Tag Archives for life lessons

Finding Richness in our Lives

flight landscape nature sky

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

As life becomes harder and more threatening, it also becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have, the more the good things of life become unexpected gifts that we accept with gratitude.

~ Etty Hillesum

This time is one of letting go. Letting go of the expectations we had about how life would unfold.

There is something so much bigger taking place right now. We are entering a new way of living and being, and there is no going back, for every individual, our community, society and the human race.

I feel unease and fear for others who are struggling right now. My heart goes out to the fearful, the angry, the belligerent, and the denyers among us. It will be hard on them. They are resisting a new reality and will suffer.

This time is a time to bring our focus onto life’s unexpected gifts and to be grateful. I’ve noticed that I am more and more grateful for the relationships I have, even when I can’t be with people in the same way.

Gratefulness brings us ease and opens our hearts for connection, kindness and love.

It can’t solve the problems we are experiencing, but it can release our fears and allow us to become centered and calm. It can bring us to our Middle Ground, where new possibilities and inspiration arise from a knowing deep within.

Namaste

 

 

Ego in Yoga

This is a re-post  especially for those on the spiritual path of yoga.


hydra

“Ego can take many different forms and shapes. It is like the hydra. You cut off one head and another head replaces it. You cut off that head and see a third head and a fourth head ad infinitum.

This is because in the manifest dimension, ego identity is the root of life, and if the ego identity is lost, then life as we know it no longer exists.

It exists as light; life becomes light.”

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

I enjoy reading the different metaphors explaining the complexity of our ego, and can relate to the idea of a hydra. Our ego will do everything in its power to survive – especially adapting and changing shape.

The ego is very clever. It will allow one version of our body-mind to die and create a better version that fits in with either (1) how it wants to be seen in the world or (2) what is perceives is needed to stay alive in its physical body.

In my experience with others on a spiritual path, the newer version of ego is likely to be a more evolved version of the previous one. It may show up as being kinder person, a more patient parent, a wiser leader, a humble follower, a beacon of sanity in a world judged as mad…

These are still roles that the ego plays. Less damaging perhaps, yet still ego driven.

Recognizing the hydra heads of the ego is the gateway to le

The answer however is not to keep cutting its heads off. After all this would be an ego motivated act!

Instead embrace ego for what it is. A part of our very human nature that clings to life. It is neither good nor bad. It simply is.

Then we can wake up and realize we really are the divine light beyond ego and our human form.

Namaste

Just When you Think You’ve Got it

unseen events

“Forests Edge” Photo by Mike Bizeau at http://www.naturehasnoboss.com

Many of us continue our path into 2019. We are on a journey of curiosity, inner exploration, trying on new ideas, committing to better behaviors, taking care of ourselves … and taking time out to nourish mind, body and spirit.

We see ahead clearly and then something comes along to bring doubt, temptation, discomfort or rejection.

So soon… Really?

The most significant lessons are unexpected. And they often come along just when we were hoping or counting on something else.

Let them be wake up calls rather than obstacles in your mind.

Be alert. Wake up.

The class of your life is in session.

Take time to pause and reflect on the real lesson waiting to be seen.

 

p.s. My thanks to Mike Bizeau for the permission to share this image.

 

You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But…

This is such an insightful post from Chris at Creative Systems Thinking.
“What your soul needs is deeper connectedness and peace, freedom from fear and anxiety, loving relationships, creative activities, meaningful projects, time alone with Nature, a sense of spiritual or emotional connection to life, humanity and the Universe.
… To be truly happy on this planet humans need to understand the difference between the fake narratives our consumer society feeds us, (about who we are and what to desire), and what we need as creative, social and spiritual beings. Happiness arises naturally when we feed our souls rather than our egos.”

Enjoy the whole article.

Creative by Nature

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.” ~The Rolling Stones
Screen Shot 2017-04-04 at 1.17.22 PM
 
Right now, millions of people suffer on our planet because what we want distracts us from what we actuallyneed. The Rolling Stones made this observation decades ago, yet still we struggle.
 
For example, you may want to be admired by others, to gain a high status job, make a lot of money, have a successful career and buy a big house.
 
Unfortunately, such dreams could make you miserable. What we need for happiness is work that feeds our souls, that helps us to improve skills and grow, that provides us with a living but also makes us happier and wiser human beings.
 
Here’s another example. Because of the competitive “rat race” mentality of modern life, many people look forward to their “free time” as…

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Inspiration – Your Joy is too Small

I came across these words from one of my earlier posts. It really resonated. Time to break out in celebration of nature and Existence. No event required. xo

joy

Photo from Pinterest

Joy Is Big

Your joy is too small, caged by the jailor of your thoughts.

