DANCING WITH SPIRIT IN A NEW WORLD, Part 1

Posted on October 6, 2011 | 1 comment

Taiowa is the breath, humankind is the mouthpiece

to carry the sounds of creation to the far reaches of eternity.

The people are the building material,

bringing on their wings the lessons of time.

 Timelessness, selflessness, oneness are

the rhythms of the song the ancestors knew well.

 The preceding excerpt from Powamu: The Last Myth of Creation is on a poster I bought at Chaco Canyon in 2001.  This song is in Meditations with the Hopi.  Chaco Canyon was the center of the great Anasazi culture in New Mexico.

The words of this ancient song speak to me deeply today as they did on that day so many years ago as I watched the first light of day shine through an opening into the Great Kiva and strike the wall beyond as it had for centuries.  A great civilization lived in that place.  As I think about it today, I am struck by how the time in which we live is significant in relation to the future of mankind.  As a result, I will take each stanza of the song as the theme for my blog post this week and for the next two weeks, exploring how the ancient wisdom relates to us now.

What Changes Will We Make in the World

We are experiencing huge changes in physical and spiritual world.  We are in a process of ascension, a change in individual and world consciousness.  We are approaching the end of the Mayan Calendar, another signal that we are moving into a new paradigm. So who will we be in this time and what do we wish to contribute to our new world?

We are the mouthpiece through which the holy speaks.  We are the individual expression of Spirit.  When what we create comes from Spirit, we become who we really are:  beings of Love and Light.  Although we are but a moment in time, our voice travels through all eternity.  When we are gone and our civilization is only miles of ruins, what will the scholars have to say about who we were?

What sounds will we choose to carry to the far reaches of eternity?  Will they be the sounds of falling buildings, the explosions of weapons, the cries of the dying?  Will we carry our obsession with self-destruction into eternity?  Or will we choose to carry the sounds of peace?  To choose silence over noise so that we can hear the sound of the bird’s flight and the fish slipping quietly through the waters?  Will we choose competition or cooperation? When will we begin to listen to the holy within ourselves, to hear our own heartbeat and follow its guidance?

The Dance of Our New Life

The time is now to decide how we will dance in this new life.  Ancient peoples danced for every celebration, for it put them in touch with the eternal spirit in themselves.  To dance in this life is sometimes as simple as listening to the sound of the birds and sharing the laughter of a friend.  It is often about awakening to the choice to see what is positive in an experience and focusing on that.  It is about dancing as a community where we care for others and they care for us. This is the energy we need to take into our new world, spreading the joy and hope wherever we go, committing ourselves to creating new structures that equally meet the needs of all people, and caring responsibly for the resources we have.

Being the Mouthpiece of Spirit

We are the mouthpiece of Spirit, and our words and choices carry the sounds of our creation into the far reaches of the future.  Despite the chaos around us, we have the power to reinvent our lives, our cities, and our relationships.  Let us choose wisely and lovingly as we create this new world.  It is time to create an opening for the Light to come through and venture into a transforming way of life.  Join the dance as we move into this higher consciousness.

What is your vision of a new world?  How are you helping to create it?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles: The Quickening (2012), Nearing 2012 of Spiritual Emergence Teachings: Krishnamurti, Gandhi, and Eckhart Tolle

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THE SPIRITUAL TREASURE OF MOVING ON

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 6 comments

“How do geese know when to fly to the sun?  Who tells them the seasons?  How do we humans know when it is time to move on?  With the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within if only we would listen to it, that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown.” Elisabeth Kubler Ross

Letting Go and Moving On

The first red and yellow leaves of autumn fall in my yard, and it begins: the dropping away of what is not needed, the extraneous, the extra weight of burdens, the sadness we kept hidden while the light of the summer sun lured us into denial.  Tears surface for no apparent reason, feeling like toxic waste that our cells and minds have finally released.  Autumn reminds us that in our own lives, it is the season to let go and move on.

The towering oaks shed their acorns, and the squirrels, filled with delight, fly from tree to tree like circus acrobats on speed and gorge on the nuts, becoming plump.  Some things will die, while others come alive, gathering the rich harvests before the first freeze like the bears preparing for their winter hibernation.  The Spirit in all of nature whispers guidance for this transition, where to find the best blueberries or the best migratory path to warmer lands.

