Awakening to the Dance

AWAKENING TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF LIFE AGAIN

Posted on July 10, 2013 | 2 comments

i‘m taking my own advice today and reblogging. I will have a new post and new photos next week. Namaste

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” Thornton Wilder

Do you often feel overwhelmed by what you need to do? Do you run your life or does your life run you? Are you giving attention to those people or activities you most value?

Nature Enriches Our Spirits

I try to schedule a hike once a week during the summer because I feel such a strong need to be out in nature. It calms and connects me with Spirit in a deep way. It’s also a great way to connect with people who also love nature, and since my main hiking buddy was away most of the summer, I enjoyed meeting more hikers.

It’s taken a while to find the right group. When I first moved to the mountains, the first group I hiked with used hiking as an aerobic activity and went so fast it was impossible to enjoy the scenery and plant life. Another group only went on lengthy, challenging hikes. Finally I found a group that fit my needs, but these hikers also move too fast for me at times.

When I hike, I want to be able to see what is along the trail: the flowers, mushrooms, moss, knarled branches, bright leaves, and small crawling creatures (as long as they don’t rattle). I want to be engaged with what is around me: feel the moisture, smell the scents, examine the textures. The stimulation of hiking through such an extremely bio-diverse area can be intoxicating. I love getting drunk on its beauty.

Missing Pleasure Through Haste

Soren Kierkegaard said, “Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste they hurry right past it.” Have you ever been walking briskly past an art gallery or clothing store, saw a flash of something colorful, but you were half a block away before you could stop yourself to go back and see what it was that you only partly saw? Think about how much time we could save if we would slow down and see what was before us without having to backtrack.

In our society, it isn’t just the speed with which we pursue pleasure that limits the pleasure in our lives; it’s the speed with which we do everything. In many instances, we have committed to more than we can handle well. We want to please everyone, help everyone, experience everything, and on top of that, time is literally speeding up. We are now experiencing in one year what we used to experience in five years. We think the solution to this problem is to hurry more. It isn’t.

The Pleasure of Being in the Moment

How would we feel if we each took fifteen minutes a day to immerse ourselves in something we found truly pleasurable? What if we took the time to really touch our partners fully aware of that touch? What if we focused on the pleasurable taste, color and texture of each bite we eat? What if, instead of rushing through the book we’re reading, we let ourselves merge with the delicious cadence and imagery of the words?

Rushing all the time doesn’t feel like living to me, and I’m not alone because several friends have made the same comment lately—they just need more time to be and less time to do. It’s pretty clear that Spirit is trying to teach me how to do this because invariably when I start whizzing around the house at a high speed, I always trip over a chair, stab my thigh on the corner of a table, or spill a pitcher of water. If I don’t have sense enough to slow down, life will do it for me.

Finding Spiritual Treasures in Our Hearts

To become more conscious, we need to notice when we feel stressed, angry, overwhelmed, or exhausted. We need to simply stop, take a breath, go to our heart centers and feel who we are. We need to look around us for the beauty we may have missed. What’s more important, seeing your child’s smile or cleaning the house? When we move too fast all the time, we become insensitive. Anything that gets in the way of our getting the “work” done gets pushed aside, and if that includes people we love, that’s a tragedy.

As Thornton Wilder reminds us, we aren’t really alive unless, at the heart level, we are conscious of our “treasures.” We have to pay attention and strip away the distractions. It means we have to leave the party or race track, stop using the alcohol and drugs to give us the high our pleasure-loving selves pursue, and get in touch with what is deep and worthwhile where the deepest pleasures of love, peace and joy reside. It means we have to give up our obsession with achievement, our need to always be right, and our desire to please everyone. We have to take time to find our centers, linger in the heart to see what our real treasure is, and prioritize our lives so we have the time to see what really matters.

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Posted in Inspirational Posts

Tagged #WPLongform, Consciousness, Heart Center, Hiking, Nature, Pleasure, Self-awareness, Spiritual Awakening

AWAKENING TO DEEPER NEEDS

Posted on July 3, 2013 | 1 comment

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you feel that others see your virtues and value them? Do you know people whom you feel are wasting their lives? Have you seen anyone transform from a weed to a beautiful plant?

Last night I watched a movie, Freedom Writers, which came out several years ago. It’s the story of a first year teacher who takes a job in an inner city Los Angeles school teaching the students others have decided can’t learn. Her students are the “weeds” growing in that garden. They’re minorities and members of various gangs, and having them in the same classroom creates a potentially volatile situation.

Cover of Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition)

We Are More Alike Than Different

Other members of the faculty see these students as weeds that need to be plucked and discarded. They have been integrated into the school and “ruined” it. But the new teacher just sees them as kids she can teach and even when her first approach doesn’t work, she tries something new. Then one day, she plays a game. She tapes a line down the center of the room, and she asks a series of questions, such as “How many of you have lost a friend to gang violence?” If they can answer yes, they step onto the line. By the end of the exercise, they can see that they have more significant events in common than the differences that have made them enemies.

