Life's Knots

Springtime In the Rockies!

Every knot was once a straight rope. Gregge Tiffen

Sometimes, especially when we’re surprised by an unexpected challenge, we go negative. Fear and worry set in.  We may find it difficult to sleep. Our focus stays fixed on the problem and our fear that we don’t know what to do.   On some level we all know better.  But our ability to tap into that knowing is blocked by our negativity.

It’s at these times that Gregge’s metaphor of the knot once being a straight rope reminds me of another of his truisms: “There is always an answer.”  Ahhh … breathe that in for a moment. There is always an answer.  (Rinse. Repeat.)

I’m taking a bit of a turn this week to share a process that I discovered from reading a transcript of a lecture that Gregge offered over 30 years ago. The context of the lecture is health and strength of the cells.  He says, “The argument for good health in terms of cellular strength is the argument that says you cannot be affected by the negative to any degree as long as the cells are healthy because they will not sustain this negative flow going through. The cells will reject the information and turn it into a positive form.”

So, my health is a critical factor in how I respond to life, in particular my ability to access beliefs like ‘there is always an answer’ when the pressure is on.  As I read on, just beginning to scratch the surface of this obvious yet potentially life changing idea, Gregge offered this simple three step process for clearing the system of the toxicity of worry:

1.      Run around the block – Exert yourself to the point of huffing and puffing to “clear the blood and strengthen the cells”.  Put your attention on that intention: clearing the negativity rather than on the knot that you need to untie.

2.      Drink lots of water – Drink lots of water to “flush and neutralize the system”.

3.      Go to bed – sleep. And, if tomorrow finds you still anxious and worried rather than able to face the knot, repeat the process.  I believe that Einstein once said that he solved many problems by taking a nap.

This is contrary to much of our learning and the habits that we’ve developed. We believe that we need to focus on the problem and worry over it until it is solved.  We put tremendous pressure on ourselves (our cells) to do just that.  As I discover more and more, I see just how high the cost of that pressure is: our good health.

Thankfully, I’m not faced with a big life knot right now. And that seems like a good time to start a new practice: shifting the intention and focus of my exercise, water intake, and rest to strengthening myself (my cells) for the time when just such a knot will appear. 

Naming Without Blaming

Finger-pointing and blame-finding are exercises in self degradation. We are not born accusers. Accusing and complaining are learned, negative habits.  Gregge Tiffen (Tax Time: Are You Taxing Yourself?)*

How does one take responsibility without walking into the negative energy of blame and shame? It would seem easy, yet who among us has not engaged in ‘I should have known better …’ and its corollaries: ‘It’s my fault …’; ‘I’m so dumb (bad, stupid, etc.)’? 

I don’t know about you, but such negativity was an auto-pilot reaction for much of my life.  Then, I began to see the costs – low energy, dis-satisfaction, limited opportunity, a sense of lack and not being/doing ‘enough’.   I was cut off from the consistent, reliable flow of universal creative energy.

Over time and with practice, I’ve shifted. I’ve come to know the Universe as a friendly place, not a trap waiting to nab me when I err.  Amidst several opportunities to beat myself up this week, I noticed that for the most part I was choosing a different path.

I was noticing each blunder. From the banking error to the hot water heater going ‘kaput’, I was being kind to me. At the same time, I was being honest with myself. The costly bank error was mine (and not in my favor!).  After a valiant though unsuccessful effort to get the bank to waive their fee, I looked at where I’d erred, adjusted my internal systems to (hopefully) avoid a recurrence AND I let it go. No blame. No shame. 

As I was arranging for a new hot water heater (necessary because my hot water began to look rusty colored over the weekend), I realized that just a week or so before, the thought had crossed my mind that ‘perhaps a larger heater would better serve my needs’.  Voila! Through my thoughts, it seems that I created the opportunity for that larger heater.  A random thought manifested! I erred in not being aware of it, having a clear intention, time frame and manifesting the resources to do it with ease.  

As I reflected on these and a few other learning opportunities this week, I realized that I’ve come to understand and live into the belief that, as Gregge says, “The Universe does not make ninnies. The Universe has created you in Its image as strong, dependable, creative, self-assured, intelligent, harmonious, and complete.”  I AM that!  And, YOU are that too!

We have only to choose to be what we truly are.  With discipline and practice, those very qualities that reside in our cells spring forth to quash the ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda, I’m not enough’ reactions that our culture seems to nurture.  Myself and my cells like our choice!

Embracing Spring's Newness!

"Nature is always moving forward and manifesting that which is truly new!" - Gregge Tiffen

In the most unnatural of ways, we’ve sprung our clocks forward and each in our own way is adjusting (or not). Unlike we hurried humans, nature in her time and at her own pace moves forward into spring as well. Tomorrow we welcome spring, 2015, and in nature that means bringing forth the new.

A gentle rain fell for much of the night (and just began again!) here at 8,000 feet – each drop new. High above at 9,000 feet and beyond new snowflakes fell. This much appreciated precipitation provides moisture for the new sprigs of green grasses that are just beginning to break through the newly thawed earth. It nourishes the pines, making new cones, as well as the junipers, aspens, cottonwoods as they begin a new season of growth here in the Sangres.