Choosing Wise Paths

That voice whispers to us as well.  Walking in the forest after several days of rain, I turn my face to the patches of sunshine filtering through the trees, drinking it in as if it were water in a desert.  My friend and I start to take a different hiking path and have no idea where it will take us.  We have to be home at a certain time, but when the trail starts to curve away from the stream we know will lead us back to our car, a quiet voice inside whispers.  We reluctantly turn back, agreeing we will explore this path another time.

During autumn, here in the Appalachians, the variety of color and the length of time it lasts, gently and sensually eases us into the introversion of winter.  It gives us time to think about where we need to go in our migration through life.  It gives us time to explore what changes we need to make and what habits, thoughts, or attachments we need to release. We are gently reminded there are some things we cannot control.  Change is inevitable.  Parts of our lives will fall away. But deep inside there is a voice that will tell us when to let go.

Spiritual Gifts of Accepting Change

Now in the autumn of my days, I have learned to quiet my mind and listen to that voice.  I love the richness of this time.  Like autumn shedding her leaves, I must shed some attitudes.  If I expect my body to perform as it did twenty years ago, I will incur injury; yet, by scaling back the intensity of the activity, I can do almost everything I used to enjoy.  I can be the squirrel running up and around the tree if not the squirrel flying from branch to branch.

Just like the beauty of autumn leaves, being willing to transform and move into a new mind-set, relationship or job, even if they are not what we envisioned, can bring beauty and wisdom to our lives.  Without the change of seasons we live a boring existence.  We would become so attached to our limited ideas of what a life can be that we would never move on and venture into the unknown where treasures we cannot even imagine lay buried, waiting for us to unearth them and become transformed.

As the cool breezes blow and the brilliant autumn sun shines through the branches of the trees it is time for us to reevaluate our lives.  Where do we need to be in our own hearts and minds when winter arrives?  What path do we need to take on our journey to reach an abundant and warmer land?

As a reader, what topics would you like for me to write about?  What issues concern you?  I appreciate so much the comments you all share, so let me know how I can be more helpful to you.  You may leave your suggestions in the comment box.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings: How to Let Go of Negative Feelings – Abraham Hicks (video), Graceful Exits: Knowing When to Move On, Moving Through Change

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AWAKENING TO WHO YOU ARE

Posted on September 21, 2011 | 3 comments

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.”  Alan Alda

How do you define yourself?  Do you think of yourself first as a man or woman, as a Christian or Buddhist, as an accountant or a teacher, as a cancer survivor or as disabled person?  Who are we  beneath the appearance or the definitions we and society give us?  We are so much more.  We are infinite possibilities.

Self-Judgment

How do you let your definitions of yourself limit your life?  Were you told as a child that you weren’t very intelligent?  Did you carry that belief about yourself into adulthood?  When confronted with challenging information, are you quick to say, “Oh, that’s way over my head.  I can’t understand that sort of thing.”

We make these self-judgments in many areas of our lives.  A man I knew years ago said, “I don’t know how to have a successful relationship.  I’ve failed at every one I’ve attempted.”  Like so many people, he was afraid to try one more time, unable to see that he had learned from every relationship he had.  He judged the end result of each experience rather than valuing the gifts of the journey.

We set these standards for ourselves and if the outcome of an experience doesn’t fit our vision of it, we choose to see that as failure.  At some point, we may give up, feeling we are simply inadequate, rather than choosing to explore new possibilities in relationships, job, or life styles.  We forget that we are always evolving, always capable of learning and changing.  The negative definitions, that we and others give us, distort who we think we are.

The Mistake of Choosing Ego Over Being

 Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth states, “…when you are so identified with the voice in your head and the emotions that accompany it that you lose yourself in every thought and emotion, then you are totally identified with form (things, body) and therefore in the grip of ego….Ego arises when your sense of Beingness of “I Am,” which is formless consciousness, gets mixed up with form.  This is the meaning of identification.  This is the forgetfulness of Being…the illusion of absolute separateness that turns reality into a nightmare. ” (p. 54)

Releasing Judgment, Accepting Gifts of the Spiritual Journey

We must not to lose touch with our sense of “Beingness.”  It is who we really are.  It is not in the outer form that we discover who we are.  It is the inner “I Am” that is the core of who we are, our spiritual center where all our richest treasures lie.  We must stop the swirling dance of inner thoughts reminding us of our inadequacies and failures and choose a gentle dance that calms the mind.  Then we can see who we are without any definitions.

