"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
Have you ever arrived at a point in your life - when you mandated a change must be made? This is a reminder that it is in the everyday ordinary in which we live. And it is here where we can make a difference - not anywhere else.
For me this means taking each moment provided me, each ordinary-regular-fill-your-tank-with-gas, grab-a-bite-to-eat and go-to-work-to-pay-your-bills moment and being present with it as much as possible. Not anticipating the good or the bad of it, but feeling my way forward with heart and soul. Filtering the ordinary through non-judgmental loving kindness and taking a stand for joy and ease. And by making a pledge toward this aim just like "with liberty and justice for all."
It is from this context I am righting my own personal ship of state. "Come on, Lani," I hear you thinking, "This is more of that positive-thinking-bullshit - isn't it?
...not if you live it.
Not if you take it out of your head and turn it into your experience. That is when what you think manifests into real world stuff. No need to take my word for it. Do the experiment for yourself. Make a commitment to a new context.
You may not have realized it, but your doing it anyway. Your life is lived either within a default context made for you by circumstance or within a context you decide upon and give your full attention to. And when you decide to shine a light on that context you will find things do get easier and you are a lot less lost. You will be able to measure any situation against it. Choices become easy as your declaration to "live a life of peaceful serenity" or "live in joy and ease" becomes your guide.
How does one choose a new context? No one can do it for you. You must ask for inner guidance. If you have never done that before here is how John Pendergast describes that process...
"The mind likes a simple yes or no, yet life presents itself in endless shades of gray. A creative response will be nuanced and unique for each situation. If we are unsure of our next step or puzzled by something, it is good to slow down and check inside for guidance. I have learned that there is an art to sitting with a question that catalyzes the emergence of a deeper intelligence. The first step is to clarify the question. What are you really asking? Take time to make it as clear as possible. Once you have formulated it, pose it to yourself and then be quiet. It is like dropping a stone into a pond- toss it in and then watch the ripples. Don't look to your thinking mind for an answer. This is not an analytic process. Let your attention rest in your heart center. A response can come from any direction- a felt sense, a waking or dream image, an emotion, or a direct knowing. If the response feels resonant, act on it and see how it works out."
Picking just one context from which to live is the way to go. MORE THAN ONE DILUTES AND CONFUSES. Seek out that which matters to you most at this moment and make a simple declaration, one that can be made in a single sentence. This is what you are after. Do not feel constrained that this declaration must become your family's motto in perpetuity and be engraved on a crest or a stone. This declaration is for now. It is not forever.
When you make a declaration you become powerfully focused and clear. Then you can say "yes" and "no" to people and mean it because you can gauge your answer from within your new context. It is then, and only then you will begin to actively change the trajectory of your life because you will be standing in your natural truth and not anyone else's.
Nature stands in it's own truth every day without equivocating. If you still find it challenging to tap into where your truest nature stands here are some helpful words from John O'Donohue to help you...
How does one choose a new context? No one can do it for you. You must ask for inner guidance. If you have never done that before here is how John Pendergast describes that process...
"The mind likes a simple yes or no, yet life presents itself in endless shades of gray. A creative response will be nuanced and unique for each situation. If we are unsure of our next step or puzzled by something, it is good to slow down and check inside for guidance. I have learned that there is an art to sitting with a question that catalyzes the emergence of a deeper intelligence. The first step is to clarify the question. What are you really asking? Take time to make it as clear as possible. Once you have formulated it, pose it to yourself and then be quiet. It is like dropping a stone into a pond- toss it in and then watch the ripples. Don't look to your thinking mind for an answer. This is not an analytic process. Let your attention rest in your heart center. A response can come from any direction- a felt sense, a waking or dream image, an emotion, or a direct knowing. If the response feels resonant, act on it and see how it works out."
Picking just one context from which to live is the way to go. MORE THAN ONE DILUTES AND CONFUSES. Seek out that which matters to you most at this moment and make a simple declaration, one that can be made in a single sentence. This is what you are after. Do not feel constrained that this declaration must become your family's motto in perpetuity and be engraved on a crest or a stone. This declaration is for now. It is not forever.
When you make a declaration you become powerfully focused and clear. Then you can say "yes" and "no" to people and mean it because you can gauge your answer from within your new context. It is then, and only then you will begin to actively change the trajectory of your life because you will be standing in your natural truth and not anyone else's.
Nature stands in it's own truth every day without equivocating. If you still find it challenging to tap into where your truest nature stands here are some helpful words from John O'Donohue to help you...
Celtic wisdom was deeply aware that Nature had a mind and spirit of its own. Mountains have great souls full of memory. A mountain watches over a landscape and lures its mind towards the horizon. Streams and rivers never rest; they are relentless nomads who claim neither shape nor place. Stones and fields inhabit a Zen-like stillness and seem immune to all desire. Nature is always wrapped in seamless prayer. Unlike us, Nature does not seem to suffer the separation or distance that thought brings. Nature never seems cut off from her own presence. She lives all the time in the embrace of her own unity. Perhaps, unknown to us, she sympathizes with our relentless dislocation and distraction. She certainly knows how to calm our turbulent minds when we trust ourselves into the silence and stillness of her embrace. Amongst Nature we come to remember the wisdom of our own inner nature."
As I am made from nature and conceive of myself as part of the interplay with nature I accept the challenge to move organically through my life freely and unbounded like nature. I have gleaned much wisdom from walking in nature. From a mature tree struck down in a forest slowly becoming a fine and fertile host for the growth of another or from feeling a stand of saplings stalwartly guarding and guiding me along a strange new path.
I hope I have given you a place to start and introduced you to the tools you already possess to manifest your own extraordinary life.
It is amongst the ordinary I have found the extraordinary. There's no where else it could be!
Can life be both regular and extra special at the same time?
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