Another Tale of Mau'sean

Another Tale of Mau'sean
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Mau'sean was known throughout the region as a man of peace.   Many people sought his guidance in finding their own peace.  Most came away becoming masters of peace themselves....except for Drin.

Drin began his training in peace with Mau'sean when he was a small boy.   He was sent when his parents feared for the young boy's safety and the safety of the rest of the family. 

As all the villagers already knew, Drin was born with a scowl on his face and both fists raised against the world.  At age two he started a fight with a stray cat and won.   At four, he beat against the wall of his neighbor's house until he tore a hole into the wall.   At five, a wandering monk suddenly found himself pummled by Drin carrying a large tree branch.

Finally, Drin was dragged kicking and screaming to Mau'sean and begged the master to teach the boy about peace.

Many years went by and Drin got slightly better.   At twenty years of age, he no longer raged against the world all the time, and could even visit for short times in his village.   However, after a few hours among other people he would invariably loose his temper and then have to be dragged off by Mau'sean.

It was to the credit of Mau'sean that he continued working with Drin year after year.


At the time of Mau'sean's death, Drin was fourty-seven.   Just before he shut his eyes for the last time, Drin asked his master why he kept Drin those many years.

Mau'sean replied, "Drin, you are my best student that I have ever had because you continued to teach me, the master of peace, about how to practice peace.  The best student is one who teaches the teachers how to once again be students."

And with those words, Mau'sean closed his eyes for the last time.

Memories

This is the longest time I have spent not blogging.   In fact, I didn't do much emailing, chatting, or surfing this holiday season.   It was strange.   I did some, but not much.

I did not intent to take a break from technology.   However, I was never "in the mood" to email, chat and so forth.   The very connectedness to which I had become accustomed just didn't seem to matter.

There were memories of Christmas that kept me company.   Strangely, not one tender memory included a piece of modern technology.  

One Christmas, I spent under the tree, looking up into the branches and seeing the lights.   I spent a lng time there one morning.   Just being.

Another Christmas, I spent time with my then girlfriend.   We kissed under fake-mistletoe (or any hanging green thing that looked vaguely plant-like.) 

One time, there were so many family members, relatives, etc. that the living room was full of sleeping bags and bodies.   No way for a small child to get to the bottom of the tree Christmas morning without waking one of the "adults" up.

Many a Christmas was full of laughter.   A joke present, a funny card setting off someone into a titter of mirth, or a belly busting burst of guffaws.

So many memories. 

I wonder if these generations of children will have the same memories.   People with People, rather than Chat to Chat, or Text Message to Text Message.

100 Benefits of Meditation

I practice meditation.   There is not a day that goes by that I do not get some meditation time.   In fact, the days that I spend more than an hour in meditation, usually turn out to be the best days.

I thought that I would share with you 100 Benefits of Meditation that I found on the Internet.

Remember, meditation is not related to any one religion, belief, or faith.   In addition, there is no bad way to meditate.   Empty your mind in silence, or focus on a Biblical passage, repeat a phrase, use a primordial sound, touch a flower, stare at a flame.   There is no wrong way.
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Taken from http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/05/100-benefits-of-meditation/
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There are so many advantages to meditation. When I first originally thought of this post, I indeed wanted to make it 100 benefits long (think big right!), however, I wasn’t sure I could find more than perhaps 20-25 benefits. Well, I made it happen! Meditation is as powerful as I thought it would be. Here is the definitive list of benefits that meditation can provide you with:


Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).

Psychological benefits:
36- Builds self-confidence.
37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38- Resolve phobias & fears
39- Helps control own thoughts
40- Helps with focus & concentration
41- Increase creativity
42- Increased brain wave coherence.
43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45- Increased emotional stability.
46- improved relationships
47- Mind ages at slower rate
48- Easier to remove bad habits
49- Develops intuition
50- Increased Productivity
51- Improved relations at home & at work
52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53- Helps ignore petty issues
54- Increased ability to solve complex problems
55- Purifies your character
56- Develop will power
57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance
60- higher intelligence growth rate
61- Increased job satisfaction
62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63- decrease in potential mental illness
64- Better, more sociable behaviour
65- Less aggressiveness
66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70- Increases sense of responsibility
71- Reduces road rage
72- Decrease in restless thinking
73- Decreased tendency to worry
74- Increases listening skills and empathy
75- Helps make more accurate judgements
76- Greater tolerance
77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality
79- Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:
80- Helps keep things in perspective
81- Provides peace of mind, happiness
82- Helps you discover your purpose
83- Increased self-actualization.
84- Increased compassion
85- Growing wisdom
86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89- Increased acceptance of oneself
90- helps learn forgiveness
91- Changes attitude toward life
92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93- Attain enlightenment
94- greater inner-directedness
95- Helps living in the present moment
96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”
99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”
100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Meditation is also completely FREE! It requires no special equipment, and is not complicated to learn. It can be practiced anywhere, at any given moment, and it is not time consuming (15-20 min. per day is good). Best of all, meditation has NO negative side effects. Bottom line, there is nothing but positive to be gained from it! With such a huge list of benefits, the question you should ask yourself is, “why am I not meditating yet?”

A Fable of Peace.

On the path to finding peace, novice Ke'ri decided that she would go into the sacred forest and look for Mau'sean, the reputed master of peace.   She had heard that no other enlightened being had ever reached the level of peace that Mau'sean had achieved.

The following day, she packed her things and took off for the sacred forest.   On the main road going from her village she noticed a middle aged woman bending over trying to give a bone to one of the mongrel dogs of the village.   It growled and bared its teeth, but the woman kept slowly moving the bone closer and closer to the dog.   Finally, the dog took it and began gnawing on it.   The woman smiled and sat down to watch the dog, playing with his bone.

She continued on her way.

After a while, Ke'ri came to a crossroads.   There were several vendors stalls setup selling vegetables and fruits of all kinds.  Immediately, Ke'ri heard a commotion near one of the stalls.   When she rounded the corner, she saw a large, red-faced man yelling at a small, older vendor.   He was holding a bunch of bananas in his hand, screaming at the man that they were too ripe, that the old man was pulling a fast one, and that he would sooner pay for these bananas that he would leap off a cliff.   The old man answered each of the questions and statements of red-faced man in a soft and assuring voice.   The old man said over and over that the other man could take the bananas at no cost since he was dissatisfied with them, or he could leave them and choose another from the stall.   Every time the vendor said this in the soft and reassuring voice, the red-faced man found another thing to complain about, and started yelling all over again.   Finally, the red-faced man threw down the bananas and stalked off in a huff.  The vendor bend down, dusted off the bananas and put them aside, greeting the next customer with a smile on his face and his calm, reassuring voice.

