The Spiritual Path - Pema Chodron

"To stay with that shakiness—to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge—that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic—this is the spiritual path."

Return (The Turning Point) - The I Ching, Book of Changes

After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that has been banished returns. There is movement, but it is not brought about by force... the movement is natural, arising spontaneously. For this reason the transformation of the old becomes easy. The old is discarded and the new is introduced. Both measures accord with the time; therefore no harm results.

The idea of RETURN is based on the course of nature. The movement is cyclic, and the course completes itself. Therefore it is not necessary to hasten anything artificially. Everything comes of itself at the appointed time. This is the meaning of heaven and earth.

24. Fu / Return (The Turning Point)

The I Ching, Book of Changes

It's All Grace - Ram Dass

From Blossoms - Cam Miller

This is a short sermon my former priest, Cam Miller, shared this past weekend... it's about 12 minutes long.

http://www.trinitybuffalo.org/podcasts/sermons/WS600151.mp3

Landfill Harmonic - A Documentary

Parker Palmer - Wisdom of the Heart

Parker Palmer - America's Addiction

Parker Palmer - Violence

Heredity from a Yoga Viewpoint

The following quote is from How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali - translated with a commentary by Swami Probhavananda and Christopher Isherwood:

"'Heredity,' from the yoga viewpoint, may be only another way of saying that the individual soul is driven by existing samskaras [tendencies, potentialities, and latent states which exist in the subconscious and unconscious areas of the mind] to seek rebirth in a certain kind of family, of parents whose samskaras are like its own, and thereby to 'inherit' the tendencies which it already possesses." - p.19

You - Margaret Silf

Where you are (however unchosen) is the place of blessing.
How you are (however broken) is the place of grace.
Who you are, in your becoming, is your place in the Kingdom.

~ Margaret Silf

Intelligence - Krishnamurti

Accept - then act... - Eckhart Tolle

"Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it...This will miraculously transform your whole life." 

~ Eckhart Tolle

To know the truth we have to deepen ourselves, and not merely widen the surface. 

~ Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Twitch of Patterning - Mark Nepo

"It seems our ability to be authentic and free can't touch us until we breathe our way below the twitch of our patterning. Often, this requires outlasting the anxiety of needing to catch or fix what comes our way, so we can truly respond from the center of our being. 

There is, after all, a difference between helping someone because if you don't you will lose their love or some sense of your own image as a caring person, and helping someone because your impulse of heart moves you to their aid. 

 We are, each of us, in a repeatable war between defending ourselves from hurts that happened long ago and opening in innocence, again and again, to the unexpected touch of life." 

~ Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Eckhart Tolle - Did the Universe Make a Mistake with the Ego?

Pema Chodron - "Getting Unstuck"

(Extracted from a talk entitled "Getting Unstuck" by Pema Chodron from a Sounds True recording):

"Its very important to see what we do. Dzigar Kongtrul always says - if you begin to see what you do, you see the shenpa and you're working with it in your practices, say like the basic practice that underlies all practices - learning to stay. When you see it and the momentum is getting very strong with the thoughts and you interrupt them with the label "thinking", just so that you're cutting the momentum of the shenpa, you come back to the breath which is like learning to stay in the present moment with the underlying energy {Dzigar Kongtrul calls this "simmering"}.

If you aspire to work that way in meditation, and in post-meditation (which is the rest of your life), to catch the shenpa and to remember to practice at that point, there is no way that your life will not be gradually, perhaps imperceptibly, transformed, so that when you look back you begin to see.

The only way that I know that anything has ever happened is to look back, because I never get gratified by peak experiences or breakthroughs.

It never happens to me. (Adding longing to her voice) I've always wanted it to happen...

(Audience laughs)

It never has, and I still want it to happen, but I am beginning to realize that it doesn't matter, people tell me their stories constantly and breakthrough experiences don't always add up to much. They come and they tell me something, and I think - wow, wish I experienced that. And then the next day they're completely hooked by some shenpa.

And so gradual is good. (chuckles) At least I keep telling myself...

(Audience laughs)

No, it really is. It really is. It is good. And so that's fortunate since it is extremely gradual.

It's like willing to lose half a pound a week until you've lost the 150 pounds you need to lose, rather than try to lose 20 pounds a week and keep adding it back all the time. It stays off, as they say... And the main thing is this aspiration.

