Create Space for the New

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The discomfort of drowning is what taught me to swim. Jason Reynolds

When you are evolving into a higher self, the road may seem lonely; but, you’re simply shedding the energies that no longer match the frequency of your destiny.  Unknown

Surrender is when you get put in an absolutely impossible position, and you see that there is no other way but to surrender.  Ram Dass

I am open to the guidance of synchronicity and do not let expectations hinder my path.  Dalai Lama

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

Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.   Eckhart Tolle

You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.   Eckhart Tolle

Take My Life, Transform It

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Take my heart and mold it
Take my will, conform it
Take my mind, transform it
Holiness is what I long for
Righteousness is what I long for
Brokenness is what I long for
                 Take My Life by Bishop T.D. Jakes

 

For many years, I sang this song, but was silent on the “brokenness” part.  I didn’t relate to this phrase. Who in their right mind would want to be broken?  I surely wasn’t going to speak that into my life.  Yet, now I see how critical being “broken” has been to my transformation.  As long as everything stays the same, there can be no growth.  There can be no remodel or renovation.  Some of us need to be broken down before we can introduce change into our lives.

Sometimes everything has to be torn down and torn apart in order to rebuild to new specifications.  If your life is not changing, that means that you are not changing.

Faced with people and circumstances that cause tension, turmoil, pain, and suffering, I am forced to practice the principles that I assert.  Situations, family, friends, environments, and communities are all classrooms in which I have been placed in order to grow. These comprise my education in life and of human nature.

There is a bigger picture, a broader context of life that cannot be seen by a limited perspective.  Some things can only be seen by looking in the past: but for this, that would not have happened.  At times, solace or explanation cannot be found by looking in the past, present, or future.  We simply must trust the process, the journey, the Master Plan, the Way of the Universe – whatever we choose to call the constant progression of life.

In all of its manifestations, life begins, is, and ends. Physical life has birth, youth, adolescence, adulthood, old age and death.  Embryo to ashes.  Non-physical life undergoes a similar process, but cannot be as easily documented.  A steadfast and persevering tree bends, but remains standing in the midst of blowing winds.  It discards leaves in the fall and winter, and gives birth to new blossoms in the spring.  Yet, the strongest tree can be felled by disease, fire, flood, or other external conditions.

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Home

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It’s a Long Way Home
   Sung by Vanessa Williams
It’s hard to say from where you stand
Exactly where it all began
But someplace there’s a point where you cross the line
You see the tears that stain your face
Mirrored in your make-up case
And you know it’s time to leave this place behind
It’s a long way home
Trying to retrace your steps
All too easy to forget
Just which way to go
It’s a long way home

Songwriters: Eric Carmen, Philip E. Galdston, Brock Patrick Walsh. © Universal Music Publishing Group, IMAGEM U.S. LLC

Home
  From the Broadway Musical “The Wiz”
When I think of home
I think of a place where there’s
Love overflowing
Maybe there’s a chance for me to go back
Now that I have some direction
And just maybe I can convince time to slow up
Giving me enough time in my life to grow up
Time be my friend
And let me start again
Songwriter: Charles Emanuel Smalls
© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

Intentions vs. State of Being

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In 2004, I wrote a very specific and long list of things that I wanted.  Examples included: learning different languages; living in other countries; earning millions of dollars from my writing; being debt-free; working because I want to, not because I have to; practicing and, eventually, teaching yoga; and so on.  Years passed.  One day, I found that list in a forgotten folder.  The only thing that I had fully accomplished was insuring that my mom was well cared for.

In 2012, I participated in a ritual involving angels who would grant three wishes.  I don’t know whether they came or not.  I didn’t feel anything.  Ultimately, I turned those three wishes into three intentions that I read aloud every day, then once per month, then every now and then, and finally not at all.

By the end of 2016, I had obtained a new job.  All other doors were closed and I chose to walk through the one that was open.  Every week, I am provided with many opportunities to grow and to modify my prior ways of reacting and responding.  I’m constantly changing, trying to figure out how to navigate and be a positive, instead of negative, force in a chaotic situation.  I consider this position a bridge to that which I have not yet clarified.

