You do not have to be an expert in the stars to recognize that a lot of heavy emotions are being triggered right now. If you are curious, however, you might appreciate at least some awareness of what the planets are doing.
Want to know how close Mars really is? This photo was taken by my friend, Rich, in Colorado.
Been experiencing mini (many) temper tantrums and meltdowns? Narayana Montúfar, senior astrologer for SunSigns.com says, “The truth is that it will take tons of self-care and anger management to deal with the impulsivity and fire coming from this retrograde. It’s also helpful to know that when facing obstacles, the more we push, the harder things will become.”
This all brings to mind The Story of Two Wolves. The teaching story (Cherokee?) is about a grandfather who tells his grandson there is a fight between two wolves going on inside him. “One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
Grandfather continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
With wide-eyed wonder the boy pleads to know, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”
“The one you feed,” replied Grandfather.
As I was preparing for meditation this morning, I listened to “Wrestling and Dreaming: Engaging Discussions on Judaism | Episode 16: A Good Name.” Rabbi Dobrusin reflects on the coming election from the perspective of a traditional Jewish text.
It is possible to use many sacred texts to say different things or come to different conclusions, says Rabbi Dibrusin. However, this is not the case with sacred texts related to character. The Jewish text refers to “the crown of a good name” as the most valuable of all achievements one can possess. Your crown of a good name is “earned through your actions — the way you conduct yourself in the world, the way you speak about others, the way you respect others.”
We don’t know what life will bring,
so it is what we bring to life that matters.
~ Patricia Campbell Carlson
(Gratefulness.org)
We live in a time when science is validating
what humans have known throughout the ages:
that compassion is not a luxury;
it is a necessity for our well-being,
resilience,
and survival.
~ Roshi Joan Halifax
This morning I saw a headline “How Next Door Neighbors With Different Political Views Have Stayed Friends.” The photo shows a driveway with a Biden sign on one side and a Trump sign on the other. By each of the political signs was a sign of compassion.
Handmade yard signs with arrows, reading ‘We (Heart) Them,’ stand alongside opposing political signs in the Mitchell and Gates front yards in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
Last evening my dharma buddy said John and I are the macrocosm and microcosm. Macrocosm and microcosm refers to a realization that a part reflects the whole and vice versa. Think about a wave in the ocean.
The Mitchell and Gates households are also the macrocosm and microcosm.
I received an email of cartoons about President Trump this morning. A wave of nausea arose as I saw the depth of unkindness of the content. In Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott writes, “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”
You may have heard that same sentiment expressed about anger: anger is like eating the poison and expecting the rat to die.
We can add: lack of compassion is like eating rat poison and expecting the rat to die.
If you wonder how you can allow compassion to arise, especially in those times and circumstances where it is clear we do not see things the same way, search Quotes Disagreement. Here are a few helpful hints:
Bertrand Russell:
“Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.”
Friedrich Nietzsche:
“He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of dispute.”
Criss Jami:
“Together, we form a necessary paradox; not a senseless contradiction.”
Jonathan Swift:
“That was excellently observed’, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.”
These are not new concepts. However, all that is happening in the collective calls forth a need to live these values humanity holds in common, even when we have very different opinions: Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-3 (KJV)
I just posted a link to a very timely article titled, “No Time For Self-Care? Try These Snack-Size Habits,” on the Imagine Healing Facebook page. For those who do not have access to Facebook, trust me (or follow the link to scan the list of great suggestions for yourself) this is doable. Take a nap. Breathe slowly. Watch a favorite movie. Take a bath. Write in a journal. Exercise. Sing.
Self-care — like compassion, is not a luxury….
And a lovely reminder at the close of the article: You don’t have to do everything, but doing something small each day can and will have a cumulative effect on your capacity to deal with “the new normal,” “tremendous uncertainty,” and “unprecedented times.”