So the point that Dzigar Kongtrul makes is that until you begin to train in seeing and staying so that you can see the shenpas and working with them, he said - then basically, what's going to happen is life is always going to be hooking you. Little things are going to be just throwing you for a loop right and left, just out of the blue, like people throwing rocks at your head, the slightest thing basically triggers you and you are off and running. And it gets stronger and stronger. He says life just becomes more and more confusing, more and more of a struggle, more and more of a burden, because you have never looked at the root cause, which is the shenpa, and therefore you get triggered right and left, triggered all the time.

Once you start seeing, you still get triggered because that's what you see, but there is something different.

The magic of seeing.

Its sort of like Thich Nhat Hanh talking about the miracle of mindfulness. Its the miracle of learning to stay. Being present with the shenpa, knowings its happening. The more you do it, the more you're ability to be able to do it grows. And the ability to see more and more subtle levels. Just naturally begins to happen. Thats not something you have to force, it just naturally happens that there is less and less self-deception, less and less ability to hide out.

When I really get hooked, and I'm starting to get all worked up, I do something which I call "teaching myself the dharma". And sometimes this really helps. And that is I might say to myself - if I follow this what will be the result? The habituation of strengthening this pattern. What will be the result? What will happen in a years time, in two years time? This pain I am trying to get away from will be more, and so that inspires me to do the tough work of staying with disagreeable feelings of unease."

Let It Go - Danna Faulds

Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold; the holding of plans or dreams or expectations. Let it go. Save your strength to swim with the tide. The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result in struggle, fear, and a desperate attempt to flee from the very energy you long for. Let go. Let it all go and flow with the grace that washes through your days whether you receive it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders. Take this on faith: the mind may never find the explanations that it seeks, but you will move forward nonetheless. Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores, beyond your wildest dreams or destinations. Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation. 

~ Danna Faulds

Seize Your Limitations - Phil Hansen

Spirit and Soul - The Dalai Lama

"I call the high and light aspects of my being spirit and the dark and heavy aspects soul. 

Soul is at home in the deep, shaded valleys. Heavy torpid flowers saturated with black grow there. The rivers flow like warm syrup.

  Spirit is a land of high, white peaks and glittering jewel-­like lakes and flowers. Life is sparse and sounds travel great distances."

—The Dalai Lama, as quoted by James Hillman in "A Blue Fire"

Pieces

Listening to My Life - Parker Palmer

Parker J. Palmer: “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”

I want... - quote by Parker Palmer

Parker J. Palmer: “I want my inner truth to be the plumb line for the choices I make about my life -- about the work that I do and how I do it, about the relationships I enter into and how I conduct them.”

The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Change Your Attitude, but Remain Natural - Pema Chodron

"In order to have compassionate relationships, compassionate communication, and compassionate social action, there has to be a fundamental change in attitude. The notion "I am the helper and you are the one who needs help" might work in a temporary way, but fundamentally nothing changes because there's still one who has it and one who doesn't. That dualistic notion is not really speaking to the heart.
 
We could begin to get the hang of changing our attitude on an everyday level; when things are delightful and wonderful we give our pleasure away on the outbreath, sharing it for others.

When we work with pain by leaning into it and with pleasure by giving it away, it doesn't mean that we "Grin and bear it." This approach is a lot more playful than that - like dancing with it. We realize that this separateness we feel is a funny kind of mistake. We see that things were not dualistic from the start..."
 
From Start Where You Are : A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chodron

Acceptance - Eckhart Tolle

Appreciative Inquiry Cycle

The Violence of Modern Life - Thomas Merton

9 Personal Capacities of Authentic Leaders

10 Rules for Students and Teachers - John Cage

Your Journey - Asha Tyson

Garden of Your Mind - Mr. Rogers Remix

Sometimes the problems of the world require our attention; sometimes they require the mastery of our own energy.

~ Sandy Anderson

Miracle of the Psyche - Estes

"The miracle of the psyche's ways is that even if you are halfhearted, irreverent, didn't mean to, didn't really hope to, don't want to, feel unworthy to, aren't ready for it, you will accidentally stumble upon treasure anyway."

~ Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola-Estes

Rob Brezsny on Inventiveness

Even if you don't call yourself an artist, you have the potential to be a dynamic creator who is always hatching new plans, coming up with fresh ideas, and shifting your approach to everything you do as you adjust to life's ceaseless invitation to change.

