A (Big)Piece to My Peace

If I'm not outside daily, I begin to feel unplugged. Being in Nature is how I thrive, feeling sun permeate my insides as Earth's energy soaks into my soles, hearing chickadees, cardinals and blue jays, even the squirrel just now to whom I throw an acorn fills my soul's tank as I fill her physical tank.

These small, precious goings-on are vital to me yet I have allowed politics since the election to take a piece of my presence. When I'm outside, there's some peace in my presence.

(Here's where I share my despair about political events. If you're not open to me in that way, venture down to SO.) I am profoundly troubled by what I hear as the immense hypocrisy in this administration and even more troubled by those who don't hear so much of what's occurring as hypocritical.

For example most recently (and this has possibly changed already given the cavalcade of instances) it's been revealed that HSS Sec. Tom Price has spent nearly a half million dollars on private planes for trips thus far. One of those trips was to Nashville to see his son and speak to a medical conference for 20 minutes. Over $400,000 of tax payer dollars went toward these trips. He could have made this Music City trip for $150 to $300 on a commercial plane easily.

Of course, years prior then Sen. Price railed at Hillary Clinton for using private planes for travels.

I don't understand why Republicans aren't equally outraged over this yet I know I am naive. I still think in relation to things like this "wrong is wrong."

Then there's her emails for which she was harangued in a modern day inquistion and the mobs still chant, "lock her up." Yet it doesn't seem to matter that six Trump officials (including Jared and Ivanka) have used private email accounts for White House correspondence. Excuse me. This is what you find under the definition of "hypocrisy" in the dictionary.

The Trump administration thus far seems to be above the law and his followers seem to be okay with this. Many of them feared for eight years that Pres. Obama was coming for their guns and probably still fear this. It's sad and unbelievable.

SO I return to Nature, to refill, to reflect, to mourn what is being revealed about my fellow Americans, and to listen to Nature's messages and as a means of surviving these times that stir despair in me.

No, I've not forgotten the big picture. I appreciate that the president and his administration are revealing our shadow through a huge clearing of what's beneath our collective rug for centuries.

I can hold appreciation and despair simultaneously yet when I feel depleted as these past few months have been for me its harder but I can still do so. I cannot not tune in. For me, that's ignoring which is partially how we arrived at Now.

As a sensitive, I truly can't fathom someone especially in a position of such importance using the language he's using. SOB!? Going to hell?! But after "grab them by the pussy" was acceptable to many why am I surprised.

(I think I just made a Freudian highlight. I highlighted the wrong SO because I wish those who disagreed with me could be open and also help me understand how so many things that to me seem not okay to them seem okay.)

So if I'm going to practice what I write, I drag myself outside to complete this piece and as usual find an epiphany and peace. (I drag myself because I'm recovering from a temporary knock-out punch from a spider and bed bug bites.)

The double-blooming azaleas overflow with blossoms, more than they've ever had in the last dozen years of calling our temporary spot of earth home.

I immediately know I'm being shown more of the big picture. I am being shown Souls waking up, here to blossom in this time rooted in Earth and fed by Sun's light.

I feel deep satisfaction and joy seeing this and being open to seeing these Sights.

Being plugged into Nature, allows me to more peacefully navigate being plugged into world events.

What helps you navigate the present without denying or ignoring the events of the Times?

-Dawn, The Good News Muse,  Imagine the Shift

28 Sept. 2017

dawn@imaginetheshift.com

The Earth Is at a Threshold - Do Not Limit Your Flow (When the Ordinary is Extraordinary)

Pay attention to the seemingly ordinary in your life for the 
ordinary reveals the extraordinary which is vital to your journey and ours. 

While walking from the basement, I glimpsed something unusual at the threshold of the door. 

Before I could actually wonder what I was seeing, I knew.  It was the magnet of Earth made from a bottle cap years ago by Ella, who's now thirteen.  I saw it and thought, 'Yes, we and earth are definitely at a threshold, aren't we?' 

We are at a threshold.

Collectively we've the opportunity of lifting Earth as has never before occurred. This is the shift I intuitively sensed when "Imagine the Shift" came to me ten years ago during a walk. I was seeking a title for my cd when the image of a pulsing heart beating with Love's vibration over Earth came to mind.

At the time I was unfamiliar with the HeartMath Institute. Their research has revealed the heart's electromagnetic field measured by an ECG is 60 times greater in amplitude than the brain waves recorded by an EEG. * 

This Earth magnet at the door's threshold was a beautiful reminder of the heart's magnetism and the energy of love within each of us and shared by all when we access our heart's vibration.

We are collectively connected through this energy creating an unseen web. This connection assists us in lifting Earth.  As we lift ourselves, we lift one another.  To collectively lift and shift requires looking at the things that hold us down.

Earth's lying on the threshold to my basement was an even more perfect metaphor.  The basement represents the unconscious and unknown feelings, memories and past experiences.

The stuff of our basement is revealed through the patterns and behaviors that are familiar thus safe despite often being laden with subtle and overt violence to self and others.

