Engaged Spirituality & Mystic Activism

The Power of Your Word

These days, it's vital (and deep practice) not to get caught up in the mass-hallucination of what's gone horribly wrong (and it's a compelling case!) -- and the collective fear, anxiety, and 'ancestral dread' -- but rather to cultivate and revere a vision of what's possible, what's beautiful, what's abundant and Earth-friendly -- and where that's been the case in our deep history and ancestral memory -- when we're in balance and right-relationship with all that is.

We know that matter follows energy, be it the energy of our beliefs, thoughts, words, or actions. In this way, our word is magical, acting like 'strange attractors' around which matter organizes itself. Wherever we allow our thought and energy to focus, or to languish, we'll see that reflected in our experience, or our perception of it. As in martial arts traditions, we strengthen whatever we focus on and give our energy to.

Recently, a shamanic-practices teacher reminded us that if we don't begin each day with an intentional choice of what energies and Spirit helpers we want to call in and align with, we'll find ourselves calibrating to the predominant thought-stream of the masses. And she asked, "And what do you think they're thinking - what do you think the primary energy is focused on?"

Mother Theresa of Calcutta, not long before her death, also emphasized the 'deep practice' of minding one's word, energy, and focus. When asked if she'd attend an anti-war rally, she said, "No, but when you hold a pro-peace rally I'll be there."

It's a powerful choice, to see what is and to choose to orient towards that which is beautiful, joyful, well, harmonious, loving, in right-relationship, and benefiting all beings. And don't forget the spirit of playfulness and joy - the Trickster and Wild Woman can be divine allies in times such as these, showing us how to combine playfulness with revelation and wise action.

We can cultivate our energy focus, intention, and word-power in our morning and evening rituals, and in small ways throughout the day. While seemingly humble, it's a powerful contribution and service.

Blessings on your Way! Love, Jamie

From Fear to Grace, and Grace Arising

Greetings, fellow traveler.

I've posted two new articles in two of my other blogs:

'Grace Arising' is in my Sophia's Children - Divine Feminine blog.

And 'From Fear to Grace' is in my blog at Gaia.com.

Follow the links and enjoy.

Blessings,
Jamie

The Power of Little Work in Challenging Times

No matter where we look or listen these days, it seems that signs and stories of fear, anxiety, and gloom-and-doom are plentiful. Amidst this 'boom of gloom and doom', as Jonathan Cainer calls it, we're also called upon to be ever-mindful of what we allow ourselves to get caught up in, because it has an effect on our clarity of mind, thought, and action.

What 'ripple' we want to send forth becomes a focusing question for our practice. What effect do you want to have on others during these times (or in general)? What do you want to add to by way of your energy, focus, thought, and action? How do you want to invest your energy?

Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker called it 'the little work', and there are similar concepts in various traditions. The gist is that small things can make a big difference, just as a small pebble tossed into a pool sends out ripple after ripple to the broader body of water. So, too, do our primary thought patterns and energetic imprints, and of course, our actions themselves.

We always think that it has to be some 'big action', worthy of our 'five minutes of fame'; something that saves the world (assuming that it has to be 'big' in order to do that). And yet just as days of made of minutes lived one by one, big effects can accumulate and ripple outward by small gestures, acts of loving-kindness, and even just being loving-kindness.

If we assume that we are not the isolated beings that we've been taught we are, and know that we are all connected through the air we breathe and a morphogenic energy field that connects us, we have a new understanding of 'being the change'!

Buddha said that 'with your thoughts you make the world.' Many indigenous peoples understand that our thoughts and beliefs contribute to a dream that we live as 'reality'; they know that by changing the 'dreaming', we change the 'reality'. Again, sages and masters from many traditions and philosophies echo this sentiment; it's wise guidance.

So if we allow ourselves to get caught up in, rather than just being aware of or witnessing, the waves of gloom, doom, fear, anxiety, scarcity, and the intolerance, panic, and fear-based reactions they often open us to, we are contributing to that dynamic or 'reality'.

This is a discipline for all on the path, whether the 'path' be spiritual or philosophical at its center. And it's a significant challenge and deep, deep practice for those of us who are more sensitive to subtle energies, and/or more empathic in Nature.

