like Energy Leadership or tapping into wisdom of the ancients from esoteric writings, one thing is clear to me: Mastering my energy is mastering my life.

Experiment for the Week: Observe the levels of energy that you plug into several times each day.  Where among the levels do you find you?

Onward to Spring!

"The fundamental structure of the Universe is one of harmony." - Gregge Tiffen

Although winter may yet make another appearance (or two), here in the Sangre de Cristo mountains signs of spring are beginning to show themselves.  A few mountain bluebirds have returned.  Bucks with their beautiful racks are among the small herds of doe (love is in their air!).  Chipmunks are frolicking and chowing down in the open.  Even a few plants are showing a little green.

As one season ends and another begins, I find it’s a wonderful time to reassess my harmony and to identify what’s needed to bring myself into balance with me, with others, and with the planet.  From that place of discovery and awareness, I can look ahead to the activities of spring.  And, I muse with curiosity – what would my life be like if I attended to this daily.

The questions I ask in that assessment include inquiries about my body (my energy, my weight, overall health, any aches/pains needing attention, etc.), my mind (is my thinking supporting and energizing me or dragging me down?) and my spirit (how do I feel about my life, life in general and my relationship with spirit).   Then, I look at how each discovery relates to the others.

I observed that there is some debris left behind from the recent storm that I need to clear on all three levels.  I’ve started by shifting my thoughts and remembering my power to heal.  I realized that I’ve allowed some scarcity thinking the weasel its way in.  “Out!” I command. Really I do know better and I’m reminded that living abundantly in a culture grounded in the opposite requires diligence.  I also remembered the importance of receiving the healing gift of body work.

Perhaps the most important reminder of all is that life is a school.  I’m here to experiment and learn, not to always ‘get it right’.  When I allow myself to suffer, I’m not looking at an event as a learning opportunity.  When I look at the event as a learning opportunity, the satisfaction of learning soothes and heals any suffering and hurt.

So, bring on spring!  Let me plant new seeds in my garden and my home, in my work, in my community and in my life.  Let me deepen my use of nature as my compass and guide.  Let me participate fully and allow life to unfold as it will, with the deep trust that it is unfolding in perfect harmony.  Let me appreciate every breath I take and my connection to the harmony of Planet Earth.

Experiment for the Week: Set aside some time to inquire and observe body, mind, spirit.  What do you notice?  What needs your attention to prepare you for spring?

The Gifts of Stormy Weather

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." - John Ruskin

I confess. I love stormy weather.  Storms have both beauty and purpose. They are elements of nature and represent earth’s capacity to maintain and restore her balance.  Earth needs the clearing and the moisture that storms bring.

And, so do we, the inhabitants of earth. We depend on earth’s storms as part of the natural cycle that provides food, warmth, shelter. We relish the freshness in the air when a storm has passed and the quiet stillness before a storm arrives.

We need storms in our personal lives, individually and collectively. We need them to wake us up personally, to give us the opportunity to return to what we know and to glimpse fresh perspectives from that place of knowing.  We need to experience storms as a part of living and experimenting on this journey of life. And, we need tears to cleanse that which lays heavy in our hearts as well as that which creates worry at the surface.

Our opportunity is to embrace the storms of life from a place of love and trust. Not fear.

You’ve probably guessed that, I’ve experienced stormy weather this week. Although there’s a spring storm brewing high in the mountains as I write this, my storm was intensely personal.  In the midst of my storm, there were times that I felt powerless in its wrath and times where I knew that I could turn it off and return to my ‘to do list/plan for the week’.  I chose to ride the storm and discover what gifts she might offer.

In this ride I shed tears for the planet and hugged trees that seemed to return my embrace.   I shed tears for humanity, for the misunderstandings that divide us and the horror and pain those misunderstandings bring forth.  My tears were a cleansing gift. I pray that in some way, large or small, they help me understand that I am not separate from any other, from the planet, from the universe.  I pray that the choices I make from that deeper understanding will seed greater understanding in my community and beyond.

Along the way I found a beautiful rock, heart-shaped, a symbolic gift of the love that is ever present. I rediscovered what I care about in life, and I renewed my courage to live fully the life that is uniquely mine to live as my part in the unfolding mystery we call life.

Exploration for the Week: How have the personal storms in your life supported your growth? Is there a storm brewing that has the possibility for new growth or a fresh perspective in some area of your life?

Mud Puddles and the Power of Love

"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." - Thomas Carlyle

The snow melt continues as temperatures rise and the promise of Spring looms on the horizon here in the Colorado Rockies.  The messiness of the mud and slush seem as metaphors for the messiness of creating, whether a new life, a new approach to a community concern, a new world or all of these.

