Have you tried to take a hiatus from your digital device? It is not easy. But well worth trying, if only to give you an experiential understanding of the costs of digital dependency. When we disengage from our phones and tablets and screens of all kinds, we experience the world in a different and enlivened way. We can be more present. And along with this shift in perception comes discovery—actually re-discovery—of our myriad capabilities for awareness, not only in and of our immediate environment, but in our connections to the expanded world, inner and outer, as well. It is quite … [Read more...]
Finding Calm in the Storm
This last year has been and continues to be a challenging time for everyone. I have been giving some thought to what we can each do to maintain our own energy--and energy hygiene--so that we may stand each in our strength and integrity, and support ourselves and others. We each hold the possibility, and the opportunity, to make positive change, and it can happen in simple and subtle ways. It can be summed up as: share your self light. This of course means that first you need to recognize and nurture your own light. And how do we do this when we are stressed by outside events and … [Read more...]
Alert and Available
How often do you worry about the future? Or feel stuck or drawn back by something or someone in the past that you can’t seem to get past? Human mind and emotion have a persistent way of distracting us from the present. We struggle with the business of being human--that is, surviving physically and emotionally--and we think far too much about it, often engendering fear. This is our nature and our habit, and it is reinforced relentlessly by our cultures (including family, work, and community cultures) and by the realities of survival. We are shaped by our pasts, by our attachments and … [Read more...]
The Power of One
As we mark the death of Nelson Mandela, much has been said about his remarkable achievement, his life story, his politics, his tactics, his tenacity and courage. He is fittingly celebrated for his unwavering commitment to and the success of his mission to right the iniquitous wrong of apartheid. But we must not overlook another of his gifts to us: he reminds us of the potential and opportunity we each hold to make positive change, and the ability of human will to triumph over adversity. He exemplified the power of individual thought and intention, directed into action, and the inevitability … [Read more...]
Imagination, Make Believe, and Inner Discovery
As Halloween approaches and we can’t help observing, and maybe participating in, dress-up and pretend play, I am thinking again about the importance of imagination, and in particular how much children can remind us about expanding our capacities to know in non-linear ways. Children are impressive in their ability to easily and fluidly abandon so-called rational thought and immerse themselves with freedom and delight into imaginary worlds. In the process of such play they are naturally accessing their intuition and accomplishing important developmental tasks. My four-year-old … [Read more...]
Politics, Truth and Compassion
Are you as worn out from this election season as I am? I am beyond weary from fending off the incoming—all kinds of energetic approaches vying for my mental, psychic and emotional attention, ranging from snail mail, email, print and TV ads, the endless coverage by the media of each side’s daily talking points and the innumerable partisan surrogates appearing on behalf of each agenda, and, most difficult of all to bear, the relentless sniping and small hearted negative attacks that appear to be acceptable terms of engagement in politics. We are all being subjected to energetic fields replete … [Read more...]
Indiana Jones, Winston Churchill, Coincidence and Synchronicity
What are coincidences? How do they happen? Why do they happen? What do they mean? Coincidence, as commonly defined, is when two or more events happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection. But this definition only considers events that are causally related. Synchronicity, a term coined by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung in the 1920s, recognizes that concurrent events may be connected by meaning, rather than cause. Synchronicity is when two or more events that appear not be connected, and are unlikely to occur together by chance, in fact do occur together in a way … [Read more...]
True North
Do you know your “true north”? Or how to find it? True north is a navigational direction based on the Earth’s axis. Magnetic north—the north a compass needle points to—deviates from true north over time and from place to place because the earth's magnetic poles are not fixed in relation to its axis. True north is fixed and certain. But the “true north” that I am referring to is your personal navigation marker, the one based on your own inner axis—that is, your alignment with your true, authentic self. This is the pointer that allows you to successfully find the way in your life, and … [Read more...]
Pathways
As Fall brings transition, I have been thinking about the nature of pathways: the choosing, the traversing, and sometimes foraging when the path disappears. And then arriving, finding where the path takes you. How did you get there? What did you bring with you? What did you find on the way? How difficult was the passage? Where are you now? Choosing your path, trying to figure out what is the “right” path, for you, is not easy. And, things are not always as they appear. The soft and sunlit path in the woods, so gentle and inviting, may take you through rough terrain ahead that you … [Read more...]
New Math: Subtracting From Your Mind
What do you yearn for, and where does it direct you? As we savor the last sweet days of summer, and many prepare for school, I have been thinking about this. And about the nature of the scholar and inner learning. What is it we really want? What are we studying and learning and trying to achieve in this life? We live in both our inner and our outer experiences, and the emphasis on one or the other ebbs and flows, and perhaps the balance shifts over time. But the outer distractions have a way of taking over. It is important to find ways and means of attending to our inner growth … [Read more...]