Rise & Whine Becomes Rise & Shine

“The alarm in the morning? Well, I have an old tape of Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a perfectly transcendent version in Shubert’s seventh symphony. And I’ve rigged it up so that at exactly 7:30 every morning it falls from the ceiling onto my face.”
― Stephen Fry

I asked a friend who is searching for a passion-producing career the obvious question, “Well what do you love doing?” One of the first things on his list was: Sleeping.

Fair enough.

I love sleeping too! I wish I could get 9 hours of sleep a night while also being able to be a night owl since I’m so productive in the evenings and be able to rise early to enjoy the dawning of a new day without the pressure to rush into it. Alas, that hasn’t worked out for me. I inevitable and invariably snooze and burrow under the covers until the very last minute possible.

So, dear readers, this new month brings me to a new intention on my Here I Am journey. I don’t believe in the myth of the early bird, but I do know that I will be closer to my best me if I begin my day with some calm, centering activities instead of rushing off to work. And don’t forget, approaching your best you means the betterment of your life, of the lives of those in your sphere, and of the world at large. That is not hyperbole! It is true! After this past month of amazing spiritual growth and elevation which continues and will remain, I am eager to bring healing and balance to every part of my life where malaise or imbalance exist. I want to get in there and get it worked out!  So for this month I’m letting “rise and whine” become “rise and shine!”

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Getting out of bed earlier than I have to…this is a monumental feat of will and focus!! That is also not hyperbole! Okay, maybe a little. It is HARD for me though. Like my friend, I LOVE sleep. But let’s not be naive…it isn’t just that I love sleep. There are other reasons I have a hard time getting up. Most of them related to stress, anxiety, and worry that I allow to live in me. It takes me a while to fall asleep because of thinking about the next day. I have very vivid and VERY stressful dreams that leave me feeling like I’ve been working overtime by the time I wake up. Then I arise and almost instantly feel stressed about something awaiting me in my day. That all sounds awful doesn’t it?! It’s hard for me to even believe that is me when I see it written.

The good news is that for the last month, I have politely escorted stress and worry out of my mind and soul one room at a time. It feels amazing to fall asleep soundly and to wake up with more joy and excitement for the day than I am used to. I still have very stressful dreams and I’m not sure what to do about that yet, but two out of three isn’t bad!

Despite these great changes, I STILL have a hard time opening my eyes when that alarm goes off. I still feel like I need a nap after all those frenetic dreams. So, knowing how hard this month would be, I decided that I better make a calendar for myself to help me along. Remember, there is no guilt in Here I Am…just curiosity, compassion, attention, and intention. This is NOT a calendar for gold stars; it IS a “calendar of perspective” to help me see and grasp how few days really make up a month, how far I’ve come, and that the world won’t end if one day passes without a perfect performance. The next day and its fresh start will dawn.

I won’t lie. The first two days of the month I slept right through that snooze button and right through my intention to get up early to have Me time. But yesterday came, April the 3rd, and TA-DA! I was up. I was meditating. I was stretching out. I was sipping a cup of coffee. It felt marvelous. (Interestingly, the night before I did an energy clearing meditation with mudras which is supposed to help you sleep.) Now I’m looking forward to discovering what lies ahead for me in these morning hours. I feel like I’ve discovered a whole new part of the day that I had forgotten even existed. Good morning, sunshine!

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I don’t know if any of you are still doing your Here I Am intentions, but if you are then I connect with you now…from my heart to yours…and send you positivity and energy to propel you onward.

Connect with us on Facebook to get more food for thought on connection and personal growth. See you there!

Life As a Cell?

What if we are all like individual cells? And humanity is the “body” that we create together?

That’s exactly what this guy thinks. And he says we’ve got a serious case of auto-immune disease in the body.

What do you think?

From one to ONE

I have been feeling more and more boundless during my times of prayer. When I close my eyes and sink deeper and deeper into it, I can begin to sense that the idea of my body as my boundary is contrived. That my true self is without limits. Like I said, I’m no ordinary squirrel.

I remember when I was about nine that I had a life-changing moment driving past the lake in the passenger seat of my mom’s car. Looking out the window I suddenly realized in my gut that I was completely singular, completely alone in my experience. I remember looking at mom and, with no small sense of amazement, realized that she and I were two different people and our experience of the world would never fully converge. I would never know what her eyes saw as she looked at the same road I was looking at, or how the seat beneath her felt on her legs, or what thought was filling her mind from one moment to the next. It felt very isolating, yet somehow inspiring. There was suddenly a feeling of importance for my life, but also great alone-ness.

