Archive
It’s a Sign!!! – Richard’s Commentary
Inside-outside; optimism-pessimism; half-full-half-empty. There’s a spiral of thoughts here in Rosemary’s Exploration to digest. And somehow the article this week points directly at me!
I’ve been an optimist all my life. And I live a reasonably healthy internal life and do look for confirming signs all around me. And then I went to the doctor last week.
It’s funny Rosemary should use the example: “You might have been given a medical diagnosis that you don’t like.” My doctor visit, the first in several years, was just routine; I thought I should get a new base-line of all the numbers western medicine is so fond of analyzing. I feel in excellent health, eating well on a pretty strict regimen of raw nut, seed, fruit and vegetable smoothies for breakfast and lunch, exercising with yoga and qigong, meditating, working for myself and a pretty gentle boss (Rosemary); all good things right? So, the nurse took my blood pressure and seemed pretty alarmed; “all the celery in your smoothies doesn’t seem to be working” she remarked.
OK, I’ve had an issue with high blood pressure before; it’s a genetic condition. I have taken medication in the past but then controlled it reasonably well with Chinese herbs, acupuncture, etc. I thought I was good to go for life! Not so! The external sign here is a warning that things need to change even more.
And I am resisting this change; my resistance is not improving my blood pressure a bit! I am ignoring the external signs, but struggling to change the internal perspective in order to see the external signs change. While I remain an optimist my glass seems to be closer to empty than full! Am I fooling myself?
Since my experience at Qi Revolution with Jeff Primack I have been practicing his Level 1 Qigong Form every day. I am getting prepared for Level 1 training this Saturday. And I am planning to go for certification to teach Level 1 a week later on March 9th. I am optimistic that I can achieve this goal. I am changing my diet to include many of Jeff’s recommendations in his Conquering Any Disease book, following many of his suggestions for reducing high blood pressure (yep, more celery!) and curing heart disease. More internal changes.
Now, I realize this is a life-change and not an over-night change that I’m working on here. It’s only been a week since that doctor visit. But the optimist in me is looking for the external signs to support my internal changes. And my blood pressure remains high; that half-full glass is looking even more empty!
And the spiral continues, but in a downward spin. What is this about? All signs, whether they are inward or outward, point to lessons. There’s something karmic here; something much deeper than qigong practice and meditation. And I need to dig down where that spiral is drilling to wedge out this darkness that is shadowing my optimism. And no matter how deeply we dig for the lead or the gold, there is always another layer to dredge up, examine and alchemically transform. The signs point the way; they are critical signs to follow.
I am reading those signs carefully; I am taking my blood pressure multiple times a day. I am asking many questions and looking deeply in the dark mirror, working to clear it of dust. I am watching but not expecting new external signs any time soon. And that’s OK; I have time.
And I’m taking a newly prescribed drug (two, actually, in one pill). Yes, I have at least temporarily resorted to western medicine’s approach to my condition. I am hopeful this will improve my pressure and give me more time for the natural approach to kick in.
Yes, I read the sign, and while I didn’t like the direction it pointed, I realize there are many more lessons for this western man to learn, many more internal adjustments to make and many more years to practice!
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: It’s a Sign!!!
Spring is busting out all over!
Ha! Ha! Fooled you! It’s still winter here and we experienced a wintery mix just yesterday.
BUT I did see some flowers popping up through the frozen ground this week. That gives me hope.
If you look for signs, you will find them. If you keep your eyes focused on the little bits of snow or the frozen, leafless trees or bushes, that is what you will see. What are you looking for?
In life we are given many opportunities to declare ourselves optimists or pessimists. The glass is half-full or half-empty. The fact is that the 8 ounce glass has 4 ounces in it, but the way we perceive that fact colors how we think about it, talk about it, feel about it.
How are you feeling about yourself, your life, your relationsips, your work right now? Could that feeling be based on how you talk about something, which is based on what you think about it and how you perceive something that can be reduced to a fact, like the glass holding 4 ounces of liquid?