Deep Spring Center
Thought for Today
We do not state with an initial ego intention, ‘I’m going to save the world,’ but rather we start with the loving intention to see how we can dance with others and with the Earth and with spirit to co-create deeper peace and well-being for all sentient beings. We invite ourselves to be open and listen, to be guided, rather than having the ego dictate, ‘No, it should be this way.’ When you do this you find there truly are no limitations.
We need the comfort
and solace
of each other’s
presence!
~ Joan Borysenko
You must cherish one another.
You must work —
we all must work —
to make this world
worthy of its children.
~ Pablo Casals
Is this opening quotation, as it is written, true? Less and less I am concerned with being a doer, as more and more I am aware of the importance of how I am being. Listening to Rupert Spira speak about there being no doer, however, I also recognize the stages of learning we are experiencing around all of this. Spira says the belief and feeling “I am a person” is the same belief and feeling of “I am a doer.”
In mindfulness, this thought “I am a person” could be seen as operating from ego.
New Years Eve 2000 — twenty years ago — our meditation focus was a powerful writing titled “The Recovering Hero Proclamation.” Here is the last stanza:
I allow things to unfold naturally, and I trust the flow.
I joyfully accept and experience my humanity.
I need nothing.
All already is.
Blessed be.
~Aaliyah LivingWell
aka Gina Dawn Gavaris
GeneratingLove@aol.com
www.GeneratingSolutions.org
It is important to realize that this does not mean all action ceases. As Spira says, “No…. Cars continue to be driven, meals continue to be cooked, inquiring into the nature of experience continues to be undertaken.” Everything continues, but it doesn’t imply that there’s a doer.
I found this note in my journal: I forgive myself for believing it is my job to be the hero in any situation or save anyone else from having the experience they are creating.
Wow.
Those familiar with the SCS/NLP materials recognize fully we are moving off the Drama Triangle and experiencing life from the transrational perspective.
If we are able to drive, cook, and inquire into the nature of things without identifying ourselves as a doer, notice how much more can be done through the expanded awareness.
Recently a friend who hosts two of the Florida Zoom groups I participate in sent a message saying she has reached her stress limit and is going off the grid. We are still able to use her Zoom account, but she is not meeting with us.
William Wordsworth’s opening line in, “The World Is Too Much With Us”: The world is too much with us; late and soon.
Spira invites us to imagine a pink elephant under the chair. Both the statement, “There is something for the pink elephant under the chair to do,” and the statement, “There is nothing for the pink elephant under the chair to do,” are equally absurd.
There are times I find myself wondering which way to turn. Rather than feeling stressed or pressured into making quick decisions, I know these instances are perfect opportunities to calm myself and check my internal compass for divine direction.
The source guidance I receive allows me to perceive possible paths and shows me the way if I veer off course. All I need to do is become quiet and feel aware of my connection with God by pausing, breathing deeply, releasing, and relaxing into my intuitive knowing.
From this place, I instinctively know which way to turn and what to do. In faith, I follow the guidance of my inner wisdom and know everything I will need for the journey ahead is already mine.
Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.—Psalm 37:24
Of course we do things. Until the mind jumps in after the activity and claims, “I did this, I did that” there is only a sense of the raw experience. A baby probably does not draw from the mother’s breast and think, “I just ate.” The nourishment and the nurturing and the satiating of hunger are the raw experience. No commentary is necessary.
There are seasons in a marriage.
I’ve heard a therapist say,
“Every marriage has cause for divorce.”
Not every day.
But there are those days.
~ Deborah Berecz,
Conflict as Catalyst™ Newsletter October 2020
In an email exchange last evening my dear friend who had asked me about any preference for a Presidential candidate wrote,
Your response to my question was most intriguing. You changed your answer from the person to their traits. Yes, I agreed with everything you wrote about the essences of both men, how those essences connect to us, and your wish that whomever wins would live and lead from those traits and from that true essence. To quote the lyrics from a song, “What a wonderful world that would be.” If only….
John sings a song titled “Some Day When Things Are Good” by Merle Haggard.
