Tag: self awareness

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 ❣️

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 ❣️

A Heart Opened to Grace.

An old friend came to visit me once many years ago. He’d always been such a pillar of strength – centered, calm and seemingly self-assured. But on this day, his eyes – once warm – appeared vacant, at best.

“She left with the kids,” he said. “I came home from work and everything was gone.”

It was as if the life he had always known – the comfort and pace of his daily routine – had been suddenly displaced. And, now he felt lost.

The routine of our lives is a comfortable friend; we sleep, we wake – we greet each day never without the peace of its endurance.

And when that routine is broken, we feel the overwhelming vastness of its void. We fear our capacity to venture through ‘alone’. In time, we may question our very purpose and reason.

But he is never alone who opens his heart to grace; for that which seems lost is a new hope venturing inward.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

We Are Never “Not Enough”.

“I was a fool for thinking anyone could love me.”

I remember first waking to this thought; it wrapped itself through the shadows, clinging to a doubt I hadn’t yet known.

Through each iteration, my blood turned cold. “I’m not good enough to receive the love of this world.”

Sometimes, in this process self-discovery we pause – unwilling to press further. We see ourselves through the lens of limitation, the first of many layered uncoverings.

And never content, we strive to move forward. Though sadly, fear keeps us stationed here. What is it that we hope to find? Belief, hope, faith…resilience?

And what shall we do when it takes our hand? Do we rise, or do we fail? In the end, we are the summary of our inclusions – destined to reconcile, to make amends with this tone and tempo of illusion.

I could have just as easily said, “Love doesn’t exclude, rather – it surrounds.” Yet, the lesser value was the one returned.

Was it Doubt speaking then, or was it I?

If there’s a story to tell, why not one that begins – “She brought the world joy, and that in and of itself was …enough…”

Mind your stories, loves…

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

An Unimpeded Light.

“I wish I could show you,” writes Hafiz “the astonishing light of your own being.” These delicate frailties of all that we are, amplified against the drape of endless sky.

That you alone might find the ambience of love in a house ripe with loneliness and fear; knowing always that the soul shall rise unimpeded by this prospect of uncertainty.

And, you shall find your way again, as twilight yields to the grace of new day.

“What has risen from the tangled web of thought and sinew,” he shares. “Now shines with jubilation through the eyes of angels.”

Serving always to remind us, darlings – that we alone, create the barriers. And we, alone, mind the gates.

You see, beneath these labels of constricted identify we find the source of a boundless wisdom – permeating the depths of any darkness, this ever-evolving potential of all that we might be.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤️

Through the Prism of Broken Glass.

Did you know, my darlings? That you are loving awareness?

You are that spark of light persevering through all challenge; the epitome of that which survives.

Go into yourself, my loves. Embrace the fluidity of unresolved, as a conduit to newfound awareness.

Don’t waste your life brooding fractured shards, for even in their briskness the prismed light shall dance.

In peace, and with all my love…

Namaste ❤️

The Art of Giving Freely.

“We are all one.”

These are the words often shared through many countless teaching. They are the embodiment of authenticity and grace, demonstrating the interrelationship between all living beings.

Likewise, they mark the ‘boundaries’ of our own spiritual freedom. Meaning, only to the extent that we may love ourselves – to willingly accept all which comprises our being – may we truly love another.

But, there’s a fear often associated with this blind unconditionality. As humans, we’re hesitant to face that which we presume to be judged. From outermost shell to the heart of our inner presence, we modify, adapt and change that which we assume can not be loved.

Though, how can we possibly emit the radiance of mutuality, when we’re unwilling to commit that same light to self?

And, how may we enter this space of shared understanding, when we’re unwilling to share the true boundlessness of our being?

A little something to consider, my friends – what we share to this world is ultimately returned.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

This Blending of Being.

I watched a group of cyclists moving through traffic this morning. With patterned grace, they rode swiftly through – impervious to the murmurings of day.

How readily they integrated; becoming ‘one with’ the amplifications of a city waking – and the rising crescendo of car horn blasts.

Amidst the cacophony, there was a strange sense of order; a sense of belonging to a much greater order. The presence of which lent a sense of calmness and security; knowing at heart we are destined to be ‘as one’ amongst the many.

As once shared by physicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, “We are the universe, and the universe is in us.”
Microcosms of other worldly particles and dust, manifesting to create these crossroads of space and time.

With mindful reverence we begin to ‘see’ – the delicate unfolding of “me” unto “we”.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤️

This Boundlessness Within.

Did you know, my loves?

All of life is merely illusion; mired in the roots of past experience, and based on our capacity to understand.

These passing ‘imperfections’ are the glory, can’t you see? The majesty of burnished cloud, the curiosity of speckled egg.

All embraced within a single self-knowing; arising through these boundaries of possibility.

We are here to stand ‘as witness’, my loves — to the boundlessness of spirit within.

A little something to remember, wouldn’t you agree?

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

This Moment of Reflection.

I watched a little one playing ball today; his cheeks were flushed a fiery red and his hair, wild with adventure.

He was captivated simply by the thrill of living; his beads of sweat serving a measure of joy.

Absent to him were the troubles of world; of waging wars over differences of opinion.

In fact…

I’d venture a bet he was thinking merely of reward – a splash of cool water ‘straight from the hose.’

Nature shares its tidings through the grace of her simplicity; her light shining through us, as sunshine amidst the trees.

“This grand show is eternal,” shared adventurist John Muir. “It is always sunrise somewhere…each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

My darlings, on this day I wish you peace within each and every step, and the wisdom to reflect on the blessings of this world.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️