What signs are you looking for, or are you waiting for something to happen (externally) to change how you feel (internally)? This, I think, is the crux of the ‘feeling stuck syndrome.’ We keep ourselves focused on that ‘something’ that we expect to change and then we wait for the external to shift so we can shift how we feel internally. This is bass-ackwards!
Shift inside FIRST and watch the external situation change! Reach inside yourself for the truth and act upon that, not your perceptions of the so-called reality you see outside yourself. Where does your hope come from? Are there signs that you are ignoring because you are looking for something to back up how you are feeling instead of shifting your interior state so that you can see the signs that help you to move forward with great hope?
This game of ‘inside-outside’ can trap us in every area of our lives. We dislike a person, often projecting unconsciously our own insecurities and faults onto them, then they react to that negative energy. We are so sure something isn’t going to work out that we talk about that expectation, reinforcing that thought, speaking it over and over again, and then we are so cocky when we say, ‘See! I told you it wouldn’t work out!’ Often we never even looked for a way to make it work out because we were so sure that it wouldn’t.
And that is what happens to us – we don’t even seek solutions or improvements because we’re so convinced that there are none.
Reach out beyond what you can see to the possibilities that are there. Keep your mind open to optimism. Maybe things aren’t as bleak as they seem. Maybe the glass really is half-full and not half-empty. Take charge of how you think, speak, feel about something and it just might change around you.
You have the ability to shift your thinking, speaking and feeling. Sure, there might be some circumstances that aren’t exactly the way you’d like them to be. You might have been given a medical diagnosis that you don’t like. You might be in a complicated relationship. You might have financial issues, or a job you don’t like. There are lots of things that could be happening around you.
BUT, and this is huge, you have the power to change how you interact with circumstances. You can get angry, at yourself or someone else. You can get depressed and close yourself off from others. You can choose to do something about your situation, such as see a counselor or coach, change your eating program, get another job, move on to a different relationship. And you can always choose to examine your own thoughts and feelings to decide if this is the level at which you wish to change.
Watch for signs that bring you hope. If you see something that reinforces a thought that seems pessimistic, take the time to look around for what an optimist would see. Play the game for yourself, by yourself.
After all, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow on Groundhog Day so we’re sure to have an early Spring, whether you see the flowers yet or not! It’s a sign!!!
PS: If you are in the Annapolis, MD area check out Rosemary’s Rainbow Balance Color Therapy class coming on four successive Thursday evenings in March, the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. Special pricing for this class expires March 1. If you are not in the area you’ll be able to take the class online soon. Stay tuned for the details.
If you can make it Click Here for Details
Where Are You Headed? – Richard’s Commentary
Permission, Dreams, Plans. Yes, these are the steps to answer the question of heading.
Permission is a big first step! Many of us find ourselves in situations that are stressful, unfulfilling, and far from the dreams we may have had as kids or younger adults. And nearly as many find themselves with the sense they are locked in to a life “not of their choosing.” Well, I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, but humans are all about “choice.” We do choose everything that leads to every moment whether we want to believe this or not.
Staying in a situation that is stressful, unfulfilling and far from our dreams is a choice. We may feel like we can’t make a change. But we must give ourselves permission to make the changes that will lead to more satisfying lives. This is the time, right now, when we must begin to live into our purpose. And there is no external authority to give us this permission, this choice. This can only come from within. Yes, sometimes it takes courage to give ourselves this permission, to choose to change. But there is little chance of improvement without change.
Dreams are the second step in determining your heading. I am not suggesting a change in heading without careful examination of what you want in life. Perhaps security is more important to you than living the life of your dreams. In this case remaining in a secure but stressful environment may be the better choice. Do a gut check. Do a values check. What is most important? If your answer is greater fulfillment then go back to your dreams. Imagine the life you want. Fill in the details, begin to feel that life, breathe it, taste it, hear it, see the way it unfolds. This is creating the detailed vision of that dream. Dare to dream big. Let your imagination soar. This is the creative and fun part of this process.