Whether or not it is related to that early event, for most of my life I have been operating under an unexamined belief that we are all separate. Why wouldn’t I think that? Don’t most people think that? Doesn’t it look like that? I am me and you are you. I am one and you are one. Here we are:

one, by ~~~S Wave~~~

Even as I’ve come to know more about God, even as I’ve experienced inexplicable connections with a few very special people, even as I have done some reading up on metaphysics and theories of transpersonal connection, my grander experience of life has never really changed. So why would my overall paradigm change?

But now, something new is dawning. The other night, as I was feeling boundless, I said, “Thank you for the way you move through all things.” With those words my paradigm changed. Suddenly there is a ONE. If my Self is boundless, then your Self is boundless. And his…and hers… Where do you begin and I end? Where does my spirit or consciousness or energy cease to inform yours and vice versa? Where does yellow end and green begin?

ONE, by ~~~S Wave~~~

I’m telling you, I am walking down the streets of Los Angeles the past few days passing people and thinking, “Do you know that we are actually colliding right now?? That you are made up of divinity just like the rest of us? How cool is that!?” This doesn’t mean I have to trust every person, that I have to welcome their energy into my experience, but I do think it is a part of the Love that I have asked to learn more about.

As for separateness, I think we are separate as sensory processors and as egos. My little nine year-old self was right about that. But senses and egos are not all we are.

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A final reminder—for you and for me—that this blog was started with the idea that we are like waves. Remember that you can not point to where your wave ends and another’s begins. Nor can you can point to where your wave begins and the ocean ends. It is a metaphor I like…and now I like it even more. Hope you do too.

Are You Number 100??

Okay, now you know some of you bloggers have thousands of followers, probably tens of thousands of comments, hundreds of posts, but Life As a Wave is the little engine that could and enjoys being so. I LOVE watching our community expand and every new follower feels like a bud opening in our garden of connection. Today I saw that we have reached 99 followers! This makes me so humbled and happy. I think the little engine just reached a pretty cool hilltop.

So thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every beautiful person who has contributed their energy and attention to this project of love.

The real question now….. WHO WILL BE OUR ONE HUNDREDTH FOLLOWER???

Stay tuned to find out!

(ahem) anddon’tforgettolikeusonFacebook!! (ahem)

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.

Love, the Liberator

“I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates.”

- Maya Angelou

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Today I took a meditation hike. I listened to Vive’s album, Chakra Songs, and ended my walk on top of a ridge at Hollyridge trails.

Today’s meditation spot

I thought a lot about love up there and what can sometimes keep us from being able to love in the way we want to. Maybe you’re like me and have certain familiar walls up that impede the exchange of love between you and others. And by love I mean love that moves no matter context, no matter mood, no matter consequences. The “do unto others” and “turn the other cheek” kind of love. Today I decided that I’m tired of my walls. My walls have been defending me for a long time. Letting those come down puts me in all kinds of harm’s ways. Unfortunately, those same walls also keep me locked in.

I want to be liberated.

I believe that God is pure pure pure love.  There is no other ingredient in God but love and there is no other source of love but God. I believe that God’s love is unconditional. I know that showing and receiving that kind of love isn’t something you can fake or really even learn. Perhaps allowing (as opposed to concocting) unconditional love to flow in and out of me–which is really what it (i.e., God) wants to do anyway–is THE ultimate defense and simultaneously the ultimate liberation.

I’ve never thought of it that way. I’ve always thought that to love others meant letting myself get hurt and that somehow I would have to grin and bear that. It always meant being a martyr. Moreover, it was something I had to work really really hard at doing. But imagine answering hate with genuine love, answering betrayal with genuine love, answering neglect with genuine love. Imagine having a response of love be your nature.

Why can’t it be so?

One thing I have learned from years of trial and error, is that just saying a genuine “YES!” to what you feel bubbling up inside you makes the heavens and the earth respond. Things begin to happen. Changes occur. I have felt something bubbling up in my spirit and it has to do with this question of love. A new understanding is brewing.

So be it. Here I Am!

A woman offering up her heart for the divine intentions inside and outside of me to do what they will for love. I say YES to the challenge of letting old defensive walls crumble, and I know that the universal response will not disappoint. I surrender my human efforts and wait for a path to appear. Let’s see what happens!

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.