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January 2009.  A month of hope, an inauguration coming, the beginning of a huge and wonderful shift towards love and kindess in our country and the world.  I am so excited to be able to watch and learn as the year begins.

Yet, at the same time, I believe that this January, indeed until the spring, the bottom will solidify as the short term thinking which has been a large part of the cause of our recession continues — layoffs, contraction, fear.

We need to live in the hope.  It will neutralize the fear.  It will let us stay calm, faithful, knowing that spring will come, and in the spring, the buds will open, the crocus will bloom, the growth will slowly begin again — in our hearts, in our country, in our economy.

We have to hit bottom to be willing to change.  We have been making decisions based on more and now for too long.  We have to invest, be patient, and develop long term strategies and visions.  This is just as true in our personal lives as it is for our businesses and our government.

Patience and faith.  Know the spring always comes.  And when this one does, we will have learned something valuable — that we are in this all together, all the people of the earth, that love is the answer, that service is the answer, that peace is the answer.  That a culture based on greed, fear, and materialism will not serve us.  A culture based on trust, hope, and tolerance will.

This is a great interview given by Barack Obama in 2004 when he was running for the US Senate.  I am filled with hope and gratitude that a man with his honest and true spiritual beliefs will be our next President.  This post gives great insight into his character and values and is worth reading and passing on.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html

Check it out, wonderful political (and other commentary) — very thoughtful posts that are important to consider as we approach Election Day.

Riding on Dragons

This may be the most important election any of us ever vote in — certainly the most important election in my lifetime so far.  Dick’s perceptions, while many won’t necessary agree with them (although I certainly do) are important to consider as we make well informed choices.

A responsible vote is our moral responsibility, and perhaps the most important action we can take for ourselves, our children, and our world.

I am strongly resisting the temptation to get political in my comments on the blog with everything going on in our world lately, but perhaps I can let this story speak for me.  Faith.  We all need faith.  Trust in God, there is a plan, faith in the essential goodness of our world and each other.  It’s free and it’s glorious.  Just a shift in attitude from fear to faith, a conscious choice.  We can participate in that.  Thoughts create our reality.  So let’s have faith, hope, and trust.  And most importantly, love.

I’m not sure where this story came from, it’s an improbable embellishment yet a wonderful discussion which contains a nugget of great truth.  It moved me, and I hope it moves you.

God Versus Science

‘Let me explain the problem science has with religion…’ The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

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I have just finished spending the weekend on retreat with some of my favorite friends.  These are people who I don’t always socialize with but we are like-minded, in the way we live our spiritual and emotional journeys.  One of the greatest gifts of these times together is the authentic and honest conversations we have with each other, loving conversations without ego, warm, helpful, deep and true.

One of the things I strive for in my life is to integrate from within — to merge my perception of myself intellectually, my perception of myself spiritually, with others perceptions of me.  My friends often tell me things they see in me and I am surprised.  My own perceptions, at least initially, are not the same.  So my task is to take these observations inward, to feel them, see if they resonate with truth.

And they do.  I find that my own intellectual voices are often really not mine — they are learned, old ideas — from our culture, from my family, from my teachers, perhaps from some painful past experience only dimly remembered.  My perceptions are often really the judgments of these voices.  Unless I think deeply and reflectively, I don’t realize these voices are not mine, these opinions really not what I beleive.

I had a friend once in San Diego who used to say “are the voices in my head bothering you?”  These days, I find that the voices in my head often are bothering me!  Keeping me bound fast to old ideas.  I don’t have to listen.  I can instead, listen with my heart.  Decide what is true for me.  Act on it in love and service.

We are alive, deep within.  Our creator, “the spirit of wisdom and love” as my teacher Father Terry says, lives so closely within us that we can’t see Him.  But we can feel Him, deep within our hearts.   And from that place, ever so slowly at first, we can begin to live.

I’ve been thinking about fear lately and how it can affect my perception of reality. The genesis for this has been some developments at work that have changed the order of things. These changes could very well be wonderful with excellent outcomes for many. But it’s change, and I liked the way it was! (Sound familiar?)

I know today that I must embrace change and trust that positive results will always happen as long as I am doing my part. So thankfully, I can move past my fear-based thinking very quickly now. But still it comes — the pattern I am so familiar with — anticipating a future reality created from fear based thinking, making that reality “true” through negative projection — and then actually making decisions and acting on them based on these negative realities that haven’t even happened! And guess what happens — negative outcomes.

My mind still naturally drifts towards fear when changes come. I can always stop the actions that can seem like real solutions when I am thinking this way, because I learned to recognize the pattern. With practice and faith, my thinking gets better too.

Perhaps some day I will truly welcome all change without first having a fear-based reaction. A worthy goal. But I’ll be satisfied with progress towards it.

I saw this video and just couldn’t believe it. Gave me a totally different “perception” of all life and the possibilities of the different forms of intelligence in our world.

We all accept that dolphins have a language and a higher form of intelligence. Those of us who love and live with animals know they have spirit and intelligence and beautiful personalities and souls.

This video will change the way you think about what is really happening in the world of animals — watch and let it shift your thinking in new and wonderful ways!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk

This is wonderful — what a testament to gratitude, love, and the power of the spirit.

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw

Often I find myself on airplanes and in airports. I love to watch people and try to detach from what I am seeing, play the role of the neutral observer. Try to clear my mind of all judgment (notice I said TRY) and just watch, as if life is just a great big sociology experiment, or a scene perhaps in a play.

When I am really in touch with this, sometimes I can even observe myself — this is really a separate topic for another day — which is a very powerful tool for me to calm down, stop reacting and judging, and just be.

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Over the years of my career, being a goal oriented sort of person, I set career goals for myself that were often aggressive, and specific. I’d compare myself to my peers (whom I often viewed as competitors) to determine where I thought I needed to go. Frequently, those decisions were based on fear (I compared unfavorably to others, or wasn’t where I should be). Often I wasn’t sure where the should notion came from, but it was usually the judgment of others, not my own passions or desires.

I had the benefit of long tenures at major corporations, but in work that often changed. I’d work on major customer accounts, and those assignments changed frequently. So I’d get the benefit of a new “job” with the same company, often learning entirely new industries, every year and a half or so. This was good, as I learn quickly and bore easily.

However, as I got promoted and more senior, I began making those should decisions. Or I’d develop a resentment against where I was for some reason, and decide I needed to move to a different position.

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