Plans are the details of the dreams. Without plans dreams will remain idle, the hazy, cloud-like sketches of fantasy. Plans are an extension to the details of the vision, another layer to continue to build the dreams toward reality, the blueprints for the transformation. Plans generate the actions you need to take to make the changes. They identify the resources you need and outline the schedule and sequence of those actions.
And plans require attention too. Measure and assess the work toward the desired changes to track progress and to adjust the process as you gain additional information. As you implement your plans you will get continuous feedback; use this to make any needed adjustments. One of Rosemary’s mentor’s, James Roché refers to this process as kaizen: making small adjustments to improve a process based on continuous feedback and assessment. Even after your dream comes true kaizen can be applied to make the dream even better!
I just finished a four-day workshop with Jeff Primack, his Qi Revolution program. And it was awesome. I’ve been doing qigong for about a year now and have embraced the concepts, worked through a couple of forms and have incorporated it into both my health regimen. I also plan to blend some qigong concepts into a workshop of my own I am planning for this summer. Qi Revolution changed this vision I have, not only for my workshop but for my entire life! This is an excellent example of kaizen. I am making adjustments to my workshop plan and my vision for my future based on the feedback, in this case from the Universe, which brought me to Jeff’s workshop. It’s not a total change in direction, but a significant refinement in heading, a course correction that will get me to my dream more effectively and maybe even more rapidly.
(I’ll write more about Qi Revolution in tomorrow’s post.)
Have you given yourself permission to dream big, beyond your current situation? It’s a big step! Dare to dream!
Be Bold. Step Out. Take Action – Richard’s Commentary
I too like the word “audacious” as Rosemary said in her Exploration of this week’s theme. It sounds like the word audition and reminds me of our daughter-in-law, an actor in Hollywood who goes on a huge number of auditions working hard to break in to the big-time. She is one of the hardest working people I know, dedicated to her craft, keeping her talents sharp with classes, all the while working a full-time job in an important position at Sony in LA! Yes, she is my idea of the audacious auditioning actress! She is bold, she steps out to audition for many roles and she takes action to pursue her passion, her career in acting! Keep up the hard work, Angie; you’ll make it!
If we were all living our passions I am convinced this world would be a happy place for everyone. Our passions are fired by living our purpose. I have heard Rosemary say, many times, that we are all here on purpose. This life on Planet Earth at this time is no accident of birth, no random combination of genes and DNA that just sprang to life out of nowhere. We are here, now at this juncture of time, space, star configurations and expansion for very particular reasons. And it is individual Purpose that is the foundation for our “bold stepping out and taking action.”
Angie knows her purpose. She is fired up. And when she is on stage, acting the roles she wins she comes alive and puts herself into those roles. She is living her purpose, boldly, out there, in action.
I struggled with my purpose for a long time. I’ve done many things. All of them have been wonderful experiences. I often laugh and claim to have led many lives already in this one life-time. But I also know that those lives, those experiences have all come together to create the person I am today. Nothing random here either. And when I got my hands read using Scientific Hand Analysis with Baeth Davis, one of Rosemary’s mentors, all those lives came together in a well formulated Purpose for me. No, I didn’t learn something brand-new about myself. What I got through the process was confirmation that I’m OK, that I’m doing and being exactly what I am here to do and be. I am living my purpose.
So, why bother? It is great to get the kind of confirmation we all seek that we are on the right path. It means we can stop looking, stop wondering…and we can be bold, audacious even, in the pursuit of our purpose. We can get passionate about that purpose because we know it is our purpose! It’s written in our hands!
No, this is not about “palmistry” although the science of “Scientific Hand Analysis” did get its start in Palmistry (or did Palmistry emerge from the science of hand analysis?). There are patterns in our fingerprints and in the markings of our palms that can be categorized, analyzed, measured and compared that become the signposts and mile-markers for our journey. The fingerprints never change. They are formed well before birth, at about 16 weeks! And we have them for life. These are the basic pointers to our Way. The hand prints, the lines, the crosses and stars and various marks on our palms do change. They develop as our brains develop. Changes in our palms can be mapped to changes in our neural pathways and developing neural networks as our brains develop and expand with new knowledge, new beliefs, transformations of mind and spirit!
