Tag: self

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 ❣️

How We Become Whole.

I remember the first time he hit me; it was an unexpected sharp blow from behind. A ‘sucker punch’, as my father would have said. And I was a fool for allowing it in my life.

Like so many others, I mistook his attention. I was terrified by the prospect of an unmitigated emptiness, hoping desperately that his presence might help to relieve. Though as time passed, his actions worsened and I found myself living in a constant state of fear.

As humans, we strive to connect. We desperately need to coexist with another – as if it were a measure of our own self worth. We become so invested in our ‘others’ opinion, that we fail to take stock of our own.

How well have we lived, and how have we loved? More importantly, what treasures have we left behind?

It took many, long years for me to finally understand that this void I had experienced was mine alone to fill.

We can not seek wholeness through the company of others. Rather, we must first be whole in order to share. In leaving him, I was able to return faith to a space where it was sorely needed.

In peace, my sweet friends…

Namaste ❣️

The Limits of Our Labels.

We spend so much time objectifying our existence. “I am” permeates every attribute of our physical, spiritual and emotional being.

We are the number on the scale; the title on our door. We are our house, our car…and the clothes that we wear.

But what of those other subtleties of influence? The rising up after crashing down, the many hearts that we help to heal. And, that time we stopped for a stranger downtown – with so little in our pocket, we still found change for his meal.

And yet, we are bound by this language and the power of our words.

Words, which might just as easily soothe at times find their roots in the shadows of our own vulnerability. Wherein, it becomes the basis for an endless push and pull.

Soon, we forget about these aspects as a whole; instead we become beholden to this arbitrary label. Until we once again realize, that the limit of these labels are the limits of our world.

In peace my sweet friends…have I told you lately how much I cherish your ‘you’?

Namaste ❤

Between Witness and Mind.

It takes time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. The witness, always content to bask within awe – as the mind spins furiously to know reason and cause.

We may stop for a moment to admire the Peony’s emergence from seasoned rest, or the challenge of paled clover through frost covered fields.

Until we are lured by the bolder promises at hand.

We wish to understand awareness, yet submit to the appeal and ponderings of origin. In which case, when shall the mind ever know its rest? To feel a fullness marked only by the Willow’s weeping?

Can we not have one without all the rest? To find grace in the capture of a heron’s swooning.

And, bound by these moments serving to strengthen our pause. That in-between, gasping of breathless wonder.

How can we refute that which the heavens have deemed worthy?

A little something to consider, my loves…

In peace…

Namaste ❤

From Seedling to Oak.

“What a liberation to realize,” writes Eckhart Tolle, “that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am.”

If not the voice, who then my loves? Are we that who stands in humbled appreciation? The observer of all that we ‘are’?

Would then, the voice serve as a manifestation – nothing more and nothing less? A conjuring of self within this illusion of experience?

We stand before the oak, in awe – though, how often do we consider the truth of it’s source? From seedling these mighty limbs are born; just as ‘we’ from these vestiges of mind.

Within her arms, even the hunted find shelter. And the weary traveler, hope within its shadows.

Oh, my darlings – can’t you see? You are the acorn, and you are the tree.

In peace…

Namaste ❤

Where the Heart Becomes Human.

Peace comes when the heart remains open. Like the warmth infused from a patch of morning sun, it washes over – relieving the ‘burdens’ of day. And, asking only that we stay awhile – sitting within the stillness of a far greater freedom.

Though, how might we respond when the heart begins to close? When past hurt reminds us of the vulnerability in being human?

To prevent further suffering, the spirit may recoil. We may choose to disregard the very experiences which may ultimately serve to embolden.

As children, we’re taught the honor of the fearless explorer. However, as we grow older we realize that fear must be met with a far greater courage.

“Are we enough,” thinking mind might inquire, “to engage this world with a fully open heart?”

Though, isn’t strength something we nurture and grow?

“Yes, the world is full of pain, uncertainty, and injustice.” Jack Kornfield reveals. “But in this vulnerable human life, every loss is an opportunity either to shut out the world or to stand up with dignity and let the heart respond.”

In the end, the only question which remains – my darlings, which will you choose?

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

The Lesson of Arrow.

An archer readies his aim to a clay vessel, shooting effortlessly – his confidence of skill, unwavering.

But, when the cask is switched to gold – he suddenly loses assurance; his hands trembling within the light of such a glorious metal.

Nothing changes save for his perception of these external factors, and his belief that he may thrive in spite of their influence.

We want, always, to feel ‘in control’ of our surroundings – to lessen the influence and impact of fear. When the ground is firm, our heart may rest. Though sometimes ‘sure-footed’ can prove a false center of reference. For it only when we lose ourselves that we may finally gain perspective.

It’s not the steadiness of hand which decides our fate. Rather, it’s the arrow’s flight through air which proves our purpose.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

The Beauty in All Things.

“It is love alone that leads to right action,” writes Jiddu Krishnamurti. “What brings order to the world is to love and to let love do what it will.”

Though, we may recognize love as ‘the answer’; the ‘antidote’ to our social ills. How often do we allow it to run its true course, to effect the greater need of day?

Love transpires not without purpose; it bends, it twists, it finds its way. All for the benefit of healing past wounds – to cast light within this frame of being.

To remind us that the divine within is stronger than all else.

We see love and we appreciate its presence, though – do we truly allow its energy to flow? Unimpeded, like water over stone.

“To transform the world,” he writes. “we must begin with ourselves.” To that end, we must strive to remove all barriers to love, in order to see the beauty in all things.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

A Completed Compassion.

“If your compassion doesn’t include yourself, it is incomplete,” shares author, Jack Kornfield.

But, what does that mean?

Isn’t compassion initiated through action to another living soul? If so, then what is our role within it?

Are we the actor, or are we the catalyst? Does the action of doing forge the connection?

Or…

Does the energy require an inward introspection? Must we first connect with the rawness of our own spiritual unrest in order to engage that of another?

Surely, this awareness would help to hasten our bond ~ demonstrating connection through the conduit of open heart.

Though, perhaps its meaning is much simpler still — that a compassion realized is one to be shared.

A little something to consider, my loves…that the truest compassion bears no condition.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

Our One True Self.

I remember watching a television show not too long ago. A young woman, adopted as an infant, was desperately seeking the identity of her birth mother.

“If only I could know who she was,” she said. “Maybe then I could finally feel whole.”

I’ve often pondered this notion of ‘wholeness’. From a Buddhist perspective, we’re taught that wholeness is attained by way of a return to our ‘one true self’. And, forged by way of an unconditional gratitude.

“The earth is neither great nor a grain of sand small,” shares Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki. “In the realm of Great Activity picking up a grain of sand is the same as taking up the whole universe.”

Indeed, to see this world without the identifier of ‘label’, is to finally understand the true depth of our interconnectedness.

In this way, we are not ever alone.

And,

In this way, we are not ever without.