What can I learn about the power of love from the muddy puddles that appear, grow in size and numbers, and change each day?  How might this guide me in creating my life and us in creating our world?

I’m learning that practicing love is messy and paradoxical and that I can allow the messiness. I’m learning not to ignore it, to clean it up too fast, to put it out of sight and out of mind and go back to old habits favored by the world.  In my willingness to be messy perhaps I can glimpse a new possibility, maybe (re)learning (from my four-legged friend Luke or a small child) the sheer joy of splashing in the mud and the creative spark that may follow

Perhaps I can come to deeply (and therefore consistently) see that the chaos in life and the problems facing humanity and the planet are opportunities for us to splash with joy, to experiment with new approaches in the mud of chaotic times. Perhaps I can embrace fully the opportunities for growth, for inventiveness, and for creativity, both personally and collectively, that what we call and experience as problems represent.

Perhaps splashing in the mud will remind me that the power of love is the sole Universal power that – when we practice it – changes everything.  As I tap into this knowing, this wisdom of the ages I see the power of love to heal, to protect, to soften, to connect and most of all to create – a different life and a different world for us all.

Whether in my own little microcosm of choosing how I will respond to an event (or reacting without making a conscious choice), or in the greater macrocosm of the planet, collectively choosing how we address human and environmental concerns, may love be our answer.  May I/we know and be love in every situation we face, especially those that seem to threaten the self-love required to act from love.

As you glide or slog through the week ahead may you see love in nature, in art, and in every person and event that crosses your path. And, may you return that love with a knowing that, no matter what the experience, with love everything changes.

Experiment for the Week: Notice where love is present in your life, from the inside out and the outside in. Embrace it. Be grateful.

What Nature Teaches Me About Seeing the Beauty in Everything

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

“What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conondrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy. Can we imagine, witness, and ultimately feel the suffering of another?” - Terry Tempest Williams, Finding Beauty in a Broken World

In the past week or so as we’ve experienced sunshine and rising temperatures here in my corner of the Rockies, I’ve been fascinated to observe the snow melt each day.  Little holes in the snow’s surface reveal much larger patches of earth underneath them.  Sheets of snow and ice lean toward the southeast, splattered with dirt, looking like the model of a city skyline.  The tracks of wildlife and neighborhood canines (including Luke) form paths across the once pristine fallen snow.

I’m sure you get the idea.  Flowers bloom, the bloom fades.  A sunny day turns dark and stormy.  A once stately tree dies leaving a trunk and leafless branches.

As I reflected on my observations, I wondered ‘how does seeing beauty in what some would call ‘ugly’, support me in seeing beauty and perfection in everything, especially in those circumstances, people, and politics which trigger a negative response (or, even a reaction)’?

Could it be that they are seeds planted in the garden of nature that I can call upon to remind me that I’m not separate from anything or anyone and that there is beauty in ALL?   If I can see beauty in mud splattered snow, then isn’t that a seed to see beauty in those with whom I disagree, including political leaders whose views and votes are different from my own?  If I can see beauty beneath those holes in the snow that reveal nothing but brown grass, then don’t I have the capacity to see beauty in the words of others whose approaches differ from my own?

To these questions, I say a resounding YES!  I’m aware that developing my capacity to see beauty in all phases of nature required nurturing, both conscious and unconscious.  Over the last five years of being blessed to live in this place of amazing natural beauty, I have consciously opened to all that nature has to offer and put attention to growing my awareness. As a result, I’ve consciously begun to notice and acknowledge beauty in the small details, like the melting snow.   With the awareness that has emerged, I see that nurturing and vigilance that will be required to grow these seeds into consistently seeing the beauty in the people, politics and circumstances with which I disagree.

The contemporary thinker, philosopher, and writer Charles Eisenstein [http://charleseisenstein.net/about-charles/] writes about his decision not to join the ‘March Against Monsanto’ not because he supports the company’s practices, but rather because to do so contributes to what he calls “the story of separation”.  It’s generally easy to protest those things with which we disagree, and not so easy to take a breath and find another way that is beyond the right/wrong, good/bad judgment orientation prevalent in our culture today.

Perhaps, finding the beauty or, if you prefer, the opportunity in those things which we may dismiss as ‘ugly’ or wrong or disagreeable represents a pathway for peace, personally and collectively. Indeed, for our own learning, this may be the most important work of our time.

Question for the Week:  How many seeds for seeing the beauty in everything can you identify this week?