Archive
MONDAY’S POEM: It is What it is
I am an Enneagram Type 1. This type is sometimes labeled “The Perfectionist.” Anger is often the first emotional response of a Type 1 person. In the Chinese and Taoist approach to “labeling” people they offer a “five-element” system. I am predominantly a “wood-type” person. Anger is often the first emotional response of a Wood-type person. Yes, I have been known to feel and display anger. But what’s the knowing that can be revealed by these systems that point at me with the same label?
My spiritual path coming out of this introspective approach and the tools I use for self-knowing is acceptance. As a perfectionist I need to accept the way things are. As I wood-type I need to learn to be flexible (like a tree bending with the wind). Acceptance, forgiveness, patience and letting go are the key words that I pull into me and work with toward resonance.
It is within this spirit of resonance that I wrote today’s poem:
It is What it is
Acceptance, letting go, realizing
It is what it is.
This is no easy row to hoe,
And yet it is the only path home.
Breath, inhaling deeply, noticing
What is, this natural state.
Open posture, belly breath
And relaxing on this path home.
Choice, accepting, admitting
There are options, nothing’s fixed.
Relaxed, deeply at peace
And knowing this is the path home.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Grandmother Moon
We are well into the last quarter of the Moon cycle today. The New Moon in Gemini is coming up on Wednesday. I always feel the Old Moon as she loses her race with the Sun and “falls” into Him. It’s a good time to let go of anything that is no longer serving. Give it to Grandmother and she’ll take it with her to her temporary grave.
I wrote this last year with the Moon Cycle and especially the “dying Moon” in mind.
Grandmother Moon
She is dying into the arms
Of the Father.
She is old and worn,
So close to his breast.
What will you give her
To offer the Father?
Her emptiness can hold all
You have to release.
Are your standards so fixed
To forgive and forget?
Let fly the high-horse
To Grandmother Moon.
Release your regrets
To her skinny white arms.
She’ll fold them and hold all
To burn with her heart.
In three days she’ll appear
Reborn and renewed.
Look to the west for the joy
Of her face and rejoice.
You too are new!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Forgiveness
This is an area I continue to work on in my life. It’s likely an endless task. Of the five elements from Traditional Chinese Medicine, wood is my dominant one. An aspect of this is I am quick to anger. The balance for this is forgiveness. And it starts with me!
So, for all you wood-type people out there:
Forgiveness
It can only begin inside;
Self is forgiven.
And what is inside?
The mirror of All.
It extends to the other;
She is forgiven.
Is She inside?
Om, Namaste.
It flows to the beloved;
Yes, They are forgiven.
Can the truly loved do wrong?
The very heart of All.
It moves to the murderer;
Even He is forgiven!
Is He inside?
Oh, yes, my son.
Even He is you.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Conversations that Heal: On Shame
Shame is a deep and often dark subject; not an easy conversation subject, especially for men. I am posting this because I believe it is a very important topic and may open you to considering shame in a different light.
Rosemary recently had the privilege of participating in a Conversations that Heal Radio Show with host Susan Jacobi. They discussed the topic of ‘shame’ – what it can show up as in your life and some ways to clear shame from your timeline. I think you’ll find their discussion interesting, so here is the link to the 30-minute recording. Let us know in a comment what you think:
Love and Life Purpose – Richard’s Commentary
The heart of the message from The Divine Feminine channeled by Rosemary for this week’s Mystic Message is:
The work of the enlightened ones and all spiritual students who wish to support the evolution of human consciousness is to spread the high vibration energy of Love into the energy grid of the Planet. This energy attracts assistance from other realms to amplify the energy on Earth.
I would like to think I am a “spiritual student” and certainly wish to support the evolution of human consciousness. And yet I seem to fail so often in so many ways! Or do I? Here’s this week’s story:
I “lost” my sunglasses. They happen to be an expensive pair that I like; I’ve had them for several years and have taken very good care of them. My first reaction when I lose something is to begin a frantic search. Searching with no results leads to frustration. The longer the search the greater the frustration. And when the long search is fruitless, frustration turns easily to anger.
The anger is self-directed. I am at fault for misplacing/losing the sunglasses. I am further at fault for wasting all the energy in the search, then the frustration, then the anger. And though the anger is self-directed, it is not necessarily self-contained. It spills over through a bad mood. Everyone around me experiences my loss!
