Answer The Call!

Hints of Fall!

Here is your educational mission: (1) Find the very best in you each day and use it; (2) Show the world your beauty, your courage, your understanding, your awareness, your creativity, your love. … If we are to live in joy and in accomplishment, we must release our cells from self-imposed restrictions so they can sense, interpret and move with us in the changing times. We need to be ready to respond, and to use experiences to our advantage. … there must be a willingness to let your cellular structure respond to the immediate event. Each day should be looked upon as the entrance to an adventure … Gregge Tiffen (What You Should Get From Education – September, 2007)

This week a deeper understanding and appreciation of my willingness to respond to what’s in front of me to is unfolding. I’m experiencing the joy and satisfaction of having responded to the flow of life in the moment rather than putting it off for a ‘more convenient’ time. And, I’m examining some habitual responses to life’s daily events.

Since closing the B&B, I often answer the phone only if I know who’s calling, and if it’s convenient, and if I want to engage. The unanswered calls go to voicemail to be checked later … sometimes much later. When I’m engaged in a focused project or conversation with someone else, this approach is great for maintaining flow, focus and concentration – necessary elements in business and life.

But, an event this week has me questioning my approach other than when it’s absolutely necessary.

A missed phone call on Monday morning – I didn’t reach the phone until the call had rolled to voicemail – and, not recognizing the number, I finished the task I was engaged in before checking to see if the caller left a message.

Yes, they did. “Hi, it’s ____ (a friend whom I’ve known for 10+ years). I’m in jail and … . Please call this number and let the sheriff know you got this message and whether you can help. Thanks!”

It took a few moments to get my head around what I’d heard. My heart kicked in as well. “Yes, I can bring money for your bond …” I said when I quickly returned the call and the sheriff brought my friend to the phone. I moved into action – calmly and clearly much to my surprise – transferring funds and stopping at the bank to withdraw cash (filled with gratitude that I was able to do so and knowing that I’d be repaid immediately). Cash in hand, I drove across the county, feeling calm, curious and aware of the opportunity to embrace and learn from a totally new experience. No, I’d never bailed someone out of jail before.

I had no idea what to expect in the process, why my friend was there, or what their state of mind would be. The process was straightforward and the sheriff on duty was one of the kindest, most professional public servants I’ve ever met. In sharing what had happened my friend said, “well, that’s an experience I’ve never had!” showing calm and courage in the midst of stressful conditions coupled with recognizing the event as a learning opportunity.

The day unfolded with several related events and adventures. In reflecting later I wondered ‘what if I’d not listened to that voicemail and responded fairly quickly?’ How would I feel and what opportunities might I have missed? What if the situation was reversed and I was the one in need of assistance?  In these reflections, I concluded that ‘it’s good to answer the call’.

My willingness to go with the flow, to “let my cellular structure respond to the immediate event” was reinforced as I recognized that a chance introduction on a morning walk several months back when I’d taken time to engage in a brief conversation manifested a friendship that expanded into a collaborative business opportunity taking shape just this week.

With our daily routines, our habits, jobs, responsibilities, etc. etc. it’s challenging to embrace each day as an adventure, an opportunity to “find the best in ourselves and use it” to show the world (and ourselves) our beauty, our courage, our understanding, our awareness, our creativity and our love. But in this week of surprising events and new awareness, I’m deepening my commitment to do just that.

What/Who is calling you right now? Pick up the call!

Evening Shadows In the Sacred Sangres

Novel Experiences

When a tree falls in the woods …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coming Soon to a Bookseller Near YOU …

The Source of Aha Moments

A Sudden Burst of Fall!

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

The source of your aha moments is YOU!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Shroud of Clouds and Blessed Rain in the Sangres!

Let's Do This!

Robin signaling the spread of new growth ... a sign to me that YES! We Can!

In effect, negative levels of earth consciousness will contribute to defeating the positive levels of non-physical consciousness. … when we have someone who is nasty, or when we get depressed, we are in league with the devil. … The battle between good and evil can increase to enormous proportions commensurate with the mass attitude of humans at any given point in history. Gregge Tiffen (Do The Angels Take a Vacation? – August, 2007)

Amidst a week of ‘more than usual’ activity, the message flow that came through yesterday seemed right on target. That was affirmed on our morning walk when a car speeded by, kicking up dust on our dirt road. I was trying to signal ‘please slow down’ but I was thinking and feeling ‘slow down ____’. My signal evoked an angry sign back.