In challenging times we are called upon to deepen our practice to a more aware and conscious presence and ripple effect. However we do that, whatever our practices -- the ones that helps us to see and witness compassionately but not go over the cliff, and instead cultivate a loving-kindness that is centered in Grace, faith, patience ... whatever words we prefer to use that infer a ripple effect that we'd like to contribute to and an energetic dynamic and 'reality' that we'd like to live in with our fellow human-and-other-Beings.

There is a wonderful practice called 'the inner smile', and there are also meditations, visualizations, affirmations, powerful conversations, energy and vibrational healing practices, flower essence and oils, sacred ritual, movement, mindfulness, and other practices that allow us to act on the intention to cultivate and ripple out healing and heartfulness, and a spaciousness that allows something more beautiful, joyful, and graceful to grow.

It can seem impractical, but as history and our wisdom teachers have reminded us and reminded us again, it's infinitely practical. With our thoughts we shape our world; with our choice we create dream-realities of Heaven or Hell.

And this can give us hope that the loving-kindness and conscious attention we bring to simple, seemingly small, everyday things and thoughts can have a big effect.

As Gandhi said, "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves." Because he knew that the world 'reality' is just a reflection of us.

Joyful Blessings,
Jamie

Strong at the Broken Places

The world breaks  everyone, and afterward
      many are strong at the broken places.
                      ~ Ernest Hemingway

There are times when, due to some circumstance or series of events -- often involving a deep loss of some kind -- we get broken open. Something within us, or something in our lives that we considered 'unbreakable' or 'all-important' comes crashing down or splitting apart, and we find ourself living with the uncertainty of broken places.

Just looking at the headlines -- if we're not already hearing the same thing from friends, family members, clients, readers, etc. -- we see that loss and brokenness is a common theme these days.

I understand this deeply now, having been through a cycle of 7 years which featured losses which seemed, prior to this time (and even sometimes during it), unimaginable, from the loss of several immediate family members, including my father and grandmother, to the loss of several beloved cats who were dear family members and long-time companions; to business and financial losses due to outside economic forces and personal and family wellness crises; the end of a long marriage; and the loss of my community and proximity to dear friends when I was called East from San Francisco to help with my father's hospice care and then remain in closer proximity to family for awhile.

All of this unmade me -- a common term in spiritual traditions that still include the Wisdom of navigating the Dark Night and the cycle of Death that is part of Life. Such deep change breaks open the Mask, the false identity, the 'who you thought you were (supposed to be)'. It breaks open how you thought things were supposed to be, and challenges you to your core to remember.

Like our kindreds in other places in the world, we in our Western, American culture, experience loss regularly, and our ancestors knew it well. Yet, despite that experience and knowing, we don't have a refuge for authentically, openly experience loss and grief in a culture that shuns and shies away from it, that treats it as a 'failure' because our collective awareness has traveled so far from the wisdom of Life-Death-and-Renewal that our ancestors knew so well.

And so many people suffer losses in isolation, which magnifies the grief because it's a full-on experience of the loss of connection that resides beneath the losses that take place on the surface of our lives.

Now, with so much that seemed 'sure' threatened, along with the natural cycles of life and death of those among us, there is a call to remember the Wisdom that can help us navigate this 'underworld' more gracefully and with an awareness of connection and the ongoing Nature of Life.

This is how we grow strong in our broken places, and how we come to see that which challenges our certainty, and that which undoes and unmakes what is familiar to us, is also the very thing that reveals the place where new life grows. We meet that which is truly 'beyond death', while honoring what it living and what has passed out of our familiar, day-to-day life.

The broken places are rich and fertile, where our lives -- inward or outward -- may have become stale and lifeless in some way. We're cracked open to allow for new, fresh life.

Leonard Cohen, in his song "Anthem", writes:

Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.

If we allow the broken-open places, without scurrying to try to fill them in or hide them, we not only allow ourselves to experience fully what has passed -- what we've lost -- but we also allow the Light to shine in and illuminate all that is there, Heaven around us, all of the time. And in our deep-feeling and deep-experiencing of loss, and the full acknowledging and honor of what's passed, we open ourselves to deeper Joy and a deeper ability to connect, reach out, in a joyful compassion and intimacy.

Blessings on the Way,
Jamie

Endings and Beginnings.

Which comes first, the beginning or the ending? I've heard the saying that in each ending there is a new beginning, and in each new beginning, there is an ending.

