Tag: growth

Which Do You Choose?

Maha Ghosananda asks, “If we cannot be happy in spite of our difficulties, what good is our spiritual practice?”

At face value, it’s a very simple question – yet one in which demands thoughtful introspection. Indeed, what good is happiness if not sustained? Simply put, it is incomplete.

Instead, we must look to this world with a ‘beginner’s mind’s – absent the burden of judgement and fear. In this, we begin to realize the delicacies of this new paradigm – that we must abandon the old, to gain the fullness of new. We can either ‘become lost in a smaller state of consciousness,’ Jack Kornfield writes, or we can look to those struggles as an opportunity to become whole – to lend vital meaning to this journey.

And, in the end, the only question remaining  – my friends, which do you choose?

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣

Between the Two.

I remember once standing at the edge of a massive ravine. At one end, the trees stood flourishing. And, at the other end – a near desolate wasteland. I thought to myself, how could the two so easily co-exist? And, yet – between the stark disparity, there seemed an effortless blending.

“Why must it be one or the other,” I said to myself. “Something is or it isn’t – but, in reality, there’s so much more.

What we see is merely one aspect of a much fuller dimension. From afar, a flat image comes to life – triggering the sense of days gone by. We become caught up in the sentiment – a judgement before the experience begins.

Sri Niargadatta reminds us so poignantly through his writing, “There is only one mistake you are making: you mistake the outer for the inner, and the inner for the outer. What is in you, you take to be outside you and what is outside, you take to be within.”

Our ‘fault’, if you will, is assuming this world to be entirely objective. When in reality, much of what we experience is a matter of projection. What we’ve long viewed as ‘separate’, can it not also be connected in source and cause?

As we navigate this day, I urge all to remain open to each new experience…to appreciated the subtlety between the two.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣

The World That We Know.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wold and precious life?”

These beautiful words from Mary Oliver’s poem, The Summer Day, both remind and inspire me. They remind me that this life is fleeting; that each moment faces an inescapable truth – beyond which only memory remains. A fragile imprint lending form to dust.

Likewise, our ‘destiny’ is just as we have defined; our choices becoming actions, our actions becoming our view. In time, we learn – subtlety never a means to this end.

And, in spite of our defeat, hope sings with glorious measure – encouraging chance over complacency,

And in spite of our defeat, hope sings with glorious measure – begging us to complete our course, and  praying for our endurance. In the end, is it not a matter of choice over complacency? The exquisite risk, the very warmth which lures us home.

“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is,” she writes “I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass…how to be idle and blessed…”

My friends, in this life…we find what we seek, whether by heart or by happenstance.

In peace and with much love…

Namaste ❣️

The Roots of Home.

I’ve always believed that an attitude of contemplation helps us to remain open to the wonders of this world. Likewise, it helps to alleviate that constrictive pull and paradigm of fear.

A seed grows not by metered care, rather by breaking through the static boundaries of its former shell. And, casting aside all worries to wind – allows its roots to venture deeper still.

As it rejoins this Earth, it becomes – a sapling to tree to forest cover. Does the seed know its fate as it begins? No, yet it trusts the journey in spite of the season.

Just as we, too, cultivate a willing heart and a trust that permeates this silent beauty. To feel more at home, we must force our roots; knowing, that even the most desolate of soils shall share its nourishment.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

The Only Book You Need.

 

I watched a young woman sitting alone at the bookstore. On the table before her, at least a dozen books each related to an aspect of enlightenment. At first one, then another, was casually tossed aside as she sifted through the volumes reading only the table of contents.

I was suddenly very moved by the irony. How many times have we anticipated results without first exploring those much deeper questions?

We want to feel better, of course – though, without first understanding the true source of our unrest we’re really only biding time.

What is it that we truly value? And, how do we invest our trust? Life slips by in a flash of fleeting moments. In the end, it is how we’ve lived – not what we’ve read – that will serve to define our joy. A thoughtful delineation between want and need.

That is to say, the book you should be reading is the one found within.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

The Path Which Makes Us Whole.

At some point in our lives we may question our ability to navigate the path ahead. We may feel overwhelmed, perhaps even fearful – that our choices have been in vain.