The quote today is from a booklet that Gregge published some eight years ago. It’s one of several that I like to read anew each year. I’m never disappointed, as there is always some new gem that I wasn’t yet ready to notice before.

This year I noticed his distinction about the word ‘renewal’ that we so often apply to spring being inaccurate in terms of what spring truly represents. Everything that bursts forth in nature each spring is new: new blades of grass, new leaves, new buds, new baby birds and deer. New. New. New!

This idea evoked an insight into why several projects and ideas that I was thinking about dusting off and putting attention to weren’t providing much spark. I realized that the ‘renewed’ energy I was trying to use was old, recycled, and even a bit stale. So I called forth NEW energy and, voila, my spirit lifted, my energy increased and projects which seemed more a burden than a creative joy began to move forward: new shelves in the kitchen, a new perspective about using financial resources, a decision to move forward with building a new deck, a new website and business identify (coming soon!), and a new spring my step – physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Most important of all though is a new lens through which to view my choices:

Am I simply in repetition mode OR am I making my life experiences new?

A few more words from Gregge say it best: “By failing to make an experience new, we recycle ourselves into stunted growth patterns. By making such choices, we fall out of synchronicity with the Universe and produce boredom instead of development.”

So, as you take time to welcome spring and the new moon tomorrow, think new, see new, speak new, do new, be new. Fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride!

I Am What I Am

"I am what I am what I am, and I cannot do any better than that." - Gregge Tiffen (Communication With the Living – 2010)

"I am what I am, ‘Cause I ain’t what I used to be." - Lyrics from It Is What Is by

Stephen Bruton & John "00" Fleming and performed by The Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash & Kris Kristofferson)

All too often we fall into the “I’m not enough” trap. It can become an exhausting downward spiral – physically, mentally, and spiritually. I’m guessing that, like me, you’ve ‘been there/done that’ (and perhaps even ‘bought the t-shirt).

In direct contradiction to the Universal characteristic of abundance, ‘not enough’ seems to have become a part of our culture. The fear factories thrive on spreading this message.

We’re taught early on to compare (“Susie made straight A’s. Why can’t you?”). Is it any wonder that this habit lives on in our inner conversations (“___ has thousands of followers on Twitter; I only have a few hundred.”)

And, we’re surrounded by competition in business, sports and, worst of all, between countries in the form of war.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We can each discover and embrace the uniqueness that we are on the planet. We can be satisfied with who and what we are. And, at the same time, not allow our satisfaction to become complacency. For me, that’s become a quest to learn about Universal Law and to experiment with my understanding of how I can apply my learning to the events life presents.

Along the way that quest has helped me develop core beliefs that serve as a foundation to come back to when events in life seem rocky. They’re like my own personal ‘CTRL/ALT/DELETE’ to restart me fresh with the core of my personal operating system. They have grown the “I Am” that I have become.

As my learning deepens, new beliefs will join them to support the continuing evolution of the “I Am that I Am”. Walking through life from that place rather than from a drive to compare and compete is just the fuel I need.

By-Passing Cultural Fear Factories

"Spiritual development reduces your habitual fear buttons to a minimum level until they are eliminated altogether." - Gregge Tiffen (Revealing Habits – 2011)

Sometime early last year my coach and spiritual mentor posed a question and a challenge. “What are the threats dogging you that you need to remove?” ‘Threats? Who me? I’m fearless’ was my initial response.

As I reflected on her inquiry, I realized that I was allowing far too much input from our culture’s ‘fear factories’.

You most likely have (or can create) your own list of them. Mine includes politicians who warn of doom and dire consequences if their policies are not followed; ‘news’ media fixated on war, terrorism and crime with a good helping of bad economic news; the financial services industry’s persistent messages about ‘not having enough money for retirement’; an entire industry of marketers hawking products to make me look better, feel better, drive the right car, wear the right jeans, etc. so that I can know that I’m ‘enough’. And, just to be totally honest, there are those with whom I agree (the organic, non-GMO food folks, for example) who all too often play the fear card as well.

Fear factories insert themselves in our lives in ways that range from BOLD to subtle, always aiming to snatch our free will and impose their own, having us make choices in service to them.

One approach is to turn off the spigot, isolating oneself from such input. But for someone who’s curious about what goes on in the world, that didn’t seem like a good option. Besides, where’s the potential for personal growth in avoidance?

As I continued to reflect and observe, I noticed that I wasn’t countering input from the fear factories with the faith and trust that I’ve nurtured in my 40+ years exploring how the Universe works. Eureka!

That awareness alone countered my nagging (but mostly unconscious) concern that I’d end up a homeless bag-lady under a bridge. Even worse, bridges are few and far between here in the southern Rockies, so I might be bridgeless as well! While the shift seemed to happen in an instant, I realized that over time I’d developed a strong spiritual belief system, and that this foundation was the key to putting my habits of fear to rest.

Not allowing myself to be sucked in to the fear factories’ consistent cries for me to be fearful requires diligence. And, I continue to develop my capacity to nimbly and gently bring myself back to my foundation when the fear mongers’ voices touch a sensitive place inside.

Consciously or not, we are each on a spiritual journey. As I read the above quote earlier this week, I realize just how important and practical (at least for me) that journey is.