9. Day 21: Joy Is God-speed
The siege in a cafe in the CBD in Sydney last week by a Muslim radical has led to a flurry of Muslim/anti-Muslim interviews, news stories here in the UK and overheard casual commentary on trains and in coffee houses. The act of violence and spectacle again raises the issue of conflict, distrust and even hatred between “us” and “them”. This fear and distrust is uncomfortable especially when it is in your face. I noticed while traveling by train from Lancaster to London on surely one of the busiest train travel days of the year (the weekend before Christmas) a large...
Read More8. Day 30: Not-Knowing Is A Practice
It has been thirty days today since I began my month of extending love to Not-Knowing. Early on I realized that in order for my fear of Not-Knowing to evaporate I would have to see Not-Knowing as Friend, rather than impenetrable abyss for me to experience any degree of comfort or trust. One of the main things I have discovered is that Not-Knowing is a practice, rather than a thing, person or event. In the presence of Not-Knowing, all things actually are both possible and present. The practice of Not-Knowing is me moving into the spaciousness that is my birthright, in the middle of all...
Read More7. Day 29: Is Your Gratitude Honest?
How does honesty jibe with gratitude? I have always been a very grateful person. I notice and give thanks for all I have; family, home, businesses, Love, friends, freedom etc. But I have not always extended gratitude for pain, or discomfort or apparent lack. I certainly have not extended gratitude for the pain or terror or loss experienced by those I love. So how do honesty and gratitude work together? Honesty includes all in gratitude. Gratitude is always honest. In other words, I do not have to choose or figure out or (God forbid) strain to think of something to be grateful for. I...
Read More7. Day 20: A Squirrel Peed On My Head
I was reading an old journal recently and came across this quote I had noted from my then newly hired Life Coach: “Honesty is transformative.” I remember thinking at the time that it bloody well would need to be magic to be worth the risk. I was in that phase of life that I now come to think of Boot Camp. You are just slogging through with one thing after another piled on your plate to the point that even a platter isn’t enough and you are dragging around a little red wagon with the mish-mash of your days spilling out all over the place. This was a time of huge...
Read More6. Day 28: Waking Up Is Hard To Do (Alone)
My list continues to make me aware of my self, and isn’t this the beginning of self love? Indeed, it is the beginning of awareness of love of all kinds. Oh wait. Isn’t all love a form of self love? This is the key to “love thy neighbor as thyself” isn’t it? All loving feeds, awakens, reminds you that you ARE love. That I am love. That we are all love. We just, each with our own reasons, keep forgetting. I suppose that we are all trying to both remind ourselves and one another to WAKE UP to that beautiful, eternal truth that LOVE is the truth about us....
Read More6. Day 20: The Thing About Tiredness
What I am beginning to notice about tiredness is that it is present whether I extend love to it or not. Perhaps this is like a hair color or being short, it just is. Of course I can go blonde if I want to (and I do) or wear high heals (not so much) to alter what is but does it really alter the limited self of brown-eyed, fifty-something, 5′ 2″ Eva? No, not really. What is getting clearer is that when I extend love I am reminded that I am love. Not that love gets rid of what I don’t want. Or that love can change everything in a moment, although it does. What changes...
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