Paradise Perspective

This is a memorable day indeed.  Although I will need some guidance for making changes here, I now have the capability to do so!!  My dsl is here!!  We are no longer dialing up and preempting our phone line to go online, and I can get blogging guidance on the phone!  All at the same time!

It’s funny how I wasn’t really thinking about it–It has been available here for over a year, but would have been $50 more a month.  They called a few days ago with a new and acceptable deal.  Half that, no installation fee.  I’m there.

So thinking about accessible features that I couldn’t use before.  John can watch some games (we don’t have cable either), I can catch video streams on myspace and utube (stuff my kids and g-kids will do), the links that I couldn’t get in emails, and best of all the Sweet Adeline International Competition!! 

The other really great thing is that I can spend more time reading other peoples philosophies on their blogs!!

I am loving life (and being grateful)!! 

During a discussion yesterday regarding litigation, I stated that I would never sue anybody for any reason, ever.  I’m serious about this and I believe that karma is involved.  My fellow conversant proceeded to present several scenarios where he insisted that I would be required to sue or counter sue just to maintain the status quo.  I didn’t perpetuate the argument, because I didn’t think it would be productive under the circumstances.  But here’s the thing:  For me, status quo has never been an issue, and the changes (brought about by any number of opportunities to sue somebody) are so much more interesting to me than maintaining any particular situation.

On top of this, I am having this conversation with a Christian who holds the bible in extremely high regard.  God’s living Word.  He was not able to site any scripture that supports the idea of compelling someone else to take responsibility for my misfortune.  However, there are several passages that indicate NOT suing would be in line with the teachings and guidance of this living word:  “Trust in the Lord,” “do unto others…,” “turn the other cheek,”  “give God all your cares,” and on and on.

It is so hard for me to get that someone professes to hold the bible above everything, sees it as the source of salvation, and yet does not experience the liberation that is contained therein.  If your belief system does not fill you with total peace, you need to be asking questions.  When Jesus was in the earth physically, he did not go to temple and let the rabbi tell him what to believe in and what to do about it.  He engaged all present in discussions and debates.  He challenged them to clarify and verbalize what was in their hearts so that they were required to go deeper for the purpose of encountering the kingdom within.  It’s there in all of us, the bible says it is, and it is much more peaceful than any result achieved in court.   

Watched a documentary about the Dixie Chicks and their fiasco regarding a thing Natalie said about the pres.  They were in London so their opponents were even more outraged.  I am baffled by the inability of the masses to apply the concept of freedom that we are supposedly defending (in any war) to the opinions of people who don’t share their own.

A famous quote, “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”, one of the principles our great country was built upon, has been completely lost in the shuffle.  Something weird has occurred with the Bush administration.  I never believed it was possible to deceive the majority of the populace to such a profound extent.

Now, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but there are some distortions that cannot be denied unless your head is thoroughly buried in the sand:  the last two elections, the Iraq war, and 9/11 are all suspect in their justifications.

The point I want to make here has nothing to do with who’s right, who’s wrong, who should be different, etc.  The things that are happening are the result of the energy that is spent on them.  Collectively, we pay a lot of attention to the things we don’t like.  And even though I don’t speak out much concerning politics, I generate feelings of dissent toward the vocal minority, those empty barrels who make the most noise.

It’s time for me to embrace their consciousness as an important element on my own path to spiritual growth.  Patience and forgiveness are the most important aspects of acceptance.  If there is a way to lie about something, then the truth of it is carnal, and the essence of the lie is fear.  No part of it matters except that it is a reason to return to love. 

Once love becomes the predominant energy, trust will annihilate any possible need for deceit.  I believe we are on the way there and this just might be the darkest hour.

There are some people here (in VB) that do not bristle when I wax philosophical.  So I am having some good fun.  Mostly when I am home,  I have J, but he’s already heard about and discussed the jist of it.  Once in a while we can discuss a new element, and/or debate a point.  M is over it, and will engage if it is applicable to her.  F will always engage, but would rather we not apply anything to her.  I always enjoy myself while having verbal intercourse, and will go there at any op.

I don’t understand why anybody who believes in anything doesn’t want to always talk about it and find out what others believe in and why.   Our faith defines us to a profound extent, and clarifying what it is to the point of coherent verbalization, then gives us the op for even more expansion.  And then we all expand!

My daughter, Fran (F), had all her wisdom teeth pulled out yesterday, so I am here to take up some of the slack with her two boys (Grey 3, and River 1 ana half).  Since I have made the trip solo, I will take this opportunity to hook up with some friends I haven’t seen for a while.

Love seeing the boys regardless of the excuse.  F is doing well and I don’t anticipate it taking the whole time I’m here for her to recover.  They got themselves a ping-pong table for Christmas, and it’s one of my all time favorite games.  Between the boys and the table, I am up off my butt, now!!

Get moving, again!!

I have spending this month doing very little.  Still spinning, knitting, weaving and also reading some, but I have not run or even hiked down to the mailbox.  Sometimes when I get immobile like this, I feel sluggish and depressed, but this time I don’t.  I don’t find myself thinking that I should be doing anything different.

