Archive
A mid-week poem: Falling
I have been absent from this blog for too long. I’ve missed the writing. I still write my “morning pages” almost every day but the poetry isn’t coming; lots of titles and ideas but little inspiration. There is so much chaos out there right now; it’s difficult to make sense of it!
So, I am falling!
Falling
Equinox behind, beyond balance,
Nights grow longer, shadows deepen.
Already inside, isolating, avoiding;
The waiting for darkness somehow soothes.
Breathing slows, drops, lengthens;
Eyes close, focus softens, turns inward.
An easy scan, toes to nose, body subsiding;
This is an inside job now; just breathe, be.
The falling isn’t downward but inward,
Into that core of self, being.
The gyro at the base of that core spins;
It stabilizes giving the body purpose.
Rest, be easy, let in the light;
No shadow here, on the inside.
©2020 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A Valentine Poem: Human Virtues
Rosemary “downloaded” these five virtues, or qualities, the other day in meditation. She brought this up in “Circle” when speaking of the qualities needed to complete a circle for whatever human purpose the circle is called.
As I meditated myself on these qualities this poem emerged. I gave it to Rosemary to celebrate today, our togetherness, our circle, our humanity. She wants to share it with the world. Happy Day!
Human Virtues
Love:
It all begins with love,
The creating force alive
Through the whole world
From deepest deep to highest above.
Honor:
A state of being derived from love,
Self-love, the source of all;
A principle that upholds, ennobles,
Creating the foundation for Human.
Integrity:
Springing from honor, Human
Knows place in the world; holds
Space firmly on that foundation,
Rises to each occasion to bless.
Community:
Integral Human reaches outward
To serve humanity in blessed community.
Community blesses Human in sacred symmetry
Echoing voices of goddesses and gods.
High Purpose:
The highest purpose is to love,
Honor, grow in integrity, serve
Community in a spiral blessing rising
Through the evolution of Humanity.
©2019, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
My “New” Manifesto
A week or so ago Rosemary brought several of her long-term clients together for a group VIP day. I was fortunate enough to be included and to do the work with this select group. And we did some excellent work.
Rosemary led us to create our “manifestos” for ourselves. We did some deep work exploring our purpose, our big “Why?” We answered questions like:
“What do you stand for?”
“How does your heart, your soul and your personality come together in this life?
“What is your declaration about this life, independent of any ‘shoulds’?”
We also answered the five questions that Matthew Goldfarb asks in his book, “Corporate Renegade.”
“What are you pissed off about?”
“If you could change one thing about business or the world what would it be?”
“Why do you want to start a business in the first place?”
“Why are you willing to go broke to make this business work?”
“Why are you willing to go for broke to make this business work?”
And then we went to work. Some of us got out paper and scissors, colored pens and fancy tapes, decorating their manifestos with frills and flourishes. I’m a word guy and not overly skilled at the crafty work so answered questions, took note of my priorities and wrote out my manifesto. Here is the result:
A post-election day poem
Often when I am upset by circumstances, events, things beyond my control or even understanding, I turn to my pages to write and I turn to my poetry journal to see what might help, if not penetrate to an understanding, at least bring me into a state of grace and gratitude. In this post-election denouement this is what came to me:
Change (with gratitude for a Pawnee proverb)
Fortune cookie:
Mistakes are portals to discoveries.
Me:
Then there are no mistakes.
Optimist:
Every problem is an opportunity.
Me:
Life is all about lessons.
Electoral College:
Trump is the President Elect.
Me:
Half the country has voted change.
Rosemary:
Hold in the Community of Love and Light.
Me:
Embrace me, Community.
The Divine Feminine:
Your purpose is to live in Joy.
Me:
Facing the Sun I see no shadow, only Joy.
©2016 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
ROSEMARY’S NEWS
Happy Full Moon in Aquarius! And happy Sun in Leo!
Today’s NASA picture from the New Horizons Spacecraft is Pluto with “his” Full Moon, Charon.
