I remember when an old friend once commented on a “missed opportunity” of a potential rendezvous that never ended up happening. It was in reference to another friend during a private conversation between us. But more poignantly, his attached emotion asserted a grieving for the dirge of a moment that did not go the way he wanted or expected. He’s not the only grown man I know that suffers from ‘mantrums.’ I’ve fallen prey to them myself. Ah, the clinging and grasping of life is the root of our suffering. We all suffer and suffering is merely part of the human experience, myself included.
Moreover, as expanding souls, it is natural for we humans to desire and want more. But it is also an opportunity for choosing gratitude for what is. Without this practice, happiness as a way of life is impossible. Even when we get what we want, it is a sad and lonely story on the inside of a person who remains hooked into the cycle of grasping and clinging. Self examination reveals this experience always leads to disappointments and the accompanying funeral procession. It’s not that I don’t have my moments here. It’s just that I tend not to get as sucked into them as I used to.
Even the committed optimist or followers of positive psychology fall prey to wanting to hold tight to what we fear we will lose. This is because it is natural to experience the tragedy of life that is not without its grieving and trauma aware process. Moreover, the same old friend once said to me, “Ari, I think you and I have different definitions of friendship.” And I agreed with him. Because his definition is more typical and normal, from an old world reality. From this perspective, it’s tit for tat, I’ll scratch your back and then you scratch mine. It’s as if there’s a punch in/punch out clock that keeps a tally of a friendship that is based on competitive acts. Who is one upping who?
Beyond this behavioral trap, I do have some old relationships that appear somewhat akin to basketball legends Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s. It’s the kind of relationship where we don’t see each other or talk for years and then when they reconnect, it’s like we don’t skip a beat. There aren’t any resentments about the time stamp between our communication because neither of us are really keeping track. And if there were any feelings that need to be cleared up, this kind of relationship allows for a healthy conversation about it. If anything, there’s a shared experience of gratitude for the reconnection. You just never know what unexpected surprises or gifts the Universe might bring. When one door closes, another door opens.
Lets face facts here . . . All adults are like big kids. And like kids, we tend to act out. The old paradigm did not teach us effective ways to express ourselves, including how we communicate with each other. It has done a good job of teaching us to pretend and hide our true feelings, from each other but more importantly ourselves. Dysfunctional and deeply engrained behavioral patterns have taught us how to use what my “Aunt that likes to rant” has called “secret decoder rings” and how to manipulate and control each other- even in cleverly covert and subtle (or not so subtle) ways.
For example, if you are maintaining a relationship that is based on guilt driven motivations, that’s something to look at inside of yourself. If you feel like you did something wrong, based on someone else’s energetic output, that’s something to look at within yourself. Consider the ritual of gift giving. There’s nothing wrong with ritual. But the power of ritual awakens spiritually when it is done with a sacred connection and done so without a sense of expectation. But when the ritual is for the sake of ritual and the gifts have an underlying edge of expectation, there’s a difference.
As humans, we all get insecure, have attachments and want to be loved. So it stands to reason that we have a tendency to cling and grasp to FOMO (fear of missing out). Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics capture the sentiment here, “it’s sad funny ending to find yourself pretending you’re a rich man in a poor man’s shirt.” Accepting this tension of opposites, like the Boss would say, reveals “better days are shining through.”
Remember what we were taught as children: Stop. Look. Go. There’s a time and a place for running the hurry up offense, to use an American football metaphor. But most of the time we’re rushing through life, there’s no need to do so- particularly with regards to racing thoughts or what Taoism calls the Chattering Monkey Mind.
Thanksgiving gives us time to pause and reflect on the spirit of the season, count our blessings, and meditate on gratitude. As a fellow human, I feel especially thankful for our home, Mother Earth. At times, I have taken Her for granted and I am sorry for it. If it wasn’t for Her presence in our lives, none of us would be here. And if I hadn’t been given the gift of Her presence in my life, my experience here would have been very different, and not as enriching to say the least.
Contemplation on how my life would be different in Earth’s absence yields a plentiful harvest of gain in my appreciation for Her bounty. It also deepens my feelings of gratitude for this lifetime living on this planet. As spiritual beings having human experiences, we are expanding souls so it is natural to desire abundance in its variety of forms. But we miss the boat when we forget to acknowledge our blessings and gratitude for what is.