My "basement" is filled with stuff.  Early mornings are my designated writing times yet one recent morning I observed myself get out the weed puller and begin making my way around my yard before setting it aside and sitting down to write.  Another morning I strategized how to prop a ladder against the house in order to check out a gutter that needed repair.  Since I'm a nester, home chores are personally satisfying for me yet this was ridiculous and another diversion from writing. Fortunately I called Leonard and the gutter was easily repaired two days later.

These behaviors and ways in which I distract myself from listening, writing and sharing originate in my "basement."  They are fear's emissaries causing me to neglect my heart's vibration and keeping me from potentially being seen. As a sensitive, being seen is even more of a challenge as judgement and terror have periodically stopped me in my tracks.  I have allowed these behaviors fueled by fear to hold me back and create a slow energetic drain at times.

Our collective "basement" has a lot in it as well.  We've prejudices and valuations based on zip codes, what others drive and wear, gender and sexual orientation, geography, politics, religion, race and differing views on hot topics such as gun, immigration and abortion laws.  Each of these things is connected through fear, the fear of loss and vulnerability, the fear of loosing family and tribe, the fear of difference, the loss of control over how we're percevied, feared loss of freedom, fear of one's own death, a divorce or job.

Historically to the present as individuals in a world community the stuff of our basement is much.
When not brought to the light, it shows up in the media and internet.  It shows up on our streets and in our communities through poverty, violence and inequality.  It shows up in the world of sex trafficking, addictions and suicide and in our complacency, disconnects and diversions.

The invisible web of love's vibration also carries our dark side.  Each of our "basements" is connected to the "basement" of others including those I've not even met.

For example, not long ago a video of a little girl brutally kicking a puppy made the rounds on Facebook.  Most folks, including myself, considered this horrific.  I wondered who treated her this way or was this how she saw an adult in her life treat another.  What if this dear girl just feels horribly hopeless and powerless and she's taking it out on her dog?

I also quietly thought, 'How does my anger connect with her abuse toward that puppy?'

I have internal tantrums in which I kick and scream in the pages of my journal. There are tantrums I have with myself for allowing the external to distract me and those I have with the Universe when I've felt particularly disappointed, discouraged and betrayed.  And though I literally kick no one, in that moment I knew my internal tantrums were connected to that young girl's outbursts.

We are connected through our repressed fears, frustrations, outrages and heartaches as well as through love.

Then there's the sexual stuff in our basement.

Looking at the internet, tv, ads and magazines, one would think we are a fairly open society sexually.  Yet nudity doesn't equal openness otherwise the stunning rise of sex trafficking wouldn't be rising in our basement.

How can we have such dark, abusive goings-on when nudity is everywhere?  Literally "covering up" bodies is not the answer.  Covering up the stuff in the basement has gotten us here.  Sex is in our basement and for the most part we shy away from talking openly and honestly about our bodies and beautiful, sacred sex.

Yes, the Earth and we are at a threshold. It is vital that we use this time as an opportunity to own and bring into light then hold in compassion the stuff of our insides or "basements."

What stops us? How do we unknowingly stop ourselves? 

The lessons of this particular morning were not over for another extraordinary metaphor revealed itself unexpectedly that morning.

The water pressure in my kitchen sink has been abnormally slow for the last year.  I, someone who enjoys cooking, have lived with low water pressure in my kitchen for a year!  The fact that my water pressure is usually too high made this phenomenon even more unusual. 

I have tolerated low pressure because I didn't want the hassle (assumption) of finding a plumber. 

I have mindfully practiced Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn's suggestion of washing the dishes to wash the dishes daily. **

On this particular day, my patience ceased.  I began my quest for an answer. The first person I called attributed the problem to internal sludge in my faucet.  I looked into the faucet strainer.  Sludge wasn't evident.

This too was the perfect metaphor since energetic sludge created by fear doesn't openly announce itself.  It reveals itself through behaviors and patterns in which I habitually succumb to diversions and distractions that keep me from fully showing up and owning my heart's vibration. 

I called the same person and for a second time he insisted I had something in my faucet.  Feeling frustrated, I went for a walk.  Interestingly I walked right up to a plumber six houses away from me. I asked if he might he be willing to look at my faucet. With only a moment's hesitation, he volunteered to come take a look.  

I ran home and went straight to my basement crossing the threshold where earlier the earth lay. Before the plumber arrived, I decided to see if I could actually replace the new with the old.  I did and it worked!  It worked !! 

When the plumber arrived, I shared my success. He remained curious as to why I had the problem in the first place.  He asked if he could look at the old new faucet. Just as he suspected, inside it was this  tiny plastic piece, a water saving device in new faucets restricting water flow.  

I'm all for conserving water. I have three rain barrels from which I water my flowers and garden when it's dry.  I honor water yet I have not honored myself for this ordinary circle of plastic represents how I restrict my flow When I unknowingly succumb to fears in my basement I allow my life force to be episodically drained and neglect my heart's vibration.

The steps for getting back on my path are usually simple. This particular morning revealed what for me are keys.  I had to take action (go for a walk), be mindful of resources on my path (the plumber) and then be willing to look for what's in my basement!  Listening, acting, sharing and trusting are personal remedies for my inner tantrums and my stuckness. 