That’s not the way I want to start my day. And, it’s now how I aim to feel about and interact with the world any time of day. So, today’s message is for me. Possibly it will resonate for you as well – as always that’s my wish.

Yesterday’s ‘download’ started with “Having the right, doesn’t make it (or you) right.” Hmm, I thought, not a new idea; it resonated. And then it continued something like this:

Since everything we do is magnified by the Universe; and

Since we are each one cell in the whole that is the Universe; and

Since we humans inhabit and depend upon this planet for our physical survival …

We need to exercise our ‘rights’ with care.

We need to know and understand that this body, this life is but one little dot in the infinite journey of our spirit. THIS is NOT ‘all there is’!

We need to live and make our choices knowing understanding the law of karma.

This is true for EVERY thought we think, EVERY word we utter, EVERY action we take.

EVERY thing is subject to the law of cause and effect.

Because we don’t always witness or experience immediate effects from our thoughts, words and deeds, I wonder if we’ve forgotten that everything we think, say and do contributes to the quality (or lack thereof) of life on this planet, both the incarnate and discarnate sides of the planet (and beyond into the entirety of this infinite Universe).  Yes! WE are THAT powerful!

Think about the power that YOU (yes YOU!) hold. Then take a moment to acknowledge the world, its chaos, cruelty, harshness, unkind words, poverty, climate extremes … any and all of those things that worry you, break your heart or cause anger to rise from the core of your being.

Now – with NO blame, shame, or judgement – ask yourself: how am I contributing to ‘this’? Consider others. Consider yourself, your life. Take some private, personal, quiet time to examine the thoughts you feed about each.

Ask yourself, what comments do I make about others? Yep, the words I uttered about the speeding driver this morning count and, sorry, so do the snarky comments that most of us have made on social media at one time or another.

Identify and consider the comments you make about yourself, your body, your life? Do your thoughts and comments contribute to creating the life, the health, the environment in which you can be healthy and thrive? Consider how you begin and embrace (or reject) each day – each moment for that matter. Do you worry about what ‘shoe will fall’ next? Do you wish that you weren’t on the planet? Those thoughts matter. The words you utter matter.

There is no thought, word or deed that isn’t energy, and this energy counts when it comes to cause and effect. Indeed all energy (and everything is energy) ‘counts’.  In this system, there is no shame, no blame, no judgement – only the Universe, perfect in its design, responding to the energy that issues forth from each of us 24/7.

What a beautiful thing that we are contributing to, creating the quality of life on our planet! Remember this truth when you feel powerless to impact the world: YOU ARE CREATING IT EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY. There is no time in which you are not impacting the world with your very being. 

Today, in this moment and each one thereafter, each of us individually, all of us collectively, our planet and, indeed, the Universe need for us to come to this awareness, to understand our power, and to think, speak and act accordingly. Let’s open our hearts. Let’s open our minds. Let’s open our arms. Let’s do this people!

'Come On People!' We'll show you the way!

The Antler

The Antler of Wisdom & Awareness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Signs of Growth, Signs of Change in The Woods

Fierce Softness: Life IS Sacred Service

A Teyuna Mamo with Mary Gaetjens of Harmony with Earth Mother Initiative in Columbia

You carry your worth in your heart. Complete, constant, and impartial love radiates through you to all creatures. Gregge Tiffen (The Collected Works of Gregge Tiffen: Echo – Sept. 2012)

Teyuna mamos and zagas exist in deep communion with every living thing, a state they’ve preserved and grown since what is for most westerners time immemorial and what is for them easily recalled through living tradition. (Earth Law Center Website - https://www.earthlawcenter.org/blog-entries/2018/6/teyuna-foundation-launches)

Have you ever been in the presence of fierce softness? I imagine that in being with the Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh one might experience a sense of ‘fierce softness’. Historical figures such as Jesus or Ghandi likely held fierce softness in their presence. Gregge’s quote above begins to describe what I think fierce softness can be.