How cool is this? I can get pretty bold in writing on this subject! Why? Because I think if we all knew our purpose, like Angie, and lived our passion the planet would be a pretty cool place! We would all be bold, we would all step out into our purpose and take action to live the life of our dreams!
Here’s a link to learn even more: Scientific Hand Analysis
PS: Happy Valentine’s day! And you can still get that special gift for your Valentine! Here’s one action you can take: get them a Compass Call with Rosemary; that’s 15 for 50, her special offer available only through February 14. Act Now Here
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Be Bold. Step Out. Take Action.
Be Brave, Daring, Intrepid, Audacious, Unflinching. Pick one of these synonyms for ‘bold’ and use it as your mantra. (I like ‘Audacious’!)
How can you show up in your life, your work, your relationships as ‘bold’? Have you ever thought about using that word to describe yourself? What would you do today if you were really bold? What would you dare to do, who would you dare to be if there were no end to your courage? What if you knew you could not fail? Would you make a different choice?
It might be a conversation that needs to take place. You might have an idea that has been teasing at the edges of your consciousness but you haven’t given it energy because you’re waiting for the perfect time or circumstances. Do you have a project that is half finished because you’re afraid of what others might think or say when they see it? Is there someone’s approval that you are hoping for and the lack of that approval is keeping you stuck?
These are the situations in which we find ourselves when we forget to be bold. And it is about ‘forgetting.’ You ARE bold! You have taken many courageous steps in your life. Do you disagree with me? I’ll be you can think of at least one time in which you were bold. Take a moment to remind yourself of how it felt. Run that feeling in your body for awhile. Look at the effort it took to be bold in that moment and then reassure yourself that you survived, you’re here today. Sometimes our stress mechanisms go a little haywire and try to convince us that being bold will get us hurt but, I assure you, there are no sabre-toothed tigers waiting to jump on you! Your stress mechanisms might not believe me, though, so you must act despite their illusions.
Step Out.
Once you have decided to Be Bold, it’s time to move forward, step out of the box of your own beliefs and limiting thinking. What is holding you in place? Who is telling you what the limits are?
Sometimes the voice in your head can be from the distance past, like a first-grade teacher or a parent, and sometimes it comes from a belief structure that you developed later in your life, all on your own. Determining where the limits live is the first step in expanding your horizon.
You must be brutally honest with yourself here. The field of all possibilities is right in front of you but you can talk yourself into believing that there is only a narrow path available to you to pursue. Step outside the box of this thinking. Step outside your comfort zone and stretch yourself into the greater space of possibilities. It’s okay. There are no sabre-toothed tigers here, either!
Take Action.
Choose a path and step onto it. Move yourself forward with confidence. When you ask the Universe to support your efforts and you visualize your dreams you must also put some energy into the forward motion toward those dreams. Raise your consciousness and move your feet.
If you feel you aren’t sure which action to take, then do some inner work. Get in touch with your inner guidance. Ask your coach or mentor or counselor to help you work through the blocks. Choose one step you can take and do it. Very few choices are irrevocable. If you get feedback that this choice isn’t taking you in the direction you desire then take another action in a different direction. There’s nothing wrong with trying something. Ask Edison about all the tries before he got the light bulb working. Ask anyone in a research lab and they will tell you that there is good information in the paths that don’t work. Look at the story of Post-It Notes that came about because the glue wasn’t perfect. Just take action.
Be Bold. Step Out. Take Action. You are ready!
PS: It ‘s not too late to get that special gift for your Valentine! Here’s one action you can take: get them a Compass Call with Rosemary; that’s 15 for 50, her special offer available only through February 14. Act Now Here
Question your Questions! –Richard’s Commentary
Questions, questions! Where do I go for answers? Seems like we are constantly assessing and reassessing as we move through the early years of this 21st Century. Now we are in the teens! Is it time to begin to grow up into this era?