This past cycle of seven or so years has been a challenging one for many people, including those 'walkers of the horizon's edge' -- the visionaries and Lightworkers who are planting the seeds and doing the clearing to 'be the change' for a new era of how we approach life, work, and interrelatedness with others, with the world, with the Earth, with the cosmos.

Many people planted the seeds of new visions and ventures early on in this cycle, near or in the few years after the new millennium. And for many, including me, the shift from 'the old' and the birthing of 'the new' has seemed a slow, often uncertain, and sometimes perilous experience.

There seemed to be steps of progress, only to be followed by a seeming tidal pull backwards, or times of getting stuck in the mud of a receding tide.

Many people gave birth to their ideas and created bold and wonderful ventures, only to experience frustration and blockages -- seen and unseen -- at every turn. Like sweeping water up a hill, or walking upstream against a very strong current.

As we know, these are times of radical change; the proverbial 'sea change'. Everything is moving. Of course, that's always been the case, yet there seems to be both a new dynamism in the cosmos and our Earth energy, affecting even our experience of 'time and space' and our conception of 'reality'. Forms take shape, only to dissolve and reshape themselves. Quick silver.

What do we hold onto, as creators, manifestors, harbingers and embodiers of the new era, for whom 'being the change' requires 'doing the change' and being subject to its seeming whims. We learn to walk on water, metaphorically, or ever-shifting sands. We learn to become facile with that quick-silver, to create and dance with that which holds no one shape for very long. We learn to cultivate a new comfort with what the poet David Whyte calls, "the fierce edges of Life."

And what of the forms that we created when we approached these wonderful ideas with the beliefs, mindsets, and ways of understanding and creating we had seven or more years ago? The forms that we had such high, and specific, expectations for? These may have been relationships, projects, homes, businesses, or life directions that we thought would last forever, or at least for a long while.

It's hard to release things we've given birth to and fertilized with such love, energy, time, effort, compromise, and hope. The tendrils and roots of it sink deep, so it takes time and patience and compassion -- self-compassion -- for us to clear it systemically ... to really let it die and let it go. After having faith challenged, it can require a real leap of faith to trust that we can let 'the old' pass, die, or 'transform' from one energy 'body' to a new and fresher one. Energy shape-shifts, even as we've been fully indoctrinated into a belief that form lasts.

Regardless of what specific new 'shapes' are being conceived, germinated, and born now, the old cycle is at its end. We must put to use all of the skills we've studied and practiced, and weave this into our practice. In fact, practice becomes the way, just as it opens us to the Way. What wants to be born, what wants to gain a new momentum, can't fully do so until the past cycles are completed and old constructs -- mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual -- are released or transformed.

If you have a major ending, a major cycle to complete and allow to 'die', perhaps you might 'borrow' a 'rock ritual' that I did recently to mark a very significant ending, and also the pearls of a new cycle beginning. It was received from Spirit by a friend, and I completed it this past week. Though it is only one ritual in a whole practice of releasing, it was powerful.

Find a rock that symbolized your tight bond with it as a being, an entity that you'd conceived and given birth to, and breaking it, burying that which is time to 'let die' and release back to Mother Earth, and keeping that part that represents the gifts, the pearls, and the Wisdom that can move forward with you.

As with the major 'endings' that came with the closing of a recent life chapter -- which included several things to which I'd given years and years of commitment, nourishing, time, energy, effort, and tears, it seemed vital for me to release it, and also to allow that the past cycle and its manifestations -- its forms -- had other priorities and experiences intended for me; they weren't forms to remain in place forever, never changing.

I had to release my own struggle with it -- how it should have been, how it could have been, what else I might have done, what was done, and so on. It's taken more than a few rituals and release works and retrievals.

The good news is that endings come bundled with a coupon for a shiny, bright new beginning. A new cycle -- as you know, it has started, and will grow in the 'compost' of the past one.

Allow yourself some 'cave time' -- specific spaces of time for releasing, ritual, prayer, meditation, contemplation, journaling, creativity, movement, rejuvenation, and visioning. Consider doing a transition vision-plan, which won't be so much the 'strategic plan' of the past era, which assumes that nothing will change or shift. Rather, work with your inner-guidance (and Divine guidance, if that is your Way), to envision your next-era, new cycle intentions and manifestation ideas. Make a date with them; play with them; dance with them; let them into your mind and body.

It's time. It will allow new things to be born into the space created and cleared. It will allow the momentum to begin anew. As with Spring's blossoms that make their start deep within Winter's embrace, the new beginning is already begun.