I’ve been with people who are fierce. Heck, sometimes I’ve been fierce in ways that are not so positive. I’ve also been with individuals who radiate love and softness. I aim to do the same (and, being human in our culture, I often miss the mark).

Until last week, I’d not experienced the two together: fierce AND soft. Perhaps the seed was planted by Sharon Blackie’s book which I wrote about last week (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/reclaiming-softness). For sure, the book opened me to what I was about to experience here in Crestone at a ceremony for three Teyuna mamos and, two days later, at a healing ceremony that they offered.  

I don’t yet (and may never) have words to fully describe my experience. Powerful, healing, amazing, transformational are each accurate, but they miss the mark of complete expression. I’m integrating their words, the exercises we did, and their presence to make meaning and apply it my life.

For now, ‘fierce softness’ best describes the energy I experienced and received as these elders guided us through a powerful exercise to connect with the earth.  In both of my encounters with the Teyuna every word, every action, every step was clear, gentle and showed heartfelt and powerful intensity.  It was clear to me that they listen deeply to Mother Earth and respond with exactly what is needed in each moment.

The intense care for people, the planet, and for every living thing was palpable. I felt that I witnessed life as it is meant to be lived: in reverence and deep communion. That is ‘fierce softness’. That is service to life.

The Teyuna understand that as caretakers of the planet, we humans must take care of and heal ourselves in order to fulfill our sacred responsibility. No one can do it for us. The journey is an individual one, unique for each of us. As we heal ourselves, we heal our relationship to Mother Earth. We begin to live life as sacred service to our home rather than as a race to see who can collect the most toys and do the most harm.

Fierce softness. I’m exploring what it means to live from that place. Where is my softness needed – in my life, in the world? Where do I have the opportunity to soften? How might it look to be fierce in my softness? This week I invite to learn more about the Teyuna – here https://www.earthlawcenter.org/blog-entries/2018/6/teyuna-foundation-launches or watch the movie Aluna (available on Amazon.com) about their journey. And, I invite you to reflect on bringing ‘fierce softness’ to your expressions of life.

The Fierce Softness of Grandmother Pine lives on.

Reclaiming Softness

Prickly Labyrinth Path

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Come on Mom. It's not that prickly!

Breaking Free of Comparison

Evening Thunderheads - Bring On the Rains

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy a comparison free week!

A Summer of Ease and (Self)Care

As local as it gets - my deck garden.

There is no map for this pilgrimage we are on; there is no fixed path. And that is a good thing, because following the paths that others have set for us, the paths that the system confines us to – that is the cause of the problem. Sharon Blackie (If Women Rose Rooted: The Journey to Authenticity and Belonging)

Look for a new, but known, starting point beginning right where you are. Embrace that point of awareness. When you go from the point where you find yourself, the cells move into action and seek a new starting point. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Time Travels – July, 2010)

I’ve experienced a flow of thoughts, words and ideas as this week’s post emerged. ‘What’s the focus?’ I wondered as my pen rolled across the journal where I often write the first stab. ‘Ease and (self)care’, ‘your experience of this summer’ came the response.

Huh? Say What? I’m not doing much this summer. I’m just reading, resting, and taking care of myself, restoring. In a flash, I see that IS the focus. Not only the importance of these ‘Three R’s’, but also of the choices I make/we make in how we live and experience each and every day. Am I (are we) living authentically or simply following the dictates of the world intent on leading us astray?

Each season holds different experiences for us. Some prefer one season over another. I have my favorite things about each season. This summer, I’m aiming to begin each day from a point of awareness about something I love: the cool morning air on my skin, the sounds and smells of the woods as they waken to the new day, the brightness of rocks cleaned by an overnight rain shower. I can sometimes taste the very life these woods represent to me.

My decision to close the bed and breakfast marked the beginning of a new way of experiencing summer. With no guests and daily chores to attend to other than my own (and Luke’s) life maintenance, I’ve declared this a summer of ease and care: ease, care of self, and care about our world. My declaration wasn’t a goal or planned. It gently emerged from sitting with (and in) the question ‘What’s next?’ and from my willingness to accept not knowing.