When you leave “the city of your comfort” and “step into the wilderness of your intuition,” you go beyond all definitions.  The intuition is not rational.  It is not form or ego.  We step into a field where the labels of this physical existence have no meaning.  There, we can find the freedom to release from our lives whatever restrictive definitions limit our growth and listen for the wisdom of Spirit within.  Unattached to ego, we surrender to the natural “wildness” of spiritual life, to the acceptance that all that matters is that we know we are worthy and part of something deeper than the physical.  As we strip away our attachment to the thought forms that tell us we are not good enough, we accept our natural spiritual state, knowing that all experiences are lessons from which we may learn.  It is not about failing or succeeding in life.  The spiritual journey is about being open to learning, and Spirit is not keeping score.

How have you discovered who you really are?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Sites:  Eckhart Tolle:  Being Judgmental, You Are Not Your Mind

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TRANSFORMING THE FEAR OF CHANGE

Posted on September 14, 2011 | 8 comments

“People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them.  The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.”  Stephen R. Covey

Fearing Change

We always have more than one choice in life.  Will we give into our fears in a situation or will we find that core within us that will give us the strength and guidance to go beyond the negative choices that fear dictates?  Carlos Castaneda said about difficulties, “We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong.  The amount of work is the same.”

We live in a time of enormous change and fear.  The Universe, our lives, the structures of nature and government are changing and evolving.  Even Facebook has just made some changes.  Every time I go to the grocery store, I have to hunt for a product I have bought for years because its container has been redesigned.  Our DNA is changing.  Everything is evolving toward an experience of Oneness that will create a new and more cooperative world, but it sure is a pain sometimes.

At our best, we just give up and flow with what we can’t change.  At our worst, we fight the change every inch of the way building a wall of useless resistance.  We wonder if we will survive this.  We fear the consequences because the unknown is always a scary place, unless….

Finding the Spiritual Gift of Change

How often do you consider the possibility that the changes in your life may be good?  When I had to give up being a dancer, I thought, “Who am I, if not a dancer?  As the years passed and I looked at who I was more deeply, I realized what a narrow definition I had given myself.  I was much more than a dancer.  Now, if you ask me who, I will say, “I’m a creative and spiritual person.”  These aspects are part of my core.

When we choose to feel miserable about the changes in our lives, we choose to be less and see ourselves as the victim without any power.  Although this may seem like the easy way out, it isn’t.  Our most powerful strength is not the strength we use to fight against change; that will only defeat us.  What we resist, persists.  The strength that we need to develop in these changing times is unrelated to the exterior.

Awakening to the Strength of Our Spiritual Core

When we meditate or sit with Nature and escape from the external worries of our lives, we find that quiet, centered place where we connect with Spirit and our own soul, for they are One. When life is raging around us, being able to stand in a place that is peaceful allows us to make wise choices.  From this place, we can release our fears, separate ourselves from the outer discord, and look within our hearts and souls for the best answers.  When we choose to stand in our own inner power, we empower ourselves.

While I can’t say change never bothers me, I have learned not to fear most of it.  Many times I don’t know the answer to my most current challenge, but I know that if I stay in touch with who I really am, I will find the answer.  I know there are lessons in all experiences, and I know a significant experience may appear out of nowhere.  I have learned to see life as a wonderful mystery and I’m willing to take the ride, even when it gets bumpy.  I have had many challenging experiences in life, but whenever I have chosen to be strong rather than miserable, amazing opportunities and lessons have appeared.

What path do you choose today?  What do you think about Castaneda’s comment?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings:  How Simple Thinking Leads to a Brilliant Mind, The Change Paradox:  Transforming Fear into Excitement and Opportunity

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AWAKENING TO THE PEACE AND WHOLENESS BEYOND FEAR

Posted on September 7, 2011 | 7 comments

Release Fear and Awaken to the Dance

Beneath every negative emotion is fear.

Every psychological fear blocks us in some way from receiving the guidance we need to find peace and know the best action to take.  Without fear, we can stop saying, “What’s wrong with me?” and begin to say, “What can I learn from this experience?”  Self-judgment has no value.  Without it, we can reflect on a situation and gain insight and inspiration.

We all have moments when we feel we are not good enough or have handled a situation badly.  Our inner critic recites the long list of our deficiencies, blaming us for every experience that did not manifest in the way we wished.  We may be, in fact, very compassionate in our interactions with others, but forget to offer ourselves the same kind of consideration.  To awaken to the dance of life completely, we must have this compassion for ourselves.

