Category Archives: Meditation

Jul27

Trying to understand …

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peace1A friend of mine tagged me in her Facebook post today, a comment about a protest she had passed by in the city that relates to the current turmoil in the Middle East. It’s such a drawn out state of affairs, one that I’m only just beginning to consciously notice. My friend’s comment prompted me to fossick through Google to uncover information that might help me gain more insight into something that is for me a minimally understood happening.

My perspectives on the world, and my connection to all that goes on within it are only beginning to open, and I struggle with my ignorance. Related to the current conflict in the Middle-East and other regions that are such a common feature of today’s global climate, I find myself at various times devastated, angry, irritated, frustrated, judging, impatient, scared of what the future might hold … the list of my useless responses goes on as I attempt to fathom the seemingly interminable turmoil and absolute disregard for human rights and dignity that is present on a daily basis.

I am not a lover of conflict, most happy to find a way around discord … sometimes to great effect through a flexible approach that endeavors to honor the unique perspectives of all parties, but too often with an aim of keeping the peace. Keeping the peace in a way that sometimes fails to contest and unpack reigning assumptions, or renegotiate and promote new ways of seeing and feeling, thinking and acting.

There continues to be such injustice in the world related to people with power trying to take from others/oppress those with minimal power or influence, and it is too easy to be lulled into complacency and a closed heart and mind by the numbing voices that saturate our mainstream media, in a society that too easily perpetuates the status-quo.

The work I draw on in my education focused PhD inquiry speaks about the disorienting dilemmas we can face in our passage through learning about life, and our responses to newly perceived and understood phenomena. As I turn my attention to these conflicts across our globe I am being challenged to sit with something that is horrifying and inconceivable to my limited perspective and life-experience, and in spite of my naivety and discomfort with such confronting realities, to open to new ways of seeing what has existed all along.

Malcolm X is reputed to have said ‘If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing’, and while sometimes I find it hard to differentiate the oppressed from the oppressors, I am reminded today … through listening with my eyes and ears and heart … that hearts closed by fear and anger will not bring about sustainable change. True understanding and resolution can only be achieved through open hearts and the provision of safe spaces where compassionate insight, mutual respect and understanding can be seeded and cultivated.

So as I open my own heart to new perspectives and the possibilities for my role in this change, I’ll quote another Facebook gem from today (Facebook is the font of all wisdom you know) …

Building walls in fear of loss does nothing to protect you from future harm, it only robs you of present joy. Tear the walls down

Cynthia Occelli

Apr10

Tension before change – revisited

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A lot of the people I love are having BIG challenges in life at the moment, and I’ve been pondering how best to respond to their angst.

In one of my earlier posts I talked about the tension that arises when change is afoot http://wp.me/p1KRax-3S, and referenced Sanaya Roman’s exquisite ‘Living with joy’ (see link below).  I would like to revisit this with an extract of a couple of the thoughts expressed in Chapter 16 – Embracing the new that are particularly relevant to enduring these turbulent times.

‘Embracing the new means being open to having more in your life. Many of you think that what you have created up until now is the best you can do … Opening to new things means trusting and having faith in yourself and others. It means believing that the future holds joy and promise. It means believing in your growth and direction …

Opening to the new means open­ing your heart. Be willing to step outside of your nor­mal limits and viewpoints and see the world in different ways. Trust that the world is safe and know that you are the director and the producer of what oc­curs in your life.

Opening to the new takes a willingness to view the old not with hate or anger or disgust, but with compassion. Many of you leave a relationship in anger, or you buy a new car when you are mad at your old one. That is one way to leave the old and embrace the new. As you follow the path of joy you can learn to open to new things while you are in a state of acceptance and peace with the old.

When things are not going well in your life, some­times you gather the motivation and energy to change them by becoming angry or choosing pain. It need not be difficult to leave the old and embrace the new. If you start thinking of what you want, how you would like your life to be, you begin easily and automatically to draw the new to yourself. If you want something and it can only come when another person changes or acts differently, then you do not have power or control over that. The only power or control you have is over your own emotions and reactions.