After much consternation a night passes without their appearance. My temper is vented in my “morning pages” and through writing out the story a perspective begins to emerge: this is a small loss, my frustration and anger are over-blown, there is a lesson here, the Mystic Message this week is about Love, beginning with self-love.
Ah ha; there can be no love without first loving one’s self. And self-directed anger over small errors is the antithesis of self-love. Directing this anger-energy into the grid of the planet is the antithesis of what a “spiritual student” needs to strive for; and it likely “attracts assistance from other realms” that I would rather not attract!
The trouble is I’m an Enneagram type 1, “The Perfectionist.” And I really struggle with this pervasive characteristic, or motivation in myself. Sometimes it is a harsh, unforgiving task-master riding on my shoulders. I want things, events and people to be correct, to go the right way, to be smooth and cooperative, to follow rules…to be perfect. And when things, events, people go awry, I too easily move to anger. And where is the love in that?
There are many lessons in this story. The main one I choose to take away today is one of “awareness.” And I am practicing this lesson, it seems, on a moment-to-moment basis (and maybe that’s the point!). It is time to become fully aware, moment-to-moment!
A few days ago I offered the story of Tenno and his umbrella. Did he get angry with himself when he failed to answer Master Nan-in’s question about placement of his umbrella? No. He simply surrendered to his need for more study and practice – 10 years more!
After writing these thoughts down in my “morning pages” the day after my loss, I felt better. I accepted the lesson and my imperfection. I realized my anger-energy was pointless and wasted, maybe even damaging! I let go of the sunglasses. They had served me well; it was time to move on. It was time to practice love!
That evening I found the sunglasses, buried in a chair I had been using. My relief tangled with my realization that I had learned another (again) lesson on love. If I had started with love, even self-love for attracting a valuable lesson, I would have saved myself a lot of time and dark energy, and maybe I would have found my sunglasses earlier in the day!
I remain a “spiritual student.”
Self-Forgiveness as a form of Self-Love
In yesterday’s post I responded to Rosemary’s exploration about Self-Love – how it feels. And I touched on forgiveness as a way of letting go, freeing oneself of bonds that constrict one’s growth and interfere with Self-Love which in turn interferes with one’s ability to love at all!
Then it hits; the lesson! It seems that as soon as I begin to think deeply about something I get hit with the exact lesson to drive home the understanding! Yesterday we were under time-pressure to finalize Rosemary’s class for that evening, to put together the presentation and collect all the materials. Then the printer indicated low ink supply, so it was off to Staples for more. But here’s the thing: we had received a big discount offer in the mail earlier in the week; I planned to use it for more ink. The discount could only be used online but I did not get a chance to get the order placed. And now we needed ink immediately. I stormed out of the house, hair on fire with the time-crunch foremost in my mind, and raced off to get the additional supplies. Then to compound an already harried day, I left material behind when we raced off to the class. More rushing, now we are late, more storming around!
It’s tough to reach into Self for some Love under these circumstances! It can only start with forgiveness!
The lessons here are multi-layered but the main one is Self-forgiveness. I had intended to order the ink. But the week was busy and it didn’t get done. As it turned out I didn’t even need the ink yet; the printer only sent me a warning. Everything turned out fine, the class was a great success and my hair didn’t really catch on fire! And now I even have a story to base this post on!
I am calm now. And I did learn something today, again, that’s very important: every moment is a learning experience, or at least an opportunity. If we pause in the moment and ask: “What is this?” even in the midst of the chaos and flaming hair, then we can begin the learning process. If we get angry, impatient, frustrated, and harried there is no room for learning, and likely, no peace, no calm, no Love! But it is not an easy practice to stop in the midst of the chaos, deadlines, time-constraints and frustrating interruptions to ask: “What is this?” Yet, this is the lesson and this is why we are here!
And at the end of the day I even have to look back and forgive myself for not only my impatience and anger, but the failed practice! It just keeps on compounding!
But isn’t this what “practice” is all about? If it is no longer practice, then we would not need to be here. Our purpose will have been fulfilled.
For now I’m just going to keep on practicing. Self-forgiveness is a very big and necessary action for those of us with a lot of Wood Element in our make-up. This is a reference to the main element type, of five, that I resonate with from Dr. Charles Moss’ work: Power of the Five Elements. I am nearly finished with the book, a fantastic reference for anyone interested in Chinese Medicine, the Tao, acupuncture and health. (I will review the book here once I have finished my detailed read of it.) Here is just a sample of why this book is helping with my practice:
“Forgiveness and patience, the Virtues associated with the Wood Type, come from the vision and insight of the Wood energy. These Virtues can neutralize frustration, anger, impatience, and hostility (the toxic emotions and actions of the poorly adapted Wood Type) and create a path back to adaptation.”
