I love books. I love to own books. I love the look, smell and feel of books. I love to read and I really love to disappear into a book as I read it. I call it a “good book” when it captures my imagination and as I fall into the pages I am swept away like a leaf from the cottonwood tree falls into the river and is swept away on the current of the river I call life. I can feel it as I write this. I love being swept away by life.
I am passionate about witnessing the mystery of life and I am fascinated by the language we use to attempt to capture the essence of the experience we call life. Few authors can do that for me in a manner that enfolds me in my imagination. I love it when it happens. I aspire to perfecting that skill for myself.
My spiritual practice is to relax into the talent of connecting with the mystery of life and skillfully expressing myself from that place. There must be a Chinese symbol for what I am talking about, a Myers-Briggs type, an ennegram assigned to it, an astrological phenomena, a cultural behavior ingrained in me, a genetic code, a parental mistake, a sibling placement, a goddess archetype, a spirit guide, patron saint or an animal totem. There must be a way to explain why I am like this.
I am not sure why I want to write a book myself. There are plenty of them already out there. And now there are e books “on line”. Magazines are on line too. Newspapers are on line. I am on line, for Heaven’s sake. I can be googled, twittered, xinged and chatted up.
But you know there is a comfort I get from propping a good book up on my knees while I read. I especially like doing it during the day. And I absolutely love falling asleep that way. I love to fall asleep reading during the day. Now that I mention it, reading is my most powerful “sleep-aid” at night too. And when I awaken in the middle of the night, guess what I do…I read myself back to sleep.
But I do. I do want to write a book. There are a lot of things I want to do in fact. Some of them I have done once already and want to do again. I want to understand the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. I want to build a row boat. I want to see a bear again. I want to find an eagle’s feather. I want to take a sleigh ride on a packed trail in deep snow in the mountains while I am covered with buffalo robes and blankets. I want to be a princess. I want to make a lot of money. I want to taste fine wine and eat at an exquisite restaurant. I want to sit on the ground and pray. I want to go to a Buddhist temple in Thailand. I want to understand the creative spark I felt when Rio was conceived.
I want to love myself. I realized today that if I continue to believe that the people I love will hurt me and betray me, (because that is my story and my experience) I will never allow myself to love myself because if I do betrayal and pain are inevitable. Isn’t it natural for me to also want to avoid pain to this magnitude at all cost? I want to release that belief and forgive those that have harmed me and open to self love and relinquish my tenacious grasp on my heart. I really want that. If I can do that, why, I can write a book.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Journey Around The Circle Of Life
The journey around the Circle of Life:
On the Circle of Life we gather information, transform it into knowledge,
create beauty and give it away.
We have been blessed with an enormous surge of information over
the past many years. A lot of information. The information spans
all aspects of life: science, health care, healing, earth and
space technology, relationships, and ecology.
Many of us are overwhelmed by all the information and we seem to
get stuck there.The gathering of information is important on
the Circle of Life.
However, it is our life experience that allows us, supports us
and enables us to transform the information into knowledge.
In my opinion it is the critical next step on our journey because
from knowledge we create beauty. We create beauty from the
gut feelings we have, the intuition, our insights, dreams,
goals and desires. We create beauty in our work, in our families
and all of our relationships. We create beauty when we feel grateful,
generous, imaginative, and vulnerable. We engage possibility
when we are surrounded by beauty and we open to the health
and healing that is naturally a part of it.
Now is a perfect time to join together on the Circle of Life
to heal the beauty in, around and between us.
It is a perfect time to remember to learn and to develop wisdom
from our life’s experience. The moment we create beauty we are
free to release it, to give it away, to the world as self expression,
as love, as joy, as generosity, and it is in giving that we receive.
On the Circle of Life we gather information, transform it into knowledge,
create beauty and give it away.
We have been blessed with an enormous surge of information over
the past many years. A lot of information. The information spans
all aspects of life: science, health care, healing, earth and
space technology, relationships, and ecology.
Many of us are overwhelmed by all the information and we seem to
get stuck there.The gathering of information is important on
the Circle of Life.