  Golden Days Lammas is upon us. Harvest is upon us. Cross-quarter is upon us. Autumn is fast upon us. ©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
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 Happy Birthday to me! And to Richard! And to Tristan!
This is a big weekend for celebrating Leo birthdays in our family. We will have our whole family together to celebrate in Maryland. Exciting times! And the Full Moon was yesterday, Friday, July 31, 2015 at 6:42 am Eastern Daylight Time. This is a time when the Moon in the sign of Aquarius is directly opposite the Sun in Leo. This Sun brings up our personal creativity and the Moon couples that with the Aquarius energy of collaboration for the good of all humanity. What can you create that benefits others? This time of creativity is to remind us that we are all One, not separate but interdependent members of this tribe called ‘humanity.’ When the Moon is Full it is reflecting the most Sunlight that it can. How can you shine your inner light more brightly into the outer world? Are you living your purpose, your mission, your gifts? This is also the time to release what is holding you back from Living Your Richest Life™. Where are the blocks, the doubts, the fears keeping you from your joy? What are the possibilities that you cannot see because something is clouding your view? Because it’s MY BIRTHDAY this weekend, I am making a special offer to you! If you would like to get some personal guidance about your purpose, your blocks, where your next step will take you, I would love to support you. Schedule a READING WITH ROSEMARY for only $150. My clients work with me for months to connect to the possibilities that they don’t know they don’t know so I don’t usually offer a one-time session. But my guidance is to offer this to the first 10 members of RosemarySpace who claim one of these readings. Are you ready to learn more about your next step? We’ll meet via videoconference (because I would love to see your smile!) or telephone and you will get a lot of valuable wisdom to help you to move forward in business, relationships, life. Here’s how to claim your reading today: Claim Link The planets are lining up in the next few days to support you in reassessing where you are and what the possibilities are for your future. Are you willing to figure out the fears that hold you back and to take that leap forward that you have been waiting to take? Now is the time! Once in a ‘Blue Moon’ you get this opportunity – this is the month with a Blue Moon and today is the day! (A Blue Moon happens when there is a second Full Moon in one calendar month. The first one in July happened on July 1.) The theme of this Blue Moon is ‘how the power of individual intention and the force of collective consciousness combine to create our reality’ – from The Mountain Astrologer. Get your intention lined up with your purpose so you can shine your Light in the world and create the reality you desire! The Leo New Moon is coming on August 14 at 10:53 am Eastern Daylight Time. Get clear about your intentions before then by clearing what is in the way. You don’t want to carry any old energies with you into the generous energy of newness at the next New Moon! Until then.
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ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Here’s the thing…
Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have at any given moment.
This is my mantra. I remind myself of this often.
At first it was a bit difficult to embrace. I kept coming up with caveats, exclusions, reasons why this didn’t apply to someone or some situation. It never occurred to me that this also applied to ME – I was focused on forgiving others.
But the more I worked with this concept, the more I embraced it as a way to live, well, the more I came to believe that this is true for EVERYONE, including ME.
So what does it mean to totally and whole-heartedly embrace this idea? What resistance is showing up in you as I invite you to consider this?
Can you, as I did, come up with a list of exclusions to this, people that this couldn’t possibly apply to? Mass murderers? Abusers? That person who cut you off in traffic today or stole your parking place? Your parent? Your spouse? Your neighbor?
Think about this: do you think that any soul comes into this lifetime wanting to hurt other people as its purpose? What spirit wants to be the ‘bad guy’?
People look around at their options and choose one to act upon. You do this, too. Sometimes people are influenced by others to the point that their view is narrowed to only one option. You, from the outside, might see that they had lots of other choices. But, inside their situation, with the information that they had or the influence that they experienced, they did what they thought they must.
Look back over the decisions that you have made in your life. Do you tend to count up all the ‘mistakes’ you have made? Do you think of the ‘wrong decisions’ you have chosen?
What if I now say that, if you were to go back to that point in your timeline, you would make the same choice that you made then because of the information (resources) that you had available in that moment? If you went back knowing what you know now, you would be taking some extra resources with you, wouldn’t you? The knowledge that came from the feedback you received after that decision. BUT you didn’t have that information when you were making the choice you made.
Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have at any given moment.
Imagine how you might feel if you look at your ex-spouse, your boss, your friend, the person who cut you off in traffic through the lens of this mantra. There is probably a story behind each situation that you don’t know and that story defines the resources that that other person had available to them at the time.
Now look at yourself and your life. Your story defined the possibilities for action that you were able to see at any given moment. It might never have occurred to you that you had more options because you believed that if you chose to do X, then Y would happen. Immediately after you made the choice, you might have received more information but you didn’t have it before you made the choice. Can you forgive yourself now?
Here’s the thing.
You are always at choice. So is everyone else. And you can only choose among the options that you see before you, based on the information that you have, or think your have, in your reality at the time you make the choice.
Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have at any given moment, including you.
Learn and grow and keep making choices. Also, keep looking for possibilities that maybe you can’t see yet but someone else can help you to see. Increase your resources and you increase your choices.
You are, and always have been, doing the best you could.
Evolve Your Light – Richard’s Commentary
As I was writing my Morning Pages the other day it came to me that I want to go deeper with Qigong. Why? I had raked leaves the day before and loaded 15 bags from the front yard – heavy work. As the evening descended my muscles and joints began to remind me that I am older than I think. But I did some breathing and reminded my body that I practice Qigong; all the twisting and pulling motions of raking leaves is not unlike certain Qigong moves I make in practice. In fact I was very mindful of these motions as I raked.
Last year when I raked leaves from that front yard I ended up with stiff muscles in my back for a week afterward. This year I woke up the morning after and felt great. So, I raked more leaves ahead of the East Coast storm we enjoyed yesterday. There is no question in my mind that my body practices are keeping me younger in body than my age in years would indicate.
My plan is to Evolve My Light, or I could say “Evolve My Qi” and take further steps down this path of growth. Why? Here’s how Rosemary answers this question:
Now, at whatever your current age is, those souls are looking to you for your light to shine on the path that you are sharing. How do you shine your light? By living your soul’s purpose, by being the light that you already are.
“Those souls” are everyone in my community. They include you, dear reader. My “soul’s purpose” is to build community. And my approach is to build community around Qigong. Qi is Life Force; it is Light; it is Love. By continuing to go deeper with my Qigong practice I am answering the call that Rosemary reminds us we are here to do.
I am reading some excellent books on Qigong and Taiji. And I am putting the word out I am looking for deeper instruction. At this time I am between classes that I have been teaching because I am feeling this call to go deeper before developing my next series of classes. Naturally I always learn more by teaching as well; a new class will be offered early in the New Year.
What form does your light take? How are you “Evolving Your Light”? This is the most important question you can ask yourself! Why?
YOU are in charge of the development and evolution of your own consciousness. No one around you can do it for you. You were not born to find answers and then stagnate. You are here to learn the next thing, to study, to grow, to evolve.
Never stop. There is no end here, no bottom to the deeper!
I am grateful to Rosemary for this important reminder! Enjoy your “gratitude day” today as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the US.
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Evolve Your Light
When you became a human being, when you took your first breath of Mother Earth’s atmosphere, you began a journey of evolution. The journey of a lifetime is the evolution of your consciousness, from the moment you are born until the moment you take that last breath of air. At every moment in your life you are growing in your awareness of the world around you.
The question today is, ‘Are you evolving or are you attempting to stay where you are?’
So many people are struggling in this world because they are focused on using the tools they already have, on following the thoughts and beliefs from earlier days, on listening to what someone else is saying is true instead of going inside to seek their own truth. The shift that is needed is a shift in consciousness, an evolutionary approach to solving problems and to living life.
You were born as a bright light on the horizon of humanity. Everyone around you was waiting for you to come into the world. Even if you have a belief that you were unwanted, know that the souls around you then and now asked for you to arrive when and where and to whom you did.