Someday when things are good
I’m gonna leave you
I can’t seem to go
When things are bad
For the past 7 months, I have done yoga daily. Kathy Zerler and I started our daily practice the morning after Michigan was mandated to “stay safe at home.” Kathy has inched her way into technology, and since late April we have been recording daily practices using the Zoom platform and sharing those on YouTube. (Just search: Kathy Zerler Youtube.)
Today, Kathy is starting back teaching in person restorative yoga classes at the YMCA. Eight foot squares have been taped on the gym floor, everyone is required to wear a mask, temperatures will be checked upon entry, and a list of all participants generated for contact tracing, if the need should arise for that. It would be dishonest to say I don’t have concern as the COVID-19 numbers are spiking.
This morning Kathy opened our Zoom practice with a reading from The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane: A Novel, by Lisa See. It is a powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance. Kathy started class by reading a section about the virtues of drinking tea.
“Always remember If you don’t love tea,
you can’t make good tea.”
(pg. 191)
I was telling John yesterday morning that it was about 50 years ago when I did a term paper on this shift away from valuing character traits (Honest Abe). I well remember the research — some related to the “God is Dead” movement that occurred when the United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. From that horror, for the first time in history, we perceived that humans really could destroy life on earth.
That jarring awareness of what humans did to humans in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused a shift of our collective psyche from a longer-term view to preferring shorter-term relief, ushering in the devastating era of “the end justifies the means” living. We collectively became short-sighted and pleasure-seeking. Hence fast-food and drive-through banking, and a divorce rate in the US of 40 to 50 percent. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher.
Kathy read, “Just the physical process we experience when we drink tea — our search for huigan — causes us to turn inward and reflect as the liquor coats our tongues, shimmers down our throats, and then rises again as fragrance.”
Huigan is the pleasant aftertaste of tea, literally meaning “Returning Sweet.”
Humanity is at a turning point. We can see the bigger picture. We can co-create the world we dream….
Kathy continued reading, “Buddhists grant tea the highest spiritual qualities, ranking it among the four ways to concentrate the mind, along with walking, feeding fish, and sitting quietly….Together, these three disciplines have taught us to look upward to see the state of the heavens and downward to observe the natural arrangement of the earth. But whatever you believe or however you view life, the quality and goodness of a tea are for the mouth to decide.”
Ah, those days: days leading up to the election, days as we navigate a global pandemic. Days that cause us to turn inward and reflect. Perfect days to drink tea!
This short video is from Remembering Wholeness, October 25, 2020. Aaron, channeled by Barbara Brodsky:
If you are unable to view the video, here is the transcript:
To know that we’re co-creating this — all of us — not just us, but the people who might wish a different person to be elected. But, not holding who will win so much as the world we really want to envision: a world of love, of respect, of support for all beings.
May the candidate that can best help that to happen win this election. That, rather than, “I want my candidate to win.”
The one who can best support a healthy environment, an end to the pandemic, financial well-being, adequate food and home, respect, lovingkindness….
May the candidate who can best support this win this election. And then may that support flow from all of us to create the world we envision. Thank you.
~ Aaron, channeled by Barbara Brodsky at Remembering Wholeness, October 25, 2020
I slept and I dreamed that
life is all joy.
I woke and I saw that
life is all service.
I served and I saw that
service is joy.
~ Kahlil Gibran
Today’s blog was inspired by last evening’s question from a dear friend who is also a faithful reader of Yellow Brick Road. “Related to your pre-election posts, do you mind my asking whom, if you have a preference, do you prefer would win?” I was tempted to cut and paste the section from my journal in Pondering Becoming a Pundit before recognizing the much larger opportunity her question presents.
