Flow With Life’s Possibilities

Growing up flickr

The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment.  Eckhart Tolle

If you’re going to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.  Joel Osteen

Conditions don’t have to be right.  You have to be right.  Joel Osteen

On the other side of this difficulty is a new level of my destiny.  Joel Osteen

When a situation arises involving agonizing pain, use that situation as a stepping stone to transcend it, to go beyond.  Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)

No moment at the top lasts forever and tough descents are required if you are going to make another beautiful climb.  Tony Zipple

The only way to get from one place to the next is to put one foot in front of the other, whether it is on the way up or the way down.  Tony Zipple.

I am a river flowing with possibility and life.  asha bandele

Self-Imposed Blocks to My Good

beauty of nature

My alarm clock woke me to go to my swim team workout.  I am trying to be consistent.  My coach counseled: “Even if you don’t feel like it, come anyway.  That’s how you’ll improve.”   That morning, not only did I not feel like getting out of bed, I felt dizzy.  My stomach hurt.  I felt abnormally tired and achy.  I concluded that I was sick.  I should just get back into bed.

Despite my excuses and my body discomforts, I continued to get dressed and pushed myself out of the door. Surprisingly, I had one of my best swims!  I got into a faster lane and was able to keep up with my lane mates.  I felt so good after the first workout, I stayed for another!

This revealed to me that my mind seems to resist going to a higher level.  It likes routine and doesn’t want to venture into the unknown.  It wants to maintain the present comfort zone and keep things right where they are, even if the conditions are not optimum and going forward would be better.

When I’m about to go to a new level, be involved in something new, or expand my horizons, hardship and obstacles seem to occur to keep me from progressing.  Could I be creating these blocks to my good?  Sometimes, everything seems to be going well, but I become lethargic. I don’t want to do anything but eat and watch TV.  Why?

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The Master of the Work

Sun bucurestifm

The grapes of my body can only become wine
After the winemaker tramples me.
I surrender my spirit like grapes to his trampling
So my innermost heart can blaze and dance with joy.
Although the grapes go on weeping blood and sobbing,
“I cannot bear any more anguish, any more cruelty!”
The trampler stuffs cotton in his ears: “I am not
     working in ignorance.
You can deny me if you want, you have every excuse,
But it is I who am the Master of this Work.
And when through my Passion you reach Perfection,
You will never be done praising my name.”          Rumi

 

The path to God is littered with the bones of those who did not remember Who they were looking for, and how great beyond all concepts and imagining God always is.  Rumi

Jesus said to John, “You must have become very forgetful of God’s graces and tendernesses to weep so much.”

If you live according to the Tao, nothing can harm you.  Realizing this, there is nothing to fear.  There is only constant monitoring of self to ensure that one stays on the path.  Tao Te Ching.

 

Keep Your Mind on Spirit

Colored Water Ripples free stock

Everyone suffers.  It’s easy to think that there are those who don’t.  In Light Upon Light: Inspirations from RUMI, interpreted by Andrew Harvey, a story is told of a king who was granted 400 years of luxury and happiness.  As time passed, the king forgot about and denied his Grantor, and was ultimately cursed.  Rumi considered the painless life a veil between God and human beings.  This glory is in fact a punishment because such abundance causes blindness.  People forget about God until they go bankrupt, lose their health, face the death of war, or their pride causes their downfall.  At this point, one becomes reflective.  Exhausted from efforts to rise above the rubble, one at last turns within.

Similar stories are repeated throughout the Old Testament of the Bible.  God helps the people through a crisis and gives them food, land, and affluence.  Years pass and they grow accustomed to the good life and forget about God.  Each generation grows further and further away from the teachings.  They start worshiping other gods and stop studying the scriptures and honoring their ancestors.  They become self-absorbed.  God becomes angry and takes away His Grace.  The people endure decades of war, famine, subjugation, during which they remember God, cry out, and the cycle starts again.  God has mercy, restores their fortunes, they forget, and hard times return.  I think these stories are descriptions of human life throughout the millennia.  They are meant to guide and teach us.

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Worry is Negative Prayer

Crocus Flower Public Domain

Worry is negative prayer.  Judy Juanita

The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body – to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes.  Eckhart Tolle

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.   Philippians 4:8

When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite [positive] ones should be thought of.  Patanjali

Gains and losses pass swiftly by . . . but to those who walk on despite obstacles and fears, success comes at last, a triumph beyond all dreaming and doubt.  The Buddha

Growing Through the Storms

Red Rose in a storm by faepacific

After a particularly challenging day, I wanted to fill my drained self with food and wine, but I know from experience that this choice is merely a Band-Aid, not a cure.  In fact, it keeps me in the valley.  A stuffed self cannot flow.  A drugged self cannot clearly see signposts on the path.  We grow spiritually when we are strong mentally and physically.

