The Joy of Obstinance

No! I don't want to! No! I will not! These are the things I say to myself when I am feeling completely obstinate. It is a feeling of standing still and strongly opposing that which is said to be important or otherwise necessary. Well I do not care what they say, I am not going to go along. I am going to make a grimace with my lips while I grit my teeth and furrow my brow! I am clinching my fists and being a big fat baby and saying, "No way, not me, not now, no how!"

Is this something bad? Let's take another look. How often are we standing strongly? How many times are we so sure - down to our marrow - about something? Isn't this kind of attitude a clue telling us something about ourselves and the way we see our world? 

What if we maintain the same kind of strong stance but unclinch our fists?

What if we stop judging it from the outside and begin to look inside and underneath the experience? 

I find by doing this then somehow the thing and I are transformed. It is becoming more true that the thing I ENJOY not doing becomes my JOY in doing of the other. In accepting my stubborn stance I see the opposing side has become my friend. It shows me the way. And then - the strangest thing of all happens - the opposing thing just dissolves - POOF - and I am left in peace.

Turning things "outside in" like this is a new habit I am forming. Leaving off JUDGMENT for OBSERVING is the  essence of this new practice. Yes, I still go thru the usual angst of being human and not liking a place or a situation. But taking a moment to become a witness and really look at a thing is "good stuff making."

Have you ever turned things around? I would be curious to hear about it.

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Enlightened Down South

The day is bright with possibilities after stretching and strengthening my back and my spirit. The instructor asked us to set our intention for the day. Was a beautiful yoga class @YogaGarden this am. 

My intention came to me quickly - "I allow Grace, Love & Abundance into my life." 

Seems like a no brainer. Of course we all want Grace, Love & Abundance. But you got to make them welcome. You have to know you are deserving of all things good. You gotta let them in! 

So I did just that, then I did my yoga and then I gave thanks for the free flow of Grace, Love & Abundance to me and from me towards others. That's what flow means - it is a give and take, a gracious sharing back and forth.

And then I took my new-age-yoga-doin-self out for a BBQ sandwich. Amen and pass the moist towelettes! This is enlightenment down south. Namaste Y'all.

How did you nourish yourself today?

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Self Love

Soulfully attending to body, mind and spirit manifests all manner of actual good things into being. Here is another list to tack up on the mirror or place by the bed to remind us of this!

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Exercise By Jessica Ortner 

1) Movement in your body means movement in your life. Over and over again, I’ve seen how true that is for me and my life. When I’m feeling stuck, I know I need to move.

2) Movement is an expression of gratitude toward my body for all it does for me.

3) Movement makes me feel connected to my body and its intelligence, which helps me make better decisions and keeps me feeling like my best self.

4) I’m smarter and more creative when I’m exercising. (Research backs this up; exercise causes increased blood flow to the brain, which stimulates the creative centers in the brain.)

5) Movement is a spiritual experience for me, like a physical form of prayer or a moving meditation.

6) Movement makes me feel strong, confident, beautiful, and sexy, like a force to be reckoned with.

7) Movement helps me be in the present moment, which helps me feel at peace.

8) Movement is one of the ways I show myself love, so when I exercise, I’m reminding myself that I’m worthy of my own love.

9)  Movement makes me feel playful and energetic.

10) Movement makes me feel powerful in a deep and authentic way.

Notice what’s missing here? “Burning calories” and “losing weight” appear exactly nowhere on my list.

Gonna take these ideas and run with them! Nothing bad can ever happen by loving yourself...don't you just think?

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At Your Service

The Attendant

I am full of gratitude for this awareness. I am full of joy. My heart confirms this truth. 

My attendant attends to the needs of my spirit, of my soul. My attendant is my body. It is my mind. It is not me. Like my grief was NOT ME, the physical manifestation of myself, my attendant, is NOT ME. I am full of joy for this gift of awareness. My heart confirms this truth. 

When we are out among each other our attendants accompany us to each other. We thank them for bringing us together. Then we meet - one soul to another. It is gracious, it is lovely, it is warmth and it is love. 

