Tag Archives: Flexible Thinking

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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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 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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THE SPIRITUAL QUILT OF LIFE

Posted on July 27, 2011 | 1 comment

Designing Our Life Quilts

When I look at the quilt my grandmother left me, I see a patchwork design.  Each piece represents a fragment of her life story and contributes to the overall pattern.  Like the pattern created on a quilt, the patterns of our lives and spiritual journeys may include remnants of varied experiences coming together to create unique designs.

Each of us, with our individual talents, ideas, and perspectives creates a patchwork that we call life.  Some people form designs and patterns that are static, others that are whimsical and constantly changing.  As we grow through the years, we incorporate the lessons we learn from experience, reworking and adapting the design of our lives to accommodate our new needs.

Creating Our Own Belief System

Some quilts are based on traditional designs passed down through generations, while others are designed as individual artistic expressions based on the quilter’s personal choices.  Much like traditional quilters, some of us choose the traditional spiritual path to follow the dogma of an organized religion, a pattern created long ago by others as a beneficial path.  Others of us choose to follow an eclectic journey, searching many spiritual disciplines for insight on how to live a better life, thereby creating a highly individual spiritual belief system.

I have chosen an eclectic journey, collecting spiritual remnants from a wide variety of disciplines and shaping them into the design for a spiritual quilt that reflects who I truly am.  As each new idea enters my life, I study it, practice it and observe the result.  Did it help me move toward peace or wholeness or joy?  Did it add to the fabric of my life a dynamic new element?  Did it expand my spiritual views?  Did it awaken and warm my soul?  If the answer is yes, the idea becomes a part of the design.

A Turning Point In My Spiritual Awakening

About twenty-five years ago, I reached a major turning point.  I had explored Buddhism and learned to meditate.  I had learned that the source of my negative thoughts and emotions was fear, and I learned a mental technique to release it, but something was still missing.  Being a very emotional person, I still needed to learn how to manage my emotions more effectively.

I joined a Unity Church of Practical Christianity and one day I heard, “Your thoughts create your emotions.”  I thought, “That can’t be right.  My emotions are what cause me to think positively or negatively.”  I’m sure I had been exposed to this idea before, but somehow I had never really heard the words.

For days, “Your thoughts create your emotions” echoed in my mind.  What if that were really true?  About the same time, I began to learn about affirmations as a way of manifesting positive people and experiences into my life.  Slowly, I began to put it all together.  I would have a negative thought and anger or sadness would immediately appear.  I would use the technique I knew to release the fear beneath the emotion, and a moment of peace would appear.

With time, I added another useful piece to this pattern.  I felt peaceful for a moment, and then I filled the space with a positive statement, such as “I am a peaceful person.  Only good comes to me and only good flows from me.”  As time went by, I used more specific affirmations and created positive feelings to support my positive words.  The channel Abraham would say I raised my vibration.

Adapting Our Spirituality to Life

By this time, the basic design of my spiritual quilt had taken form:  meditation, releasing fear, affirmations, and focusing on positive emotions.  Over the years, I’ve added more color and width to the design, adding intricate stitches that connect all the pieces or that give it a flair that is uniquely mine.  Although the design of my spiritual quilt will never be complete, I share it with friends and readers.  In case I find another spiritual truth to expand its design, I always keep some open space around the edges

There is no right or wrong design, no better or worse design for our spiritual quilt.  Whatever warms your soul and the souls around you is the blessed path.  Only you know what that is.

What are the pieces that create your spiritual quilt and how does it warm you?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Sources: Resources for Spiritual Journeys 

Oprah’s Best Week of Your Life: Finding Your Spiritual Path

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PRACTICING THE SPIRITUAL DANCE – FLEXIBILITY

Posted on July 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

“We learn by practice.  Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same.  One becomes in some area an athlete of God.”  Martha Graham

Flexibility In The Dance Of Life

In life and dance, flexibility is an essential quality.  As we watch a modern or ballet dancer, we are amazed by the infinite variety of shapes through which she or he moves.  For dance, the body must be stretched beyond comfortable limits.  For life, our minds must be stretched as well.

Physical flexibility allows us to move with ease, letting the momentum of the movement carry us through space like a bird in flight riding the updrafts.  But spiritual and mental flexibility helps us to trust that what unfolds is good, even when it is challenging.

Flexibility Raises Conscious

An inflexible mind limits our lives as much as an inflexible body limits the dancer.  Oneness states, “There are no right and wrong choices.  There is simply action and reaction.  And both are intertwined in the eternal dance of life.” (p. 320)  Flexibility allows us to be more conscious, to be able to see what the possible consequences of certain actions may be and then to choose wisely the action we wish to take.

For example, I grew up with the notion that friends were forever.  At least that was the way it was supposed to be.  I still think this is a wonderful idea whenever it is possible to stay connected to the same friends for years.  But I came to realize that in our mobile society this is difficult.  If we are also growing and changing, it is inevitable that we will outgrow the value of some relationships and that they may become so diminished that we each need to move on.

Letting Go With Love

Is it wrong to walk away from people and circumstances that no longer support what is best for us?  If we are to be healthy, whatever and whoever is in our lives must be compatible with our spiritual path or else that energy will be depleting.  Learning to let go with love is just as valuable as being able to welcome what is new with love.  Sometimes letting go simply means thinking differently about a situation. We need the flexibility to make whatever choice is appropriate.

So in life, flexibility allows us to change our mind, see other points of view, and experiment in order to find healthy solutions to problems.  Life becomes an improvisation so that we are open to new possibilities.  It teaches the ego that it doesn’t always need to be right. This is why meditation is so helpful. In the silence, we are able to sense our oneness with all creation.  In this space we are in the flow and we surrender to life, just as the dancer surrenders to the dance, and we become “an athlete of God.”

When has changing your perspective helped you make a better choice? Please comment.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings:  Practicing the Spiritual Dance – Strength

Practicing the Spiritual Dance – Balancing

How Simple Thinking Leads to a Brilliant Mind

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