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.

Be Patient

It's easy to get impatient when we want to sit and be calm but are distracted by the incessant wanderings and babbling of the mind.

Trust Yourself
Sit and be patient. Be open and be trusting in what comes to you. When your only intention is insight into the fullness of your being and helping to expand the peace and love in this world, nothing else can come of it. Be clear as crystal in what you want, and you will have it all.

Be The Lighthouse

When we go inside, we can find the calm at the centre of our being. We can feel that energy project like the beam of a lighthouse, out to sea. This is our first responsibility; to discover that place where we are still, to focus our awareness on it, and to resonate with it. We want this resonance, this frequency, to be the carrier upon which all other vibrations are carried; the place from which we experience everything. We are aware of everything, but we are at the same time aware of that central vibration, that central calm. It never completely leaves our awareness and it is through that awareness or connection that we stay firmly anchored in the present. Without this we drift like a rudderless ship at sea. With this we always know where we are, and we are like a lighthouse to others, helping them to find their way.

What Kind of World Do We Live In?

I was at an emotionally charged Town Council meeting last night. It is fascinating how we can have such different perceptions about a given situation.

We Experience What We Believe
In each moment, we re-create the world in which we live. Our perception of that world is not objective. It is governed by our beliefs, which we choose and have complete control over. Choose your beliefs carefully, for they determine what you perceive is happening in this and every moment.

Go Deep!

The Well Within
Take a moment each day to revisit the well within each of us. That deep, still well of infinite Love. It is there for each of us to draw from. It is replenished by the cosmos. It transcends space and time because it is the foundation without which nothing else exists. The well of Love sustains Spirit just as water sustains life.

Ah, Saturday!

Take a moment today. See if you can put the following thought into practice. It really does make a difference.

Express Your Gratitude
Take a moment each day for a gesture of your gratitude. A kiss for your loved one. A kind word for someone who needs it. A word of encouragement here. A sincere compliment there. A brief e-mail. A thoughtful voice mail message to surprise the recipient when he/she returns from work or a trip. A smile to a stranger. A hesitation in traffic, to let someone in. A heart-warming thought for yourself. It's nothing, and yet it's everything - it changes the world in which we live.

Rain, rain, go away.

It's been rainy, dark, gloomy here for weeks. This brings the following to mind:

Be Like a Moth.
The cure for darkness is light. When you find youself in darkness, or surrounded by darkness, remember that the smallest candle is an antidote to the deepest darkness. Always move your thoughts toward the light. Consciously shift your awareness to the light and your experience of darkness will immediately fade.

Here Goes!

Well. Finally! My website has been up for a couple of years now, but I haven't made it a priority to maintain a blog.

Here Goes! I will be posting inspired thoughts and poetry on this blog as time permits and as the inspiration comes.

I will start with the feelings that gave birth to Heart Speaks and to myself as Speaking Heart...

I am the heart of humankind.
I cry myself to sleep every night.
And each morning I awaken,
filled with the infinite pure Love,
that fills this creation.

Speaking Heart (Stuart McNair)