SPEAK FREELY

When was the last time you sat down and truly listened to what’s “on” your mind?

If yours is like mine it’s talking to you nonstop--often, about you--telling you what it thinks of you. (And it’s not all good.) But just because it’s talking doesn’t mean we’re listening, right? Further, sometimes we act on what our minds tell us without ever really “thinking” about it--without critiquing or evaluating what we’re hearing. (Hence the saying, “What were you thinking?!”)

Of course, our minds are doing exactly what we’ve instructed them to do: give us real time on-the-ground intel on anything and everything we deem relevant. One of the tasks of consciousness then, is for us to evaluate and act on that “intelligence.”

It’s easy to miss (or dismiss) the opportunity to “stop and think.” But, unless we make a conscious effort to use our brains to help us think about how well they're doing at what they’re doing, we just think the way we’ve always thought--even though life needs us to move on--to continue to evolve and expand along with the rest of the universe around us.

I suggest we give our brains a chance to speak freely. To do this I give myself as little as 15-30 minutes (longer if possible) to sit down and write whatever it tells me. Word for word. No filters. No editing. No spell check. (Frankly, I just try to keep up with it!) It may need to rant for a while but I love seeing where it eventually takes me. Among its many benefits, I find I actually make up the time it takes to do this by better evaluating, prioritizing and executing my day’s activities.

Why is this easy exercise so valuable?

We are accustomed to “fast think.” It’s what life requires of us all day long. But this exercise falls into the category of “slow think” which is equally valuable--and essential. It’s why I don’t consider this exercise a brain dump but rather as one of uncovering vein upon vein of gold.

TODAY.

LET’S DO THE WORLD & OURSELVES A FAVOR.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

MOLTEN

I’m feeling molten this morning,

like molten energy.

At my center, my core, my source,

I'm hot. Ready to go, ready to flow,

forward and into, not out and away,

from this day and its doings.

Yet up on my surface,

at the level of schedules and schemes,

decisions and distractions,

I feel myself slowly cooling--energy leaks!

Cooling by doubts and insecurities,

inadequacies and angst.

Worst of all, by the possibility

of being fast frozen by my fears.

Needling little ones. Gnarly big ones.

All of them, at the surface of my earth,

causing cooling and encrustation,

influidity and immovability,

of my passion and compassion,

of my peace and my power--

draining wealth from the well of my wellbeing.

Oh, the dangers of doing the day lukewarm!

Ah, but now I remember

at my core resounds my essence.

And what is my core mentoring me

about staying hot while in the cool?

“Approach everything as does a child at play,

engage in each action with joy and thanksgiving,

see all as invitation to cultivate your creativity,

say to life, “I’m all in!” against all odds and oddities,

take that one risk that’s only a risk for you,

remember that at some level, it’s all easy,

and at another, it’s all good.”

FEELING OUR WAY

It’s appealing to feel our way through life...to just “go for the feeling,” that is, spend our time, energy and resources attempting to create the external circumstances that will generate the internal feelings we desire. Frankly, most of us do just that--just about all the time! In fact, we’ve gotten so adept at it that we’re no longer even aware we’re doing it. It’s been our modus operandi for so long that now it’s become our default (unconscious) mode.

Heeding our feelings is important. Extremely so! It may actually keep us alive. (Think saber-toothed tiger.) But at any given moment, what’s informing our feelings? Our thoughts.

Try it. Think a scary thought. You’ll FEEL fear. Think a pleasant thought. You’ll FEEL happy. Get good news? FEEL good! Bad news? FEEL bad. Surprisingly, it just takes a nymph’s worth of news to do this. Also surprising, our feelings can shift 180 degrees with the ease of a summer breeze. Not surprisingly, we do this to ourselves. We’re at the controls.

There’s more. Some say feelings are fickle. Not so. They are as loyal as the day is long--to the thought that conceived them. Some say feelings are frail. Not so. Thought-inspired, they can be incredibly strong. (Ever fallen in love?!) But when we let our feelings lead, we’re basically at their beck and call. This is the emotional equivalent of playing Russian Roulette. Yikes.

But there’s another way.

We can LEAD OUR FEELINGS. That is, we can consciously choose what we want to feel--then build our day and our life around that feeling. Joy. Happiness. Courage. Contentment. Peacefulness. Empathy. Compassion. We can choose (consciously focus on) the feeling we desire and then build our day--and our life--around that feeling.

