“It’s not going to work.”
“I’m not good enough.”
Ah, the dream-killer voice
of my human self.
That’s my cue to turn it over to the Divine.
Dearest High Glory of All, I give you this doubt and fear.
I don’t need to
try to muscle out of it.
I simply give you
my perceived limitations
Perhaps this situation calls for my inner bobcat?
and then go about my business,
living my Full Glory of You.
As always, please post your thoughts and comments below . . .
Panic Rising
Feeling this sensation
Inside me
that I tend to call
Panic.
Noticing.
Breathing.
Feeling urgency
and refraining from
Thinking.
Labeling.
Judging.
Instead.
Being.
Being with the
Sensation
Inside of me.
Ah,
False alarm.
Nothing to do.
Simply a
Call.
To be.
Be with myself.
Allowing the rising.
Noticing rising
Is always followed
by subsiding.
Rising.
Subsiding.
Rising.
Subsiding.
Surrendering.
Accepting.
Breathing.
Feeling this sensation
Inside me
that I tend to call
Bliss.
Noticing.
Breathing.
Feeling attachment
and refraining from
Thinking.
Labeling.
Judging.
Being.
Being with the
Sensation
Inside of me.
Ah,
False alarm.
Nothing to do.
Simply a
Call
To be.
Be with myself.
Allowing the rising.
Noticing rising
Is always followed
by subsiding.
Rising.
Subsiding.
Rising.
Subsiding.
Surrendering.
Accepting.
Breathing.
Learning to love.
The rising.
The subsiding.
We tend to think our happiness lies in the predictable and permanent instead of being present with life when the tide comes in and when the tide goes out.
In Pema Chödrön’s book, Comfortable with Uncertainty, she says, “We become habituated to reaching for something to ease the edginess of the moment. Thus we become less and less able to reside with even the most fleeting uneasiness or discomfort. What begins as a slight shift of energy – a minor tightening of our stomach, a vague, indefinable feeling that something bad is about to happen – escalates into addiction. This is our way of trying to make life predictable.”
What’s so strange to me: I KNOW that nothing’s permanent and yet, I still try to arrange things so that, finally, I’ll have something I can “count on.” Ironically, I can count on the ebb and flow of life, but that isn’t what I want. I want to make the unpredictable predictable. Ah, one of the many faces of trying to control . . .
As much as I’d love to be in control, it has yet to yield anywhere near the amount of happiness I think it should! So, I’m practicing sitting with the uncomfortable feelings. What’s so amazing to me: I often experience a sublime peace when I’m not fighting what is.
I’m also practicing enjoying the adventure of chaos. As I’m going to yet another pet store to get new food and more remedies that might help my kitty Miles feel better, I surrender to not being in charge.
When I’d really love a particular thing to happen, I notice that attachment doesn’t feel good. So, I say to myself, often out loud, “It will happen. Or it won’t happen.” And, I’ve found happiness in releasing attachment.
What I’m noticing more and more: the sweetness in life, even when I feel uncomfortable and even when things aren’t as I wish they would be.
What about you? What does your relationship with discomfort, predictability and permanence look like? What do you notice about happiness for you? Please share below . . .
With Valentine’s Day next Tuesday, I’m happy to share this new piece with you.
Love Breaks Through
When you think your heart can’t hurt any more,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we live courageously,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When I’m unbearably hard on myself,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we feel so scared we’re paralyzed,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When your hatred seems justified,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When I notice my self-compassion,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When it seems there is no answer,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When our hearts are full,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When all you feel is despair,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we’ve lost hope and given up,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When there’s so much tenderness in your heart,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When the injustice seems too great to bear,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When your arms are open wide,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When I don’t know which way to go,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When the rage threatens to consume you,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When it looks like we’re at an impasse,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When I feel so alone,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we have no idea how to solve this,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When you become aware you’re numb,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When it feels like there’s only confusion,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we can’t seem to move forward,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When you feel like you’ve tried everything,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When I’m railing against what is,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we aren’t sure of the question, much less the answer,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When we get comfortable with discomfort,
LOVE Breaks Through.
When I must say the hard thing,
LOVE Breaks Through.
Through every joy and every sorrow,
LOVE Breaks Through.
With every breath we take,
LOVE Breaks Through.
LOVE.
Breaks Through.
So, what about you? When do you notice love breaking through? What happens for you when love breaks through?
The change of administration in Washington here in the U.S. has many people feeling uncertain about what the future holds. The truth is that we never know what the future holds. And, times of transition tend to make us hyper-aware of that.
So, what can we rely on?
For some it’s faith and spiritual practice. For others it’s their own internal strengths and gifts.
While I rely on my faith and spiritual practice as well as my internal strengths and gifts, I also rely on my relationship with nature.
Here’s a 3-minute clip from a talk I gave at church this past summer about how nature sustains me.
Nature Shows Me that I Do Belong
I’d love to know what you rely on when faced with uncertainty . . .
