Category: Spiritual

Laugh Out Loud

pak-laugh-in-car-crop2Throughout my life, my favorite friends have been those who made me laugh. And I don’t mean a chuckle or quiet giggle. I mean full-out, open-mouth laughter, where the tears are streaming down your face and your cheeks hurt from grinning. The uncontrollable kind that keeps rolling over you every time you think of what made you laugh in the first place. If you’re with several friends, this can last for hours—you’ll comment back and forth and trigger one another into further hysterics. Like one long slumber party.

Over the years, my favorite comedians were always the wildly imaginative, slightly crazy ones like Jonathan Winters, Lily Tomlin, and Robin Williams. Or the deadpan, unexpected-twist humor of Ellen Degeneres and Tina Fey. Then there’s the situational humor of a well-written sit-com with a great ensemble cast like Seinfeld. Or comedy classics like the Marx Brothers’ Night at the Opera and Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. All have made me laugh out loud.

Laugh out loud—LOL, as we write it in our emails or social media posts. We all love to laugh. It’s in those times that we completely let go of our worries and serious opinions and just relax into sheer joy at being alive. We are in the moment, energy flowing freely. Laughter opens us up physically and emotionally and subtly clears resistance to a sense of oneness with others. When we laugh, we are sharing smiles at the silliness of taking life too seriously. If we step back for a minute and look at it, life really is a sit-com. And we are the laugh track….

I have been known to become overly serious about issues of life and death and eternity. I get lost, contemplating the great mysteries of the universe ad infinitum, until my body tenses up in fear and apprehension. My friend, and loving catalyst, Panache Desai once said to me, “Are you absolutely willing to be laugh-out-loud giddy stupid silly funny?” That was his way of getting me to chill out and let go of the seriousness. Of course, I laughed and said yes. He has a gift for making me laugh just when I’m most intent on holding onto my suffering.

My dad used to do the same thing for me. In college, when I was experiencing recurrent late-night fears of infinity, I tearfully told him, “I don’t want to live forever, and I don’t want to be dead forever either! They’re both terrifying.” He visibly struggled for an answer that would comfort me. Finally, his Irish humor broke through, and he said, “Well, you just can’t please some people!” My existential angst was dispelled with laughter—and the love that came with it.

That’s what our friends and family do for us. They crack us up/open and shine the light in with a kind word or ridiculous joke. Laughter breaks the tension. Laughter opens the heart. Laughter is chocolate and pizza and ice cream all rolled into one. Ultimately, life is both a mystery and a sit-com. Sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud at it all!

Writing Your Soul Self into the World

Photograph © 2012 Peggy Kornegger
Photograph © 2012 Peggy Kornegger

Every time you write, you are expressing something about yourself, sending a vibration, either a faint, half-hearted one or a full-on, authentic blast of your soul self. Whether it’s an email, a social media post, or an article or book intended for publication, it is filled with your vibes—clear and forthright or vaguely uncertain. In the world of vibration and perceived intent, writing is the same as speaking. We are announcing who we are in the world with every word we utter, out loud or in cyberspace. The question is: How truthful are we when we speak/write? True to ourselves, that is.

We may write one thing but mean something entirely different, and the recipient is left confused and unsettled. We may not really know what we mean ourselves if we write impulsively or hurriedly, which is often the case in our fast-lane, multi-tasking world. Meditation teachers often tell students to take a deep breath and pause before speaking or acting in order to bring themselves into present-moment awareness. Clarity of mind and connection to the inner soul self rests in that deep breath and pause. Or at least I’ve found that to be true in my life.

If I rush through the day, speeding from one activity or conversation to another without resetting my inner focus, then I am scattered, stressed, and probably presenting that energy to those I encounter. If I take the time to breathe consciously for a minute or two and really look around at my surroundings, everything shifts into a softer, slower mode, and I have made space for my inner spirit to come to the fore. I feel more centered and grounded in who I really am at heart instead of being only half-aware, half-present in my own day-to-day life. I don’t always remember to do this, but when I do, it makes a big difference in how I experience everyone and everything. And the more I remember….well, the more I remember….

Since I’m a writer, this little piece of wisdom has been invaluable to me. Writing from the surface of the brain without involving my heart and soul makes for dull, inert content unconnected to the life force from which all creativity springs. When I write from my heart, then I experience a conscious alignment with who I am at the deepest level. Words and sentences seem to flow more easily when my heart is engaged, not just my brain. My spirit, or soul self, unique to me, steps forward into the world to express herself. I treasure that connection to my inner self.

More and more, people today understand how energy makes up our entire universe. We are energy, and our words are also energy. Why not make them truly represent who you are at the deepest level, which is love? Use language creatively, playfully, to send a loving vibration into the world. Pause, take a breath, and align the words you write with your truest self. There is no one else exactly like you on the planet, so express your unrepeatable, full-color soul self in everything you write—whether tweet or blog or email. Now more than ever, your voice is needed in the world. Together, our collective positive energy can shift everything!

Featured Article

My recent blog article, “The Real Magic Kingdom,” is currently being featured on two websites, Spirit of Change and Panache Desai: http://www.spiritofchange.org/blog/the-real-magic-kingdom and http://www.panachedesai.com/comments/the-real-magic-kingdom.

The Real Magic Kingdom

Photograph © 2013 Peggy Kornegger
Photograph © 2013 Peggy Kornegger
Last month, during the summer solstice, I participated in a very special weekend celebration called Living in the Heart of Possibility, the annual Global Gathering put together by Panache Desai and staff/volunteers. This was my third year being part of the incredible energy created by nearly 500 people gathered from all over the world (42 states, 21 countries), and it was the best yet. In Orlando, Florida, not far from Disney World, we found ourselves within a “magic kingdom” beyond anything even Walt Disney could have imagined. The magic was in our hearts—and in the connections we felt among us, individually and collectively.

