The wisdom of senses

I was lucky enough to be taking a walk in the seasonably warm weather the other day, and I was able to snap a picture of these folks on horseback. Horses, at least from a distance, seem very graceful. I think most animals have some form of innate style and grace from humans to cats.
Animals are wonderful at sensing things. They can sense when storms are arriving, our pets can sense when we are sick, and they can sense anything that is differnt or out of the ordinary in the house.
I have two cats, and they are very wise. Unfortunately they are not able to tell me when they are not feeling well. One of my cats had some stomach problems, and she had not been to the vet for a very long time. I scheduled an appointment, came home from work, and I got out the pet carrier.
She, Banjo, immediately sensed that something was out of place. She would not come near me. When she was a baby, she had to ride in this pet carrier to get fixed. It is a large carrier.
As I was loading Banjo into the carrier, I noticed, my voice was very strained. I was very upset because I was not certain was wrong with her. She is a cat who has been through a lot with me, and my senses were on overload. As I drove to the vet, I began breathing deeper. I realized that my anxiety was causing my cat to get more anxious.
I turned on some music on the radion. I talked to her like I just like when we are home. I told myself that everything was going to be fine.
Although this a generalization, I think that what I have learned is that my anxiety does affect those around me. I saw that very clearly through my pet. People pick up on things just as easily as animals. There have been books written on memes and the way we can be controled by the thoughts that are put out there by others.
I am going to make a more conscious effort to send good thoughts out to the Universe. We are all divine. We are all trying our best to make it in this world, and we need the best thoughts that we can give each other. Although we may not walk away from this world, we can enter the next one in bliss and peace. We can know that we we the best version of ourselves. Only we ourselves can measure that. We can walk that path with our eyes closed or our eyes opened. I truly believe we want to be peacful people.

Bits, pieces, and updates

Updates

This is an update by the wonderful author Marion Moss Hubbard. She has a excellent website about the heroic journey, and in her latest book which just came out. . . she has graciously written a dedication to me. Professor Hubbard was kind enough to communicate with me over the years about her first book called "Removing Your Mask". I remember emailing her some questions, and she actually took the time to respond. I have been reading her new book "The Heroic Path To Self-Forgiveness" and it has an amazing amount of wisdom in it.

I am by no means an expert at wisdom or my own inner processes. Professor Hubbard teaches us to learn to love ourselves more, so we can be more loving to others. One quotation of hers from this book that I would like to share that is really beautiful is this one: "Illumination can give us the wisdom to see the shadow self's gifts buried under our fears." (p119) She even has a way of turning our dark (shadow side) into something to be treasured and learned from.

Bits and pieces

Here are some favorite quotes that I stumbled upon this week.

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." --Mohandas Gandhi

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves." --Carl Jung

"There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings for us to learn." --Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

If I had heroes, these three would come close to it. These three people all changed the course of history. Gandhi with the principles of nonviolence, Jung in looking at the psychology and dreams, and Kubler-Ross in helping people die with dignity and grace.

I believe we all have certain aspects (or bits and pieces) of each of these three people inside of us. It is our choice in life what kind of legacy we will leave for future generations. If just for today, let us slow down, become more understanding, and bless each other!!!

Peace

Releasing

I love this image of the stream and the Weeping Willow Tree as it turns green. Weeping Willow's are my favorite trees, because they look so relaxed, and they do not take a lot of tending.

Releasing is a challenge for many people because it goes against out natural instinct. We have been taught that you must fight and scrape to get ahead in life.

Often, we cannot even release ourselves from mistakes and wrongdoing. Then that often makes us more critical and judgemental of others.

I sometimes think that many different institutions perpetuate this thought process. Religion is great at making us feel guilty for our wrongs, but often that guilt only drives us further away from the church and from the divine. I don't believe that was God or Buddha's or whoever you believe in as your Savior's intention to drive people further away. The whole purpose of the divine, at least from my understanding, was to draw people in.

So even if the church we attend does not recognize that releasing guilt is healthy and necessary, we can still attend church in a way that meets our own needs. We do not have to stop attending church. We don't not have to torture ourselves for something we perhaps did as a child.

We did the best we could with the tools that we had. I beleive that this, despite what the news would have us believe, is a loving Universe with endless love and resources for everyone.

It is time we release each other and ourselves of any anger or guilt and allow ourselves to begin to heal. We can become like the willow tree. We will take little pruning, and we will be centered and have an endless supply of water, sun, and resources.

Peace

Wisdom is Embracing All that you are!