Ke'ri continued on her way down the road.  

There was an overturned wagon up ahead.   A large, burly man was trying to set one of the wheels back on the axle.  He put it on, gave it a spin, and the wheel did not turn.  Suddenly, the man laughed out loud, took the wheel off the axle, picked up a can of grease and greased the axle.  Then he picked the wheel back up, put it on the axle and gave it a spin.  He then righted the wagon, and wiping off the sweat from his forehead, smeared the grease over his face.  He looked at his palm, felt his face with his other hand, and when it came away greasy, he bellowed out another laugh.   Still chuckling, he took a rag from his pocket and cleaned off his face and hands.  Then he packed up the wagon and started on down the road.

It was getting late, but finally Ke'ri made it to the outskirts of the sacred forest.

To her surprise, sitting on a rock, seemingly waiting for her was Mau'sean, the master of peace.  She began begging him to show her the way to peace.   He looked at her for a while and then asked about her journey to the forest.

Ke'ri told him about the three incidents that she came across.  The woman and the dog, the vendor and the red-faced man, and the burly man and the wagon.

"You have asked to be taught the way of peace, but you have already seen the way."

Ke'ri, astonished said "I do not understand Mau'sean.  What way of peace did I see?"

"You saw the way of peace with the world with the woman and the dog.  You saw the way of peace with people in the vendor and the red-faced man.   You saw the way of peace with yourself in the burly man and the wagon."

"But I still do not understand."

"In each encounter, you saw a person making the choice to be at peace.  The woman chose to be loving to the dog, sharing in it's joy and it shared in her joy."

"The vendor chose to respond with peace and understanding to the red-faced man, even though he could have chosen to argue or even fight back with the man.   It was his choice of peace he made."

"Finally, the man and the wagon chose to be at peace with himself.   Even though he had problems, he chose to see the humor of the situation, and to laugh at himself.   Thus he chose to be at peace with himself."

"You do not need my help my friend.   You have now seen that the way of peace is the choices we make to be at peace with ourselves, others, and the world.   Go and continue to make that choice daily."

Have Your Thoughts Brought You Inner Peace?

There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. That criterion is, Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them - so keep trying. - Peace Pilgrim

Peace Pilgrim was a woman dedicated to spreading peace throughout the U.S.   You can learn a lot more about her on the Internet.   She was an example of what a truly peaceful person can bring to the world.   So what she has said in the past, is something to which I pay attention.

Are my thoughts right for me?


Do you know that if I apply this question to my thoughts, most of them are not peace-filled nor peace bringing.   I am being honest.   This is really a sobering experience.

My mind is not training to have peaceful thoughts.   Some thoughts are very self-destructive, in that I concentrate on the things that I do not have, but that I want.   You may say there is nothing wrong with that.   Everyone does it.   But when is it too much?   When I focus on what I do not have, nor have power over, I get frustrated.   I am either sad that I do not have something in my life which I desire, or I get angry because I see other people have those things.   This is not peace.   I know that whatever I focus on, expands.   My feelings of frustration just grow as I focus on things that are frustrating.

Some other thoughts do nothing but preoccupy the silence in my mind.   They do not bring peace, but rather take a concept or thought and run with it, delineating it to the nth degree.   Again you might say what is wrong with that?   It is a matter of what the outcome of this kind of thinking turns our to be.   According to the quote above, if it does not add to the overall peace, I need to change my thoughts.   Try again.

If I see a way in which my Church can minister to those in need, I can think about it, reformulate it, look at it from different angles, posture, theorize, marshal resources in my mind, make plans, and at the end, decide that the way the church is doing something could definitely be improved.  How does this bring peace?   Have I told anyone.   Have a made a true contribution to making the church's ministry better.   Or was it just the mental gymnastics that I enjoy more than actually doing anything that would help to spread peace.  

Now I love to think.   I have said this several times in these blogs.   It has just struck me that even if my thoughts bring me frustration, sadness, anger, despair, depression, angst, conflict, that I still spend time thinking about them, that I must still love thinking these things, or love thinking period.  

When I think about the peaceful, loving experiences in my life, how I may bring peace, healing, love to others, or how others have brought those things to me, I am brought to a place, a thought, a mental construct of peace.   In this place of thought, I can most effectively share peace with others.  

Have your thoughts brought you inner peace?

When Artists Inspire Me.

I visited a fellow artist today.   His art is a combination of the musings, ramblings, serious reflection, and humor of his faith, mixed in with disturbing and though-provoking images.  

I marvel at his work.   There are some paintings that capture the attention; that draw in the eye into a complete story being unveiled in each scene.   When I look at it, I immediate have a feeling like I have entered another world, a complete story which has just started to unfold in front of me.

This is an artist who humbles my own meager efforts to create art.  

What this visit really revealed to me is that all great artists (which I consider this artist to be) have a passion for sharing their view of the world not only of the seen, but of the unseen.   In many ways, I find them to be more connected to the spiritual world than other people.

For example, one of his painting shows a scene from the Old Testament, but is done in the dress and background of the Incan empire.  The king and his subjects are actually skeletons, and the motif of the piece seems to be one of having an empire of death.   Yet, this is just the surface meaning.   Hidden within the painting are little anti-Roman cryptograms, trappings of the priesthood of not only the Jews but of the Incan High Priests, carrying out their religious and (implied sacrificial) offerings.   It is packed with questions, insight, juxtaposing normal everyday activities with high-religious images, amidst a background of a civilization that was based on death, celebrated death and in many ways worshiped death.

These are the artists that inspire me, because the are not afraid to be controversial.   They have a willingness to put their expressions out into the world for all to see (and to comment either for or against.)

Rose Colored Glasses - How could you Believe That!!!!

You may notice that I have talked about this topic before.   However, some topics shout out for more attention.
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I have been called unrealistic.   Yes.   Even me! (I say this with tongue in cheek!)

