Pivot to Inspirations and Provocations

I call this ‘Painting What You See’ (found image, unknown source)

In the greatest cultures of the ancient world there was a stairway between the human and the divine. The Earth and the cosmos were addressed as "thou," not "it". People felt they participated in a great cosmic mystery of which they were a part. People experienced the divine as imminent in the material world. Nature and the cosmos were ensouled with divine presence. Ceremonies like those performed at Stonehenge ... connected Earth with heaven and strengthened the sense of participation in a divine reality.  Anne Baring

What if I really believed everything is in divine order? Quanita Roberson

Over the past week or so I’ve intentionally put my attention on that which informs, inspires, and provokes me to reflect. I’m not ignoring the multiplicity of crises that we are each a part of. And I’m doing my best not to feed the fear and separation from which our crises arise. Not looking to be distracted or entertained, but rather to be informed and guided more deeply to understand and act in ways that honor Nature, humanity, and the divine.

I wonder how I can live more fully into my instinctive knowing that Nature, humanity, and the divine are not separate. Isn’t that what maturity is? How can I grow up?

The exploration has taken me on several tracks, discovering new (to me) voices profound in their wisdom, reminding me that way back in college days (decades ago!) I wondered what it would be like to become a philosopher. Perhaps that’s a seed now breaking through the soil of my life.

Early this morning as I wandered over the week’s landscape and began to wonder (in truth, I felt quite unclear and a bit worried) where Muse and I would go with today’s post, Muse directed, “just sit down and WRITE!”. Ah, yes, pick up the pen and allow the words to come. To flow. Allow the joy of discovery that rises when I step into the unknown.

For surely, we are in a time when we are called to make peace with the unknown. Befriend her. Perhaps even embrace her with our hint of ‘knowing’ that we are co-creating the story, not observers or victims on the journey. How am I participating in this co-creation?

How will the disparate thought threads from my exploration weave together? Heck, will they?

Something has shifted in my awareness about our language: that so much of it is formed around the masculine. The scales of language today are weighted with the yang energy favored in our culture. Is it any wonder that conflict and war continue to prevail? How can we balance the scales, perhaps even tip them toward yin energy? The feminine? The caring of the Great Mother?

This awareness has me want to be care-filled rather than habitual in choosing the words I write and speak for surely my habits of language were all too often curated by the prevailing energy.

That means slowing down. Discerning what is mine to do, to say. Letting go of all that is not. Perhaps some of the disparate threads don’t belong in this weave. Perhaps they are not mine to weave. Release and trust the wind to carry them where they need to be. They will return if meant to be.

It means that my habits need new curators, mid-wives for birthing new words, new ways, new habits, new stories that we so long for. Perhaps my explorations are indeed a search for impassioned, caring voices of The New to inspire, provoke, and to share when Muse and I settle in to write. Muse nods in agreement, reminding me that the above quotes are from new (to me) sage women each with deep connection to the divine and each taking care in the words they speak. I discovered them listening in to an amazing Humanity Rising panel discussion on feminism and democracy (click here to listen). I’m adding both of them to my curator team.

Likewise it means observing and listening to Zadie Byrd with expanded senses. She seems aligned with this direction, as she indicated to our animal communicator in a session this morning, sharing that she doesn’t care for the energy of the traditional veterinarian who did her eyelid surgery and has been doing the follow-up to clear her eye of what seems to be some sort of infection. “I want to see the ‘herbal vet’,” she said. “I like her energy. It’s freer.” Seems Ms. Byrd is to be on the curator team as well, perhaps as mascot.

Life and learning continue to unfold. Moment to moment we choose where to put our attention and what to paint from where that attention lands. I feel the divine as I grok and aim to live more fully into being part of ‘a great cosmic mystery’.

What if I really believed that everything is in divine order?

Snowy Peaks! Blessed Moisture! Grateful Heart!

