The big picture

Ever since I can remember I have been fascinated with the ‘big picture’. No matter what my circumstances, perspective or situation, it is always enlightening to imagine it from a distance. I tend to see how things fit together, how they operate, and ways to intervene, that I had never seen before. I remember a teacher, years ago, talking about the difference in perspective of a chicken, pecking around the barnyard, and an eagle soaring over the canyons and mountains. I try to see myself, my situation, or my world from a more expanded perspective and, invariably, it gives me both relief and insight.
I believe the relief gives our bodies, mind, and spirit a break. When we are so caught up in the minutia of everyday life, our senses are on overdrive, scanning the environment and our minds for what needs to happen next. What dangers lurk in the unknown just ahead? To a certain extent, this is how we are wired up. At a very fundamental level, we are in survival mode watching for cause to fight, flee, or freeze. This is a taxing stance to maintain moment after moment, day after day, year after year. By the simple act of looking upwards, our systems are literally given relief and a more optimistic perspective is accessible.
The insight inherent in a broader view provides a glimpse of what’s possible. I love the quote from R.D. Laing that says “The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.” When we attain a more expansive mindset, that openness allows new ideas and opportunities to flow more easily to us. Through training ourselves to step back and look at our lives from a distance, we continue to evolve into better, bigger, more open beings – more like the eagle than the chicken. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The Spirit of the Season

I am just now getting into the “spirit of the season” – whatever that means. I suppose it means different things for everyone. But for me, it’s about being a bigger person – more generous, compassionate, loving, and playful – than I feel I’ve been until now. The hope, I believe, is that I will stretch myself to eventually fit into that bigger self.
So each year, when the holiday season is upon us we can choose to be a Scrooge and stay small or to become like the Santa in Miracle on 34th Street (my all time favorite Christmas story!) Then, realizing how much better it feels to be kind and expansive we adopt a bit more of the new, improved person and carry it into the next year. As that becomes ‘old hat’ we are ready, once again for another upgrade. I wonder if it works that way. I hope so.
The “spirit of the season” has become a trite phrase, losing it’s potency along the way. But I think perhaps it’s an antidote for what we often seem to dislike about this time of year. When we are in touch with the spirit, we are not focused on the material, the commercial or the hectic. We know a truth that supersedes anything that goes on around us, we are impervious. And, what better time to become a brighter being than when the light is returning to the world?! How lovely!

It's only life!

What’s the big deal? It’s only life! I know this might sound harsh and uncaring to anyone going through some challenges right now. But fighting it, rather than relaxing into it – no matter what it is – won’t allow it to keep moving on.
This morning I found myself feeling tense about something that is so insignificant I am too embarrassed to tell you. And it really doesn’t matter anyway (really!) because it’s history – done –past – nothing-I-can-do-about-it gone. So why would I hold on to it, feeling what it is doing to my body, not to mention my mind – both of which I am very attached to?
Wellness begins, I believe, with letting go of each moment. When you look around at this very moment in time you are probably safe, secure, fed and clothed. There is no one out there trying to get you – it’s just that sneaky little devil in your head!

Getting younger

I feel fortunate to be passionate about so many things. Right now I am particularly excited (partially due to a big Starbucks, perhaps) about the very real possibility we all have to turn back the hands of time. I don’t mean just LOOK younger, but actually BE younger biologically. Of course, this takes a quantum brain leap for some of us who have been taught that aging is inevitable. The only inevitable part about it is our chronological movement through time. There is so much clinical evidence coming out now that certain products actually repair DNA damage, increase cell energy, activate longevity genes (yes, we all have them) and slow down the formation of AGE proteins. (These proteins tend to ‘clog’ up our cells so they run less efficiently causing many age related diseases such as diabetes and atherosclerosis.) This is exciting stuff! Aging is actually a syndrome that is made up of certain diseases. Eliminate the diseases and our bodies thrive!
I have, for many years, believed that we do not have to decline as we move through time. I love being right! So maybe that’s what I’m so excited about...being right!
No, it’s bigger than that. I LOVE being a catalyst for others seeing greater possibilities for themselves, erasing the limiting beliefs, and stepping into a bigger, grander, more empowered vision of themselves. This anti-aging product – is only one of the ways we can become more of who we are. Stay tuned for more!

