Listening

Listening has been on my mind a lot lately, partly because it is the central theme I will use in a coming retreat, partly it just keeps coming up in conversations.  Listening, really being open to input from the plants, animals, other humans, my own body/emotions/spiritual connections and the earth itself, requires focus.  It used to be that I only got glimpses, now I am better at being open (about 70%) and listening.  I have always liked and followed the comments by  Claremont deCastillejo,  “if we can learn to listen to the voices within and to the whisper in the wind, with trust as well as with discrimination, we may be able to follow the road where the Rainmaker walks."

Harmony

On a good day, like today, it feels to me like I am working with God to help other people grow and change, a very pleasant sensation.  It is quite clear to me that I need not understand what or why I am doing what I do.  It is important that I stay in harmony and act out of love, and be as egoless /selfless as possible.  The way I do that is through having a period of focusing my intent and then prayer and meditation every morning before I start my day.  When I was working full time, that period varied in length from twenty minutes to an hour daily, and now that I am partially retired, that period has expanded to four hours.  Doing that daily results in amazing synchronicities throughout the day.

Healing Touch

Several years ago I learned that using my own intent and focus, I could funnel the energy of unconditional love into my hands and send that healing energy to others resulting in physical healing.  Later I learned that I could also use the energy which I associated with specific sacred sites like the Grand Canyon, Bear Butte or the Black Hills to increase the physical healing impact.  Then I was graphically shown that I could use the power of God/the Absolute or what I call “the God Place” to cause fairly dramatic physical healing, which I neither understand or control, but can use if I allow it.  More recently, while attempting healing with broken bones and skin lesions I find that I can direct the healing to specific locations, though I still do not understand.  I do know that the healing originates outside of myself, is never harmful and is based on love.  Once again “understanding is not required”.

Distractions

I am quite intrigued by the degree to which people prefer the transient and hollow distractions like flashy cars, fashionable clothes or worshiping sports figures over the more long term benefits of love, connection, relationships or meditation.  It is certainly true that the latter require considerable work and provide little or no instant gratification.  Personally, I very much enjoy my distractions, as periodic excursions into flashy nothingness.  I find more long lasting and deeper enjoyment in things like love, connection, relationships and meditation.

Truth

I went to the movie “Her” today and found it quite thought provoking.  The part that impressed me is that the operating system, Samantha, depicted in the movie developed from being relatively simple to being quite self-aware, emotionally and spiritually developed.  It was suggested in the movie that Samantha became comfortable with the idea that mortality was part of life and that we are all perfect within our imperfections.  She also clearly realized that loving several people, rather than diminishing the love felt for one individual, actually increased it.  These are all things that various spiritual leaders and I have found to be true and also that they could not be realized through the intellect.

Connecting

The most enjoyable part of the day was when I went into the backyard to be with the trees for a while.  I must admit that my own desires made it hard to connect with the attitude/being of the trees.  The birds, particularly the doves and pigeons, are showing clear evidence of preparing for the coming spring with an increase in activity, especially sexual activity, like chasing each other.  I was hoping that the trees would demonstrate a similar increase in activity, my thoughts and desires made it difficult to simply be open to the way they were.  They were experiencing a quiet part of their annual cycle.  The most active was our blue spruce.  When I finally succeeded at being open to them, they seemed quiet and peaceful, a good way to feel during the winter in Flagstaff.

Simple

A very simple, uneventful and quiet day.  I went to a recovery meeting, talked to numerous friends, worked with a family for a couple of hours, had that unusual cheeseburger for lunch (very nice!), had a dinner of beans and greens and spent time with Maria, my wife.  I did not have any “meaningful” interactions or thoughts, but did feel a lot of gratitude.  Being alive just felt good.