Trust once more

Somebody here is hurting
Somebody here is broken
Somebody here is waiting
Somebody here is hoping

For love to come and unlock every door
It takes you and me to open up once more
And learn to trust again

Somebody here is searching
Somebody's dreams were stolen
Somebody's arms are reaching
Somebody needs to hold them

I don't know where you come from
I don't know where you're going
I only know the healing
Starts when we stop running

For love to come and unlock every door
It takes you and me to open up once more
And choose to trust again

That there is peace Like a river
Joy like a fountain
I'm drinking the cup of my father
Flying over this mountain

Jason Upton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkY4_ZWM5gI&list=RDPkY4_ZWM5gI&start_radio=1&t=15

The splendor of recognition

“Where is this "we" and this "I"?
By the side of the Beloved.
You made this "we" and this "I"in order that you might playthis game of courtship with Yourself,that all "you's" and "I's" might become one souland finally drown in the Beloved.”

Rumi - Mathnawi I, 1779-1794 -

Savasana soundtrack #1 : Rings Of Saturn

Meditation: 

What are you born to be?What is it that you do and what is it that you are?
What do you need to
heal,
change
or transform
to manifest
your essential nature? 

~

Song: Nick Cave, Rings Of Saturn

“And this is the moment, this is exactly where she is born to be  

Now this is what she does and this is what she is"

Insight

What do you do with a new thought?

An insight that just came out of the blue?

Do nothing for a moment.

Just sit with it.

Take it in and say ‘Wow’.

Swallow this moment of insight

What happens from here?

Maybe it disappears and was just a thought

Maybe it becomes the new ground for an expedition

Your thought does not have a monetary value

But it can have a fundamental value for you

An existential value even

What do you want this thought to be?

Inspired by Esther Perel

Agency

What do you do with an old thought?

Or perhaps a familiar one that has been with you for as long as you can remember

Do nothing for a moment

Just sit with it

Just take it in and look at it with the eyes of a stranger

See if you can become curious of this new perspective

What happens from here?

Maybe you prefer your previous thought

Maybe the new one becomes the starting point for further exploration

The thought does not have a monetary value

But it can change the way you look

The way you feel even

What thought do you prefer?

Inspired by Esther Perel

Natural order

Natural order

What we do is secondary, primary is who we are.

Being and doing is like the colours and the outline of a drawing.

It might be the outline that creates a shape, but its the colours that catch the eye

Everything you need

Did you arrive on this day with a feeling of scarcity or lack? A feeling of slumbering discontent or doubt? No matter what it is.

Here and now, you remember you have a choice.

Will you focus today on the evidence of things that fall short or proof of sufficiency? Will you dwell on doubt or hold on to trust?

You don’t need as much as you think
You don’t need anyone’s approval
You don’t need validation to make it through the day
You don’t need your computer, your hot meal, your watch, your phone
You are enough

Whatever comes.

Just say: Everything I need today is gonna come my way

Failing and flying

Can you soften the end of a triumph (a failing) in your life by doing justice to the flying and trying?

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,

or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.

By Jack Gilbert - 1925-2012

Compass

When life gets complicated, what is your compass?

The Soul is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

She makes me lie down in green pastures;

She leads me beside quiet waters.

She restores my spark;

She guides me in the paths of righteousness

for the sake of peace.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for She is with me;

Her direction and wisdom, they protect and guide me.

She prepares a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

She anoints my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of harmony

forever.

Interpretation of Psalm 23 by David

The hassle of fitting in

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society” Jiddu Krishnamurti

What would happen if I marched to the beat of my own drum?

Listen to this story of Gillian Lynne

Growing up in England in the 1930s,  Gillian Lynne was 7-years old when her mother took her to the doctor because her school was concerned that she had a learning disorder. Unable to sit still, Gillian had earned the nickname Wriggle Bottom. Gillian felt hopeless, her teachers were exasperated, and her mother was at the end of her tether. The idea of ADHD had not been born yet. What happened at that doctor’s office radically changed Gillian’s life.

After listening to Gillian’s mother explain the teachers’ concerns about Gillian’s disruptive behavior, the doctor and Gillian’s mother stepped outside the office to speak privately. Before leaving the office, the doctor put some music on his tiny office radio. From the hallway outside that office, Mrs. Lynne and the doctor peered in and observed Gillian jumping and twirling around the room, enraptured by the music. The doctor turned to Mrs. Lynne and famously said, “There is nothing wrong with your child. She is a dancer.” After which he recommended Gillian be enrolled in dance school.

Gillian’s mom did enroll her in dance school about which Gillian remarked later, “Everyone was like me! They needed to move to be able to think. It was wonderful!”