As the first light of day breaks through our window, do we bask in its warmth or recoil with dread? Each day we presented the challenge of our circumstances, but we are in no way bound by them. In fact, the only true ‘anchor’ is our reaction.

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama emerged from the mountains into Dharmsala, he did so with purity of heart – holding hope in the place of a harrowing tale.

In spite of the violent political uprising and his subsequent escape through the wind-whipped peaks of the 17,000 foot Himalayan pass – he was free.

“I’m just one human being,” he shares. “but I believe each one of us has a responsibility to contribute to a happier humanity.”

As I look out this morning into the surrounding fields, I think not of limits – rather, only expanse. I think of happiness in the aftermath of courage, autumn walks and the crisp chill in the morning breeze. I think of those who’ve shared their lessons to me; boundless in their affect of service.

And, of course, I think of those gathered here, beautiful souls enriched through connection.

Leaving only one question yet remaining: how can we be bound by that which ultimately makes us whole?

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❤️

Given the Choice.

Each day we are gifted a glorious opportunity – to grow, to stretch; to move past the rigidity of our own spiritual bonds, to manifest our light into the soundless night.

And, in doing so perhaps recover what mind has termed as ‘hopeless endeavor’.

As children, our innocence roams freely in the company of trust – our hearts only too eager to invoke the privilege.

Through miles and miles of thickened brush, we found our way; in those days, a path such as this served only to encourage. The world shares its wonders to the unjaded eye.

Yet as we age, this choice transforms. It molds, it shifts – branching off into the many myriads of expectation and belief. We cling, we grip – not to ‘reality’, rather what we intuit.

And, blaming circumstance – we curse our folly; desperate to return to a simpler time.

Though what, if any, has truly changed? Is it this earth, or is it our ‘frame’?

The open window yields only a portion of sun, yet we know its loving rays are shared equally to all.

In peace, my loves…and Happy Father’s Day to all!

Namaste ❤

A Faith Restored.

At various points in our life our faith feels very strong; unshakable against the tide of any emotional ‘draw’.

But then a new experience, and we feel suddenly exposed; our knees buckling before the true weight is ever known.

Perhaps it is the shock of our ‘only known’, displaced; or, the vivid depths of passing memory.

Do not mistake failure with challenge, an invitation known to only the blessed few – begging our willingness…

To bend, to stretch… to begin, anew…

Until it is again soon realized; a faith challenged becomes a faith restored.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤️

The Journey Home.

Knowing our truth and living our truth are two separate things. Though we may understand the distinction, we are hesitant to engage – frightened that this lifting of veil might expose what we’re as of yet unwilling to see.

But that’s the joy of life, now isn’t it? That we may continuously transform our capacity to appreciate the subtleties of our impermanence.

Unsettling? Yes, though imagine our course in turning away. Would we know the measure of our courage, the wisdom gained through benefit of experience?

Even the silence is deliberate; the harmonies of this earth bending to reach…her silent song encouraging our faith.

And, bidding always to remember: just as we are swept away, there is always a journey home.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤

The Gift in this Journey.

I had a teacher once, a Tibetan Buddhist who fled from his homeland hoping to escape the shadows of oppression.

The Chinese had advanced their troops, destroying all testaments of his faith. Those who refused to leave were either imprisoned or killed, considered ‘enemies of the state’ by the new regime.

Under the cover of night, he fled along with others through the unforgiving terrain. Ahead the snowy summits of the Himalayas loomed forebodingly in the distance, as the caravan lurched precariously through the 17,000 foot pass.

And, with each new step he was granted the opportunity to choose – “Do I question my faith or find peace within fear?”

“I was still learning,” he smiled, “though I knew the answer to be significant.” That our freedom is defined by the choices we make.

He could have easily found blame or hate, though instead – he kept his heart open.

“When we hate, we become separate,” he said. “And, when we are separate we can never be whole.”

I’ll never forget the time we spent together, and how each conversation lent its light to an undiscovered facet. In my life now, I try always to share his lessons forward – thankful for each step in his faith-affirming journey.

Wishing peace to all today, my loves…

Namaste ❤