Blessings, and lots of Joy.

Jamie

Doing What You Value

Spiritual and philosophical wisdom tells us that when we are out of alignment, or out of harmony, with Nature and our authentic natures, we will experience that misalignment in our mental and physical bodies. As a great line in the movie Godfather III expressed, "When the spirit is wounded, the body cries out."

Modern-day statistics for those of us in Western industrial cultures tell a strong story that we are badly out of alignment:

Clinical anxiety disorders affect 40 million Americans, or just under 20 percent of the population, according to statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.).  The statistics for clinical 'major depression' are similar, and greater if you count 'mild, chronic' depression.

Depression accounts for more 'lost days' at work than any other factor, including 'repetitive stress' and other musculoskeletal complaints. More than half of all Americans say their work is very stressful, and more than 60-percent say it's a primary cause of stress in their lives, according to a Washington Post article. Reports of adrenal fatigue, sleep deprivation, and 'Chronic Fatigue' seem to be on the rise.

The statistics for other Western countries, such as France and England, are similar. And this is just what's reported or known and can be 'counted' by statistics!

For many people, 'the rat race' is a primary component of existence, and a heightened level of stress and anxiety -- perpetual 'flight' response -- is 'normal'. Getting up from bed, probably having not slept well, we rush into our 'work day' so that we can 'be productive' and 'keep up' so that we can 'succeed', which means accumulating accolades, impressive job titles, achievements, and material status symbols that are, we're told, the measure of our 'success'.

Apparently, living that way is making us, as individuals within Western cultures that adopt this nonsensical 'norm', very sick in mind, body and spirit.

The Shifting Time...

The sales of spiritual books, seminars, and other offerings also suggests that there is a deep yearning for something else. In addition to mental and bodily distress, Spirit calls out through our deep yearnings, and perhaps even the anxiety and tension that tries to alert us to the fact that we're out of alignment with who we truly are, and what's healthy for mind, body, and spirit.

One gathering trend that has been on the periphery for quite some time is about shifting from 'doing' to 'being'; and moving from 'doing on automatic', guided by external dictates that increasingly prove meaningless and sick-making, to 'right action' and 'right livelihood' that are guided from internal, intuitive, and/or Higher or Divine guidance.

We move from a frenzied doing that is not aligned with what we truly value, to a more conscious, body-and-spirit connected 'doing' that springs from what's truly important to us. As the saying goes, where we invest our energy is where we'll find ourselves. Our energy and attention, like water and fertilizer, grow the garden, or desert, that is our life.

As we move into greater consciousness, following the nudges and prompts of mind, body and spirit, we're called to release the 'not me' -- that which has been running on automatic, dictated by programs and fears installed along the way (and reinforced by a consumer-oriented, materialistic, 'go-go' culture). And as we release the 'not me', and re-write and re-wire our programming to make more conscious choices, we become acquainted with the 'authentic me' that is always present beneath the armoring. And we become more and more available to our own and Divine or Higher guidance (however you interpret or define or word those).

This is a process, and a journey -- this is helpful to know! It's also a beautiful spiritual practice that yields a truer, healthier alignment with our heart-centered and spirit-guided wisdom, our own authenticity, and our most deeply held values.

We give up the 'rat race' and 'treadmill that goes nowhere' for a more exquisite, connected, inspired Life shaped and lived in the present, yet connected with the wisdom, abundance, and joy that is always within and all around us.

What are your deepest values? What is your deepest Self? Are you investing your time, energy, and attention in ways that nourish and grow a life garden that is aligned with your values and Self-purpose?

How can you begin to take small steps out of your 'not you' and into the joyful, connected, authentic, well life that calls to you? Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, followed by another step, and another...

Blessings on the Way,
Jamie

Chasing Perfection, Missing The Magic That Is Now

What are we really doing, and what are we really robbing ourselves and others of, when we hold an image of 'the ideal', of 'perfection', that time after time real people, circumstances, or even we our selves do not -- and cannot -- meet?

We all do that, or have done that, in various ways. Holding a rigid image of perfection or an ideal, and then projecting that exacting standard out onto the people and situations of our lives, and measuring them one against the other. Of course, the 'real' always fails to meet the unmeetable expectation.

Why? Precisely because it is real.

