Sunday, March 27, 2011

limitless...


According to the movie "Limitless" 100% mental clarity can be accessed by taking a pill called NZT.  A drug that skyrockets every synapse into activity allowing the user to enjoy an abundance of money, power, sex and fast cars. 
Briefly, until the pills run out.  Then one crashes and burns into sickness with a short attention span, rapid aging, with a bitter end result of a sad and tragic death. 

I get the idea...I like the idea... increased brain activity and unlimited potential... I have books on the shelf, the coffee table and pretty much everywhere in the apartment that speak directly to this idea.  But none of them promote taking short cuts. It's a process...it's work...it's continuous effort that takes time. The results have lasting impact with permanence and significance that go far beyond adrenalin rushes and quick cash.

Clarity, if you want clarity uncluttter your life, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Take the time to let go of what no longer serves you.  This is best done in layers.  My move to a new city and a new life was a drastic way to shift a lot of material belongings.  This was just the first of many layers. Nine months later the emotional and spiritual layers of uncluttering is just settling into my bones. 

Hey, nine months...just the same amount of time as a full term pregnancy.  Coincidence...hmmmm...not to a symbolic seeker such as myself :-) 
Growing life takes time to incubate and take form.  I couldnt' rush the process.  Our culture would have us believe otherwise...here take a pill and find enlightenment.  But in 30 seconds we're not ready for what comes next.  Our minds and hearts have not grown to take in what is happening.  Thus we feel the rush of openings and closing rather than the calmer transition into expansion.  Our life is thus a scattered, cluttered cycle.  It's like only being happy when it's sunny and warm outside rather than being happy even when it's raining, snowing or cold and cloudy.

I am expanding now into keeping my heart open as I learn to let go with more grace rather than fear.  The potential in this is limitless.  It's not a stock market algorithm eureka moment.  It's looking around me and seeing my apartment as a palace rather than a failure; it's allowing people to do what they need to do even when it doesn't include me; it's encouraging my kids to be free even when it means they'll move away; it's about accepting myself even when I feel the pangs of rejection.

For me the process includes walking my dog, writing blogs, swimming in poetry, losing myself in movies, reading inspired texts, zombies watching and gazing at Christmas lights that sparkle from sun up to sun down.  There is no one thing that is getting me to this new place of being.  No short cut.  Just practice, practice, practice.

Yes, this takes me back to the skating blog.... I am reminded again of the importance of practicing even though the ice has melted and the "rink closed for the season" sign is posted.  Skating was only one medium.  Life gives me many and it's up to me to use them to their maximum, limitless potential. 

When I step back and put life situations in to this perspective...wow, does I feel better than getting all twisted up, like the junkie who is crashing from a synthetic high. I'd rather feel the Awesomeness of life through life's natural highs and lows than filling myself with the false reality that something outside of me,  be it a person, place or pill, will help me be myself. 

Moving is not required to unclutter.  Nor is rushing.  Slow down.  Look around wherever you are and start there, one room, one thought, one belief at a time. Don't rush. Be gentle yet encouraging to keep going as the new life on the other side of release is worth the effort...it's a feeling that NZT will never come close to giving you....peace...the beautiful peace that manifests when the limitless power of love becomes bigger than fear.

Have a
day!


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Hand made...hand written deliciousness


Mmmmmmm.... delicious!  I wish you could taste what I'm enjoying at this moment...a warm and fresh made from scratch pumpkin harvest muffin.  Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside with a golden finish that reminds me how precious it is.

Earlier this week I received a beautiful card from a friend in Ontario.  Written in her own penmanship were words of appreciation and kindness.  As I opened the envelope at my desk the chaos of the world instantly disappeared into a quiet stillness.  A personal connection showing me that goodness is alive and real.  As real as the paper that was in my hands. 

Knowing that this person with a very busy life had taken the time to choose a card, write out her thoughts and send it to me by post was so special.  Email is convenient and orderly; texting is short and sweet; facebooking is fun and friendly but there is just nothing like receiving something written by hand.  It's personal, we are personal ...we are more than binary code.   