As the year goes on, the teacher exposes them to more experiences that show them they are of value as human beings and that what connects them is greater than what separates them. They begin to bond as a group, they do their homework, they become engaged with learning, and they blossom as they discover their own virtues.

The “Weeds” of Our Society Need Us To Respect Their Virtues

Having taught high school in inner city New Orleans and in towns near Albuquerque, I worked with minority students in environments that did not encourage their growth or success. I’ll never know how much difference I made except in a few cases, and I certainly never created a transformation like the one in the movie, but I do know this. The “weeds” of this world are just waiting to blossom, and they need to be fed with respect, love, and kindness. They need someone in their lives who can look deeper, see their virtues and help them develop their strengths.

There Is Always Inner Beauty Within Those Who Are Challenged

But the kids who need help don’t always come from the inner city or poverty. There are young people from the middle class and wealthy families who lose their way. I know one who became involved with drugs in an attempt to self-medicate an undiagnosed medical condition. The addiction lasted years despite having parents who loved him and had the resources to get him help. He was talented, intelligent, and yet….

Celebrating Survival and Growth

I don’t know what haunted him so much, but we all loved him. This past week, when he married a wonderful young woman and the mother of his child, we celebrated much more than a wedding, for many of us feared he would be dead long before now. So, we celebrated his survival and the blossoming of a new life. We all had seen his virtues long ago. It just took him much longer to discover and develop the best of who he is. He is learning how to go deeper and live his life from a spiritual base. And he is an inspiration to others who have despaired.

Self Love Is the Basis of Empowerment

One reason this young man survived is because he had many loving people who supported him, but too many young people don’t. Many have parents who don’t parent, who are addicts themselves or who don’t know how to nurture because they have never been nurtured. As a society, we need to remember that all human beings have value. One of the most profound questions facing us is how do we transform our systems, health, prison, and educational, so that they heal and empower people, especially young people, to learn to love and value themselves, for self love is the basis of empowerment. It is hard to love oneself when those around us see us as “weeds.”

We Must Be Able to Imagine a New Life

Napoleon Hil l offers a wise approach to transformation when he says, “First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, you will observe, is in your imagination.” But if you don’t feel you are worthwhile, you will not dare to imagine you can accomplish what you desire.

Imagine (Photo credit: Javier Q.)

Education Must Teach How to Creative Thinking

So many young people do not know where to begin, and if their desires don’t fit with family values or society’s values, but yet are worthwhile, they face a dilemma. They don’t know how to fill their needs. That is why our educational system needs to be revised to teach young people how to think because it is their thinking that will allow them to create plans that can transform dreams into reality. Most importantly, we need to move beyond just valuing logical thinking and become more creative with our thinking so that all possibilities to meet our deeper needs can be considered.

Imagine What You Desire

Imagine how wonderful life would be if we could all imagine being the people we truly wish to be and have the courage and strength to become that person. May you find the path that will lead you to fulfill your deepest needs.

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Posted in Inspirational Posts

Tagged #WPLongform, Change, Consciousness, Freedom Writers, Imagination, Self-love, Spirituality, Transformation

AWAKENING TO THE HEALING DANCE AGAIN

Posted on June 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

Technology continues to be a challenge. I apologize to my subscribers because they didn’t receive the blog post last week because I didn’t reblog correctly. So, I’m adding another blog on healing first. If you missed last week, please scroll to the second post and read it first. Peace, Love, and Joy to you all, Georganne

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Carl Jung

How willing are you to be aware of your emotional pain? Do you use pleasant experiences or material things to make you feel better or deaden the pain? Do you have the courage to face and heal the deeper truth?

In the first blog of this series, I wrote about how our wounds often lead us to see what needs to be healed in our lives. Although we see them as part of our emotional darkness, they are gifts. In the second part of the series, I pointed out that we all need love in our lives and that it may come from many sources if we are open to seeing it. Today, I want to write about the importance of letting go of our attachment to the pain we experience.

Fear of Letting go of Pain

Years ago, after a painful divorce, I began seeing a therapist to help me deal with the deep betrayal of my husband. At the time, I was teaching modern dance and dancing with a company and choreographing. As the therapy progressed, I began to feel better about myself and spent less time overwhelmed by negative emotions, but one day I became very upset during a session.

“Sometimes I’m afraid that getting ‘well’ will destroy my creativity. It’s changing something in me, and I don’t feel I need to create so much. I feel like I’m losing my creative edge.”

“How is it doing that?” my therapist asked.

“Because it’s the inner turmoil that makes me want to create. If I get well, I’ll have no reason to create!”

“What if being healthy makes you more creative?”

I only shrugged, but as I thought about this, I was unable to imagine how that could be so.

(Excerpted from Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness)

Why We Won’t Let Go

We all have belief systems that keep us trapped in unhealthy places. That’s why many people refuse to get help for their problems. They’re afraid to discover what lies in their darkness or are so insecure that they cannot handle the idea that they have done something wrong or are not all right. My mother is a good example. She could not let go of the idea that she wasn’t a good Christian if she loved herself. Her entire sense of worth was based on what she did for others. She was a loving person in many ways, but very unhappy and took care of herself only so she wouldn’t burden others.