Breaking the Chain

A Colorado Blue Sky Afternoon - Blanca Peak in the Distance

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.  Martin Luther King

I’m guessing that, just as I have, you’ve spent some time (perhaps a little, perhaps a lot) reflecting on and reacting to the violence perpetrated in the U.S. Capitol on all of us (not just those who were doing our business in that sacred temple of democracy) one week ago. Although my reactions have run the gamut – rage, sadness, concern, disgust, gratitude (for those who serve and that what could have been a massacre was quelled before more were injured or killed) - I’ve aimed to maintain calm and a sense of being grounded.

The irony (or perhaps synchronicity?) that my topic last week was nonviolence (read it here) wasn’t lost on me even though last week the muse was focused on the violence in western medicine’s approach to health. The timing was a reminder that everything and everyone are a part of everything else. We are each one of the One. I am as much a part of the perpetrators as I am of the peacekeepers, of those who hate and those who love, of those who promote violence and those committed to breaking the chain of violence.

I am as much a part of those whose political views are diametrically opposed to mine as am of those with whom I agree. And, of those who believe that this life in this body is all there is as I am of those who believe that the body is but a vehicle that their soul uses to navigate and learn throughout the ages. I’m as much a part of western medicine as I am of eastern, natural, holistic approaches; of those who subscribe to so called ‘conspiracy theories’ and those who rely solely on what they hear on so called ‘mainstream media’.

Holding this as my truth along with my deep connection with nature are anchors that help me stay grounded (or return fairly quickly when I’m triggered) in what’s true for my soul. And, what’s true for our souls, indeed, all souls, is what matters in this infinite Universe where today’s events are but a blip on the endless timeline of the Universe.

It is time to break the chains of separation and competition that foment violence. It is time to discover and create new systems that nurture nonviolence. It is time to build our soul force individually and collectively. Throughout my reflections and my observations of events this week the words ‘condemn the action, not the person’ have consistently popped into my awareness. Perhaps this is one small step we can each take toward breaking the chains that bind us toward violence as we seek justice, peace and to build a world which recognizes the truth of who we are.

Winter’s Art

War Is Not The Answer

Winter Clouds Over the Sacred Sangres

The power of nonviolence is not circumstance-specific. It is as applicable to the problems that confront us now, as to problems that confronted generations in the past. It is not a medicine or a solution so much as a healing process. It is the active spiritual immune system of humanity. Marianne Williamson (The Healing of America - 1997)

The above quote popped out at me one recent morning after experiencing a deep sense of the need to shift consciousness, individually and collectively, around what we call ‘disease’. The message came through loud and clear:

War and fighting are not the paths for ending the current pandemic OR future ones. Rather than attack diseases as enemies, reach out with love and curiosity to discover what messages they hold for healing, growth, and humanity’s evolution. Just as we have the potential to cultivate peace with one another, we hold the potential to cultivate health - physically, mentally, and spiritually.

As I reflected on that message and as Williamson’s words suggest, nonviolence holds the potential to address the myriad of 'ills' that individual humans and humanity collectively suffer: poverty, racial discrimination, hate, conflict, injustice, inequality, etc. etc.

We need to stop. To listen with mind, heart, and gut. We need to hear ourselves, our bodies and we need to respond to their pleadings to create health not simply fight off disease when it occurs or vaccinate ourselves against it. The body has vast capabilities to heal and to stay healthy IF we will create an environment within which it can do its job. Clean water; nourishing organic foods; exercise; reducing stress and fear; and maintaining a positive outlook on life can do wonders to create the magic of health in our bodies. This is the foundation of a nonviolent approach to health.

We need to listen to one another.  We need to listen to those with whom we agree and, especially, to those whose views are contrary to our own. We need to hear one another from the heart, not just the head. We need to seek not victory as the paradigms of war and competition promote, but unity. We need to more deeply understand that we are all connected, indeed that everything is connected; and to develop new systems and approaches to thriving lives on our planet. This, for me, is the nature of nonviolence that both Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King suggested in their words and in their deeds.

Perhaps now as a new year begins is a time to commit or to re-commit to learning, practicing, and engaging nonviolence in ALL aspects of life. The 24th ‘Season for Nonviolence’ beginning on January 30th and ending on April 4th offers one approach to such engagement.

Established in 1998 by Arun Gandhi to honor his grandfather and Dr. King, the ‘season’ begins on the anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination and continues for 64 days, ending on the anniversary of the MLK’s assassination. Now convened each year by the Association for Global New Thought (AGNT), this year’s theme is ’64 days, 64 ways’.

