2012

       Lot of buzz with this new year.   Big elections in November.  Mayan calendar ending in December.  Turmoil, it seems, everywhere.  Fear stories abounding – from all over, right and left. 

       I have a New Year's invitation for us – me and you.  Let's not pay much attention to the buzz out there.  Its vibration weakens us. 

       Let's focus on the quiet voice inside, the gentle wisdom of the inner master.  We need to breathe and soften to hear this voice.  And sometimes, we don't hear it all.  We just feel it.

       We feel the sigh of "yes", as inner connection happens.  The connection guides us.  It steers us with purpose.

       In 2012, let's listen to our own teaching.

       Happy New Year.  Happy listening.

From Solstice to Christmas

       I'm feeling quiet this holiday season – more like solstice, right now, than Christmas.  Winter solstice invites us to embrace the dark, quiet, fertile emptiness within.  For me, this darkness is a spiritual womb.   Its rich environment nurtures growth, invites incubation and prepares us for transformation.  It births us.

       Tonight in group, our meditation took us into the fertile darkness of solstice.  We rested peacefully in the quiet, letting the darkness hold us, for maybe half an hour.  No work.  No agenda.  Simple allowing.

       When the time seemed right, we invited a spark to enter our hearts.  With each breath, the spark grew more radiant.  It became a flame, then a roaring blaze.  Within each of us, darkness gave birth to light.  We radiated together – each light a unique expression of the one light, each heart uniquely expressing the one heart.

       Christmas celebrates the birth of light.  Solstice, perhaps, like the womb of Mary, provides the incubation light's birth requires. 

       Have a beautiful and memorable holiday season.  Let the quiet darkness hold you gently and let your love-light be born – again and again and again.  Merry Christmas!

Re-Run

        I'm running full speed this week.  In addition to my normal case load, I'm leading two retreats, two consultation sessions and a couple groups.  Despite the pace, I'm energized, feeling alive and, for the most part, loving it all.  Reminds me of my first piece in the Weekly Wisdom series – posted nearly three years ago – titled: An Antidote for Exhaustion.  Here it is again.

An Antidote for Exhaustion

Poet David Whyte once asked his friend,

Brother David Steindl-Rast,

about a cure for exhaustion.

The reply went something like this:

The antidote for exhaustion is not necessarily rest –

though in some cases that may be true.

The antidote for exhaustion is wholeheartedness.

Heart-sight

       In group Thursday night, Mary mentioned a practice she's been using in her interactions with others.  She visualizes heart energy moving up to her eyes and out toward the other.  Her gaze is peaceful and spacious – without sentimentality.  It's a way of being present that's powerful in its impact on her and on the interaction.

       Inhale the love-energy of the universe into your heart and exhale it through your eyes toward the friend you face. 

       Heart-sight creates a safe and loving space for conversation.  It's good looking.