Don't Pee on the Bee

Spring Soil

 

The old people came literally to love the soil, and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. It was good for the skin to touch the Earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred Earth. Their tipis were built upon the Earth and their altars were made of earth. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing, and healing. That is why the old Indian still sits upon the Earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life-giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him. – -- 
--Lakota Chief Luther Standing Bear

From the article Barefoot Healing in the Mar/April 2011 issue of Spirituality & Health magazine

Simplification

A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.
~Eleanor Roosevelt

You know me . . . Can't seem to resist anything that has to do with simplification!  And I have long wanted to read Eleanor Roosevelt's biography.  Maybe this is the reminder to do so.  And again, thanks to Spirit Booster's blog for this little bit of contemplation!

Who We Already Are

  

It is through our ordinariness, our being completely and utterly who we already are, that we can shift the world's negative energy.
~The Holy Teaching of the Vimalakirti

(Highlighted by Geri Larkin in "The Weight of Goodness," Jan-Feb issue of Spirituality & Health magazine)

And thanks to Spirituality & Health's Spirit Booster's blog for this quote.  You can sign up and get a (usually!) daily quote.  I love it because the quotes' sources are so broad.  And I particularly loved this one as it just gets to the heart of my reflections on my holidays.  But more of that to come later.  For now, I hope you have a fabulous day and can just be who you already are. 

Post script:  I wasn't planning on putting a picture of me in this post.  My ego is not that outsized today!  But Sarah came in, picked up the camera and started taking pictures.  She took this one, and in a way, it seemed to be the right picture to post.  Me, ordinary, trying to be me in what I write, hoping to do something positive.  Thank you, my sweet girl!

My Gut

So I am really feeling kicked in the gut these days.  And I don't usually have gut problems.  Neck?  Yep.  Shoulders?  Sure.  Back?  You got it.  But usually not gut.  So I'm not feeling particularly jolly about things--even though there is nodoubt in my currently split mind that I am truly blessed.  But still, that human-ness can get in the way of our beliefs and faith at times.

A very good friend of mine is seriously ill and very young, and it is just rocking my world to the core.  On top of that, some dissension in my family about the holidays is jamming its way in as well.  And yes, I know I could take a big deep breath, think some positive thoughts and perhaps some of the angst would go away, but it's just not working right now.

I was feeling a bit bad the other day about the family stuff.  Our extended family holiday is at my house this year, and I proposed some changes a la Hundred Dollar Holiday.  They didn't go over particularly well.  I had even forwarded a copy of my November article along with my email to my family, thinking that that would give them some perspective on where I was coming from this year.  I had every intention of forwarding the December issue as well.  Now I think not.  Of course, they can still read it if they want to, but not as a link in an email from me.

But as I was feeling bad that day, the Spirit Boosters blog appeared in my email, and so, of course, I read it.  Here's what Susan L. Shoenbeck had to say:

                    Ben Franklin had it right: get your values written down, share them, and then live a life that matches who you have decided you are.

Funny the places where we can find validation.  With that, here's my December article on Really, Truly Happy Holidays.  I'm not a Grinch.  I'm Ben Franklin's new BFF!

To read Susan L. Schoenbeck's recent article, Living Your Values, in Spirituality & Health magazine, click here.  The focus of the article is not actually about us learning to live our values now, but more about knowing what values our parents want to be remembered for when they are gone.  A fascinating and very thought-provoking article.

 

 

 

Fierce Faith

There is a great column called "Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler" by Rabbi Rami Shapiro in Spirituality & Health magazine.  It's kind of like a Dear Abby for spirituality.  I really loved his response to a recent question.  I am going to share the entire thing because I think it is truly awesome.  You can check out his blog here.

I know a lot of "people of faith," but when I ask them about their faith, they always tell me what they believe.  Are faith and belief the same thing?

No, they're not.  Belief is about knowing; faith is about not-knowing.  Belief is about content:  I believe this, and I don't believe that.  Faith is an attitude toward reality, a trusting in what is unfolding without knowing just what that is.

The best faith is fierce: You know that you don't know; you know that you can't know; and yet you embrace the moment boldly, completely, and without hesitation.  Fierce faith is cultivated through equally fierce worship.  Such worship may be organized or improvised, ecstatic or contemplative.  One point that the different kinds of fierce worship have in common is that they do not shore up or confirm your beliefs; rather they strip you of belief and wrap you in a "cloud of unknowing."