Some acquaintances of mine have asked me why I choose to see what I see in some people.   "Dude, the world is not what you see through your Rose Colored Glasses.   People are sometimes cruel and selfish.   Grow up!"

I admit it that sometimes I see people very differently.   Their cruelty and selfishness, fears and ambitions are there.   I do not dismiss them.  I see them.   There are situations that bring out the worst in human behavior.  At times it is difficult to see those people as anything other than what they did that offended or hurt me.   My knee-jerk reaction is to put up my defenses, and to see them as "bad people" (I can use stronger words than this...but not in a blog.)  I still do that from time to time, but fewer times now.

Since really spending time in the morning and night meditating, it becomes easier to look at people's actions first through a filter of understanding.   When I understand what and why they are acting like they do, they become more human, more like me, and therefore I feel the need to "label" or denigrate them in my own thoughts lessen.  Second, I am beginning to see that most actions of others are motivated by fear.   I was just like this (and to a great degree I still am) not too long ago.   The outwardly selfish or cruel actions are usually coming from a place of fear of not having something, loosing something, or being hurt by others.  Last, I see people as having the same desires that I have.  They seek after peace, they want love, understanding and acceptance.   We all do.  

Fear as a Motivator

I have written about when fear should be overcome with love, cancelled out by the opposite emotion, and not have decisions based on fear in your life.

I have to backtrack just a little.

There are times that fear as a motivator does work very well indeed.   In fact, there are some moments that it is indeed the exact way to react.

I have a friend that had her daughter accosted by an adult because of a comment she made to her son.   The woman called the girl over and proceeded to berate and harass her.   The mother, acting on that protective instinct, put herself between the woman and my friend's daughter.   Any parent would probably do the same.   A threat of any type directed toward a person's child does require an immediate response.

Other time there may be a child playing in the street, a person who might get burned on a stove, or an elderly or disabled person being bullied or even abused by another.   All these situations require fast action.  They may indeed require fear.

If there were time, and the level of threat, or perceived injustice were smaller, then a loving response could indeed change things.   With split second actions required, fear is perfectly fine as a motivator.

After the threat has been addressed, then a loving and fair approach to the situation may be employed.

If you can, overcome fear with love.   If not, respond to fear, up until the point where fear either disappears because there is no longer any threat or chance of injury,  or where fear is still present even after the immediate threat is addressed, let time and patience  be employed to once again overcome fear with love.

Talent - Everyone has some.

Each of us really is talented.

I have heard so many people say that they have no talent, no gifts, no strengths.   It is amazing how many people are firmly convinced that they have no talent at all.

I sometimes teach pottery classes.   There have been students that were so negative, that they almost talked them out of even trying to throw the first piece.   Yet, I do not teach the mind of the students.   I teach the body.   It is the fingers and wrists, arms and palms, body position and posture that really determine how well one can throw.   Once they can center the clay once, if allowed, the body remembers and can do it again.

That is the problem with people who think they have no talent.  They are limiting themselves by THINKING that they have no talent.  Yet, their spirit knows different.

If we are like what we came from, and we came from God, then we have to have the following somewhere within us:

1.  The ability to create something, to bring together unrelated pieces and form something new.
2.  Imagination that can conceive of whatever we believe we can conceive.
3.  The urge, the motivation and the satisfaction in the process of creation.
4.  A strong desire to show others how to create for themselves.

If this is true (and I wholeheartedly agree with it) then anyone has the talent to create.   Anyone.

If you can make people laugh, you have talent.
Baking bread (because I cannot to save my life) means that you have talent.
Raising children means that you really have talent.
Finding the most economic way to get to and from work means you have talent.
Blogging means that you have talent.
Twittering means that you have talent.
Being a good sister or brother, son or daughter, mother or father means that you have talent.
Being a football referee (especially in Texas) means that you have talent.  (And a lot of courage).
Cleaning a house really well means that you have a ton of talent.

But in addition to these examples, anything that you have done, even once, to add to the world something new, then you have the talent to do it again.

No one has no talent at all.   In fact, if you find such a person, then they are perfectly talented at being the absolute best general student for all those others that wish to teach their talents.   A most talented student indeed.

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. 
You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." - Albert Camus


If anything would convict me of what I am doing wrong, it is the above quote from Albert Camus.


I have sought long and hard to discover what happiness is and what it is not.  I have looked everywhere for the meaning of life.   Yet, it is not in the search for these things that I find them.   In fact, happiness and meaning occur when I am not trying, not doing anything.  When I am just being.


I have written other blogs about being vs. doing, but this one is a little different.   I want to talk about how I am persuaded to do something to get results, rather than choose to be happy, to have meaning.


Why am I always doing something to find or discover or build something else?


I was taught throughout my life to "go out and get it!"  "Anything is possible with hard work."  "Nothing gets done by sitting on your butt."   These all are true.   They really are.   You cannot get a job if you sit on top of a mountain somewhere and commune with the universe.   Those jobs are already taken.  It is also impossible to fulfill your goals by doing nothing.   I agree wholeheartedly.   I think that this misses the point a little though.


When I act on something, a feeling, a motivation, a thought, I almost always include my ego with this decision.  This is not a good thing.   The ego wants to see results.  When that happens, the ego makes it difficult not to tie feelings of self-worth into whatever activity I am doing.


If I try for a job and don't get it, my ego is hurt.   I am unhappy.   Why?  Logically, the more interviews I go on, the closer to a job I get.   Why not celebrate the fact that I am one job closer to narrowing the field down to the job I will eventually find.    


If I try to be happy and I fail, then I not be happy.  This sounds simple, but anything I go for, anything I do to accomplish something means that I take the risk of not accomplishing it.   When that happens it affects my feelings of self-worth.   

On the other hand, when I am happy, or feel like I am living a meaningful life, the ego it not attached to that.   Why, because I am not doing anything.   How can the ego judge what works and what doesn't work; how can it get frustrated when there are no overriding goals, when there is no doing involved.

I read a little about something called the Law of Assumption.   It basically says that if you act as if you already have or are what you wish to be, that you will be that.   If you act from a place of peace, regardless of what you do, you bring peace with you to that activity.  


So I tell myself to go and make plans;  sketch out the future and do those things that need to be done.   In the process, I tell myself to act from a place of peace, out of a sense of abundance, with an assumption that I am a loving and caring being.   It makes the doing of things so much easier.   My ego is not tied as closely to the outcomes of doing things then.  My self-worth is not dependent on what I get or do not get accomplished.


