glorious color

I love color.  Color in food, color in clothing, color on my walls, color out in nature.  Color makes life sparkle.  Many years ago I tried that architect-designer look wearing lots of black.  But that's stark.  When my son was little the clothing choices for boys in the mainstream stores were pretty much limited to grey, blue and brown - how drab. Of course, color exists only in contrast to black/white, so we need the drabness, the starkness, the dullness to appreciate color all the more.  I think that's why people in cold climates expand in their beingness and start to breathe again when spring comes around, when all that brown-grey-white drabness explodes into greens and pinks and yellows.  It is so joyful.

The other day we got blue potatoes from our food coop.  Besides all the added antioxidants compared to white potatoes (although I simply bought them for variety), they looked so pretty on the table.  Children often like the safe beige-brown diet (bread, noodles, potatoes, meat).  I say I want color on my table.

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I also want color in my wardrobe.  While red is my favorite color of all, I also love all greens (from Kermit green to a light limy green), all jewel tones (purple, burgundy, burnt yellow, orange, olive green), and creamy yellows. 

Live a little, make a splash, bring some color in your life, it makes life more cheerful.

heart stuff

"All spirituality is is the path of the heart," says Marianne Williamson. On this Valentine's Day, day of love and day of hearts, let's remember that no amount of material things (diamonds, chocolates, flowers) can replace true expressions of love.

What might those be?  Expressions of love come from an open heart.  A few examples are speaking kind words you really mean ("You always look so pretty,"  "I couldn't have done a better job."), empathetic gestures (a slight touch on the arm, a sweet kiss, a long warm look), encouragement ("I knew you could do this"), true compassion (being a good Samaritan), wanting to be of service ("May I show you how to do this?" or "Is there any way I can help?").

Opening your heart opens your mind and opens your life.  So let's try to be a little spiritual today.

creating meaning

We live in a lopsidely material-scientific culture, in which much of the qualitative, spiritual-philosophical, unseen aspect of life gets shoved under the rug, at least most of the time.

So much of our life seems to revolve around rushing from one place to another, buying stuff and more stuff (more than we need), keeping up with the Joneses on techno gadgets and what not,  stuffing our children's schedules with all sorts of activities in hopes of some advantage or other over all the other children running in the same direction of seemingly limited college spots, job spots, life spots, and spending a lot of time idling around on screened devices by ourselves, alone.

Stop!  We try to stuff the gaping spiritual hole in our lives too often with money.  But meaning does not come from stuff and money.  The reason that no amount of money can ever be enough is that we use it to fulfill needs that money cannot actually buy.   We try to buy excitement, pampering and love, recognition, validation, and - yes - meaning.

Yet, meaning is something we create from nothing.  Meaning is the qualitative aspect of life.  We can find it in and with the people we surround ourselves with and in the activities we chose to do with them (volunteer work, meals and get togethers, church, our work, sports), we can find it in the activities we do on our own (our work, our hobbies, even our chores).  Often we find it more when we give than when we receive.  So teaching, volunteering, inviting, helping, putting yourself out there, giving - those are meaningful and deeply satisfying activities, and they are free!

spiritual cats

Would you believe that I communicated with our three cats (two alive, one dead) telepathically through an intermediary?  Some people, and a few family members are among them, will say that this is a bunch of hogwash.  But I live my life on the spiritual side (with a good dose of critical-analytical thinking!) and I am always looking for deeper ways to understand and connect with the world.  So I am open to something like this and don't dismiss it simply because it goes beyond the present scientific-material paradigm. Among other questions we had been curious about the premature (in our view) death of our beloved first cat Snowball and the jumpiness of our third cat Peter Pepper.  I had recently read that it is possibly to communicate with animals telepathically (see my earlier blog post on this).  So when a friend told me about someone right in town (though distance is irrelevant) who has this ability (take a look at her website) I jumped at the opportunity.

I was amazed how much these animals understand (be careful how you treat them and what you say in front of them!) and at the depth of their spirituality.    Snowball responded to our question about his early death at age five that a life ought not to be judged by how short or long it was but by what was accomplished, and that it was an immense privilege for him to have opened the whole family's awareness to the animal kingdom, and that his five years with us were very meaningful for him.

Peter Pepper, another little sage, communicated that he was aware of his eye condition, which I had asked about, that he resonates with the sound of Tibetan prayer bowls (boy where did that come from?) and that that would help him heal his condition.  This was quite coincidental as I had become aware of a Tibetan prayer bowl iPhone meditation app just a week or so earlier. Hmmm...

Make of it what you wish, but the answers of our three cats had enormous meaning for us.

it's your choice

Whether you look at your teacup half full or half empty, whether you react to the grumpy cashier at the check-out line with compassion (she is having a bad day, who knows what happened at home), or send her angry signal right back to her with an irritated reaction - the choice is always your's.    Your reactions come from  your beliefs.  Every thought in your mind is a cause to an effect down the road. I mentioned in a recent related post that researchers found that depressed people are depressed because they have negative thoughts; they do not have negative thoughts because they are depressed.  That difference is crucial!   Why?  Because you can change your thoughts - once you are aware of them.

