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Spring is in the air! And the garden is sprouting. It reminded me of my blogs. So I’ve decided to call it my garden of Blogs. See if there’s anything you’d like to sample from it ~
Here at The Positive Slant On the Path Go For 5 – Some interesting facts about the number 5, in my ongoing number series. (599 words)
From the Files Scenes and Musings had In the Haze of Jerry Garcia – the scene of a show I witnessed in the early 80’s with the legendary guitarist from the Grateful Dead. (767 words)
The Positive Slant On Writing featured Organizing Peace Out of Chaos – how we can use our organizing skills as writers to find peace in other areas of our life. (362 words)
From the Files Rants and Raves produced America How I Love Thee! – a taste of my passion for the rock group, in honor of Memorial Day. (1024)
Coming soon to The Positive Slant On Business – a Profile of Diane Lemonides, owner of Verve Marketing and Design, whose artistic vision and grounded family values guide every step of her business.
This came from A Course in Miracles lessons. It was speaking about how we are “at one” with the creative process and therefore have limitless “power and peace.”
On the surface they appear very different. Power is strong and forward moving. Maybe even a tad aggressive. Whereas Peace is quiet and to itself. Seems an odd pairing.
When you think about it, though, what else do you need?
If you have Power (especially of the creation sort, but the energy as well) you can manifest whatever you need. All that Power can make you feel empty inside. Sure, I’ve got all this, but what does it really do for me? Where is the meaning?
Peace keeps you grounded and happy. With the addition of Peace, simple, unassuming Peace, you are able to see the true effects of your Power. Experience it on a deeper level, you can nod your head and say, “Ahh, I see now.” How well they work together! And how truly powerful you can be with both.
As I Look for Peace as my intention, I wish to actively seek joy. I’ve been seeking joy lately in the simple things: My work, family and friends, a beautiful day . . .
But too often I find that joy dampened. Some days the work becomes frustrating, the possibilities dim, and people let me down. A beautiful day can turn gray and sour in no time. Seeking joy becomes as fruitless as chasing after that damned elusive pimpernel.
Stan Gale, in his forthcoming book “A Vine-Ripened Life” tells us that joy cannot be found in the changing circumstances of our lives. But that we can rejoice even when things are dark.
This got me thinking that I could find joy in everything. I know that there is always something to feel joyful about – a glimmer of hope, a sliver of light, an undercurrent of gratitude or a seed of faith. With enough practice I could release my choking grasp on those circumstances that are easy to love. When I know that I will find joy tomorrow, even if it rains, I can enjoy today without all the tension which drains joy like an uncorked bathtub.
Circumstances will continue to change. It’s a fact of life. We will die, things will decompose. In 250 years, everything that’s here will be gone. There are those who say we all long for something solid we can count on. But there is no such thing in the life we lead. Only God is unchanging.
As Dr Gale advises, I will seek joy in God and His love for me. Find joy in the life He has given me, and in our friendship. And rejoice in that. For it is available to me every minute of every day. No matter the weather.
I love simple instructions with a single focus.
This is appealing too because it leaves little room for disappointment. There are very few situations when you can’t a least look for peace. In chaos is where you need it the most.
It is very true that you cannot control your environment enough to keep crazy things from happening. I know. I’ve tried. And it never works. It’s easy to see that Life is Change. Just because it is peaceful all around me at the moment is no guarantee that it won’t explode later.
If my goal is to always be looking for peace, I pave the way for it. I have my eyes open (at least my inner eye) for that peaceful spot.
Not easy, I know. But possible. Completely within one’s control. There is always a place of peace available to each and every one of us. No tools or equipment needed. No approvals in triplicate. Merely a choice to find it.
Practice, no doubt, helps. Going to that place of peace over and over again when things are not erupting madly in front of you, is a good way to practice. It helps you to remember and become familiar with the path. Surely everyone’s lives are filled with actively popping moments – good and bad. But you can practice as often as you can.
When the TV is blaring and the kids are shouting and there are places to go and things to do. . . That’s the time to find a moment to take in a deliberate breath and ask for peace.
I understand the concept. It’s about energy and vibration. If I’m vibrating with love now, I will attract similar vibrations. If I’m picking at things I don’t care for in my current situation, I’m likely to keep finding things wrong in the next situation. If I don’t harmonize or vibrate the way I want to feel, I’ll never make it to “there.” I need to accept the now with the same feeling I would accept what I want.
But, I’ve been wrestling with this for days. I get caught up in thinking that if I love that which I do not choose, it will become my Then. Doesn’t that kinda figure? It feels wrong (or odd) to say I love this the way it is, if I don’t. I’m frankly nervous about giving my thumbs up, if you will, to things I really choose to change. There is no use telling me that things change because sometimes it feels like they don’t. It sure looks like I’m stuck in the same stuff I’ve been trying to change.