How might your life be different if Earth had never entered into your lives, or had certain people, places or things not entered into your experiences?
I’ll admit it, I have my moments of heaviness at times. Even though I have been looked upon as a brother from another planet, like the rest of you, I have my fears and worries. It’s so easy to time travel to the past or back to the future, and get lost in those projections. How does one not get stuck in the intersections between the voices of trauma, resentful bitterness, rose colored glasses or nostalgia? Our suffering is in the clinging for one state over another. We wish this misery would be over or this happiness would never end.
Thanksgiving is no exception, as it is a holiday that serves up a feast of mixed messages and conflictual emotional memories. Personally, Thanksgiving is my favorite mainstream holiday. But I don’t deify or demonize the Pilgrims or minimize, gloss over the genocide of Indigenous people, ignore the existence of this land before the current occupation, nor the slavery that existed then or the other forms of oppression that exist today. An authentic look at this holiday and still feeling gratitude for its totality is a lot to digest, and get be both bitter and sweet to the taste, depending on your attitude.
Admittedly, I welcome the relatively less emphasized market driven consumerism of Thanksgiving – at least compared to some others. Specifically, I’m learning to tame my own gluttony at the annual feast without defiance. Every year I walk away from the table pleasantly full even after eating less than the year before. It has taken me a long time to realize that softening the will is not about going hungry or selling out. Thankfully, I’m turning a corner on that front.
Beyond its polarities, Thanksgiving is about the intrinsic spiritual alchemy of being mindful of having an attitude of gratitude for what is and the gift of presence. When we are in this place, we win on the inside and everyone one around us is impacted in a positive light. And yet, this real realm of personal discovery is not without a new world of anxiety because anxiety is a fact of life. When I think of Thanksgiving and Turkey, I think about the spirit of shared blessings that feathers a ripple effect of reciprocity.
In my own experiences with anxiety, I would be lying if I denied that they sometimes ruffle my feathers. These days, my own OCD experiences have evolved (or devolved depending on your perspective ) into being mindful of my breath, and cracking puns – sometimes at oft color times of heightened nervous woodland creature energy. In fact, the puns fall quite autumnatically like acorns during this time of year or rise like the tides on Full Moons especially. Like most people, it’s pretty impossible to not find myself preoccupied with much ado about nothing, if only fleetingly, in the theatre of life. The trick is to not hang out too long in that space or chase thoughts with overly indulgent reactions.
For certain, you could charge me with being guilty of a coyote like subtle (or not so subtle) wry grin on my face, even when I should mirror a more serious affect or otherwise apropos facial expression to match the situation at hand. It’s hard not to be provocative when you are naturally wired for having a propensity for the theatrics or know when to say when during the interplay between wisdom and folly. Tricks that were once treats no longer work anymore. Some call it growing up, while others say they’re younger than that now. Awakening is a process, as is supporting the awakening of others.
Truth is, it isn’t always easy to differentiate between where con artistry begins and true wizardry ends – whether it’s working with adolescent girls or my own observational self-examination. But that’s OK, communication with Blue Jay reveals a general sense of acceptance and non-judgement in this area of personal growth. Besides, the royal road to authenticity is paved with fool’s gold in footsteps that have a tendency to fake it till you make it. Walking the line isn’t about being perfect. It’s about floundering, making mistakes and failure. These are elements of Growth Mindset. Nature is such a powerful teacher. That’s why psychologists agree that the best laboratory is the naturalistic environment. May we embrace our imperfections.
These days, it can be more challenging for the Ordinary Joe not to get sucked into his own alternate realities, escapism, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders or the dramas of others. The dying stages of the systemic patriarchy makes it hard not to do that. You all know about the impact of FOMO, peer pressure, social media profiling, and the garden variety of distractions. Today’s outer distractions have more bells and whistles. But at the end of the day, we have the power to turn the background noise into bells of mindfulness.
Remember that the world is a reflection of art imitating reality. Today, it’s probably easier to play the blame game, considering the myriad of conveniently inconvenient excuses flitting out and about in this world of 10,000 things. We are conditioned to point our fingers at targets of our own suffering. Alas, we shop around at those deeply engrained establishments, fixed ideas notwithstanding!