I haven’t yet chosen my path for expanding my commitment to and practice of nonviolence, so I invite you to join me in learning more here and finding a path that fits your schedule, your style, and the personal commitment you wish to make to our individual and collective evolution.

Ending Note: As I complete this post, peaceful protest in the nation’s capital seems to be giving way to violence. May the power of peace and love prevail.

New Year Sunset

From Domination to Love

Sangres Sunrise

For thousands of years, Western culture has become increasingly obsessed with the idea of dominance: with dominance of humans over nonhuman nature, masculine over the feminine, wealthy and powerful over the poor, with the dominance of the West over non-Western cultures. Deep ecological consciousness allows us to see through these erroneous and dangerous illusions. Bill Devall, Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered

This week finds me immersed in a personal family event, so the weekly muse is taking a break from writing my usual post. Yet even with much of my attention elsewhere, the need for laying old systems to rest and bringing forth new ones is ever present in every aspect of our lives.

This week I invite - no, I encourage - you listen to Humanity’s Team co-founder Steve Farrell interview conscious business pioneer, Hazel Henderson. Find it here.

Then, think about, indeed dare to imagine an economy that is fair, just, equitable. One where dominance has no seat at the table. And, deep ecological consciousness has a voice.

What is possible? What will you do to contribute to the pivot toward this possibility?

Cottonwood Creek Nearby

Spring! Awaken, Think Deeply, Pivot

Yield and step into the flow of nature.

Life seems to fail us because we do not make new space for ourselves. … life is a continuum of things being ‘broke’. Unless you are willing to take a new stance, walk a new path, find a new answer, develop a new character, build a new body, express in new terms, and see through new eyes, everything will remain the same. … Nature moves down two pathways. One assures equal balance on the planet. The other leads to a natural development and advancement of all living things.  Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime! Flow with the Power of Nature – March, 2007)

Spring! The earth spins and the season of new growth begins here in the northern hemisphere. Half of the globe is springing into newness and light. The other half ‘falling’ into the season of harvest with the darkness of winter just beyond.

But no matter the season, life has changed drastically for all of us. We have the power to decide how that change will emerge. As nature moves down her two pathways, balance and advancement, will we step into her flow, listen deeply to her voice, reflect on her cries, and pivot to create new ways to live on our precious planet?  Or, will we simply pause, rest, entertain ourselves in the hope that life will soon return to ‘normal’? Which will I choose?

Do we have the courage to challenge the thinking of scientific materialism that has taken us further and further from nature, our mother? Do I?

Are we willing to be honest with ourselves about the destruction we each cause in our daily participation in a culture that values science and the material world over spirit, not understanding that the two are not separate? Am I?

Might we examine the life we call ‘normal’ knowing (even complaining about) the stresses that it creates in our bodies, our relationships, and all of life? Might I?

Our children who haven’t yet lost their connection to nature are asking and, rightfully, demanding. From Greta Thunberg, to the Sunrise Movement (www.sunrisemovement.org), to your own children and grandchildren as voiced by this young person’s question to ‘mom’ over breakfast posted by a colleague yesterday on Facebook:

Mom, we’re doing our part and staying home from school, not seeing our friends, not going outside. We are doing this even though Coronavirus won’t kill us. We’re doing this to help the adults and the older people to live longer and healthier lives. So, when this is all over, will they repay us by making changes to save the environment? So that we will be able to live longer, healthier lives when we are their age?
Because, you know, that seems fair to me.

How will we respond? How will I?

Will we simply hit the ‘play’ button when this pause is over and scramble to return to life as it was or as close to that as we can make it? Or will we use this time to think deeply and pivot to creating a culture and systems that recognize and use both spirit and science/material things, that honor the ways of nature and acknowledges that we will not control her?  Will we boldly demand a culture and systems that respect ALL life?

As I watch the snow fall in the woods out my window my heart knows that these are questions. And, as history has shown us time after time, a ‘war’ on the problem is not the answer.