A very close friend of mine recommended that I go back and reread my old journal entries from time to time. I was thinking about a title for today's entry with this beautiful spring photograph that I snapped, and I read a quote that I had written down in an old journal.
"Embrace all that you are. Embrace your fears. Embrace your joys. Embrace your challenges."
I did not make a note of where I took the note from, but it is great wisdom. As I was looking out at the water, I was thinking that there was beauty everywhere around me. How could I walk past such landscape without noticing the ravishing nature that surrounded me. Even worse, I failed to see my own good. I could only see the things I could have done better in the week. Yes, I am a perfectionist, and maybe we all have a little bit of the perfectionist in us.
But we have much more that we need to begin embracing and honoring. Do the geese look like they beat themselves up for not swiming perfect strokes? Does the child seem unhappy throwing pieces of bread to the birds? Is the water unhappy because it is not pristine?
We need to embrace our inner child and all parts of ourselves and learn to let ourselves go. We have walked around like corpses for so long that we think that is how life is. We must learn to honor our animal instinct, and our inner child in order to become more authentic adults.
We can play it safe by staying on the shore and not getting our feet wet, but it is a lot more fun and thrilling diving head first. We may fall and get a mouth full of water, but we can pick ourselves up and go again. The next time won't be nearly as bad--maybe. But we could discover a whole new world.
Embrace all that you are. You are worth it!
Peace

The road less taken

It seems easy to follow the signs because they can often keep us out of trouble. However, sometimes we have to find out for ourselves through trial and error that maybe danger lies just ahead, but maybe there is a beautiful waterfall that is just around the bend.

Sometimes we have to take the risk. Often times we are going to hear others tell us not to venture to far from the fray, perhaps because they themselves are afraid. Or maybe because they are afraid they will lose us if we wonder to far and if we become too curious.

Life is about pushing through our limitations and seeing what the world has to offer. Perhaps it is a matter of facing our fears and pushing through our percieved limitations whatever they are. Maybe we see ourself as unintelligent, old, or uncreative, we can push past these ideas and change right now. If we see ourselves as uncreative, we can take an art class or a dance class. I once read that even the most awkward movement has some grace and beauty. We need to stop worrying about how others percieve us, and go about our own journey. Life is too short not to discover who we really are and what we really are.

It is time for us to put on our authentic faces whatever that might be. And remember, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Peace!

Cultivating new growth

I love to see the grass turning green and hear the birds singing. Each turn of the season also reminds me of change. For many change is not easy, myself included.

Sometimes we like to hold onto old ways of being even if they do not suit us. We may not want to give up relationships, connections with friends, or maybe even jobs. Holding onto something that does not serve us well can be comforting.

I know that I have fallen back into the same patterns of letting people hurt me because I was afraid of risking leaving an old relationship or situation.

We may feel that we do not have enough wisdom or courage to handle what comes up. I don't have all of the answers or maybe any of the right answers if there are any "right" answers. I do know that from my own experience that whether we take a chance or not we are going to make mistakes. I know that when we make mistakes we gain a great deal of wisdom. Sometimes when we say goodbye to a relationship, job, or family member it opens up room for new relationships and new growth in our lives.

Some of our weeds turn in to beautiful green rich grass nurtured by a stream that never goes dry. It is new growth that we created by letting go of what was no longer serving us. It is not saying that we do not love this person or job or idea. It is that we have grown in a new direction, and we need to nurture our garden to make sure that does not get overgrown with weeds. That is our job. We cannot do it for anyone but ourselves. It is about loving ourselves enough to say I must sprout my buds.

Peace!

Building a Sanctuary of Inner Peace

Today I was walking in the park on a beautiful early spring day, and I was thinking a thousand thoughts and not very present with myself.

I saw this stone and some people would not call it a work of beauty or art, but to me I began to settle down into myself as I stared at this magnificent gift from the Universe.

It has all kinds of colors and textures and shapes. There are gouges and other stones around it that help tell it's story. Perhaps it has been setting here for hundreds of years and remains undisturbed by anything that goes on around it.

Even with fungus and moss growing on it, it holds it's seat without anger or anxiety. I think that this rock has a lot of wisdom to teach us. If we can stay learn to stay in our center, we will bring more peace not only to our inner world, but also to our outter world. People will notice the change in how calm we are. We will build new relationships and keep old ones more easily.

Finding our center or our calmness can be built stronger through meditation. Meditation can be anything you want it to be. Meditation is simply a practice. Something you do everyday at the same time that brings peace to your heart.

We need to remember that we are all divine beings. We must nurture our own divinity. In essence, that may mean building a sanctuary for our own inner peace. No one else is going to do this for us. It is our own practice, but it is a practice that will pay off and that is worth it. Even doing deep breathing a few minutes a day can be a practice.

Let's experiment and be curious about how we want our sanctuary of inner peace to look.

Many Blessings today!