 A longing to read, a need for rest, and my sense that personal restoration is important for each of us in these chaotic times are my summer friends. I’m reading more (and more deeply) than ever in my life. I’m napping and allowing myself to sit quietly gazing at the woods. Rest and reading are restoring in their own ways, and to them I’m adding soaks at the hot springs, nourishing local food, massage, and – perhaps most important of all – a commitment to no rushing, no pressure, no worry. While keeping abreast of current events, I’m putting my attention on the countless positive messages and actions that are occurring around the globe 24/7. This I what I want the Universe to magnify.

Some might call my summer a ‘vacation’. I’m experiencing it as engagement in deepening a new way of being, experiencing, and expressing me: taking the energy of each day, directing and using it to create the day with ease and care.

So, ‘What’s next?’? For now ‘This’. And, that is quite enough.

Napping Mentor, Cool Hand Luke, doing his 'job' well!

NO LIMITS!

Early morning beauty as we blaze a new trail.

Will is the means by which consciousness exercises itself. (Are you getting enough exercise?) Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Awareness ­– July, 2009)

When you use your energy to control conditions or elicit guarantees you give away your power and limit the ways in which the Universe can support you.

I’m fascinated by this concept of free will.  As a result of exploration and experimentation, I’m coming to better understand how to use its power, not as a force over something or someone, but as a divine gift that we’ve each been given. It’s also a paradox and a challenge in a world designed to control – but that’s a musing for another day.

This day I want to share the insights and deeper understanding that I’ve experienced this week, mostly from the nearby fire (click here if you missed last week’s post - http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/facing-fear-exercising-will). This tragic event has proven to be a gift for me personally, and it continues to offer insights and new awareness.

While I’m heartbroken for those who lost property or were evacuated, I’m thankful for the courageous fire fighters who have this monster (almost 108,000 acres) at 83% containment and for all the agencies and individuals who have stepped up to provide information and support to those directly impacted. My wish for all is that in time each can look inside to discover the knowledge, insights, and wisdom that surely is within.

When I take time to be fully present and aware of my senses, I discover the multitude of choices that present themselves in each and every moment. They come in many forms each in its way calling for my attention: Luke nuzzling my leg suggesting that it may be time for a break, the smell of smoke inviting me to close windows and to worry about the danger of fire, basil about to bloom telling me it’s time to harvest, thoughts about future direction and finances inviting me to worry, social media posts suggesting anything imaginable and some that are beyond my imagination. The list is endless, infinite like the Universe. Where will I focus?

I’m grateful for my growing understanding that where I put my attention is an act of will to which the Universe then responds and magnifies. Last week when I experienced fear of fire in our drought stricken woodlands, I was able to direct that energy to learn more about the nearby event itself, how such events are managed, and the terminology and technology used to communicate conditions to those in harm’s way. As my knowledge grew, my angst eased. I now had information and knowledge to call on if ever it’s needed.

There’s no one ‘right’ way to exercise will of course. Another local woman took on educating the community and visitors about the fire bans in place. Noticing a dearth of signage about the bans she printed posters and cards to distribute to local businesses and lodging providers. She had large banners made to post at key locations throughout the community, far more visible and informative than the meager signs put up by local government.

That’s what exercising will looks like. And, this one was a pretty good workout.

As is Its Way, the Universe continues to respond. The community rallied in support of this citizen initiative financially and in other ways.

And, I’ve been gifted with insights, ‘ah-ha’ moments that have application far beyond my fear of fire. Enjoying the morning coolness and beauty that surrounds me on a walk with Luke, I experienced such a moment that led to this insight:

When you use your energy to control conditions or elicit guarantees, you give away your power and limit the ways in which the Universe can support you.

The insight came as I recognized a pattern of expectation – dependence is a more honest word – that certain people would do certain things to help me in the event I found myself in need. That is, I would be helped in a particular way. In that moment a series of thoughts converged to show me that seeking promises and making deals about the future limit how support can come.

Bam! I was placing finite limits on an abundant, limitless, infinite Universe.

From that awareness my will has a new base from which to operate: No Limits!  Now let’s give that some exercise.

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