Problem?

I have been noticing lately that when there is a problem I seem to have so much more space to grow, as long as I am aware of growing.  If I only see an event as a problem and not some kind of opportunity, then the growth is painful and slow.  If viewed as an opening, then growth is possible in many directions.

Life has been really shaken up in the last few months, and I feel like I have grown and stretched in so many different directions that I never would have even know existed if I wasn’t thrown into it.  If I am play dough, and I want to be shaped like a star, I guess that I have to be squished into that shape.  I was hoping that I might just turn into a star, but I understand that transforming literally means changing shape.  Hmm….

The Moon has calming qualities

That is something that I heard recently, and last night, while I could not sleep, I looked out the window at the moon shining down on me.  I cant say that I felt calm, but I did feel a wonderful connection to something… I guess it was very peaceful, and I was reminded that the moon is always there, weather I see it or not.  Even when I am inside, it is just through a few pieces of wood above my head… just like the soil is only a few feet below the pavement under our feet. GO NATURE!!

My goal recently is to see the nature in the city, instead of just waiting to get out to the woods.. these two thoughts about the moon and the soil are a great reminder that I have been seeing the very subtle city nature…

Philosophy of Expectations

“Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually. You’re not living by human laws. Expect miracles and see them take place. Hold ever before you the thought of prosperity and abundance , and know that your doing so sets in motion forces that will bring it into being.”

Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez

And Then You Are

And then You are like this:

A small bird decorated

With orange patches of light

Waving your wings near my window,

Encouraging me with all of existence’s love -

To dance.

 

And then you are like this:

 

A cruel word that stabs me

From the mouth of a strange costume You wear;

A guise You had too long tricked me into thinking

Could be other – than You.

 

And then You are…

 

The firmament

That spins at the end of a string in Your hand

That You offer to mine saying,

“Did you drop this – surely

This is yours.”

 

And the You are, O Then You are:

 

The Beloved of every creature

Revealed with such grandeur – bursting

From each cell in my body,

I kneel, I laugh,

I weep, I sing,

I sing.

-Hafiz

 

The Sun, the Stars and the Earth

Recently I had an opportunity to sleep out underneath the stars. The feeling of an amazing expansiveness overtook me, and was there all night. There was an abundance of shooting stars, and the ground was cool and wet underneath me. I felt as thought I could not get up, even if I wanted to. I didn’t want to thankfully, or I may have missed the wonders that unfolded through the night. I was so amazed at how gigantic the sky was. For the first time in a long time, I really felt how large the sky is. The sky may go on forever. There could be anything out there. I felt close to something ancient, like the people that have been looking at them and wondering and dreaming since the beginning of language. I felt the immense ancient secret that is the stars and the sky.

Soon, I feel asleep, which I was not planning on doing. I was kept warm that night by the others that were caught in the love and amazement of stars beauty and the magic that was in the night. What a beautiful night. The sky would wake me up every few hours so I could look and be amazed at how it was completely different than the last time I opened my eyes. Seeing everything move so fast was a beautiful thing that inspired the memory that life is always happening, and in the most usual places are some of the most beautiful secrets. It was an extraordinary experience of something that can been seen as ordinary. It was if the earth was holding me, and the sky was showing me her amazing secrets.

I was woken up when the sun completely announced itself in every possible way, when it came over the hill and hit me in the face with its shining beam. It was if the sun went right to my face and said “HELLO!!” The night was instantly day, the air went from warm to hot, and the world woke up. It was an experience of seeing the sun for the first time. The sun was God, powerful, demanding, giving, and loving. I could feel that all of the stars were still there, behind the bright light of the sun, still holding their knowledge and wonder, patiently waiting for darkness to come. The expansiveness of the night did not disappear, but just changed to the expansiveness of the day.

That morning, under the sun, under the stars, on top of the earth, and surrounded by the two other people that loved the world as I did in that moment, that there was god, support, love everywhere. Everything was completely alive, including me.