So on this particularly day, I chose to enter my meditation room and sit with no time limit.  I would sit until I felt better.  I mentally released all debt, lack, and limitation.  I spoke my word and told my struggles to get thee behind me.  I visualized pictures of mountains of drama and trauma turning to sand.

I filled myself with abundance.  I spoke health and prosperity.  I saw the beauty of my life and saw myself connected to all life, to the energy of all existence, and to the energy of the Universe. In that connection, I felt such overwhelming love, God’s love, that I started crying from the sheer immensity of that feeling.  At that moment, I felt secure.  I felt safe.  I felt that my situation was not insurmountable, that it would be resolved, that I was one with God and, therefore, one with abundance.  One with prosperity.  I felt that.

When I completed my meditation, I was compelled to flip through various books on my shelves.  I felt that whatever page I landed on would be what I needed to hear.

In The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, priests were serenely facing violence from the government.  The protagonist was scared to death, in fear of his life, and didn’t understand why they were so calm.  The priests were calm because they needed to keep their vibration level high.  They knew if they were fearful, their energy dropped.  With low energy, they could not receive insight or attract helpful people.  Fear attracts itself – more situations and circumstances that evoke panic and trepidation.

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Live Each Moment As Though It Is Precious

To live each day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live.  To feel the joy of life.  To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day.  To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am.  I am.  That is something to aspire to.  The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

One day your life will flash before your eyes.  Make sure it’s worth watching.  Unknown

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.  Thich Nhat Hanh

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.  Marcus Aurelius

These Are the Sweetest Days

sunshine lotus flickr

When I visited Europe, I spent hours in the museums, something I rarely do here in the States.  I always remembered to look up because there was beautiful artwork in the ceilings.  I was surrounded by astounding architecture above and beneath me.

For years, I never looked up on a regular basis.  Always, I went here and there, to and from, focused on the road or the bike or walking path.  I was very goal-oriented in my movement, intent on where I was going, not noticing my surroundings in the moment.

After my dad passed, I felt lost and alone.  While driving and listening to my music, “The Sweetest Days” came on, sung by Vanessa Williams:

Both of us so unbending
We battle the fear within
All the while, life is rushing by us
Hold it now and don’t let go
These are the days, the sweetest days we’ll know
So we whisper a dream here in the darkness
Watching the stars ‘til they’re gone
And when even the memories have all faded away
These days go on and on
Every day is the sweetest day we’ll know

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Practicing Our Divinity

There will always be some contradiction between the divinity in our hearts and what we are able to actually practice in the world.     Russell Simmons

I have created a hashtag #NoResistanceDay.  While I try to always practice acceptance and mindful behavior, it helps to have a day in which I commit to productive speech and behavior.  I schedule exercise days and work days.  Why not days to focus on improving self?  #NoResistanceDay is a day that I choose to be positive in the face of perceived negativity.  I think “peace” when I feel anger.  When I feel irritation, I smile.  I turn judgment into perceptions of beauty. (Practicing this makes me conscious of how I form judgments about almost everything I see and hear). I think of praise when I want to criticize.  I calm myself when I feel anxious.  When I am fearful, I remind myself that I am protected. When I feel lack, I find something for which to give thanks. When I feel hopeless, I tell myself that something awesome is coming my way. On and on.

If you like, use #NoResistanceDay to document your efforts to change your speech and behavior and, therefore, your life!

Can I Be Peace?

Peace flickr

I live near a venue where professional and televised basketball, football, and baseball games are played.  In this Age of The Internet, advertisers still use low-flying planes with banners that fly incessantly over my house.  During playoffs, helicopters and blimps hover over the arena.  The noise is irritating, but used to drive me into a rage, especially on a nice Sunday morning when I was trying to enjoy peace and quiet.

I would stand outside, document the fly-over times, and submit written complaints to the airport noise officer, who would send confirmations, but do nothing else.  I did this consistently for about six months – a total waste of my time and energy.

I have neighbors who used to play loud, bass-containing, rap music with N, F, and B words for hours on end.  I would incur their anger by repeatedly asking them to turn it down, earning the reputation as the mean lady on the block.  I would complain about people leaving vehicles in front of my house and numerous other nuisances.  I did not enjoy living in my house, primarily because of external irritants.

When meditating, I like to have complete silence.  In the past, if there was noise, I became so distracted I stopped meditating.  Isn’t that crazy?  There is always noise of some kind.  The thoughts of your mind are louder than any external thing.  If you become quiet enough, you can hear your heartbeat or the hum of energy surrounding you.

I finally decided to try to be peace in order to have peace, primarily by looking within.

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