It's to this part of you—the restless, inventive spirit—that I address the following: Unleash yourself! Don't be satisfied with the world the way it is; don't sit back passively and blankly complain about the dead weight of the mediocre status quo. Instead, call on your curiosity and charisma and expressiveness and lust for life as you tinker with and rebuild everything you see so that it's in greater harmony with the laws of love and more hospitable to your soul's code.

John Cleese on Creativity

This is so hilarious and wonderful! 

One Day on Earth

One Day on Earth the music video - by Cut Chemist from One Day on Earth on Vimeo.

Genius - Albert Einstein

Earl - Susannah Azzaro

I check the
Open Culture blog
this morning it’s a video of
Earl Scruggs and Steve Martin and others
playing on David Letterman about 10 years ago
I watch the video and follow the link to Martin’s
New Yorker article about Scruggs
his hero
I haven’t finished it yet
I’ll go back later
It’s the paragraph about
Earl, 10, following his fingers
in the backyard of his Flint Hill, NC home
after a fight with his brother
he makes a mistake and begins
picking with his third finger
that moment
he discovers his voice
what makes Earl Earl
I’ve never followed Scruggs or his music
although I love Bluegrass
I start crying

for that precious moment
Earl made that mistake.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” he said
no turning back after that

for my own children
who will never pick a banjo in
our backyard

for me
44
wondering
if I will ever yell,
“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”

 3/30/12

Dragons - by Susannah Azzaro

Joey calls to me as I begin to drift off to sleep.

“Mom! Comear!”

I wake myself up and go to his room where he’s reading

a book called Awesome Things to Draw.

“Mom, I don’t know why, but I’m just confused and I just don’t know why.”

He said that yesterday too.

He’s eight.

My body softens - I had no idea I was even gripping.

I tell him how proud I am that he can express that, and then I

say something like, “We all pick up all sorts of energy from everywhere,

and when

you’re young you...”

...he interrupts:

“Hey, Mom...listen to this...

he picks up his book,

“It says,

‘Some psychologists say that if a person dreams of a dragon,

it symbolizes that they are gaining self-confidence and wholeness in their life.’ 

Mom...what does wholeness mean?”

I start to explain even though what I'm 

saying doesn't make sense to me,

but he doesn’t really want

an answer. And then,

“Mom, have you ever dreamed about a dragon?”

“I don’t think I have.”

He’s reading about drawing dragons again, and

I head back to bed.

3/29/12

Shining Like the Sun! - Tom Shadyac

Everyday, we are assaulted with messages, images, slogans, and sound bites, that tell us of our inadequacies, the sad state of affairs that is you and me: “With this product, you can lose weight, with this one, you can gain muscle; if your breasts sag, our bra lifts them up; if you have wrinkles, this cream irons them out; if you’re sad, we have a pill that will make you happy; if you’re too happy, we have a pill that will bring you down; if you’re not as much of a man as you used to be, this pill will straighten you out (literally!). And everyone who’s anyone has itunes, the iphone, and the ipad, am iclear?

And we participate in this maddening chatter unaware, telling our kids that in order to succeed they have to get the best grades, get into the right school, and get the right job. We tell them that one day they must stop all this horsing around and get serious with their lives; we ask them who they are going to be when they grow up, warning them that life is all down hill after 22, declaring college the best four years of their lives; and finally, if they are lucky, they just might make something of themselves in this dog eat dog world. It’s enough to stress you out completely – but of course there’s a pill that can fix that, too.

Is this how life really is? Is our identity simply conditional and fragile? Is who we are really defined by the things we own, our job status, and the social circles we run in?

The mystics, those saints and sages who saw through to the inner workings of reality, proclaimed something very different. A little background here: The word “mystic” comes from the Latin word, “mysterium”, from which we also get the word, mystery. Thus, a mystic is one who sees into the mystery. So what exactly did the mystics see? And what does their vision of reality reveal about who and what we are?

Here’s what Thomas Merton said, after decades of meditation and contemplation: “As if the sorrows and stupidities of the world could overwhelm me now that I realize what we all are. I wish everyone could realize this, but there is no way of telling people they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

Shining like the sun. That’s you. He didn’t say, shining like the sun after you can afford the new electric Chevy Volt. He didn’t say, shining like the sun after your bust gets lifted. What he said was, right now, in this moment, with all of your imperfections, with all of your challenges in the temporal, with all of your worldly failures and successes, you are walking around shining like the sun!