The meaning of life happens in knowing.   The happiness of life is a choice to be happy.   Neither of them is a goal, a race or a contest to get them.   They are a choice, an act of will, a state of being.




 

Gratitude - The Flip Side of Love

Gratitude doesn't get quite the face time that Love does, does it?  

There are songs, poems, books, movies, etc. about love.   It has been described every way that you can describe it.   Yet, because of love, we have gratitude, and without gratitude, love would be something far less than it is.

Gratitude is the flip-side of love.  The Ying to the Yang of love.  One motivates the other.  This is true in the microcosm of a relationship and in the macrocosm of what we have been given in this world by God.

Within a relationship, be it romantic, platonic, with relatives or even strangers, love provides the motivation for the giving to another and gratitude is the response to that giving.   Imagine that love is the sun that gives warmth and light to a flower.    Gratitude is the flower's response by growing into what it was meant to be.  
Just like us, when we realize the love we receive from another, we grow into appreciation and gratitude as we realize the power and wonder of that love.   It may be said that those expressions of love would not last very long if we were never grateful for them.

Within the world, sometimes we come to a place where we realize the true depth and grandeur of what we have right now.   Again, everything we have right now was given to us by God.   For some of these, we received it through God working within our friends, family, community, etc.   Just like in relationships, we respond with the realization that these are gifts of grace, expressions of the love of the universe (God) for us.   Gratitude we feel for these gifts completes the other side of love, and moves us and motivates us out of that gratitude to once again send out love.

Therefore, gratitude and love are two parts of an endless cycle.   Love creates gratitude that promotes another act of love that creates gratitude and so on.  It is true that we love because we have been loved.   The missing and often forgotten component between those two expressions of love is gratitude.

Be grateful.  

Start by Doing What's Necessary

“Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - St. Francis of Assisi


Nothing is impossible.   That is what I am beginning to understand.   


Yet how do I start to do the impossible?   It is not like I can leap tall buildings in a single bound or cure all the disease in the world.   It would be nice...don't get me wrong.   


I think ol' Francis had the right idea.   The larger issues in this life may seem too large for any one person to handle.   I know that that is what it feel like to me.   But instead of being overwhelmed by the needs of everyone, I am reminded to do what I can do.   I can start by doing what is necessary.


What is necessary is that I do for my family.   We come together if there is a problem with one of us and if we can we try to address it.   Anyone one do the same.   I also do for myself.   It is not self-centered to provide for yourself.   You cannot feed one person by being poor.   You cannot get so depressed that you can help another that is depressed.   


Sometimes things come up that are beyond self or family that have to be addressed.   The blatant cruelty, or injustice that we may come upon.   Child abuse, spousal abuse, bullying, violence, an attempt at suicide.   Sometimes we are there and we need to intervene.   It is doing what is necessary.


Then we can do what is possible.   It may not be possible for me to feed all the hungry even in my home town.   However, I can buy and extra box of granola bars or oatmeal when I go shopping and give them to the food pantry, or keep breakfast bars in my car and give them to people on the street corners that ask for help.  I can donate my time to help out the elderly or teach another to read.   In fact, if I really try, I can come up with a list of thousands of things that I can do right now.


When we accept that we must to the necessary and can do the possible, suddenly there comes a time when all of those things add up, and all the other people who feel the same way have achieved what was once considered impossible.


Is it impossible to eradicate hunger in a town.   Just use the Internet and see how many food programs were started by either one or a handful of people.  Most did not start out with the idea to eradicate a social problem, but they did either in part or in full.   Some would have considered it impossible.   It is not.   It just takes a desire, a possibility, and a vision.


Perhaps ol' Francis had it right.   Do the necessary...the possible...and the impossible will take care of itself.

Humbled by those that are humble.

Giving among the needy.

It was quite an eye-opening experience, working in a food pantry.  

There were several people working there; some of the workers those that needed food themselves.   Though they worked just as hard if not harder than the rest of us.

It was a place not of depression, nor sadness nor despair.   Instead, the families that were there for food, they had smiles, were laughing, sociable.   It was not what I expected, but something that I should have not been surprised.  These were people in need, yet they did more to lift my emotions and make me feel better than I did just providing them food.

I also got the opportunity to see some of the families interacting with each other when I took a break.   Some of the families got larger deserts than others, and I saw some of them swap with those families that had more children.   Such a simple kindness, yet very representative of the feeling of giving and thanks that was present at that food pantry.

I must say that I am truly humbled.   I did not know that the most giving and thoughtful of us all were the ones that were in the most need.   It is not I who served them, but they who taught me to appreciate what I have and to give with a joyful heart.

Give from the Abundance within You

"Give from the Abundance within You"

I heard this from a talk on giving abundantly.   It made an impression.   The speaker's point was that in the process of giving abundantly, of your gifts, talents, time, strength, and yes, pocketbook, that you will feel that same abundance come back to you.

I know what you are thinking.  I thought the same thing.   "What comes around goes around."  "Give and it will be given unto you."  "Giving is reciprocal!"

Yet, there is always that little voice inside that says, "If I give this away I will no longer have it."  "What if I need it later?"  "If I give out of my abundance to everyone, then I will soon end up with nothing at all."

I tell you now, that voice is still there.   It is still very loud.  It dissuades me still from giving out of my abundance.   Yet, I try to overcome it.   I have thought long and hard, and then I have felt long and hard about what it means to be able to give.   Not what it means to give.   We all know that.   Really, what does it mean to have the ability, the very motivation, to begin the action of giving?

1.  Being in the position to give simply means that some part of me recognizes that I am blessed with more than another might have.  

No matter how bad I have been in debt, how tired and worn, how sick, how incapacitated; I have know those around me that had it worse than me.   Being able to see me situation in that frame of reference, some of my fear and insecurities turned to gratitude.   First there was that relief that I was not as bad off as that other person, but then the realization that I could be that other person.   One missed paycheck, one wrong turn, one hospital bill more; I am that other person.   Finally, the thankfulness, the awareness of the grace that I am as blessed as I am.  That is gratitude.

2.  An awareness that I can give, that I have the ability and the resources to give, brings about another change in perspective.   At that point, I see that I can choose to see myself as the source for others of those things I feel I lack in my life. 

