Category: Soul journey

To Do or to Be?

Recently, a friend and I were talking about how to handle the polarity between doing and being that many of us carry inside of us. We’ve been raised in a culture that emphasizes effort, trying, achievement, and success in material terms. The work ethic and the drive to constantly do pervade our society. On the job, unpaid overtime has become routine, and low-paying positions often force people to work at two jobs to make ends meet. Multi-tasking, email, and social media fill up all our “free” time, and friends and family are seen on the fly.

Even outside of mainstream culture, among those who are seeking to change the status quo to something more humane and truly livable, there is a certain push to be active, busy, involved in something. During the current period of major Earth changes, people’s experience of accelerating time also contributes to the frenetic need to keep moving—just to keep up with the hours that are rushing by!

Yet cracks in this compulsive busyness are appearing—possibly because we have run ourselves to the wall with the 24/7 modality. People are turning to things like meditation and yoga because they are quite literally burned out. Often their bodies stop them before their minds do. Headaches, injuries, and dis-ease of all kinds pop up in our lives to show us that all is not well. We are forced to slow down and find a way back to health. When we stop filling our lives with events and activities and instead focus on self-healing, doing takes a backseat to being and allowing.

Regular meditation or yoga practice helps individuals make this mental shift. The breath is of prime importance in both. Students learn to allow the breath to flow in and out without effort, without holding. In some traditions, they learn to watch the breath and just be in the quiet inner stillness. Eventually, with practice, people learn to carry that letting go to their daily lives, allowing events and emotions to pass through them without judgment or clutching, just as the breath does. Doing in this context arises from the quiet, centered space of being, not from polarized trying or effort.

The key, of course, is reaching that balance in a world that is skewed to emphasize just the opposite. But that’s why we’re here. The world is evolving, and we are evolving. We’re living the transition, learning how to embody the new human BE-ing, how to be conscious spirit in physical form, effortlessly flowing with the energy of life.

 

Heart and Soul

February is the month of valentines, chocolate, flowers, and romance. Less commercially, we could also call it the month of the heart. Taking that a step further, I would like to suggest that we make February the “Month of Living with an Open Heart”: to live each day from our soul’s perspective, centered in love and compassion for our fellow human beings (all of them, not just partners or friends we send valentines to). Within the transitional energies of 2012 and beyond, we can co-create the world we want to live in, moment to moment.

So, this month, smile and make eye contact with every person you see at work, on the bus, or in the street. Smile from the heart, as if you were encountering a great spiritual master (and indeed you may be). Fill your pockets with bills and change and give generously to every homeless person who asks you for help. Hold the door open for a stranger. Carry a neighbor’s groceries. Call an old friend or family member with whom you have been out of touch. Or just be a listening presence for someone who crosses your path—you might be surprised at how many people just need a sympathetic ear to help them better cope with life’s ups and downs.

This month, count your blessings, and be a blessing in someone else’s life each day. Be grateful. Live fully, your heart overflowing with love. This is your soul’s path in life. It’s not here to find fault or complain; it’s here to experience and evolve, to see wonder and beauty in the ordinary details of the world. This is the miracle of living on Planet Earth, from the soul’s point of view.

If every one of us behaved in each moment as if the person we are interacting with is our most beloved soul-friend, think how wonderful the world would be. Make this month, this year, a time of living with an open heart and soul. For every person is indeed another version of you.

 

Open Doors, Open Windows

What images does the phrase “open doors, open windows” evoke in you? Do you think of summer, when open windows and doors allow the outdoors and indoors to blend into one harmonious experience? When heavy clothes and closed buildings no longer separate us from one another and from our environment? This analogy could be used to describe the times we are living through now, when sharply defined boundaries are beginning to fade as we move more fully into recognition of humanity as one family.

In the past, we have been closed off in the illusion of separateness—nationality, religion, race, age, sexual identity, and belief systems of all kinds. The language we used to express our thoughts or ideas often divided us further. Countries under the spell of nationalist fervor have fought wars with one another for centuries, yet human beings are basically the same, down to their very DNA. Why do we fight and kill our mirror images? Wars have been fought over religion as well, yet if we look closely, all spiritual belief systems stem from the same Source. The Divine does not speak a language of comparison and judgment. Spirit is about love and love alone. In the light of love, differences in national origin, spirituality, race, age, sexual identity, and beliefs become interesting facets of human expression, not causes for mistrust and hatred.

Today, as we experience the expansive energies of what has been called the Great Shift, and we ourselves expand, a new world is evolving that is not separated by words or beliefs—one centered in oneness, or unity consciousness. This does not mean all differences will disappear. It just means we are learning how to accept and celebrate our differences instead of fighting wars over them, either physically or ideologically.

So how do we help this energy of inclusiveness to grow and circle the globe? Perhaps by stepping out of judgment in our own lives and seeing others (and ourselves) with compassion. By looking for similarities and appreciating differences. Let’s end separation now and open our hearts to feeling oneness with every friend or stranger who crosses our path. Find one thing you have in common with another person (and one difference you can learn from), and the door will open wider to reveal many more.