Wholeness, the Gift of Accepting Who We Are

One of the most profound ideas I have ever read comes from Oneness by Rasha.  “Those moments when you judge yourself most harshly and in which you feel you let yourself down are the moments most deeply yearned for as a soul.  For, in the moments you look back upon with regret—the ones that conjure up within you the most profound humiliation in your own eyes—are the moments for which you chose a human incarnation.” (p. 237)  “And in your embracing of all that you Are—and in your acceptance of all that you are not…is the unconditional gift of wholeness that awaits you.”(p. 238)

We do not have to be perfect to be whole. If we had reached a level of consciousness where we no longer needed to learn lessons, we would not be on this earthly plain. It is our ego’s pain and feeling of lack that feeds the fear that we are not good enough. Through the fears that surface, we glimpse the shadow, that darker side of our unconscious, and we are able to see the issues we need to address.

How To Release Self-Judgment

Last week I tried to communicate with a friend by email.  It was clear he had misunderstood something I said and he seemed to be avoiding the issue.  I was frustrated, thinking, “What have I done wrong here?” After pacing the floor a bit, I released my fear that I had offended him and asked, “How can I best bring peace to this situation?”  I felt calmer, and in a moment, a positive, light energy rose in my body, and I knew I needed to call him and arrange to talk face to face.  When I called, he eagerly suggested we meet for lunch.  As a result, we had a wonderful, open talk and parted with peaceful feelings toward one another.

When we find ourselves in these self-critical modes, we need to look beneath the surface issue and ask, “What is it I fear?”  Then, we need to release the fear, so that our minds are not busy coping with the fear.  Once we have released the fear, the mind feels clear and we can ask, “What is the best way to solve this problem?” or “How can I create peace out of this discord?”

When we do this, we shine light on our darkness.  We become open to identifying the lesson we need to learn.  Inner guidance will appear to guide us in the best direction.  Free of fear, we are able to let go of self-judgment.

 Finding Inner Peace Beneath the Fear

Evaluating and revising is a helpful learning process.  We all have to explore and experiment in order to learn.  Sometimes we will find the right answer; sometimes we won’t, but being afraid to try a new approach blocks our ability to learn.  With these fears released, we can find solutions and awaken to the peace that lies beneath our fears.  When we are able to accept all these parts of ourselves, we will experience wholeness.

What fears do you need to release?  How do you find peace?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

If you are interested in my upcoming “Release Your Fear” workshop on September 18 when I teach a specific technique for releasing your fear, see my Workshop page.  Advanced registration is not required.  All are welcome.

Related Articles:  Spiritual Practices: Shadow, Shadow Exercises

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INSPIRATIONAL REFLECTION: DANCING DEEPER

Posted on August 31, 2011 | 1 comment

“Learning without reflection is a waste, reflection without learning is dangerous.” Confucius

Who Are You Really?

When I start feeling restless, I know I need to stop, quiet myself and go within.  My restlessness always comes from being too engaged with the outside world and not taking the time to reflect on who I really am and why I’m frantically rushing around.

Usually, when I’m rushing, it is because I want to be efficient or productive.  At that moment, I think it’s important to cram as much activity as possible into the day. It’s like dancing the salsa without the sensuality.  I define myself as the one who gets things done, the one you can depend upon to complete the task on time.  I buy into our cultural idea that being productive is what gives us value and that not being productive is laziness.  I am off-center.

Dancing Deeper

When we take the time to be quiet and go deeper, to save the salsa for another time and sit in silence, we find the dance within is smooth, a solo performed at adagio or lento, rising and falling with our breath.  What is unnecessary drops away.  We awaken to who we really are spiritually.  Here we can see that society’s and our self definitions are not who we are.  We are Oneness.

The book Oneness by Rasha points out the significance of these moments when we connect to the Divine.  “When one is in conscious alignment with the sum totality of one’s connectedness to All That Is, there is no limit to what can be experienced or created in physical form.”  (p. 230)

So here is the secret to infinite success.  It is inside of us. This is the connection that awakens us and empowers our dance of life to be all it can be.

Tools For Awakening to the Dance Within

There are many ways to experience reflection.  Sitting quietly or meditating is one.  If our quiet minds are disturbed by fears, then we need to direct our minds to release this fear.  During this quiet time, we may choose to ask for guidance or simply be open to whatever insights or thoughts emerge.  Walking or sitting in the forest or near the sea shore, any place where we have contact with Nature, may be very helpful.  This approach is what I would call passive reflection.

