I need to hear from you! What are your greatest obstacles to drinking in the fullness of your day? Is it other people's negativity? A bad life situation? A relationship that drags you down? Traffic jam? Job you hate? What is stopping you from experiencing the fullness and wholeness of the deep, divine YOU, every day.. even every MINUTE of every day?
For me, it's energy. I'm an energy absorber and I am easily sucked into other folks' "stuff"....
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sponge
Please forgive my mini-hiatus... I've been DOING instead of WRITING... absorbing lots of new ideas and materials to bring to you. Have just ordered Simple Abundance to include in my family's spiritual practice, and am listening to lots of spiritual podcasts (remember car as vehicle of instruction? Found a great way to use the time...), so much inspiration out there....
Be back soon!!
Be back soon!!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Birds
What are they doing up there? There are two birds circling one another, perfectly in slow, graceful time to this song "Gravity" I am listening to right now. They brushed one another midair after a long, luxurious, unhurried series of concentric circles, then they equally slowly went their separate ways. Did they exchange phone numbers? Was one asking for directions? Were they sniffing each other out as potential mates? How would life be if we did everything at an equally unhurried pace? As breathtaking as the dance I just witnessed?
I just took a huge step in my post-baby (and post-hamstring tear) life, and put the dance pole up in my house. My kind husband took the baby out for a couple hours. I cranked up the tunes I've been collecting for the last couple weeks as my inner woman started to poke at me from the inside out. First of all, when was the last time you cranked a favorite song - in the car, in your house (please not in your iPod - hearing damage, people!) In a funk? Immediate song marrow, right there.
My dance experience taught me to move on the "wave" of the music - not the beat, but the slow pace underneath the beat. The almost half-time beat, but a little behind. Quite a little drunk looking, actually. I settled down into the floor, bringing my breath into that drunken half-beat wave. Music and movement - to me, those two things are like sipping the meaning of life right from the holy grail. The return to movement caused a bubble of pure glee and laughter to crash out of me.
Imagine my delight to find two birds dancing at the same pace as me! All this meaning stuff - apparently it IS for the birds.
I just took a huge step in my post-baby (and post-hamstring tear) life, and put the dance pole up in my house. My kind husband took the baby out for a couple hours. I cranked up the tunes I've been collecting for the last couple weeks as my inner woman started to poke at me from the inside out. First of all, when was the last time you cranked a favorite song - in the car, in your house (please not in your iPod - hearing damage, people!) In a funk? Immediate song marrow, right there.
My dance experience taught me to move on the "wave" of the music - not the beat, but the slow pace underneath the beat. The almost half-time beat, but a little behind. Quite a little drunk looking, actually. I settled down into the floor, bringing my breath into that drunken half-beat wave. Music and movement - to me, those two things are like sipping the meaning of life right from the holy grail. The return to movement caused a bubble of pure glee and laughter to crash out of me.
Imagine my delight to find two birds dancing at the same pace as me! All this meaning stuff - apparently it IS for the birds.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Zen Driving
I drive a lot. At least 3 hours a day, usually more than that. You might remember from the Consciousness Challenge that it made to my List of Tedious Things to which I'd like to bring mindfulness. I've developed one small practice that lifts me up while I'm driving, even on the Garden State Parkway (which in the summer, earns its name while we all sit on the hot asphalt wishing to be home, at the beach, or anywhere but here - the opposite on Being Here Now). Sometimes instead of being caught up in either a) charging the 100 devices that allow me to do my job on the road or b) staring mindlessly at the bumper in front of me and zoning out or c) listening to the radio on scan, hearing a snippet of a new tune every 7 seconds....
I look up. I look at my whole windshield. I have great visibility in my beloved purple Mazda3 hatch. No matter the weather, there is always a sky-scape to lift my spirits - either grey, or blue, or cloudy, or stormy, or bleak, but always big. Suddenly all the cars are just a small, unified group moving in harmony under the magnificence of the atmosphere. The same exhilaration you get when you look up in a city and marvel at the skyscrapers, or when an airplane lifts off and everything beneath you is suddenly a grain of sand.
I came across a book I bought in high school when I got my driver's license. It's called Zen Driving, by K.T. Berger. You can bet that happy accident is a whisper from the universe - I haven't seen this book in 15 years, and suddenly it's everywhere - displayed on the front table at Barnes and Nobles (I ignored it), popping up in my recommendations at amazon.com.. and out of no where, on my nightstand. (The universe doesn't like to be ignored, I guess).