What this does is change my thoughts from, "I don't have enough!" to "You no longer need to feel like you do not have enough!"  This change in fundamental.  In allowing another to experience what I wish to experience, I am shifting the focus from me to another, from my scarcity to another's experience of abundance.

By seeing myself as the source of what I lack, I no longer lack it.   This is subtle, I know.  But true.  I cannot give something away (even if it is a buck) if I truly feel that I do not have it.   Therefore, by giving it away, I am telling myself in no uncertain terms that I, in fact, do have it to give away.

3.  In that position and possibility of giving to another, I recognize that that other person and myself are connected.   No matter who that other person might be, we have the same needs, the same desires.   We both want to see ourselves and our families fed, clothed, sheltered.  We both realize that everything changes.  Our life might be up one day and down another.  We might have plenty and the next hour nothing at all.  When I recognize the similarities, the connectedness with another, it is so much easier to give.  Since we both came from the same source, and are going back to the same source; since we each have this short life within eternity, how can I not be motivated to help another.   In essence, I am helping myself.

I hope that his holiday find you in an abundant state of mind.

Part II - Not Talking about Faith

I got a great response from this first post.   When I asked why people don't talk about faith, but are willing to talk about everything else.


One guy said, "Talking about faith for some people is like talking about erectile dysfunction.  Most of us got to face it at some point in our lives, but it makes us acutely uncomfortable to share with other people."


What a response!


I just wonder why our society, which is based on "One Country Under God" and has as it's foundation one of the few spiritual contracts, the Constitution, that we are so uncomfortable talking about our faith.


I am a little different.   I admit it.   I grew up around the church, around pastors and workers in churches.   Conversations about God and my faith have been a part of my life since 4th grade.   I am very comfortable talking about it.   However, I am truly curious why it is so difficult for others.


So far I have the following reasons:


1.  While we can change our minds about the weather, politics, the price of gas, our favorite color even, without fear of being attacked, we feel that our faith (whatever it may be) cannot be changed and perhaps shouldn't be changed because of what others feel about it.


2.  For some of us, it is difficult to put into words what our faith really is about.   Some have a "feeling" or a "conviction" but have never needed to describe it using words.   Others just don't know what their faith really is and are uncomfortable speaking about it.


3.  Some of us feel that our faith is too personal to talk about with anyone.   It is something that is beyond personal, beyond words.   It is an intimate relationship with the infinite.

4.  Some of us have been burned by people in the church.  We have been judged and do not want to go through that again.


I respect all of these reasons.   I really do.   However, it is still a little frustrating when I have a true desire to understand other people's faiths.   But, I will be patient.

Why people don't like to talk about Faith

Recently, several people I have encountered have been very hesitant talking with me about their faith.   Some of these people are perfectly comfortable telling me their views on politics, sports, the government, etc.   Yet, when I ask them about what they believe, they instantly close up.

Is this because they are afraid of being judged, or were judged harshly in the past? 

There was one person who said, almost apologetically, that she was an agnostic.   Her whole body sort of cringed up, got smaller as she said this.   My first thought was that someone in her life really cam down hard on her for what she believed.   

Another lady is very outspoken, loves to tell stories and going into long diatribes about her trips, vacations, friend and family.   Yet, when the subject of her beliefs came up, she replied that she was shy, and didn't want to talk about it.

I am asking of everyone.   If I am truly curious about what someone believes, would like to understand them better, and get closer to them as a friend, how do I do this in a way that does not threaten or make them uncomfortable.

I don't care what they believe or not believe.   It actually helps my faith to learn about other people's faith.   Yet, how do I get that across to others?   I am not asking to hurt, to separate, to belittle or to judge.  

Sometimes, people do open up.   When that happens, I feel privileged to hear it.  I feel closer to them. 

So if anyone has some advice, I would love to hear it.  

Co-Creation: A Matter of Perspective.

I have heard that God helps those who help themselves.  

What does this mean.   Does it mean that I won't get any assistance from God unless I do something first?  Perhaps it means that the only way God chooses to manifest God's power is through our actions.   What then is the role of prayer, if nothing happens until we do something.   Is prayer that something.   Or do we have to be proactive before we can request something from God?

It is all very confusing. 

Is God a God of loving and caring, or one who counts the times we take action to do something to get ourselves out of whatever trouble we are experiencing?

So far, this is what I have come up with to help explain it to myself.   As readers, you are just along for the ride.   This is really a conversation with myself.

-----------------------------------------------------

When things start happening, and change comes; I can look back on those events that precipitated it and most of the time I see God's hand in it.   It seems that, indeed, nothing happens until something moves.  Thus Einstein said of the universe in his theory of relativity.  

God and I are co-creators of my life.   I decide in which direction to go, what to do, what to be, and God is with me step by step, with encouragement, energy, conviction, and power.   But, the important point is that I choose what to do, when and where.   I choose what to think, to focus on, to become.  

It is all about free choice.   It would violate my free choice if God intervened and said, "No!  You cannot be a Computer Technician.  I want you as a missionary in Uganda!"   Not that God has said anything of the kind to me, but you get the point.   Even in the Bible is says that whatever you bind on earth it is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth it is loosed in heaven.   I find this to mean that whatever thoughts, words and deeds we choose to do here are done simultaneously in the world of the unseen.  In other words, I choose what to do here, and it has effects in the world of the visible, of matter and that of the invisible, of Spirit.

Let's say that I choose to focus all my thoughts on forgiving someone who has wronged me, hurt me, or betrayed me.   In the instant that I forgive them, my world, both matter and spirit, is changed.  I have created a world in which I am no longer chained my the feelings of betrayal and anger toward another.  God and myself have co-created a world where I am a person who can forgive.   Conversely, in that world, I can also be forgiven.   For I cannot forgive another unless I learn how to accept forgiveness from another.

"Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us!"   Really this means that to the degree I have learned to forgive others, is the degree to which I can accept forgiveness from others, including God.

Back to the whole co-creation thing though.

Changes in my life have occurred because I was open to seeing the world in a new way.  It is all a matter of perspective.   God is the co-creator of these new perspectives because God is in everything and everyone.  When I choose to see the world differently, the world changes to fit that perspective.   Thus, I change the way I look at something, and that something changes as I look at it.   This is co-creation.

