Looking...

In exchange for the promise of security, many people put a barrier between themselves and the adventures in consciousness that could put a whole new light on their personal lives.  June Singer

A friend of mine lives in a community of 800 people high in the altitudes of Colorado.  She is a painter, life coach, visionary success and leads meditation classes.  She thrives on trust and faith.  She lives day to day not knowing or seemingly not to care where she lives, what's next on the agenda, or where her source, substance and supply comes into her life.

On the other hand, I need the permanent nest, somewhere I can feel a sense of security even if I don't have it.  I love being surrounded with affluence, luxury and warmth.  My friend doesn't have a permanent residence - keeps stuff stored in public storage and lives out of a suitcase for the most part.  

Even when we are traveling, I have a nest.  We have a 40' motor home that comes complete with the necessities of what I have gotten use to in my life.  I love having a bed, heat, air conditioning, refrigerator, recliner, and my books around me.  That is my security.  However, usually when we are traveling, we are exploring and discovering a new part of the country where both of us or at least one of us hasn't been before.  We hike, explore the countryside, experience new food, and I think, allow the surprise of having an adventure each time we leave home.  

In my quest for increasing my consciousness, I use nature or whatever is going on to question, search and be open to new ideas.  When it is cloudy, I look to see what is clouding my vision, my answers, or what it is that is holding me back.  When it is sunny, I allow the light to move through me to open the places within me that need to be cleaned out, aired out, and, sometimes, just put into the trash, or saved.  Mark Nepo reminds us to "...think about the storms in your life that are churning up in your mind." By making a new choice, we can experience the peace that is within us.  

Thinking in new ways allows us to have an adventure in consciousness.  I am always willing to think differently.  How about you?

What IS This?

How often do we turn down the path presented like a gift because it's not exactly what we're dreaming of?  Mark Nepo

What is this?  This is not what I bargained for in my life.  How interesting that the twists and turns in life bring us to where we are and I have noticed that for some of the turns, I have not been exactly grateful for.  

For example, several weeks ago, we decided to buy some fold up bikes to take on our travels.  Great, I thought.  Wait!  How long as it been since I have been on a bike?  Way to long to even want to remember.  So, I amped up my courage and confidence and decided that once knowing how to ride, it would now be easy, cheesy, peasy!  So wrong on all counts!

I pulled a groin muscle the first ride out and have been in agony most days since then!  Back on the pain relievers and anti-inflammatories.  Hard to be grateful when in pain and just struggling to move, walk and stand up straight.

All of this reminds me to be more cognizant of my upper aging even though my head tells me that I am still 18.  I forgot to stretch.  I forgot that there have been some muscles I haven't used for a while.  A while?  Maybe even years!  

So, during my healing process, I have been grateful for the "time off" and the ability to sit in a recliner and read to my heart's content.  It has given me the opportunity to rid myself of more of my accumulated library and I am now in the process of down-sizing.  

There is "good" in the twists too!  Can you find yours?

New Stories

Telling ourselves stories helps us navigate our way through life because they provide structure and direction.  Your life is your story.  Your story is your life.  The Power of Story by Jim Loehr

Since deciding to step out of active ministry, I realized that I needed something else to define who and what I was.  I needed to be able to "tell a new story about my life" and what it was that made it satisfying and fulfilling.  With all of my training, I am struggling to figure out what is next on my life agenda.  In other words, coming up with a new story at will make life exciting and compelling.

Jim Loehr makes some interesting points in deciding what it is that is makes for a good story.  1.  Will this story take me where I want to go in life (while at the same time remaining true to my deepest values and beliefs)?  2.  Does the story reflect the truth as much as possible?  3.  Does this story stimulate me to take action?

Then, once the new direction is decided upon (this is like figuring out how to incorporate a new habit into your life), how to internalize the new story into your life.  We need to get the new story into our subconscious in order for it to serve us well.

He says that the most effective way to embed the new story is to:  1.  write about it and rewrite about it - using a journal to remind yourself what it is that you like about your new story.  We tend to think that an idea is so good that we will remember it for all time.  Not true.  Allow a week to go by and you will have difficulty remembering what was so wonderful about the idea you had.  This is why when writing it down, you don't have to remember it - just look it up.  2.  keep rereading it and revising it until it is what you want and something that truly reflects the above rules for a good story.  3.  thinking about it.  4.  visualizing it.  5.  talking about it privately to yourself to make sure this is something you really want to internalize into your life.  6.  deliberately acting it out and see if it fits into your life and your behavior.  

Changing your habits and changing your life is equally as difficult - you really want to want to do it.  Talk is easy.  Walking your talk is something else.  

If you have been keeping up with this series of blogs, you know how long I have grappled with this process.  I have gotten close several times and I thought I had it locked into my system of thinking only to find out, this is not fitting the way I meant it to be.  More work.  More processing.  Having to dig deeper into what it is that I truly want to experience for the rest of my life.  

Time to make and set new goals.  Time to think about how to make this period of my life truly different and exciting.  I have also been thinking about how to take full advantage of my affluence so that working all the years I did pays off.  

Much to think about.  I invite you into the process with me so that when you get to this point in your life, you will have most of it mapped out and ready to take the journey of a lifetime.  Make it an adventure.

Loving Experience

I do not want.  I love into my experience the things I desire.  I wrap their expression to me in love so that they come harmoniously and easily.  Ernest Holmes

Noticing in my life that when I "want" it just adds more "wanting" in my life and no expression or experience of what it is that I want.  Going back to the original concept that "we are of God," we have the qualities of God and so all is available to us at all times.

Opening up to the consciousness of God in our lives, opens up all sorts of opportunities and possibilities.  I know that right where I am is all of what I need because I am sustained, maintained and sorced by God all the time.  This is all part of the good that surrounds us, fills us and creates the time and space for us to experience and enjoy our lives.  

I underwent more oral surgery last week.  Came home and felt great and went down the next day complete with numbness, pain and all else that goes with recovering.  Before I swallowed the pain pills, I reminded myself that I love my mouth, my healing gums, my ability to be in full comfort.  That process helped me to sleep longer, and to wake with more comfort than the day before.  

Right now I am getting ready to see my surgeon for a prognosis report and I know he will say I am doing well because I feel well.  I can't talk properly or eat solid food yet, but I am doing well.  

I am loving my experience of shrinking into a smaller, stronger, more vital body and I appreciate the side effects of all that it entails.  There is something good that comes out of the experience of every circumstance.  I invite you to take a deeper look into your life to find more good.