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Once we accept the responsibility of our thoughts, and that they create our reality, we are no longer at their mercy.  Telling your mind what to think or not to think is one of the things that meditation teaches.  If you do not rein your mind in it gallops away with whatever comes along - and that can create a reality that is out of your control and not to your liking.  Or you can dig deeper into yourself and become aware of what you are actually thinking.

Think about it.

inspirational Facebook?

I don't know what your impression of your Facebook stream of information is.  But I find that Facebook has become quite a forum for inspirational and spiritual postings.  As a matter of fact, at times I get more inspirational postings than status updates from friends - not sure whether that's good or bad.  Be that as it may, there may be two reasons for this. The first one may be that I have so many like minded friends that I simply see reflected back to me what I am putting out there - seeing the spirit in all of us and the rosy side of life.

The second reason might be that more people overall are actually inspired and in tune with themselves, each other and the world.  I am hoping it's the latter because then there would be real progress.

What do you think?  What is your impression?

let the universe do some work for you

There is a difference between pushing, pushing, pushing, possibly against a wall, and putting intent out there and letting the universe do the rest. Our son, who will go for his road test later this month, had been looking for a well-priced used car (stick shift being a must) since the fall.  At every for-sale-vehicle by the roadside we stopped - price too high, no stick, bad condition.  Local dealerships were too high priced, no appropriate ads in the papers.  He became frustrated, but I kept saying that there was no rush since he didn't even have his license yet, and once the time came closer we could make a more concerted effort at finding him a car.

Well, through a comedy of unexpected circumstances we ended up going to his great-uncle's for Christmas, and lo and behold - we pulled up and found a car for sale in his driveway.  Our son jumped out in excitement, looked at the car and the sign in disbelief, announced it was a stick shift and cost exactly what he had intended to spend.

Voilà or That Was Easy!

Also look back to an earlier post on the Taoist principle of wu wei.

new year's resolutions

The Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky came to two major philosophical-spiritual realizations during his ten years in prison, as reported in the NY Times a few days ago.  One of them is very relevant on this New Year's Day when many of us make resolutions. Khodorkovsky said "I think the Russian problem is not just the president as a person,..., the problem is that our citizens...don't understand that their fate, they have to be responsible for it themselves.  They are happy to delegate it..."  This is a life changing realization for everyone who wakes up to this enormous and beautiful responsibility, because that is what it is.  We can't wait for Prince Charming to show up at the doorstep with a million dollars.  We have to show intent, move ourselves in the direction of where we want to go, and actually do it.  It is work, it takes courage jumping over your own shadow, it means taking risks, and it may be uncomfortable at times.  But it is rewarding and it works!

No diet pill or new fangled miracle diet will take your pounds off for you if you are not willing to pull through with it.  Complaining about the government and not voting or taking action in your own small way is delegating "we the people" to some abstract politician or entity, as Khodorkovsky pointed out.

With every New Year's resolution you need a solid action plan that comes from the heart; think business plan for whatever you are striving to achieve, whether it is losing weight, making more money, moving to a warmer climate, leading a more balanced life, or whatever else. Let's toast to intent and courage, because they are what make things happen!

my child, my teacher

The traditional perspective was that children should be seen but not heard, meaning children are supposedly lesser people because they are young and inexperienced.   Watching children these days I am occasionally wondering whether some parents are now sending the exact opposite message by permitting their children just about anything, showering them with material stuff, failing to teach them respect and social manners, worshipping them endlessly and providing no gauge or boundaries - basically granting them adult style freedom. But I am headed elsewhere yet.  I believe that we can actually learn from our children even though they are indeed much younger and have less life experience (on the surface).

First of all, especially young children react in a socially unfiltered way, they speak truthfully and to the point (refer to The Emperor's New Clothes) without trying to spare people's feelings.  Secondly, from a spiritual perspective our children are our peers because as spirit beings (in a material body) we are all equal.  We could go further yet, into the idea of reincarnation.   Here we get into potential role reversals and the possibility that your child might have been your parent, mentor or partner in another lifetime.  Intriguing.

When my daughter was 10 we had a deep and spiritual conversation about defining health and healing and how it was more a mental than a physical thing, and in conclusion she burst out "we'll then no one is healthy, not even a doctor."   Children can be downright wise.  Next time your child says something that upsets or irritates you at first blush, do listen, completely, and try to see their side, where they are coming from.  Often we think we know better, but sometimes they actually do.

to tree or not to tree

The kids have pressured me many times to decorate our Christmas tree early following local custom, and I have always resisted.  According to German custom the tree goes up on Christmas Eve.  In fact, when I was little the door to the living room remained closed all day Christmas Eve.  We knew magic happened behind those doors, we heard noises, we saw the parents going in and out and quickly closing the door again.   And we couldn't wait until it got dark, until the doors were finally opened and the lit (real candles) Christmas tree was revealed to us, all sparkle and splendor, with lots of presents beautifully displayed underneath, after a whole month of Christmassy anticipation.  Total magic!  It was all worth the wait.  Because of our busy schedules now we usually decorate our tree the week-end just before - this year it'll be this coming Sunday.  But that doesn't mean that our house is any less Christmassy before the tree goes up.  Actually, "es weihnachtet sehr" in our house, which translates as "it Christmasses a lot" (because Germans are very Christmassy people, this has become an actual verb).   But The Tree is more special when it becomes the long awaited apotheosis of the Advent period. 

We'll be patient until then.