Have you ever thought about what the single worst thing which could happen in your life could be? if you had asked me a year ago, I would have told you I was fighting for my independence. It was a year ago this month that RGRTA moved from regular service to supplemental service, which means you virtually have no service. in real terms, it meant I could no longer leave my house by myself to go anywhere other then for a roll around the block. Every once in a while I have been fortunate enough to get a ride, but those are more of a rarity and not something I can ever count on.
Read more“I am here to enjoy life to its fullest!”
I have been thinking about my relationship with my body for a while now, as it has not always been the healthiest of relationships. Some teachers in my life have tried to tell me my body is a prison which limits my spirit. Others have taught me my body is the love of my life. What I know is that my body is what it is at any moment of my existence and it is what houses my spirit which lives within it. Whether it is a panacea or a prison, I have come to this place where I must appreciate and enjoy it for what it is while my spirit is in it.
Read moreHow do you heal a broken heart?
The other morning, I found myself hearing this song from my past, how do you heal a broken heart? As I listened to it, I came to realize that it has been a while since my heart had been broken, at least in a relationship. So I am sitting here glancing at my wife and partner in life of 11 years now and realizing just how blessed I am to have so much love in my life. I never thought I would find someone to share my life with who would love me unconditionally for who I am. I am so grateful the Universe found a way of bringing us together across the miles.
Read moreHow do you get to Carnegie Hall?
I remember hearing this joke once on a Meg Christian and Chris Williamson CD. They said, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Practice. Practice. It seems like a good part of my life I have practiced some very negative feelings and behaviors to the place I have mastered them. I had reached a place where I did not need to practice feeling lack, or doubt, or worry, or having a low self-esteem, or thinking I was stupid or unattractive. I had practiced them so long that I had mastered them.
Read moreWho am I talking with?
When I am sitting in a room with others, then I know who I am speaking to and hopefully I know who is listening. However, there are times that I hear myself speaking and there are not words coming out of my mouth. It is at that time, I realize that many of the conversations I have in life are with me. Sometimes those conversations are about things I need to do. Like this morning, I was telling myself what I needed to accomplish today. Other times, however, I find myself critically listening to what I am saying in my brain and deciding if I believe what I am saying.
Read moreTo the love of my life,
Dear Body,
I have been encouraging everyone to write love letters to themselves. However, it has been a while; if I ever have, that I have taken the time to let you know how much I love you. You have been with me from the moment I was born and will be with me to the moment I move to the next phase of my spiritual journey. No matter where I have lived, who I have loved, what I have been doing, you have been with me and loved me unconditionally.
Read moreThe Power of Respect
I have been thinking a lot about respecting myself. One of the most powerful things I ever read in one of Don Miguel Ruiz’s books was that others can only abuse you to the level you are willing to abuse yourself. Abuse is a form of disrespect. I can take that term, substitute it into Don Miguel’s writing, and say others can only disrespect me to the level I am willing to disrespect myself. If I allow others to treat me in a way that violates my agreements, then I disrespect myself.
Read moreThe Dream of the Planet: Yours, Mine, and Ours
One of the basic concepts in Toltec Wisdom is “the dream of the planet.” In The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Toltec Wisdom, it is defined as “The combined energetic structure of beliefs, rules, and concepts that all the humans on our planet simultaneously dream and project onto our constrained reality.” looking at this definition, it can seem so overwhelming and difficult to understand. However, as I have come to understand it is that it occurs anytime two beings choose to connect with each other. When we connect, we have an exchange of energies and understandings, which flow between us. What stays in our relationship is that which we agree to or say yes to. What does not continue to be present in our relationship is that which we say no to. If we are still thinking about whether or not to keep it as part of our dream, it stays a maybe, but we have not yet decided to make it a part of the dream of our planet.
Read moreIt is only a door.
This morning I was watching a video at the Academy of Awareness called “The Patch.” In the video, Don Miguel Ruiz Jr told this story about his grandmother saying that her husband was like a patch. She could sew him on or cut him off. He was nothing more then a path. As he talked about it, I found myself thinking about how for some people I am nothing more then a patch. For me, those in my life are nothing but a patch. A patch is just that. It is an object. Whether I attach meaning to it or not, is about me. How I react to it or feel about it is about me. His story about the patch reminded me of a poem by Adrienne Rich called “prospective immigrants, please note.”
Read moreStarting with Maybe
One of the things I love about teaching is providing my students with the skills to start with maybe. It is a gift I have had to work on and am still working on in my own life. I have found there are some people in my life who because I have agreed with what they said most of the time, I tend to start by believing what they say all the time. Conversely, there have been those in my life with whom I have disagreed the majority of the time, so with them I found it easy to disagree with whatever they have to say before they say it. All this changed for me when I started teaching critical thinking skills to my students.
