Being Christmas eve and all, it seemed like an appropriate topic for today.  This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He Says’, and it’s likely to be our last blog post of 2010, so I’ll add in a greeting from Marcia [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

Being Christmas eve and all, it seemed like an appropriate topic for today.  This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He Says’, and it’s likely to be our last blog post of 2010, so I’ll add in a greeting from Marcia as well:  However you celebrate it, we wish a joyous Holiday season to you and to those near and dear to your heart.

When you look like me, a lot of kids call you Santa Claus.  I’m also very fortunate to have my own Mrs. Claus.  Being called Santa may be partly because of the white hair and beard, but I still remember one day over 15 years ago when I was standing at an ATM outside (in July) wearing a headband, sunglasses, denim jacket and jeans, and a girl passing by called out, “Look mom, it’s Santa Claus!” “No, I don’t think so.” was the reply.  “Yeah, it is!”  Mom was thinking ‘Hells Angels’ was more likely, but the little girl could see through the disguise.  I also remember the first time a little one, too young to talk, walked by with his dad in hand.  As they walked away the little one began saying, “Ho Ho Ho.  Ho Ho Ho…”  His dad didn’t know what he was going on about, but we did.

However, this isn’t a post about how to look like Santa Claus, it’s about how to be Santa Claus, no matter what you look like.  And that’s something anyone can do, no matter your faith or beliefs.  The ‘father’ of the modern day Santa Claus was St. Nicholas, a Grecian man who lived in Lycia in the 4^th century.  Born to wealthy parents, they died when he was young and he was raised by his uncle.  As he grew up St. Nick was a pious man, and very generous with what he had.  He also encouraged his associates to be generous as well.  There are a number of stories about his life; this is one of my favourites…

There are many variations to this story, but they all concern a man who had three daughters, but who did not have enough money for dowries so that they could be married.  One night as he was passing the house, Nicholas threw a bag of gold through the window, enough for the eldest daughter to be married.  A year later he repeated this gift, allowing the second daughter to be married.  Another year passed, and this time the father was waiting to see who this mysterious benefactor was.  However, rather than being seen, Nicholas climbed up on the roof and dropped the third bag of gold down the chimney.  As it happened the youngest daughter was washing her stockings by the fireplace and the bag of gold fell into her stocking.

I must admit that when I related this story recently to a friend, she thought it would be better if the third daughter decided she didn’t need to be married, took the gold and started her own business, but that’s another story.

Christmas, it seems, has become all about presents.  In fact it’s become so much about presents that we drive ourselves crazy worrying about them.  We wonder what to buy for this or that person, whether we’ve spent enough or too much, whether we can buy two presents for person A and only one present for person B, and so on, and so on.  We pack malls and stores and fight our way through crowds of people all trying to do the same thing.  We do the same thing with Christmas cards, making lists of those who sent us cards last year and deciding to whom cards should be sent this year…

Now this isn’t all bad.  For retailers, manufacturers, artisans, crafts people, even transport companies, Christmas sales can make or break an entire year.  But if you’re scrambling around madly trying to sort it all out, those aren’t presents you’re buying:  they’re obligations, and obligations aren’t gifts.  I’ve been guilty of it myself, and having worked in the retail sector, I’ve been on the other side of the counter too.  So, as Christmas comes and goes this year and we descend even further into the madness of Boxing Day Week Month sales, take a moment to ask yourself ‘why’ you’re doing this.  Does it make you feel good?  If it does, great!  If you’re doing it out of a sense of obligation, then is it really worth it?

In a child’s eyes, Santa Claus is about more than presents.  Santa Claus is about magic, hope, promise and excitement.  Okay, and candy canes.  Santa Claus represents giving, but giving of ourselves as much as giving of gifts.  Santa Claus also represents sharing – sharing joy, love, freedom, commitment to family and friends, and in the end it doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, Jew or Muslim,  whether you follow Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Baha’i or Wiccan traditions or whether you’re a devout atheist, somewhere in what you believe there’s a message of ‘peace on earth’ and goodwill to everyone.  Carry the spirit of this holiday season in your heart every day throughout the year, and you too can be Santa Claus.

Love,
M&M

P.S.  Santa Claus delivers promise as much as expectation and a joyful ‘present’ moment; that CAN be delivered all around the world in one night.  And how do the reindeer fly?  Because they’ve dreamed that they can.

