Archive for February, 2019
Stillness
Stillness is naturally present in us all; it is part of our behavioral repertoire. It is a quality of being that is still, quiet, calm and inactive…a state of tranquility. Stillness is always available, always there for us to access. Yet, the stillness is not empty. Eckhart Tolle said, “…thoughts coming out of stillness have power.”
It is often quite challenging to find stillness in the modern world. Even White Noise, which is designed to mask distracting sounds so we can focus our attention or help us sleep, can interfere with our efforts to find stillness.
Achieving the ability to access stillness and silence are great accomplishments for me. Living a life dedicated to co-dependence and the painful, useless martyrdom that comes with it, left me fearing stillness and silence. The extreme discomfort I experienced caused me to go to great lengths to avoid both.
As I discovered along the journey to my authentic self, silence and stillness are great allies; trusting guides and companions. Hermann Hesse put it well, “Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” And Donald Hicks noted that, “In the stillness of life, we find our higher self.”
In stillness we discover creativity. In stillness we hear the authentic voice…our voice merged with the Divine energy of creation. I have long been an ardent fan of the teachings of Lao Tzu. Preparing for this blog I went to the writings that reveal his mastery of simple truths. “Stillness reveals the secrets of the universe.”
This eloquent quote is stillness reduced to it’s quintessence. Nothing more need be said.
Blessings!
Mastery
The word that inspired this week’s post is cope. How are very intuitive and sensitive people able to cope with the increasing trauma of daily living?
Sensitive and intuitive people feel energy at very intense levels. Finding and employing successful ways of coping with upsets, deeply disturbing events, cataclysms and traumas becomes essential to healthy survival.
The juxtaposition of a declaration of national emergency for a wall and the suburban Chicago shooting, coming a day after the first year anniversary of the Parkland School massacre, is so vexing to my highly sensitive person. If I entertain this plaguing energy, dwelling on the ethos and pathos, it will make me ill. It is incumbent on me, therefore, to practice the art of mastery.
“Whether trauma will be a cruel and punishing Gorgon or a vehicle for soaring to the heights of transformation and mastery depends upon how we approach it.” ~Peter Levine
Staying healthy and well requires action; the action of regulation and control. If I submit my highly sensitive being to the constant battering of my reality, dis-ease is inevitable.
“You cannot control what happens to you but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you. In that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” ~Brian Tracy
The two essential keys to achieving mastery of psychic and emotional sensitivity are: a strong, active belief system, and control of the inner dialogue; especially the thought-words that foment hopelessness, helplessness, and anger turned inward manifesting as depression.
“Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don’t control what you think, you cannot control what you do.” ~Napoleon Hill
“If fear is cultivated it will become stronger, if faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery.” ~John Paul Jones
This is some of, if not the hardest work we ever do. Michelangelo said…”If people knew how hard I worked to get mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” And Don Miguel Ruiz wrote, “Practice creates the master.”
Super sensitive people possess the other side of the gold coin. They routinely see their environment sparkle. Keenly aware of the world around them, delighting in cloud formations. Dew sparkling in the morning sun. The feel and smell of fresh air. The smiling, knowing, eye contact of a passing stranger. The uninhibited laughter of children. The shape and color of a fallen leaf. The feel of water, sun and wind on their bodies. The mating calls of red hawks.
They feel the beauty and subtle smells, sights and energies that most people overlook.
Mastery is a process, not an event. “When you can see mastery as a path you go down instead of a destination you arrive at, it starts to feel accessible and attainable. Most assume mastery is an end result, but at its core, mastery is a way of thinking, a way of acting and a journey you experience.” ~Gary Keller.
We cannot master the world, but we can master ourselves. “One can have no smaller or greater mastery then the mastery of oneself.” ~Leonardo Da Vinci
Blessings!
Advice
There is wisdom in seeking good counsel…helpful advice. However, to secure wise counsel is to ask it of those who will be objective, compassionate and kind; and to risk hearing what we may not want to hear.
Seeking advice from those we love and respect is to trust that they will be equally respectful, loving and honest with their response.
“Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.” ~Harper Lee
As the receiver of advice, it is important that we listen with an open mind and an open heart.
“Every man, however wise, needs the advice of some sagacious friend in the affairs of life.” ~Plautus
Ultimately, we make the final decisions. Good decisions come from our third chakra. Manipura, meaning ‘lustrous gem’, the center of personal power, confidence and self-esteem.
No other being is responsible for our choices, and the way we choose to live our life.
Giving advice can be tricky. If you are asked for your opinion, listen with an open heart and an open mind. Responding thoughtfully and appropriately with loving care and concern.
If you have not been asked for your insight, examine your motivation carefully before offering advice, and be prepared to be rejected, perhaps even vilified for your efforts.
“Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.” ~Samuel Taylor Coloridge
I was attracted to this quote by Jack Adams, as much for it’s humor as for it’s truth…”If it’s free, it’s advice; if you pay for it, it’s counseling; if you can use either one, it’s a miracle.”
I invite you to consider whom you choose to seek advice from, and how you choose to give advice to others.
Blessings!
Elegance
“…dignified grace in appearance, movement or behavior.” as defined by the Collins English Dictionary. Ingenious is a synonym for elegance that I particularly like. It is a special aptitude for inventing and/or discovering, which is defined by resourcefulness, originality and cleverness in conception or execution.
Elegance is not limited to human description. Mathematicians, for example, often refer to ‘mathematical elegance’ and ‘elegant proof’, when a theorem is simple yet effective and a proof is succinct.
David Suzuki, scientist and geneticist, best known for his TV series The Nature of Things, said, “I fell in love with the elegance and precision of genetic analysis and experimentation to answer profound biological questions.”
A person described as elegant has a grace and style that brings a certain calm and dignity into all aspects of their daily behavior.
“Elegance is usually confused with superficiality, fashion, lack of depth. This is a serious mistake: human beings need to have elegance in their actions and in their posture because this word is synonymous with good taste, amiability, equilibrium and harmony.” ~Paulo Coelho
Elegance is simple, understated and unflappable; it needs no adornment or pretense.
Isabella Rosellini wrote, “Women who stay true to themselves are always more interesting and beautiful to me: women like Frieda Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe and Anna Magnani – women who have style, chic, allure and elegance. They didn’t submit to any standard of beauty – they defined it.” An activist, an artist and an actress, powerful and compelling examples of elegance.
Societies today have a crassness often justified by ‘being real’, which more often than not presents a self-indulgent, crude inelegance.
I invite you this week to the awareness of elegance around you; elegance in form, thought and action and to the elegance within you.
Blessings!
