Higher Selves, For Greater Good

“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”
― Robert M. Pirsig

Where did April go??

I’ve been so so busy and have missed writing for Life As a Wave. It’s a new month which means I should be picking my next Here I Am intention, too. Eek. Ive hardly had time to think about it! (Spoiler alert: it may have something to do with a redesign of this blog, so stay tuned!) Life has been good, and incredibly busy…did I mention that already?? I just posted on our Facebook Page: “I have never worked so hard so happy.” And it’s true!

Yes, jumping man in jeans, that is good advice. The trick though is that you don’t have to wait for a job to make you jump. Jump in gratitude for EVERYTHING ELSE you have to be happy about (there is ALWAYS something) and pretty soon you’ll discover that your job makes you jump too! If it still doesn’t then okay, maybe you need to open up yourself up to the possibility of a new job.

As for me, in the last month I’ve gone from “What is my purpose?!” to “Bring on my purpose!” I’m not going to wait around for a divine calling while squandering my here and now. Every moment we have is part of our purpose. Ask for a purpose and it will introduce itself to you. And don’t you dare restrict yourself to just one purpose. In the last two months I’ve gotten a promotion in my “regular” job as a speech-language pathologist, received a request to manage a major fundraising project for a start-up, been invited to submit a painting to a non-profit arts magazine, and completed an energy-healing class. I’m not tootin’ no horn here! I have simply realized that I am more than just one thing and that my purpose is a story not a title.

Most importantly, I have realized that I can choose to be happy and that I can only do that with the spiritual practices that elevate me above all the potential anxiety and pessimism that would try to drag me down.

So onward and upward, Life As a Wave readers! Your purpose awaits your invitation! I’m going to keep inviting mine and you do the same. Let’s say it together…”Purpose, I invite you into my life TODAY!”

Now together let’s become our highest selves…

for the world’s greatest good.

Cry, Laugh, and Pick Up the Phone

“There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.”

- The Dalai Lama XIV

It has been a trying week for our nation. In light of the tragedies that we have experienced in Boston and Texas, I  reiterate the importance of connecting with those you love. (See Holidays and Hurricanes from last November.) It seems that through tragedy we do strengthen the bond that we have with others and experience a renewed sense of community.

What else can you do during weeks like this? Cry. I recently heard that tears contain toxins that your body flushes out as you cry. It turns out that a man named William Frey was the first one to discover this. He found that emotional tears (as opposed to other kinds, like those we get from onions) contain the most amount of stress chemicals like leucine-enkephalin and prolactin. Crying also has been linked to lowering heart rate and the production of endorphins. It’s a wonderful thought. I like to think that it is not random that crying “feels” good. Our body—knowing always what we need—is doing something purposeful, not wasteful

On the other side of that coin though is the healing power of laughter. Today was a markedly gloomy day for me compared to the previous 2 months or so. Let’s just say I purged a lot of leucine-enkephalin and prolactin today. At one point while in the car, something crossed my mind that made me chuckle out loud despite my melancholy. I noticed that it felt good. So I tried to think of something else that I knew would make me laugh. So I thought of this:

For some reason it just always makes me laugh. That laguh felt good too. I wanted another and so I recalled one my own recent blog posts, It’s Not That Serious. Then I wanted another laugh and another. I’ve heard of people doing “laughter yoga” and even though I have difficulty picturing a group laughing session, I can see why laughter would be a part of a wellness regiment. Laughter is good for your chemical makeup. Like crying, it produces endorphins. It also relieves muscle tension, strengthens your heart, and boosts your immune system.

After crying and laughing and having a long (and long overdue) phone call with a loved one, all my problems weren’t solved. The world wasn’t nicer. The future wasn’t clearer. Boston wasn’t healed. Those lost in Texas weren’t returned to their loved ones. I hadn’t reconciled all my questions with God. But, I was calmer. My mind wasn’t spinning like it had been most of the day. I felt loved. I felt more hopeful.