However, it is our life experience that allows us, supports us
and enables us to transform the information into knowledge.
In my opinion it is the critical next step on our journey because
from knowledge we create beauty. We create beauty from the
gut feelings we have, the intuition, our insights, dreams,
goals and desires. We create beauty in our work, in our families
and all of our relationships. We create beauty when we feel grateful,
generous, imaginative, and vulnerable. We engage possibility
when we are surrounded by beauty and we open to the health
and healing that is naturally a part of it.
Now is a perfect time to join together on the Circle of Life
to heal the beauty in, around and between us.
It is a perfect time to remember to learn and to develop wisdom
from our life’s experience. The moment we create beauty we are
free to release it, to give it away, to the world as self expression,
as love, as joy, as generosity, and it is in giving that we receive.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Rainbows Say It All
I was traveling along a remote country road and was stopped in my tracks when a full, horizon-to-horizon rainbow bloomed across the sky.This is what bloomed in my mind as a reflection of this wondrous vision and I wrote:
May the rainbow bless us today with the full spectrum of possibility:
May we be blessed with forgiveness and the inherent release of forgiveness.
May we be blessed with the relaxation inherent in release.
May we be blessed with the release inherent in ease.
May we be blessed with the ease inherent in self love.
May we be blessed with the love inherent in awe.
May we be blessed with awe when we witness the mystery of life
May we be blessed with the mystsery inherent in possibility.
May we be blessed with the full spectrum of the Rainbow.
May the rainbow bless us today with the full spectrum of possibility:
May we be blessed with forgiveness and the inherent release of forgiveness.
May we be blessed with the relaxation inherent in release.
May we be blessed with the release inherent in ease.
May we be blessed with the ease inherent in self love.
May we be blessed with the love inherent in awe.
May we be blessed with awe when we witness the mystery of life
May we be blessed with the mystsery inherent in possibility.
May we be blessed with the full spectrum of the Rainbow.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Remember The Fire?
In the summer of 2002 there was a wild fire near our home that burned thousands of acres for 37 days and forced evacuation of 2300 homes. The experience of that fire is seared into my body mind and spirit. When I close my eyes I can still see the flames and smell the smoke. Large is one memory in particular. In every circle, it seemed, people were having the conversation about what we would escape with if we were the ones being emergently evacuated. What was most precious? What could we carry? What could we leave behind? What loss would devistate us? What was not that important afterall?. What about the horses, and other animals we live with? Where do they go? Where would we live if not in our "homes"? Those were deeply soul searching conversations full of insight surprise and delight. They were freeing conversations when we really felt what was important. We discovered what and who we truly loved.
I am reminded of those conversations as I live with the economic wildfire we are experiencing now. It touches me body mind and spirt. What is most important to me? What do I truly love? What can I live without? What is most precious to me? When I keep my mind on those things I feel free.
I am reminded of those conversations as I live with the economic wildfire we are experiencing now. It touches me body mind and spirt. What is most important to me? What do I truly love? What can I live without? What is most precious to me? When I keep my mind on those things I feel free.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It's Time To Listen With Your Heart
I can hear it now: “What? Listen with your heart?”… “That’s easy for YOU to say”…”What does she mean by THAT?” I am listening…these are great questions.
Since I am truly a life coach let’s explore the possible answers with more questions.
Have you ever paraphrased what someone has said and gotten it all wrong?
Or have you been certain you are quoting someone word for word only to find out you missed the most important word? Have you ever felt misunderstood, utterly unheard or ignored? How about this one; have you ever received a gift from a companion or friend that turned out to be the very thing you told him or her you DID NOT WANT? Have you ever forgotten important directions, dates or other information?
Have you ever had a twinge of pain somewhere in your thoughts or emotions that you ignored? And it didn’t go away rather it turned into a bigger pain lodged somewhere in your body? Have you ever pretended you could eat chocolate “this time” and not get a headache? Have you ever been mindlessly brushing your teeth too hard and whack yourself in the gums? I am sure there are fascinating psychological and neurological explanations for why this happens to many of us in one way or another. Perhaps the simple answer is that these communications were only heard rather than deeply listened to from the heart.