Many times I have met people that others have said were bitchy, angry, cantankerous, weird, strange, shy, overpowering, arrogant, etc.   Yet, many times I meet them and start to understand them a little better and my perspective changes.   Before I know it, they are not the people who were described to me, but rather different altogether.   Again, when I choose to see people as basically good, yearning for the same things that I am; love, acceptance, trust, peace, I find that they possess these qualities.   Again, God and I have co-authored a world where this has become fact.   Yet, another might see people as cheating and hostile, greedy and untrustworthy, and their world becomes just that.  The people they see and encounter fulfill their expectations.  

I guess what I am saying with so many words is that we get to choose what kind of person we wish to be, and what kind of world in which we wish to live.   In this process, God is empowering us to create that world.   For good or evil, for peace or turmoil.   With our free choice, we choose and that is reflected both here and in heaven, both with the world of matter and with that of spirit.

Relief for moms.

Relief for moms.

That is what I saw when I visited my church today. 

There is a program going on that allows mothers to drop off their children for Tuesday and Thursday mornings for free, while they recover, rest, and recreate themselves (or anything they choose to do during that time.)
There are volunteers that work with the existing church day school staff to help supervise these children.

I had the opportunity to be there when mothers were dropping the children off.   You should have seen some of the faces of these mothers.   Some were sad, as if any time away from their children was a bittersweet time.   Others had these looks of relief, like they had just completed a marathon.   A few had huge beaming smiles.   Some were laughing together and joking.

I just wonder if any of those mothers needed that additional time this month to not simply get things done quicker without their children, but perhaps to find peace, renew their minds and spirits.

Everyone gets to a point where there seems no time or space around children to recollect themselves, to step back and take a look, rationally and proactively, at what is happening around them.   How many times have mothers yelled out that they just need a break, any break.

So, I see the ministry that this church is doing as something that, especially during the holidays, is so needed.   It is an answer to many a frazzled mother's prayers.

If you are in a position to give a mother a break, I would urge you to do it.   You may indeed be fulfilling a prayer.

For what I am thankful

I learned that every thought I have, builds my reality. Most of my thoughts were negative. They only brought me more of the same pain, same depression, some feeling sorry for myself. When I started changing my thoughts, my life started changing.

It sounds simple, but my mind was a seething cauldron of chaos. The background noise was so intense, that I couldn't think clearly for many years.

I would be trapped in my own negative thoughts and did not know how to stop myself from thinking myself to an early grave.

God intervened by bringing to my attention the people, tools, resources that allowed me to start changing.  Change I did.  


For this I am thankful.
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I am seeing the marvels in other people.   Where once, strangers were strange, now I see the them as children of God.   All of them have such richness of experience and stories to tell.  I no longer overlook them like I once did.

For this I am thankful.
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I have fallen in love with life.    It has another dimension to it now.   The unseen world has made the real world that much more brilliant and wondrous.

For this I am thankful.
-------------

I have my family and friends.   I can walk, talk, take care of myself.   These things are gifts.   Not everyone has them.   I can feel the wind on my face, the ground beneath my feet, the touch of another human being.  I can hear the music of the world and sense the presense of God.

For this I am thankful.

Can I be more Obscure and Vague?

The following story is not what it first seems.  
Read it again after finishing it the first time.


*****************************************************************

It was another rainy day.   The water washed down in streams of almost torrential fury.   Rivulets carved themselves into the soft dirt of the watershed.  Splashes geysered up from the ground, mirroring the fury above with that below.


Two figures were seen at the top of a hill, watching the work of years, the labor of their hands, washing away with the water.   


"Took years."  one said.

"Lifetimes for some."  the other commented.

"Things will be different now."  one muttered.

The other paused...looked out over the valley and whispered, "bout time!"

"Yep!"


And while this conversation was going on, over in the other valley.....


It was another blistering day.   Unmerciful rays scorched the already baked and battered dirt.   The waves of distortion came up from the earth, creating mirages on the horizon.  The fields were blistered with shrunken pits, where wet was just a myth.


In the field, two figures stood and surveyed the land.



"Took years."  one said.

"Lifetimes for some."  the other commented.

"Things will be different now."  one muttered.

The other paused...looked out over the valley and whispered, "bout time!"

"Nope!"

**********************************************************************

I will leave you to guess....though "Perspective & Relativity" is close!

Carousel - Magic for a Geek

Let me talk to you about magic.   Not the hocus-pocus or voodoo stuff but the simple magic that we as children experienced.

One of my favorite memories as a child was when we were living in New York.   There was a park just in walking distance of our backyard.  

I would start walking out from the house, and the land would go up and down in small hills.   Nothing was visible in front until I would hit the top of a hill and suddenly the park would come into focus, like materializing out of nothing.

My eyes would be drawn to the carousel first.   It was a structure of colors, scenes, animals, benches, machinery and grandeur.   It sat in the middle of the usual structures in a park; the swings, slides, monkey bars, and even concession stand.   It was the first thing I went to and the last that I got off.

What was magical about it wasn't that I was transported to a different world when I was on it, but that I saw more happening in this world when I was riding it.

I remember seeing the sprockets and drive-rods, camshafts extending out from the center column and wheels and pulleys, belts and chains.   Sometimes, when the central column was open, I would see the main articulating hub.   This was the sacred of sacred places.   A tree of platters, each surrounded by gear wheels.  Those gear wheels, driving each and every gear on the end of the numerous cams.   It was magic to watch the movement; from the huge electric motor to the flywheel, to the central shaft, turning the multi-platter of gears in the center column to the cams to the individual shafts that made the animals go up and down.  

As a child in kindergarten, this orchestra of movable parts, this masterpiece of clockwork perfection endlessly fascinated me.   It was magic.

After writing this blog, I realize that I really am a Geek.   Even back then.   But even geeks can experience magic.

"Same Kind of Different as Me"

If you have not read the book "Same Kind of Different as Me" and do not mind some spoilers......then read on.   If you have read it....read on.

Here is a synopsis of the book and then some of my reactions to it.
***************************************************
Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together. 

But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing? 

Same Kind of Different As Me is the emotional tale of their story: a telling of pain and laughter, doubt and tears, dug out between the bondages of this earth and the free possibility of heaven. No reader or listener will ever forget it.

