Tag: awareness

The Lesson of Epiphany.

This morning’s reading included a passage on epiphany – a sudden lifting of self-complexity yielding a brand new awakening.

For some, a single, substinative event – a birth or death resonating so deeply that it forever changes the aperture of our awareness. Our world, once muted, now flourishing with new light and color.

While others experience a far more a gentle shifting – like a flame dancing at the end of a wick, leading to ‘flashes of bliss and clarity’.

“Sooner or later it’s going to happen,” author Andrew Holecek shares. “It might be the very first time you meditate or only after years of dedicated practice, but someday you’re going to have a spiritual experience.”

Indeed, the epiphany – it seems – is inescapable; an unavoidable progression of path. Something intended to break us open, while simultaneously making us whole. The lesson, of course, is to always remember – everything we experience is both a beginning and ending. Infintity reflected in an aspect of one.

Whether we are moved to tears or overwhelmed by an unimpeded sense of wonderment and gratitude – someday, we will be forced to explore the upending of our own personal glory.

In peace, my boundless friends…

Namaste ❣

Engaging Our Inward Counsel.

Someone once shared with me that the purpose of this life is too encourage our gratitude. And, to that end, remove whatever it is that keeps is from being whole.

I was just 25 at the time, newly married and intent on creating the ‘perfect home.’ I took great care to ensure the simple things – a well-appointed home, notes in his lunch, and always a hug upon his return.

And, when the children were born I embraced my new role with great care and dedication, placing each need ‘rightfully’ before my own.

But, as the years passed my marriage fell apart. I felt empty on most days and lonely on the better ones. In all my attempts to create a warm and loving environment, I had failed to take the necessary steps for me – to feel whole, to feel complete, to feel of value.

I began to long for the freedom of my former self. I wanted peace and simplicity…a renewal of purpose. Though ironically what I wanted was already there – yet sadly obscured.

It was me; my choices, my faith and my willingness to be made whole.

“You can’t give from an empty well,” my mother would say. Whereas, certainly this is true – there is another aspect often disregarded. That is the allowance of self while in service to others.

“Be, don’t try to become,” Osho reminds. “You are already a masterpiece.” It is the ‘softer acceptance’, so to speak; our capacity to understand that our life is never without meaning.

That we are that meaning.

And what we seek is not to be discovered, rather realized. Waiting for our inward counsel.

A little something to consider, my friends.

In peace…

Namaste ❣️

Our Secret Teacher.

There’s a train that passes our house every morning at just about half past six. Though the sound of its passing is certainly jarring, at times causing the house to rattle and shake – still, there is a sense of calm that arises knowing the world is open to our exploration.

“When you open yourself, you get it all.” author Jack Kornfield writes. “That is part of what it means to be a loving human being. To grow your capacity to be present for this incarnation and its mystery in an openhearted way.”

Even the roar of the train, as startling as it may initially seem, serves as an invitation – an invitation to engage our sense of wonderment.

As we quiet the mind and open the heart, we are able to experience the depth and fullness of this life; the beauty, the bliss, the horror, the pain. Though, if we allow our gratitude to slip – the heart becomes measured in its ability to receive.

Some mistakingly refer to this as becoming ‘numb’ – though the heart that beats, shall always feel. Instead, isn’t it a matter of being perpetually overwhelmed? In taking it all in, we turn nothing away.   As we slowly uncover these circumstances of life – poverty, war, and even greater humanitarian issues – we begin to fear the habit of our own complacency.

As a result, our perspective begins to shift – until the sound of a train carries us home again.

Invisible threads, or so they are called – a reminder that our will shall never subside. A ‘secret teacher hiding in plain site.’

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

This Balance of Courage.

The ritual of our mindfulness practice teaches us patience. Though, even more so, it demonstrate the need for a ‘balanced hand’ – fairness within a building turmoil, equanimity where injustice refuses to bend.

As practitioners, we are encouraged to cultivate peace within our hearts; to lend softness against formerly immutable edges. Though, how do we accomplish when our path is uncertain? How do we offer light as our own diminishes?

Do we abandon the entirety of our principles for the one that feels threatened? Can you imagine our world had ideology conceded to gentle wavering?

There’d be no Rosa Parks, nor Mahatma Ghandi – the legacy of their journey forever lost, rescinded under the weight of a looming doubt. How might we be enriched were it not for their struggle?

If anything, our insights and our actions must go together. We must strive to create our bonds through shared understanding. And knowing, in the end, that “we are all just walking each other home.”

A lasting peace can not be realized through the absence of pain. Rather, it must be forged by way of opportunity and courage.

In peace…

Namaste ❣️

What Do You See?

To widen the heart; to expand this state of nothingness into nobility – of thought, of action, of marked deed.

This…this is the key; the catalyst to our own progression. And surrending all Illusions of control, we are liberated. Such is the affect of this invitation.

“Let go of the battle,” author, Jack Kornfield urges. “Breathe quietly and let is be” opening to these aspects of experience: softening, building, yielding, growing. Knowing, the basis of any hardship is, at best, temporary.

It is the harmony and freedom we’ve searched for all these years, now humbled before this transcendence of spirit.

What binds us is not found in physical form. Rather, manifested only through what we choose to give it.

A little something to consider, my friends…

In peace…

Namaste ❣️

A Perfect Balance.

