On Thoughts

Sitting, pen in hand, waiting for a thought. It's a bubble, now a wave. I don't know where it's leading but I follow it, ride it. To the shore? No. Into the air and through the cosmos. Into the non-physical dimension of thought-space. Then another thought rises to its fate. What becomes of these abandoned thoughts? Do they evaporate or do they mature or ripen under certain conditions and rain back down on us, to make real all that is possible?

On Not Meditating

It's easy to feel that because we can tap into that wonderful energy at the centre of our being, at will, that there is no need to practise, to meditate regularly and deeply. There is a big difference between "dropping in" from time to time, and living somewhere. Being able to connect to that space at will is nice but it is not the same as coming from that space, always. The freshness and depth of regular meditation mean that we carry that energy with us everywhere. It is a part of us. We radiate it. We don't have to connect to it any more than we have to tell ourselves to breathe.

Dawn

The dawn of a new year like the dawn of each day - makes you want to stop and seize the moment, forever.

We Can Only "Be" in the Present

The present is different than every other time. It is wide. It is deep. It is still. And it can be full or empty.

Every moment that we have our awareness on the past or the future leaves the present empty. Each of those moments is lost to us.

Every moment spent in separateness or absorbed in thought is a moment of mind.

Every moment filled with Love or the abundance of the universe is a moment of heart.

Have a Dream

I went to sleep last night with the question, "What is My Dream?" on my mind.

When I woke up this morning, I knew the answer. I've known it before. I just haven't seen My Dream as something I wanted to realize. It may sound funny, but having dreams is fine. The question is, "Do you want to turn your dream into reality?"

Buying into your dream is needed to turn it into a goal. Dreams are fine. Goals give us something concrete to work toward. Turn your dreams into goals and into reality. That's my next step.

On Being Connected

Yeah! I spent another weekend without turning my computer on. Why is that cause to celebrate? I spend a lot of time at my computer. Many people do. And as much as the Internet allows our thoughts to travel far and wide and tap into incredible sources of information, I long for a different kind of connection. Perhaps we all do on some level.

I re-read Hermann Hess's wonderful, inspiring short story Siddhartha this weekend. To paraphrase one of the pieces of wisdom in the translation ...place more importance on his acts and life than on his speeches, more on the gestures of his hand than on his opinions. Not in his speech, not in his thoughts, I see his greatness, only in his actions, in his life.

The words of inspired teachers hold no meaning in themselves. Nor do the thoughts. It is in the experience, in absorbing the energy that they are meant to carry to us, that we internalize the meaning - that we connect with it. The more we experience that, the more we radiate that awareness back out to others. When we are consumed with thought, we only radiate noise and confusion. When we are consumed with peace, we can connect easily, and we radiate clarity and power.

The Fullness of Life

We are physical beings. We experience our physical nature on Earth. But we can also sense something of a spiritual nature, a transcendant energy. When we sense that, it brings wonder and lessens our attachment to the physical.

This morning's words...

Awakening
I sit on a throne of sorts,
with dominion over the Earth.
Then I awaken as a speck of dust,
drifting on the wind.
I wonder at all that lies below,
dwarfed by what lies above.
And I dare not land.

More Speaking Heart...

Who is Speaking Heart?

Speaking Heart is more than a nom-de-plume for a poet (myself). It is not just about poetry. Speaking Heart is about speaking from one's heart. It is about living from one's heart. Using mind as a tool, a servant, rather than a master. It is mind that stops heart from expressing. Mind does the judging, not heart. Mind labels and thinks it knows something once it has labelled it. Heart is always learning.

Yes, I know that heart is a label itself. All of this still occurs in the mind, but what we refer to as heart is a different thought process. We may say it occurs in the right hand side of the brain, or that it occurs when we release chemicals that change the way in which we perceive things, but being in the heart is different than being in the mind.

It is all about energy. We have known about the body's energy centres (chakras) for millenia and they are not imaginary. I have felt the tingling of crown chakra, the buzzing of Ajna chakra and the spinning open lotus flower of heart chakra. So when we come from the heart, when I am present as Speaking Heart, we are experiencing and expressing another facet of our being.

Could it be that we could make the future of humankind and of this planet a little more humane, more loving, more peaceful and harmonious if we connected with and expressed this facet of ourselves more openly and passionately, rather than acquiescing to the domineering attitude of the mind?

The Question Is...

Is humankind the only animal that struggles with its existence? We are animals, a part of the animal kingdom. No doubt about that. No special life was breathed into our nostrils. No special place in the universe do we hold.

Man's nature is to dominate. Woman's nature is to nurture. That is what has allowed us to continue to survive and develop. But we know experientially that we can sense or connect with another energy, one that let's us feel what it is like to transcend the physical. It is that energy, that consciousness that opens the door to all the mystical experiences, enlightenment, awakening, higher self, realization. Call it what you will, it inspires something different than the survival instincts that we share with all living creatures.

The question is, "Why do we experience it?"

Finding Happiness and Joy

I'm reading a preview of a book on happiness in which Aristotle is quoted as saying, "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." Epicurus continues, "We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it."

Obviously, these words have stood the test of time. What isn't so obvious is that, as with so many aspects of fulfilled life, when we look inside to find the way to happiness, we discover that it comes from nothing external. At the very centre of our being we are filled with joy and Love. When we connect with this, the happiness flows out of us like a flower in bloom - and we seek nothing else. We learn that the experience of joy, or happiness, is central to feeling fulfilled. And we learn too that the joy emerges from inside. Once found it becomes an eternal spring.