All One

How Do I Truly Experience Home?

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I’m just back from a quick trip to Detroit to spend the weekend with my beloved niece, Alisha. For my whole life, I’ve preferred to drive to places rather than fly. I haven’t liked being off the ground, and I really haven’t liked feeling almost claustrophobic in a flying Greyhound.

Until this trip.

Milky way reflection at William's Lake, Colorado

Something shifted. I loved being in the air. I loved looking out into and flying through infinity. Especially at night. I felt at home in the Universe and wished I didn’t have the plane around me.

This shift startled me. What was going on?

Talking to my own coach today, I realized my sense of home is expanding. I can feel the vast nature of my spiritual home. I can feel the unlimitedness of me – beyond my body home, my wonderful casita home and my planet home.

Wow! That is something to write home about . . .

What about you? What does this bring up for you? How do you experience home?

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

One Heart

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Ann Strong - Strong from Within

Wholeheartedness.
Is my Joy.

Unity.
In relationship.
As relationship.
For relationship.
With All.

Without feeling separate.
Without judging.
Without seeking.

In service to Self.
In service to Love.
In service to All.

Present.
Listening.
Knowing.

Wholeheartedness.
One Heart.

One Love.
All One Heart.
One Heart.

One Heart.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

Full Dedication

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We had the honor of six Tibetan Buddhist monks chanting for us at church last Sunday. Only one of them spoke English, and he spoke for less than two minutes. I was listening to him and now I don’t remember what he was saying. Then, all of the sudden, it seemed as though he woke me up.

He said that our dedication would make the difference. We could pray for one – ourselves or another, or we could pray for all.

If I am praying for patience or peace or prosperity for myself, why would I not pray for patience or peace or prosperity for everyone?

If I am praying for healing or happiness or humor for another, why would I not pray for healing or happiness or humor for all?

I’m not sure why this concept felt so new to me. I have written many affirmative prayers and have often included a Buddhist phrase, “may all beings . . .”

For some reason, the way he said it called me to be present with holding a desire for all, instead of holding a desire for just me or just my friend. The beauty of this: it requires no more of me to dedicate my prayers for all.

So, I wrote a new prayer. For All of us.

AStrong061715-300x300
Why pray for only me, when I can pray for All of us? When my heart
goes out to a friend in pain, why not send my heart out to All who are
in pain?

For the Love of All

May All of us hold our humanity lightly
and embody our Divinity powerfully.

May All of us express our own unique gifts,
in ways that only we can.

May All of us lose track of time,
Living the present moment, fully and completely.

May All of us know ourselves as Love.
May All of us know ourselves as Love.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within.”)

I would love your thoughts and responses. Post comments and insights below . . .

How to Be More Present, Experiencing Your Awesome Life

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“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh
From the book, Peace Is Every Step

Allergies caught me off-guard a few weeks ago. Turns out that Junipers are a big culprit in wonderful Santa Fe.

Well, in the past when I lived in Denver, ragweed allergies consumed many of my autumn seasons. I could barely take in the glory of the changing leaves because I was so busy praying for frost. A hard frost that would kill anything that was bothering me.

This year, I wasn’t willing to give my spring to allergies. So, I started taking three homeopathic remedies from Whole Foods.

More importantly, I decided to become really present to Junipers. I had spent decades afraid of ragweed. To this day, I’m not sure what ragweed looks like! Crazy.

The good news about Junipers: I know exactly what they look like. They grow everywhere here. They surround my casita and grow prolifically both in town and along all my walking trails.

Out of my sheer stubbornness, I decided to befriend Junipers, become One with Junipers and refused to resist Junipers.

junipers in Santa Fe
I am Juniper. We aren’t the most beautiful tree on the planet, but we
do grow like crazy! I am being present as Juniper and with Juniper in
my big, beautiful backyard, the Galisteo Basin Preserve. Why would I
ever want to resist Junipers and miss the glory of this full moon?!?

I truly believe we all (you, me and Junipers) are One. Therefore, I am Juniper.

And you know, a strange and wonderful thing has happened. I still have some allergy symptoms AND I am loving spring here. The more present I am, even with circumstances I would prefer to be different, the more I’m experiencing my awesome life.

So, what about you? How can you become more present to all of your life – the good, the bad, the ugly? What I’ve noticed, when I am willing to be present with what I think is bad and ugly, my experience of life becomes beautiful . . .

Post your comments and insights below.