A sister on the Dharma path is Jewish. She is deeply steeped in Mussar, a spiritual practice that focuses on character traits like truthfulness, generosity, patience, and humility in an effort to help people overcome inner obstacles. At about the same time “Whom do you prefer would win?” was being asked, my friend was sharing with me a practice one rabbi suggested for navigating these times, specifically related to Covid, but for sure inclusive of the election:
1. Develop a relationship with the one above.
2. Pray — using formal prayers or just when you want to communicate.
3. Look for signs of divine intervention.
I have continued to binge watch Rupert Spira on non-duality so I can let go, relax, fall backwards, and sink into, “There is nothing we can say with the mind.”
I spent some time looking up formal prayers in other traditions (similar to the Lord’s Prayer in Christianity). Here are two that really speak to me:
Lakota Prayer
Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my Sacred Space
and love beyond my fear,
and thus Walk in Balance
with the passing of each glorious Sun.
– Found on: http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/quotes-nativeamerican.htm
Judaism Shema Prayer (in English)
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
The most honest answer I can give about whom I would prefer to win is this:
I prefer love to win.
I prefer wisdom to win.
I prefer kindness to win.
I prefer truthfulness to win.
I prefer generosity to win.
I prefer patience to win.
I prefer humility to win.
I prefer service to all beings and harm to none to win.
These traits are the essence of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They are the essence of you and me. They are the essence of every candidate who runs for any office. I prefer whomever wins the 2020 Presidential election to live and lead from these traits and from their true essence.
Hinduism The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita
The unreal has no existence. The Real never ceases to be (never ceases to exist). Men possessed of the knowledge of Truth full know both these.
Meditation for the Day
Constantly claim God’s strength. Once convinced of the right of a course of action, once reasonably sure of God’s guidance, claim that strength now. You can claim all the strength you need to meet any situation. You can claim a new supply when your own supply is exhausted. You have a right to claim it and you should use your right.
~ Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life
You do live in a physical world,
but there is nothing about your physical world
that is not spirit-based.
There is nothing about your physical world
that is not Source-based.
~ Abraham Hicks
October 2019 I started reading books about non-duality by Rupert Spira. Yesterday the same friend who introduced me to Spira’s writing last year suggested I check out his teachings on being aware of awareness. This comes at a perfect time for me as I am working on the sensory systems information published in Healing with Language, the SCS/NLP training manual.
This comes at a perfect time for “us” as we are bombarded by input from the world through these sensory systems! If some of what you see, hear, think and feel, is keeping you awake at night or causing your blood pressure to go up, causing your concern by concretizing your perceptions of separateness, read on.
Simply put: Whatever we are experiencing, we are aware of that.
Most often, however, this simple experience of being aware is overlooked.
Spira gave a powerful example of this. Think of a flashlight. We can shine light on everything else, but we cannot shine the light on the light bulb from which the beam is shining. The light beam is the source — it can only shine on something that is “other than.”
This flashlight of awareness shines light on your thoughts, feelings, sensations, tastes, smells, memories, beliefs, perceptions, and opinions — all “other than.”
If awareness is incapable of turning around and looking at itself, then how are we going to know our true nature? Let your attention relax or sink or fall backwards into its source….
Let go.
Relax.
Fall backwards.
Sink.
This reminds me of “How to Activate your Diamond Light Body” from Frequency: The Power of Personal Vibration, by Penney Pierce.
1. Quiet yourself, center your attention in your body, be in the present moment 100 percent, and create calmness and receptivity. Recall some past positive experiences.
2. Imagine that behind your back, your diamond light body appears. This body looks just like you but is made of pure transparent light and has no wounds or blockages. Your light body radiates wisdom, love, harmony, and the knowledge of abundance. Your light body steps forward and puts its hands on your shoulders.
3. In your imagination, feel the higher vibration of your light body; welcome it and attune to the frequency. As you do, your light body steps inside you, merging with you seamlessly and easily.
4. Your light body matches up with your physical body perfectly, each light body part finding its physical body part: the light heart merges with the physical heart, the light cells match the physical cells, the light brain joins the physical brain. Take some time to scan through the various parts of your body as this process occurs.