Use this time wisely. Rest. Take extraordinary care of yourself and those you love. Hold those whose choices you loath in light and love for they too are on a journey of learning just as each of us. Muster the courage and willingness to think deeply and honestly about your life. Build upon that courage to pivot to walk through life anew.    

The calendar says ‘Spring’. Mother Nature says ‘not yet’.

Peace, No Matter What

I think of this spot as a Portal to Peace.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. Albert Einstein

… cause peace by becoming peace – not just being peaceful temporarily. To become peace requires embracing a mindset that recognizes all of creation as one organism expressing in myriad forms and committing to treat all others (human, non-human, animate and inanimate) with kindness and respect, no matter what. Rev. Trish Hall, founder Way2Peace (https://way2peace.org/)

The idea of ‘peace, no matter what’ is an ideal of the highest magnitude, or so it seems in a world hell-bent on destruction. Peace seems out of reach until we bring it home, seeking to maintain our personal sense of peace and making a commitment to peace in our hearts, minds, and homes. We do this moment by moment, choice by choice, conversation by conversation. Some are easy, natural, and effortless. Others choices call forth our conviction, invite us to step into the unknown, or even to swim upstream counter to friends, neighbors, or social norms.

That is way the way of change. That is way of creating peace. Those are the individual choices that we must make collectively if peace and love are to prevail on our precious planet.

Recently just such a choice presented itself. In the midst of reflecting on somewhat disconcerting conflicts and reactions in my community – events that have resulted in some friends deciding to arm themselves and others considering doing the same – these words came to me crystal clear as if someone was in the room speaking:

Disarmament of nations will only come when individuals shed the fear that has us keep weapons for our own protection.

While I wasn’t considering arming myself with a gun, a friend currently living in my home voiced that possibility for herself. Given the events, I understand why one might consider this choice. Yet, my initial reaction was ‘no!’. And after a day of thoughtful consideration, I was clear that this choice would stand. I was also clear that new criteria for sharing my home had emerged: no guns, no weapons – no matter what.

I feel a deep sense that my personal safety, like peace, comes first from within. The cause of war and violence in any of its forms is fear. Fear is the absence of love. The path to peace collectively is to expand and deepen our individual capacity to make choices grounded in kindness and respect – love, if you will – not in fear. I have work to do to increase my own capacity for kindness and respect to myself and to others, especially those with whom I disagree.

Too often we think of peace only as the business of nations. Governments engage in war to ‘win’ peace. Do you notice how broken this model is? Fear and dominance have had their time. Their time is done (though letting go for some will not be done without fight).

The time is now to end violence and to call forth peace, the peace that is our business – yours and mine – to create. The time for simple kindness, respect, and relationship is upon us.  Let our love shine light in the dark corners of fear. Let us each become portals to peace, putting our attention on the work that needs doing to build that peace – moment by moment, choice by choice, conversation by conversation, and even social media post by social media post.

Blanca Peak, a place of peace to indigenous peoples for generations. Do you see the bear?

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

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!

Auld Lang Syne

White Christmas was NOT a dream!

“Give up the last year. Get rid of all those things of the mundane world. Make room for the awareness of a whole new spiritual understanding that will carry you throughout the next year.” Gregge Tiffen (The Winter Solstice: Giving To Yourself, December 2007)

“… and when you have the willingness to accept who you are, you become aware of an internal flame that burns with a fire that is unquenchable. It’s your acceptance that dispels fears and inadequacies.”  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Sacred Passageways, December 2011)

As the year winds to a close, we tend to look back on that year, its joys, its sorrows, what we accomplished, where we may have fallen short. Hopefully our review list includes acknowledging all that we learned from the opportunities and events that life presented.

As 2016 ends, many will breathe a sigh of relief that it is finally over and a breath of hope for better days in year ahead.  Some look ahead with dread.  These are what draw our attention when we focus on the world outside of us, the world we live IN but the world we are not OF.

The world we live in seems chaotic and uncertain. It is. But within each of us is a seed of understanding who we truly are. Nurturing that seed grows our faith in our capacity to be resilient in the face of the world’s chaos.  Perhaps we need it now more than ever.