We have forgotten the legacy of our own humanity; a fundamental courage deeply rooted in the passage of trials before us.

And never, at first, quite as it seems – an obstacle with the intention to dissuade our course. Have we become so unwilling to accept the benefit of its service?

These stars above, and this universe as we know it – would not have been possible without the contrast of fire and ice; explosions amplified by the darkness of a greater unknown.

Beneath this armoring, our protective layer – the madness of chaos shifts and chases. And what we fear most? A perfect balance.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❤️

The Mirror of Our Surroundings.

There’s so much going on in this world today, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Each day, we witness the calamities of this earth – both natural and by human hand. War, poverty…political dissent. Even our oceans, representing the very life force of this planet, are now riddled with waste. Contaminated beyond recognition.

And, our response given the criticality of these events? To build walls, reinforce our borders and fine those responsible.

But, do these actions speak to the source of our troubles? And, more importantly – do they help to offset the severity of our ‘crime’?

Sadly, this analogy extends to the circumstances of our life; the actions we take serving to cover the deeper work yet to be done.

Our initial reaction is to blame; to determine a fault outside of our own. We may deflect, defer – or cower when pressed. But in the end, it is only through our actions that we may ultimately begin to heal and grow.

The earth is just one of our many mirrors – the patterns of mind offering their influence.

What we see, in many cases, is what we project. And, the ancillary to that which we believe to be image. “How could *they* let this happen?” we might ask, as responsibility hangs delicately in balance.

Perhaps, it’s just too big to touch what lies beneath?

There is a saying: we are triggered by that ‘work yet to be done’. That single realization helps to forge new pathways of understanding; shifting the vast burden and anomalies of this earth, safely between these two hands. The same hands which steadfastly cling are also the ones which ultimately let go.

Think about that today, my friends – as you see, touch, breathe in and engage the true source of this human experience.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

The Path to Twitter Peace.

This morning as I was driving to work a young woman swerved recklessly into my lane. My first response was a knee-jerk reaction, to move quickly out of the way. Followed, in turn, by anger. Did she not see me? What was she thinking? Couldn’t she have been more careful?

I didn’t know this woman, nor could I have possibly understood her circumstances. Maybe, she was ill? Or, perhaps there was a fault with the car? So many factors to consider, though – nonetheless, in that split second she became a threat.

As she drove away (and all were confirmed safe), that should have been the end of it. Yet, there was a certain sense still lingering – the sting of reaction in response to our fear.

Though the two often appear inseparable, there is a profound delineation. Reaction, empowering our view of ‘self’ and response, measuring our love of all else.

We are defined not by our moments, but rather our response to them. The late for work panicked rush, the spilled coffee and inconsiderate drivers.

As the Buddha taught, we should strive to be liberated from – not bound to – our anger. “In this world, hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed.”

And yet, as I sift through the headlines and Twitter feeds this morning I am struck by our recklessness towards it. We have established this global platform to raise awareness, though sadly – it’s being utilized to wage war.

Just as the young woman swerving into traffic, our first instinct is to react – to blast the horn, to scream and shout. But, what does that gain in the end? Equanimity, tolerance and engaged compassion? Or, the substance for further divide?

Jack Kornfield writes,

“In our hardships, we discover the courage not to succumb, not to retreat, not to strike out in fear and anger. And by resting in a non-contentious heart we become a lamp, a medicine, a strong presence; we become the healing the world so dearly needs.”

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❤️

These Tracings of Change.

There’s a pause that exists between emotion and thought. Empty, though it may seem, it is our breath, our focus, our consciousness and being. Without which, we might surely be lost – our efforts relegated to ‘missed opportunity’.

To allow this space is to become the observer. That which initially threatened to entrap, instead transforms and we are finally able to appreciate its courage.

Absent this pause, we can not disentangle from these entrapments of mind. Not, can we engage the freedom that is our birthright. While all around us, the world continues to change – the clock ticks, the seasons unfold…though sadly, our habit remains the same.

Grasp, cling, grasp, cling…is this the nature of our mind?

Longchenpa teaches that there is no movement in the essence of pure mind – that this stillness, itself, is the body of the Buddha. Though, how do we engage and what do we release?

By asking ourselves first, “What moves? And, what is still?”

The answer, in time, becoming a guidepost in this journey – drawing thoughts back to center and heart, to home.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❤️

Along the Same Dusted Trail.

So often we find ourselves along the same dusted trail, insistent that the path has somehow changed. And yet, the nettles still deliver their merciless sting – and the blazing heat, an inextinguishable thirst.

Nonetheless, we are encouraged by its vague familiarity. Even when born of our past fear or pain, at times it seems we prefer the ‘comforts of home’ – however broken – to the unsettledness of a newer terrain.

In doing so, are we not bound by the limitations of our habit and circumstance?

Kabir reminds us of the sprout within the seed; that each of us is in our own way, struggling. Yet still, the seedling triumphs – flourishing in spite of these ‘intolerable’ conditions.

And, when the heat threatens to burn – it blooms. It hasn’t yet learned these caveats of sun.

Maybe, the path *is* the same – though, through it, we are forever changed – perhaps, even enriched? And these tests of habit which once constrained, become our future encouragement.

A little something to consider, my friends.

In peace…

Namaste ❤