And sometimes we don’t want to hear the answers so we don’t ask even the safest of questions. How many of us are really interested in hearing the unvarnished truth about the environment? Our youngest “child” is back in college at NC State and taking some classes in environmental studies toward his geology degree. Some of the new facts coming up in his course work are scaring him! There are some serious problems out there: melting ice, ocean temperatures, ocean currents, salinity changes, bio-mass expansion, methane build-up, it goes on and on. Our computer models can’t even keep up because the data is off the charts!
Then there’s the “soft science.” I just finished a book by Drunvalo Melchizedek, The Mayan Ouroboros. Yes, I read some far out books, and no, I don’t believe every word. However, I do enjoy counter-balancing all the so-called “facts” of science with information coming in through various channels, including my own and Rosemary’s. And more often than not, 80% of the information we read in some of these “far out” books corroborates our own information! OK, so maybe sometimes we are a bit far out there too.
But here’s what Rosemary is offering in her message this week: “Question everything!”
I start with questioning myself; and yes, I question my questions. Am I listening to my inner guidance? Am I double checking my inner guidance? Are my practices right for this time? Do I need to change my diet? Am I spending too much time practicing and not enough doing? Am I sleeping too much, or too little? Are my priorities set correctly? You get the picture, right? This is about awareness. This is an awareness practice!
I am reminded of a Korean Koan that I frequently fall back on; actually it’s like another practice. The koan is simply to ask: “What is this?” when faced with an issue. Ask it inside and listen for the answer. And when you get that answer, ask again: “What is this?” You keep drilling down as deeply as you can go until the issue is resolved or the answer to the question is satisfying. When facing a dilemma I often fall back on this practice and simply ask myself: “What is this?”
This is where I go for the answers: inside. And if the answer doesn’t bubble up I go to external sources; and then I test their answers inside. How does the answer feel; does it resonate; is it off the grid? And if I can’t feel for the answer I sometimes use an intuitive tool, like a pendulum (I carry one with me almost all the time). And if I don’t have one I can even test something with my body. Here’s an example of that:
When I am looking for an alternative health support item, like an herbal preparation to boost my immune system if I feel a sniffle coming on, I usually face an array of possibilities at the health-food store. So, I narrow the field just by reading labels but still face several options. What I do is a form of muscle testing: I close my eyes and hold the products, one at a time, near my heart and sense the energy. I am usually either pulled a bit forward or pushed a bit back for each item. I reject the ones that push me back (repel) and keep the ones that pull me forward (attract). I continue this selection/elimination process until I am down to the one that’s most effective.
Our body, our heart, our intuitive senses know the answer well before our brain, especially the left side, kicks in with a “logical” one.
The array of questions out there can be overwhelming. There are many complex issues coming forward in the early teen years of the 21st Century! Narrow them down to the important ones and seek for satisfying answers on the inside.
Then be at peace!
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Question Your Questions!
The RIGHT Question is…
Who am I here to be as the 21st Century New Human Being?
If you are an entrepreneur, is your business reflecting you as a New Human Being? Or are you still patterning your business on 20th Century ideas? Values?
In your work, whether in your own business or as an employee, are you serious about fulfilling your purpose or are you just doing a job?
If you are not working, does your life reflect your values or are you waiting for some future event or date? Have you given away your power or are you empowered to be who you were born to be?
In the United States we have been subjected to an amazing number of heated battles over topics that most had thought long ago agreed upon as a nation. One wonders why these topics are being resurrected and debated yet again. The answer is that the 21st Century New Human Being threatens the old ways that some wish would return. The values of the 21st Century reflect a new consciousness and business, politics, life must adjust to the new consciousness.