My Grandmother told me a long time ago that listening and hearing are different. She even scolded me once because I forgot something important about life. I forgot, she said, because I failed to listen with my heart. I am beginning to understand what she was trying to teach me. We hear with our ears and listen with our hearts. We hear sounds of nature, voices, and music, traffic and ring tones. We listen to creativity, vulnerability, harmony, possibility, love and intuition with our hearts. Listening from a place of stillness is a key to truly listening. When we listen for the unspoken message beneath the words, the potential for healing, the expression of love, the possibility for forgiveness, the humor, and the tension or pain within us we are connected to our vulnerability and our willingness to be alive in the present moment.
Listening with our hearts takes a willingness to create space, be receptive and connect because when we listen with our hearts connection is inevitable. Listening in this way is done with focus, intention and practice.
How do we focus?
Meditation or contemplation is a practice as ancient as life itself. When we meditate or contemplate regularly we learn to quiet the mind, calm the emotions and relax the body. In a sense we clarify our attention by allowing unwanted or unimportant thoughts to fall away from our inner vision, thus allowing us to focus on what is wanted and is important to us. We create space within ourselves to listen. We prepare our minds and our bodies to deeply connect. We can practice this mindfulness as we sit quietly, walk, and do housework.
How do we set intention?
Intentions are centered in the present moment when we recognize what we value and when we decide how we want to bring that into our lives. When we value connection and set an intention to listen with our hearts, we open ourselves to possibility, creativity and compassion. Setting Intention is a way to create a space for inspiration, support and empowerment.
How do we practice?
This is the fun part. We get to play a spiritual game of Telephone!
We practice by waking up each day and heading into our lives full tilt. Sometimes this calls for courage and that’s ok. Begin listening from the quiet, calm and relaxed place within. Begin listening to nature, music, a person, or your thoughts. When you listen ask yourself: When I listen with my mind what do I hear? When I listen with my heart what do I hear?
Where do I feel it in my body?
What makes me smile? Fearful?
How connected to this person, place, thought or Love do I feel?
Where is love expressing itself here?
How do I want to live in this moment?
What am I curious about?
What am I grateful for in this moment?
Consider writing your insights and gratitude in a journal. Share some with a close friend. If nothing emerges, practice some more later. Always remember, it is your choice.
Now what?
Recently I read about an interview with the physicist who is credited with discovering the subatomic particle called a quark, Murray Gell-Mann. He said something like (I am not quoting on purpose) discovering the quark was relatively easy, what to do with the discovery was the mystery. Learning to listen with your heart will be relatively easy. Becoming comfortable with deepening your connection to all of life may be a challenge. It is a challenge for many of us as we progress into the technology and reality of the 21st century. This is where we also get to practice compassion, asking for help and being available and vulnerable to those we care about. It is about connection really. Connection and love. A wise man once told me that the secret to a life well lived is Love.
I encourage you to listen with your heart to his words. Go now and listen for the love. May you enjoy a life well lived.
The true spirit of my work invites women of all ages
to The Circle of Life and into the power of Gentle Medicine.
Here they will experience the love, gratitude and relaxed personal power
that comes from gently accepting their humanity, realizing that all is as it is
simply because we choose to be alive.
By allowing the calmness that ensues to penetrate their resistance and fear they will open to the healing inherent in the mystery of life. Love will prevail.
To learn more contact Martha at www.CircleofLifeCoach.com
Since I am truly a life coach let’s explore the possible answers with more questions.
Have you ever paraphrased what someone has said and gotten it all wrong?
Or have you been certain you are quoting someone word for word only to find out you missed the most important word? Have you ever felt misunderstood, utterly unheard or ignored? How about this one; have you ever received a gift from a companion or friend that turned out to be the very thing you told him or her you DID NOT WANT? Have you ever forgotten important directions, dates or other information?
Have you ever had a twinge of pain somewhere in your thoughts or emotions that you ignored? And it didn’t go away rather it turned into a bigger pain lodged somewhere in your body? Have you ever pretended you could eat chocolate “this time” and not get a headache? Have you ever been mindlessly brushing your teeth too hard and whack yourself in the gums? I am sure there are fascinating psychological and neurological explanations for why this happens to many of us in one way or another. Perhaps the simple answer is that these communications were only heard rather than deeply listened to from the heart.