There are other, more active ways to reflect.  Journaling about events may stimulate new perspectives or insights.  Writing down our feelings is very healing and often inspiring.  I have been surprised a number of times when I wrote something, then suddenly thought, “That’s not true.  That’s my ego blowing this incident out of proportion.”  There are also times when I only become aware of a significant insight after I’ve written it down.

Similar things happen in the silence when we read from spiritual or inspirational works.   A truth suddenly appears in words we’ve hardly noticed before.  An idea that conflicts with our current perspective on an issue may shock us.  These discoveries are part of the dance too.  Reflection provides us with an opportunity to learn, as Confucius said.

Understanding Reflective Inspiration

An understanding of the lessons we need to learn from our experiences doesn’t always come at the time we are experiencing the lesson.  Time and distance often give us clarity.  Twenty years after a long-term relationship ended, I was still having dreams in which issues from this relationship were resolved or new insights appeared.  I had spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to understand the conflicts of the relationship soon after it ended, but it took years for my reflections on this subject to reveal the truths hidden underneath. Never assume that a reflection that doesn’t produce immediate insights is wasted.  Reflection provides an opening where wisdom may appear in its own time.

How do you make time for reflection in your life and what have you learned from it?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Sites:

Reflecting on the Divine Presence in Our Lives

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AWAKENING THROUGH SPIRITUAL REFLECTION: WHAT DO YOU MIRROR?

Posted on August 24, 2011 | 4 comments

“Do you ever wonder if the guy in the puddle is real, and if you’re just a reflection of him?” Calvin and Hobbs

Seeing Who We Really Are

Do you ever find yourself observing someone’s behavior, being irritated by it, then suddenly realize the reason it irritates you is because it’s a reflection of your behavior?  The idea that we are mirrors for each other is a powerful one, but whether or not we learn from these experiences depends on what we are willing to see.

Sometimes reflections are so clear, exact replicas of our faces, words or behavior that we cannot miss the message.  Other times, like the picture above, the reflection seems cloudy with undefined edges and unclear images.

Sharing Our Awakening

Last night, I listened to a presentation on Human Design with several people, many of whom are friends.  We discovered that most of us belonged to the same design type.  As the characteristics of our type were revealed, we mirrored one another with startled stares, exclamations, and laughter, amazed by our similarities. We were told that the strategy for centering our energy was “to wait and respond.”  To use our will power to force things to happen would create frustration.  Considering the fact that several of us are self-employed, we also mirrored our shock at this revelation.  How could that be?

Awakening Through Reflection

As I attempted to integrate our similarities, I also became aware that some of my companions, in the past, have reflected my behavior in ways I don’t particularly like.  I was looking at both sides of the mirror at one time.  Flashes of memories came flooding back:  the times I wanted to control something that was uncontrollable, the times I responded insensitively to another because I was frustrated (ouch), the times when I held back information for fear I would reveal too much of myself, and most of all, the ways I criticized the person mirroring this to me.  Each person in that room was my teacher.

Reflecting Who We Really Are

Along with getting a glimpse of the way others mirror who I am, I became aware that the strategy for my design type, wait and respond, was basically the same as the major spiritual lesson I had been learning.  About a year ago, unhappy with the direction of my life, I meditated on how to create a less stressful life where I could put my writing at the center.  I felt I needed a master plan.  Then, the awareness came to me that all I needed to do was to take the first step.

Wait and Respond

I was tired.  Tired of trying so hard.  Tired of planning.  I decided to try a different way.  So I took the first step.  I began writing my memoir every day, decided to set up a blog and learn to use social media for marketing.  Okay, I did have sort of a plan, but what should I do first other than work on the memoir?

I waited.  Before long, what I needed showed up.  The community college offered courses on social media and blogging, and a woman I knew understood this new technology.  I took the courses and my friend became my mentor.  Waiting, something I hate to do, led me to the next step; then I responded.  The human design strategy simply reflected back to me what I already knew: when I wait, what I need shows up, then I respond.

I have much to reflect upon as I look deeper into the experience I had last night.  Some of edges in these reflections are crystal clear, while others are blurred and mysterious.  The latter will require that I go deeper.  In next week’s blog, I will explore the way we may use reflection to do that.

