DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE
12 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Energy Awareness, Quantum Shifts, Spiritual Transformation, Stress Relief, Unity and Oneness Consciousness Tags: destruction, inner knowing, lazy minds, sound bytes, Stress Relief, surrender, Trust, Twitter
Whoa! Wait a minute, you may say! Dependence is now almost a dirty word. After all, it’s our dependence on fossil fuels that has ‘fueled’ the Gulf oil disaster. Plus many other social ills are attributed to dependence because it hints of weakness; and God forbid any flag waving patriot would admit to any weakness.
However, like anything else, human beings tend to only play on the extreme ends of everything. (See? I just did it in this sentence) Well, the same is true of how we perceive independence and dependence. We’re either free willed powerful individuals or we’re weak, indecisive parts of a herd. This way of thinking is polarizing and destructive. We are currently experiencing that destruction on many levels in real time.
When our ancestors fought for independence from England they mustered courage to overturn the tyranny of taxation without representation. But our history books don’t often explore the dependence the brave men and women had on their deep inner knowing of Truth. That Truth was the real fuel for the fire of revolution to create a union of free souls regardless of their blood lines. Another revolution was needed one hundred years later to include all souls under that banner regardless of race or creed.
Without the inner dependence on eternal, universal truths the independence cannot hold up. This is true on an individual level as well as a national or world-wide level. The independence is an expression of the surrender to the greater force at the core or center. Much like a wheel cannot exist without connection to the strong center. We are dependent on the center to function.
As Gandhi and Christ and others taught, we grow from the inside out. We must BE the change we want to see in our own lives as well as the lives of others. Unless we deeply surrender to the process of examining our own motives and intentions, we are destined to go into the fray exposed in our most vulnerable areas. Dependence in this sense is humility. We are aware that we are all a work in progress. No one is perfect. We evaluate others on the basis of their inner intentions as we perceive them to be.
All this evaluating of ourselves and others takes work and it takes time. It cannot be done on a surface level with sound bytes. One cannot formulate a life-changing philosophy on Twitter! If we are lazy and we let the core of our wheel deteriorate, the outer rim will not hold. We must wake up and realize that the core needs attention. We must become dependent on our inner knowing and being that holds and safeguards the eternal truths.
We live in an extremely distracting culture; and, it is only going to become more so. We cannot wait until circumstances are ideal so we can contemplate these bigger ideas of why we are here and what it’s all about. We are going to have to go within and mine the gold in the midst of this Warring blender we’re swirling around in. We start by just being aware that the Truth exists in our hearts or our gut, if you will. Then we make the time to tune into it and really listen.
We can draft our own Declaration of Dependence. We promise to trust, honor and obey our inner voice. It is vital to know that the Truth operates by Love. If one’s inner voice is not in alignment with love and justice then more drilling down is needed. Our small ego-self is very adept at masquerading as Truth and Love, but one can always find the self-serving motive if they look hard enough.
America just celebrated Independence Day with much fan fare, fireworks and accolades to the warrior nation we are. We have that end of the spectrum down well. We could use more of the opposite end of the spectrum in the years to come.
Can we as individuals and as a nation admit that we don’t know it all? Can we admit we need to ask ourselves some hard questions? Can we admit we need to recognize we are all brothers and sisters on one beautiful planet on which we are totally dependent for our lives? I sure hope so.
Spirals of Response vs. Circles of Reaction
15 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in Cosmic Consciousness, Stress Relief, Unity and Oneness Consciousness
The spiral shape tends to inspire feelings of openness, freedom and adventure. It appears full of possibility. The circle on the other hand, is a closed system. Whatever you start with you finish with, so there isn’t opportunity for new adventure or imagination.
Circles are very useful, however, which is why they are pervasive in our culture. We have countless variations of the wheel serving all manner of utilitarian purposes. Our Newtonian science is based on the circle of cause and effect, action and reaction in a continuous circle. We don’t seem to have much use for spirals on the material plane of life because it is open ended.
When we use the circle of reaction method in relationships with others and nature itself, it shows itself to be inadequate in dealing with the complexities of life. This is evident in all the conflicts in the world today, which are fueled by individuals and nations in continuous circles of reaction to each other. The old Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud lives on in different costumes.