What extraordinary messages I discovered embedded in the ordinary of my morning.

To me, this is grace.

We have this precious opportunity to bring the stuff from our personal basements, the stuff that unknowingly restricts our flow so it can be faced and healed in Love's vibration.

And if we don't well..... 

The two ordinary objects of my morning were circles reminding me of the extraordinary truth that circles and cycles repeat themselves. Everything circles around again and again throughout time historically and in our lives daily.  If I don't get it today, it will arrive again tomorrow.

Within these simple things that circle around are profound messages and lessons when we are willing to listen, pay attention and exercise courage through wise action.

Let's move beyond our restrictions so we as individuals and we as a collective here on Earth can rise having cleaned out the basement of our personal lives and the times!

Pay attention to the seemingly ordinary in your life for the 

ordinary reveals the extraordinary which is vital to your journey and ours. 

I call this Good News !! 

-Dawn, The Good News Muse, 15 Sept. 2014

dawn@imaginetheshift.com

For Pondering and Wondering: 

1. How do you possibly restrict your flow?

2. What familiar yet uncomfortable patterns repeatedly show up in your journey suggested there's something to be brought to light from your basement? 

3. Pay attention to the extraordinary messages your receive through ordinary objects, incidents and situations. 

* For more on the HearthMath institute and the study where I found the info above click  HERE. 

** Years ago I heard that a Buddhist monk Thcith Nhat Hahn said there are two ways to do anything. You can wash the dishes to wash the dishes (just get them washed) or you can wash the dishes to wash the dishes (be present in that very moment with the process).  I use this with mowing the yard, vacuuming, just about everything because there's such truth in it.  The first path gets whatever done but the second path opens me to sensation, memory, the richness of the moment.  That said, I decided to actually searched for the quote and this is what I found. Click Here. 

My Mail Box, My In-Box and the Farting Boom Box - On What Do You Place Your Attention?

"No experience is ever wasted. Everything has meaning."  

- Oprah (from a recent Starbucks chai sleeve)

I had been curious as to the meaning and metaphor of the randomly occurring farting noises in my house when Oprah confirmed what I believe.

No, Oprah didn't knock on my door and literally confirm what I believe but yes, you did just read, "farting noises" and we didn't have a ghost or gas.

This random sound first occurred as I squatted in the kitchen about a month ago.  I laughed aloud and wished for a witness other than the cats.  The sounds continued periodically for several days and finally occurred when Jerry was home.

We laughed.  We laughed a lot and I eventually found the farting boom box we bought in Sedona years ago.  We like to hike in Sedona though many people go there to experience the energy of the red rocks or on a New Age quest.

To look at our mail, one would think our new age is old age which could make the episodic farting machine quite appropo.  I consider age a matter of attitude and heart. I am an old soul who most days is going on 8 in spirit even if my body at times suggests otherwise when I first get out of bed.

Like most children, I am curious which is why I truly had been wondering why after all these years
had the farting machine decided to intermittently work.  Was it suggesting I was at risk of becoming an 'old fart' as Jerry's mother refers to the elderly men in her town?  Or did I just need more laughs?

Why had this gadget decided to spontaneously work?

Then I went to see Kelly a massage therapist who I had not seen in months.  I scheduled thirty minutes for her to specifically work on my feet.  At the end of the half hour, she asked if I had time for her to work on my neck.  She intuitively felt a need to be at my neck.

I agreed so she started by holding my head at which point she exclaimed that my right brain energetically was huge. She asked if I had been writing.

That's when I heard myself say, "No, actually I'm backed up."

As soon as I heard myself utter that line I began to laugh.  Immediately I recognized the farting machine's symbolism.

What proceeded to happen for the following 24 hours was even funnier and on point.  Thanks to Kelly's intuition and an energetic technique she used, I got back on a creative roll and the machine did as well.  That day and the next as I sat at my computer upstairs, farts echoed from downstairs.

As I let go and wrote, the boom box seemed to "let go" as well.

Life continually requests my engagement.  It's up to me as to where I place my attention.  If I place my attention on my in-box and mail-box, what's next is incontinence, falling down and being unable to get back up, the end of the Earth, gloom, doom and yes, flatulence.  I prefer living from my intuition and what gets my attention or calls to me, rather than from what I'm told to fear.

I prefer to place my attention on a farting boom box and the simple signs offered up as clues and cues as to why I am here and the next step I'm to take.  Although I do not do this 24/7, what I experience and know is my life unfolds best when I listen then do what comes next without having to know where next is leading me.  I am learning to let go as I am continually offered opportunities to listen.

Like Oprah, I believe everything does have meaning.  Yet unlike Oprah, I suspect experience can be wasted.  I've wasted experiences for which I've grateful received do-overs repeatedly.  When we do not use the events of the present, whether they are personal or communal (as is happening in Ferguson, MO), we miss opportunities to ask deeper questions, to build bridges, to change and to connect.  I suspect this is why history is prone to repeating itself.

And yet Life calls.  On what do you place your attention?  Life calls.  How do you answer?

-Dawn, The Good News Muse,  21 August 2014

dawn@imaginetheshift.com