An imaginary ideal of the perfect mate, or the perfect situation -- the fantasy woman or man, or job, or whatever -- is safe. It seems perfect because it doesn't speak, it requires nothing of you, and your own needs, habits, and rough edges don't bump up against it during the daily course of things. It seems neat and tidy, not messy and status-quo disrupting. It allows us to retreat into the old comfort of known fears and self-protecting habits.

And, in this fantasy that we escape to, we never ask what it took of us -- what it required -- to create the ideal, or to see a person as an ideal mate, or friend, to be the ideal mate or friend, or to see the ideal elsewhere. It just shows up that way, and is untarnished by other real-world influences, including our own 'stuff' and projections and moods.

Of course, there are costs and drawbacks to living with a fantasy of perfection that nothing measures up with. We can't kiss it, hug it, laugh or cry with it, hold or be held by it, make love with it, at least not in a full-sensory flesh-and-blood way. It's always out there, untouchable, and leaving us here and now, in our self-policed isolation and unconscious addiction to the drama of 'not having' and 'not enough'.

And because we never bump up against it, learn from it, laugh and adventure with it, we don't grow or expand in any real way. We stay static, fantasizing about something we can't experience right now and that can't touch us and move us out of our complacency and into what the Poet David Whyte calls the fierce edges of life.

This was the topic of the movie The Stepford Wives (1975, 2004), where criticism, dissatisfaction, and flaw-seeking of the real-world mate and lifestyle led to the creation of a seemingly utopian gated community and the seemingly perfect, albeit mechanical spouses that had been manufactured to conform to some ideal of perfection.

Of course, even in the film, the ideal gated community and the remote-control operated spouses ended up being flawed. And boring. The dark vein of conformity beneath the surface appearance of perfection was more than a little bit frightening. The mechanical mates malfunctioned regularly, and occasionally blew their circuits when their wires got crossed. The carefully engineered Stepford scheme imploded on itself as a result as real life seeped in through the cracks.

In our culture, we have a focus on constantly striving for unobtainable perfection, and, paradoxically and often tragically, an ingrained belief that we're entitled to instant gratification and having our real lives improved by 'virtual reality' without any effort or discomfort or patience required of us. Just take a pill, pop on the virtual-reality headset, or slip into Fantasy Land, and voila -- instant happiness, just not real, and not here and now.

Even in our spiritual or self-mastery practices, our perfectionist programming, ever seeking the elusive ideal, carries us out of our mindful, loving-kind, and compassionate natures, and out of the present moment, to conform with the over-striving, hyper-competitive 'battle' that we've been taught to believe we can actually win, and that fuels itself on fear, anxiety, stress, and discontent.

Many spiritual teachings speak about this, and tell us not to get blindly seduced by and addicted to the worldly and material quests and illusions, lest we find ourselves lost. They tell us that we don't have to find ourselves, because our truest Selves have never been lost … just paved over. They tell us that the Kingdom of Heaven is around us, if we adjust our focus to see it and open our hearts to feel and sense it. That tell us that what we nourish with the fertilizer of our heartful attention expands and grows.

A spiritual mentor recently said, "The opportunity is really about asking, 'Can I love and cherish what's right in front of me -- do I choose to work with and appreciate this wonderful, flowering gift in the present -- or do I distract myself with the illusion that there is something better over my shoulder, the allure of finding better treasure in the next field?'"

She continued, "The restless young soul is at odds with the wisdom wanting to be born in and through us, and with one another."

The Jungian Analyst and Author, Marion Woodman, spoke of our addiction to perfection, and wrote, "... perfectionist standards do not allow for failure. They do not even allow for life..." 

Yet the allure of the fantasy tugs at us. We expect circumstances and other people to conform to its glossy ideal; get frustrated, angry, and even resentful when it and they do not; and then wonder why our dissatisfaction, loneliness, anxiety, and suffering seem to increase.

And in doing so, in seeking Stepford lives, jobs, partners, friends, and even Stepford Selves, we rob ourselves of the beauty, magic, laughter, and love within us, around us, and in the present moment.

In constantly keeping our eyes to the horizon, without ever shortening our glances, we miss the perfection that is right in front of us, and it passes by unappreciated, or unnoticed.

What magic, what beauty, what blessings, and what Love is in your midst right now, awaiting your full-hearted presence and appreciation of it? Are you willing to cherish what's in front of you right now, and work with the beautiful, flowering gift in the present?