It seems to be time to use an expanded paradigm of thinking and relating to each other and the world at large. By opening the circle into a spiral, we give ourselves the opportunity to respond instead of react. What is the difference? REACT means ‘to act in return or opposition or towards a former state’ (like a circle). RESPOND means ‘to answer’ (more open).
Reactions are mostly automatic, like a knee-jerk reaction to stimulus. It is just “a happening”; and therefore, we don’t feel we have any control over it. However, in truth, we do have control and we do have a choice; but we don’t apply it to situations in which our buttons are pushed. Someone attacks us physically or verbally and a primal reaction is triggered. Our society has always condoned reacting by striking back in like kind– no questions asked.
Responding, or answering, on the other hand implies taking time between the initial action and the answer or response. This newly created time space offers opportunity for processing information by listening to the other. It lends a feeling of open-mindedness to consider various alternatives to raw reaction. We have time and space to possibly “walk in the other’s shoes” for a few moments, which would enable one to see a different point of view. This in turn could lead to an understanding of why the other did or said what they did. With understanding comes a space for cooperation, and even compassion in some cases.
A good example of responding is found in the practice of non-violent communication. which uses the “Jack in the Box” method of communication. This is how it works. You place your order at the drive-thru speaker box. Jack responds by repeating what you ordered. Then you respond by affirming whether or not they heard you right. If not, you continue the interaction until you know that Jack in the Box fully understands your order.
If Jack simply ‘reacted’ to your order by giving it to the cook without verifying it with you, your order could possibly be wrong about half of the time. Jack’s owners learned this early on and chose to respond instead of react. They didn’t want employees assuming they understood what the customer said. Assuming is a huge problem with reaction as it is based solely on one’s individual limited perception of the situation regardless of what others are saying or doing.
Do you agree that we need to learn how to change from circles of reaction to be able to flow into spirals of response? To be able to respond we must learn to listen to others with our heart instead of reacting to words with our biased minds. Try this simple exercise. Listen with your heart to your spouse, children, co-workers, fellow students for just one day. Don’t interrupt anyone by talking over them. Just listen. Take a breath. Wait and feel if you need to respond verbally. Many times you will find there’s no need to say anything. Simply by listening with your heart, they felt heard and seen. Your spiral of response has opened up an infinite world of possibilities.
STAND BY ME
15 Apr 2009 1 Comment
in Stress Relief, Unity and Oneness Consciousness Tags: censor thoughts, Compassion, friendship, love, overcomeing fear, Stress Relief, togetherness
There is a very wonderful video circulating the world on the internet. Many different people sing and play Stand By Me. Here is the link to tune in and watch as soon as you can. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741 Here are the lyrics:
When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we’ll see
No I won’t be afraid
Oh I won’t be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
Or the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won’t cry, I won’t cry
No I won’t shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
Darlin’ darlin’ stand by me
Oh stand by me
Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me
Whenever you’re in trouble just stand by me
Oh stand by me
Whoa stand now, oh stand, stand by me
Every one of us feels we can bear just about anything if we have someone standing by us that understand. As human beings we almost inherently know that we are not made to go it alone in this world. We are vitally connected to others. In this current world which seems very fractured, it is very easy to become extremely distracted by a constant bombardment of media, technology and economic stressors. Since the media’s mantra is “If it bleeds, it leads.” we usually only hear of negative and destructive events happening around the world.
Our poor minds can’t tell the difference between what we see on TV and what we see in real life, so it reacts to everything in real time. Whatever the mind hears in present time it believes it is happening now. So when you tell a sad story about a past event, your mind relives it as if it is happening in the present as you’re speaking. Then it releases all the stress hormones to help cope with that problem. This is why it is so vital to censor what we allow into our minds. If all it sees and hears is horrible negative news, it will be easy to think the whole world is like the news stories. But it isn’t! There are millions of miraculous, loving, compassionate acts of kindness happening every second around the globe that we never hear about.
There is more proof all the time that we create what we focus on. If we focus on all the good in our lives and have an attitude of gratitude for the many parts that are good and working, then we will get more of those things. Keeping a gratitude journal is very helpful. Recording all the things that are a blessing in your life will dramatically alter your world view.