You already know all this. I’m just raising it up in your consciousness in case you’ve forgotten...because it’s hard to remember you came to drain the swamp when you’re up to your you know what in alligators.

Once again, please...please...please don’t take my word for it. Actually try it. Practice it. Retrain your brain. Start now--no matter which swamp you’re in or anticipating.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE THE WORLD AND OURSELVES A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

ENGAGED

Opportunities.

They aren’t just easily missed, they’re easily overlooked.

In the moment they may seem so small...“Eh. No big deal!’

Later, they boomerang back, revealing what they really are.

Or were.

Missed opportunities to say, “Yes, I’m in. Let’s go for it!”

Missed opportunities to say, “No, I don’t believe that’s right.”

Missed opportunities to say, “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

Missed opportunities to say, “You were right. I apologize.”

Missed opportunities to say, “I love you. You’re wonderful.”

Missed opportunities to say, “I take responsibility for this.”

Missed opportunities to say, “Wow! You’re so good at that!”

Missed opportunities to say, “Me, I choose happy regardless.”

Missed opportunities to say, “It’s okay. I’m okay. I forgive you.”

Missed opportunities to say, “Yes, I really do care.”

Missed opportunities to say, “I am so blessed!”

Missed opportunities to say, “I choose integrity over ego.”

Missed opportunities to say, “I know better. I will do better!”

Missed opportunities to say, “Hooray for you!”

Missed opportunities to say, “I’m going to make things right.”

Missed opportunities to say, “Say that again. I’ll listen better.”

Missed opportunities to say, “How can I help right now?”

All by themselves, opportunities often seem so small.

Add them together and sometimes two plus two equals five,

each one accomplishing the improbable. The impossible!

And with a smidgen of initiative they can have a huge impact.

They can make all the difference...the drop that turns the tide,

inch that goes the mile, pinch turning delicious into decadent.

The “Oh, it was nothing!” that changes someone’s everything.

We can just wait right here and opportunities will come to us,

or we can go looking for them which, it seems, they like best.

When we do, we always find them...and their many friends.

Fortunately for us, they aren’t very good

at playing hard to get or tag or hide and seek.

It seems, like a little child, their goal is actually

to be “gotten,” to be “tagged,” to be “discovered.”

They're always waiting in our wings to be engaged.

TURNING OVER OUR STONES

Each of our paths is unique. For some, the path through life is astonishingly uneventful and easy. For others, the path is endlessly steep and winding and marked by danger, sacrifice and setback. While most of us fall somewhere in between, of one thing we can all be sure; the path we take through life is unique to us and us alone.

Yes, there are similarities. We all go through certain physiological rites of passage. We all draw from a common pool of emotions, predictably laughing or crying at the same moments in a movie. We all go through a plethora of experiences that can be sorted into a relatively small number of universal categories.

But once we move beyond these generalities, each of our paths is far more individual, complex, and variable than our fingerprint, voice pattern, physical features or personality makeup.

What makes each of our paths so distinctive? The stones. More accurately, it’s the particular mosaic of stones that comprise our path. Physically speaking, a stone is a unique amalgamation of shape, size, color, texture, density, and composition. Figuratively, our stones represent the same amalgamation of what has shaped us and how we came to be who we are--and who we are becoming.

One of the most valuable ongoing tasks of life is to turn these stones over--to examine them closely and carefully--no matter what our age or stage. Why? Because, if we let them, they will teach us. They will counsel us, giving us insight into why we sometimes stumble over them, into our deeper selves, and into the beautiful and the beastly within each of us--and in each other.

TODAY.

LET’S GIVE OURSELVES AND THE WORLD A GIFT.

LET’S TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW WE THINK.

STANDING INVITATION

Meet Hefner, our green-eyed Russian Blue foster cat.

He was always playing a game with me. I just didn’t know it.

Nor did I know exactly which game it was,

when it was my turn, what the rules were or how to win.

Like when I’d stop to pick up yet another of his toys

“Hefner!” I’d grouse as I reached down to pick up after him

Suddenly he’d race by, snatch it up,

drop it ten feet away and disappear. For a couple hours.

Or, like when we placed that pair of fluffy red lobster magnets on the fridge,

he’d come by when we weren’t looking,

grab ‘em and take them back to his lair.

How did he even reach them? Again.