Okay, I know that life is always changing – even if it’s not the way I imagine. I guess what this concept teaches is that it’s about feeling good no matter what and then things will change to meet the new vibration. But how does that work, anyway? Do those good feelings and vibrations transform my life into what I want? How does life know how to change? From my Want? Vision? The Intention? The good vibes? What’s to keep life from staying the same since I seem to be so happy with the way things are now?
Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to wedge good feeling into things that don’t naturally generate them. I know what feels good and this is not it! Maybe I’m straddling the two. Thinking I can somehow lasso the life I have to the life I want. If I pull hard enough they will come together. They have to become one, eventually, don’t they?
Do I need to look at what I Do Not Choose more carefully so I can figure out how to change it? But that leads me to ask,: Why isn’t this change working? What am I doing wrong? No, thank you. That feels like a closed valve, keeping good things from coming my way.
The Positive Slant says, why not? Doesn’t it feel better to love my now AND my then? The Secret, of course, is to love what you have.
Could I live without an intention or a goal, though? Seems hard to me. As Paulette Terrels has said, What if your Purpose is Peace? Or Love? Or even Joy? Rather that this or that _____.
The things I love in my current life don’t have to have anything to do with what I may not “prefer at the moment.” I can base my Joy on Whatever Happens or on things that are connected to the situation only by their flavor – like joy or peace.
A practice might be to find those things that feel good which are not directly connected to the life situation or the thing I do not choose. Not entangling myself in what I do and do not want. Like finding some middle ground between the two. A bridge which could connect them. What are some things I Love about now? Being able to help others. Taking a walk on a beautiful fall day. Thoughts about my future. A drink of cool fresh water. Having time to express my art. Being with people I love. Taking good care of myself. Doing something special for me or my loved ones.
The trick, according to”Conversations with God,” is . . . To choose something while not condemning, but loving too, that which you do not choose. For one thing, this thing I do not choose is what brought me here – closer to that which I Do Want.
The key then is to love whatever is happening, holding my intention lightly. After all, loving life every moment does not lock an otherwise not wanted situation in place. The more I can love whatever is in front of me, the more of that same feeling I’ll get.
In the end, it must be about getting past Do and Do Not Want – into Acceptance of whatever is there. It’s all a Joy, all a ride.
1) Do What Needs to Be Done
Taking care of business always makes you feel more at peace.
2) Be Good To Yourself
Making sure to get the care you need will certainly strengthen your foundation!
3) Create Harmony Around You
Keeping harmony in your environment will support peace. Getting rid of clutter is one way. You also contribute to harmony through your state of mind.
4) Make a Choice To Be Peaceful
Some days, surely, it is more difficult than others. Still, you can stop a moment, take a breath and make a new choice to be peaceful, no matter what is going on.
5) Return To The Present Moment
There you will see that all is well. The more you do this, the more it builds your foundation.
6) Keep Your Promises
This goes along with taking care of business. Doing what you say you’re going to do will give you a deep sense of peace. I might even call this the keystone of the foundation. Remember, too, to keep promises to yourself, as well.
7) Do What You Love
Make sure to include something you love in each day. Try to take even one step toward a dream. Savoring these moments will show your belief in yourself. Surely that will support your peace!
8) Move Through Any Resistance
Rack up successfully moving through resistance. Like present moment awareness, it will accumulate. The more you transmute resistance or fear, the stronger your peace and the sturdier your foundation.
Happy Building!
For something so hard to hold, Time certainly is powerful!
I’ve been reading “The Power of Now” again. Eckhart Tolle has much to say on the subject of Time and I’m still early in the book. He talks of how we get caught up in psychological time. Though we might have to live within “clock” time, we take it way too far.
Time claws at me from behind, reminding me of all the time I’ve wasted. And it cackles from the future, taunting me to move faster. Time is always there to demand I go there, or do this. What exactly am I doing with my time? I would venture to say Time is at the heart of most stress. It’s so hard to make it do what you want.
So, how do we step aside and let time tick by without being so attached to it?
Perhaps, like most things, it‘s about controlling the thoughts. It’s not really time’s fault, after all. You can’t blame the clock. The time is what we’ve decided it is: 2:47 pm, Eastern Standard Time. But it’s all the thoughts that gather around it which cause such stress and angst. The judgments that can spew forth!
I wonder if I can practice releasing the thoughts, the stress, the anxiety about time? At the moment it’s literally hours before I have to note the time. Can’t I just let go and be in the now? At least for the next few hours?