Gotta go… Christmas Eve is a busy night for me!

S.C.

We wrote a ‘He Says, She Says…‘ blog post a while back on ‘The Elephant in the Room‘. The ‘elephant’ in that case was money.  However, we recently rediscovered Bashar‘s talk on ‘Abundance‘, and that brought the idea back for us but in a different way.  [...]]]>

Hello Dear Reader:

We wrote a ‘He Says, She Says…‘ blog post a while back on ‘The Elephant in the Room‘. The ‘elephant’ in that case was money.  However, we recently rediscovered Bashar‘s talk on ‘Abundance‘, and that brought the idea back for us but in a different way.  Bashar defines abundance as:

“Abundance: The ability to do what you need to do when you need to do it. Period. Did you hear anything in that definition that said anything about money?”

Mike and I have both been considering the implications of such a simple concept – simple and yet radical at the same time. Though normally each of us would write about our own individual interpretations of our He Says, She Says topic, since I’ve been working full-time and away from home, Mike has been flying solo on a few of our dicussions with me reviewing and editing before posting.

Well, today the roles are reversed and it’s me doing the writing, with Mike doing a review and edit. Turn about is, after all, fair play!

So … back to our quote:

“Abundance: The ability to do what you need to do when you need to do it. Period. Did you hear anything in that definition that said anything about money?”

Two scenarios – both related to movies we’ve recently seen again: Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell and Star Trek: Insurrection. Though you may find it odd to compare these two, I do hope you’ll stay with me here.

In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray finds himself reliving the same day over and over and over again. Every morning he awakes on February 2^nd, and every night all failures (including bank robbery and death!) are wiped clean. Initially his life is mundane and boorish and his purpose for existence is to bed the character portrayed by Andie MacDowel. But after what you realize must be months of repeating the same day, (all unsuccessful in his attempts to win and woo MacDowell) he becomes an intelligent, talented and caring man, beloved by the people of the small town. Once he gets to this point in his life, he no longer seeks satisfaction from the MacDowell character – his life is rich without her. Only then does ‘fate’ intervene to bring the two of them together.

In the Star Trek movie, the people from this magical planet live rich lives well up to over 700 years – that second zero was intentional! There is no money in this society, yet everyone does anything and everything that they have ever dreamed of doing. If it is a thought or passion, they know they can do it, and they follow through on these dreams! These people are rich in talent, creativity, and self-satisfaction. Nothing stops them from completing their goals and each person in their society supports the success and achievements of all others. This year they might choose to study to become a doctor, next year might delve into pottery to the point of mastery, then tackle and perfect a new style of fabric, move on to become a chef … the options are limitless and the success to the point of mastery is a given!

In case you do not see where I’m taking this thought in relation to our topic … there is no ‘working for money’ in either movie. Bill Murray’s character finds ways to take piano lessons till he is a master pianist. He becomes a doctor and helps the people of this town in innumerable ways by caring about them as individuals – right down to the local street person who repeatedly dies every day till Murray finds a way to save his life! In Star Trek, the wellbeing of each individual in this utopian society is paramount … and the peace and beauty – both externally and internally – is tangible. Each person gives of themselves to enhance and support the community.

To consider a life of abundance without consideration of money as we know it in our society today is a radical concept! Yet as I’ve been playing with the idea of this as an option in my life, I have been finding magical scenarios popping up and providing me with physical expressions of abundance yet without the need of my having finances to ‘buy’ them.

Here are some simple examples:

* while awaiting our local library’s purchase of a book that I want to borrow in order to read, a co-worker brings her copy in for me to enjoy without having been asked – nor did we ever even talk together about my interest in it … she said she just ‘thought’ I’d enjoy it! YES!

* wanting the latest Abraham-Hicks book and CD: Getting into the Vortex yet not having the funds to provide it for myself, it arrived in the guise of an unexpected gift from a friend who claims she ordered two (bless her beautiful heart!).

* at a time when I find myself looking within to determine a healthy and contrasting perspective between my comfort in a small living space versus the more expansive and potentially labour intensive demands of residing in a larger home, a friend calls to see if we can house-sit her comparatively much larger house for 3 weeks!