Blessings and Beauty on the Way,
Jamie

Be the Change: Mind Your Thoughts

There is much talk about 'being the change' we wish to see in the world, as inspired by the sage counsel of Mahatma Gandhi. For most people, 'being the change' means taking action 'out there', which is actually 'doing' the change. And this 'doing' of the change may or may not be in alignment with higher values or spiritual tenets of Love, loving kindness, compassion, and so on.

'Being the change' is an inner process that reflects itself in aligned outward action.

And what change are we intent upon being? The wisdom of sages and ages tells us that 'being Love' is the ultimate of soul's purpose, and all that aligns us with the Love that we are, and releasing the 'not Love' that we are not but have learned that we are, is the wisest of practice. Release what you're not: fear; remember and embody what you are: Love.

One of the greatest 'dropping who you are not' practices is to realize that many of your thought patterns, your habitual reactions and beliefs, are part of the 'not you' -- not really you, not at heart and soul. How do you know what those 'not you' patterns, thought habits, and beliefs are? 

A primary tell-tale sign is through body wisdom - how you feel when you're thinking about, speaking about, or acting from those 'not you' patterns. If you feel anxious, fearful, constricted, harsh, separate tense or tight, it's one indication that there is a 'not you' patterns trying to get your attention so that you can see and release it.

If, on the other hand, you feel expansive, joyful, calm, kind, compassionate, 'inner smiling', connected, and grounded, it may be a good indication that a 'that which you are' pattern or thought response is trying to get your attention ("Pick me!").

Many of us long ago became disconnected with our Feminine nature and natural body wisdom, because we slowly migrated much of our 'doing in the world' away from our 'whole body' and into our heads -- something that is understandable in a culture that values only the intellect, so-called 'logic', and rational, analytical thinking. I know, because I locked away my innately compassionate, visionary, intuitive nature in favor of developing and living from my analytical nature because it's what was celebrated and valued in my American, 20th Century culture. While those are handy traits available to us, living only from them creates horrible imbalances that we see in our own lives and in the world.

By noticing when you're in judgment, nonconstructive criticism, scarcity based 'win-lose' (I gotta get mine or I'll get none) thinking, or fear (If I don't do this, something horrible will happen), you can notice the unbalanced Voice of Culture getting your attention so that you can choose differently.

Choose. It's a choice. And in order to make the choice, day by day, moment by moment, we have to be aware that there is a pattern that does not serve us, and does not serve the wellbeing of humanity or the planet.

Change your thoughts and you change the world. Notice, moment by moment, and choose, choice by choice, Love rather than fear, and you will be the change you wish to see in the world.

Stillness

In contemporary times, the pace of daily life is frenetic, magnified by constant 'doing' and never-ending influx of noise from cars, televisions, radios, iPods, cell phones, and the various other machines that are part of our lives. This 'noise' doesn't just make its way into our hearing, but also our sensing and feeling -- 'noise' is vibration.

As bodies and souls show the increasing fatigue of perpetual motion, noise, and agitation -- with increased rates of illness, depression, fatigue, and so on -- many people feel a deep, unheard and unanswered yearning for quiet, ease, grace, and joy; they feel a deep need to slow down and soothe battered nervous systems.

Stillness is the only pathway to what we seek, both in terms of what our bodies, minds and souls crave, and also the creative perceptions and approaches needed to resolve modern-day problems that threaten to overwhelm us. Stillness is the doorway.

Yet for many, the ability to settle into stillness seems impossible, so acclimated are they to constant sensory stimulation and mental chatter, and so out-of-touch with the age-old Wisdom and practice of how to find the harmony and restful oasis that is always at our center. To restore our familiarity with the pathway to stillness becomes a discipline requiring daily practice, and though one can feel the benefit almost instantly, it is not a case of instant gratification or 'quick pill' to stillness.

For the first time in many years, I find myself in New York at the Winter Solstice, and for the first snows of the season. In San Francisco, where I've lived for many years, the incoming familiarity of thick fog brings with it a quietness and a sense of stillness.

Here in New York, the snow brings a similar and even deeper stillness. Watching it fall gently and almost silently -- it does make sound for those who listen carefully -- becomes a meditation in and of itself, quieting and slowing and soothing the system, and clearing the way for connection with Higher Guidance and the soul's voice.

