Two Ways to Center

There are times where I am so focused on how much I thoroughly suck, or how much I loathe myself top to bottom, nothing else seems clear or possible.

One of these times was a few weeks ago, and there at the bottom of this deep pit of pity, the teacher I was working with said something very simple,

"But beneath all that, you think you are pretty great."

And she was right! Deeper and more constant than the very real-seeming complex mess of confusion, self-doubt and self-loathing is the clear bell-like tone of joyful, undeniable, simple self-appreciation.

But was this universal? This past week, I tried it out on my clients: in the midst of working out some very real-seeming, complex mess of confusion, self-doubt and self-loathing I asked, "Is there also the possibility that under all that you actually think you are pretty great?"

And the same pause that I experienced, and the same simple, clear bell-like tone of joyful, undeniable self-appreciation bubbled up.

One clear, gentle but fierce, way back to Center.

And this morning, getting up at 7am to pee, the pink and plump morning air over the view from my bathroom, bathing the valley, hills and houses, reminding me the world is a gift, always waiting to give itself to us.

What's the second way back to Center? Sweet, clear, joyful nature, guiding us back to our Nature.

Attitude

This came to me via email, but since I vow not to send these types of things along and clutter up your email boxes more than they already are, I am posting it here on my blog:

Attitude

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in
the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today?"

So she did

and she had a wonderful day.


The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror
and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

"H-M-M," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today?"

So she did

and she had a grand day.


The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed
that she had only one hair on her head.

"Well," she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."

So she did

and she had a fun, fun day.


The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed
that there wasn't a single hair on her head.

"YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"


Attitude is everything.


Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting
some kind of battle.

Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,
Speak kindly.......

Leave the rest to God(ess)


Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...

It's about learning to dance in the rain.

The Onion strikes again

I'm feeling very uninspired to write a scintillating, enertaining, meaningful blog entry this week, so I am instead including a fantastically irreverent article from the most reliable news source around, The Onion!


I'm In An Open Relationship With The Lord

By Bonnie Nordstrum, Polytheist

With Jesus as my personal Savior, I felt like I had it all. But then we hit a rough patch, and before long, I was beginning to question both my faith in Him and His commitment to me. At one point, it seemed the relationship was doomed. But I did a lot of soul searching, and together we found a solution that fit both of our needs by adopting an alternative theological lifestyle.

Now that I'm in an open relationship with the Lord, I feel a greater spiritual satisfaction than I've ever known.

It all started when I was 16 and first asked Jesus to enter my heart. It was incredible. He filled me up with His love. I'd never been redeemed before, but with Jesus it felt so right, as if the sins of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. For a while there, we were communing via the sacraments several times a week! And every night we spent what seemed like hours in long, mutually satisfying sessions of prayer. I worshipped Him.

Soon the honeymoon period ended, however. Whenever I spoke to Him, He seemed distracted and distant—sometimes I wondered if He was listening at all. Daily devotionals felt like we were just going through the motions of repetitive, meaningless dogma. A few months later, I made a potentially disastrous discovery: I found out I wasn't the only one He was sanctifying.

One day, I overheard my coworker Sally talking on the phone about how much God had helped her through her recent divorce. She said she "saw the light" after just one night with Him. At first I kept thinking, "Is she talking about the same Savior?" The next Sunday, I followed her to an unfamiliar church on the edge of town and just sat in my car for a while in disbelief. I finally walked up to the front door, but before I could open it, I heard the unmistakable sounds of ecstatic praise coming from inside. There was no denying it. I'd caught Sally red-handed, making a joyful noise unto my own special Lord.

I was devastated. How could He do this to me? Here I had let Him into my soul in the most intimate way possible, and He had betrayed our personal bond by accepting the thanks and adulation of Sally, and God knows how many others as well. I was humiliated I ever let Him wash my soul in His blood in the first place.

But I began to realize that He wasn't the only one who needed more. Hadn't I been growing tired of reciting the same old liturgy week after week? So I steeled myself with a stiff drink of communion wine, opened up my Bible, and confronted Him. In His divinely inspired scriptures, I learned that I hadn't driven Him to seek out others. He just needed to redeem as many sinners as He could to fulfill His destiny as Messiah. It was part of who He was.

If He could forgive me all of my trespasses, shouldn't I do the same for Him? He saved my soul, and now it was up to me to save the relationship. I decided then and there to start experimenting outside the boundaries of traditional monotheistic worship.

To be honest, I'd been flirting with polytheism all along by accepting the doctrine of the Trinity and simultaneously worshipping the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If I could see all three of them as viable deities, why not others? I took it slow at first. I'd always been a strict Protestant, but I started practicing some Catholicism on the side. Before long, I was meditating on the Buddha. I felt serenity coursing through my body like never before!

The Lord my God is a jealous God, and He didn't like the idea at first. He made it very clear that I should take no God before Him—but he never mentioned anything about taking one after Him! And now that I've opened myself up to exciting new spiritual experiences, our bond is stronger than ever.

I've gone to Native American drum circles, New Age channeling workshops, and Shinto temples. I hung a mezuzah over my door, and last summer I made a pilgrimage to Mecca. I even spent a weekend in a no-holds-barred, worship free-for-all with two dozen Hindu gods!

See, we have an understanding: He can save any sinner He wants, and I can worship any deity I want. But we are still together. Some may think it's strange, but I'm no longer worried about other people's unenlightened moralizing. My spiritual life is better then ever! I love God—heck, I love all of them—and I am one deeply, deeply fulfilled woman.

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/im_in_an_open_relationship_with