My Grandmother told me a long time ago that listening and hearing are different. She even scolded me once because I forgot something important about life. I forgot, she said, because I failed to listen with my heart. I am beginning to understand what she was trying to teach me. We hear with our ears and listen with our hearts. We hear sounds of nature, voices, and music, traffic and ring tones. We listen to creativity, vulnerability, harmony, possibility, love and intuition with our hearts. Listening from a place of stillness is a key to truly listening. When we listen for the unspoken message beneath the words, the potential for healing, the expression of love, the possibility for forgiveness, the humor, and the tension or pain within us we are connected to our vulnerability and our willingness to be alive in the present moment.
Listening with our hearts takes a willingness to create space, be receptive and connect because when we listen with our hearts connection is inevitable. Listening in this way is done with focus, intention and practice.
How do we focus?
Meditation or contemplation is a practice as ancient as life itself. When we meditate or contemplate regularly we learn to quiet the mind, calm the emotions and relax the body. In a sense we clarify our attention by allowing unwanted or unimportant thoughts to fall away from our inner vision, thus allowing us to focus on what is wanted and is important to us. We create space within ourselves to listen. We prepare our minds and our bodies to deeply connect. We can practice this mindfulness as we sit quietly, walk, and do housework.
How do we set intention?
Intentions are centered in the present moment when we recognize what we value and when we decide how we want to bring that into our lives. When we value connection and set an intention to listen with our hearts, we open ourselves to possibility, creativity and compassion. Setting Intention is a way to create a space for inspiration, support and empowerment.
How do we practice?
This is the fun part. We get to play a spiritual game of Telephone!
We practice by waking up each day and heading into our lives full tilt. Sometimes this calls for courage and that’s ok. Begin listening from the quiet, calm and relaxed place within. Begin listening to nature, music, a person, or your thoughts. When you listen ask yourself: When I listen with my mind what do I hear? When I listen with my heart what do I hear?
Where do I feel it in my body?
What makes me smile? Fearful?
How connected to this person, place, thought or Love do I feel?
Where is love expressing itself here?
How do I want to live in this moment?
What am I curious about?
What am I grateful for in this moment?
Consider writing your insights and gratitude in a journal. Share some with a close friend. If nothing emerges, practice some more later. Always remember, it is your choice.
Now what?
Recently I read about an interview with the physicist who is credited with discovering the subatomic particle called a quark, Murray Gell-Mann. He said something like (I am not quoting on purpose) discovering the quark was relatively easy, what to do with the discovery was the mystery. Learning to listen with your heart will be relatively easy. Becoming comfortable with deepening your connection to all of life may be a challenge. It is a challenge for many of us as we progress into the technology and reality of the 21st century. This is where we also get to practice compassion, asking for help and being available and vulnerable to those we care about. It is about connection really. Connection and love. A wise man once told me that the secret to a life well lived is Love.
I encourage you to listen with your heart to his words. Go now and listen for the love. May you enjoy a life well lived.
The true spirit of my work invites women of all ages
to The Circle of Life and into the power of Gentle Medicine.
Here they will experience the love, gratitude and relaxed personal power
that comes from gently accepting their humanity, realizing that all is as it is
simply because we choose to be alive.
By allowing the calmness that ensues to penetrate their resistance and fear they will open to the healing inherent in the mystery of life. Love will prevail.
To learn more contact Martha at www.CircleofLifeCoach.com
Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Metro Man
I was fortunate to be able to spend 2 days in Washington, DC recently with my daughter, my sister and her daughter. Anyone who has been there understands when I say it is challenging to capture all the stories about a trip to "DC"...and there were many after only 2 days. The extremes of any city can be overwhelming. Washington, DC was no exception.