So don’t forget to let yourself cry if you need to. Yes, even you men! Let your body clean itself out. And then don’t forget to laugh. Can’t think of anything to laugh about? Then find your nearest Laughter Yoga class. And if all that doesn’t work, call someone you love and let the mysterious and beautiful human connection heal you a little bit. It will most likely heal them too.

Have a beautiful Sunday. As always, I am so thankful for YOU.

~~~S Wave~~~

The Opposite of Love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

- Saint John

We teach that hate is the opposite of love, but I’ve been thinking that it is actually fear that is the opposite.

As I was writing about the things I want to transcend, I realized that most of the things that we want to overcome can be reduced down to a fear. Let’s say, for example, that I want to overcome a concern about what others think of me. That’s reasonable. But where does that concern come from in the first place? Fear, right? Fear that if someone thinks something negative then I’ll be shunned, rejected, left. So isn’t it really from the fear that I would have to be liberated first?

Fear, though, gets forgotten as our attention and our “treatments” gets directed to what are really just the manifestations of the fear. We end up being held back from knowing the fullness of our Selves and the beauty of our dreams because the underlying fear isn’t addressed. Imagine if that fear was gone. What if the prospect of rejection, neglect, and abandonment just wasn’t scary in the first place? What if you weren’t scared of loss, of death, of pain? Sounds pretty liberating.

In my experience, the first step to getting free from fear is recognizing that it’s there. When you think you are upset by something, try being still and asking our mind and your body what they are really scared of. Accept the answer you get without judgement and with great compassion. Connect with your belief in a higher power that is interested only in your greatest good. Then you are ready to begin to let that fear go.

Some fears are easy to change simply by CHOOSING to believe in something different. For example, if I declare that I believe in all things working together for good, it is much easier for me to release the fear of failure, because even “failures” must be part of the good that is unfolding. They lose their power.

Other fears of course aren’t so easy to let go of. The process might be longer, but it is the same in principle. No matter what your belief system is, if you sit with compassion and listen to the pain that resides in you, asking it what it needs and offering YOUR love to it, I believe that it must dissipate. Because love does cast out fear.

Media credit: Leah Piken Kolidas

Besides your own liberation and accessibility to your dreams, there is another benefit to realizing that fear is the opposite of love: you begin to have more compassion for others.

I have someone in my life who must have been sent to teach me about loving others! I sometimes find this person to be condescending or dismissive toward me which then triggers sensitivities in me and make me feel hostile toward her. It’s a terrible, but common cycle. This morning, as I was thinking about my experiences with her, these realizations about fear  entered my mind at the same time and I realized that the two are related. I realized that just as I have fears that lead me to operate in less than love, so too does everyone.

As I reconceptualize her condescension as a product of fear–hers and mine–I can feel compassion for the two of us. We become reduced to our essences…two souls traveling in this journey on Earth together and navigating our experiences with our own level of consciousness at this point in time and space. Separateness becomes comradery. We’re in this together! Why be cells that are battling against each other when we can come together and form something new??

Of course she may not have the same realization, but suddenly that doesn’t matter. I recognize and express gratitude for our connection and I embrace her in a protective, prayerful energy that genuinely desires her highest good. It feels good to be free. And to let her be free as well.

**************

I have been receiving a lot of wonderful, simple insights during my times of prayer and meditation. I post these most frequently on our Facebook page so don’t forget to visit us there. You are all such joy to me. May you be free from fear today!

It’s Not That Serious

“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”

-Robert Frost

Don’t go insane today.

Find something, somewhere to laugh about and change your atmosphere with the sound of your own joy.

If you need some help, try this out. A flier on a street in Venice last week. Thanks to A.E. for sharing it with me.

May I Be the Duck

There is a lovely little documentary called, “How To Cook Your Life.” In it a monk, Edward Espe Brown, imparts zen philosophies for life in the context of cooking. I’ve watched it many times…especially in the kitchen! There is one point in the film when Espe Brown recites a poem written by his mother before her death. I have this poem posted in my home. It reminds me of my position in life. It reminds me of the great ocean of mystery and potential that always surrounds me. It reminds me to rest in the moment.