Learning to be human has never been easy. We all need good strategies.
But in this pandemic, have we forgotten how to be human in the social environment?
Speaking of Target, if you find yourself in a situation where there isn’t a prepackaged box readily available on the shelf, is this an apparent invitation for throwing a public temper tantrum, having a panic attack over the missing object of affection, serial text people to come to your rescue, or perhaps indulging in a private negative self talk episode?
Might these moments otherwise be worth self reflecting on as an attachment to a desired outcome, and could instead become a playground for spiritual growth?
Are they repetitive, unconscious behavioral traps or an awakened state of awareness that are just waiting to come out and play in the sunlight?
The reality is that we have to work at our wellbeing, mental health and social emotional learning. Yeah, you can argue that you have the right to be rude to a grocery store worker because they mixed up your items and placed them in the wrong bags, cite that you are a paying customer, and therefore justified in the attitudinal feast you served up to the grocer. However, that is an entitled position that eats a hearty plate of suffering by being part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Being entitled is a form of victim consciousness. You lose from that perspective because it is a recipe for more suffering.
For example, just look at the profiteering of this nuance in the popular culture and so called alternative media forms. There’s a romantic libertarian defund the police sentiment, a welfare state of dirty energy, liberal greed in the marketplace and conservative fighting over the people’s right to quality healthcare, which includes preventative care, mental health and substance abuse/addictions treatment. There’s a constant slugfest between philosophical differences or belief systems. Whether it’s Critical Race Theory or Civil Rights Team – some people are triggered by the CRT acronym. Take the fight out of it folks. Give inner peace a chance. There is enough and we can all win.
Instead of challenging, connect. We need connection now more than ever on our Planet today. It would be wonderful if Divine Intervention happens. I do believe a faction of extraterrestrial beings and highly spiritually evolved multidimensional beings are concerned about our survival and are doing their part to support our transformation, and probably planning something more exponential as we speak. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the powers that be are plotting and scheming to counter that with commercials that attempt to hoodwink us into buying into a feigned invasion that fronts as an alien takeover. But in reality, the Military-Industrial Complex’s potential smoke and mirrors campaign will likely be orchestrated and manufactured from our own advanced engineering of foreign technology. We shall see.
What can each of us do in the meantime?
What kind of energy do we want to attract?
Clean energy on the inside is a parallel process to clean energy on the outside. Developing a meditation practice helps bring equanimity into your soul and the collective soul respectively. If you don’t see empathy in the world around you, become the change of empathy you want to see in the world by seeing it in your mind and feeling it in your heart. See it in yourself and see it in others, especially in your so called enemies. Some have to work harder at this than others.
Connect with the animals, nature and your fellow humans. Connect with you Higher Self. Connect with Spirit. Connect with your Spirit Guides. They all want to connect with you, and we all need connection.
We humans cannot afford to take each other for granted anymore or view ourselves as separate from each another. The only real way out of our suffering is through a meditative mindful way of life. It is only through this inner work that we can heal our soul wounds that manifest in our outer world. At the end of the day, everything else is just cosmetic. Easier said than done.
Awareness is the first step. We have to acknowledge whatever it is that needs to change by starting with ourselves. That takes courage because, in doing so, you will experience what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. Through meditation, we can learn to sit with the tension of opposites, or the interplay between what we call preferred and non-preferred experiences.
Remember, we are all mirrors for each other and the signs are there for you to see if you take notice. I have a coworker friend that just bought a new sweatshirt that says, “HEAVILY MEDITATED.” That’s a nice playful, light-hearted mantra to sport on an article of clothing.
Together, may we learn to live in the present moment, regardless of how unknown or uncertain it is. Besides, there are no guarantees, so we might as well come down into our souls and take up residence in the here and now. May we give thanks for that.