Now, at whatever your current age is, those souls are looking to you for your light to shine on the path that you are sharing. How do you shine your light? By living your soul’s purpose, by being the light that you already are.
I see too many people choosing to hide. It appears to be so much easier to shrink from the spotlight and to stay on the sidelines of life. I don’t just mean refusing to get on the stage – I mean shrinking back from the enormity of what you feel is your raison d’etre, your reason for being here, your soul purpose.
It can feel like a tremendous burden or too huge a task to fulfill that purpose. Good. That means that you have tapped into what you are really here to be and to do!
No matter what form your life is taking at this moment, you are here to be the Light in the life of those around you. Lead by lighting the way for them to follow. Show by your example that you are willing to live your purpose and to be a Light in the world.
You don’t have to be famous, or on the stage, or find medical cures or solve world hunger, although you might. You DO, however, have a responsibility to the world to be the brightest light that you are able to be, right now, today, in whatever circumstances you face.
YOU are in charge of the development and evolution of your own consciousness. No one around you can do it for you. You were not born to find answers and then stagnate. You are here to learn the next thing, to study, to grow, to evolve.
How are you doing this?
This is where hiding does not serve you or the evolution of human consciousness. Reach out to learn what you can, to connect with others who are also on the path of the evolution of consciousness. Shine your light for them and allow them to shine their lights for you.
Take a class. Read a book. Join a group. Have a conversation.
It is especially important that you do your personal growth work. Clear negative thoughts and limiting beliefs that are holding you and your light hostage to them. Explore possibilities that will take you outside your comfort zone.
Evolve and shine the bright light that you are!
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Evolve Your Light
When you became a human being, when you took your first breath of Mother Earth’s atmosphere, you began a journey of evolution. The journey of a lifetime is the evolution of your consciousness, from the moment you are born until the moment you take that last breath of air. At every moment in your life you are growing in your awareness of the world around you.
The question today is, ‘Are you evolving or are you attempting to stay where you are?’
So many people are struggling in this world because they are focused on using the tools they already have, on following the thoughts and beliefs from earlier days, on listening to what someone else is saying is true instead of going inside to seek their own truth. The shift that is needed is a shift in consciousness, an evolutionary approach to solving problems and to living life.
You were born as a bright light on the horizon of humanity. Everyone around you was waiting for you to come into the world. Even if you have a belief that you were unwanted, know that the souls around you then and now asked for you to arrive when and where and to whom you did.
Now, at whatever your current age is, those souls are looking to you for your light to shine on the path that you are sharing. How do you shine your light? By living your soul’s purpose, by being the light that you already are.
I see too many people choosing to hide. It appears to be so much easier to shrink from the spotlight and to stay on the sidelines of life. I don’t just mean refusing to get on the stage – I mean shrinking back from the enormity of what you feel is your raison d’etre, your reason for being here, your soul purpose.
It can feel like a tremendous burden or too huge a task to fulfill that purpose. Good. That means that you have tapped into what you are really here to be and to do!
No matter what form your life is taking at this moment, you are here to be the Light in the life of those around you. Lead by lighting the way for them to follow. Show by your example that you are willing to live your purpose and to be a Light in the world.
You don’t have to be famous, or on the stage, or find medical cures or solve world hunger, although you might. You DO, however, have a responsibility to the world to be the brightest light that you are able to be, right now, today, in whatever circumstances you face.
YOU are in charge of the development and evolution of your own consciousness. No one around you can do it for you. You were not born to find answers and then stagnate. You are here to learn the next thing, to study, to grow, to evolve.
How are you doing this?
This is where hiding does not serve you or the evolution of human consciousness. Reach out to learn what you can, to connect with others who are also on the path of the evolution of consciousness. Shine your light for them and allow them to shine their lights for you.
Take a class. Read a book. Join a group. Have a conversation.
It is especially important that you do your personal growth work. Clear negative thoughts and limiting beliefs that are holding you and your light hostage to them. Explore possibilities that will take you outside your comfort zone.
Evolve and shine the bright light that you are!
Please enjoy!
Men and The Goddess 