Sometimes, though, we take the risk, and in our process of changing, we begin to feel better and hit another layer of fear that limits our consciousness. We may cling to our negative feelings simply because they are so familiar, just as we cling to negative relationships because they are known and nothing scares us like the unknown. Letting go of these attachments is often a big step.

Becoming Conscious of Our Shadow

Fortunately, though, after my divorce, I liked feeling better more than being in pain and decided that my ideas for dances could come from many sources, even the past negative feelings, for I could remember them, even if I no longer felt them. I filed them away as I would any reference material and took responsibility for making myself happier.

Through therapy and through reading and attending workshops as a member of the Carl Jung Society in New Orleans for ten years, I learned to understand my difficulties and how to resolve them. I learned about the value of what Jung calls, “the Shadow.” It is that dark part of ourselves that we don’t want to see, but the less conscious we are of it, the more it harms us. Becoming enlightened or conscious requires that we examine and heal it, for when we become conscious of the thoughts or experiences that have caused our pain, we can heal them, then let go and move on.

All Spiritual Healing Requires the Journey Inward

This spiritual journey inward may seem eccentric to some people who have bought into our materialistic society. Eventually, the materialism fails to solve the problems. The drugs that seemed to make us feel better become a destructive addiction. All of the “cures” for our pain only create an illusion of temporary healing. The only true healing takes place when we go within, and that is often true of physical, as well as emotional pain. We have to bring it to the surface, heal it, and let it go.

We can free ourselves only when we become conscious. No one I’ve read has written more clearly about our pain than Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose in his discussion of the “pain body” and how to heal it. I highly recommend this book. (See Links I Like at the side bar)

What pain have you healed recently? Please comment.

Last Week’s Blog

Many healing issues have arisen in my life lately, so I intended to write about healing today. I know several people dealing with cancer and others dealing with emotional issues. But when I looked at a series I wrote on this topic last year, I realized I would just repeat what I’d already said. So, I’m reblogging the posts that seem most relevant. I hope they will be helpful. Namaste.

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Rumi

How tall are the walls you build around yourself? Why do you need so much protection? What will it take to heal your wounds?

It was freezing last night and my bedroom was still cold when I awoke. All I wanted to do was snuggle further into bed, hide out in my pleasant dreams and the warmth. But after briefly indulging my desires, I climbed out of bed, and walking into the center of my house, I was warmed by the brilliant, morning light spilling through the windows.

When life is rough, it is natural to want to hide out, build protective walls, and ignore the source of our pain; yet, if we do that for too long, it can become a dark cave from which we may never emerge. We learn to lie brilliantly to ourselves. We evade capture. And we become hard and defensive around the edges, so that the one thing that can heal us is unable to penetrate. Even the light needs a chink to pass through.

Wounds Are Valuable Assets

How do you deal with your most painful wounds? Do you build walls to protect yourself or do you see the pain as a sign something needs to be healed? Our wounds are some of our most valuable assets. They are the portals through which we can heal the pain that stops us from living our lives fully. We have to learn to dance with them in the dark so that we can dance with them in the light.

Have you ever had the experience that, when a small conflict arises, you suddenly explode or react in some way that is inappropriate to the situation? This is always a sign that a deeper issue has been triggered. It is usually a sign that, deep within us, there are unhealed, deep wounds struggling to reach the light. So, what can we do to heal these wounds?

How To Heal Your Emotional Wounds

Being present is the key. Has this happened before? When did it begin? What was the source of the original pain? There is always fear present with emotional pain, so I try to identify my pain so I can focus on it. Am I afraid I’m not loved? Am I afraid of losing someone or something I value? Am I afraid of being harmed? Regardless of how you identify the fear or don’t, the first step is to release it.

Releasing Your Fear

I take a deep breath, and as I exhale, I feel and/or visualize this fear leaving my body. I repeat this process until I do feel the fear released, then sit a moment with the peaceful quiet that appears after the release. Without the fear blocking my mind, I ask that this emotional pain be healed permanently, knowing that my wish will be granted.

Being Patient With the Process

The next step requires the most patience. The pain may be healed immediately. More than likely, though, I will be drawn to those experiences that will guide me through healing myself, and that is very empowering. Healing may come in many forms: a book, a person, a workshop, or technique. Over the years, I have found valuable guidance for healing in therapy, spiritual practices, support groups, healing techniques like Emotional Freedom Technique, affirmations, numerology, astrology, Medicine Wheel cards, and simple conversations with friends. If I’m drawn to it, I dance with it, and in dancing with it, I may be healed.

How Did You Help Create This Wound

This deep pain is the kind we don’t want to return, so it is also wise to become aware of the role we played in creating the pain. The answers are always within us. That is why it is important to be receptive, but not passive. We need to ask, “What did I do to help trigger this? What was my role?” Unless we can see the patterns in our behavior, we will repeat them. It is in this step of the healing process that therapy is most valuable. Therapists cannot change you, but they can help you understand your behavior and others. Only you can make the change once you understand what you need to do. Awareness is the key.

