existence

The Blessing of Each Day

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We are by instinct, a species that will do anything to survive.  We survive the Ice age, and the human race continues to evolve, learn, invent, create, destroy, love, hate …. and survive.  In tragedy or hardship, we seem to bring the best and the worst of us; we help others, injure others … and we keep on going – surviving.  The survival instinct is ingrained in us very deeply; however, one thing puzzles me – we fail to live every day.

We live daily, sometimes in a daze.  We go thru the motions, like zombies in a hurry.  We wake up each day, sometimes in a frenzy.  We fail to acknowledge the blessing of each day (me included).  Why (as species who will fight for survival) we seem to forget of everyday living?  Do we take living for granted?  How can we be sure that when we go to sleep, we will wake up the next day?  There is no guarantee to that, we know it, we ignore it.  Each day is a huge blessing – no matter what it will bring.  If you opened your eyes today, you were given life.

Listen, Watch, Wait

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Yesterday’s post was about the need of every artist or creative person to Trust, Be Still, and Listen.  Today’s post is about the importance of continuing with the process – Listen, Watch, Wait.

For many, this might seem stagnant – lack of action – and not too goal oriented.  However, it is just the opposite.  As we listen to Spirit, we learn to see opportunities in a different light, we train ourselves to Watch, to be vigilant for the many blessings that await us as creative beings. 

When we watch, we know that we are watching with positive eyes, and learning to wait – learning to receive.  Many times, waiting is the hardest part, especially for artists and writers who want to see their work in print, published, or on exhibit.  This waiting becomes worry, and worry takes us far away from receiving – receiving all that is already ours, what we have asked for in the beginning.

When we are capable of listening, watching, and waiting, we attune ourselves to our goals.

Trust, Be Still, Listen

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Now Listen

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We live hurried lives, and at times, we think that multitasking and 24/7 doing is the answer to moving on, moving up, or getting it right.  Doing is good; goals without a plan and a purpose stay stagnant.  However, there are times when we must trust, be still, and listen to what Spirit – God – or what you want to call it – has to say to us.  All we have to do is ask, trust, be still, and listen.  Many times, the simple things are the hardest to do.

Monks have mastered the art of meditation and listening.  We think that it is impossible for us to master such high art; maybe, because we are approaching it from the hardest point of view.  When we slow down and learned to trust the divine voice inside us, learn to quiet ourselves down, and listen to it, there are new insights to our situation, question, or concern.

Maybe the hardest part is for us to trust.  To trust that what we have asked, pondered, or dreamed is just around the corner if only we would be still and listen to Spirit.

Focusing Effort

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I have found thru my experience that effort without focus is just hard work without results.  We are raised thinking that hard work is all it takes, coupled with effort and dedication.  Although those are very important ingredients, those have to be focused, directed, and sometimes redirected to accomplish what we want. 

It is easy to get distracted into a ton of effort – I am guilty of it – and forget our focus or take our eye from the target.  It can happen while we are pursuing the target or it can happen without even noticing.  One day, the target gets blurry, and the vision needs to become clear again.  If we are lucky, or in tune with Spirit, we recognize that we need to clean our lenses and re-focus.  This time it becomes a bit easier, because you know how easy it is to lose focus while working hard.  In the end, you emerge a bit wiser, more alert, and thank God for waking you up.

Move! Motion Gives Life

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Earth's motion caused by the moon around their...

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Motion

Bodies were made to be in motion.  Motion is creation, so if you move, you start the chain of creation.  To move is like mechanics, but more as in the spiritual level.  Spirit is not quiet and stuck in a place – Spirit moves around and while moving around it creates.

A body in motion invites Spirit because blood flows; blood is life – life is energy – energy is the fuel for Spirit.  Got it?

Small Steps – Every Day

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I used to get frantic trying to do everything at once.  Worried to the point of becoming stressed, even about the things I could not control.  It took me a while to realize that there is “time for everything under the sun.”  I had read that many times, but never grasped the deep significance the phrase had. 

We go nuts multitasking and running around trying to get everything done.  In the end, we feel burned out and unhappy, the colors of life lose their brightness, and there is no music to our day – just the hurried stomps of our feet as we run like robots without a cause.

It took me a while to realize that small steps everyday accomplish a lot.  Sometimes, even the best antidote against procrastination.  Small steps everyday take you closer to your dreams and goals, and let you feel and see some progress.  Today, I don’t run with the pack, I take small steps, but surely, and everyday – I am happier that way.

