Stumbling in the Darkness

This morning I awoke with a picture of a hot cup of tea in my mind. I arose and put on my sweater and slippers and made my way down the stairs. I began my journey to the kitchen with the warmth of the yet to be brewed tea filling my mind and stimulating in its anticipation my body. In my revelry, I stumbled over Marbles, the bunny who was sleeping in my path.

Startled he jumped to safety and I was reminded, once again of the consequence of being in the future rather than the present. What a gift it is to see what is right here rather than live in the dream of what will be and often have that dream shattered by the reality of tripping over the bunny.

To your day seeing what is right in front of you.

Thomas

Back to Business

I stopped writing here in February. My focus was directed to the creation of a new business and away from writing.

As I sit here, watching the snow flurries swirl, I was reading what I have shared over the past years. I am reminded of the way I feel when I write. I feel alive and productive. My purpose of teaching is engaged and the creative expression that lives in the center of my soul is active.

Do I have to choose between say the creation of a business and writing? Not really. I starting looking at the beliefs I have around work. I believe that work consists of doing things. Writing is not doing anything. Its allowing the snow flurries to drift out in the world.

These beliefs are at the center of my need to be valued by others. What about allowing my true value to emerge without concern for what others think? Hmm.. Uncomfortable and profoundly simple.

Remembering the joy of writing reinvigorates this almost snuffed out fire. Join me, if you feel so called, in opening to life’s great mysteries and the truth that underlies them.

Thomas

Step by Step

In our house, our oldest boy loves the movie, What about Bob?. One of this comedy’s leading characters is Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss. He has written a book titled, Baby Steps. He encourages his patients to take one small step at a time. Each step will take them to the next step and before they know it they have done things that will amaze themselves.

I was thinking about baby steps this morning. It may not be fashionable to use the words “baby steps” because it might bring up an image of something being so simple that a baby could do it. The truth of change is that it happens a step at a time. The greatest obstacle to our envisioned change is the paralysis that envelopes us when we consider all that’s involved in making the change.

So don’t look to the end of the road today; just look down at your feet. What step is the one you can take right now. Without a lot of analysis or inner dialog take that step. Now what? Take the next step. Its really that simple.

Sadness and Deliberateness

I was talking with a friend yesterday about sadness. Each of us feels this emotion from time to time and for the most part accept that we will simply be swept along with its feelings.  Emotions are automatic reactions. When I am feeling the emotion, there are a number of associated physical reactions and thoughts that comprise my overall sense of sadness.

Sadness, quite simply, is our inner desire for something to be different than it is. I am sad because my relationship with a friend is ended. I am sad because I lost my job. I am sad because I lost a prized possession. In sadness, I am lamenting that something I want is no longer in my life.

Deliberateness asks us to accept what is. In the case of the lost job, it is not going to come back because I am sad. During my time of sadness, I am living in the past and wanting this memory to magically recreate that lost experience RIGHT NOW. The sooner I focus on what is so in my life, the sooner I move to deliberateness.

I am not suggesting that we don’t have feelings. That simply isn’t who we are as humans. What I offer is or us to consider  the option to feel sadness (or any other emotion for that matter) and rather than fall into our old patterns of reaction and behavior choose, right now, in a deliberate way, how to respond to what’s right in front of us.

 

Let the Sun Shine

As I look out my window, I see overcast skies and the results of last night’s snow storm. This gaze is met with an inner dialog that goes something like, “well today’s going to be a gloomy day”. I stop and remember that I have the choice of letting some past stories, passed to me b others, paint my experiences of today or….. I can choose right now the experience of my day that fits what I feel.

I find it interesting that so much of my life and those of others I meet is shaped by almost everyone’s stories but our own. These inner stories are largely unexamined and don’t represent how we really feel. Yet we are pulled into them without a moment’s pause.

So as the author of your day, what story are you going to write that fits you best – RIGHT NOW.

I’m letting the sun shine through the clouds.