I think about running again when it’s not all icy mud, but I’m not at all worried about it.  This is a totally new thing for me:  not thinking I need to be doing something different.  I’m relaxed and enjoying whatever it is even if I do sudokus all day.  Whatever else there is to do, I will get to it.  Maybe.

I’m good.

What about any of us needs changed?  Nothing.  I am whole, I am perfect, I am surrounded by the flow of universal love at all times.  Only good can come to me, and only good can be generated from me, ever.

M told me to stop talking about it over and over and just GO there. 

So I sit here spinning (some yummy teal merino/silk blend) by the warm, cozy wood stove, as the snow gently falls outside, thinking that this is the best.  I’m in the place I love with the people I love doing the things I love, and conditions are perfect.  And my loving it all is orchestrating more of the same.

I could be feeling guilty that I’m not cleaning or cooking.  I could feel anxious about time, or fearful that I might not finish this project how or when I want.  I could feel righteous about how I deserve to have my way.  I could be resentful about not having different or more fiber/projects.  There are any number of ways I could generate something negative in exactly the same situation.

By the same token, I could be in any number of seemingly negative situations and feel exactly the way I’m feeling now.  I’m there. 

Just need to change your mind.

There is one thing that can make or break my ability to be patient and mindful.  That is whether or not I take something personally.  There are so many opportunities over the course of any given day to take offense or be aggrieved.  From the self-centered ego perspective, almost anything anyone says could be interpreted as offensive.  The old thing about how I decide to perceive it comes constantly into play.  While I have habitual cycles of mood, it comes around that I might be actually looking for an excuse to feel offended.

The amazing thing about mindful thinking, and coming into control of my thoughts, is that I can decide to respond as if the person is being kind regardless of his intention.

I can decide to not be offended.  This can have multiple elements of positivity:  First, my being offended is more detrimental to me than it is to the perpetrator.  Second, a significant amount of drama has been avoided.  Third, tension has been removed for any and all parties involved (save those most dedicated to the generation of said tension).  Also, the door has opened for more meaningful communication.  I’m sure I could come up with more, but the main thing is that I maintain personal peace, which is the seed that generates more of the same.  If I can remember that whatever I’m thinking is attracting more of whatever I’m thinking, I can remind myself to think peace more and more of the time. 

Be not offended or aggreived, if possible.

As I think about my resolution to be mindful, the tendency is to be anxious about NOT being mindful.  We so want to already be there, and although I believe that anything you can imagine is possible, patience is the primary element in accomplishing anything, no matter what it is.  Wayne Dyer says,  “Infinite patience has immediate results.”  At first this seems wrong:  In order to know if you HAVE infinite patience, a great deal of time must have to pass.  However, with any patience at all, you can see that everything now takes on a different aura.  If I can be patient in this moment, I need not be anything else, ever.  Immediate results.

Whatever I am focusing on in any given moment, if I am quiet and relaxed (“…be still and know…”), I can be confident that all will shake out.  Bob Marley and God agree—it’s all good.

Blessings and well being flow continuously around and through the universe.  Receiving and channeling them are choices we make every moment.  What could possibly be more important?  That I spilled the milk?  That I burned the rug?  That I haven’t had sex in two weeks?  Spilling, burning and fornicating will not get us in or keep us out of heaven.  How we choose to respond to any of it is the deciding factor.  Having patience is being there now.

 Being patient is everything.

I’m looking at the way we see aspiration as lofty intention and then extending it to include it’s other meaning, to inhale. My one and only resolution is to mindfully direct my attention to aspiration. The one thing I cannot NOT do is breathe. By continuously reminding myself to aspirate peace and expurgate anxiety, I will, at some point, be able to line myself up with the perspective with which we began (in paradise).

During the last week between Christmas and the New Year, I have been in Chicago with loved ones I don’t often get to see. My parents are both 87, and my dad is fading. My sister, Rose, who is the angel guardian of them, told me a couple of scary stories and asked me to visit more often.

My parents will die. And although we are blessed to have had them around for this long, I cannot think about this without crying. I CAN, however, greatly reduce the amount of anxiety that I experience by focusing on the fact that we are not really separate, and that all of the difficulty we have had communicating body to body will be eliminated. I have already found a good amount of peace relating to the distance between me and my children and grandchildren. Although I visit with my daughters daily, I miss being where I can be a bigger part of their lives. Rather than experience anxiety over this, I am able to aspirate peace and send it along to them. I believe it is instantaneously received. But I am quite certain that I will see them again at some point. Not so with dad.

In paradise, we know that it’s all God, and we don’t concern ourselves with logistics. Everything in materiality is for our amusement, and we are not involved to such depth that we identify with those circumstances to the exclusion of our soul reality (the 99% which we disregard from this material perspective). When we aren’t amused, we have lost our way. When we regain our amusement, we will not only find our way, we will also be able to direct it. This would be my ultimate resolution.

May you find profound peace in whatever you aspire to accomplish, and be joyful in the process.