Día de la Tierra
Posted: April 17, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, Body Image, community, compassion, cycling, Earth Day, family, kindness, love, Mindfulness, nature, Omaha, passion, Seva, weekend, Zen 4 CommentsGod wanted to make heaven and the earth is that heaven. Nowhere in the universe there is so much love, life, beauty and peace. Enjoy your stay with the fellow beings-
Its Earth Day/Week\Weekend once again, which can only mean that it is time for a torrent of pecksniffian-esque blog posts and woefully self-serving “talk” beating us upside the head with the benefits of green living. Plant a tree, maybe two? Recycle this and that, munch on some kale and drive a Prius. Lament about our filthy ways, buy an Earth-friendly yoga mat and a 100% recycled content bicycle saddle. Peruse green-themed cycling and yoga magazines, grow your own “herbs“, and swap the old light-bulbs, (that work perfectly fine) for the energy-saving ones because the government said we had to.
With the infinite amount of environmental issues confronting our beautiful planet: Global warming, the increasingly trash filled oceans, deforestation of the Amazon Forest, Monsanto and our insistent overuse of pesticides and herbicides? There are far-reaching global issues for us all to feel terrible about.
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I spend a lot, and I mean a lot of time riding dusty gravel roads in and alongside the farmlands here in Nebraska. Nothing troubles me more than seeing the signage of a freshly sprayed field with pesticide and herbicide. Pausing for a moment, beer cans and trash bother me more, but this is a rant for another day. From my humble perspective, these “global” issues seem far too vast even to wrap my simple mind around, much less address and take action on. Its only when we, you and I, pause for a fleeting moment during Earth Day/Week\Weekend long enough to acknowledge the scale of these problems and how long it might take, to take meaningful action. I get discouraged, if not pissed off lamenting these global “problems,” and nothing pisses me off more than seeing Natural Ice beer cans strewn along a 100 mile stretch of gravel road(s).
Allow me if you may, to turn my frustration over to the beautiful and inspiring poet William Blake. Blake once remarked: Don’t think big, think small in his Auguries of Innocence. William Blake goes on to eloquently write that the ability “To see the world in a grain of sand, And Heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.”
It only takes a moment, a deep breath, a gentle heartbeat during one of these rides for me to shift my attention to a simple grain of gravel on the road or a single Black Eyed Susan sprouting in a nearby field. If I look at a kernel of corn in the palm of my hand, snap another bite of a freshly picked wild apple. If I really pay attention to the parts of the world that are right in front of me, right now? I eventually witness everything I was meant to see.
Daily Meditation:
Do something small with me this Earth Day/Week\Weekend. Over time? These small actions grow into something amazing! If you are curious about my “small” project? Please feel free to contact me/leave a comment and I will be more than happy to share. Take care and have a wonderful weekend!
One Piece at a : Time :
Posted: April 10, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: Citizens' Academy for Omaha's Future, community, compassion, kindness, meditation, Mindfulness, Omaha, Seva, yoga 7 CommentsAll differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything-
Awakening experiences in life, are truly positive experiences. Personally and more recently, the Citizens Academy for Omaha’s Future has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for me. Awakening experiences and moments in this thing called “life” are when we perceive reality with a heightened intensity, when a powerful sense of inner well-being – resonates deeply. When we experience a sense of connection and meaning to so many “things” … Even while sitting in a three-hour class where the topic of discussion is community planning. My question through three classes is prolix in nature: Why are these awakening and positive experiences immensely stressful?
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Revealing a more nuanced side of myself to you this lovely Spring morning – Let’s discuss attachment. I am physically, spiritually and emotionally attached to a large number of “things“, such as my hopes and ambitions for the future of our community, my beliefs and ideas about compassion, Seva, kindness, life and this amazing planet we call home. I’m attached to the knowledge and education I have accumulated, my physical body, and achievements. At the same time Dear Friends, there are more tangible attachments that have far too much influence on me – possessions, my career etc. These are the building blocks of my ego.