Thoughts become things

I love this quote from Tut (http://www.tut.com/). It is so true. I am reminded of this as I write my talk tonight. Whether we are imagining, envisioning, remembering, or projecting - our thoughts and feelings determine our reality. Even our physiology is altered by the thoughts we entertain – or that entertain us. When holding on to a resentment, or recollection of a frustrating experience, our bodies react as if the offense was before us rather than behind. We become tense, our blood pressure and pulse can change, and different parts of our cerebral cortex are activated. There are no idle thoughts – as A Course in Miracles states.
Tonight I feel tense in my back and shoulders. I can either relax in a hot bath, do some stretches, or begin to soften the thoughts I am thinking. If I choose the physical approach, it will affect my thoughts. If I choose to move my thoughts into a more pleasing place, my body will follow suit. I love that we are such a reliable system. Who invented us anyway?

Bumps in the road - or potholes!

I think that, no matter who we are, or what we’re up to, we experience times when the road is not so smooth and easy. What I’ve noticed is that we can either experience those times as bumps in the road, potholes, or even a dead end.
I hit some potholes this last week. When I look at my circumstances, nothing was different. But I saw things as going from bad to worse – quickly; just about time to panic; call 911; run for cover!
Now that I have regained my footing I can look at that experience and create a roadmap for getting back on track. When things were not going so well in some areas of my life, rather than fully accepting what I saw, I created a little fantasy in my head. I can totally understand why – it felt better in the moment. I believe it was the Dalai Lama who suggested three options in any situation:
1. Completely accept things as they are. This means that they are no longer an issue, problem or cause for concern.
2. Try to change them in any way you can.
3. Leave the situation.
I think the first actually leads to the second in that, unless you can completely be okay with what is happening in the moment, (I mean, really, what choice do you have? It’s already happening. No way to turn back the hands of time and undo it.) we can’t begin to find ways to make things better.
Well, my fantasizing was more like denial than acceptance so things got worse. Go figure! Sometimes it’s the 2x4 up the side of the head that’s required to get us to accept what is.
To change involves, first and foremost, a mental shift. Allowing options to reveal themselves to you through a softening of perspective. You move from ‘either/or’ to seeing an array of possibilities from which to choose. The relief that was created by my fully accepting things as they are – not my fantasizing - gave me a moment of openness. Through that openness I saw that:
1. I was not alone. So I began to reach out to others asking for help, support or advice. Not easy for someone who wants others to see herself as having it all together!
2. I had created this so I can un-create it. So I began to create scenarios in my head of how things could be better.
3. I have really no idea what is best for me.
4. I need a broader perspective – one that can only be obtained through quiet, meditation, contemplation, going within – to the eye of the storm.
For me, nothing externally has really changed but my experience of life in this moment is one with very gentle bumps, if any, in the road I am travelling. Of course, all that, too can – and will - change. That’s the fun of travelling down this road!

Wealth

Let’s talk about WEALTH. Wealth, or lack of it, is a subject on many people’s mind currently. I know it’s cliché but I would say that my fisherman friend that I wrote about a few days ago is a wealthy man – whether he lives in a hut or a mansion. He spends time on some of the most beautiful beaches on the planet, he plays everyday in many ways, he eats fresh fish and fresh fruit, and – most importantly – he is happy, content, joyful!
But what most of us think when we say ‘wealth’ is money, and lots of it. Actually money is not all that much fun. A closet full of bills or a jug of coins does not, in and of itself, bring most of us joy. And the reason most seek wealth is to bring joy, or ease, or freedom, or power, or security or some feeling that we believe wealth will provide for us. It is also cliché that many very wealthy people are as unhappy, or more so, than those less financially well endowed. But it may be true.
I have found that if I practice feeling wealthy, imagine that I have everything that I need and want (for the most part I do), adopt a secure feeling that everything is handled (and, in reality, it is) and make my choices of what to do or say from that feeling then I am no different from those who have a huge bank account? How is my experience, in that moment, any different from that of Warren Buffett or Oprah Winfrey’s? And, the interesting thing is, that the more I am able to feel wealthy and abundant, the more I am – really.
My friend was telling me yesterday that since he has been walking around with the affirmation “I am a money magnet – or maybe money magnate” J - the more his finances are exhibiting evidence of just that. Fun, huh?!

Aspects of a good life

Living the good life.
I recently returned from a trip to Hawaii (paid for by my company). Gotta love that! While sitting on Sunset Beach, watching – you guessed it – the sunset, my friends and I were approached by an adorable 74 year old Japanese man, fishing pole and cooler in hand. He had the most jovial face, laugh lines around his eyes, and a beautiful singing voice. He sang Frank Sinatra to us. This man fishes, surfs, golfs, swims, sings and radiates joy.
One of the principles I embraced from my Feng Shui training is ‘live with what you love’. If each of us can find what we love and, to the best of our ability, surround ourselves with those things I believe we are living the good life – nothing more and certainly nothing less…