The seed of faith is within us all. It is faith not in something outside of us. Rather it is faith in who we are, each as an individual, integral part of an intelligent Universe. It is a reminder that life is so much more than we experience and observe each and every day.

As you ring in 2017, I invite you to join me in nourishing your seed of faith in the 365 days that lie ahead.

Perhaps this prayer, one of my favorites of Gregge’s writing, will support you to deepen your faith in you and in understanding just how important you are in the Universal scheme of things.

Let me never forget how important I am to the Universal Picture. Without me there would be a blank space where there should be color.

Let me understand that the challenges of life are just that and not battles. I am not out there to win or to loose, only to develop my skills as an on-going student in an omnipotent school. 

Let me understand that the difference between people is one of the wondrous realities of an infinite Universe. Giving those differences space to be is far more important than comparing them to my set of beliefs. 

Let me be proud of what I do. To whatever my hand touches, let me remind myself that it was my effort that added to the result. Perfection is not my goal. Creativity is.

Let me remind myself that most of what I take seriously about myself also qualifies for a good laugh. Let me remember to be kind to myself. Loving companions are one of life’s treats, but they are not responsible for my care. Self-kindness can heal almost any hurt. 

Let me take responsibility as a gift and not a burden. Within that effort is the grandest sense of accomplishment I could achieve. 

Let me be patient with life. Nature does not produce the flower before the roots have taken hold. If I recognize that the place I am in is the right place at the right time, it will always be the right place at the right time.  Gregge Tiffen (The Significance of Beginning, January 2007)

Add Snowy to Cordial and Cheerful.

Atmospheric Conditions

Perfect Atmospheric Conditions Required for Flight!

At times, by the use of a word, an attitude, or an action, you plug into some kind of energy that you are not aware is there.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Invisible Action – November, 2011)

There were times in my life that I took just a speck of inspiration that I could feel and expanded upon it to pump more vitality into that sense of acceptance. Patrece (undated personal communication)

In the midst of atmospheric conditions that feel, sound, and look dark and ominous, one can sometimes feel that other energy isn’t there for our use.  I find myself with that challenge more than I’d like.  At a time when I (and I think humanity and the planet) need an atmosphere of well-being, it seems that the overall atmospheric conditions are dense, dark and in need of lifting.

On waking the first day back from my week away, I found myself slipping into a funk. Beyond ‘the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket’, a closer look revealed a sense of obligation about many tasks and activities that needed my attention. Even activities that I wanted to participate in felt obligatory.

What energy had I unwittingly plugged into?  More importantly, what energy did I want and what atmosphere would I prefer to create?  The questions themselves along with recognizing that we each contribute to the overall atmosphere by the atmosphere we create for ourselves, provided an opening, a reminder that I could walk through a different portal to a different attitude, a different atmosphere.

Over the years, I’ve found many things that nurture and support me to create an atmosphere of well-being around me.  Daily walks in nature with the handsome Cool Hand Luke and joy of caring for him rank high on my list.  Music, listening and singing; poetry, reading and writing; mystical and spiritual works are other fertilizer to nourish and expand on little bits of inspiration. Creating a nurturing environment for my B&B guests supports me in many ways.

A Favorite Inspirational Spot on Cottonwood Creek

Gregge Tiffen’s work, both his general writing and notes from my consultations with him over 30 years, likewise is an always reliable source.  A look at my personal BiCircadian calendar (one of many tools of his legacy) provided just what I needed to shift from obligation to exploration: two planets in positions that supported lightness, fun, creativity, and spontaneity. Although I didn’t exactly jump up and shout “bring it on!”, I felt the heaviness of obligation lifting and the curiosity of exploration beginning to bloom.

All too often we accept the atmosphere we find ourselves in as ‘just the way things are’.  We forget that there is a choice about the energy we plug into and the atmosphere which that creates.  We wander away from ‘home’, look outside of ourselves (our cells), and latch on to whatever energy is present. In a world that needs the vibration of our well-being, perhaps that haste does indeed make waste, and taking time to make a conscious choice serves us as well as serving humanity.

Question for the week: How do you recognize specks of inspiration and what are your favorite ways to nurture them?

Handsome. That IS All.