Fierce faith opens body, heart and mind to a love unbounded by politics and social conditioning; a love that shatters tribalism without eliminating tribes; that burns away imposed differences and celebrates individuality; that consumes conformity, even as it reveals a greater nonduality.

There is nothing wrong with holding beliefs, just do so lightly.  But the deeper work is to release your grip on belief and surrender yourself to faith.

Fierce faith.  I love how that sounds.  To me, faith has always sounded like a "soft" word, "hearts and flowers" as JJ likes to say.  So I love this image of faith as fierce.  It ignites the mama lion in me!  It feels like positive energy flowing in the right direction.  To a cloud of unknowing?  I would like to relax into that cloud and not know it all (or think I do--Center of the Universe, anyone?)

Wishing you a beautiful day!  And love to all to those Dads who have fierce faith in us as Mamas!

Spring Cleaning

There is a new book out by Annie Leonard with quite the title:  The Story of Stuff: How Our Problem with Overconsumption Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health--and a Vision for Change.  Whew!  Although the title is long, the "Three Steps for  Radical Spring Cleaning" that Spirituality & Health (Mar/Apr 2010) pulled out of it and put on their Best Practice page really hit me!

1. Ask yourself, "Who really wants this stuff?"  Is it truly our own want, or is it the world at large that is giving us the idea that we need all this?
2. Align your time with your values.  As we spend more and more time working and having "screen time," our face-to-face social activities (both personally and on a community level) are decreasing.  And the formula is actually quite simple:  the more time we spend doing things that make us happy, the happier we will be!  (Remember all those studies on gratitude?)
3. Share.  I'm going to quote this one directly.  "Sharing means buying less, spending less, wasting less.  Really, does every household need  a lawn mower, Bundt pan, a scanner, a ladder?  Sharing also requires conversations, so it builds community.  More friends--less stuff!  See www.sharingsolutions.com for tips on getting started."

Writing the "green article" that is coming out next month was incredibly inspiring to me!   I really felt that we (my family) were doing OK with the whole green thing--and we are--but there are so many other ideas out there!  It is so fascinating.  So many things to try if you are up for it!

So for me . . . Stuff?  I'm really over it--except for books and magazines, of course!  But more stuff around my house?  Not really needing it.  And of course, isn't there always kid stuff lying around?

Aligning my time with my values.  Yes.  That is something that needs to be done.  I've got a lot of my time right now going towards things that are not rocking my world.  That will be changing soon.

And sharing?  I remember reading another article about this where some guy on the East Coast had a tool "lending library," and his neighbors and friends would just borrow what they needed.  I thought it was a great idea then, and I think it is an even better idea now!  Of course, I love my kitchen stuff too, but it's great to borrow my friend's neighbor's lobster pot on New Years Eve instead of having to store one at my house!  Hey, Alice!  I guess we were eco-cool before we even realized it!

Monkey Mind

The March/April issue of Spirituality & Health magazine has got to be one of the best I have seen from them.  I finished it last night and have 14 pages turned down with things to blog about, check out or show someone else!  That might be a record!

There's a great article by Emma Seppala called The Case for Yogic Breathing.  I love how these yogis describe the mind! 

Yogis have been studying the breath as a way to calm the mind for millenia.  They often compare the mind to a monkey that restlessly jumps from branch to branch (i.e., thought to thought), unable to settle down.  The yogis noticed that when the mind wanders into the past and the future, it elicits a whole range of emotions, often negative.  Thoughts of the past can bring feelings of regret, anger or sadness.  Thoughts of the future often arouse anxiety and fear.  On the other hand, positive emotions, such as happiness evoked by a connection with others, are mostly experienced when our focus is on the present moment--which is experienced when we bring our attention to the breath.  "The mind is like a kite, flying here and there," explains Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (awarded the title of Yoga Shiromani, or "Supreme Jewel of Yoga," by India's president), "and the breath is like the string of the kite, gently bringing the mind back into the present moment.  The breath brings the mind, which is all over the place, back to its source, a natural state of peacefulness and joy."

Today I was so lucky to have the time for an acupuncture appointment, and I must say, when I first got on the table, there was more than one monkey in my mind!  But after laying on a warm bed, covered with blankets, and breathing deeply, those little suckers were kicking back on the beach, flying a kite and going with the flow!  Bliss.

And the opposite of bliss?  When your son watches Jungles on the Planet Earth DVD and learns how to sound just like a howler monkey!  He started to do it today, though, stopped himself and said, "Oh, that's right.  I can only play 'howler monkey' on the playground."  Amen to that!