When you look at those close to you, what do they reflect back to you?  What are you willing to see?

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© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles:

I See You, Now See Me – Neale Donald Walsh

How God Tells You It’s Time To Change – Wayne Dyer

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AWAKENING TO THE DANCE OF THE HEART

Posted on August 17, 2011 | 1 comment

“Out beyond right-thinking and wrong-thinking there is a field.  I’ll meet you there.” Rumi

Dancing As One

Today let’s talk from the heart, for only the heart can take us to that place beyond the rational mind where we can let go of ego’s need to be right.  When we live and dance from the heart, we are not limited to dancing with one partner; we dance the circle dance that includes us all.  The man doesn’t always lead, nor does the woman, because there is no leader.  There is room for all in the circle, for we dance as One.

As we dance, we may pull and stumble, but after a while, the movement begins to flow, all individuals moving in harmony as if the circle were only one body.  It’s not hard to see why circle dances have been a part of spiritual ritual since the beginning of humanity. They were powerful dances of community where all came together for the good of the whole.

The Dance of Cooperation

In many aspects of modern life we have forgotten what our ancestors knew.  We cannot survive without cooperating.  I’ve lived all around the country and been exposed to many cultures.  In some places, community is about conforming.  Everyone has to think and act alike. New solutions to problems are not welcome. In those places, I felt I was suffocating.   But now I live in a community that embraces individuality and revels in new ideas and innovative businesses.  Here we have found a way to cooperate and honor what is unique about each of us while we find solutions to meet the needs of the community.

Dancing from the heart as we live life takes us to that field to which Rumi refers.  There is no competition there, only cooperation, a field where we can act from the heart, a place where we come together and release our need to be right and feed our egos, a place where love of humanity is sincere.

In all aspects of our lives, we need to shift our focus from competition to cooperation.  Competition teaches us that someone always has to lose, but in reality, the only time we really win is when we cooperate.  Then we all win.  Working together creates healthy, wholesome bonds.  In this atmosphere, we are not afraid to think creatively and to consider the possibility of solving problems in a totally different way.  With this thinking, we move beyond what is a right or wrong idea and focus only on what works and enhances our lives.

Finding “The Field”

What would the world look like if we all lived from our hearts, our seat of wisdom?  What if our leaders created coalitions instead of blocks?  What if we embraced our differences instead of fearing them?  What if we could accept and love our partner’s eccentricities.

Where there is love there is peace.  With our hearts open, let us find “the field.”

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Links:

Young@Heart, Heart-Centered Leadership

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AWAKENING SPIRIT TO THE COMEDY OF LIFE

Posted on August 9, 2011 | 2 comments
Jumping Over the 3rd Largest Pyramid in the World by Anirudh Koul

“What a wonderful life I’ve had! – I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”  Colette

I used to think that happiness was created “out there” by other people, food or music, or things going my way.  Now I know it comes from within and that I can choose my experience.  I can write my own spiritual script.

“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” Shakespeare 

Playing the Enlightened Fool

Our lives are the most important story we will ever write and this physical existence is the stage where we have chosen to play out our stories.  Is yours a comedy, tragedy or melodrama?  Although mine often feels like a tragedy or a melodrama, I try at least to give it comic overtones.  Sometimes I enjoy playing the fool, who, if you remember from Shakespeare’s plays, was often wiser than the hero.  The fool was often the means by which the power of the time was encouraged to laugh at itself.

When my ego begins to think it’s going to run the show, I try to play the fool and laugh at myself.  There was a time when I couldn’t do this at all.  I was a very insecure young person and very self-conscious, always afraid of someone’s criticism or of being rejected.  I was very serious about everything and considered too much laughter trivial.  I couldn’t stand to be laughed at.  Now I revel in it.

Laughing for Spiritual Well-Being

One aspect of happiness is being able to laugh at ourselves.  This is such a gift.  If we can laugh at our shortcomings and mistakes and accept our humanity, we can avoid the kind of self-criticism that tears us down.  It’s always wise to take a good look at our mistakes and understand how to avoid them or correct a problem we’ve created.  But it’s not spiritually healthy to become attached to our negative thinking.

Laughing at our foibles lifts up our energy vibration.  When we’re happy, we’re more likely to make positive decisions and find positive solutions to problems.  Playing the fool once in a while helps keep us from taking ourselves too seriously, for taking ourselves too seriously often sets up a resistance that creates more problems.