5. Allow yourself to let go into the light body as it takes over, saying, ‘You know how to run this brain, this heart, these lungs, how to use these hands, this voice. Please show me how. I trust you to renew me, reorganize me, and teach me.’ Fall into your own light and feel supported.
6. An odd thing happens as you let your diamond light body take over to guide you, a saturation point is reached where you ‘flip’ and realize you are the diamond light body. Your identity shifts. As you hear the voice of guidance from the light body, you realize it’s your voice. You might say, ‘I am here now, and I know what’s real.’
7. Let your diamond light saturate not only every cell, but your emotions, feelings, and thoughts as well. Let it work on your brain and body, dissolving shadows, filling in gaps, upgrading all your systems, erasing worry and doubt, opening new pathways, and reprogramming you with updated frequencies. Remain in the silence.
8. Now, ‘strike the tuning fork’ of your diamond light body’s vibration and let waves of your light and your original tone ripple through every tiny space in your body and out through your skin into the space around you. Let it expand as far into the universe as it wants. As your own diamond light expands, it joins with the diamond light it encounters in the presence everywhere. In the center of the light, is your home frequency.
In the Christian New Testament (Galations 3:28) this idea is stated clearly, and in churches all over the world people sing the truth: In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.
It is this disinterested but completely allowing contemplation of the body in the world that the body loses its ‘me-ness’ and the world loses its ‘not-me-ness.’ In this way bodily sensations no longer cry out ‘I am separate, I am exclusively you” and perceptions of the world no longer cry out, ‘I am separate, I am not you.’ Everything sings out, ‘I am made of You.’
If you find yourself tempted to shine your light on republicans or democrats or those who agree or disagree with you, relax into your diamond light body.
Let go.
Relax.
Fall backwards.
Sink.
Our home frequency, our Source, knows I am made of You…
(*Note – Send email to debra@scs-matters.com if you would like my audio recording of How to Activate Your Diamond Light Body.
“Resilience is not something
we have or we don’t have.
It is something that
we can train
in our minds and bodies.”
~ Liz Stanley
I’ve made a promise to myself to post a blog each day until after the Presidential election. Putting my fingers on the keyboard grounds me. I am choosing to widen my window of tolerance.
Trauma can narrow our window of tolerance, and human life inherently exposes us to trauma (admittedly, some more than others).
I recently was listening to a Sounds True podcast with Liz Stanley and Tami Simon about stress arousal and the way past trauma relates to our ability to think creatively, solve problems, and access choice in any given situation. The podcast is where I heard the phrase “window of tolerance.”
Whether or not we consciously know it, humans have both a “survival brain” (bottom-up processing) and a “thinking brain” (top-down processing). Even without knowing the terms, you do how good it feels when these two processing systems are collaborating.
We have been expertly trained at powering through situations — often ignoring our body’s emotions, sensations, and physical pain. Stanley refers to this common phenomenon as “thinking-brain override.”
“Survival-brain hijacking” is when the heavy emotions trigger stress arousal and impulsively drive our behavior, sometimes with horrific results.
Meditation (training in mindfulness) can help “widen” our window of tolerance and assist us to react more skillfully and to avoid destructive extremes.
Here is a simple tool for any time you notice yourself feeling stress: Move your attention to the information coming from your senses. “Feel your feet on the ground, notice where your butt is touching the chair; pay attention to the breath coming in and out through your nose; notice the air is cool on inhale and warmer on the exhale; listen to the waves or the wind or the motor of the refrigerator.”
Notice… notice… notice.
Smell some essential oils.
Slowly dissolve a lozenge or small piece of hard candy in your mouth. Perhaps that is why the ones with holes in the center are called Life Savers!
Just looking out your window helps….
Here are the east and west views from my window this morning during yoga.
Over these next two weeks, let’s each intentionally widen our window of tolerance….
“You’re braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem
and smarter than you think.”
~ Christopher Robin
A precious friend told me about 45 years ago that I should be a political pundit. According to Wikipedia, a pundit is a person who offers to mass media their opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences, technology or sport) on which they are knowledgeable (or can at least appear to be knowledgeable), or considered a scholar in said area.