Thomas

Consider This

Sensation of the Mystical
(“found poetry”)

The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience
is the sensation of the mystical.
It is the sower of all true science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger
who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead.
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists,
manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty,
which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms -
this knowledge, this feeling,
is at the center of true religion.

~ Albert Einstein ~

After I read this beautiful poem by Einstein, I was reminded of the power of wonder and the narrowness of my existence when I try to make sense from the limitations of my intellect.

Have you taken time today to feel the mystical? I just might change everything.

Simplicity

As I look around our family room, I see so many objects scattered around. There are children’s toys left where they last played with them. I see objects related to memories of the past that as I gaze at them, I feel an emotional response. There is a box of wood ready for my efforts to start this morning fire.

Objects that are each vying for my attention. As I sit quietly and write to you, I wonder what it would be like to have less. Do I really need all the reminders of my past? Do the children really need so many toys?

Recently my wife, Sherry, began packing for a move we will make in late spring. I noticed that as the room was less filled there was a sense of lightness. The spaciousness felt lush. What was left was more noticeable and I felt gratitude for everything we have.

What can you do to create spaciousness in your life today?

 

So I don’t like the cold

I was feeling restless with the cold weather we have been experiencing. You know, its was 16 below and that’s really cold.  I called friends and colleagues to commiserate about my plight.

This morning I began to wonder why I was so irritated by the cold. After all, my house is warm and the car is quickly heated when I go out so what’s the big deal? It was this question that was like a slap on the head.

I don’t like the cold and want it to be different. Hmmm. I live in southern Wisconsin. The temperatures we are experiencing are well within the norms of this area. So what about the winter didn’t I know? Nothing really.

This situation is like a lot of things in life. I look around and find that I don’t like the way things are. So many examples leap to mind. Like, I don’t care for the TSA security procedures at the airport or I am unhappy with the rising price of gasoline.

Whatever my dislikes, what is my approach getting me? Let’s see – I am feeling out of sorts. That seems like a poor payoff. So what can I do? I could step back for a moment and see what I can find that I am grateful for. I could be grateful for the beauty that I see this morning from the reflection of the sunrise off the crystalized snow. I could be grateful for having gasoline so I can drive to the grocery store.

It’s all in the way I look at things. I am in charge of the perspectives I have and it seems this morning that it would be a better day if I look for what to appreciate rather than what I can complain about.

You know, I already feel warmer….

 

New Year

New Years forecasts or resolutions are tricky. The heap of unfulfilled promises to myself initiated at the beginning of the year is large. In fact, I have been reluctant in recent years to even venture into this territory.

The call of our local monthly magazine editor, Anne O’Connor, to share thoughts for the year ahead presented anew the opportunity to be deliberate about the coming year. I have became wary of broad brush strokes ambitions. You know, like ending hunger this year or peace on earth. I am more modest and realistic. I realize that the changes in the year ahead all begin with me.

So what will be different for me in 2011? The first thought is that I will find more gratitude for the abundance of life I enjoy. Moving here little over a year ago, I have found the land fertile, the people generous and the environment expansive. I am grateful each day that I see a sunrise or sunset for the beauty of this region. Never before, have I been so captivated with brilliance and uniqueness of this daily gift. I am grateful for the relationships I have. Each one offers a rich texture for my life.

I will find love in everything I do. Love, the acceptance of everyone (myself included) and everything without judgement, will fill every aspect of my life and all parts of my day.  I am exploring having love be the foundation for business this year and feeling the expansion this will be for myself and others – materially and spiritually.

I see more harmony in life in 2011. As I choose more deliberately my thoughts and actions, I will have more authentic relationships. I see people from all over the world coming to Viroqua to work with us and find out about the connection of growing and the cycle of life and business. These lessons will help people find new ways to work and live together..

I see great harvests and sharing our abundance with our community.

What a wonderful year!

Digging Deep

I write another blog on deliberateness. I just completed a posting on addiction. I talk about my own experience with addiction to computer technology and the Internet.

You can find out more here.

Until later,

Thomas