Blog 10 IS IT THE TRUTH?

There are Truths, with a capital “T” that transcends interim truths, what I call those with a lower-case “t”. An interim truth could be “I don’t have enough money.” Or “I’m miserable.” Or “I’m lonely.”

Frankly those are pronouncements that when asked “Is that true?” we would respond by saying, “Of course it’s true! Look at my dwindling bank account. Nothing’s working for me. Every relationship I have falls apart.”

Here’s a clue that these are simply interim truths: Nothing and every and always simply don’t exist, except in human language that prevents us from seeing clearly, without confusion. Those are more often used for dramatic purposes than to acknowledge what’s so. Our egotistical minds want to convince us they are true, but even a casual inquiry by a more objective, loving friend will quickly reveal how insidiously distorted these perspectives are. While some areas of our lives may, from time to time, present challenges, even whopper-sized predicaments, other areas of our lives, when we allow ourselves to focus there instead, work perfectly. Consider right now that your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing in and out, and your eyesight is functioning to focus on these words and the ambient light around you. Right now move your fingers on both hands, and then touch your cheek or your nose and marvel at the perfection in which you did that. It’s a simple exercise designed to remind us that more is working in our lives than not––even in the direst of times.

It’s a higher function of where we focus and how we use human words to describe our current situations. This does not mean it’s not important to honestly assess what’s going on in our lives. It is, but it is equally important to give that assessment equal billing with everything else that is working perfectly, while listening to the thoughts and words we choose to have, paying greatest attention to only those that are Truth-FULL.

What is the current Truth in your life? What are you willing to do with that Truth right now? How can that greater Truth help you with the smaller truths in your life?

You have nothing to lose.

BLOG 9 EMPATHY, UNDERSTANDING AND TOLERANCE

We are at war with empathy, understanding and tolerance. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Chris Hedges, said that, and, in my opinion, he is on to something we would do well to consider––seriously––right now. Our future, at least one form of it, may depend on it.

I would hasten to add that this is an unconscious war, one that separates us not only from each other, but from our sweet selves. If I cannot, due to the incessant dialogue I hear between my ears, provide a comforting embrace to myself when I feel sadness, fear and confusion, how on earth can I give this to a friend in need?

The problem is not the precarious state of the world’s and our personal financial status; the problem, as Hedges continues, is the human heart.

It is from our vast, but neglected hearts that empathy is born, the willingness to set aside, for the moment, our own issues, to recognize, identify and feel into another’s joy, pain or suffering. When we allow ourselves to identify (Fr. "regard as the same") with another, our hearts open wider, letting all that sunshine in on what was a dark, disrespected space. Warmth is a decidedly welcome transformation to what felt like a cold, lifeless heart.

The problem is not how we got ourselves into this mess or who is to blame, but our willingness to understand that we always have at our disposal an infinite array of solutions, historically documented by the discovery of two polio vaccines that all but eradicated poliomyelitis in the 1950s. Or consider the invention of the long-lasting, practical light bulb by Thomas Edison, assisted by his staff of brilliant engineers. Edison trusted it was just a matter of time before the solution would emerge, encouraging one of his frustrated, young engineers to take heart one day, after hundreds of failed attempts, when he said, “I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”

The problem is not the few, seriously confused and distorted humans from the Muslim faith who have inflicted unspeakable violence against others, both here and abroad, but in our diminished level of tolerance of another’s faith, skin color, indigenous cultures and unique perspectives. Were we all to look and act and think the same, the rich possibilities within diversity would be lost. Think for a moment if every flower in the world looked like a white daisy, or if the only tree covering the planet was a 20’ date palm or the only kind of dog was a Chihuahua. Personally, I rather like the three dog versions (Cocker Spaniel, pit-bull/yeller dog, and a one-eyed black and white cattle dog) who cohabitate with me.

The absence of global empathy, understanding and tolerance we numbly watch every day on our television screens is but a macrocosmic reflection of the blighted microcosmic level of kindness, love and compassion we see when we look into the mirror in our bathrooms every morning.

The world will not be healed until we are willing to begin the healing inside our very own hearts.

What can you do––today––to increase your levels of empathy, understanding and tolerance for another human being?

It all starts with you… and…
you have nothing to lose.

Happy Thanksgiving!

BLOG 8 What do I want?

It’s a much larger question than we realize. The question –– what do I want? –– engages our intent, that which is the infinite organizer in our lives. Just asking the question stimulates our imagination, giving force to our dreams. The second step is to listen, really listen, to the answer we hear. That is where we generally lose sight of the true significance of practicing the law of attraction.

In a little more than 24 hours we will all know who will be the next President of the United States. In a little more than 24 hours, there will be shouts of joy from millions of people around the world, and tears of sorrow from others. Some may feel vindicated that their candidate was the obvious right choice, while others may feel the election was stolen and their world is going to hell in a hand-basket.

I was reminded this morning to shift my thoughts toward what I want in this election; not what I don’t want; releasing any need to work against a candidate or an issue. I noticed when I gave fuel to my imagination to see a world that I wanted, my breathing slowed down, my heart rate lowered, and the sweetest smile broke across my lips.

This is how I am going to spend my time over the next 36 hours: visualizing what I want to see in the world, starting with what I want to see within myself. Nourishing an open heart––regardless of what I see. Visualizing a healthy body, including the health of this country and all its citizens. A vibrant prosperity, including the economic well-being of every person living in this great country of ours. Peace-filled thoughts and actions, including far-ranging peace to and with other nations around the world. Thriving, expanding creativity, including that which may be untapped within the hearts and minds of all sentient beings that manifests renewable resources for our homes, automobiles, airplanes, and factories. And JOY the likes of which we have all dreamed about, knew was there just behind door #1 or #2 or #3, when we finally realize we created those doors, so now all we have to do is open them.