My practice continues to transform the toxic emotions into these Virtues, to create a path to adaptation, or what Dr. Moss calls “knowing how to be.”
What Does Self-Love Look Like? –Richard’s Commentary
“Love creates. Love bonds. Love attracts and holds securely. Love frees. Love develops and Love lets go. Love releases bonds that no longer serve.”
When I first read Rosemary’s “litany” about Love, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians came to mind, that often used text in Christian weddings: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (Quoted from the NIV Bible published by Zondervan.)
While these lists of what Love looks like are superficially very different, they certainly are parallel. Rosemary’s list is about creation and development. There are bonds in Love but those bonds need to serve, not hinder growth. And Paul’s description of Love can certainly apply to creative development, growth. His words almost more appropriately apply to the Love between parent and child; there is a definite paternal quality to his list which likely reflected his feelings toward the Corithians.
Then how do these descriptions of Love apply to Self-Love, the main topic of Rosemary’s post? Creation and development are key in Rosemary’s list. And I believe this is very true for Self-Love to grow and flourish. As humans we can never stop growing, Life is about learning our lessons. And these lessons are all about the evolution of Consciousness. The explosive creation of the Universe, out of Love, initiated this entire evolutionary expansion we find ourselves in the midst of. If we were loved into existence then isn’t it incumbent on us to continue that love-stream?
Then look at what Paul says in the context of Self-Love: it is all about development, growth of a child. What if we apply these actions of patience, kindness, recording no wrongs toward ourselves? This creates an environment for learning our lessons, for expanding our consciousness and contributing to the evolution of Consciousness.
Paul’s and Rosemary’s litanies about Love turn out to be highly parallel and mutually supportive!
And what if we treat ourselves as they both implore? Rosemary says “Love releases bonds that no longer serve.” And Paul says Love “keeps no record of wrongs.” These words are describing forgiveness. And, for me, Self-Love and self-forgiveness are closely bound. There can’t be one without the other. I can only love myself from the capacity to forgive myself. And I can only forgive myself from that secure base of Self-Love.
When I am feeling low I sometimes need to drag out that “record of wrongs” I keep on myself and remember they are past wrongs that I need to let go; I need to release those “bonds that no longer serve.” This is a recurring theme for me; forgiving myself is at the base of picking myself up by my own bootstraps.
“Love is kind, it is not rude, it is not easily angered.” “Love frees.” I need to apply these words to me, often and always. Then perhaps I’ll more easily know what Self-Love does look like. And then, too, I’ll be contributing more to the evolution of Consciousness!
What does Self-Love look like for you?
MONDAY’S POEM
I wrote this in keeping with this concept I explored Friday: that our brain is a repository for not only all past events but all future potential as well!
Time Machine
What if we could travel
Back in time,
Access all of history,
Learn from their stories?
What if we could travel
Far ahead,
See all that we become,
Learn from their stories?
Would we change a thing from them
Or learn to forgive?
Would we change a thing for them
Or forgive ourselves?
We are that time machine
Holding all of history,
Holding precious seeds of then.
Our human brain can travel far:
Back and forth and home again.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Monday’s Poem; and the I Ching for the Month
I have two offerings for today to start your week and your “moonth” as the New Moon from this past Friday begins to swell into our consciousness. First Monday’s Poem:
I wrote this as a reminder of three important virtues I want to hold firmly in mind as I work to transform my too often negative and troublesome emotions to these virtues to lift my consciousness and grow a healthier attitude.
Love, Forgiveness, Gratitude
Three acts for 2013:
Love, where it all begins
And ends.
The circle of everything
Turns with the tides
As the Moon loves down.
Forgiveness, in the middle,
The hinge.
It all turns on this act
Swinging round and round
As a gateless gate for passage.
Gratitude, the end,
No end.
Turning about the center
Where it all rests
As we give thanks and praise.
