The Speed of Life

Several days ago, I found myself in line at the groccery store.  In front of me were two ladies with maybe 15 items.  

The cashier quickly scanned through their items, sliding them along to a bagger at the end of the counter.  

The bagger was an elderly gentleman, placing each item carefully into a plastic bag.  His pace didn't match the cashier's, and soon, all three women were waiting on the bagger to finish.  The cashier, with a harried sigh, started grabbing items and putting them into bags, pushing them towards the women who were checking out.  Her impatience and that of the women in front of me was tangible.

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Why Meditate

 

It doesn't matter how much we organize, silence, beautify, perfect, control, design, manipulate, or navigate our external world. 

If we ignore our inner world, we will always be lost.

Namaste.

How To Do Nothing

I was sitting outside yesterday, enjoying what is shaping up to be one our last warm days of the season.  Watching the trees shiver from a slight wind then bend wildly from a large gust, allowing a giggle or two to bubble up when a leaf fell on my head, imagining the possibilities of figures emerging from each drifting cloud.

I knew the peace I was feeling was evident on my face, so I took a few photos to be able to reflect on that feeling.  

Not too long after this, my son walked up to me and started, "Mom, since you aren't doing anything...."

Not doing anything?  

I said I was indeed doing something, but that I'd listen to what he needed to ask.

Just a few minutes later, my husband, who had heard what my son had asked, came up and asked, "So what are you doing?"  When I just stared at him, unsure how to answer, he said, "Huh.  Taking pictures of yourself.  Ok."

I just looked back up at the sky.

How many times during a normal day do we look like we are doing something when we are actually doing nothing...

and how many times do we look like we are doing nothing when "something" can't even begin to describe what is going on?

And how many times do we strive to do "something"...when that very striving takes us away from a being that would benefit us far more?

There is so much mystery and possibility in the silence behind the try.

Do not mistake me - I am not advocating we all sit around and watch the clouds float past.  (Though many of us could find our lives drastically improved if we did just that.)  "Being" does not require inactivity.  

I do feel we could all benefit from a broadening of perspective as to what "doing something" means....and from a reflection upon the purpose of the doing.  We can all chatter away in a conversation, but without meaning behind the words, all we are doing is adding noise.

Likewise, we can all work day in and day out, finding ourselves quite productive.  And yet, without meaning behind the work, all we are doing is "something"...and, perhaps quite disturbingly, unintentionally avoiding the beauty that comes from doing "nothing".

Today, I invite us both to focus our attention on the wind.  The clouds.  Our breath.  Go about your emails and reports and meal preparations.  

But do not try to do anything.

Namaste. 

A Quiet Return

As many of you may know, I recently returned from Sedona, AZ from the Total Alignment retreat.

This is my second year of attending this retreat, and this year's effect on my being was no less profound than last year's.  However, the changes are far different than they were in 2011.

Last year, I returned with a sense of delicious overwhelm.  I was excited, passionate, driven.  I'd had many revelations, insights into directions that I wanted to go with LifeUnity and my personal life.  It lead to a year of exciting growth in LifeUnity and several fascinating revelations into my personal life.

This year, I returned from Arizona quietly, slipping back into my schedule with a gentle smile.

I'm still in awe of what can happen over 4 days.  I'm still deeply grateful for Connie, for the space she created, for the 11 other women who provided blessed friendship, support, and inspiration, and for the ripples that continue to spread out from this experience.

But this year, I found what I needed in a much different way.

In looking over my photos, I found one that I took on the last day that says it all.  I took a brief, solitary hike in the early morning.  No makeup.  Regardless, I love this photo.  I see in my eyes the peace I'd found.

It is a very real peace, a sense of being that doesn't depend on location or circumstance.  It is a knowing.

And it is this that has stayed with me.

To try and describe it fully would take pages, days, more words than I need to share.  It will cycle, disappear, and reappear through my life...this, I know.  But once this door to this knowing has been opened, it never completely closes.

I'm journaling, contemplating beautiful realities...some of which I will play a part in creating over the next several months.  I do the laundry, giggle with the kids as they watch a movie, delight in the creations of participants in the Encaustic Experience...

I breathe.

I silently slip back into this blog, a hand extended to you, the smile above on my face.

Join me, won't you?

Namaste. 

How To Deal With A Monday

Img Attribute: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dark_Days_Are_Coming.jpg

If thinking about your day depresses you, then just think about this moment.  Feel the breath as it enters your nostrils, the way the backs of your legs feel against the seat.

If thinking about this moment depresses you, then think about your life.  The grand scope, those who love you, the accomplishments behind, the possibilities ahead.

Change your perspective.

But eventually, you will need to allow yourself to become de-pressed - completely pushed out of everything that you have left.  This will happen to all of us, regardless of choice, as we exhale our final breath.  But those who are fortunate will find this moment before death.

It is in allowing ourselves into this painful darkness, releasing all that we pretend keeps us alive, that we empty ourselves of all being. 

We open ourselves fully to the next experience, the next inhale.

Completely emptied, we are able to be completely filled.

Namaste.