In a fast paced world understanding that someone slowed down enough to connect "old school" expands my heart.  I love to see how life flows through another as I see a glimpse of their personality inked in loops, swirls, lines and dots.  In the computer age an intimate part of our being is disappearing in the name of efficiency.  When do we, if ever, dare to share this personal slowed down part of ourselves rather than opting for easy and fast? 

Thank you Mandy for your thoughtful card that didn't come via computer but by good old Canada Post  reminding me of the humanity that connects us across the miles.  Like the muffins, made with each ingredient chosen from the cupboard instead of a premade dozen from the grocer's shelf,  the card and the hand written words add an abundance of deliciousness, health and joy to my life. 

Monday, March 14, 2011

Splashed... a perspective on perspective


Perspective #1 - Spring temperatures today brought lots of smiles to faces, lots of people out from under their winter parkas and lots of puddles to roadways.   Most drivers are awesome at driving around puddles so they don't splash pedestrians.  Most.  Today I had the experience of meeting up with one who didn't  purposefully switch lanes.  One whom I'm quite sure drove faster to make a bigger splash.  I saw the speeding vehicle coming but with no where to jump and only seconds to make a bolt in any direction I went into protection mode and simple turned my back and covered my head.  Swwwooooosssshhhh.... SOAKED!! 

He got me good.  One minute I was basking in the sunshine the next I was dripping wet as if I just stepped out of the shower.  Nutty!  And so funny.  I turned to Joy, my dog, who I managed to shelter from the bulk of the deluge, and started laughing.  What a sight that must have been!!  I was drenched but still happy to be out walking in above zero weather.  No injuries only road pebbles in my hair and some clothing requiring a good washing. 

Perspective #2 - Last summer in Warman I was out biking, again with Joy, and we got caught in a hail storm.  A wicked, vicious outburst of  ice plummeting from the sky at what felt like a million miles per hour causing bruises and welts all over my arms and legs.  Soaked to the core, shaking like a leaf and in a surreal state of shock we finally made our way home.  I was rattled and sore but nothing that didn't heal within a couple of days.

Perspective #3 - A early morning email message:  My sister and her family are vacationing in Hawaii.  They have been up all night on alert just in case the after shock of the tsunami forces them to move to higher ground.  They are scared and tired but safe; no need to worry.   For a brief moment the whole family felt the shock wave of a catastrophic world event becoming personal with the flash of her words on the screen.  But the shock subside as we learn that they are now simply tourists in a tropical paradise kept from the beach. 

Perspective #4 - Across the Pacific a tsunami leaves parents childless while other children are now utterly alone in an epic wasteland.  Communities vanished in the mighty power of a wave.  Gone.  Gone.  Not hurt, not lost, but gone!  My mind has no paradigm to feel the level of this loss.  People enduring physical and emotional devastation unlike anything I have experienced. 

Water.  Each scenario a story of water, different yet connected in this essential element of life.  I am humbled tonight by the lesson within the water that reminds me to hold perspective; to remember what is important and let go of what is not.  In my mind a puddle can become a tsunami, or a tsunami a puddle, as I allow it.  My choice. 

Peace is my gift when I know the difference in perspective. 




Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cradled


Cradled

Along the trail I witness
how the snow is cradled
in the nooks and crannies of trees
where the branches meet the trunk
outstretched limbs
offering places for cities of snowflakes
to rest
a reprieve from
f
      a
           l
               l
                                                                                            i
                                                                                               n
                                                                                                   g
before the melt
when ice transforms
to water
drop
by
drop
nourishing the roots deep within
the forest floor
leaves cradled
in cocooned shells
pulsing
in the energy of rebirth
poised to open in light and warmth
waiting
             waiting
                         waiting
to cradle the earth
in textured layers of greenery
releasing the shades of grey
that mirror winter's hibernation
into the tender embrace
of the Mystery that
cradles us all.


klh