Read moreThe truth will set you free!
This is one of those phrases most people have heard and may not know where it came from. When I went to seek out the source myself, I was reminded that it came from the New Testament and was a part of a scripture. Here the writer was saying that knowing Jesus would set you free. However, that is not how most people use it today. For example, in one of Oprah Winfrey’s life classes she used this to assist people in talking about how keeping secrets deeply hidden have impacted their life. Don Miguel Ruiz talks about the truth setting you free as the need to stop lying to one’s self and thus ending the suffering we create for ourselves.
Read moreAuthenticity and Relationship
So often, we do not think about what we want or need in a relationship. Some of us are so hungry for a relationship that we settle for the first person to come along because we are afraid we will never find anyone else to love us. It is that fear that persuades us to stay in relationships that are not what we need and are often times abusive and neglectful. In those relationships, we do not have an authentic relationship with the person we are with, nor do we have an authentic relationship with ourselves. I would like to believe that most people do not want a relationship that is abusive, neglectful, and disrespectful.
Read moreIt’s all about perspective.
The other day someone asked me how I see their life. I found this a difficult question to answer. How I see their life is about me and has nothing to do with them. How I write my story is about me and would most likely be very different from how others would write the story of my life. Why? Simple, it is all about perspective. I would write the story of my life based on who I am at this very point in time and the perspective I have of my own life. Come back in 5 minutes or 5 years and the way I tell my story may be quite different. Why? This is because I may or may not have the same perspective.
Read moreLove, Earth, and Me.
I recently began taking classes through the Academy of Awareness offered through miguelruiz.com. One of the homework assignments asked us to reflect on our connection with the earth, what it gives to us, the beauty and wonder of it, and what we can do in our daily lives to give back to the earth. As I was reflecting on what they had written about “mother earth,” I found myself remembering a children’s book I still read to my son, who is now 30, and have read to several of my adult friends. The name of the book is On the Day You Were Born.
Read moreR E S P E C T, Find out What It Means to Me
For the past few days, well maybe longer, I have been thinking about the whole notion of respect. I found myself remembering the chorus from the old Aretha Franklin song RESPECT. However, when I read the lyrics to her song, I realized that while respect might have meant one thing to her, at least from the lyrics, it meant something completely different to me. As her song says, find out what it means to me.
For me, respect is an expression of love. It is about love for myself and love for others.
Read moreI am who I am
I have been thinking about this art interpretation thing since our love and inspiration gathering last Sunday when I shared my copy of La Confidance with the group. At some level, I think I wanted them to be as taken away and moved by this painting as I was. Their not being moved did not affect my experience of this painting or the memory of the first time I saw it. Rather, it reminded me of a chapter in don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Mastery of Love where he talks about this man who did not believe in love, who then thought he found it, and then became disillusioned when the woman of his dreams did not share the same exuberance about something he did.
Read moreLa Confidance and Me
Perhaps it has been all the artistic images I have looked at which were referenced in The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, however, I have been thinking about how the infinite is an artist and my life is a piece of art. There have been paintings I have seen in my life, one in particular, La Confidance, which spoke to my spirit in a way no other piece of art has. As I have been thinking about this, I came to realize I am one of the instruments through which the Infinite is expressing itself. Everything I say, feel and do is a work of art. It is as though I am a work of art that is ever evolving.
Read moreLies, lies go away and let the love come out and play.
Perhaps it is that we are in this spiritual season in a number of faith traditions, which has led me to this space of cleansing and decluttering in my life. Perhaps it was a conversation with a friend this afternoon, which helped me tap into a lie still floating around in my heart. I guess it had been there for so long that I did not even realize it was still there. It was then I remembered that the lies could only survive if I believe them to be. The minute I stop believing them, the minute I stop acknowledging their existence, is the minute they cease to exist.
Read moreI keep waking up!
This whole week I have been thinking about waking up. Not that physical kind of waking up, although I have been waking up with more physical energy then I have had for a while. Maybe that is related to my physically reawakening my body and making myself walk every 90 minutes whether I like it or not. It hurts and sometimes I can’t wait to get back to my chair, however, I know this is all good and it is all about my intentional journey to wholeness. My physical wellness was one of those areas where I could honestly say I was not doing my best.
Read moreBecause I am
I learned this amazing lesson the other day. Sometimes there is nothing to say. Sometimes there is nothing to feel. Sometimes there is nothing to express. Sometimes when I become thoughtful and quiet people want to know what is wrong with me. Sometimes it is just where I am. Recently, someone asked me why I was being so quiet and I said because I am. They were upset with me and left because I did not give them the explanation they desired. I guess because I might not have given them what they needed, but it was.
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