Gillian went on to have a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet. She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School and met Andrew Lloyd Webber. She’s been responsible for some of the most successful theater productions in history such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera, giving pleasure and inspiration to millions.

If young Gillian Lynne grew up in our schools today it is likely that the current ‘help’ offered would have resulted in testing, diagnosis, and medication. To adjust her to what the schoolsystem asked, instead of the other way around.

Like the basic Darwinian principle: We all tend to adjust to survive. Interestingly so, it is sometimes our anomaly that holds the potential to thrive.

What if I appreciate the parts of me that don’t fit in, because they do just that?

The reality of belief

“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right” – Henry Ford

What thought or idea is no longer serving you?

Beliefs are powerful constructs. Although we might think they are just thoughts, they are much more than that. They are the frameworks, the backbones of our day to day lives and routines. 

Think about it: What you consider important, you pay attention to. What you consider valuable, you invest your time in.  If you think of your colleague as smart, then you will listen to his ideas when you pitch a plan, or you ask his advice. If you value making your life easier and you believe a certain product will do that for you, you will probably buy it.

However, if it was that simple, we would all change our lives to happy, care-free lives in the blink of an eye right? So why do we still experience struggles? Why for example can’t we make a decision of buying that new dishwasher even though it makes our lives definitely easier? Why do we find ourselves spending more time at the office than at home, even though we value our family life above all else?

By looking at our lives and exploring the things that make us feel unhappy, we can start to appreciate the feedback that our daily live wants to give us. It’s is life is talking to us in such an ordinary way that we often don’t even hear it anymore.

By giving us stress or discontent, life shows us where our beliefs are in conflict, such as being a good employee and spending time with our family.

By giving us frustration or unhappiness, life shows us where we are out of tune within ourselves.

So instead of trying to get rid of the stress by distracting yourself or dismissing it as a weakness in you, appreciate it.

What thoughts, ideas or beliefs can you find there within yourself in that particular situation? Embrace it, explore it.

You will find the wisdom inside your struggle. That truth, waiting to be acknowledged. So you can let go, of the thoughts that no longer serve you.

How it makes you feel

Is there an area in your life where it feels like you keep falling in the same traps?

A stubborn blind spot you seem to keep bumping into?

Perhaps you tend to forget to create time for yourself

Or you feel like falling short somewhere else

Perhaps you forget that You need care too

Or you forget about others when you worry

You forget to loosen up

You forget to listen to yourself first

You forget the reassurance that it does not have to be perfect

Whatever it is in the midst of your struggle to be human

What counts is what you tell yourself

What do you tell yourself?

How does that message make you feel?

Perhaps you’ve just told yourself

You will never learn

It’s not worth to try

Or you just need to try harder

Try another message instead
Instead of your faithful criticaster

Try the one your best friend would give

What would your best friend tell you in the midst of your current challenge or concern?

How does that message make you feel?

Shades of grey

Shades of grey

Shades of grief

Shades of anger

Clouds with torns

Drops as thieves

The earth still swallows

As soil is soaked

Yet dry as bone

Is it the earth that makes you feel deserted

Or the clouds that bring only colours of stone

You cannot tell

Or sense

Or care

It’s here

That you don’t want to be there

Change

Unwanted intruder

Yet only constant

Therefore resented guide

Eternal truth

So source of solace

It’s here

Yet hidden in the night

What is your question?

What is your question about this moment you are inside of and how do youwant to navigate it differently?

*

"If you're moving too fast it's very easy to ask yourself other people's questions, and accept other people's answers. Pause in these moments to reflect on what you're being told, and ask: What is my question about this moment I am inside of and how do I want to navigate it differently?"

Courtney E Martin on Hurry Slowly

*

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke

Don't underestimate you

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.” 

- Martha Graham (dancer)

Let the fact of your uniqueness sink in at this moment. Can you feel it?

Maybe you think of yourself as an ordinary person. Maybe you find it hard to believe that in fact You are unique.

You are.

You Are.

What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.

What You think of you is not even your business. Your labels, your judgements about or against yourself.

Let them subside and quiet for a moment. Simply by not feeding them with your attention.

Bring your attention inwards and feel. Feel your presence.

Nobody can be present for you. Only you can do that.

And when you don’t, you will be missed.

When you don’t, there is an empty seat somewhere.

Someone missing a sincere smile who might have needed it that day.

Anyone, missing a touch, a word, a gesture that you might not even be aware of,

But that made a difference, somewhere, somehow.

Keep that channel open.

Be that gift to the world around you, to that person next to you on the bus, to cashier at the supermarket, to that spider you freed from your house instead of smashing it, to anyone really.

Don’t underestimate You

The reason for You

Your uniqueness

Can you feel it today?