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I love the message behind the book.  It was so enjoyable to be able to see how people of so varied and different in upbringing, advantages and disadvantages and world-outlook can come together and become brothers.   This interconnectedness I really believe.   I love it.   I love seeing it manifesting in all ways in this world.   I have even experienced some of it.

Most of the life of Miss Debbie is a life of service to others comes from a place of love, not obligation.   She showed this consuming passion to help people worse of than herself.  She loved people.   She changed the way that her husband Ron looked at the indigent.   She was the interconnectedness, the inspiration and the glue that brought such different people such as Ron and Denver together.   A very admirable woman.

I also find it intriguing that it is through the death of Miss Debbie, that fundamentally shifts the role faith had to play in Ron's life.   His faith was so much a part of his ties with his wife, his love for her.  When she was gone and prayers had not healed her, he faced either loosing his faith or finding it for himself.   It became his faith.   The visitation from Miss Debbie to Denver and his words of comfort, and admonition to Ron caused him to go on.   To embrace his faith even in the absence of the love of his life.

It is always amazing when people change under the acceptance and love of others.   Denver went from a beat-down and disconnected man to one of love, compassion and faith.    These transformation are what I live to hear about, to experience, to retell.   This is what I love most about the book.   The transformation of Ron and Denver.

I Love, Love, Love transformational stories. 

What makes a person beautiful?

What makes a person beautiful?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.   Perhaps, in addition, beauty is in the heart of the beholder.   What we see as beautiful in another must be something that we have experience recognizing.  Right?

There have been studies where the attention that babies give to different pictures shows that they are attracted to symmetry and ratios.  A face has certain symmetrical features and as a race, our focus follows that symmetry and those ratios from the distance between the eyes to the mouth.  The golden triangle of beauty.   So much for beauty in the eye of the beholder, right?

There is more to beauty as you know.  

The eye might be attracted to the ratios of the triangle of eyes and mouth and the symmetry of the face.    We need more that simple perfect mathematics of a face to consider the person as beautiful.   There are people with whom we may find pleasing to the eyes, but we would never want to spend any time with them.   Nor would we assign the label "beautiful" to such people.

So what happens?  Why do we see beauty even without the numbers?   Even before a person speaks or interacts with us, we see beauty.  

This is my opinion.

I see beauty in a person among the varied contrasts between the perfect and the imperfect.  In fact, the most beautiful people have attributes (and we are talking physical attributes right now) that run the spectrum from hard to soft, large to small, curved to straight, rough to smooth.   Each dimple, wrinkle, mole, freckle, hang of the shoulders, fold of skin, and several others, provide for my senses a feast of sensations.  It is sometimes the very contrast between a lighter spot of skin and a darker one, a freckle, or the way one half of a mouth may, in a smile, rise higher than the other side.  The more contrasts, focus points for my eyes, and the sweeping continuum of features is what not only attracts senses, but attracts my mind and emotions.

However, this is simply the surface.    In seconds of meeting someone, any or all of those "tags" can be changed without us even being conscious of it.   A rough and scraggly looking old man may become a down-to-earth, gentle and entertaining man.   We no longer see the facial hair, the worn and chapped skin, the callouses and wrinkles as negative.  We may see the person as more of a tapestry of wisdom, a picture of ebullient and flowing joy or wisdom.   Thus we feel better even in the presence of such a person and their beauty goes up.

I could not end the conversation without focusing on one other point.   What John Keats revealed in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is as true today as it has been throughout our history.  "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"

A person's beauty goes up for me in direct proportion to  how real, authentic, and truthful they are in their interactions with others.   They can have bad habits, make mistakes, use unwise judgment, and be real...and they are more beautiful.   On the other hand, a physically beautiful person can be closed, guarded, wear many masks, be inconsistent, and very hard to get to know, and they become less beautiful.   Again, this is only my opinion.  

Though John Keat's observation is so much deeper than this simple blog, the very observation of a shared truth in another that I also possess makes that other more beautiful to me.   The more points of commonality, the greater the number of associations to those physical "tags" that increase the overall perceived beauty of the person.

The truth is that it is the continuum of physical features, in relation to the spectrum of mental, emotional and spiritual features in a whole, or Gestalt, which I label "beautiful."

One last example.

Take a diamond.  Taken individually, each part looks like a piece of glass.   The crown, divorced from the facets, is clear, hard, and just plain looking.  We would have trouble telling it was a diamond in the first place.  The lower facets taken away from the culet, are nothing special.   It is the interaction between these simple areas with light that created the sparkle, the iridescence and brilliance of the whole. 

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
-John Keats

The Final Analysis - Mother Theresa

I have some heroes in my life.  One of which is Mother Theresa.   She lived the life of loving-kindness.   I am so humbled and inspired by her life and her ministry.   That is why I am going to dedicate this blog to her.   

No one set of words or poem or reflection can do justice to the person of Mother Theresa; but the following comes close.

The Final Analysis

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;

...Forgive them anyway!

 

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

...Be kind anyway!

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

...Succeed anyway!

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

...Be honest and frank anyway!

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

...Build anyway!

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

...Be happy anyway!

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

...Do good anyway!

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

...Give the world the best you've got anyway!

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

"The poem, 'The Final Analysis' was written by Dr. Kent M. Keith and is frequently attributed to Mother Theresa as she had it posted on her wall - she knew a good poem when she read it."

The mind is a terrible thing to waste; but the present is never wasted on the mindful.

Mindfulness:  –adjective attentive, aware, or careful (usually fol. by of): mindful of one's responsibilities. 

I am not very mindful.   I am very fanciful.  I am very imaginative.   I have my heads in the clouds.   Sometimes, I an very absent-minded.   So as I write this blog, I am writing of those times in my life that are not like me at all.   Still, I think that being mindful is one of the best traits to develop.    


The one time that I was very mindful was while I was driving in the rain.  It was dark and windy; rain like the sleeting of a horizontal Niagra Falls.   Each burst of wind would rock my car.   The headlights would alternately shine forth about 10 feet, or reflect off of the torrent before me.   Every application of the brakes would be accompanied by loss of traction and some hydroplaning.  Even driving 20 miles an hour, each pool on the road would hit the car with force, tearing it off the straight path on which I was forcing it.


In such an experience, my senses went on overdrive, much like my transmission.   I was mindful.  Oh yes.   Every sound, sight, feel, smell.   I was there in the moment; from moment to moment because I knew that one lapse in attention and I would end up in a far worse predicament.   I was mindful out of necessity.  