Though simple examples, I think you get the idea that my life is filling up with magical expressions of abundance in marvelous ways that do NOT require the having of money as the prime prerequisite for their appearance in my life.

So let us review that quote one more time:

“Abundance: The ability to do what you need to do when you need to do it. Period. Did you hear anything in that definition that said anything about money?”

How does this quote sit with you? Where does the thought take you? Does it resonate well? Does it challenge your current concepts? Does it inspire you? I’d be delighted to hear from you … I encourage you to leave a comment below!

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

Things have been a little quiet lately here in our little corner of the ‘net, but since we have three or four blog posts to do, let’s see if we can’t change that!  This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

Things have been a little quiet lately here in our little corner of the ‘net, but since we have three or four blog posts to do, let’s see if we can’t change that!  This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He Says’, but as always Marcia gets the final edit.  I have an idea for this blog post but  I’m  having a little difficulty forming words around it; be patient and we’ll get there.

As the old saying goes, “You won’t recognize the house when you come to visit; we’ve moved.”  Actually Sunday and Monday were primarily occupied in getting our ‘stuff’ over to the new house.  Moving is nothing new for Marcia and me; so far, in the years we’ve been a couple we’ve occupied 17 different homes – together or separately.  Last summer the folks at Victoria’s Boulevard magazine asked people to submit entries of 300 words or less on the subject of ‘home’; I wrote in and told them that Marcia would say I couldn’t write anything in 300 words to save my life, but the concept of ‘home’ has been an interesting one for us.  We’ve each been planning to come here to Victoria for quite a number of years, even before we met, and we’re rather liking the idea that we don’t plan to move again.  The editors at Boulevard were kind enough to include my letter (edited for length!) in their recent 2010 Home Design Annual.

So, what’s that about moving?  Again?  Actually, this particular move is a temporary one; we’re house sitting/ budgie sitting for a friend who’s on vacation and we’re still in Victoria.  Still, it brings up some interesting thoughts.

Seth said:

“As you come into your body with all of its physical surroundings, so at birth do you emerge into a rich natural psychological environment in which beliefs and ideas are every bit as real.

“As you become more proficient at using your conscious mind, then of course you examine the beliefs that surround you, even as you question and often move out of your native environment. You may migrate to a climate in which the prevailing ideas suit you better, as well as the weather…” ~ The Nature of Personal Reality, session 649.

As I said, we’ve both wanted to come here to Vancouver Island for many years, and for several reasons.  Originally it was the pull of the ocean and the mountains, and since we have family on the mainland, we can be close to them without having to live in the ‘big city’.  In being here, we’ve also disovered that the temperament of Victoria suits us pretty well; the climate is moderate, the people are friendly, and there are some great coffee shops!  We’re quite literally surrounded by ocean, and although we’re in the city one doesn’t have to travel far to encounter the forest.

There’s one other aspect of this last ‘move’ that has intrigued me though, from a metaphysical perspective.  It’s been the ocean and the idea of living by the ocean that has played a large part in pulling us here, and yet our current apartment (blessed though it is), is at the north end of the city.  We know the ocean is ‘out there’, and a short walk to the top of Christmas Hill for example brings it into view.  But even though the ocean is only a few miles away from our place, we can’t see it and we feel, or at least I feel somewhat separated from it.  Where we’re staying now the ocean is only six houses away and across Dallas Road.  When I walk out the front door, from the front step I can see the mountains of Washington state across the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Yes, our stay here is temporary, but… Ever since I first read Seth’s suggestion of:

“You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule.” ~ The Nature of Personal Reality, session 617.

I’ve really taken that to heart.  I mean, it’s only twelve words, so there’s not a lot of possibility for misinterpretation, and yet an entire industry of books, CDs, DVDs, conferences, speakers and experts has grown up around these ideas, both offering to aid people in achieving what they desire and explaining why they haven’t been successful (and what they need to do next).