Even family life is adjusting. Everyone is busy. Everyone is plugged into their personal electronics and we walk around wishing to be left alone until we need something from each other. At the same time, we connect with Facebook friends, we tweet about our lives and keep up with others on Twitter, we have professional networks on LinkedIn, we email and surf the net. We are connected in constant ways with others around the world. And ask any server in a restaurant and they will tell you what percentage of diners are sitting at the table on their smart phones!
But are we connected to our inner selves? Are you going inside to seek your answers or are you waiting for the next email or Facebook post or Tweet? Are you expecting someone else to give you the answers or are you actively seeking them through your own inner connections to guidance?
The New Human has a well-developed intuition and sense of Soul Purpose in the 21st Century. As we evolve, we will develop even better perceptions through our sixth sense than through the five physical senses. Telepathic conversation will become the norm. Everyone will be ‘psychic.’ We are moving in this direction.
So who would be frightened by this evolution? Perhaps someone who is lying is afraid that you might telepathically perceive the lie. Maybe someone who has been selfish or greedy is afraid that the New Human will want to live in connected community and will want the possessions that have been so assiduously amassed or hoarded. Perhaps someone who is ‘doing just fine, thank you’ is afraid of change and wants things to be less complicated than they appear to be now.
We can never get inside the head of another person but we are seeing a divide occur between groups who might not even be aware of the values that the divide reflects.
I heard the statement made by a father who lost his son in the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Americans are getting caught up on both sides of a discussion of how to stop gun violence but maybe they are asking the wrong questions. This bereaved father was not playing on emotion – he went back to founding documents for the Great American Experiment and quoted this from the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson:
“…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This father pointed out that Jefferson and the founding fathers were very deliberate in their choice of words for this important document. ‘Life’ is listed before ‘Liberty.’ Perhaps society is asking the wrong questions if it is addressing ‘Liberty’ before ‘Life.’
How are you asking the wrong questions about your Life, your Business, your views, your values, your relationships? Are you coming from a point of view that doesn’t allow the winds of change to shift you from a fixed position? Are you unconsciously clinging to old ideas that might have worked in days past but are no longer applicable to the evolving 21st Century New Human Being?
I challenge you to question your questions!
PS: Are you asking yourself the right questions? If you need help consider Rosemary’s special offer; this expires on February 14! Take advantage of this offer, a “Compass Call” with Rosemary: that’s a quick dive with her into Dimensional Exploration for a very affordable price; she calls it “15 for 50″ and you can get it here for a limited time. You can even consider giving this to your special Valentine!
Buy it here:
Is Your Life Reflecting Your Values? — Richard’s Commentary
Rosemary always asks these pointed and difficult questions! Yes, I know they are good for me to reflect on, to answer, truthfully, for myself. And I actually thought this one would be reasonably easy for me to reply to and write this commentary. Then I took a second look!
A couple of years ago I did an exercise to clarify my values, to align them with my thinking, my philosophy. I made a list and prioritized it. I took a deep dive into this analysis, writing at length about these values I had come up with, what they mean to me and how I live by them. At the end of much thought I distilled the set of values down to two key ones: Practice and Love. In fact I even drew a diagram, a schematic to relate these two primal values: Practice –> Love.
No, this doesn’t mean my practices lead to love and it doesn’t mean if I practice well enough I will learn love. Maybe these meanings are overlays here, but these are two distinct values for me. I truly value that I am able to practice my various approaches to live a conscious life. Meditation, yoga, qigong, pages, poetry, … and any other consciousness raising practice that comes along that has potential for me is a key value. And how much more can I say about Love? Self, family, friends, community, humanity, life, Planet Earth, Nature, food, wine, beer making, wow…so much to love in life! And, clearly there is a relationship between practice and love. I love my practices. My practices help me better understand this whole sense of Love. Love improves my practices. It is complex and I can’t say that I even fully understand it when I write, and I often do: Practice –> Love.
But Rosemary’s question goes deeper here. Yes, she asks us to review our values, but more importantly to review our lives as they reflect those values we reaffirm! This is the key analysis, the driving question.