If you want something new, be open to having it come from anywhere, any place, any person. Be open to surprises and new things. Keep your heart open.’

This book speaks to me of the courage and vision we require when we dare to imagine a new way forward, and it reminds me that the way forward can often appear somewhat fearsome and solitary. Sanaya Roman speaks of the tension that precedes change, and just like the arrow that sits quietly in the fold of the bow, its potential flight is entirely linked to the tension that is required.

‘What you call tension or anxiety before an event can be viewed instead as focusing your energy to prepare you for something new. It is a change in your vibration to prepare you for something that is finer and higher in your life.

 You may feel that you must first conquer fear and anxiety before you step out and accomplish something. But everyone has that inner feeling of tension to some degree before attempting new things; it la a period of gathering energy to make the shift into a higher vibration.

Every single thing that happens to you happens to assist you in bringing yourself to a higher level of evolu­tion. Even those things you call negative or bad are there to show you new ways of responding so that you may be more powerful in the future.’

If we are not living the life we were meant to live, my experience is that life gives us a massive ‘broadside’ that calls us to make change. We can cling to what we have known, and try to use familiar outmoded strategies, or we step outside of all that we have known to this point, and dare to imagine a great new way forward.

So breathe consciously, create a calm space. and imagine how your ideal future looks. Invite this reality into the now and change your thoughts and actions to reflect this new reality.

Make authentic life choices  for you, and embrace your future with joy and courage.

One more treasure I found when I chased up Stephanie Dowrick’s site … I have always loved her writing … was this little piece on staying calm and taking charge.

We can’t change what’s happening, but we can choose how we respond http://www.stephaniedowrick.com/frontpage/take-charge-stay-calm/

Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation (Roman S. (1986) Living with joy – Keys to personal power and spiritual transformation H.J Kramer Tiburon Cal.) http://www.amazon.com/Living-Joy-Personal-Spiritual-Transformation/dp/0915811030.
See also http://orin_meditation2.webs.com/embracethenew.htm

Apr9

Managing life and all its complexities

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My goodness, isn’t life busy?

Currently I find myself in a somewhat quiet space of contemplating life and living. In considering the most authentic and resonant way forward for me, I have been brought back to the now. Back to me.

As I breathe gratefully in the space that this spiritual season has provided, I’m thinking deeply about how easily we can get caught up in our perceived priorities, in powering towards whatever goal we have set ourselves … and how easily we can lose sight of, and connection to, our truth.

Over the holiday weekend, I’ve been sifting through some of the treasures that come through to me on Twitter, reflecting on the messages they bring.  And what they bring me is food for my soul … so I thought I’d share a few of them with you:

Soul Seeds have been an amazing discovery for me, insightfully identifying and responding to the complexities of the human condition.

“You are perfect as you are, and you could use a little work.”

http://www.soulseeds.com/grapevine/2011/08/know-yourself-self-awareness-and-change/

“Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.”

In ‘Meditation, then and now’ http://youtu.be/xRMf4z8Cs8s, a delightful little snippet has reminded me of how simply I can source the answers to the questions and challenges that plague me. It’s as simple as going within.

Joseph Campbell (through UniverslSpirituality ‏ @unvrslsprtlty) inspires me to never be afraid of facing my fears: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Again, as simple as holding onto love, and going within.

And finally, two thoughts that link to my passions around storytelling and perspective transformation:

I’ve remembered that the time is always right to stop whatever terribly important thing we are doing, to go within, and to reconnect to our higher wisdom. It is only through going within that we can recalibrate our guidance and find our ‘True North’ to move forward most authentically. What a simple truth.

So for now I will sit quietly and reflect on words brought to me by Sherry Gillam ‏ @grapechick :

 “How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.” ~Spanish Proverb