There are many positive affirmative videos like the one mentioned above as well as inspirational affirmations circulating on the internet that one can plug into everyday to get a lift and get going in the right direction. In a way, the internet is providing a way for all of us to STAND BY EACH OTHER. The Stand By Me video is awesome because the music and the words resonate so deeply within and we can feel connected to everyone.
The Universe is conspiring to teach us Compassionate Connection through these testing times. The world is especially polarized now with very little neutral ground to dabble around in. We are forced to make a choice for the light or the dark, the love or the fear. Every moment is an opportunity to choose which side we want to put our energy toward. Anything that helps us grow toward compassion and/or connection with others is sacred work. When we stand by each other we are standing on holy ground.
Compassion means with passion and passion sometimes means suffering. We are with others in their suffering and that is what helps lighten the load. Jesus said this too. He said “Cast your cares on me, because I care for you”. The Christ is within you and me and that is what we do… we stand by each other. We are to be the Good Samaritan for each other.
Play that video again and again until the joy of it just overflows.
WHAT TIME IS IT ANYWAY?!
23 Jan 2009 1 Comment
in Cosmic Consciousness, Politics, Quantum Shifts, Unity and Oneness Consciousness Tags: 2012, Apocalypse, either/or thinking, End Times, Mayan Prophesy, Nostradamus, tribal warfare
Is this the end times? Are all the prophesies of the Bible, Nostradamus, the Mayan, Aztec, and Hopi tribes unfolding now? If so, when will this happen? What is ending and what may be beginning? Some claim the end is 2012, some say it’s any day now, some say 2030 give or take a few years. There are many interpretations from which we can choose. We can also choose to focus on what is dying or what is being born. The majority chose to look to the birth of the new in our last election. However, the minority chose to hold onto the past.
Our polarized tribal social systems have kept us running in place, clinging to a narrow “us vs. them” ideology that allows us to believe we are always right and they are always wrong… or we’re good and they’re evil. Americans haven’t had much incentive to break free of this limiting box, because we still believe that we’re in control to a certain extent. But that illusion of control is deteriorating now too, and fears of calamity are mounting.
Catastrophes always seem to wake us up and open us up. We have a Dr. Phil “ How’s that workin’ for ya?” moment. Here again we can choose to see the lesson in the problem or let the problem overwhelm us. Fear and confusion just block our ability to make better choices. Between the collapse of world financial markets, threat of a Middle East Armageddon scenario, a repeat of the 1930’s Great Depression, the return of the Ten Plagues of Egypt and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, many are close to a panic state.
Who will save us? Is it time for the return of a savior to vanquish all the evil and restore the kingdom to the faithful? Is it time for the arrival of the mother ship from outer space to beam the faithful up? Some may have already left or “ascended” to Planet 2, a theoretical cloaked planet near here without as many bad guys (and gals) as our Earth . Others are doggedly slugging it out in the battle fields as God’s warriors, but each side believes God is only on their side.
Since these deliverance scenarios have been in place for millennia in every tribe and religion, and the world hasn’t yet ended; we can pretty well deduce from history that they were not meant to be taken literally. They were meant to be taken as a symbolic or metaphorical description of a spiritually awakened understanding of the future rather than a literal interpretation. Most all the doomsday predictions point to our current period, which indicates that the time is now to shift gears and rise into that higher consciousness in order to see the big picture on a global scale. All prophesies include clear guidance as to how humanity can avoid total destruction by rising above tribal ignorance and cultural differences to discover our common yearning for peace and freedom. For example, the Hopi prophesies state “We are the ones we have been waiting for”.
Many still choose to remain in tribal “us vs. them” boxes of prejudiced beliefs, fighting endless wars at home and abroad. But this is the very world system that is self destructing. We have played all the cards in the deck. This game is over- the game of “let’s see how long we can continue to destroy each other and the planet”.
We can create a more positive end time scenario but we must choose to let go of our right to play God trying to control everything and live from the inside out with our hearts instead. We don’t have to wait until more catastrophes happen in our lives to turn the tide. Each one of us has the light of understanding in our core that we can access at anytime we choose. We call it our gut feeling, our sixth sense or intuition. It is a plumb line of justice and truth we can always use to measure and discern the bad, better and best individually and collectively. Our collective thoughts can create a new reality.
What time is it? It is time to choose the world we want to create. The time is NOW.
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