2009

 It is not….

 December 28, 2009

It is not that Chuckie (small self) does not matter. He IS matter.

Who says we need….

 December 25, 2009

Who says we need to be stressed to have a holiday? Stress is pressure plus excitement or anxiety. So remove the pressure by backing off and disentangling from what we are attached to, still the vibration that is left and let the joy arise.

“The only thing that consoles….

 December 19, 2009

“The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion, and yet it is the greatest of our miseries.”  –Blaise Pascal

If we are responsible for All, then….

 December 15, 2009

If we are responsible for All, then we are responsible for All. For example, if I like the experience of disappointment, (and I know this because I experience disappointment a good deal of the time) then I have to have people in my world that are “disappointing me”. If no one is around, I can always disappoint myself!
As we practice, we have the opportunity to see our “favorites” and can work not to use anyone or anything as the incidental cause. From there we can just have our favorite experience on its own. Finally we can still all since we are and were responsible for the experience in the first place. We have choice. It is amazing how free we can become when we shift the responsibility from outside to ourselves.

We cannot master something we ….

 December 6, 2009

We cannot master something we have not studied. Seems obvious–however, there are people who believe they are experts when in fact they are just beginners. Do not get me wrong: I love being a beginner and I love beginners. I am speaking about beginners who believe they are knowledgeable. We need to know where we are and move from there. We then need to learn and own what we want to master. We arrive at mastery after a long arduous road, and still the journey is not over. We still need to transcend what we have mastered in order to complete our course of study.
What has happened to apprenticeship?  Since we are all “equal” and “experts” already, we will not recognize that we need a master to learn. How sad.

For Americans, today is Thanksgiving….

 November 26, 2009

For Americans, today is Thanksgiving. What are we as Americans to be thankful for? We can be thankful that we can choose to practice looking into our Hearts and out at the World simultaneously. We can be thankful that we choose to see God immanent and transcendent. We can be thankful that we can practice seeing God in each other. We can be thankful for all the lessons God is giving us so that we can learn to be with God and in God. Each of us is being given exactly what we need to learn and then to rest in our true nature. Is this any different for anyone else in this world? Should not every day be approached this way? So as we move through this time let us remember to be thankful and learn to carry practice into all our days.

Talking to “God” keeps us….

 November 18, 2009

Talking to “God” keeps us from truly being with God. Surrender.

Passive is not neutral….

 November 9, 2009

Passive is not neutral. Have you ever been with someone who is passive? Did you feel neutral, still and peaceful around them? Or were you the counter point, feeling agitated and annoyed? Passive IS NOT neutral.

The Philokalia fills us with the reminder….

 November 4, 2009

The Philokalia fills us with the reminder that century after century the practice has been shared. And century after century few listen. That does not mean it is not true or valid. If we all practiced there would be no Hell, the game would be over. Then what would we do? Let us find out. As the desert fathers practiced: guard the Heart and still the mind. Truly amazing, though expressed differently, the Truth is the Truth, is the Truth.

The joke at Halloween….

 October 29, 2009

The joke at Halloween is that we put Halloween costumes on our Halloween Costume.

This week the practice moves through the emotions.

October 27, 2009

This week the practice moves through the emotions. Own all of them by truly accepting you have ALL emotions. We must break them down into subtle parts. We don’t just have anger; we have rage, irritation, agitation, or some other subset of anger. Our job is to know and recognize what our vehicles are doing. We practice by being with the emotion or feeling of the moment. Our attention is in the emotion in our Heart and we just sit with it. Then we can begin the practice of stilling these vibrations called emotions. Stilling can happen when we do not run from our internal experience, but remain with it and watch it disappear. This will occur either quickly or slowly. It does not matter. By practicing we are on the way, the timetable is not important. The process is freeing, so do not run from the practice of returning home to your true nature.