My Attendant serves me well, but I am not it. I am so much more. For this awareness I am grateful. My heart confirms this truth. 

My attendant brings me to places and makes my soul welcome. It opens doors and fulfills my earthly needs. It does not see deeply or create profoundly. It simply ferries me to where I wish to go.

I revel in the cleaving of my body from my soul. I am awash in corny gratitude to know I am not it. Yet it has true value. It is my capsule, it is my truck. It is my calm helper as I bound toward becoming here on this earth. "Thank you Jeeves old man, you can go now, I am arrived."

I know I must care for you and make welcome your well being. For you are the vehicle by which I am able to stay here and learn and to teach.

Thank you my attendant for all the service you provide. But you are NOT ME. I am my soul. You so often arrive before me, but I am the soul that becomes present and awake to meet you and your soul right here and right now.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for your help!

How do you think we are put together?

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Manifesting: the process revealed

"We need not always be effective, but only transparent and vulnerable. Then we are instruments, no matter what we do." ~ richard rohr

I have been gandering at this transition from grieving to gratitud-ing I am making. This is what I have come up with so far.

With no anecdote here that will ground this esoteric discussion, I hope you will stick with me as I dissect why things are seeming to be going my way more and more these days - even when "bad" things happen.

Even though I am unaware of where I am going, what purpose I serve or how I will make my way in this world, I am becoming aware of the process by which my best life can be unfolded.

Acceptance of "what is", i. e. scraping illusion for the subtler substance of things is becoming my go to response in any situation. From here I find myself Requesting what I would like to happen within the circumstance at hand. Then things seem to pan out in my favor --usually in a way I could not have foreseen.

Turns out doing things in this order suits both me and the universe. As I am accepting of what is, my request for change comes from a meatier less grasping place. It rolls with the current rather than crashes into it! This way I am in the flow, flowing forward toward my Destiny...which is still TBD.

And through it all I am finding being transparent and vulnerable allows things to move through me - for my own benefit - and for the benefit of others I hope. I am no longer getting stuck in emotional angst of wishing this "had never happened" or that "is not how it is supposed to be." 

The more I do it the easier it is to be transparent and vulnerable. I recognize these are the vehicles that give juice to things; they allow connections to be made and soulful growth to occur. Plus I am sure whatever I am going through is not singular in nature. I am, as you are, human.

That's where the 'instrument' part of Richard Rohr's quote comes in. I can not think of anything more satisfying than being myself, doing what I love and having those two things serve others.

That is as far as my plan goes these days. Got no details. Got no "to do" list. Got no worries that if I follow this process more will be revealed elegantly and with ease. 

So here are the steps again cuz people like numbering things...

1) Complete acceptance of what is

2) Request anything you like from a place of acceptance

3) Watch as your life favorably unfolds.

Manifesting in this way is very new to me so I am open to any tweaking of the above process! But so far so good...

How do you make manifest the things you desire?

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Rinse and Repeat

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift…" 

~ Albert Einstein

Knowing this I ask again --- what does it feel like to receive unconditional love? 

Now without labeling, without using words or employing images - or memory even - can you summon up the feeling? Can you use your subtler senses to bask in It's immensity? 

Mmm mmm good! 

Now - as most shampoo bottles instruct - rinse and repeat. Rinse off the conditions in which you find yourself and stretch yourself to repeat feeling this feeling once daily.

It would be monumental if we could daily attend to our emotional and intuitive hygiene in this way. Taking a moment each day of our lives to rinse and repeat might allow our day (and thus our lives) to unfold more favorably. 

This is the manner in which I am living today. I am stretching myself beyond what is, letting go of business as usual and allowing what serves best to unfold before me. It is scary. It is uncomfortable. I have much less control, but I know that by attending to my emotional hygiene there is a much richer chance I might evolve toward a greater vision for my life than I can currently conceive.

Got any questions? Me too - loads. But gonna set them aside to feel my way forward today?

Could you let go - even just a little today - to make room for new possibilities?

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Imagine

What does it feel like to receive unconditional love?

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