Releasing Resistance Frees Us

The most important resistance we need to avoid and release is the need to be right.  This is often the flaw we see in Shakespeare’s tragic characters.  Unable to view their challenges with a more flexible mind set, they follow a path that eventually destroys all they value.  Like these characters, we may become so attached to a particular point of view that we are unable to see the weaknesses in our thinking and plunge headlong into a disaster.  Laughing at ourselves or being laughed at can often break this unhealthy attachment and release the resistance.

Choosing the Gift of Happiness

I love this quote by Colette:  “What a wonderful life I’ve had! – I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”   What are you focusing on in your life?  Are you making the time to enjoy Nature, your friends and family or creative outlets? Are you finding something to be grateful for each day?

In order to experience happiness, we have to be thankful for what we have and willing to let go of our need to control life.  The best laughter usually comes from the unexpected.  Caught by surprise by a spontaneous comment or response, we let go and enjoy the foolishness of the moment.

When I say things that really make people laugh, they are always unplanned and leap from my mouth before I even know what I intend to say.  From some place of inner joy or mischief, the idea leaps forth into being.  I’m always delighted when I can make others laugh, even when I embarrass myself.  No matter what is happening with the stock market, world economy, or the Turkeys on The Hill (as in D. C.), we all need some comedic interludes.  We need to remember that childhood joy is still alive in us and if we can’t solve our problems today or even tomorrow, we can celebrate our humanity and laugh it up.

Feel free to share a comment, a funny joke, or absurd thought.  Let’s laugh it up today.  We probably all need it.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Link:  Seven Secrets of a Joyful Life – Wayne Dyer

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INTUITION – THE VOICE OF OUR SPIRITUAL CORE

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 2 comments

“It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It’s my partner.”  Jonas Salk

Listening for Intuition’s Wisdom

 The longer I live, the more I rely on my intuition.  My journals are full of entries describing how I ignored it and the unfortunate consequences I experienced as a result.  The most difficult times to follow it are when it advises me to do what I don’t want to do.

In February 2011, writing and working intensely on the computer to set up a blog and learn to use Facebook, I foolishly ignored the warning my intuition was sending me verbally and through the tension building up in my back.  I woke up one morning with sciatica down the right side of my body. It was the most intense pain I’d ever experienced. It took about six months to recover with acupuncture to relieve the pain and physical therapy to correct my posture and strengthen my core.

In this case and in an accident four years earlier, my physical core was weak and out of balance despite the regular exercises I did.  The key to my physical recovery was building strength in the core muscles of the abdomen with daily exercises, and taking the stress off the lower back where the latest injury originated.

Strengthening Our Spiritual Core

 But more importantly, I needed to correct my spiritual core.  In both instances, I had allowed ego’s fears and needs to override my intuition’s advice.  In January, I had set a goal to have certain things done by the end of the month, no matter what! My ego, so much noisier than my intuition kept reminding me of this.

We have to remember that ego loves to feed off of what is negative.  It demands our attention.  So how can we develop the discipline and awareness to stay in touch with our core intuition?

 Ways to Stay in Touch With Intuition

Sitting in the silence is an important first step.  When we are centered in silence, we are most likely to hear Spirit speaking to us through intuition.  In those moments we are connected to Source, our loving partner, and its words are gentle.  When something starts pushing, it is ego.  When we feel fear, it is ego.  When we are being pushed toward an extreme or to the edge of endurance, that is ego.  The practice of listening in the silence teaches us to discern if the voice we hear or the physical response we feel is ego or intuition.

Secondly, we have to release our fear for it only feeds ego.  We can sit quietly and direct our minds to release whatever fearful thought has arisen.  As we make the statement, “I release this fear,” it is helpful to take a deep breath and in the body feel the tension of the fear release.  With the fear gone, there is space for our spiritual guidance to come through and for us to hear it.

I also believe intuition speaks to us in other ways: through the words of others, the ideas we encounter through reading spiritual books, through experiences in workshops and spiritual gatherings.  When we feel that “Ah, ha,” intuition is saying, “Listen, this is for you.”

So, during this next week, let’s find moments to listen to that partner inside that loves us enough to say, “This is for you.”  And let’s have the good sense to follow its advice.  Like Jonas Salk, let’s remember that what our intuition brings to us is a gift that is always good.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings:

What is Spiritual Guidance?

What is Intuition? Eckhart Tolle

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