If you are paying purposeful attention to the plight of humanity today, perhaps you might notice a popular pandemic beneath the viral headlines. From a spiritual perspective, human suffering is largely due to people stopping at their judgements, hiding behind them, and frequently perceiving themselves as either inferior or superior to someone or something else. We all have our talents and struggles. But on a soul level, none of us are any better or worse than anyone else. We all have our issues, and are working out our own dharma. Problems arise when we get identified with our judgments, make our positions the absolute right positions, and then justify our positions by reinforcing them with sophisticated arguements in our minds that build cases against any other viewpoints that appear alternative to our own.
We see this play out when children fight over a toy when playing together until they are confronted by an adult’s intervention. And then typically the child that took the toy from the other child justifies why they took the toy in the first place, therefore making it right, and bypassing any guilt or shame that should be examined on the inside. That’s mostly why humans lie and deceive at times. As adults, most of us have become quite sophisticated at this skillful avoidance tactic, often acting out these nuances in our fantasies, and also sometimes concretely in our relationships. But in reality, this is just the anxious little voice of the ego that is also known in Taoism as the Chattering Monkey Mind. It can become a storied arrogant bravado, as its hubris makes convincing arguments that perceive itself as always right, by acting as judge and jury, case closed. It’s hard to argue with that or peer behind the curtain, beyond the masterful illusion. Besides, there’s no illusion if you don’t see it for what it is.
I remember when I was in High School, I had become quite adept at constructing my own concrete reality in my mind that felt safe to me. Whenever I felt threatened by someone else’s position, I would end an argument by saying something like, “you know I’m right”, and walk away from the interaction feeling like I won. Boy, was this ingratiating to my ego. As if communication in relationships should be competitions, where there is a winner and a loser, and one side walks away with a trophy. Pretty silly, and embarrassing, but many people still buy into this form of propaganda, and align with the dangerous ‘cult of personality’ that spreads vis a vis a pandemic of mis/disinformation, like the wildfires out West. It doesn’t matter if you live in a dictatorship, capitalist, socialist society or the Land of Honah Lee. Here in the US, we have capitalism and socialism, where the private sector’s goal is to make money, and medicare that’s designed to take care of people’s health needs. The stupidity of the arguement is a failure to value that both of these subsystems want to expand. Moreover, the fighting about justifying that one side should be held back, while the other should move forward trumps equitable solutions. The truth is that there are enough resources for both, and we can all win. We know from the Law of Attraction that abundance abounds. It isn’t that the lower self isn’t real. It’s just that the Higher Self is more real. The illusion of polarity is healed and dissolved from this perspective. You can’t see that when your blinders are on, and so rigidly clinging to the righteousness of your attached position.
Take a look at the significance of the myriad of thought forms that are circulating in our individual and collective habituated minds. We are creating our beliefs from within, and they are reflecting back to us from our outer world. Many human relationships, including close friendships, are frequently based on unconscious agreements that are motivated by guilt, and an underlying fear that if certain expectations aren’t met, then the relationship could fade into the backdrop, or is maybe even doomed to end. Think about the ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) phenomenon that has become a very real experience, and part of many people’s suffering. Rather than speaking our truths authentically, people will give up their power to protect someone else, in an effort to keep the relationship on life support. The internal commercials we buy into go something like this: Well, if I don’t give such and such to my friends, then maybe they will be mad at me, hold a grudge against me, and unfriend me on social media or not invite me to the next party. If I don’t give so and so a Christmas card, then maybe I’ll be off their list. If I don’t suck it up and go to a social gathering, then maybe I’ll be deleted from my friend’s contacts, or a circle of friends group. And maybe you aren’t overtly excommunicated by your congregation, but maybe a lot of pretending that nothing is going on, or people don’t say anything at all, talk behind your back, give you that fake reptillian smile or a furrowed brow next time they see you.