Having watched the 2020 Presidential debates, I began the day today by asking for a revelation of truth about all of this.
From my journal:
V:
How would you articulate what you already see?
D:
1. Whomever is elected, we will still have some navigating to do.
2. Whomever is elected, we can choose peace.
3. Whomever is elected, we can continue mean-spiritedness.
4. Whomever is elected, the need to tap into the well of wisdom remains.
V:
There is nothing more you need to see.
My soul longs to hear leaders courageous enough to speak the truth to a collective courageous enough to recognize truth when they hear it: “I know uncertainty can be unpleasant. While we want definitive answers to what we will do and what we will encounter, the truth is, we don’t yet know. I can promise you I will remind myself over and over that we access more wisdom and creativity in unity than in divisiveness. I assure you I aspire to have the humility to ask those who see things differently to help me see what brought them to their conclusion so we can gain wisdom together. It is without a doubt that I would be lying to make campaign promises to you beyond these truths….”
Perhaps we would do well to make Stephen Covey’s 1989 book,7 Habits of Highly Effective People, compulsory in all education forums. You might appreciate a summary of the 7 Habits.
Habit 1: Be Proactive® …
Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind® …
Habit 3: Put First Things First® …
Habit 4: Think Win-Win® …
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood® …
Habit 6: Synergize® …
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw®
For the theme of today’s blog, lets focus on Habit # 6:
Innovate and problem solve with those who have a different point of view. To put it simply, synergy means “two heads are better than one.” Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. But it doesn’t just happen on its own.
“If the person you are talking to
doesn’t appear to be listening,
be patient.
It may simply be that
he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
~ Winnie the Pooh
In 2004, Covey published The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. It seems most fitting for us now:
The crucial challenge of our world today is this: to find our voice and inspire others to find theirs. It is what Covey calls the 8th Habit. The 8th Habit is the answer to the soul’s yearning for greatness, the organization’s imperative for significance and superior results, and humanity’s search for its “voice.”
“A little consideration,
a little thought for others,
makes all the difference.”
—Eeyore
* Special thanks to Winnie the Pooh and friends for the powerful pundit points!
Like my parents taught me,
‘There are no monsters in the sea,
only the ones we make up in our heads.’
~ Christina Zenato
A friend shared an amazing video of a woman swimming with sharks. But this woman is not just “swimming” with the sharks. Christina Zenato, a professional diver, is removing fish hooks caught in their flesh!
Christina says, “It’s done on the shark’s terms, not mine.”
Amen!
Christina has a box containing over 300 hooks….
I wrote in my journal earlier today:
Dear Holy Spirit,
I am so impatient with John. What will help me be kind?
(Note* The catalyst for this latest round of impatience was him wanting to use the tablet Stacey gave him instead of lugging around the huge 3-ringed binder. He went the home of a music friend who has software he likes a lot. John returned minus his tablet, excited that his friend was going to set it up for him. Soon, John’s friend came, unable to complete the download without my email address. I get triggered into frustration at having to manage John’s technology as well as my own, especially when it is something I am not fluent in. True confession: I do not know how to work this Android tablet, nor do I know anything about this software….)
The VOICE in my journal responded:
V: The impatience is not with him, it is within you. Like so many humans currently, strong emotions around the helplessness related to the pandemic are arising. Are you providing enough space for all you are experiencing? We know you are navigating a lot, but so was Viktor Frankl.
Man’s Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Living through horrific happenings, Frankl was able to find purpose and positive feelings using his psychotherapeutic method.
A quick search brought up this quotation:
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
~ Viktor Frankl
During the Oakwood Retreat, John Orr shared having asked Aaron why human incarnation is so difficult. Aaron said we choose incarnation because the catalysts for growth are so readily available on this heavy density plane. Aaron said there is a plane on which soul growth can happen without so much difficulty, but without a physical or emotional body (only a mental and spiritual body), the soul growth is soooooo slow, like millions of years. Aaron said, “Soul’s who are impatient for growth choose the earth plane!”