I again wrote down what I want.  This time I felt that I expressed what my spirit, my true self, the real me truly wants.  As I grow and as I’m able to shed layers of distraction, layers of the external me, layers of whatever, I’m reaching my core.  I’m revealing what is.

Intentions point me back to myself.  They are revelations; guideposts enabling me to get close enough to hear the core me crying out, expressing my reality: “This is who I AM.  This IS me.”

My first job had its positive and negatives.  Ultimately, I left because it disappointed me in terms of my consciousness and awareness at the time.  Looking back on all that I’ve been through, I compare it to leaving my parents’ home.  I couldn’t wait until my 18th birthday.  I left days afterward to get away from burdensome rules and limitations.  Much later, I realized how good I had it.

So it was with my first job.  The way that I saw the world at that time was very rigid, very black and white.  Now, the way that I see the world is very fluid, with various shades of all different kinds of colors, not one way or the other.  I realize that there are many different ways of being.

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Unrelenting Pursuit

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The road to success is always under construction.  Lily Tomlin

Everything you are going through is a stepping stone for the Universe to offer you what you’ve asked for.  Trust the process.   Leslie Cassidy

Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.  C. S. Lewis

Anything that annoys you is teaching you patience.  Anyone who abandons you is teaching you how to stand up on your own two feet.  Anything that angers you is teaching you forgiveness and compassion.  Anything that has power over you is teaching you how to take your power back.  Anything you hate is teaching you unconditional love.  Anything you fear is teaching you courage to overcome your fear.  Anything you can’t control is teaching you how to let go.  Jackson Kiddard

You signed up to do this dance before you were born.  Annie Kagan

If you had started doing anything two weeks ago, by today you would have been two weeks better at it.   John Mayer

Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.   Mario Andretti

Commitment Continuity Practice

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Because of our capacity to expand in many different ways, being static may not always be the most positive state of being.  Yes, we need to rest, reflect, and be thankful for where we are.  Nonetheless, it is good to be aware of our evolutionary nature.  We have innate urges to move, to be fluid, and to flow.  Flowing is not being static.  As we constantly seek ways to evolve, it can be unproductive to become disappointed or upset when we don’t progress at a pace that puts us where we think we ought to be within a certain time period.

We have infinity to get to wherever “there” is.  We mustn’t compare ourselves to others, believing that they’ve got it all together, or that they have accomplished more than we ever will.  We don’t know where they started.  Life is infinite.  S/he could have started in a different lifetime, in another dimension.  Now s/he is at this level, in this body, and is starting from where s/he left off in another time and space.  We cannot judge ourselves based upon our limited perceptions of the external aspects of others’ lives.  People have different goals, intentions, lessons, challenges, and resources that are particular to their personal evolutionary path in this place and in this era.

I sometimes berate myself for having made certain choices in life.  Hindsight is 20/20.  I could have or shouldn’t have done this or that.  Ultimately, I realize that the choices that I made, for better or for worse, made me who, what and where I am today.  But for my experiences, I wouldn’t have developed into my current consciousness and awareness.  Who knows how the dark and light aspects of my past and present have prepared and are setting me up for the next phase of my life?

We’ll get to where we’re going with diligence, commitment, focus, and practice. Continuity is key: continuing to strive and continuing to commit to doing “it” over and over and over again, if necessary, until one day we kind of get “it” and then move on to the next lesson, the next class, the next level, situation, circumstance, and person.

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Unstoppable

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She was unstoppable, not because she did not have failures or doubts, but because she continued on despite them.   Beau Taplin

The mind has a dilemma.  It is afraid of change, deeper change, yet the mind is attracted to life, which is change.  Don’t be mixed up in all that business.  You merely observe casually, passively, and keep your attention inside your Heart.  Mooji

I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.  Steve Jobs

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins, not through strength, but through perseverance.  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The will must be stronger than the skill.  Muhammad Ali

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.  Confucius

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential.  Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.  Without courage, we can’t be kind, true, generous, or honest.   Maya Angelou

If you can’t believe in miracles, then believe in yourself.  When you want something bad enough, let that drive push you to make it happen.  Sometimes you’ll run into brick walls that are put there to test you.  Find a way around them and stay focused on your dreams.  Isabel Lopez

Perseverance

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I often analogize my life to swimming because I perceive many similarities between the two. For example, during my continued attempts to improve my stroke, I keep hearing the same things over and over from my coaches.  I try to do what I understand them to be saying.  I think I’m actually implementing their guidance.  Yet, I keep hearing “catch-up drill,” which is a signal that I am windmilling, e.g., flailing my arms, or “your hand is still dragging in the water” or “you’re still arching your back.”