It is not always possible to identify our role in creating the pain, for sometimes it is the result of karma from past lives or that we are in a situation in order to learn a lesson. Still, as frightening as it is, we must be willing to be vulnerable—to let the light shine through our journey to understand how to dance the healing dance, the one that we choreograph for our own healing. Love the wound, then let it go.

What techniques have worked well for you in healing emotional pain? Please comment.

AWAKENING TO THE HEALING DANCE

Posted on June 19, 2013 | 2 comments

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Rumi

How tall are the walls you build around yourself? Why do you need so much protection? What will it take to heal your wounds?

Wounds Are Valuable Assets

How To Heal Your Emotional Wounds

Releasing Your Fear

Being Patient With the Process

How Did You Help Create This Wound

What techniques have worked well for you in healing emotional pain? Please comment.

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Posted in Inspirational Posts

Tagged Being Present, Dance, Healing, Light, Pain, Release Fear, Self-awareness, Spiritual Journey

AWAKENING TO SPIRITUAL GARDENING

Posted on June 12, 2013 | 5 comments

“It is like the seed put in the soil – the more one sows, the greater the harvest.” Orison Swett Marden

What thoughts do you sow in your life and the lives of those around you? How does what you sow affect your life?

I have never planted a garden, but I have sown seeds in my life and in the lives of others. Some have grown and others have withered, and some remain hidden in the soil waiting for the right season. There is the common saying, “You reap what you sow,” and this is true especially in terms of our thoughts.

Our Thoughts Are the Seeds That Create Our Lives

Our lives are our spiritual garden and each thought or action is a seed we sow that will grow to feed us with abundance, peace or love, or will cause us to wither. Each thought ripples out into the universe affecting other energy and people’s thoughts. Have you ever noticed that when you’re in a bad mood, some people around you keep their distance? Others may respond to your complaints, and in doing so, magnify the negative feelings you are experiencing. In the same way, feeling delighted with life will often draw to us others who are happy and full of fun.

What Reality Forms the Spiritual Ground For Your Life?

When we plant a garden, we first prepare the ground by pulling weeds and stirring up the soil. How do we prepare the ground for living our lives? Do we follow the ways we’ve always been taught? Do we experiment and stay open to learning new ideas and having new experiences? The ground we choose for our lives often has much to do with whether what we have been taught growing up serves us well. If childhood did not provide us with a positive ground, we will have to search and create our own.

For some, the ground is religion. For some, it is a personal spiritual journey, and for others it is a life of service or accomplishment. But without a spiritual ground or connection, we are living half a life. The inner compass that can guide us through all challenges is missing.

Are You Sowing Positive or Negative Thoughts?

When we have prepared the ground for our spiritual garden, what do we choose to sow? If we focus on peace, love, and joy, it will return to us. The more we sow these seeds, the more beneficial experiences appear in our lives, but people who always focus on what is wrong in their lives or in the world are often very depressed. They fill their inner garden with negativity and that attracts more negativity into their lives, and something withers. When things are not going well for us, the best way to manifest what we want is to focus on what we truly want, even while we are cleaning up the current mess we’re in. We can sow positive seeds even when it seems all is going wrong.

We Have To Feed Our Spiritual Lives

Feeding and watering our spiritual lives with positive spiritual readings, listening to talks that uplift us, and surrounding ourselves with like-minded people are three ways we can create a life that blossoms with what is good. These activities, like meditation and prayer, help us find ways to connect with Spirit, the source energy of our spiritual lives.

For years I’ve read the daily message in Science of Mind Magazine, reminding me that I do have power over what grows in my life based on my thoughts. The book Oneness by Rasha has also enriched my understanding of the universal changes currently occurring and how they affect us. Listening to the DVD’s on the Abraham teachings by Esther Hicks or attending talks in my spiritual community often open my mind to a new perspective. Most of all, having friends and being part of a spiritual community where people are open to spiritual growth feeds me on a deep level.

Positive Energy Creates An Abundant Harvest

Marden, a New Thought writer of the early twentieth century, said, “…the more one sows, the greater the harvest.” The more positive thoughts and actions we express in our lives, the more we will create healthy relationships and new opportunities in all areas of life. The harvest will be abundant. I think so often of all the people who have had to retrain in order to find a job. It isn’t easy to make those changes, but by taking positive action to adjust to the economic and business challenges of these changes, they are planting new seeds that will create a more abundant harvest.

Growing spiritually often allows us to make these kinds of significant changes. Letting go of what has served us in the past, but which no longer does, allows us to create a better life and grow in new ways. When we continue to feed our inner life, that inner life guides the outer to make good choices, to serve where we can make a difference, to love and transform our lives and others, to plant seeds of peace, love and joy wherever we go. That always creates an abundant harvest.

What do you do to feed your spiritual garden? Please Comment.

