Softening

Colorado has a lot of rocks, and people like to climb them.  Rock-climbing forces you to do so much with so little.  It forces you to pay attention to shallow patterns and textures in the rock you wouldn’t ordinarily notice. Hanging off a rock is an exaggerated experiencing facing the unknown.  It is exhilarating, scary, and completely vibrant. Sometimes you can’t find a foothold If we have the wherewithal to relax, we find out way.  But the ordinary reactive mind panics in these moments.  Now this is the fascinating part:  If we soften, we notice all kinds of new patterns and shapes emerge from the rock. (Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel. The Power of the Open Question.)

Wishing you peace and well being as you soften and notice new patterns and shapes that emerge in you life.

PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/\_

Read Full Post »

Your Christmas Carol

In a Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) Scrooge is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve.  Scrooge sees more and more of the reality from which he has turned away.  He sees the reality of his past, how the choices he made steadily whittled away his compassion and increased his self-centeredness.  He sees the reality of his likely future, the future that will occur if he continues in his present ways.  But then he wakes up.  He realizes that he is not the captive of these realities.  He realizes that he has a choice.  He chooses to change.

Dickens says that life always avails the option of seeing the truth, no matter how blind or prejudiced we may be.  And if we have the courage to respond to that option, we have the power to change ourselves profoundly.  Scrooge couldn’t make the choice to change before he became aware of his current reality.

Only through truth do we come to grace (Peter Senge.  The Fifth Discipline)

Wishing you peace and well being as you face your current reality.

PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/\_

Read Full Post »

Listening

We are storytelling creatures, and as long as we permit ourselves to be quiet for a while now and then, the eternal narrative will continue. (Henning Mankell. The Art of Listening. The New York Times. December10, 2011)

Wishing you peace and well being as you practice listening; you might be surprised what you learn.

PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/\_

Read Full Post »

Tuning Your Life

Just as the strings of an instrument can be wound too tight or too loose, we can operate in the world rigidly, causing pain and suffering for ourselves and others.

Wishing you peace and well being as you tune your life and your actions so that they are not too tight or too loose.

PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/\_

Read Full Post »