I'd like to share a passage that I think speaks to whichever "vehicle" you're in - the car, the subway, the job, the home. "Sit behind the wheel, relax, take a few deep breaths, and realize that all further progress is now in your hands: the vehicle of instruction is the vehicle you're sitting in". Office chair? Yoga mat? Dance pole? What's your vehicle of instruction today?
Mine will be the car (again)... I'll spend a total of 3 hours on the road if today goes well. I've downloaded some new tunes from the fabulous Aerial Amy blog (all things pole dancing, one of my other vehicles of instruction) to inspire me, and additionally I'm going to use some of that time to let my vehicle literally be an instrument of teaching me to develop mindfulness in one of the most tedious tasks in my day.
What's your vehicle of instruction, something that is ordinary or extraordinary, but is a teacher to you?
I look up. I look at my whole windshield. I have great visibility in my beloved purple Mazda3 hatch. No matter the weather, there is always a sky-scape to lift my spirits - either grey, or blue, or cloudy, or stormy, or bleak, but always big. Suddenly all the cars are just a small, unified group moving in harmony under the magnificence of the atmosphere. The same exhilaration you get when you look up in a city and marvel at the skyscrapers, or when an airplane lifts off and everything beneath you is suddenly a grain of sand.
I came across a book I bought in high school when I got my driver's license. It's called Zen Driving, by K.T. Berger. You can bet that happy accident is a whisper from the universe - I haven't seen this book in 15 years, and suddenly it's everywhere - displayed on the front table at Barnes and Nobles (I ignored it), popping up in my recommendations at amazon.com.. and out of no where, on my nightstand. (The universe doesn't like to be ignored, I guess).
I'd like to share a passage that I think speaks to whichever "vehicle" you're in - the car, the subway, the job, the home. "Sit behind the wheel, relax, take a few deep breaths, and realize that all further progress is now in your hands: the vehicle of instruction is the vehicle you're sitting in". Office chair? Yoga mat? Dance pole? What's your vehicle of instruction today?
Mine will be the car (again)... I'll spend a total of 3 hours on the road if today goes well. I've downloaded some new tunes from the fabulous Aerial Amy blog (all things pole dancing, one of my other vehicles of instruction) to inspire me, and additionally I'm going to use some of that time to let my vehicle literally be an instrument of teaching me to develop mindfulness in one of the most tedious tasks in my day.
What's your vehicle of instruction, something that is ordinary or extraordinary, but is a teacher to you?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Challenge: Holding Space
Here is a beautiful summary of a skill that would make the world a better place! Click here for a relaxing read:
How can you be the holding space for yourself this week? For one other person?
For myself, I can try to stop the thoughts about my inadequacy, about being unable to give 100% to work, daughter, husband, mom and dad, and sister and friends, 100% of the time. Instead, I can let those thoughts reside in a space of non-judgement.
For one other person, I can be the holding space for my sister. She is an amazing young woman with lots of ideas and lots going on as a recent college grad, and sometimes I still give unsolicited advice or chime in with my "elder's experience". Who needs that? (Hi, Aunt Doo Doo).
How about you?
How can you be the holding space for yourself this week? For one other person?
For myself, I can try to stop the thoughts about my inadequacy, about being unable to give 100% to work, daughter, husband, mom and dad, and sister and friends, 100% of the time. Instead, I can let those thoughts reside in a space of non-judgement.
For one other person, I can be the holding space for my sister. She is an amazing young woman with lots of ideas and lots going on as a recent college grad, and sometimes I still give unsolicited advice or chime in with my "elder's experience". Who needs that? (Hi, Aunt Doo Doo).
How about you?
Check In
Blog abandonment! Blog abandonment!
My husband and toddler and I spent last week in Colorado - Denver, Boulder, and Brekenridge (then Denver again). What a magnificent state! It's hard to imagine living nestled daily in the presence of those mountains. They're so large you almost feel that if you peeked around back, they'd be held up by wooden kickstands, a la Hollywood set.
I wonder how often folks look up with the sense of awe and wonder you feel when you contemplate the stars or moon?
My husband and toddler and I spent last week in Colorado - Denver, Boulder, and Brekenridge (then Denver again). What a magnificent state! It's hard to imagine living nestled daily in the presence of those mountains. They're so large you almost feel that if you peeked around back, they'd be held up by wooden kickstands, a la Hollywood set.
I wonder how often folks look up with the sense of awe and wonder you feel when you contemplate the stars or moon?
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