It feels almost impossible to escape it. I have had fantasies about going to sleep when I’m tired, getting up when I’m rested, eating when I feel hungry. Instead of being such a slave to the clock. Even at times in my life when I could do that (with no particular place to go and no particular time to be there) I still couldn’t do it. I can’t even do the “it’s 5:00 somewhere” game. I’m just so locked into the structure of time (except for a fondness for having breakfast for dinner).
I know well the value and peace, as well as all that can be done in the now. That means gaining control over my addiction to psychological time.
Stay tuned ~
Broadcast on Sunday, March 23, 1941
And now, Alan Scott ~
The “Heart of the News” should be light tonight, it being the first Sunday of Spring. But it acts instead like a heart with something on its mind. And if the heaviness of heart is especially noticeable it is because it is a day that SHOULD be full of glad beginnings. A time when the cool moist earth is freshly turned to receive seeds for a rich harvest. It should be gay with promise; fat and jolly with it.
You’ve observed, haven’t you, that at other times of the year you are disposed to check up and look backward, but when Spring is in the air your head is buzzing with plans for Tomorrow. That’s something that wars can’t change; nor years, nor yesterday’s sorrow. Everybody’s young on the first Sunday of Spring. And the World would like to be young too, if we’d let it.
But the world had something on its mind today. It looked in the mirror of a clear sky and saw that the seeds it was sowing would be scattered by the winds of war and wet only with the blood of men and would reap a harvest of despair.
Men were not ready to go out hand in hand to meet the Spring. Instead they were burrowing deep into shelters to hide from it. The Spring that should be bright with happy promise was blackened by promise of other things; the promise of invasion; the promise of more fearful toll on the seas; the promise of horror and horror, in the Mediterranean, in Africa, in the Balkans and in the Far East. And the world shrugged helplessly in the sure knowledge that even these geographic limits were arbitrary. Horror is a poison gas whose vapor spreads to offend all living things. There is no immunity against horror. The spring sun that floods the ocean will find hundreds of shadows marking the U boats that hide from the Spring in the deeps…to destroy. And when men dare to look to the sky it will not be to welcome the glad pilgrimage of the birds but to watch for the hideous squadrons of death.
This Spring will not sow for the abundance of the harvest but will, instead, bring craft and skill and design to destroy that abundance.
And here we stand . . . all of us . . . not closing our ranks against the real enemy; earthquake and storm, disease and pestilence, famine and want; but rather, allying ourselves with these things against our fellow man.
These are empty generalities, I know, and Murdoch will be impatient with me for being guilty of them. Murdoch and I celebrated yesterday’s sunshine by going to the zoo, and we talked of many things; of strength and courage, of fortitude and captivity and lust and suspicion and of the whole gamut of exciting wonders of the Infinite. And today we walked in Lincoln Park and there was nothing to say because he knew, and I knew that it was the first Sunday of Spring . . . and it embarrassed us. And if he’s listening now and accuses me of talking in hollow phrases my only excuse is . . . that I know only the melody of the message. Who am I to know the words?
I wonder what it is that keeps the heavy heart of the world from breaking on the first Sunday of Spring?
Maybe it’s the comfort of hope . . . hope of that invisible seed whose harvest is dimly promised in the distant tomorrow . . . the seed of harmony and peace.
They say it’s natural and inevitable that men shall fight. I don’t believe it. Do you? They used to say that it was natural and inevitable that children suffer diphtheria, too, and measles and scarlet fever and whooping cough. Remember? “It’s natural,” they said. “A child must get them and get over them.” But enlightenment showed us that we could inoculate against these things. Why should we continue to believe that war is natural and inevitable? Young boys fight more readily than men. Grown men who know their hardness of muscle and soundness of thwack hesitate long before the fight–certain in their knowledge of hurt . . . win or lose. And when men mature philosophically, they don’t fight because they are cured of the illusion of victory. They know that to fight . . . is to lose. My, isn’t there hope that we will yet come of age?
Murdoch and I walked through Lincoln Park this afternoon and the sun was there, smiling as though nothing were out of order. The ice on the pond was thin as tissue and ready to bend with a ripple of water. The trees were busy looking down on the water and then up to the mirror of the sky . . . measuring themselves and deciding on the color and cut of their Spring wardrobe. The birds were gossiping of the winter and whispering of the romances of Spring and Summer. And all of us who were there breathed in the day. . . and it was good. And the big Lake was so glad to be quit of the ice that it ran off laughing to the horizon, shaking itself free. And the choir sound of a Sunday afternoon rose in the sky domed Cathedral to make a hymn of thankfulness and hope.
Maybe the world has its heart in a sling . . . but it’s still able to smile. And there was a song it sang this afternoon. It was just the music; the words are waiting to be written.
It’s a song we want to remember in the days ahead.
That’ll be all from Alan Scott.
To read more of Alan Scott’s on-air scripts, go to www.AlanScott.info
The Positive Slant On the Path 