I’ve been playing with these ideas for a lot of years, and one thing that’s taken me a long time to accept is that reality creation is a developed skill.  It may not be a ‘physical’ skill like learning to walk, and yet I believe it follows many of the same patterns.  When infants learn to move, learn to sit up, learn to crawl and learn to walk, it’s an accumulated behaviour, built up over time with more than one mishap along the way.  We accept that.  When we learn a new skill, whether it’s how to dance, how to draw or how to write computer programs we start small and build up our knowledge and our skill set as we progress.  I still remember when I was first learning t’ai chi.  I felt like an elephant in ballet slippers, and I had a martial arts background.  Still, I was asking my body to move in different ways than it ever had before.  My favourite instructor approached the t’ai chi set like peeling away layers of an onion, starting with the gross movements and adding to the complexity as we went along.  There are 108 movements the first time you complete the set and 108 movements in the set years later, yet there are layers of complexity built into those movements that the beginning student can’t grasp.  When I was learning how to identify plants and animals in school, there were often very subtle clues that separated one species from another.  Not only did I have to learn a new language (for plants there are several different words for ‘fuzzy’, including downy, pubescent, glaucous and hirstute), but I had to learn how to see in new and different ways.

When we’re learning something new we expect to progress.  We understand that at times there will be frustration and at times there will be breakthrough.  It’s part of the process, and the process is really what it’s all about.  There is no endpoint, whether or not the activity produces a tangible product.  It’s not only that there’s always more to learn, but that the value is in the experience.  Value is built in to every moment.

Now, when it comes to activities and skills expressed in the physical, I’ve been willing to accept and work within those parameters, but for a very long time I haven’t been willing to accept the same ‘learning curve’ when it comes to the metaphysical.  Part of this has been tied up with ideas of ‘perfection’ and part of it was simply from the perspective that I didn’t see it being necessary.  I mean, since we are essentially infinite beings, what is there to learn?  I could accept the learning as a necessary even essential part of being physical, but I didn’t think the same rules should apply to the non-physical as well.  But there’s the kicker… since we are infinite beings who are focusing a part of our essence in this dimension of reality, then everything with which I’m involved comes from that infinite Source.  By definition there is only one All That Is.  Therefore, this process of ‘experiencing’ applies to non-physical as well as physical aspects of my existence.

But I haven’t seen it that way, and so while I’ve had desires for objects, events and experiences, I’ve been pretty rigid in my ideas of what should happen, how, and when.  I still remember one of my teachers telling me, “There is no ‘how’, there just is.”  I wasn’t willing to accept that at the time, because I had an idea that if I could learn ‘how’ to manifest the reality I desired, then the rest would be easy.  I mean, once you know how to walk, you can walk anywhere.  The process is the same even as the environment changes.

Recently, those who guide me have been reminding me that “When you change how you perceive, what you perceive changes.”  And so with that, I’ve been looking for different ways of perceiving what I’ve believed to be.  Years ago, if I set a desire for a house on the ocean and was asked to housesit for a friend, I’d have been disappointed, even angry.  From my perspective, since staying in a house by the ocean and living in a house by the ocean are both equal possibilities in an infinite future, why create one when you want the other?  Whenever I had something come to me that wasn’t exactly what I’d asked for I’d be grateful for it but I’d always circle back around to, “Why this and not that?”  Was the Universe dense?  Not listening?  Intentionally obtuse?  What did I need to learn from disappointment that I hadn’t already learned?  Old ideas…

Sitting in the office of ‘my’ new house right now, things are not exactly as I wish them to be, but a different perspective tells me that here I am closer to my goal than I have ever been before.  When I woke up this morning it was with a thought that the purpose of existence is not to learn, but to experience.  Right now I am experiencing life in a place that’s very close to my desire.  Not perfect, but close.  And in accepting it for what it is, appreciating it, I create a new pivot point whereby I open myself to even more possibilities.  It may be that in a few weeks we’ll go back to our apartment in the north end of the city while we continue to look for new possibilities.  Right now it’s equally possible that we won’t, that our stay here is a bridge to something even better, if we dare allow ourselves to look for it.  Whatever the case, all I have and all I will ever have is right now.  Right now I’m sitting in an office in a beautiful home with Bushtits and a White-crowned Sparrow sitting on the branches outside the window, and a view of the ocean from the front porch.  Life is good.

Hugs,
M&M

“Nevertheless, I feel myself growing out of myself in a certain fashion. My adopted characteristics are becoming too small and cramped to contain my new growth and development and I will move on most certainly to larger psychological quarters. It is not only the physical body we outlive, but the psychological house we have chosen.” ~ The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher, The World View of William James, March 29, 1977.