Nobody likes being left out or excluded. But what about when you are leaving yourself hanging out to dry by avoiding personal growth, and nurturing your soul’s evolution? Authentic relationships, and friendships understand that there are times to hit the pause button, and allow people to be where they are at, and who they are. The Higher Self doesn’t live in the realm of tit for tat, or I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine. It’s not about the ritual of gift giving, or proving your love to someone or something. Sometimes, embodying the Universal pillars of Love and Truth is a selfless act of giving another person space, coupled with a self-care act of just being with yourself. The old world paradigm might make for an entertaining Game of Thrones, but it isn’t sustainable or rewarding on a deeper, intrinsicly soul level. Reciprocity is a different way of making connections, and engaging with our human family. There is a way to connect with your own soul, and another soul without any strings attached, or any sense of expectation. We can do this in judgment free zones, and by listening on a level that goes deeper than words, and even beyond attached emotions. Some call this form of empathic listening ‘tuning in’. It is possible to give freely without resentment. It might mean that you give yourself space back to yourself, picture your own inner nobility or the inner nobility of another that could be the target of your disgruntlement, and meditate on that. And if you feel that you are giving in a way that is leaving your feeling resentful, inserting yourself into someone else’s affairs, needing someone else to insert themselves into yours, or finding yourself being seduced to do so or get sucked into someone else’s drama, then maybe you are being invited to examine something deeper going on inside of yourself.
On a larger scale, keep in mind that the global chaos on the planet right now is really challenging the order among our human family, and in society at large. This is part of the transition process from leaving an old paradigm behind, and moving into a new one. I know it is challenging not to get sucked into the chaos, conspiracy theories, or ‘cult of personality’ that we already spoke of. But try to remember that we are spiritual beings having human experiences. On a deeper and higher level, our souls want to be freed from this bondage. The entanglement with our attachment to form is part of our alchemal process that we are meant to relax and let go of. It doesn’t mean you are above the pandemonium or that you don’t feel the pain and suffering of humanity deeply in your bones. It just means you don’t allow yourself to get sucked into the hellish drama of it all. Do whatever you can to connect/ground yourself to this earth, find gratitude in your heart, discover inner peace in your being, and remember to just breathe. You got this. We got this.
Earth Eagle serves up inspiration to give back
to our Mother during these
shared blessings of harvest season
Turkey’s death sustains our lives
Digesting gratitude for their sacrifices
is good food for deeply thankful thought
A dying old world programs us to buy into
a mantra that pushes us to acquire and get ahead
But when we try to use force to ends by justifying means
We are saying that we don’t trust the Universe to give us what we need
Meditation on Turkey reminds us to walk with secured footing
Reflecting our own adaptable nature
by roosting in different locations in the dirge of night
Let us be mindful of what dreams might come into our material realm
Building a New Earth with Turkey
Gives birth to win-win co-creative possibilities
Why not wake up expecting synchronicity?
Seasons change gradually
Transitions feel more gentle when weathered
like a slowly dripping spigot
Are you appreciating the subtleties of larger changes to come?
A resurrection of the Golden Rule
Awakens a place where the Higher Self meets Collective Consciousness
We gather in a theatrical convergence of egalitarian harmony Birds of a feather flocking together
Do you see that what is good for the goose is good for the gander?
Yes squirrels get angry about turkeys stealing their Winter stockpiles
But we can dig on the symbolism of nuts and acorns
In mining our souls to burn clean energy
We unearth hidden wisdom and seeds of growth
Visions from our Third Eyes welcomes
abundant arrivals of feminine energies
She has strength in Her numbers
It takes a formidable systemic empire to hold us back
But that need not make us public enemy number one
Remember that we are all One
Cut from the same cloth
Though diverse expressions
Steer clear from fear-based peddlers of divisive images of hatred
to the out of tune choir of Ebola, ISIS, War on Terror
and Police free indictments chimes in with
arrested development of self-preservation Ferguson is a magnifying mirror of an American horror show
Occupy Critical Mass
How smart are you at being lulled into a hypnotic trance
by mediums of advanced technologic distractions?
May we gracefully allow Turkey’s spirit guide us in
warding off negative energies
that feed off our souls
So that we are light on our feet
Today, we get into alignment with the Winter Solstice – the darkest day of the year. Tomorrow, we gain a little bit of light every day. In the darkness, we have an opportunity to receive the information from our lower Chakras, or a “land down under”, so to speak. Although frequently unwanted and uncomfortable to look at, we are equipped with these Chakras to help us shed light on and live in harmonic relationship with the Earth, our sexuality, base emotions, personal will and self-esteem. It is easily conveniently inconvenient to resist this information, change the channel and exit or avoid with denial or aggression. However, we have the opportunity to dig a little deeper by taking an authentic glimpse into our bodily portals of consciousness. As such, we might allow ourselves to see what information Spirit has to reveal to us in our unfolding story. In this process, we may develop acceptance and even make friends with what is. One way to do this is be part of a fire ritual in community and share what you are grateful for and what you would like to let-go of this year.