Here it is for you.

Ocean of the Long Tailed Duck by Doug Hiser

Now we are ready to look at something pretty special.

It’s a duck

Riding on the waves a hundred feet beyond the surf.

It can rest while the Atlantic heaves

Because it rests in the Atlantic.

Probably it doesn’t know how large the ocean is

And neither do you.

But what does it do, I ask you?

It sits down in it.

It rests in the immediate as though it were infinity.

Heavy Light Quotes

The month continues! I have been reveling in my alone times with God, as well as times of community. Most recently, I’ve been experiencing some crazy stuff that makes me just super duper excited and full of joy. (Please remember that I did warn you about how amazing it can be to give some attention and intention to your spiritual life!) (Also, ugh, it’s midnight and I’m exhausted and I can’t come up with more interesting words than “super duper excited.” Forgive me, blogosphere!) contemplating the concept of each of us having a light inside of us. Let’s leave it at that for now.

In contemplating and studying, I’ve read so many beautiful words about light. Some of them have resonated deeply with me and I thought I would share them with you.

People are like stained-glass windows.  They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

~Maori Proverb

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

~Anthony J. D’Angelo

His high endeavors are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright.

~William Wordsworth

Into my heart’s night

Along a narrow way
 I groped; and lo! the light,

An infinite land of day.

~Rumi

When my heart is heavy, the sun helps make it light.

~Terri Guillemets

He that has light within his own clear breast

May sit i’ the centre, and enjoy bright day:

But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts

Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;

Himself his own dungeon.

~John Milton

The true yogi is one who is like a lion with himself, always striving to eradicate that which shadows his inner light, and like a lamb with others, always striving to see their inner light, no matter how dense may be the clouds that hide it. He is the king of the jungle of his world. He hides from no one and seeks escape from nothing. (88)”

~ Prem Prakash

For more great quotes, visit our Said and Done category. Also, don’t forget to share Life As a Wave with your Facebook friends! We appreciate you connecting with us. Much love.

A Repost Worth Sharing

This is something that I saw today on the Mindfulbalance Blog that I enjoy reading every day. After a situation last week in which I most certainly let myself down (and someone else as well) by taking the role of “the one who knows,” I thought I would share this as a talisman for my soul to take heed in the next similar situation that comes around. Maybe it will give you a good kick in the pants too. The next time you are quick to judge a situation, can you tell yourself to pause and to consider that whatever you judge to be true is “not always so?”

Click below to see what I’m talking about:

Not always so.

What We Ought

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garmet of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and allow ourselves to be stirred and ignited by the many illuminated messages that he shared with us, I want to encourage you to acknowledge your connection to him. He knew that he was connected to you. Do you know it?

He strived to be “what he ought.” As you strive toward the same—whether in your attitude, your activism, your awareness, your altruism—allow yourself to feel connected to the great multitude of others like King who have lived before you and tried to be their very best in order to inflict great love upon this world. Their energy, their wave, lives on.

Birthday Gratitude

I cherish this quote. It reminds me to give thanks for all the things in my life that are precious to me. Sometimes they go overlooked, but they are worthy of my impossible constant gratitude. I recognize, as well, that they are my lifesavers. Indeed, they are my very life.

Read this aloud to your own heart, slowly. <3

Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And, fortunately, when there aren’t any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true.

- Karen Eiffel (played by Emma Thompson) in Stranger Than Fiction

Postscript: Today is my birthday and on this day I want to tell you how grateful I am for each and every one of you who has shared in the creation and blossoming of this little endeavor, Life As a Wave. You  have been a lifesaver as well, giving me another reason to rise to the challenge of remaining optimistic, hopeful and full of faith no matter what. May our exchange of words continue to buoy us through the waters and gently demand our continued growth as individuals and communities.

With love,

~~~S Wave~~~

Daily Injection of Encouragement!