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Posted in Inspirational Posts

Tagged #WPLongform, Gardening, Inner Guidance, Law of Attraction, New Thought, Positive thinking, Spiritual Journey, Transformation

AWAKENING TO GET UNSTUCK

Posted on June 5, 2013 | 8 comments

“Life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forwards.” Soren Kierkegaard

Do you ever feel you’re stuck in a perspective, job, or relationship that no longer serves you? How can you release what’s stuck and move on?

When I look back over the many years of my life, I’m amazed at how much has changed in our society and in my life. I went to school in segregated schools until the Sixties when I entered college. I knew the first black woman to live in the college dorm. In those days when I was majoring in theater, the gay guys who were my friends didn’t want me to know they were gay. Although we all knew they were gay, it was never discussed openly.

Society Changes Only When We Change

The Sixties opened up my generation as nothing else could. As a result of the turmoil of that time, our society began a process of opening to new ideas about equality for all Americans. While many attitudes and laws have changed in our society, there are still people who are racist, sexist, or against anyone who is not like them.

The society can become unstuck and move forward only when we do. So how do we do that when we feel so attached to a belief or stuck in a life style that makes our change challenging? How do we learn to live forward as Kierkegaard suggests?

We Must Release Limiting Beliefs

Living attached to limiting beliefs about the past can stymie us. When I married at twenty-one, I believed that marriage lasted forever, no matter what. I still think it’s the ideal, but after dealing with my former husband, who kept trying to leave for ten years, I finally decided I had to let him go—there was little value in his remaining for either of us.

Resistance Is A Sign We’re Stuck

How do we know when we’re stuck? We usually encounter repeated resistance in some way. It feels like no matter what we do, nothing changes. Problems don’t get solved. We aren’t getting what we want. Every attempt to get what we want is blocked in some way. The frustration level rises because what used to work no longer does.

When we feel this way, something needs to change, and it’s usually our thinking. When I moved to New Mexico years ago, I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a result of stress and exposure to chemicals and mold in the New Orleans environment and the schools where I taught. I needed to move to a dry climate to heal. But it was more than that. I had felt an attraction to New Mexico and had subscribed to the New Mexico Magazine for years. I found the landscape and art beautiful and felt deeply connected to the Native American Culture.

I did heal my illness there, but my high school teaching experiences were a nightmare. Administrators who wanted to replace me with people they knew wrote evaluations full of lies, and others refused to give me any support with a terribly-behaved class that had been a serious problem long before I arrived. I became a scapegoat for the problems administrators couldn’t solve.

New Mexico Sunset (Photo credit: courtfkizer)

Still, I refused to face the facts. My arrival in New Mexico had been magical, and my first job was perfect for me—teaching a humanities class in a fine arts academy. But it didn’t last because I was the last teacher hired and when they discovered they had too many teachers for students, I was the first to be transferred. Unfortunately, by this time, I had fallen in love with the Land of Enchantment.

We Have To See How Illusions Keep Us Stuck

You know how it is when you fall in love. It’s impossible to see your lover’s negative qualities. You make excuses for him. I refused to give up my belief that this beautiful place was my soul’s home. I ignored the real meaning of enchantment. The lure of its beauty had bewitched me.

Despite being stuck on staying where I was physically, I did begin to be unstuck in other ways. I had been writing a novel, but was blocked and frustrated. Then I started writing my memoir instead just to keep writing and that began to feel like a good change. Eventually, I let go of my attachment to the desert, realizing it was a metaphor for my experience, and moved to North Carolina, a place that truly is my soul’s home.

We Have To Release Our Fear of Change

So often we resist what is obvious because we’re so afraid of change. It’s the unknown and we choose to remain unhappy rather than take a risk, but staying stuck only buries us deeper under more unhappiness. It is only after making the change that we can look back and see whether it was a good choice. That’s reality, and to live life forward means to summon our courage and take the risk.

When I’m at this point, I always think of this saying, “When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something to stand on or you will be taught how to fly.” Unless you are willing to take the step forward, you will never know what possibilities await you.

Through Change We Find Our True Path

In New Mexico and in North Carolina, I kept clinging to the feeling of security that teaching gave me, but that was an illusion. It has all worked out. Just at the time I was running out of money, I reached the age to collect Social Security. Then, I published my memoir and created workshops on how to release fear. The chaos led me to my true life path and whatever I have needed has shown up. It was all in Divine Order.

May you find the courage to live your life forward.

What have you let go of over the years that has allowed you to understand the past and move forward? Please comment.

Related Articles: Getting Unstuck – Pema Chodron (audio), What is Stopping You?, Getting Unstuck

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Tagged #WPLongform, Awakening, Change, Consciousness, Inspirational, Release Fear, Spirituality, Transformation

AWAKENING TO NOW

Posted on May 29, 2013 | 7 comments

“The destination toward which you assume you are traveling in your spiritual quest is not a destination at all. For a destination, by definition, is somewhere other than where you are. And where you are is all there is and ever can be—which is Nowhere. All that can be changed is your perception of that blessed state.” (Oneness, p. 342)

How often are you in the moment? What does that feel like? Can you see the ways not being in the moment creates blocks for you to move forward?