Love, Forgiveness, Gratitude:
Grace.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
The I Ching Gua I cast for the next four weeks, the last month before the Chinese New Year, February 10, is an interesting one. Using my yarrow stalks I cast five yin yao, all 8s, before I cast the final yang yao, a 7. The hexagram looks like this:
This is Bo and using Alfred Huang’s The Complete I Ching it means “Falling Away.” The lower trigram is Earth or Kun and the upper trigram is Mountain or Gen. So we have the mountain resting on a stack of yin lines which is pretty unstable. Think of a landslide as the mountain tumbles down to the low lands.
The Decision of this Gua is:
Falling Away.
Unfavorable to have somewhere to go.
For those of you interested in the I Ching you can pursue the meaning of this gua farther as you will with your trusted references. Here’s my take on the gua and the timing of it:
This is a good time to go inside, look inward for stability. This is the last month before the New Year. It is a good time to seek stability in this unstable time. Clean up, clean out, get organized. Sweep away the decaying underpinnings and get ready for the year of the Snake.
Contemplate all of those things that are not working. Let them go. Meditate on new things that might work better and bring some new stability. The mutual gua of Bo is Kun – Earth over Earth, Responding, Receiving. Again, look to receive some inner guidance.
Note also there are no changing lines in this gua. So the situation is stagnant. Again the message is to wait it out and seek inner guidance.
This is my interpretation of this gua for me at this time. It may or may not apply to you and your situation or the times themselves. But as our government seems locked in turmoil and stagnation this just might be an appropriate gua for others. In any case it is always good to go inside to seek guidance.
And this mid-winter time is a great time to just be with what is.
PS: To start 2013 off with incredible guidance from The Divine Feminine you can get the 8 recordings Rosemary made at the end of 2012 during her Wisdom of the Week (WOW) calls. Get them here.
Union and the Echo of Time
I’ve written now of my two messages channeled by Rosemary on December 7, 2012 (review the recording here). The first came from the three “Floating Heads” who have called themselves QRS. The second came from a Native American Guide – a Feminine Guide who spoke of the Union, or Unity, of Body and Spirit. Today I explore the coincidence of these two messages and their overall meaning for me:
Of course, it is no coincidence that QRS and my Native American Goddess Guide came together on the same night this past December to offer their messages to me. What is the nexus of the messages, the integration of the two?
QRS spoke of time and the importance of pulling future strength, character, structure from the future into the now in order to create the future. Time is an echo-chamber and the resonance set up in the present reverberates through all time. The future is now, the past is now; it is all right here, only and always in this moment. There is a Union here. We come back to wholeness. As we are holographic beings of the wholeness of creation so too is the present moment a holographic instance of All Time! The All is instantaneous.
One way to conceive of this is to imagine the moment before the Big Bang. At that moment there was a single seed containing all of the potentiality of everything and every-when. This singularity was it. (And here I use the past tense loosely because it is just as valid to claim it is now and in the future!) This singularity was/is eternal. We are still living within this Eternal Singularity; we are the potential within it. This Singularity is the seed hologram of Everything and All Time.
So what?
The consciousness of this greater dimensionality of reality has broad implications to how we might choose to live our lives. It is the integrated message of QRS and my Native American Goddess Guide. As we live, love and think in this moment we affect both the past and the future and we effect them as well! QRS is nudging me along a path that is essential to their future as they are living it – both 500 years in the future and now, through the echo I am creating. And 500 years ago my ancestors sent out an echo that is me. And I speak to them through this echo-link urging them to live, love and think in such a way that I might live just so, now! And we are all One in the great Seed Singularity that is pure potential for all of this to unfold just so!
Love, gratitude and forgiveness are profound attitudes and actions that are at the core of how to live with the implications of this Union of the All across All Time. If Brian Swimme (author of “The Universe is a Green Dragon”) is correct, then it is Love that motivates the Singularity Seed, that eternal stillness that was/is Pure Potential, to sprout and bloom into the Grand Universe. With Love as the echoing motivation for the New Human, an extraordinary sense of Gratitude swells my heart and deep Forgiveness for all limits place on Self and Other (One) swells my Spirit; and we drift into a place of expanded consciousness that can only be described as Bliss – Prajna Paramita – The Heart of Perfect Wisdom.
Gate, gate, para-gate! And so it is…
PS: Happy New Year! Our regular newsletter, Rosemary’s MuseLetter, continues in publication with a new issue tomorrow. Gain insight from her so that you too may Live Your Richest Life! Subscribe today – it’s FREE! And with your subscription you receive a wonderful audio meditation.
Men and The Goddess 