Merton goes one step further with this concluding insight: “I am finally coming to the realization that my greatest ambition is to be what I already am.” Wait a minute. What about worldly status and success and power? Merton saw through all of that, and invites us to do the same. Can you imagine? What a lesson to embrace, to embody and even, to teach; to declare to our kids they don’t have to be someone, they already are someone. Now the cynic will undoubtedly rise up and warn that this will poison our youth; they will be so inflated with their own identity, they will surely sit back and do nothing. Quite the opposite is true. This knowledge compels those it touches, Jesus, Gandhi, St. Francis, Mother Theresa, Rumi, and Hafiz, to walk with power, to use their talents for the good of all, without the drag of invented pressure to measure up to some arbitrary social standard.

You see, (and it is a matter of sight!), what we are telling ourselves, the command to succeed and be someone, is just a story; it’s a story based on expectations. It’s temporal and finite. It is not who you really are. The Sufi mystic, Meera, wisely said: “You cannot play your role in time, until you know who you are in eternity.” And who you are is a drop in the ocean of divinity. Inside you is starlight. Inside you is the same infinite energy that created the universe. As the modern mystic, Irwin Kula, knew, “Everything is god in drag.”

So the next time you’re told you need to be somebody, rest in the knowledge that you already are. Hafiz implores us to wake up to this truth when he says: “I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.” Now what iphone or ipad, what present day pill or product can deliver that?

~Tom Shadyac

Roll the Dice - Bono Reads Bukowski

Shame - Brene Brown's 2nd TED Talk

Rapture of Being Alive - Joseph Campbell

People say that what we're all seeking is meaning in life... I think that what we're really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive.

~ Joseph Campbell

Thrive: What On Earth Will It Take? (Official Trailer)

John Steinbeck's Six Tips for the Aspiring Writer

I couldn't help but think how these tips...tweaked just a little...could serve me in all sorts of life experiences:

(Taken from this Open Culture post.)

1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.
3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person–a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it–bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.
5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
6. If you are using dialogue–say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

Cutting a Path - Mark Nepo

No matter where we dig or climb,

we come upon the fire we left untended.

Carl Jung had a dream that he was cutting a path in the woods, unsure where it was leading, but working hard at it nonetheless.  Tired and sweating, he came upon a cabin in a clearing.  He dropped his tools and approached the cabin.  Through the window he saw a being in prayer at a simple altar.  The door was open and Jung went in.  As he drew closer, he realized that the being in prayer was himself and that his life of cutting a path was the being's dream.

What Jung brings to us is the never-ending task of deciding to whom we entrust our life: our True or False Self.  For all the seriousness with which we run about in the world - fixing, denying, projecting, sacrificing - for all the schemes and strategies and alliances and positioning for reward, it is all an unreal dream to the center of our being that waits for us far inside while we hack our way through.

Without knowing it, we, like Jung, work hard at cutting a path to our deeper self that waits patiently for us to arrive, all tired, aching, and out of breath.  Once that path is cleared and once the being at our center is discovered, we can return to the world in relationship with our soul.  We can discover a deeper, more peaceful sense of home.

• Be still and close your eyes, and as you meditate, journey inwardly to the cabin where you soul awaits.
• Drop all you are carrying at the door.  Drop all that waits to be done. Or redone.
• As you breathe, enter the cabin and wait with open arms for the center of your being to realize you are there.
• As you breathe, feel your soul embrace you.  Embrace back.  Savor that moment.

Pay It Forward

TED: Dance vs. PowerPoint

For Courage - John O'Donohue

photo credit: jalalspages via photopin cc

When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world,

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.

Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!

Mr. Happy Man

WOW!  I'm not even finished watching this, and it immediately brought sweet tears to my eyes.

Mr. Happy Man from Matt Morris Films on Vimeo.

The Art of Living: A Free Stanford Course Explores Timeless Questions

The Art of Living: A Free Stanford Course Explores Timeless Questions

Play with Me! - One Word That Describes You

What is one word that describes you best?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Amazing Virtual Sistine Chapel Experience!

