Butterflies: To Harness and Ride

From Lissa Rankin's The Fear Cure:

99% of fears are false fears that exist solely in the imagination where there’s no real threat. False fears trigger the fight-or-flight stress response unnecessarily, which not only disables the body’s natural self-healing mechanisms and predisposes us to illness – it also limits our capacity to step fully into our life’s purpose, when our radiance, talents, love, brilliance, and creativity are desperately needed in a world that needs all hands on deck as we collectively wake up.

When you think a fearful thought, how does your body feel? Do you feel relaxed and grounded when you think the thought? Or do you feel tightness in your chest or gripping in your solar plexus? Intuition (one form of true fear) tends to come with a very relaxed physical feeling, accompanied by a sense of direct knowing, whereas false fear tends to feel tense in a body and panicky in the mind.

True fear is here to protect you, and even false fear is something to be grateful for. I think of false fear as the finger pointing towards everything in need of healing in your life. Physical therapist Val Zajicek defines “PAIN” as Pay Attention Inside Now, and I think false fear is just such a pain, an uncomfortable emotion that invites us to Pay Attention Inside Now.

Common fear-inducing beliefs in Western Culture and 

Possible Brave New Belief alternatives:

• Uncertainty is unsafe (so I have to do everything I can to control my life)
• Uncertainty is the gateway to possibility (when we don’t know what the future holds, ANYTHING could happen! Exciting!)
• I can’t handle losing what I cherish (so I have to protect myself from loss)
• Loss is natural and can lead to growth (sometimes loss breaks us open to our true selves and opens our hearts to how fully we can love)
• It’s a hostile universe (so I’d better be on guard)
• It’s a purposeful universe (we may not understand why bad things happen to good people, but we can learn to trust that we’re always learning to be more resilient, even when we’re hurting)
• I am all alone (in a hostile, uncertain world where I might lose what I cherish)
• We are all One (mystics and sages have been saying it for years, but there’s actually evidence that we are all interconnected in ways science is only now beginning to be able to measure)

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

The most important decision we make
is whether we believe
we live in a friendly
or hostile universe.
~ Albert Einstein

If only we learned how to harness and ride rather than hunt and kill the butterflies that live in the gut of every person who strives to create something extraordinary from nothing.

~ Jonathan Fields

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

through me tell the story

"I return once again to Homer, who says,

'Sing in me, oh Muse,

and through me tell the story.'"

......

listened to Bobby D's

Nobel Lecture

sitting on a

(covered)

balcony

while the rain softly fell.

highly recommend.

a well deserved honor:

http://www.svenskaakademien.se/en/nobel-lecture

"So what does it all mean?

Myself and a lot of other songwriters

have been influenced by these very same themes.

And they can mean a lot of different things.

If a song moves you, that’s all that’s important.

I don’t have to know what a song means.

I’ve written all kinds of things into my songs.

And I’m not going to worry about it – what it all means."

It matters.

THE POET 

moves forward
to that edge

but lives sensibly,

through the senses
not because of them.

Above all he watches
where he steps,
as if it matters

where he leaves his prints.

The senses overwhelm him
at his peril.

Though he must be taken
by something greater.
That is what he uses
senses to perceive.
....

~ David Whyte

play-in-progress

Today I Rise: The Invitation

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/today-i-rise/

☀︎

the rEVOLution is love, part II

Not Anyone Who Says

Not anyone who says, "I'm going to be 

careful and smart in the matters of love,"

who says, "I'm going to choose slowly,"

but only those lovers who didn't choose at all

but were, as it were, chosen

by something invisible 

and powerful and uncontrollable

and beautiful and possibly even

unsuitable--

only those know what I'm talking about 

in this talking about love.

~ Mary Oliver

Together is Better Than One

💙

the rEVOLution is love

♥︎

listening beneath the noise

Notes from the universe

I understand that you must wonder, sometimes to the point of bewilderment, at what you're truly capable of doing. Yet, therein lies the "problem," because living the life of your dreams is far more about what I'm capable of doing.

Surrender - 

The Universe

you see, all I need's a whisper in a world that only shouts...

and an attitude of gratitude....

(Also found at https://vimeo.com/44131171)

_/|\_ listen, what is beneath the noise _/|\_

what is soft is strong

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding.

But water will wear away rock,

which is rigid and cannot yield.

As a rule, whatever is fluid,

soft and yielding

will over come what is rigid and hard.

This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.

- Lao-Tzu

Live life as a rehearsal
(from a Martin Landau interview I heard recently)

Trust is the most important thing.

     Trust yourself to the point where you don't rely on getting
          help from the Director...

Talent is one thing, but to trust your talent is another.

Trust your choices.

Use the rehearsals in a way where you're not watching yourself.
     "Leave the director outside"
Make choices on a scene or character from the objective point in you
Make a conscious choice.

Either trust that to your subjectivity or don't.

If you do, 

let it take you where it will~

If it does what you hope it will, it will end the scene
     As opposed to your deciding to end the scene.

Trusting yourself to the degree that you trust your subjectivity
is what rehearsals are for....

The wonderful thing about trusting yourself:
If you can swim well,
what are you worried about drowning for?
(it's a waste of time)

If you can,
     learn how to do what you do well. 
          Trust it.
               Trust your craft.

♥︎

perspective

there

mesmerized

two hours

passes like minutes

where am I

sitting

in India

or key west

during

peace week

dissolving

softening inside

creating space

gratitude

re-energized

ah,

impermanence

The mandala represents an imaginary palace that is contemplated during meditation. Each object in the palace has significance, representing an aspect of wisdom or reminding the meditator of a guiding principle. The mandala's purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and to assist with healing.

According to Buddhist scripture, mandalas constructed from sand transmit positive energies to the environment and to the people who view them. They are believed to effect purification and healing. Mandala sand painting was introduced by the Buddha himself and there are many different designs of mandala, each with different lessons to teach.

The design of the mandala is marked with chalk on a wooden platform. This meticulous process takes an entire day.

Starting from the centre and concentrically working outwards, the monks use metal funnels called chak-pur to place millions of grains of dyed sand to make the elaborate patterns. The vibrations of the chak-pur being grated with a metal rod cause the sands to flow like liquid.

monks from Drepung Gomang Monastery in India at St Paul's

Key West, FL January 10, 2017

Once the mandala is complete the monks ask for the deities' healing blessings during a ceremony. As the monks chant, one monk begins the destruction of the mandala by scraping a knuckle through the sand, creating a cross of grey sand.

Another monk takes a paintbrush and slowly and carefully sweeps the sand from the perimeter to the centre of the mandala. The destruction of the mandala serves as a reminder of the impermanence of life.

The coloured sand is swept up into an urn and dispersed into flowing water - a way of extending the healing powers to the whole world. It is seen as a gift to the mother earth to re-energise the environment and universe. 

The above text is from a BBC Religions online article on the mandala.

_/|\_