When the snow falls heavily, even those who most resist slowing down must bow to Nature or pay more immediate consequences. The roads become slick, and drivers must become more mindful and cautious; visibility decreases, so one's field of vision becomes by necessity shortened. Upon arriving to one's destination, one is more grateful for having arrived safely.

And in the New York Winter, one's body acclimates more readily to circadian rhythms, our bodies and minds moving with the arriving or receding light into wakefulness or a drawing inward. We want to slow down; we want to go inward, though this inclination often collides with and deeply challenges our programmed addiction to stimulation.

A spiritual mentor and wise woman I interviewed for a Feminine Wisdom project I'm researching said to me, "I've learned that if I don't make room for stillness, it will come looking for me."

Many of us have experienced this: We ignore the voice of our soul calling us inward, inviting us to slow down and get still and listen, and we find ourselves ill, or clumsily injuring ourselves, and stillness finds us.

Of course, many of us protest, citing the necessity of our very busy, frenzied lives. Yet even in the speaking of it, we know it's not true. We know that it's our 'busyddiction' talking, and what's really showing itself is a lack of discernment, of mindfulness, and of real freedom from the voices of culture. We could clear the clutter, prune the to-do's, slow down and get more still. But we have to break our addictions to speed, stuff, stimulation, and gadgets, and own up to our responsibility for our wellness and the quality of our lives first.

Ultimately, as has been the case for millennia, it is in and through stillness that we find Wisdom and a calm center from which to more mindfully, joyfully, and skillfully move along with the comings and goings, doings and beings of our lives. In stillness, a new wealth and richness becomes apparent in our lives. We hear our own song, and sense the songs of others, attuning to One great song.

In Joy,
Jamie

* For additional musings on Stillness, read my blog entry and review of Into Great Silence, the wonderful documentary.

Consumption Fast & Conscious Consumption

One of the primary concerns mentioned by many 'engaged spirits' and mystic activists is the increasingly urgent need for people -- particularly those in the mega-consumption-oriented Western cultures -- to live in a way that is more sustainable, easier on the Earth, with a smaller 'ecological footprint', and free of mindless consumption.

As with most things, that's very easy to say and much harder (though very gratifying) to practice or 'live into'. As Alfred Adler said, "It's easier to fight for your principles than it is to live them." Uhhh, yep. This is true.

Thankfully, quite a few people are beginning to learn from the example of the 'early adapters' who have demonstrated ways to live more gently on the Earth, in a way that is respectful and cruelty free. But including a couple of the more accessible practices, such as recycling, can also easily lull us into a self-congratulatory complacency, when the times call for more 'radical practice'.

A couple of years ago, a long-time mentor and respected Elder, who was also incredibly prescient with her 'assignments', threw down the gauntlet (as the greatest teachers are inclined to do), and challenged me to do a 'consumption fast' -- for a period of no less than twelve months -- as a precursor to pruning what was extraneous and cultivating habits of more mindful consumption. I chose a 12-month fast, and extended it another six months, before moving into the 'conscious consumption' phase.

(My wise and very dear mentor also challenged me to go mano-a-mano with 'mindless auto usage', another challenging-but-expanding exercise that led to a nearly 'car free' lifestyle -- a choice considered freakish and frightening even by various eco-committed friends who were still car-addicted. I'll share about that adventure in another post.)

She knew, of course, that still full of youthful ego, I would accept the challenge. She also knew that the experience would be timely, practical, useful, and a deep-core challenge. She knew that, like all radical practices and dangerous prayers, it was an ego-challenging (and false-self deconstructing) 'initiation' exercise. And that, of course, was her overall point.

Doing a consumption fast

When you take on a 'consumption fast', which I highly recommend (for reasons I'll share later in this entry), you basically agree to nix any extraneous, unnecessary purchases for the agreed-upon period of time. That means that you don't purchase anything that you don't really, truly need. You can set a baseline that is pretty ascetic, or allow for some basic things that will allow you to live simply and enjoyably but still be challenged each time you contemplate a purchase.

In other words, if you enjoy wine and also see it as part of a healthy diet, include wine -- though you might challenge yourself to find great bargain wines...a type of treasure-hunting. If your shoes are so old that the soles are coming off, buy new shoes.

Similarly, if you truly love dark chocolate, and see it as a contributor to wellness and wellbeing, have dark chocolate -- again, challenge yourself a bit to do ethical, free-trade, and perhaps reserve it as a treat to enhance your appreciation and mindfulness. If you really need to look a certain way for your work, then do so.