I feel that I am “someone” because I have hopes, beliefs, a job, possessions and because other people prop me up with false approval. Which is why I am so awkward to be around when I have to talk about myself in front of others. I’m torn between revealing my true self and what others, society expects of me.
In these moments of despair, my spirit becomes broken. My sense of identity slowly falls away. My passion(s) in life are revealed as illusions; my possessions and status have been taken away in a few awkward moments, I feel vulnerable, stressed and adrift.
Daily Meditation:
After three weeks of participation in the Citizens Academy for Omaha’s Future and after much thought about my personal attachments, there is a renewed sense of clarity and openness inside me. I am starting to feel a tremendous sense of well-being and energy, now that my outward energy is no longer consumed by maintaining these “attachments“.
To review the convoluted mumbo-jumbo above (I sincerely appreciate your patience in making it this far into the post) – When we surrender to One-ness, choosing to toss aside “I-ness” and “Me-ness” … Some amazing things start to happen! Just a humble thought to digest as we head gently into the weekend – Take care and be well!
: Carry On :
Posted: April 3, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: compassion, CultFit readers rock!, Easter, Good Friday, gratitude, kindness, love, Omaha, Seva, weekend 10 CommentsIf you’re reading this … Congratulations, you’re alive. If that’s not something to smile about, then I don’t know what is-
To those of you taking a moment to enjoy my humble post – You Rock! Have a wonderful weekend Dear Friend(s)!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EoI-6lQFIE
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It’s all about the lyrics Hint – Hint 😉
Only Trust Your : Heart :
Posted: March 17, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bicycle Commuting, Bliss, community, Commuting, cycling, harmony, Identity, image, kindness, meditation, Omaha, Seva, yoga, Zen 11 CommentsIt’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit-
Have you ever stopped at a “stop walk” when there’s no traffic? Waiting patiently for the signal to indicate its safe to cross the street, when out of seemingly nowhere, another almond chai tea latte sporting pedestrian comes along and proceeds to saunter on through? Do you lament, “I’m a moron for waiting!” Or do you think out-loud, “Try not to get run over you jack ass!” These benign and tedious social interactions, offer us a glimpse into our inner “moral police,” and how we spend more time defending our own egos than actually enjoying this inspiring moment in time.
I don’t believe we are abandoning morals in our society as a whole. We still lean heavily on moral arguments to justify our daily behavior (topic for another day … ), although we tend to prop ourselves up on “morals” more randomly, pulling out whatever moral code serves our interests best in any given situation. So how do we begin to tie in morality, which is a painfully tedious and a woefully self-serving discussion. With mindfulness, harmony and surrendering to the moment? Or, simply being?
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What ever happened to here-and-now relational responsiveness in our society? Actions that are open-hearted, sympathetic, and not embedded in rigid ideas of the self, and our “personal interest?” Helping the elderly to cross a street or carrying their groceries to the car? Holding a random door open for someone? Waiting at a cross walk, and sharing a smile with the driver, before you both carry on? Its amazing what we can achieve as a society when people go out of their way to help one another with no thought of self-advantage.
Daily Meditation:
Instead of being propelled by an outside force – Morality – Ego – Self Advantage … Allow your heart and spirit to propel you gently this morning.
For a Five-Year-Old
Posted: February 26, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Children, Fleur Adcock, Identity, Internet, life, parenting, Poetry, Seva, Spring, writing, yoga 1 Comment…
A snail is climbing up the window-sill
into your room, after a night of rain.
You call me in to see and I explain
that it would be unkind to leave it there:
it might crawl to the floor; we must take care
that no one squashes it. You understand,
and carry it outside, with careful hand,
to eat a daffodil.
I see, then, that a kind of faith prevails:
your gentleness is moulded still by words
from me, who have trapped mice and shot wild birds,
from me, who drowned your kittens, who betrayed
your closest relatives and who purveyed
the harshest kind of truth to many another,
But that is how things are: I am your mother,
And we are kind to snails.
CultFit 