In contrast, I love the times that I become mindful out of beauty.   Sometimes I see something so beautiful that instantly all my perceptions are turned, are entrapped and focus on the object of my attraction.  Some paintings do this to me.   I become focused on the delicate brush strokes, the depth of field, the contrast of colors, textures, light and dark.  I am aware of the chaos of the painter's object from up close and the gestault of the piece from a distance.  My mind seeks out the details; finding pure pleasure in the intricacies of the painting.  

Rarely, I just become mindful for no reason at all.   Sometimes my mind simply becomes super sensitive and fires up all my perceptions and senses and I find I am in a world of more color and contrast, whole and part than I have ever been.  

I stopped and looked at a tree.   No reason.  No purpose.  No plan.  I thought it would take a couple seconds and I would be on my way.   That is how I usually look at trees.   They are scenery, not something with which to spend a lot of time.   

After several minutes, I realized that I had not taken a breath.  I had not even blinked.  I was mindful of the pattern of the bark, the smell of the wood, the leaves, the detritus around the base of the tree.  The wind would change patterns as it intercepted the branches.  A symphony of sounds emanated from the stretching and swaying of all parts of the tree in the wind.   Squirrels danced in the branches.   I could even smell that a dog has done it's business around the tree at some time in the recent past.   I was fully in the moment before I realized it.

Being mindful of things around you is very important.   Not only does it sometimes make the difference between being alive and dead, like in the case of driving, but other times it is the difference between being in a world that is either alive to you or dead to you.   Mindfulness brings us back to the infinite NOW.  It adds value and weight and wonder and grace to the ever-present.  

The mind is a terrible thing to waste; but the present is never wasted on the mindful.

Sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do.

Sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do.   Perhaps this is as it should be.

My cat has fleas.   Very badly.  I have tried 4 different products.   The most expensive one has never failed before.   It failed.

I finally picked up some flea shampoo.   I knew that this would be the final straw before I had to put down some real money for a vet.  

It was also my last choice because my cat is old and terrified of water.  

About 20 minutes ago, I tried to give her her 1st bath with the flea shampoo.   She is a big cat.  About 14 lbs.

I tried to keep her in the tub, holding her head and pushing backward when her claws tried to find purchase on the porcelain tub.  She was giving more of a fight than I have ever seen before in a cat.   At one point, I noticed my own heart laboring and sweat pouring off me just trying to keep her in the tub.

I got the shampoo on her, but I could not hold her still for 10 minutes.   That is what the bottle said.   I would like to see them try to hold a cat still in a bathtub for 10 minutes.  

I knew I was loosing the fight though.  She started breathing rapidly, a hoarseness cropped into her meows, and her breathing became labored and quicker and alarmingly erratic. 

I quickly shoved her under the tap again, trying to wash the shampoo off.   She was in total panic now.   Total.   She is almost 15 years old, and I thought she would have a heart attack then and there.

Finally, with most of the shampoo off, I could not, in good conscience, hold her any longer.  I was afraid for her life.   I let her launch herself out of the tub.

Chasing a wet and scared cat with a towel is something for people younger than myself.   I finally dried her up some.  I was exhausted.   I still am exhausted.

This is only a cat I realize.   However, it made me think about what parents must go through all the time with children.   They need shots, first aid, the occasional wound dressing.  Wow.  I have a whole new appreciation for parents doing things for their children that frighten them, or even send them into a panic.

I am truly humbled after this experience.   Parents Rock!

Doing and Being.

I have had my share of situations come up that have caused me to rush about and try to do something, anything to make them better.

If only I could .....  When I get there I will.....If I just did......things will work out if I change......Next time I will do......

Doing.   It all gets back to whether I think that the actions I take have control over the sometimes unpleasant situations life seems to have.

Doing.   When my focus is on the future.  I see the past and regret it so I make changes to what I will do to the future and change that.

Doing.  I need to feel like I am doing something. I have to make an effect, I need to see something happening.

All these thoughts come to me when I feel that the business of life is overwhelming my peace.   My first reaction to this chaos and turmoil is to do something about it.   I have been trained to marshal my forces, to fight the fight, to struggle to make in my life what I desire.  

Am I missing the point?

My days are sometimes dominated by excessive activities.   I have been trained to think that I am not successful unless I have done something, finished something, or at least started something.   I am trained by society to see my own worth as being related to what I have done, what work I do, what work I have yet to do.   I find that I search after security by doing all I can to ensure that I can support the life that I am living.

There is nothing wrong with this.   No.  There is a time for action.  It is just that too much action, to many things pulling me to act means I loose my peace.   I find that I am harried, anxious, upset, driven, stressed.   When my actions are resisted or thwarted I get angry, frustrated, sad, depressed.   Some things I cannot solve; some security I cannot feel no matter what I do.  What good is doing then?

I found that I get to the point that I am so frustrated, so tired of always doing, that a breakthrough happens.  I have an overwhelming desire to stop the rat race and to just start being. 

Being.   This is the focus on the now.  Being means that I do not dwell on the past; nor do I dwell on the future.   I am in the now.   I realize that peace does not come from the planning for what may come, or the review of things before.   Peace comes from choosing to BE a peace.  

Being.   The eternal now.  Many authors have written about living and being in the now.  Why?   The now is the only time that we can change.   The now is the only time that really is.   Our past is made up of an infinite series of choices we made to be who we wish to be in the now.  The future is just guesswork as to what we will choose to be in the now.    

Let me say what Being brings to my life that Doing has never brought.

1. Being gives you more time than doing.  Being totally focused and present now allows you to

see more things you can do to be more effective and successful in living and working.

2. Being is easier than doing. To begin being, all you have to do is allow yourself to be that way. You don’t have to do anything, just relax and let go of something nonsensical that isn’t worth holding onto.

3. Being quiets the mind while Doing is noisy and distracting.   I have to think of all the consequences of doing, how to do, what to do, when to do it.  My mind can be filled with all the possibilities.  It gets noisy.  Being, my mind can relax.   It can be aware.  

 

4. Being is more fun. Doing is actually boring because you are missing out on the things that bring real joy and meaning to your heart. The nice surprise is that the more miserable you are from doing, the more content you can be in being. 

 

Doing and Being.   I can do that.    But I can be that even better.