In all of these areas, your questions might be directed to whether you really need the most expensive brands or something new, why you feel you do, where that 'urge to buy' comes from, whether it's actually true for you, and what has to happen in other communities so that you can enjoy that purchase. Ideally, you're really holding yourself to a standard that will challenge you, be an adventure, and yield pearls of wisdom and self-knowledge that you'll find confidence-boosting and invaluable. You get the gist.

The point of the consumption fast is to bring into crystal clear (and sometimes startling) mindfulness what your normal, and often unconscious, habits are with regards to consumption. When you feel compelled to purchase something, you have to stop and ask, "Do I really need this? Can I live without this? Why am I feeling like I need to have this right now? Am I wanting this because it's truly reflective of who I really am -- my deepest, truest Self? Or is my 'want' prompted by external standards or opinions? What has to happen, and who gets to sacrifice, so that I can have this product -- and am I willing to stand for and live with that?"

These are just some of the questions that my mentor guided me towards, or that arose naturally as I took a close, clear look each time I felt compelled to buy.

So the point of not allowing -- by your own rule-making and agreements with yourself -- any purchases that you really don't need (and not justifying your actual 'need' beyond true need, just to let yourself off the hook), is that it brings you face to face with yourself and how you've been trained by the consumer-culture marketing-machine. Doing this for at least a year, and preferably a few months longer, means that you go well beyond what would be an easy timeframe for you to practice this exercise.

The benefits and wisdom reaped from 'consumption fasting'

A greater self-awareness of what you really need, along with a quiet confidence that seems to build each time you face yourself and your mindless-consumption habits, are two benefits that begin to show themselves a few months into your 'consumption fast'. There is also a quiet confidence that emerges as you begin to understand the joys of simplicity, of simple elegance, of reusing and repurposing rather than doing the usual mindless 'throw-away and buy new' thing, and of the real power of conscious choice over mindless reaction or habit. And there is a deeper creativity that is activated as you look at what you currently have with different eyes.

For me personally, I found a growing humility and gratefulness as I recognized just how much I was motivated by external standards and opinions, and also as I looked more deeply into the 'cause and effect' of various purchases and made decisions based on what I truly wanted to stand for or cause. This awareness gave me a growing sense of "inside out" motivation for how I wanted to live my life, and what was truly important to me. I also learned a lot more about the existence of practices, options, products and companies that reflected these values.

I'm moved to add in these days of the Law of Attraction and The Secret, that in no way is a consumption-fast and conscious consumption motivated by a poverty mentality or lack consciousness. It's an important point, because perception and perspective do make an enormous difference.

There is also a real creativity and resourcefulness to the adventure -- a creativeness that comes alive simply by changing mindless habits and asking questions, not just about our deeper motivations but also opening to other options, opportunities, ways of doing things and seeing things, and so on. In this way, it's expansive.

For you, the benefits and challenges might take a slightly different shape.

Moving from 'consumption fast' to more mindful and conscious consumption

When your consumption fast timeframe is completed, at a time when you truly can say you've been transformed and made more aware by it, you move into the 'maintenance mode' of conscious consumption. What you've learned throughout your 'consumption fast' can be deepened, expanded, extended, and lived, following your own Heart and blueprint.

I continue to be challenged, but the 'consumption fast' part of the exercise helped me to cultivate more of a foundation, so that I'm not as easily swayed by the external pressures to 'buy, buy, buy' so that you can be (fill in the blank -- prettier, happier, more successful, less anxious, more powerful...you know the list). But I still feel them; I know they're there. And I still have a ways to go before I'm truly living in alignment with my deepest values, in a way that is 'gentle on the Earth' and cruelty free, and rich in an appreciation for simple elegance and truly meaningful pleasures.

As with all practices -- the radical and the more gentle -- it's an inner practice and personal journey, though you may choose to share your intentions with those closest to you, so that you can have the support and encouragement of 'tribe' and perhaps even inspire someone to take the journey with you. You may choose, as I've been guided to do, to share your journey story. And your model, your own example may inspire others to inquire and engage themselves in their own 'consumption fast'.

If you have questions or want to play with your own 'consumption fast' exercise, feel free to connect with me. In the meanwhile, take good care.

Until next time...

Jamie