Although this wet, cold weather has interrupted power and travel, it also offered this image late yesterday. I like that it has all the elements of decay along with renewal.
Author: Tom Kelly
Quieting the Mind
Asked recently how I quiet my mind during Yoga, this thought came to mind.
“I increase the length of my breath where possible and let my natural breath guide me inward. I move through pose without roughness like drawing a circle, allowing my circle to get bigger and bigger. I release awareness of the class around me, finding oneness and stillness with all that is.”
Being In Flow
There will always be something to hold you back if you allow it. It is easy to get caught playing this game, as so many of us do.
However, what happens when we open ourselves to what is possible, saying no to all restrictions?
Here is how I sometimes see flow and use it to inspire me!
I will use musicians, as I feel a connection to the path they are on, but all truly creative souls flux in the same way.
Bob Dylan and Neil Young come to mind as they full honored their gifts and put that “gift” ahead of everything else. They openly nurture what seems right in the moment regardless of the waves they might create by doing so.
Dylan talks about not knowing who wrote: “Like a Rolling Stone.” Of course, he wrote this song, but he never stopped long enough to evaluate its evolution or admire it. Dylan was already connecting to a new moment, holding space for something to play into this openness.
After Young released the album “Harvest” in 1972 everyone looked to him, even expected him to write another Harvest record. Young immediately stepped away from his association with Harvest knowing he could not revisit it. He broke away from tours and commitments allowing space for what would come next.
Both Young and Dylan have been writing and playing their music for decades and what brought them success was letting go of a need to stay the same or repeat themselves. It is clear both artists consider “success” more about being open to what would appear to them next not sales or recognition.
Honoring their gift both artists would both transmute all distractions and create freely. Young has said, “if something doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right” and would stop a project or tour midstream. It was not his intention to piss people off but rather fully engage the truth of each moment.
Both artists consider the first cuts of a recording the best and do not work at polishing their work, knowing what came to them quickly and freely was best.
Their mission was to hold space for something unknown. To have the guts to back away from what was forced and not flowing freely. Being passionate and open to all that came to them was what mattered.
This is how all magnificent things in life come to be.
Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar on David Bowie’s 1983 hit record “Lets Dance” but then refused to tour. It bothered Bowie but deep down he understood the decision. Vaughan had his own thing to do and in making that decision honored his “gift.” In sharing his gift, Vaughan brought blues music to new heights in the eighties leaving a creative tattoo on music rarely seen.
One might think, “I am not creative like Dylan or Young,” so why pretend this is me.
The honest answer is that Dylan and Young did not know their creative potential at some point in time either. It was something they grew to understand by daring to say no to the easy answer, and in turn, found something much greater.
Being in flow is not easy. It means stepping away from what is familiar, daring to let the breeze blow and the dust fly.
We all need to look closely at what motivates us, what calls us to act. The idea of holding space for the magnificent far outweighs settling for the mundane.
This is being in flow.
By Tom Kelly
Falling into Grace
Sometimes we set out to do something and slowly but very surely realize that the universe has another plan. When this happens “we” need to be able to let an expectation go. It would be nice if everything we “expected” of ourselves was possible, but the human mind often traps a reasonable goal within an unreasonable wall of expectation. The result is a lack of supporting energy which takes us out of flow. If we step back and realign there is an immediate strengthening. We then have the power to accomplished more with much less energy and struggle.
Some might call this a fall from grace, but I like to know it as “falling into grace.”
Quote of the Day
I don’t believe my job in to challenge science. Science will theorize, publish and then recalculate as the universe discloses new secrets. My job is to challenge myself, knowing that everything is new and by design must be expanded.
Quote of the Day
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – Rumi
Being at Peace
When we use the term “Being at Peace,” we acknowledge peace as something we are or feel is within us. We sense a lightness of our soul and are in a place we can relax.
This quote “There is no way to Peace. Peace is the way,” shows us that peace comes first not last. Our truest self is perfect Peace.
Rather than striving for things all our lives hoping to find peace, reverse this and be in a state of peace letting lofty goals shift into a way of being.
In a state of peace, we need less and often find more. As we practice a life of peace, we uplift ourselves, and those around us. We create a new lighter self, releasing that which burdens us.
The key to healing is to find this lightness, just being yourself.
A Poem for Spring
The time will come
when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
by Derek Walcott
Oprah & Deepak offer 21 day Meditation “Shedding the Weight”
Oprah, and Deepak spare great messages in their 21 Day meditation to inspire and help open the door for change.
“Shedding the Weight” is their theme and with spring upon us, what better way to energize. Click on the image below to start Day One today!
The Breeze
I was in meditation this weekend and through stillness and deep awareness, I noticed my physical body different or removed from where my consciousness was. This was not an out of body experience and is a very common state for someone who meditates regularly. What this can offer us (me in this case) is a sense of the density or heaviness we might feel or carry in our body. Take away gravity, which is something, everyone on earth encounters and we experience how our body feels to us. This will often reveal patterns of tension and heaviness in our bodies due to limiting or reducing the flow of energy.
Let me roll the clock back just a bit to a warm day last summer. I was walking in a busy area of Ottawa and ahead of me was a young woman possibly in her early twenties. What I notice about her and has stayed with me since was the way her body moved. Every cell in her body from her head to toe was living an individual expression and supporting each other. There were no “needy” cells or groups of cells looking for attention by holding or gripping. Her body floated gracefully, shoulders, arms, and fingers swishing as if completely free. Her torso, hips, legs, and feet moved toward each new step without any regret as if everything was new and exciting. I remember her as “The Breeze” because she moved effortlessly as a physical being.
We have all encountered people like this woman and many of us feel the same way at times. Maybe we have been on holiday and have unwound, stepped back from our daily routine long enough to release our tension and heaviness.
Unwinding the spring and letting every cell in our body dance freely can be a challenge. Becoming “aware” of our distractors and overwhelm is key to stabilize and uplift us in the “now” (our current moment) but also has a cumulative effect on feeling better long-term.
We have all heard the term “go to the breath” or “let the breath be your guide,” and the breath really is a remarkable tool. Once a person masters a few simple breathing exercises they quickly find themselves much more in charge of challenges brought forth in daily life. It becomes easier for us to shift our focus to a state of calm of lightness.
Here is an example you can try on your own. Next time you are waiting in traffic or in a line and your mind focuses on the delay and you start to become impatient, shift your focus to your breath. Breathe in and out mindfully, lengthening your inhale and exhale to allow any tension dissipate. In just a few breath cycles, you should feel more at ease and clear minded. This is a perfect way to flip the switch and step forward to create your life rather than feeling stuck and helpless.
Taking clearly defined and purposeful breaths will lead to awareness, and through awareness, one is able to discover and release tension. Daily life can plant many little-unwanted seeds to clutter our energy. The breath is an opportunity to pull the weeds and allow our physical and energetic garden to flourish!
Look for future posts on how to engage and expand your breath, something vital to living life.
Here is a link to get you started on what is called “equal” or “square” breath.
by Tom Kelly