Just Be

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What would happen if we allowed ourselves to just be?  To do as we genuinely felt and not as we tought we would look better in front of others?  What would happen if we acted by true care as opposed to having to care?  I think we would be happier, and only give the best of us to others by just being. 

Being genuine to yourself entails being true to others as well as your own self.  It is applying the golden rule.  Many times, we covet the ideal lives of others – the successes that we view as perfect lives – without realizing that the only way that we can meet a fullness of life is if we just be. 

When we embrace ourselves, our creativity, our spirituality, and our physical state of being, along with our lives, we are in the path of becoming what we are to become – of being as real as we can be – of fulfilling our purpose as human and spiritual beings.

When we write, many times we worry about rules, about sounding like our favorite best-selling author, or about setting writing goals according to somebody else’s standards.  However, we forget one important thing, that life, goals, writings, and anything else that goes with it, will not mean anything if they are not centered and meant for the true self and its true purpose. 

 Just be and the rest will follow is a good way of approaching life, but in our way to letting the true self shine, we can strive to better each day by asking ourselves – Am I letting myself be?

Show Up to Life

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Many times we think that life is hard enough, specially when things are not going our way.  In an “instant society,” we expect fast results and want things to take shape right away.  In writing, it is the opposite, patience is a virtue, and the slow mode of speed seems to have two lower sub-modes.  Many talented writers give up early, when they don’t see fast results proportional to the hard work they put in.  It is discouraging; however, when you love what you do, you never know what hanging around just a little longer will bring.

Life is like that too, no matter what you happen to do, or be, if you want to beat the “instant expectations” and hang in there, just show up.  Show up to life – show up to write every day, show up to be a parent, to be a doctor, a teacher, you … just show up to life and things will start taking shape.

Giving Through Creation

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Have you ever read something and felt alive, inspired?  Have you listen to music that has captured your soul, and touch every fiber of your heart?  Read a poem or looked at a painting that transported you to unexplained heights?  All these are examples of creations.  We are human, but also spiritual, and the need to create is embedded in us; it is our spiritual nature.  We give to others thru our creativity, we create to inspire, to please, to entertain, to love …

My spiritual path has been one of investigation and of finding the divine thru a non traditional approach.  In order to find true spirituality, I had to put aside everything that I have learned about it, and start fresh, with the intention of finding my true spiritual path.  It has not been easy, it still is not; I keep learning every day.

We all have a purpose, it is up to us to find it.  However, there is creativity on each one of us.  Divinely inspired I have learned that creation is like water, it gives life; it is the fountain of the spirit – the myrrh of the soul, the soul’s path to spiritual closeness.  It is contentment and happiness for our souls, and we can find it by being happy where we are, by listening, and be perceptive to our spiritual awareness.  When we feel happy where we are and we make happiness an internal issue, separate from outside circumstances, we are receptive to the divine and we fuel the creative forces within our soul.  This is how we give to others and we bless our surroundings with our soul’s creations.  By giving back we thank the Great Creator.

And how would a Creator see its creation?  How do we feel when we create something that we are so proud of?  In the eyes of God all his children are good, in the eyes of the man, the children are limited by the limits they establish themselves.  To God, there are no limits, and his children are precious – more precious than the treasures of the Universe.  When we give back through creation, we are acting thru the same love that made us.

Doing Things Lovingly

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Life has its ups and downs.  Many times we run through life at fast speeds in our effort to get things done.  After all, it is a society of doers, of achievers, and doing the opposite would attract some frowns and judging, right?  Doing is good, but sometimes, our doing becomes robotic, lifeless, dutiful, and boring.  We don’t enjoy the things we once did because they have turned into stale routine.  We go through life as “zombie doers” without realizing that the magic has left our hands, and our hearts wish for excitement in our endeavors.  However, maybe the magic is still there, and what happens is that we have stopped doing things lovingly.

Doing things with love and passion is in every one of us.  It is up to us to enjoy each moment and dedicate attention to the task at hand – no matter how menial it seems to be.  Washing dishes by hand can be transforming when you start feeling the soapy water, the fruity floral scent of the dishwashing liquid, and hear the squeaky sound of a clean dish.  Somehow, this menial task becomes alive, engaging all your senses.

This is what doing things lovingly means – to enjoy the task at the moment, or to pay full attention to it, to be mindful for the duration of it, and to be thankful that you can do.