Jan
5th
Dec
24th
The Symbols of the Christmas Story
It is 12:01 am on the 24th of December 2011. Please let me share these thoughts from Christmas 2009 and wish you the deepest celebration of all that is beautiful and light!
Reading time: 10 minutes + -
Christmas has a way of shining a Klieg light on life. Where’s the promised joy? Where is the peace? We can blame commercialism. We can blame religiosity. We can blame the market, the kids, our job. But it isn’t Christmas that is wrong. Read more…
Dec
9th
The Truth About 2012 – Part III
Wouldn’t it be funny if the Mayan Calendar just ended because the stone wasn’t big enough? Actually on my theme of it doesn’t matter – this is included. But wait! Here is the irony of the age we find ourselves in: While nothing matters – everything counts. Whaaaat?!? Let me explain…
There is a quickening of time – there is no doubt about that. We seem to be hurtling forward into our future and in these weeks before Christmas it is double and treble pace as we try to fit in holiday plans, shopping and parties into the already overflowing bin of to-dos.
And while you continue to skip along your personal yellow brick timeline of self fulfillment and discovery, Earth is spinning mid-latitude (halfway between the equator and the poles) at about 800 miles per hour – day in, day out. Whew! We’re moving!
Now, between the relative eternity of the Earth’s life – a few billion years hence in relation to ours – duration unknown – there is a vast and infinite pool of potential and possibility for every living person. And here is where ‘nothing matters’ but ‘everything counts’ creates the alchemy of a rich life – well loved. (I made a typo and decided it read better than well lived).
Pool of Infinite Possibility
There are things in this life over which you have no control whatsoever. The spinning Earth for example. There are things in life over which Read more…
Nov
30th
The truth about 2012 – Part II
In my last piece, Love like There is No Tomorrow, I said there was a big truth and a little truth about 2012 and neither mattered. This piece is about the big truth – the truth about our planet – our very mother of existence – the Earth herself. And what doesn’t matter about that?
Well, this: The Earth is about 5 billion years old. In cosmic years that may be teens or young adult – or even middle aged, but however you look at it, chances are she’ll keep spinning through space long after December 21, 2012 – or well into ‘stardates’. Whether we are having a happy ride on her back or not is quite another matter.
Mother Earth
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the Mayan Exhibit and the Dinosaurs at the ROM with my step daughter and her young children. There it was – all laid out – clear evidence of giant reptiles, eggs and all. Downstairs there was clear evidence of a culture – civilized and Read more…
Nov
27th
The truth about 2012.
There is a big truth about 2012 and there is a little truth about 2012 and they are both the same: It Does Not Matter!
The other day, I was chatting with a woman who is an industrial psychologist. That means she goes into large working environments – in this case corporate or industrial – and assesses every person from plant sweeper to Chair. In-depth psychological analysis combined with years of experience and intuitive skill allows this professional to advise on the best way to bring each individual to their optimum level of potential within the business entity for the greater good of the whole.
2012 Mayan Calendar
At any rate, she shared that a prevailing concern for many was the spectre of 2012 – and the end of the world. I was really surprised by that. I thought the whole Mayan Calendar thing was more in the realm of New Age and that the infiltration into popular consciousness Read more…
Nov
16th
Left unchecked – they cause a plague.
My sons live in a very cool apartment – 1600 square feet – huge with two bedrooms, high ceilings, a big kitchen and a great address – if you are up and coming musicians. The only thing is it is over a restaurant – which is great if you like to party after hours – but not so good if you’d rather not deal with mice and various other nefarious creatures from time to time – notwithstanding the landlord’s claims to the contrary!
But mice are little and innocuous and kinda cute when they skitter as the lights go on. And if you’ve been raised to love nature in its wholeness you kind of have an aversion to snapping their little necks in a trap set with cheese (or peanut butter for the more savvy).
cute mouse
My sons were loathe to kill the little things so I told them a story. Years ago when their dad and I lived on a farm in Port Hope we had a similar challenge. It was a magnificent stone house – one of five by Scottish brothers who had immigrated in the late 1800′s. One day we saw a little mouse sprint under the cupboards into the back Read more…
Nov
13th
With a Little Help From My Friends ~
So many friends have written or called this week with kind words – sorry that I have been saddened or in pain – concerned that I am all right. I appreciate it because believe me, in the midst of the drama no one feels sorrier for me than I do. However, the reason I am so explicit and exposed in my experience is not to kvetch or whine, but to share an experience as a map out of the tangle of the Little Drama and into the vast and beautiful landscape of our own Big Picture.
Beautiful Landscape of Self
When I seek prayers – it is not so others will weep with me, but so that with the collective outpouring of love through prayer whatever is needed will find its way to me – and to those with whom I am engaged in the drama. We are all gathered to learn something about Read more…
Nov
9th
I’d Rather be Liked
When I first began to study the Bhagavad Gita with my spiritual teacher, she advised the small number of students, “Be aware that when you study the sacred scriptures, Life will offer you the circumstances to understand the lessons.” That is certainly my experience and choosing to live from a higher understanding frees us ultimately from pain, fear and suffering – but (and here’s the catch) – not without experiencing it first.
The Meaning of Courage
It is in walking through the fire of fear, betrayal, loss, suffering, grief that we see that this is the fire that strengthens the steel of our character and spiritual expression and burns away all that does not serve the Higher Self.
Jul
23rd
On the lip of a volcano I found my perspective.
The sunsets in Oia turned out to be such a magnetic pull. No matter our busy late afternoon schedule – beach in the heat near the clear and glorious tepid rolling waves or napping in the cool of our little cave, we would freshen up and set out to find a new vantage for the setting sun each evening. Alternately, we found rooftop cafe, a perch on the wall of the ancient steps to the beach, a seat on the low smooth wall overlooking the cliff, or from the winding walkways where we watched the final decent through the still spokes of a windmill.
Windmill at Sunset Oia Santorini
Each evening we joined the throngs standing at the highest point of the caldera on the crumbling wall of the fortress ruins, spilling over walls onto rooftops, and packing the cafes that described their sunset view advantage. Camera ready, we would wait patiently for time to move and the sun to descend into its glory. Each day was the same. The gentle rolling Read more…
Jul
13th
I believe in people!
This past week we have seen and experienced some spectacular views. We have taken hundreds of photos – each one capturing a dab of colour of the rich visual tapestry that is Greece. Emerald and ultramarine of the sea, fuschia and magenta of the bougainvillaea that spills abundantly over whitewashed walls. Red rocks, blue doors, black sands.
But last evening we witnessed something more extraordinary that lifted my heart in a way I will try to explain. The Oia sunset. If you picture a bass clef of sheet music with a cluster of dots in front rather than behind you would have a stylized image of the island of Santorini. Oia is at the top as the upper curve drops and curls slightly inward.
Oia, pronounced ‘ee-ya’ is on the highest point of the island and is apparently the sunset capital of the world. At the height of the searing sun, we had arrived in Oia and followed a tall young man who hefted our bag on his shoulder. Knee high walls of whitewashed plaster are all that separates the walker from the drop. All the while, is the breathtaking view of Read more…