For years, well decades really, I’ve wondered how to be grateful when “bad” things happen. As I become more and more aware that I don’t have a clue what’s “bad” and what’s “good,” it’s slowly dawning on me that this is the doorway.
As I don’t so quickly push away “bad” things, I’m giving myself the opportunity to be with them, to be with everything – “good” and “bad.”
As I allow myself to simply be with things, rather than categorizing and exiling the “bad,” then I’m way more relaxed.
Apparently labeling and banishing has taken a whole lotta energy.
As I’m accepting more and judging less, I breathe deeper and feel grateful for that additional oxygen. With more oxygen circulating throughout me, it occurs to me that anything I refuse to accept literally takes life away from me.
As I accept more and more, I have more and more access to life, all life. I get to experience the sweetness in each moment, whether it’s the sweetness of joy, the sweetness of heartbreak or one of the infinite varieties of sweetness.
I am there, in the moment. Fully alive, fully available, fully accepting. Now that’s something to be fully grateful for!
For those of you in the US, Happy Thanksgiving.
For all of us, may we be fully grateful for all of it!
As always, I’d love your thoughts and comments below.
(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming stress and overwhelm into clarity and purpose”)
One of my mentors, Dicken Bettinger, posted thoughts on Facebook worth repeating here today.
“The real question is not what will happen as a result of this election.
Politicians do not determine the overall level of well-being of those who live in their country.
To me, the real questions are:
The problems of the world ultimately will not be resolved on a political level. The problems of the world will ultimately be resolved only by each of us bringing more love and understanding into the world.
May we all get better at listening for, and to, the inner wisdom that continues to guide us toward a more peaceful and loving world community.”
– Dicken Bettinger, originally published on Facebook
As always, I’d love your thoughts and comments below.
A few weeks ago, after working with a client, I was reflecting on the messiness of being human. The piece below came forth. Yesterday, I was agitated about the messiness of my own life and thought it might be good to share this piece!
So, I’m not getting my work done as fast as I’d like . . . Do I really want to overlook the pure joy in this “annoyance?”
All of It
Without perfection,
there’s presence.
Without criticism,
expression.
Without procrastination,
progress.
Attempting perfection
brings completion.
Hearing criticism,
compassion.
Procrastinating,
a bit of movement.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
completing the circle
of being alive.
As always, I’d love your thoughts and comments below.
(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming stress and overwhelm into clarity and purpose”)
After studying A Course of Love for 10 months, I finished reading it a couple of months ago. At the end of the book, it instructed me to begin again – read it a second time!
Since then, I had resisted rereading. After all, it is not light summer vacation reading.
Then, a couple of weeks ago in my study group, I was guided to re-read several specific chapters. In the past two weeks, I have repeatedly read and re-read seven chapters.
These chapters addressed what to do about not liking several situations in my life. My takeaways: I do not have to like the circumstances, but rather I need to accept how I feel about the circumstances.
Homage to an Audi. I loved this car, my dream car. Such a beautiful car and an amazing driving experience. And a few weeks ago her engine died. To say I didn’t like this is a ridiculous understatement. I’m still grieving. And, I have accepted that I’m still grieving. And yes, I know she was “just a car.” A car that I loved.
This has been life-changing for me. I quit fighting myself and my feelings.
I wonder if every war there ever was, internal and external, was started to get away from feelings we didn’t like.
What a simple solution to accept that I feel sad or mad, lonely or hopeless, envious or not enough rather than wage an internal battle against these feelings or try to get away from them.
As I’ve accepted my feelings, I’ve felt this new tenderness for myself. It’s also been heartwarming to witness how quickly my feelings shift as I am willing to embrace them. And, I’ve noticed that I’m advocating for what I need and desire in a more clear and direct way.
I highly recommend accepting whatever you are feeling.
I’d love to hear your experiences . . . post them below in the comments section . . .
(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming crisis into clarity and purpose”)
I’ve worked with several clients this week around moving through fear. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of being in romantic partnership with the wrong person. Fear the money will run out. Fear of hiring the wrong person. Fear of not getting everything done because the business is growing so quickly.
And, here’s the fascinating thing about the content of the fear. The specifics of what we are afraid of don’t matter. It’s best if we don’t engage with the content.
I can hear you now, “But I must hire the right person.” Yes, absolutely. And when were our best decisions ever made from fear?
So, if you’re experiencing fear right now (or sometime down the road), don’t engage with the content. Simply notice you are having some fear thoughts. A few dark clouds of the mind.
Isn’t it clear that these dark cloud will be moving on soon? As with
the dark clouds that wander through our mind from time to time . . .
Allow them to dissipate and move on. When your mood is once again light and hopeful, then revisit whatever decisions need to be made. You may even be pleasantly surprised to find that, at that point, no decisions do need to be made or that the decision is obvious.
(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming crisis into clarity and purpose”)