hello, little teacher II

**Update to one of my personally favorite posts from 2011,
as the lessons from this little teacher continue to deepen ....

Karmapa Dream Flag via Wikimedia Commons

The American primitive painter Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) reported watching an inch-worm crawl up a twig and then, clinging to the very end, revolve in the air, feeling for something to reach. “That’s me,” he said, “I am trying to find something out there beyond the place on which I have a footing.”
- Robert Genn

_______________________Original post below______________________

As I was waking up with my unsettled, loose-end'ish feeling self and starting the day today, I was sitting at this desk when I noticed this tiny little worm. 

I noticed as s/he/'it' moved along that at times the surface of the desk seemed slippery and it

struggled for traction.

Sometimes the cracks made it turn and

go another way.

Sometimes it would topple over and get back up.

It went over the cracks, down the tiers of the edge of the desk and back up again several times.

What is going on here?

I curiously wondered.

gratitude taproot

taproot:  the main root of a plant, growing straight downward from the stem, usually stouter than the roots that grow laterally from it.

a selfish way to save the world: foundation of self esteem and gratitude taproot; meeting human needs, and

bringing your greatest gifts forward

...to become aerodynamic by supercharging natural strengths

a great talk on this concept by Giovanni Cavalieri:

 

step one: get your fundamental needs met

        step two: give your greatest gift

step three: receive the gift of a life well lived

step four: let the whole world receive the gift of

your life well lived

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~

Let us rise up and be thankful

for if we didn't learn a lot today

at least we learned a little

and if we didn't learn a little

at least we didn't get sick

and if we got sick

at least we didn't die

so, let us all be thankful.

~ Buddha ~

There's a rhythm under the song...

And it beats for the old and the young

And it pounds in the back of the sun

It's the sound of one drummer, one drum

There's a rhythm, it's subtle yet strong

And it moves all the wallflowers on

To the dance floor that holds everyone

To the sound of one drummer, one drum

Dance, for the time marches on

Off to a war that can never be won

To the heartbeat of drums

There's a rhythm, not cruel or kind

Though you feel that it's left you behind

Is it justice or you, that is blind

When you don't see it coming, how come?

There's a rhythm under the song

And it beats for the old and the young

And it pounds in the back of the sun

It's the sound of one drummer, one drum

~Ron Sexsmith

☀

lionheart

Bouquets

One flower at a time, please

however small the face.

Two flowers are one flower

too many, a distraction.

Three flowers in a vase begin

to be a little noisy.

Like cocktail conversation,

everybody talking.

A crowd of flowers is a crowd

of flatterers (forgive me).

One flower at a time.

I want to hear what it is saying.

-robert francis

I was made this one-at-a-time way.

I am also part of my beautiful mama's garden.

Emotional overwhelm is something I am prone to.
At a younger age (and still to a lesser extent)
it was overwhelm from the feelings themselves.

I feel deeply and a lot.

As I age into my fourth decade,

'what to do' about intense feelings can overwhelm me.

Clearly, nothing needs to be done about the feelings themselves. They are what they are, indicators of what is going on under the surface, and a tremendous source of wisdom.

Engaging the courage to feel with the willingness to act is true assertiveness.

Lionheart ~ Kim McElroy

I was blessed to be at this

Live performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2008.

It was also Overwhelming...

♥

sidewalks

♥

There is no way to peace.
Peace is the way.
A.J. Muste

Gentleness is a complex and powerful tool, and learning to work with this tool can be a slippery slope. To many of us, it's counter-intuitive to be gentle with ourselves, and gentleness is often wielded only as a soothing balm, when
its full potential is so much more.

Learning to use gentleness
in a skillful way is important work.

Gentleness when it comes to change is vital. This little story precisely describes the process, may it inspire some gentleness toward yourself and empower you to move through to your next chapter...

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Portia Nelson from There's a Hole in My Sidewalk

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

"Solvitur en modo, Firmitur en rey"

Gentle in what you do,

Firm in how you do it

~    ~    ~
Disciplined Meditation is a How...
~    ~    ~

“Meditation is about seeing clearly the body that we have, the mind that we have, the domestic situation that we have, the job that we have, and the people who are in our lives. It’s about seeing how we react to all these things. It’s seeing our emotions and thoughts just as they are right now, in this very moment, in this very room, on this very seat. It’s about not trying to make them go away, not trying to become better than we are, but just seeing clearly with precision and gentleness.”

— Pema Chodron

my mama's garden
♥

Instrumental

By chance, during a poetry festival recently, I had an enlightening chat about communication with an acquaintance's husband, who just happens to also administer the Myers-Briggs personality test.

INFP! I said,

and he proceeded to share this story of an exchange between he (also an INFP)

and his wife (not so much of an INFP)... 

"The path from your brain to your mouth," she said to him after a particularly frustrating communication process, "is like a french horn. Except sometimes something coherent comes out the other end, and sometimes it doesn't!"

... to which he replied:

"And your path from your brain to your mouth is like a well-greased trombone slide!"

With this welcomed lighthearted, insightful new way of see-ing each other,

they both laughed at themselves and haven't taken communication so seriously since.

With that in mind, did you know that 90% of communication is

non-verbal?

 Understanding my self, yet not attaching to who I am as a personality only,

so that I can stretch and grow outside of my perceived container(s),

as well as understand, inter-act, and respond with other beings,

rather than react to them,

this knowledge of my inherent nature is helpful information

in order to access the courage to joyfully practice my part in the musical of life.

In the same vein as music, the ocean as a metaphor for navigating life moves me deeply as well.

One of my favorite quotes from Sogyal Rinpoche:

"A wave in the sea, seen in one way, seems to have a distinct identity, an end and a beginning, a birth and a death. Seen in another way, the wave itself doesn't really exist but is just the behavior of water, 'empty' of any separate identity but 'full' of water. So when you really think about the wave, you come to realize that it is something that has been made temporarily possible by wind and water, and is dependent on a set of constantly changing circumstances. You also realize that every wave is related to every other wave."

~ ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

What instrument(s) do you practice playing?

If you're interested in your own exploration of the Jung-inspired Myers-Briggs test:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Also a good book I have read, which includes the test, is

'Please Understand Me II' by David Keirsey