Enlightenment As A Goal?

I once knew a man whose goal was to become enlightened. I was puzzled by that because it seemed to me that enlightenment was something that came to us or didn’t. Of course there are many spiritual practices that can take us to a consciousness level where enlightenment is more likely, but it seemed to me that making it a goal was self-defeating because enlightenment then became a destination.

George_Harrison_Chanting_Hare_Krishna in Vrindavan, India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Time Is An Illusion

We earthly beings have created the concept of time. It doesn’t actually exist. Perhaps we created it so that we would know where we were in some sense because we have not yet developed the consciousness to just live in beingness. In this physical body and physical plane we need concepts that ground us. Time is one of those.

The older I get the more I am able to live in the moment. I think it’s part of letting go of the need to control so much of life or perhaps it’s the result of having had so many experiences when I couldn’t control the situation. As an adult, I reached a point where I was very depressed because it seemed I couldn’t get anything I really wanted.

Trying To Control Everything Creates Resistance

My parents wouldn’t send me to the school I wanted to attend, then my husband proved to be uncommitted to our marriage the way I was and he left, then I tried to get a full time teaching position after I left the one I had in Nebraska and couldn’t. It seemed that there was nothing that was really important to me that I was able to create despite my determination. I had been taught that if I worked really hard, I could get what I wanted in life, but it didn’t turn out that way.

What I didn’t understand then, that I do now, is how my determination created resistance and how resistance blocks the manifestation of what we want. I was always so busy doing what I thought I needed to do to make things happen that there was no space for what I wanted to enter my life. I was unaware of how my energetic vibration affected all of this.

A Positive Energetic Vibration Creates What We Need

While I was applying for a job or looking for a new friend or lover, my focus was out there on some destination, not in the moment, because in the moment I was unhappy with what I didn’t have and so that energy was the most influential. Now I’ve learned to focus on the present. If I’m filling out a job application, I do it with excitement and pleasure, relishing this first step. I need to stop worrying about getting the job, and make this step and each following step pleasurable.

Our energy in the moment is what creates the future, but when we get to the future we are again in the present, and we were in the present as we journeyed to the future, so….how we experience the moment is the only thing that matters. The more we visit the stillness within us where the moment resides, the more clarity we will experience. It also allows thoughts and feelings from our deepest selves to emerge.

Answers Come To Us In the Spiritual Silence Of the Moment

Recently, I was sitting with much anxiety about why I was feeling anxious. I knew there was no rational explanation, so I sat until I felt calmer and let go of my need to understand. In the quiet I created a space for the answer to emerge, and when I calmed down, it did emerge. I saw that the child within me was responding to how my mother’s overprotection used to make me feel smothered. I reminded myself that this had nothing to do with this current situation, that I was projecting the past into the present. When I saw what was going on, I let go of the anxiety that no longer served me.

When Oneness reminds us that in the moment, we are nowhere in relation to time, it also reminds us that being in the moment means we are also Everywhere. In this state, there is no sense of “not having.” “All That Is—is present.” (Oneness, p. 343) When we can slow down enough to experience this present moment, it allows us to experience peace, love, and joy—not because of what we have, but because we simply are. In this spiritual state, we are all that we need to be.

Is practicing being in the moment a part of your life? Please comment.

New video: Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness

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Tagged #WPLongform, Consciousness, Enlightenment, Good Vibrations, Inspirational, New Age, Oneness, Spiritual Journey

AWAKENING TO OUR SPIRITUAL HOME

Posted on May 22, 2013 | 5 comments

“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

Is home a place or a person for you? Is it within or without? Is your spiritual home different from your literal home? Are you at home with yourself?

What is Home?

I live in the mountains of North Carolina where most people who live here are from someplace else. Their stories of why they decided to move here are very similar. They were drawn here. They visited here and for the first time, they felt they were home. Very rarely do I hear a story with any rational explanation. Moving here was motivated by something deeper, something unexplainable and very spiritual. It isn’t just that they feel at home in a place; the home they feel is a community of like-minded people, the spiritual energy of these mountains, and the artistic and diverse people who live here. It is a place that touches their hearts in many ways.

Home Is Not A Place

In 1999 when I moved to the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, everything I needed to stay there fell into place. There were many signs that it was where I belonged, and I was sure that it was my soul’s home. But just as easily as things fell into place, things fell apart, and the five years I was there were extremely challenging. On the other hand, I began writing seriously and found Southwest Writers, a wonderfully supportive organization where I met many successful writers. The more I wrote, the more I felt at home in my own skin.

Make Your Home in Your Mind

Tad Williams has said, “Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.” I spent much of my life looking for the place where I would feel at home. I always seemed to have different ideas and values than the people around me. I equated feeling at home to feeling I belonged. The problem with all that was that I was looking outside for something I could only find within.