Joy is behind all of them, just waiting to be discovered.

What do you want to imagine?

You have nothing to lose.

BLOG 7 Black Holes of Depression

Depression can be one of those tricky black holes in our human experience. It's neither here (anger), nor there (sadness). Depression can feel like a preferable place to hang out for a while when we're not comfortable with either of those other two emotions. Infrequently, I have spent time with clients who described themselves as depressed, detached, uncaring, and hopeless. Working with those clients resulted in our finding an exciting new discovery together, that became a springboard out of the black hole they called depression and into the light of day that’s always waiting for us when we are willing to surface into love.

Often what we experience as a “numbing-out” sensation may not be classified as clinical depression at all, but rather a periodic emotional overload, laced with understandable responses from devastating loss, such as that of a loved one or close friend. Sometimes we feel so completely detached from the sources of love and support that are all around us that it feels like hopelessness is the only emotion we have left.

Our willingness is the key here. Our human intent, that which has infinite organizing capacities, will function as the bridge between overwhelming despondency and regaining aliveness again.

Remember that old/new age line: Fake it till you make it?

We’ve all got this juicy imagination; the kind that, when we were children, could literally envision the cerulean blue fenders and exact number of shiny spokes on the wheels of that Schwinn bicycle we wanted for Christmas. We had to see it first to get it.

What would it take to begin, right now, to use your colorful, specific imagination to envision what it would like to reacquaint yourself with the love that is all around you, just waiting for you to raise your hand up and say, “Pick me!”

You have nothing to lose.

BLOG 6 INSECT VS. BUG

Recently I have had an exquisite communication challenge come up with a beloved friend. And, it got me to thinkin’, as another cherished amiga would often say before sheer diamonds of wisdom would flow out of her mouth. What I realized within this particular challenge was that we humans often will point to the same thing, but call it differently. A small arthropod, crawling across a picnic table might be called an insect by one person, while another person will insist that it’s a bug. You see, they’re saying the same thing, looking at the same thing, but, as often happens when we need to be right, getting stuck in their own perspective as the ONLY perspective. And then, for emphasis we seek agreement from a bunch of our friends who dutifully agree that, “Yes, that there’s a bug.” While the other brings in a bunch of their well-meaning friends who climb aboard the agreement wagon by affirming, “Nosirree, that’s an insect.”

Wars between nations and between loved ones are fought from essentially the same confused interaction.

On the whole (underneath all the acts of bravado, control avoidance, hyper-sensitivity and other delusional human expressions) every single human being wants the same thing: a feeling of being loved, freedom to love in our own unique way, feeling safe in our environment, nourished in body, mind and soul, and a having a deep trust that our existence makes a difference in the world; that we matter and are valued.

Those last two desires can get a bit tricky when there is an underlying core belief that we don’t matter. A carnival of venerating fans could camp on your doorstep waving bright red, heart banners, disclosing their eternal adoration for you, but if there’s even a sliver of a belief that you don’t matter, you’ll find their actions suspicious. At best.

What would happen if you simply allowed yourself to connect to the deepest heart in another, trusting that they, like you, want the same thing? And then, act from that truth. Because it is.

You have nothing to lose.

BLOG 5 WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

A dear friend declared those words – when it rains, it pours – with me this morning, after sharing the news of her daughter’s husband’s recent discovery that he had prostate cancer. Her other daughter is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Right now in this time on earth, many of us are experiencing our own version of that old adage, whether it is in the financial arena, a medical crisis or a spiritual emptiness.

Sometimes when it rains like we’re experiencing currently (I've had a few torrential moments myself in my life), I have found that it's either because my inner soil was exceedingly dry, I needed a "thorough cleaning" that only a downpour could cleanse, or I needed to learn how to do something differently in my life – like build an ark – for example.

How we get through these things in life has always been, and continues to be, a grand mystery to me. Ah so.

But we do get through them, don't we? In one form or another. My teachers have been so masterfully helpful in my getting (profoundly) that we are all eternal beings, just passing through. Another mystical teacher recently shared: "I don't think that anything that happens to us is permanently implanted. It just passes through."

So, what can you do right now to remind yourself that you are an eternal soul, loved beyond your human comprehension, capable of creating –right now – this very moment – what you want to think and, subsequently how you want to feel, that would better serve you? What would you have to let go of in order to know and experience that truth?

You have nothing to lose.

BLOG 4 August 16, 2008 SEE THE LIGHT

On my morning walks with my dogs, frequently I am greeted by the rising sun in the eastern sky. At this time of year, I stop for a few minutes at the top of the gravel road to watch the sun as it imposes itself between two soaring Ponderosa pines. When wearing sunglasses one day, I stared at the xanthic glow until my eyes adjusted to the brightness, allowing me to actually see that which was inside the luminescence. Ah – it was the sun itself!

What we normally see in the sky most of the day is only the refulgence emanating from its source. But when we take a few moments to actually see more deeply, we get the opportunity to witness the true source of light.

“I know you’re in there,” I said to the sun. “I can see you.”

And the sun said right back, “I know you’re in there, too. I can see you.”

What can we learn from this? What would we gain if we took a few moments to see what was truly inside another being? What if we set our preconceived ideas and internal stories aside for a moment in order to witness their light/love source?

On an overcast or stormy day, sometimes we forget the sun is still there, beyond the clouds, continuing to provide energetic warmth the earth needs to survive. While lost in an argument or heated discussion with our mate, we can forget the love that is always there, beneath the bickering, waiting for us to see it.

What if you reminded yourself to take a few moments and rediscover the love inside yourself and your beloved that is always burning brightly?

You have nothing to lose.