Or, while I was lounging in the rocker, deep into a best seller, and suddenly

--from the nether land of fur balls and dust bunnies--

I’d feel a claw swipe at my heel. Hmm. Hefner.

I wonder, sometimes, if life isn’t playing the same game,

Keeping me guessing, keeping me gaming, keeping me going, 

reminding me that, right here and right now,

this moment has a whole lot more play in it than I realize.

It’s a kind of standing invitation.

WHAT IF IT'S NOT?

My goal in writing these posts and poems is to encourage us all to take a conscious look at how we think. While maintaining that same goal I pose a question which I hope you’ll ask yourself repeatedly throughout the day--regardless of who or what you are dealing with. (Sometimes I’ll actually take a pad and pencil or open a new file on my computer and force myself to list 5...10...or more different answers to the question.)

I have found this particular exercise extremely fruitful, especially when my emotions have slammed me into a knee-jerk reaction regarding something someone said or did to me. It helps me to unhook from a reactive and dangerous mode (good) . It helps me to understand the thinking of those around me (better). And it helps me to think in highly creative, outside-of-MY-box ways (best). Here’s the question:

WHAT IF IT’S NOT WHAT I THINK? (“IT” being whatever)

TODAY.

GIVE YOURSELF & THE WORLD A GIFT.

TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK.

THE SPIRIT'S ANOINTING

 Greetings to all! May you know that the anointings of the Spirit are with you always...

THE SPIRIT’S ANOINTINGS

This day is anointed with love.

This moment is anointed with joy.

This thought is anointed with peace.

This situation is anointed with patience.

This relationship is anointed with kindness.

This crisis is anointed with goodness.

This opportunity is anointed with faithfulness.

This service is anointed with generosity.

This mistake is anointed with self-control.

This turn of events is anointed with love.

This feeling is anointed with joy.

This failure is anointed with peace.

This celebration is anointed with patience.

This memory is anointed with kindness.

This experience is anointed with goodness.

This loss is anointed with faithfulness.

This grief is anointed with generosity.

This good news is anointed with self-control.

This bad news is anointed with love.

This illness is anointed with joy.

This sadness is anointed with peace.

This pain is anointed with patience.

This struggle is anointed with kindness.

This disappointment is anointed with goodness.

This chasm of despair is anointed with faithfulness.

This glimmer of hope is anointed with generosity.

This life is anointed with self-control.

(Based on Galatians 5:22-23)

TRAJECTORY

First, the world's shortest story on golf: “I hate this game. I hate the game. I hate this game.”...“Nice shot!”...”I love this game!”

What can elicit a “Nice shot!”? Pure physics. It happens when the precise angle of contact between the club and the ball at the moment of impact is just right, i.e. the sweet spot. The slightest shift in this angle at contact will significantly alter the ball’s trajectory and determine where it lands.

Today, the last of a 4-Monday series on the nine “senses” of the Spirit (Gal 5: 22-23), I focus on faithfulness, generosity and self-control. These last three serve as examples of the significance of trajectory in our lives--meaning simply--if we begin our approach to everything we think, say or do from an “angle” of faithfulness or generosity or self-control--doing so will positively and profoundly shape where this day lands for each of us. Or better, where we land at the end of this day.

TAKE FAITHFULNESS: When we ask, “To what or to whom am I being faithful with this response to the situation at hand?” then our trajectory is heading in the direction of being faithful in the Shakespearean way: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any [sic] man.” (Or God, for that matter.)

TAKE GENEROSITY: Asking, “In general, how generous am I feeling right now?” gives us a sense of the state of our spiritual well-being. Inversely, when I’m feeling good about my life and life in general, that’s when I’m most generous. The two go hand in hand. Fortunately, the Spirit is very generous!

TAKE SELF-CONTROL: Let’s exchange “self-control” with “ego-control.”--a fair translation of Paul’s definition of “self,” which opens up a new understanding of this particular sense. By asking, “What role is my ego playing in this situation, decision or relationship?” we can free our selves from the unhelpful hold our egos may have on our thinking which, I’m pretty sure, is considerably more than we realize.

Just like with the five physical ones, we can learn to trust our spiritual senses. One way to keep them in the forefront of our minds? Alongside today’s “To Do List,” let’s add another column--our “To Be List,” then jot down one of the nine. Love? Patience? Generosity? See where its trajectory takes you.

TODAY.

GIVE YOURSELF & THE WORLD A GIFT.

TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT YOU YOU THINK.