A hand moves…

Singing Image of Fire 

A hand moves, and the fire’s whirling takes different shapes.
All things change when we do.
The first word, “Ah,” blossoms into all others.
Each of them is true.    –Kukai

I recently heard/read this poem and it resonated with me.

We change ourselves when we change our relationship with our story.  Our minds developed into a neural network of stories, as we humans started telling stories around a fire.  Fires are magical and can set us into deep reflection, warm us, or burn through us like a 1000 suns.

I know for myself that I can sit mesmerized by flames, allowing me to step out of my own swirl and just be present in the moment.  And, when I get curious about my own experience with the same level of focus, I can reflect on what stories I am telling myself and choose stories that have more value, and help to guide me to where I want to move toward.

It is through conscious awareness and at the same time surrendering to the process that we have infinite potential to grow and change.  When we bring into alignment, our internal self and our external self, we can shift into the life we want to create.

It is by going into the abyss…

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life.  Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. Joseph Campbell

What is it about the dark night of the soul that opens us up, if we surrender to the experience and decide to learn from it?  I think it has to do with facing our fears of not being enough, whether that is ‘good enough’ or ‘smart enough’ or ‘strong enough.’  The stumble just alerts us to where we need to look.  When we choose to look into the darkness and face ourselves and the stories we are telling about how terrible, horrible, awful it is in the abyss, we have the opportunity to grow.  We are moved by our unconscious thoughts and actions, just as surely as our conscious thoughts and actions.  If we leave these motivators in the space of the unknown, we often find ourselves experiencing patterns that reincarnate into new situations and relationships.  That which we resist… persists.

You are not a drop in the ocean…

Perspective is a curious thing.  I love this Rumi Quote because it turns our thoughts about ourselves upside down, in a good way.  What if you are not insignificant?  What if you, in fact, are connected to everything and everything was connected to you and through you?  That you are a unique conduit of the energy of the Universe?

I think about this often.  How do I recognize the gifts I have to offer the world and then share those gifts in a meaningful way?  I believe that we each have a unique gift to offer that would improve the world if only we would name it and work to develop it.  And our job, in some respect, is to recognize this in ourselves and to look for it in others.  It’s about becoming confident inside so that we feel empowered to be authentically confident on the outside.

Looking at our emotions can provide a roadmap

A further sign of health is that we don’t become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it’s time to stop struggling and look directly at what’s threatening us.  Pena Chodron.

Using emotions, especially powerful emotions like fear, shame, anger, as road signs, can help us look inside and understand ourselves better.  Think about road signs, which one is the bad one?

Road signs just tell you something, like slow down, cross walk, no right on red, photo enforced light ahead, etc.

Emotions can be used in a similar way.  When we feel a powerful emotion, it can be from our internal story about what we think is happening and how our sense of ourself is in danger on some level.  Sometimes we are in danger, but often, it’s our perception of ourselves, or our concerns about how others are seeing us, or our ego wanting to be right, or our internal dialog, that is the real danger.

So, what are your emotions trying to tell you?

Being able to look at what is underneath why we are feeling what we are feeling and getting really curious about the emotion and ourselves is a way into deeper understanding.  This curiosity can lead to awareness around the story we are creating and will help us think of ways to jack/transform the story into something that makes us stronger.

Becoming Unpredictable

When we allow ourselves to become unpredictable
we open ourselves to new possibilities.  Lyssa

This quote comes from the idea that if we continue to do things the same way we always have we will continue to get the same results.  It is the law of Inertia. And, it’s great if we are happy with where our lives are going, how our relationships are manifesting, and if we are madly embracing the joy of the journey.  But, if we aren’t so happy with how our life is moving along, and we continue to do the same things, in the same way, nothing will change, we won’t grow, we may be comfortable, but we rarely get something wildly interesting or radically new happening in our lives.

Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion including changes to its speed and direction or the state of rest. It is the tendency of objects to keep moving in a straight line at constant velocity.  Wikipedia

• What is going on in your life, that you want to have a different result in?
• What is it going to take to jump the track and steer your story onto a new path?
• What is the story that is holding you back?
• What does the story of change sound like?
• What are you going to have to be willing to let go of, to make that change happen?

In this case, being unpredictable isn’t an external process, it’s an internal process.  It’s StoryJacking, exploring the unpredictability of shaking up our concepts about what we think we are supposed to be, what others think we should be, and instead developing a vision about what we truly and authentically want to become.

 

 

You are the Sky…

“You are the sky.  Everything else – is just the weather.”  Pema Chodron

It’s easy to forget that situations come and go, that emotions come and go, and that our true nature is far more permanent.  We are the sky.

 

Choosing to stretch past your comfort zone

He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.  Richard Back

You are only limited by your unwillingness to stretch past your comfort zone.  Lyssa M. Danehy deHart

Become Love

You cannot give what you do not have.
You cannot be what you are unwilling to become.
You have to become Love to give love.

Lyssa