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

John Francis TED Talk - I Walk the Earth

When Death Comes - Mary Oliver

photo credit: Hamed Saber via photopin cc

When death comes


like the hungry bear in autumn;


when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;


when death comes


like the measles-pox;

when death comes


like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:


what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything


as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,


and I look upon time as no more than an idea,


and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common


as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth


tending as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something


precious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life


I was a bride married to amazement.


I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don’t want to wonder


if I have made of my life something particular, and real.


I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,


or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Seeking - Cheri Huber

photo credit: *Kicki* via photopin cc

"If we didn't already know the experience of what we're looking for, we would never look.  It simply would not occur to us...

We begin to seek - where, what is that which we long for, our essence, our True Nature, that which we truly are? - and slowly, painstakingly we begin to follow it home.  Haltingly, fearfully, sometimes excitedly, joyfully, we begin to follow it back to itself, back to who we really are.

What we are looking for is causing us to look.  That's why we need not go anywhere, do anything, learn more, figure it out, worry about going wrong.  We need only stop, sit down, be still, and pay attention."

~ from That Which You Are Seeking is Causing You to Seek

Quote from Father Bede Griffiths - from "The Hope" by Andrew Harvey

photo credit: Sarjana Sky via photopin cc

When, through grace, you are taken to one horizon of Awakening, another, even vaster, opens up before you.  Even the highest angels are evolving, drawn ever upward in a passion of love for love.

SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY - Anonymous Author

I stumbled upon the following poem on this blog ...


On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.
It is a silent revolution.
From the inside out.
From the ground up.
This is a global operation; a Spiritual Conspiracy.

There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.
You wont see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio
We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles
Most of us work anonymously

We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night, this is where the real work takes a place
Some call us the Conscious Army

We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts

We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders come from the Central Spiritual Intelligence
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking
Poems, Hugs, Music, Photography, Movies, Kind words, Smiles, Meditation and prayer, Dance, Social activism, Websites, Blogs, Random acts of kindness…
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined
Our work is slow and meticulous like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to come

Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.
All are welcome
The door is open
Are you in?
* * * * *

I'm a new fan of Dr. Christine Page! 



Dr. Christine Page, "Healing and Knowing Your Body" ISSSEEM Conference from BVMA on Vimeo.

How Does It Taste? - A parable shared by Mark Nepo

photo credit: paul (dex) via photopin cc

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt.  When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.

"How does it taste?" the master asked.
"Bitter," spit the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake.  The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."


As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "How does it taste?"

"Fresh," remarked the apprentice.
"Do you still taste the salt?" asked the master.
"No," said the young man.

At this, the master sat beside the serious young man who so reminded him of himself and took his hands, offering, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less.  The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same.  But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in.  So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things....Stop being a glass.  Become a lake."

~ from Nepo's The Book of Awakening

Best Questions Series - Post #1

What did you marry?

What did you divorce?

~ posed to me by Charque Newell, December 2011

Questions Tennis - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

I love questions and I love the idea for this game: 

Krista Tippett on Being Podcasts

I heard this for the first time last night - an episode about Roseanne Cash. WOW!

Authentic Resonance - Paula Reeves

Every woman must find a clear and clean connection to her body and the full range of her feelings before she can trust her own intuitive capacity.  A woman must learn how to give voice to her emotional position without the messiness of an undifferentiated mood - or the fear of revealing her power.  We have to learn to like the sound of our own voice, teaching ourselves not to allow it, neglected, to become wistful, strident, or faint.  We have to develop the courage not to apologize when we realize that others disagree or know more.  As females in a male-oriented culture, we each must learn how to recognize and value our own genuine innocence without trading in the counterfeit coin of seductive stupidity or contrived helplessness to conceal our fear of rejection.

At times, we simply will not know how to articulate what we are truly feeling until we express ourselves exactly as it comes out.  It is a gift of maturity to be willing to assert yourself, name your feelings, and then say, "No, that is not exactly it.  I want to restate myself."  No apology, no embarrassment, no defensiveness, no lies.

~ Women's Intuition by Paula M. Reeves, Ph.D.

Unchanging Awareness - Richard Miller

I have been doing Yoga Nidra off and on for about 10 years.  Yesterday when I was following one of Richard Miller's guided sessions, something he said jumped out at me:

...being aware of all that's now in awareness...peeling back...dissolving into being unchanging awareness in which all the changing perceptions are unfolding...

Movement - Einstein

Something is moving.

~ Einstein, in answer to a query as to whether there was anything he knew for sure.