Inspirations: POV

Lacuna, what a wonderful word!  It’s a particularly wonderful word at this time of year when we can be it, as well as see it.  It’s meaning is a hiatus, or blank space- possibly as in a vacation.  It can also be an intercellular space, and-or a small pit or depression, like those in the back hip bones.  What fun to say, “I’m in lacuna, or going on lacuna.” That could mean, “I’m outta here.”  Or “I am the blank page….life will write the day, not me.” There’s another wonderful word which resonates with lacuna, it’s the Sanskrit, ‘pratyahara,’ meaning “the conscious withdrawal of energy from the senses.”  Certainly one must try and do this if one is to become a blank space.  Pratyahara, as the fifth step, or limb, of Patanjali’s eight-limbed Ashtanga Yoga system, can be elusive because there is little consensus on how much withdrawal is appropriate.  Is it similar to Savasana?  Yes, but more.  Savasana is a first stage of relinquishing and letting go the body, allowing breath to take over. When working with pratyahara, is that an oxymoron?  Can you ‘work’ something of this nature?  Do we think we should, be able to disappear completely into the deepest subtle layers of the body, withdrawn from the outside world -just this side of death?  Since it is summer, and I’ve opted for profound quiet space, or more to the point, my body has demanded it, I’m interested in how far down this can go.  Lately, I’ve felt I’ve been at the bottom of a well.  It’s not a bad thing.  It’s not something I wished for, or worked for, it just is.  It’s as though the last year of going at a greyhound’s racing pace needs inner balancing. Some people might call my state a ‘walking… Read more »

Repeating something the second or third time around can be maddening.  It can also be gratifying if you note change, and growth.  Repetition also offers moments for choice full response.  This is often not true the first time we go through something. Many of us don’t know what to expect, or can calculate any yardstick of accomplishment.  For those of you who are wizards first time out, stop reading here. Having been frustrated by a slow learning process, having to re-read, re-assess, and being more comfortable backwards than forward, I am a mistress at repetition.  Fortunately, I’m learning not to beat myself on processing life this way. Yes, it is frustrating, yes, it takes more time and energy, yes, one all too easily feels dumb, But on most occasions I’ve learned to elevate my POV from that bruisingly low level of “you idiot!” “to try it again another way.”  Always there are gifts in balancing the negative.  We simply need to stand higher on the mountain and see the other side. Doing and hearing something the second, third, and forth time around allow me to make it truly mine.  Once I have gone through it backwards, I own it.  I become very clear when something is simply an opinion, or whether it has true merit. I am the person you want in your lifeboat when you are in deep trouble. Like many who struggle, if it has not ground us down, it has made us durable. Chaos does not throw me, having lived with it, even created much of it, I know where pigs shit, and I know the waterline that must be bailed.  These are gifts of doing and re-doing, of coming in last, and turning impatience toward patience  Every demerit has nuggets of gold, every fault a talent,… Read more »

There are certain phrases, or words, even ideas in the English language fraught with oxymoronism, or imbued with moronic sensibility.  Take ‘peace of mind’ for example.  The mind is a restless, vibrating, multi-sensory-quivering jelly.  There is nothing still or peaceful about it.  We do not come to peace through the mind. If we find it at all it is through the heart. When and if we do there is an outside chance the mind will connect to the heart, and grow still enough for a peaceful prayer. Beware the  book selling you, “Peace of Mind.” “I’m afraid to take the wrong step,” is another moronic statement. There are no wrong steps.  We’re walkin’ ain’t we? And if we are learning something from mis-placed foot prints then knowledge increases, growth follows. In fact, the worst wrong steps are often the best for they grow experience for our mysterious journey, the experience that really counts. “I assume you’re right.”  This follows on the heels of ‘fear in taking the wrong step,’ for as fear falls away we come to experience our truth.  We assume less, especially where others are concerned.  It all too often makes an ass-out of–u-and-me.  Assuming comes from a belief, or a prejudice, or laziness, often- all three. The more one assumes the more intelligence takes a back seat, growing dull and lackluster.  Assuming may bring peace of mind, leading to all manner of mis-steps. It may offer another’s truth, or belief, which they strongly believe, and we might assume is correct because their belief is so strong.  This is the dis-aster (meaning ‘against the stars.’) waiting to happen. Lest we forget, truth is an experience, not a belief, and certainly not someone else’s belief.  Before you drink their kool aid, or buy their book, follow their commandment, or walk in their footsteps, take a deep breath,… Read more »

Second of three Breaths on connection.  Last week I wrote of maintaining the dynamic center as we connect new and old.  This week it’s about seeing the dots, for how we perceive something changes our capacity to do something about it.  Last night I watched a show on mathematical fractals.  Not knowing the first thing on the subject, I was fascinated by the concept, but more than that was hearing someone’s ability to see something entirely new, to call a vision into being from a totally unknown place. It fits with the concept, ‘when we are ready the teacher appears.’  So how do we make ourselves ready for new visions, new teachers?  How do we not let our eyes only travel old ruts?  How do we beckon new dots to take us on unknown paths of connection?  We are in a world of infinite possibilities and connection.  It’s part of our malaise, too many dots, too much choice, too little time for profound consideration, The noise and tumult, the unrelenting assault on the senses make connecting the dots we need and desire very difficult. Because my mind is fractal-full, I’m turning to nature for answers because that is what the fractal masters saw.  Benoit Mandelbrot, who originated the concept, perceived that the mathematical equations impeccably imitated nature.  Spider’s webs are some of the strongest, most delicate constructs known. Their tensile power can carry enormous weight and opposition. They are fractals. The heart is like that in its ability to carry huge loads, yet remain delicately poised, beating its perfectly imperfect rhythm…. it is also a fractal equation. Perhaps when we see from the heart, when we hold polarities delicately, with the flexibility of non-judgment, and maintain the powerful muscle required to stay on course we possess the possibility to stay well-connected? What in nature… Read more »