It lives in the land beyond Infinity and is big beyond measure.

It teaches each tree to dance her own private blissful dance with the wind.

It is what the moon sings every night, holding us as we sleep with her streaming light-song.

Joy lives in your own drunken electrons, billions of them, spinning and dancing without end in their own intimate Universe, longing for You.

Do not look for joy anywhere else.

It is living in you, and gives meaning to all Existence.

Turn your heart’s eyes inward right now, and let them gaze in awe at the immensity

~ Judith Lasater

* Inspiration – Be Ignited or be Gone

let the inspiration flow

What I Have Learned So Far 

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so.
All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads – of indolence, or action.
Be ignited, or be gone.

~ Mary Oliver

 Do you feel it?

* Inspiration – Life lessons

life lessons

Life offers its wisdom generously

Everything teaches

Not everyone learns

~ Rachel Naomi Remen

It is all there for us, yet we continue to be blind.

We find sparks of wisdom in conversations, walks, places of worship and classes

And then forget once again when we leave that space.

Be open to learn from the wisdom that surrounds you every day.

The answer lies within you as you connect with the wonder of it all.

Open your eyes and live your best life.

* Tao Inspiration – Excess

Let things be

On tiptoes is no way to stand tall.
Walking over others is no way to get ahead.
Showing off is no way to shine.
Self-righteousness is no way to respectability.
Boasting is no way to achievement.
Complacency is no way to endure.

Minimalism is the way of Tao .
Too much indulgence,
Too much interference,
Lead to the opposite of the intent.

Since excess is excrement,
The followers of Tao
Move on and let things be.*

Lao Tzu

The third last line in this translation got my attention. What surprising wisdom!

Check in with yourself …

Are you physically, mentally or emotionally overloaded and constipated?

Here’s to acknowledging the ability to excrete excess and move on 🙂
 

 

*Braun Jr., John; Tzu, Lao; von Bargen, Julian; Warkentin, David (2012-12-02). Tao Te Ching (Kindle Locations 374-383). . Kindle Edition.

* Reflections

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are”
Anais Nin

reflections

Everything we see is a reflection of ourselves.

We can only see in others that which we have knowledge of, based on our own experience.

What we admire and love most in others is a reflection of the parts of ourselves we may not have fully acknowledged or expressed.

… We are beautiful and magnificent ❤

What we dislike most in others is a reflection of the parts of ourselves we may not have fully acknowledged or integrated.

… We are works in progress learning and growing through each encounter ❤

Are you ready to embrace all that you see as a reflection of  you?

* Before We Can Unlearn

We are all teachers in life. These words from Rosemary Wahtola Trommer capture the depth of our insights and the lessons yet to be shared. The journey of exploration, recognition, and letting go continues for all of us. I find it very moving. Val x

Radiating Blossom ~ Flowers & Words

So far it’s the physical world that we speak of:
the red Frisbee, the sweet blackberry, the small pink ball.
She points to a tree. This, she says. Tree. I say. Well,
lilac bush. Already the world slips from its chain of syllables.
I want to speak with her about this filtered honey light
of a late April afternoon, and I do, but she brings me
a rock and says, This. And I say, Rock. Gray rock.
And even more, I want to speak of what comes next,
of the longing that this light begets—how it rouses in me
a deep wish to lose the physical world and be current,
be wave, be invisible flourish, to be warmth that drives flowers
to bloom. I want to tell her how sometimes the body
interferes, so material, so fleshsome, so brute in its hungers.
How beyond the red Frisbee there’s a pulse…

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* Simple Advice

“The advice we give others is what we most need to give ourselves.”

 cat advising kitten

 

Take a moment and think about what advice you tend to give others.

Perhaps it is to slow down … to not be concerned about what others think … to be careful with their words … to be kinder … to be more accepting … to let go.

Is it something you are working on yourself? A valuable lesson learned? Or perhaps its something for you to address for yourself …

And now its your turn … 🙂

 

 

Inspiration – Life, Nature and Spirituality

spirituality

“What if our religion was each other

If our practice was our life

If prayer, our words.

What if the temple was the  Earth

If forests were our church

If holy water, the rivers lakes and ocean.

What if meditation was our relationships

If the teacher was life

If wisdom was self-knowledge

If love was the center of our being”

Ganga White

 

Mindful being

No dogma required

Spiritual connectivity

Freedom

Found in the place I call our Middle Ground

Namaste