I become frustrated because I’m trying my best and I don’t know how I can better perform what they’re telling me to do.  I recognize that my mind knows what to do, but the body is just used to doing things a certain way.  I have to continuously tell my body, “no, do it this way.”  In the beginning, my efforts require much concentration and focus because my body does not want to change.  It wants to continue doing what it has always done.  That’s the easy way.

I particularly forget my technique when I’m in a lane with faster swimmers.  I do whatever it takes to keep up, even if my form is incorrect.  Many nonprofessional swimmers swim faster by sheer strength and effort.  Unfortunately, as we age, we tire more quickly when our body position and strokes are inefficient.

It’s easier to concentrate on my technique when I’m alone and not in a lane where people are pushing me to go faster because they’re behind me or I’m pushing myself to go faster because I want to keep up with those in front of me.  When I’m in a lane by myself, I can focus on my technique.  I can see myself begin to flow.

Life is similar.  When I meditate, participate in a workshop, or have a good yoga session, I can see everything that I’m supposed to do correctly.  I’m at peace.  I determine to keep this feeling, this frame of mind; yet, before lunch, my mind becomes irritated at the things that people do and say.  I know what my proper response should be, but I fall back into my comfortable ways of thinking and reacting.  Try as I might, it often seems as though I’m just not getting it.

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The World as One

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To recognize one’s own insanity is, of course, the arising of sanity, the beginning of healing and transcendence.  Eckhart Tolle

Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens.  The sleeper must awaken.   Frank Herbert

Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, hate less, love more, and good things will be yours.  Swedish Proverb

We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.  J.K. Rowling

We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.  Gwendolyn Brooks

Imagine there’s no countries.  It isn’t hard to do.  Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too.  Imagine all the people living life in peace.  You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.  I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one.  John Lennon

The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances.   Marcus Aurelius

Awaken to Your Transcendency

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During meditation, I thought about the eternal conflict between human beings.  When and how did this begin?  A response came that we were created as equals and lived in harmony for some time.  Our connection with the Eternal was natural; however, the longer we existed in the material body, the more we began to believe in our individual independence, our individual abilities, and our individual power.

The more we affirmed the belief in separateness from Spirit, the further we drifted away from our knowledge of Oneness.  We began to see ourselves and others as different (analogized in the Adam and Eve story where they became aware of and ashamed of their nakedness and left the harmony of the Garden of Eden).

When we lose our connection to that which is Eternal, we cannot see the Eternal in another and, then, cannot see our connection to each other in any respect.  This divide gets deeper and deeper over time.  We separate from God.  We separate from the God in each other.  We separate from the other because of appearance, then village, then tribe, region, religion, country and so on until we become so isolated in our minds that we want to separate from ourselves.

Humans have devolved from being wards of land belonging to all to perpetuators of war and death in order to claim and cling to land. What has been gained by polarization?  How have we benefited by beliefs that we are different from the other and that we are not interrelated and interconnected?

We are organic beings.  We have an innate ability to exist and flourish unimpeded like a plant or mighty tree, fully nourished by the soil, the sun, water, and wind.  This organic part of us knows how to survive, what to eat, when and how to move, and when to sleep.  When we do not listen to our innate selves, when we push through instead of intuitively listen, we create an imbalance within that proliferates like polluted air.

I learned through yoga that when weak muscles stop functioning, other muscles take over.  These eventually become exhausted because they are doing their jobs and that of the weak muscles.  Eventually, a particular body part breaks down.  When a cell becomes diseased, other healthy cells may be able to neutralize it; but, as with the weak/strong muscles, if the disease persists, the strong cells become weakened.

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