Edsel Ford, an Arkansas poet who was a family friend when I was growing up, once wrote: “Love is to come home dying from the world and find life there.” I often felt I was dying in New Mexico, but I learned to let go of my attachment to the outer and follow my inner guidance. I learned to stand more firmly on my own two feet, and all that led me to understand, home was wherever I was and the life and light I sought was within me.

Our True Home Is Our Spiritual Core

What we feel inside at our spiritual core affects everything in our lives. If we are at home in our own bodies and minds, we will experience peace. If we love ourselves, we will love others and they will love us. The physical place where we are won’t matter. It will be just another experience in our spiritual journey. We can be in Alaska, Africa, or Spain and feel at home because at the deepest level we are at home with ourselves and that connects us with all humanity on a deeper level. We are all One.

Love Is the Center of Our Home

The physical place where we are may not give us the life we need, but the friends, the memories, the desires, the energy of love we find with others can make wherever we are home. Growing up, my family lived in several places, but what made each house home was the presence of my family’s love for me. Love is the place we feel safe and accepted. It’s where we can be who we really are. It’s the spiritual center within us that we allow to open and gather in all that is good and nourishing, and it’s the place where we connect with Spirit and experience the greatest love that is possible.

Even now that my dear poet friend and most of my family have passed on, their love still lives within me. The love of friends far away and nearby feed the home within me, and I carry them with me wherever I go.

How do you experience home? Please comment.

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Tagged #WPLongform, Going Deeper, Home, Inspirational, Love, New Age, Oneness, Spiritual Journey

AWAKENING TO NEW LIFE

Posted on May 15, 2013 | 1 comment

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” Eckhart Tolle

Is the urge to grow part of your life? Are you willing to encounter what is unpleasant in order to make changes that will improve life? How does positive thinking enhance your life?

Finally, spring is here with a few warmer days, blooming flowers and heavy pollen. My front stairs and deck have been covered with the yellow pollen of the oak trees in my yard. Every few days, a new flower blooms and adds color to the yard. Because I’m not a very good gardener and I’ve left the yard as it was when I moved into the house, I often forget exactly what is there. As a result, spring becomes a delightful series of surprises.

Spring Awakens New Life

Spring is the constant unfolding of new life. It’s dynamic and color drags us out of the winter doldrums and reminds us of all that has been lying fallow beneath the snow. The reality is that although nature is tied to this cycle we are not. We can awaken to new life at any moment, any day. When we are open to new ideas and experiences, we create a spring with our lives and new things blossom.

What do we feel in spring? New energy, excitement, freedom, and hope. Life that has been restricted indoors moves outdoors where there is more space, more stimulation, and more possibilities.

Spring of Life, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let Go of the Negative and Welcome the Positive

So how can we create these positive and uplifting feelings in our own lives? We can let go of those things that no longer serve us: resentment, fear, lack of worth, and attachment to the past or attitudes that keep us from moving forward.

I often write about letting go of fear, but what do we do once we have released it? Releasing fear creates a space where all things are possible. We ask for guidance and it will come to us if we are listening carefully to our inner selves. Of course, sometimes, what we need manifests in the physical world right in front of us. Are we willing to open ourselves enough to experience the unfamiliar?

To do that, we have to either take a positive view assuming that it will be an improvement in our lives or at least a neutral attitude that allows us to explore the possibility. There are no guarantees that everything that comes our way will be good, but if we choose to live with a positive attitude, that there may be some good in whatever shows up, we are more likely to experience good.

Find What Is Good in Each Experience

Living with the attitude that life is basically good is rather like experiencing spring or summer year round. We can live like this when we are willing to focus on what is positive in each experience we have. Any change we make requires an adjustment and this may seem uncomfortable, but if we aren’t willing to experience some discomfort, we may never move ahead.

For example, when we begin a new relationship, there may be conflicts. We may feel the other person wants too much of our time or doesn’t want to see us often enough. Our partner may reflect qualities of the last partner with whom we had a failed relationship, or we may project qualities of that person or a parent onto the new partner. We may not like the same movies or food. But we have a choice every time the conflict arises. We can choose to assume for the moment that this is an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and the other person, and if we can thoughtfully engage in a conversation and try to understand why the issue is a problem, we may be able to create a positive and meaningful relationship.

Let the Light Inside Grow

In the spring, the light and longer days are inspiring as well as the new growth of nature. The sunlight gives us the Vitamin D we need to feel good, and it makes it possible for us to enjoy more time out of doors gardening, hiking, or playing. So, it is also worthwhile for us to look for the light inside us. What are our positive qualities? When new possibilities appear, do we think we are worthy of a better life, job, or relationship? Is the light within us a match to this new opportunity?

Loving Ourselves Brings Spiritual Growth

We can choose this moment to nurture and love who we are, to expand the light within and to allow the best of us to blossom. If we are to grow, it is so important that we are willing to try new things and take risks. When these things turn out well, we feel better about ourselves, but it is critical that when we take the risk and it doesn’t turn out well, that we applaud ourselves for having the courage to try. That is a positive thing too. Applauding ourselves increases the light.