And I’ve spent the last several days, as part of our retreat weekend, reviewing and refining my answer. My answer initially is “no.” Oh sure, I’m doing a lot of practice, and I’m pleased with this. I also love: I am partnered with the love of my life. I am part of a loving family. My kids really do love me (at least they’ve done an awesome job of showing it!). But there’s a deeper level here I am reaching toward.
My exploration begins with the word “unconditional.” This is the quality of Love I’m reaching to attain. And this would then truly be the goal of Practice –> Love, my core values. I am not practicing unconditional love at every opportunity and therefore, my life is not reflecting this value.
That said I am working on it. This is my new level of Practice I’m striving to achieve. I suspect it is a life-long pursuit! But I have begun. Last evening, after Rosemary and I had returned from our retreat, our daughter stated, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that she had been craving pancakes for breakfast and would I please get up to make her some next morning! Hmmm, on Wednesdays she leaves for work at 7:15; hey, I’m retired, and while I am working harder than ever before and enjoying it a whole lot more, my hours don’t include 7:15 am! I did not commit! But this morning I was awake at 6:30, wanting more sleep. I debated with myself for about 30 seconds, and then asked “what would I do if I held the value of unconditional love? Yeah, you guessed it; I got up and fixed daughter and two grandsons pancakes (two different kinds). And the surprise and smiles were well worth the few extra winks!
With this good experience as a launch point I have been challenging myself to come from unconditional love all day. I’ve failed multiple times! I had several errands to run which meant driving and encountering other drivers; always a stumbling block for me to keep my cool while driving, but at least I continued to pull myself back to my core value. I’m practicing!
How are you practicing your values this year?
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Is Your Life Reflecting Your Values?
We’re getting down to the nitty gritty here and I hope you’ll seriously consider what’s in this article. How do you decide which activities will receive your attention today? What values are you using to allocate your precious hours today, the hours that you will never be able to recapture after they have been spent?
This is where living a conscious life meets living the hectic 21st Century busyness that seduces us all into thinking that things have to be the way they are.
You have 24 hours in each day. Your human body requires 7-9 hours of sleep – good, peaceful, restful, restorative sleep. The rest of your hours are yours to spend as you choose.
‘Wait!’ you say. ‘I have to go to work, get the kids off to school, teach my class, meet with my clients, go to the grocery store, and ______________ [fill in the blank]! I don’t have control over those hours!’
To which I answer, ‘Yes. You do.’
Every moment of every day we are at choice as to how we will spend that moment. You choose to work at that particular job. The kids might be able to get themselves off to school or a nanny could do it. You scheduled your class or your clients. Groceries can be delivered or a personal assistant or a spouse can do the shopping. And so the choices go. You might think that you can’t afford things but you can afford certain things because you choose them.
I’m not being simplistic here. We all make choices and ‘I can’t afford it’ really translates to ‘I choose to spend my money elsewhere’ or, even, ‘I CHOSE to spend my money elsewhere and now I have to pay the bills.’ Still, it is all based on choice.
So knowing that you choose how to spend your time, how can you make sure that you are choosing according to your values?
First, you must know what your values are and you must know them in priority order. I frequently see a client who feels conflicted and the answer to clarity lies in examining the values that are bumping into each other. Here are two questions to ask yourself:
Who do I really want to spend time with today?
AND What is the most fulfilling activity that I can put on my calendar today?
If the answers match the schedule, good for you! And if not, then ask yourself, Why not?
You have the power to make choices about how you spend the precious hours you have each day. Are you LIVING your life or are you SPENDING your life?
Choose to schedule your day based on what is important to you, what really matters. Don’t let anyone else control your schedule. If your boss wants you to be in a meeting at a certain time, then, by all means, attend the meeting. But instead of spending emotional capital resenting it, accept that you choose to remain in this job [even if it feels as if you have no choice to remain in this job. You could choose to quit and maybe live on the street so you might be making the right choice for the moment!] If your family is making a demand on your time that causes you to resent saying ‘yes’ then say ‘no.’ And release feeling guilty about it!