We saw foreign dignitary's homes, The White House, the Capital building, servants, maids, street people, and young snappy professionals hurrying somewhere obviously important. We heard languages spoken I couldn't begin to guess where the people speaking them came from, and tourists from everywhere and anywhere. We witnessed a young man propose to his sweetheart at the Lincoln Memorial on Valentine's day. We saw banners joyfully proclaiming an electoral victory and protesters protesting silently yet sincerely. Their issues expressed a myriad of opinions.
We had men in uniform hold doors for us and women on the go ignore us. We ate seafood every chance we got . We even went to the familiar bookstore on the corner, just to be somewhere familiar. We danced to the hip-hop music being played in the huge municipal truck parked at the corner after hours as men repaired the street nearby (well, I did the dancing and embarrassed my daughter "into next week").
But, listen to me now, there was the metro man...allow me to try to tell you about the metro man. He was old and disheveled. He was dirty and bent over. He was there with us underneath the fabulous Union train station. The train station the presidents of the United States used to arrive in "the city" long before they started using Air Force One. No one else was there besides me, my daughter, my niece, my sister and the metro man. The metro is the city's subway system. There is a bank of automated ticketing machines theoretically self explanatory. To us a confusion of right choices and wrong choices. We felt stupid and vulnerable as we waved our money around the underground metro station looking for the right choice. My sister and I spread out in front of the ticketing machines as if that would better our chances of figuring it out. The two girls were in between us. My sister and I were like crows with one eye on a machine and one eye on our daughters. (Moms are like that). The dirty, bent over metro man started walking towards the girls and my sister and I closed in. "Can I help you?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Ummmm... yes please" one of us said. "You do it like this". He showed us how to insert the dollar bills and a ticket popped out of the wall. I gave him $2 for a ticket that cost $1.65 and said "Thank you, Sir". Dirty and bent over,he taught us all that we don't always need to be afraid of strangers. Don't get me wrong, this old man was strange. But he wasn't bad or mean or hurtful. He was kind and respectful. He was helpful and trusted us to be kind in return. And yes, he also got a return on his investment. That was ok with me. May your good will also return to you in a way you can receive.
We saw foreign dignitary's homes, The White House, the Capital building, servants, maids, street people, and young snappy professionals hurrying somewhere obviously important. We heard languages spoken I couldn't begin to guess where the people speaking them came from, and tourists from everywhere and anywhere. We witnessed a young man propose to his sweetheart at the Lincoln Memorial on Valentine's day. We saw banners joyfully proclaiming an electoral victory and protesters protesting silently yet sincerely. Their issues expressed a myriad of opinions.
We had men in uniform hold doors for us and women on the go ignore us. We ate seafood every chance we got . We even went to the familiar bookstore on the corner, just to be somewhere familiar. We danced to the hip-hop music being played in the huge municipal truck parked at the corner after hours as men repaired the street nearby (well, I did the dancing and embarrassed my daughter "into next week").
But, listen to me now, there was the metro man...allow me to try to tell you about the metro man. He was old and disheveled. He was dirty and bent over. He was there with us underneath the fabulous Union train station. The train station the presidents of the United States used to arrive in "the city" long before they started using Air Force One. No one else was there besides me, my daughter, my niece, my sister and the metro man. The metro is the city's subway system. There is a bank of automated ticketing machines theoretically self explanatory. To us a confusion of right choices and wrong choices. We felt stupid and vulnerable as we waved our money around the underground metro station looking for the right choice. My sister and I spread out in front of the ticketing machines as if that would better our chances of figuring it out. The two girls were in between us. My sister and I were like crows with one eye on a machine and one eye on our daughters. (Moms are like that). The dirty, bent over metro man started walking towards the girls and my sister and I closed in. "Can I help you?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Ummmm... yes please" one of us said. "You do it like this". He showed us how to insert the dollar bills and a ticket popped out of the wall. I gave him $2 for a ticket that cost $1.65 and said "Thank you, Sir". Dirty and bent over,he taught us all that we don't always need to be afraid of strangers. Don't get me wrong, this old man was strange. But he wasn't bad or mean or hurtful. He was kind and respectful. He was helpful and trusted us to be kind in return. And yes, he also got a return on his investment. That was ok with me. May your good will also return to you in a way you can receive.
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