As Tolle points out, each experience we have is an experience we need to have to grow. We need to value each one, even the unpleasant ones, for this life is our spring. We are here to learn and grow and expand our energy, and move into the light. How do you bring the light into your life? Please comment.

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Tagged #WPLongform, Expansion, Light, Loving Self, New Life, Positive thinking, Release Fear, Spiritual Awakening

AWAKENING TO A FULL LIFE

Posted on May 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Mae West

Wamboldtopia

Does your life feel complete? Is it satisfying and fun? If not, what is missing and what can you do about it?

Unlike Mae West, I believe we live more than one life, but I like the spirit of her quote. Just because I believe I may have another shot at this earthly life doesn’t mean I don’t want this time to be great or that I’m willing to stop trying to create the life I want. Right now, what I’m experiencing is what matters and I want to feel good about it.

A Full Life Is Based On Spiritual Values

What is a full life? I think of it as a life that is satisfying and full of peace, love, and joy, my three favorite spiritual qualities. It means I have good friends with whom I can share art, nature and good conversations and know there is a deep connection of love and respect. It also means that I am following my passion in the work I do, and the activities I engage in bring me joy.

However, we are each on an individual journey and have individual desires and needs. For example, I would feel deprived if I couldn’t view fine art often. It touches my soul and lets me see into the soul of the artist. But there are some people who never view it, who consider it frivolous or uninteresting, and feel no need to have it in their lives.

A Full Life Includes Love

To have a full life, we have to be connected to someone or something that we love, for the things we love feed our souls and expand who we are. When I am around my nephews and niece and their children, I feel such joy because, not having children of my own, I had the privilege of seeing them become adults and now parents. I’ve laughed and cried over them through the years and counseled and encouraged. There is no doubt that my life would be less full without their love and my love for them. So instead of feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t have children, I created relationships with them.

We Must Fill Our Own Lives

We are the only ones who can fill our lives. We decide what we will let into our lives and what we will reject. To most people, having a full life is about what we have in terms of security, family, friends, or work, but it is also about how deeply we are willing to live. What are we willing to do to make our life full? Are we willing to be the hero or heroine in our own life and take full responsibility for creating the life we want? Or do we choose to be the victim of circumstances?

If your life does not feel full, what is lacking? What are you ignoring that is too painful to look at? Over the years, I’ve seen many people who are educated, financially secure, and intelligent who have ignored aspects of their lives that make their lives less than desirable. I always wonder why they choose not to change what can clearly be changed. Perhaps they feel hopeless or are afraid that making the change would also have negative consequences in other areas of their lives. There is always a reason why we are not the best we can be, and understanding the root of the problem may require us to look deeper with the help of a therapist or counselor. It is important that, regardless of what limitations we feel exist, we are willing to take that first small step.

Good Change Requires a Shift in Thinking

Every good thing that has come to me has come after I made a shift in my thinking. It is how we think about a situation that makes it possible for us to change. When I was in high school I was fairly shy, despite my involvement in speech and drama. In my senior year, the Thespian Society members gave me a Best Actress Award. That was a huge boost to my confidence and led me to believe later, that if I could be that good, maybe I could also be good enough to become a modern dancer and dance with a company.

A few years ago, as a relationship was ending, I suddenly became aware of the fact that this man was so much like my father in his stubbornness and his inability to understand how his unwillingness to compromise created problems between us. Like my father, he was emotionally shut down. As I looked at him from this perspective, I saw more negative points of comparison. It was startling! How could I be so blind! I thought I had worked through these issues.

We Can Learn From Positive and Negative Experiences

While winning the Best Actress Award was a positive event that motivated me, the ending of a relationship was a negative event, and yet, it motivated me to heal and let go of an old pattern that was limiting my life. We can learn from the positive and negative. Taking the time to heal these old patterns has allowed me to attract a man into my life who has none of my father’s negative characteristics. The work that I’ve done in the last two years cleared out past issues and opened a space for a more fulfilling love to appear.

Wherever we are in this spiritual journey to experience fullness of life, we must know that we are meant to live in peace, love, and joy. Our purpose here is to expand our lives through experiencing these qualities, and it is our responsibility to do the work that will take us to a fuller life. May whatever you need for your journey, show up.

Awakening to the Dance

AWAKENING TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF LIFE AGAIN

i‘m taking my own advice today and reblogging. I will have a new post and new photos next week. Namaste

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” Thornton Wilder

AWAKENING TO DEEPER NEEDS

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

AWAKENING TO THE HEALING DANCE AGAIN

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Carl Jung

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Rumi

AWAKENING TO THE HEALING DANCE

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Rumi

AWAKENING TO SPIRITUAL GARDENING

“It is like the seed put in the soil – the more one sows, the greater the harvest.” Orison Swett Marden

AWAKENING TO GET UNSTUCK

“Life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forwards.” Soren Kierkegaard

AWAKENING TO NOW

New video: Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness

AWAKENING TO OUR SPIRITUAL HOME

“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

AWAKENING TO NEW LIFE

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” Eckhart Tolle

AWAKENING TO A FULL LIFE

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Mae West