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My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order

Transformation: One

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I’ve been living in Santa Fe for almost two months. Long enough to start noticing that all my friends don’t live here.

Several have already come to visit. And, I do have some new friendly New Mexico acquaintances.

Still, as much as I’m loving my new life and my new home . . .

So, I wrote a piece about it . . .

One

ONE

I thought I was alone.
I felt alone.
Lonely.

One.
I am One.
Even the words
alONE and lONEly
include ONE.

Not the one that is
the loneliest number.
Rather, ONE that is ALL.

There is only ONE.
ONE.

Alone.
Looks suspiciously like
ALL ONE.

So much for lonely.
Perhaps impossible
if seen from this ONE perspective.

Ah, the blurry line of reality.

And still
ONE.

You gotta love what this Land of Enchantment does with a typical thought like, “I feel lonely”!!!

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

==========================

My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order

Getting to the bottom of Law of Attraction

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I have had a desire for awhile now to get to the bottom of the Law of Attraction (LOA).  For many years, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it.  

On the one hand:
I believe and know that like attracts like.  I do know that LOA is all about feeling, that the only reason I desire a red BMW or a red hot lover is so that I can feel something different than I feel without the car and the guy.  Maybe I believe I’ll feel more powerful with the car and more cherished and beautiful with the guy.  Jeannette Maw of goodvibecoach.com, one of my favorite LOA coaches, says simply, “feel now how you would feel then.”

Okay, so I do something now that helps me feel powerful, cherished or beautiful, then along comes the car and the guy because like attracts like.  And, even if the car or the guy doesn’t arrive instantly, I have already gotten to feel more powerful, cherished and beautiful, which is what I felt I wanted in the first place.

On the other hand:
What I haven’t been so sure about:  if I feel groovy, skip and hum my way through life, feeling powerful, cherished and beautiful, then all good things will come to me?  What if the car turns out to be a pain?  Do I know that car is best for me?  Is my highest goal in life to feel good as much of the time as possible?  What do I do when I feel bad?

I found some answers that feel deeply true for me in the book, “The Translucent Revolution,” by Arjuna Ardagh . . .

He talks about translucent art not coming from the artist’s personality, but rather through it.  I realized that many of the things I would love to feel are for my personality rather than through it.  When I desire feeling powerful, cherished and beautiful, that satisfies my personality.  That’s where my unrest came in.  I just knew there was more.

Had I ever felt anything that came through my personality?

Yes.  Yes, I have.  Only a few times in my life, all in the past few years.  I felt a feeling so delicious, so complete, so peaceful, so powerful/cherished/beautiful all at once.  I can describe it only as Oneness and that description falls short. 

I felt it:

  • while reading a passage from “The Power of Now,” by Eckhart Tolle
  • after a lecture by Eli Bear
  • while test-driving a BMW
  • during some yoga classes
  • while spooning with my lover in syncronized breathing
  • while laying on the ground under a tree
  • during some Dances of Universal Peace
  • while soaking up the New Mexico desert
  • after reading a passage in “The Translucent Revolution.”

This feeling came through my personality, transcended my personality.  It feels so rich and so complete that it has become my most important intention to allow myself to feel that Oneness more and more.  I know it can be felt in any moment. 

The keys seem to be:

  • Allowing
  • Being fully present
  • Detachment

I have no idea if this is a complete list.  I am open to learning more.  I would love your input.  Have you experienced something like what I describe as Oneness?  What have you noticed allows you to experience it more frequently? 

Self improvement: the irony of becoming a better person by doing something I do so poorly (day 14)

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Driving home from yoga today, I realized that I am a much more patient, kind, compassionate driver on the drive home from yoga than on the drive to yoga.

Even though my yoga studio is a mile from my house, I almost always drive. And the past few weeks, I’ve tended to run late. I don’t fully stop at the stop signs and I’m impatient at the lights. And annoyed with myself for running late.

Taking the same route home, I’m present and fully stopped at stop signs, allowing others at four-way stops to go first. I enjoy the time at the red lights and praise myself for giving myself the gift of yoga.

Having practiced yoga for only a few months, I have yet to be able to do a pose exactly how it’s suppose to be done or for the full length of time. Quite humbling for a girl who likes to be great at everything! So, somewhere during each class, I let go of judgment, impatience and the need to be great. I surrender to whatever is. Even when it looks ugly and hurts – two of my least favorites!

And then I drive home in that surrendered bliss – how great is that?!?