Notice how often you make choices that don’t feel right to you. Making the choice to take an injured kid to the ER feels right, doesn’t it? Making the choice to escape into TV when there might be something else you could do might be escaping your life instead of living it. AND watching TV might be your active choice to relax and rest your mind for a bit, so release the feeling of guilt about making that choice!
CHOOSE. Match your schedule to your values. Raise your consciousness about your moments and you’ll feel happier!
“Think New Thoughts for 2013” – Richard’s Commentary
“Thoughts become things” according to Mike Dooley. They are things according to many current authors linking quantum fields and our brains (or should I say “minds”?). Our thoughts are certainly energy that is detectable, measurable and effective! The so called “new age” construct that we create our own reality through how we think and act, imagine and project our thoughts, ideas, visions into the world is becoming main stream science for those who are open and willing to explore these not-necessarily-self-evident concepts.
Then whether we believe this approach or not would seem not to matter; it’s not a matter of faith but a matter of science. We don’t believe in gravity; it’s a fact that objects near the earth respond to a force by falling to the earth. “Thoughts are things” is not a belief system but as real as gravity. There’s a lot of empirical evidence to back this up.
Therefore we really do have to be very aware of our thoughts, to monitor them, to assess and characterize them and to channel them in the direction we choose if we want to live a certain way. And this is particularly true if we want to change, improve the way we are living – evolve!
The way I look at this we need to be of “two minds.” We need our “active mind” to get us through the day. Part of this mind keeps us alive, running our physical bodies and responding to external stimulations as they pop up. And part of this mind is making decisions on a myriad of inputs; some decisions are almost automatic, based on habits and some are actual choices we are motivated to make based on priorities and plans. Then there is the second mind, the observer mind that assesses our life from another level. This could be called the “meta-mind” because it operates at the meta-level lifting out of the routine operations to passively monitor how we are doing. This could also be called the “mindful mind.”
Another common expression these days is “change your mind and change your life.” This could be the corollary to “thoughts become things.” These are easily expressed phrases, quickly becoming platitudes. But underlying their seemingly obvious simplicity things get a bit dicey. How many of you are sticking to your resolutions for 2013? That mind that runs on autopilot and habit consumes a huge percentage of our waking mental activity. It is not until we begin to assess how we are spending this “mind time” that we realize how much thought-energy is wasted. Don’t feel bad if you are already falling short on those resolutions. The routines you were living through in 2012, while not “hard-wired” into your brain, are a set of well worn pathways through neural networks laid down years ago. They are difficult to rewire!
The endless loops that play and replay in our minds are wasted energy. The knee-jerk emotional energy we expend on all the little, and sometimes big, annoyances in our lives is pretty much wasted – this emotional energy seldom accomplishes anything!
This is where the second, meta-mind comes in. We cannot change our minds, change our habits, change our responses unless we monitor, assess and evaluate the rightness and usefulness of those responses in the first place, when they occur.
A perfect example happened to me today. I was practicing qigong. My meta-mind should have been in high-gear, right? I was present, mindful, deeply into the practice. There were some people in the neighbor’s backyard talking and I could ignore them. Then our Lhasa Apso, Tara, came on the scene. At first she was attentive but quiet. Then as she detected the outside disturbance she let out a piercing bark. I almost jumped out of my skin! Then I scolded her for disrupting my practice. It took me several moments to re-collect myself and get back in my rhythm. Later as I was reviewing this I realized my reaction was not only out of habit but also unfair. Tara’s breed is from Tibet where Lhasas were raised as temple watchdogs. Their job was to alert meditating monks and masters if there was an intrusion into the monastery! Well, Tara was doing exactly what she was bred and raised to do! And she doesn’t have a meta-mind (at least as far as I can tell) so I had no right or reason to scold her! I’m the one with the meta-mind but it didn’t wake up until after my unfairness.
Exercising this meta-mind is no easy thing. This is why it is called “practice.” And it is through this practice that we can begin to “think new thoughts.”
How’s your 2013 practice coming along?
Men and The Goddess 