When I notice those unwanted internal news broadcasts, I remember the old Beavis and Butt-Head episodes. Do you remember watching those two character idiots watching MTV videos together – making comments like, “this sucks” and “change it”? Don’t those characters merely embody theatrical resistance to the inner space of our lower Chakras? After all, life really is like “a box of chocolates” because “you never really know what you’re gonna get.” And remembering a sense of humor is good medicine. We cannot always control, script and choreograph our life-like a reality show. Sometimes, the “best in show” is simply remembering the full-bellied laughter of the Buddha when the funeral parade comes knocking on our door. Our modern world is chock full of distractions that give us easy permission to change the channel, rather than being present on Channel Now. Being present doesn’t mean getting sucked into old dramas, mental tapes or the “voice in the head”- like feeding off an endless IV drip of sympathy. Rather, it does mean being in the moment with what is and breathing in and breathing out the living present, one step, one breath and one moment at a time. If “every thought is a judgment”, then just return to your breath and see what happens.
Many souls choose to leave the material realm this time of year. This is part of why this time of year is such a mixed bag for folks. We feel conflicted about getting into the spirit of the season, the emphasis on consumerism and pressure to buy gifts for each other that we hope will be well-received. We feel pressure to be “up”, instead of “coming down into our souls”. But we need to remember that this junction is really about gratitude and letting-go. Christ’s Light embodied the Sun that is a beacon of light that serves as shelter from the storm. His consciousness was meant to inspire us that the Kingdom of Heaven is an internal experience. When humanity evolves into this place with regularity, we see its unfolding reflected in our outer world. In this way, we become the change we want to see in the world.
Do you remember the character Holden Caufield in the classic book The Catcher in the Rye? Holden Caufield is the epitome of our dying Pisces age and represents the letting-go of our savior complex. The character can’t let-go of trying to catch lost souls jumping off the edge of the cliff, where he waits to save them from their doom. This lose-lose scenario leaves him feeling lonely so that he looks to fill his empty cup with alcohol to medicate his spirits. But we don’t need to carry the heavy burden of trying to save anybody. However, we can become an embodiment of inner peace. When we do this, our souls light up. When we don’t, our souls dim. Those of you who know material bounty and perhaps the “white picket fence”, have probably realized by now that “living the dream” of the leafy suburban lifestyle does not feed your soul alone. Meditation is a healthy spiritual diet that will nourish you soul and help you feel pleasantly full.
Humanity is grieving the loss of Nelson Mandela – one of our great fraternity brothers on the forefront of our movement into a flowering New Age. It is hard to say good-bye to our loved ones that have passed on. In the letting-go, I am grateful for his energy and look forward to his spirit breaking out and shedding even more light on our Planet and Universe. Sadly, society is frequently put in the position of taking away freedom from those who cannot handle it. But for some free thinking individuals like brother Mandela, he was unjustly crucified for decades for breaking the rules by doing the right thing as a freedom fighter. I particularly appreciate his understanding that regardless of what was taken from him, he refused to allow his soulful attitude to be stolen. Regardless of how small his jail cell, he knew he was in charge of his attitude about the cards he was dealt. Part of being human is to indulge in a little self-pity once in a while. However, too much self-possession sneaks us into the portal of a Martyr. Did he not have the patience of Turtle while he walked this Earth? But like any enlightened Being or good role model, our task is to emulate the experience of inner peace rather than being seduced into the dogma of putting our guru onto a pedestal. Part of being human is learning to honor our imperfections. Otherwise, unwelcome disappointments will overwhelm our souls like a flash flood.