One of the Energy Medicine Cards, revealed at a crossroads in Marcia’s work day recently:

RELEASING:

Examine your beliefs. Assess your emotions. Wherever there is historical pattern, be willing to throw it out and see anew.

~ Energy Medicine Cards

It is [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

One of the Energy Medicine Cards, revealed at a crossroads in Marcia’s work day recently:

RELEASING:

Examine your beliefs. Assess your emotions. Wherever there is historical pattern, be willing to throw it out and see anew.

~ Energy Medicine Cards

It is with the prompting of this simple suggestion that our topic was chosen …

Read on…

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is a day late this week because we were off visiting our grandchildren yesterday.  Such a wonderful time for us to reconnect with family and to live in the ‘now’ that these little ones experience.   It sparked our topic for this week, the “Sweet [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

Our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is a day late this week because we were off visiting our grandchildren yesterday.  Such a wonderful time for us to reconnect with family and to live in the ‘now’ that these little ones experience.   It sparked our topic for this week, the “Sweet Innocence of Children“.

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

A desire arose within Marcia four weeks ago. An ad appeared in the employment section of the local newspaper requesting applications for a position Marcia had both the skill and the passion to tackle. She felt it a perfect job fit and a truly outstanding role. [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

A desire arose within Marcia four weeks ago. An ad appeared in the employment section of the local newspaper requesting applications for a position Marcia had both the skill and the passion to tackle. She felt it a perfect job fit and a truly outstanding role. Thoughts of moving into this role had her excited! The added advantage of a more remunerative wage than her current position offered, plus medical benefits and other perks had her submitting her revised resume with a very wisely worded, professional cover letter.

She got an interview. In fact, she was the first to be interviewed by a 3-person panel. It went outstandingly well. Marcia felt she set the bar high for all other candidates being considered. As she had been taught and because it felt right, she then sent an e-mail to all 3 interviewers the day after the interview to thank them for their time, their expressed interest and the pleasure and privilege it was for her to have shared with them and learned from them during the process.

Due to a large number of qualified candidates and a week’s unavoidable absence by one of the interviewers, there was a two week wait to hear the results. By the  Thursday of the second week, Marcia thought (at Mike’s wise suggestion) to send a  “Thanks for taking the time to interview me, I’m still interested …” e-mail to each of the 3 interviewers. She was in the midst of composing this e-mail when the telephone rang.

The head interviewer was calling, he said, rather than sending out a mere letter, to advise that the final decision was to hire someone else, however … that each of the interviewers were so impressed with Marcia that they wanted her to know they strongly request she re-apply for any upcoming positions within the same organization.

During the two week wait, Marcia found ways to honour and appreciate the employer she currently has, being grateful for the financial remuneration provided during this tough time, thankful for the colleagues with whom she is working, and pleased to be offering her skills and assistance to all customers. Marcia also focused on high vibrational thoughts, envisioned her presence within the potentially new facility and amongst the staff and saw our finances and security improving happily and healthfully. And then on Thursday, everything came crashing down around her.

As she picks up the pieces of her broken dream, we thought to tackle this issue in this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post, “When Dreams Do NOT Come True‘.

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Well, today is Hallowe’en, in this part of the world at least.  For children and adults alike it’s an opportunity to dress up in costume, to put on a mask and to go out ‘trick or treating’.  It can be fun or frightening, or maybe a [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

Well, today is Hallowe’en, in this part of the world at least.  For children and adults alike it’s an opportunity to dress up in costume, to put on a mask and to go out ‘trick or treating’.  It can be fun or frightening, or maybe a little of both.  We decorate our houses and our schools and our businesses in ways that either venerate or mock those departed, ghosts, witches and the like, and it gives us an opportunity to participate – individually and en masse – in our own ‘inversion’ rituals‘.  That covers one day of the year, but what about the other 364?  What about the masks we show ourselves and each other throughout the rest of the year?

For this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post we discuss “The Masks We Wear“.

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

It’s Monday, not Sunday (again), and this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be mostly a ‘He Says’, but as always Marcia gets the last word.  It’s a day late mostly because I’ve been avoiding writing it, but one can only put off such [...]]]>

Hi Folks:

It’s Monday, not Sunday (again), and this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be mostly a ‘He Says’, but as always Marcia gets the last word.  It’s a day late mostly because I’ve been avoiding writing it, but one can only put off such things for so long!