In the course of three days, we had wildly diverse experiences ranging from uncontrollable laughter (Panache is very funny) to tears of release and joy. Sessions included activities that opened us up on multiple levels: yoga; improv “volleyball” with dozens of giant beach balls; full-out crazy dancing to an eclectic mix of rap, rock, kirtan, and Monty Python; ongoing sharing of life stories which often led to individual and group emotional breakthroughs (with Panache’s help); and deep inward journeys within the powerful catalytic energy that Panache transmits vibrationally. At a wonderful event on Saturday night, volunteers from our group offered free massage, Reiki, angel guidance, chakra healing, hugs, and other gifts of love to participants. Basically, we were all in an altered state of consciousness throughout the weekend—and continuing into the weeks that followed. Every small detail of life felt miraculous, every conversation deeply meaningful.

This state, filled with seemingly never-ending synchronicities and miracles, is becoming our new “normal” in the world. I have experienced it increasingly powerfully at every Panache event and every global Livestream he has facilitated online. Our lives are shifting in such a magical way that the miraculous streams nonstop now. Within this energy, in person or in cyberspace, there is a sense of profound connection and oneness—I becoming We. Inner doors open wider and wider until they fly off the hinges, and we are just in open space, expanding infinitely. Timelessness, heart-centered conscious awareness, and moment-to-moment living are not aspired to but just experienced effortlessly. During the weekend, every time I looked into the eyes of another person, there was no separation: I am You; We are One in Spirit. This is the global consciousness that is rising to the forefront of our awareness more and more as 2013 unfolds.

Unarguably, there continue to be challenging events and circumstances in the world, but there are also extraordinary human experiences in the midst of the turmoil of great change. Recent examples: the spontaneous massive demonstrations of the people of Turkey and Brazil; the U.S. Supreme Court decisions clearing the way for acceptance of gay marriage. All of it is part of the extreme polarities playing out as we move through a great shift in planetary consciousness. The hidden pain and repressed emotional density within all of us is now being experienced through to completion, and we are emerging with new clarity and lightness of being. Collectively, we are looking around and seeing family where once we saw aliens. We are stepping into a new world in which difference is embraced and celebrated instead of shunned and hated.

Don’t see it yet? It’s there, just not in the mass media or the prevailing interpretation of reality. The dominant paradigm is gradually crumbling. Look through the cracks, and you can catch glimpses of other eyes looking back. In moments of shared loss or joy, in a split second, everything shifts: I AM You. That is global consciousness, and it is our birthright here on the new Planet Earth. Soon we will have no need for Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We will be living our own magic: no kings or hollow fantasies, but real multidimensional humans expanding together into infinite possibility.

The Zen of Bird-Watching

Photograph © 2013 Peggy Kornegger
Photograph © 2013 Peggy Kornegger
If you want to develop greater inner patience and be a better listener, become a bird-watcher. If you want to learn how to remain motionless in absolute silence for open-ended periods of time, become a bird-watcher. And, if you long to experience being so centered in present-moment awareness that nothing else exists, become a bird-watcher. Sound kind of Zen-like?

More than 20 years ago, I became a bird-watcher for none of the reasons mentioned above. I loved birds, that’s all. I loved their colors, their songs, their marathon migration flights between South and North America. Everything about them was awe-inspiring. Gradually, however, bird-watching also became a spiritual practice for me. Because my interest in birds developed simultaneously with my interest in meditation, the natural similarities became interwoven in my consciousness. Both meditation and bird-watching involve focus and quiet; they also require awareness and presence. I found that whether I was sitting in meditation at home or walking meditatively outdoors in nature, my inner consciousness and my outer behavior were almost identical.

Over the years, the peace that I feel while meditating or bird-watching has brought with it an underlying joy at being alive. In fact, the distinction between meditation and normal waking consciousness has blurred for me. The practice of centering my awareness in the present moment makes all of life a meditation. And never more so than springtime in Massachusetts, when birds by the thousands fly from the tropics to mate and raise families in North America. Every year, bird-watchers eagerly anticipate the magic of this relatively small window of time when the birds are passing through in a parade of colors and sound. Why the excitement, you may wonder?

Well, to me, their brightly colored spring plumage (reds, oranges, yellows, blues, greens) and their varied spring songs are just plain thrilling to see and hear. One of the first sounds signaling the coming seasonal changes is the ringing-telephone song of the red-winged blackbird (photo above). He lifts and spreads his wings to show off his colorful wing patches when he calls. As migration begins in earnest, the songs of the wood thrush and veery fill the woods with an ethereal flute-like quality that make me feel as if I have been transported to a sacred outdoor chapel. Two of my favorite birds are the orange-and-black Baltimore oriole and the red-and-black scarlet tanager, whose saturated colors often evoke audible gasps from bird-watchers when sunlight hits their feathers. Then there are the tiny warblers, in a class all their own, with an infinite variety of markings, colors, and songs. I especially love the blackburnian warbler, whose throat radiates a deep neon-orange in the sun, and the Canada warbler, whose lemon-yellow chest and throat are accessorized with a delicate black “necklace.”

It’s each bird’s unique beauty that captures my heart and transforms mere watching into something deeper. Meditation, contemplation, Zen peace of mind/spirit—but also more than that. There have been times when a bird has landed on a branch directly in front of me and begun to sing, looking directly at me. A thread of light, of living attention, links bird and human for a moment in time. It is then that I experience that miracle of connection that makes me believe unequivocally in the familial relationship of all beings on Earth.