In much the same way as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela lead the cavalry by stampeding the institutional segregation system known around the globe as Apartheid. Isn’t it interesting that phonetically, Apartheid is pronounced as “apart hate”. Around Kindergarten, we learn to make judgments about our differences from one another as inferior or superior – My skin tone is different from that other kid, so that must mean that I am either better or worse and perhaps justified in hating him or her for that, goes the indoctrinated and typically unconscious belief system. It is a learned behavior. Our old world has not let go of this kind of programming just yet – although there is a burning desire to do so. Can you feel the Earth’s anger at that? Mandela’s death synchronizes with our dying old world of the perceived polarity of separation of “us” and “them”, heroes and villains, friends and enemies. Awareness reveals the yin and yang are always dancing with one another. Within our Being, we have the opportunity to look upon this sensuous feminine and masculine tango as energetic soul mates showing one another a mirror that reflects back parts of our greater whole – diverse expressions within our Unity. Where the sunlight dominates, the dark night is merely kneeling beneath her bounty. While poly amorous encounters might provide short-term extroverted happy endings – flirting with more introverted lovemaking probably leads to clearer forecasts and less dark and stormy weather down yonder.
While taking communion with the Full Moon and Winter Solstice coming up, we look forward to the light increasing thereafter. The reptilian-brain position of viewing ourselves as separate and disconnected from one another embodies a developmentally delayed way of looking at our world. While this dirge is a real position, it is not the position. Those of us that stay in that place have become comfortably numb with this familiar funeral parlor. You could even say it feels safe, even though it is a traumatic place to live. Our future plight as a human family, global and Universally Eco-sensitive community rests on learning to emulate the likes of Nelson Mandela and others that walk in “the Way, the Light and the Truth”. We all need to bring in more inner peace into our world. We all need a sense of security and belonging. At the end of the day, inner peace will only come from within – even though it abounds without.
After overindulging in food, drink and enjoying the fuel injected Detroit Lions atypically route another team on national television, my wife and I ventured to a reunion. En route down Thunder Road, a dynamic mix of 90s background music conjured up nostalgia from that era, juxtaposed with Billy Joel’s Scenes from an Italian Restaurant danced on in my mind.
When we got to town, we made a pit stop to eat at a local pizzeria that features authentic pizza. In the spirit of life being like one big surprise birthday party, we recognized old friends for an unscripted encounter. It wasn’t Mystic Pizza, but we enjoyed a heavenly slice of conversational exchange on life’s happenings and where are they now. This is a good time of year to come down into our souls and revisit our past connections, if only in other areas of consciousness like our dreams, visions and imaginations. Of course, being present is easy to avoid these days with the emphasis on virtual social media, 24 hour shopping, playing with gadgets and other distractions. While reconnecting in a physical way can be especially anxiety provoking, underneath that rock is an opportunity to breathe new air into old relationships and connections. While I can appreciate bowing out gracefully from old relationships that appear stale and toxic, it was also a great energetic opportunity to re-work and transform. My heart is pleasantly full from that.
In much the same way as the good n’ plenty of our citizenry, High School years were an interesting experience. In the dancing and mingling, we celebrated diversity in unity during our cross-constellation exchanges. Right Tao, isn’t everything old new again? Bearing witness to a theatrical cast of characters – it was music to my ears to see that girls just want to have fun . . . but be careful because the floor is slippery when wet! I was in my element – trying my best to be mindful of organic opportunities to connect with peeps from back in the day. In my estimation, we consumed a co-creative venue to see old friends and breathe in fresh air. For yours truly, talking football with some old teammates was poetry in motion and a welcome nightcap. In the spirit of that, an old teammate gave me a bear hug that would have left any star NFL thoroughbred inundated.
Looking back, I walked away from the experience with the wisdom that you know you love your soul mate in their rank and beauty when you can laugh again at idiosyncrasies that once drove you nuts. In true Hollywood fashion, the romantic ideal of finding your soul mate reads like a Utopian fairy tale with a happy ending. But the reality of taking a road trip together and sharing balanced conversation without the aid of technological audio to fill in the airwaves is music to my ears. When we can authentically gaze upon our partner with the viewpoint that we are mirrors for an other’s soul development, we bear witness to As Good as it Gets.
In learning to live on Earth in this way, I am thankful for the infinite spirited blessings of this season. Tis the season to meditate on gratitude and letting go as we embark toward the darkest night of the forthcoming Winter Solstice. And while it is natural to over-indulge during this time, it is also a good time to clean out.
Classroom Mothership Earth 