Between stimulus and response there is a space….
You can watch for “divine” themes in each day. Howard Thurman’s Word for the Day from Gratefulness.org : Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.
In that space is our power to choose our response….
And the Deep Spring Center Thought for Today from Aaron:
Perhaps as you sit there by the water, let’s use a big sloppy wet dog as example, the dog comes running along and jumps across your lap. You’re wet, you’re covered with sand. You have a scratch where his claws dug into the flesh. He’s licking your feet and it’s an unpleasant feeling. Ultimate reality has not gone anywhere; pure awareness hasn’t gone anywhere; but for the moment you can’t access it. Your mind and body come back to a lower vibration. You breathe a few times. A friend comes over and dries you off with a towel. You open up, see the dog frolicking so happily, catch his joy a bit, and you open back up into pure awareness.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom….
May all beings experience the beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.
Belief can be overrated. If one did not believe in gravity, would gravity still have an effect? Of course, it would. It is likely that astrological influences are having an effect on us in much the same way.
Mercury went retrograde on October 14, where it will stay through November 3.
Expect to have more or less energy than you’re used to, particularly of the nervous variety.
October 2020’s Mercury retrograde will either sap you of your usual zest and leave you feeling lethargic, or fill you with chaotic, scattered energy that might have you feeling restless, unfocused and anxious.
In our third year of Dharma Path, Barbara Brodsky and Arron (check out Aaron’s new blog) have us working with a wonderful practice to navigate strong emotions in a way that prevents us from being overcome by them.
Here are the basic steps of “Akashic Field Practice.”
1. I open myself to this field in which there are both spaciousness and calm and peace, and disturbances. Because of the essence of my practice, I am willing to experience the disturbance. I’m not afraid of the disturbance, because I know that the spaciousness is much vaster than the disturbance. And so, instead of focusing on the disturbance, I focus on the spaciousness.
(We are encouraged to think of holding and comforting these uncomfortable emotions like we would hold a distressed baby, seeing the baby as a more infantile consciousness, and we ourselves are able to hold that infantile consciousness with mature consciousness. Saying to ourselves, “It is going to be OK. I love you. You are safe.” This holding, comforting, supporting is based on our highest intention for highest good of all beings, harm to none, and lovingkindness.)
2. Invite spirit (God/Higher self/Love) to support your choice for kindness.
3. Ask in your heart of any entities (angels/guides/masters) that come, “Do you come for the highest good, in service to all beings, and harm to none?” Wait until you get a clear YES.
4. Invite all loving beings (entities) to get closer as you clearly state your need. “My body is shaking. I really feel rotten. I’m not emotionally scared so much as my heart is pounding and I feel the fear in my whole body. Please help.”
Imagine feeling a warm energy moving throughout your body; loving energy surrounding you; energy clearing, as spaciousness opens up inside you.
Remember YOU always have access to this energy. This is always available.
Music can help your “mature” consciousness calm your “infantile” consciousness, especially kind during this Mercury retrograde over the next few weeks. I love Karen Druker’s Gentle with Myself, and Cecelia’s Amazing Grace (with whale sounds!).
I work in divine partnership to accomplish great things.
A surfer harnesses the ocean’s power to complete the exhilarating ride to shore. I, too, place myself within the divine wave of God’s power. I neither move out in front of it by forcing my will nor do I hold back out of fear and insecurity. Only when I center myself in the wave can I discern the answer or direction I seek. I let go into the magnificent power of God and ride the wave that is my inner guidance and direction.
In prayer, I release the need to know what is going to happen and trust that my highest good is unfolding. I do what is mine to do, leaving the greater part to God. I listen to my intuitive knowing, heed the guidance I receive, and then follow through on my inner promptings with deliberate, purposeful action.
You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.—Psalm 31:3
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