Before I get started I should mention that I rarely know what I’m going to write before I begin, so I’m not entirely sure where this post is going to end up.  Added to that, my mind tends to ping-pong from one thought to the next, often building bridges out of the most ephemeral connections.  Because of that, and because of the topic and the possibilities that someone might misunderstand what I’m trying to say, I thought I’d begin with one of my favourite quotes (author unknown):

“I know you think you understand what I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard was not what I meant.”

So.  How’s that for a build up?  The title for this post is ‘Only’, and it comes from something a former boss told me about thirty years ago.  I was working on contract for the federal government at the time and my boss worked for the head of the department.  It was generally acknowledged that this person (the department head) was one of the most knowledgeable people in his field anywhere in the world, and when he went to conferences and things it was often understood but not openly admitted that he was ‘only’ a technician, not a Ph.D.  Some thirty years later I’ve done fisheries and wildlife biology work in half a dozen provinces, worked for the federal government, the provincial government, private consulting firms and myself, been head of committees and attended international conferences, and I’m ‘only’ a technician too.

But see, this is where the possibility for misunderstanding comes in, because I don’t want to write about my former boss or his boss, or about biology at all, and I’m certainly not on a rant about accreditation.  What I wanted to write about is our sense of who we are, how we see ourselves, who we’ve been, who we are becoming, and how this intertwined sense of value that we see in ourselves and others often comes from the ‘résumé’ we carry around with us.  After all, I have my own.

So, let’s leave biology behind for a moment and shift to spirituality because our ‘He Says, She Says…’ posts most often have a spiritual bent.  I was looking through an e-mail the other day for an upcoming spiritual conference, and every speaker listed for the conference had their own list of qualifications and experiences.  It got me thinking about mine, such as they are:

“Mike Nelson Pedde was raised in the Catholic tradition until he was about twelve years old.  By then a burgeoning interest in science combined with a long list of questions that seemed to have no answers beyond ‘have faith’ combined to lead him away from religion completely for a period of three years.  Still, the many questions continued to accumulate within him and he set off on his own spiritual journey.  In the four decades since then, Mike has traveled far and wide in his search for spiritual understanding, both physically and metaphorically.

Having been blessed with some wonderful teachers (many of them human) along the way, he has delved into disciplines ranging from a study of many different religions including Wicca, Paganism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, ‘New Age’ philosophies and several others, parapsychology, metaphysics, quantum physics, work with crystals, channeling, healing touch, meditation, dream work, astral travel, shamanic journeying and Native Spiritual Ways of Being, to name a few.  He has been trained to both participate in and conduct sacred ceremonies from several traditions and gone on to teach others in these sacred Ways.  In his day to day life he lives with one foot in the physical and one foot in the metaphysical, often crossing over from one realm to the other…”

And so on.  Impressive, huh?  I read stuff like this and I think, “So what?”  It tells you a very little bit about where I’ve been and what I’ve done to satisfy my own curiosity and to seek to find answers to the many questions I’ve had.  It tells you perhaps that I’ve had a more diverse background than some and a less diverse background than others and that for the most part I prefer to follow my own trail.  What it doesn’t tell you is who I am at the core of my being.  It doesn’t speak to you of my essence, of the joys and triumphs and struggles and failures I’ve met.  It doesn’t tell if you if I’m loving or hateful, kind or cruel, giving or one given to finding advantage.  It doesn’t tell you what understandings I’ve gained only to surrender later on, or the many paths I began that led back on themselves.  It doesn’t tell you that so far I’ve discovered that while there are a large number of spiritual ‘Ways’, in essence they all speak to that same thing – different verses of the same song.  In short it tells you nothing about ‘me’.  Still, when we look for a ‘teacher’, when we attend a conference or a talk and specifically when we seek to attach ‘value’ to someone, we look first to their ‘qualifications’, their ‘experience’, their ‘résumé’.  I’m reminded of this poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer:

“The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.”

copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

NB: this poem became the basis for her book ‘The Invitation‘.  Well worth reading.

So, where does this leave us?  Well, what I would suggest is that you remember two things.  First, we each have one thing that no one else has ever had or will ever have – our story.  No one else will ever have your memories, your history, your dreams, ideas, ideals or desires.  That makes you unique.  If you look up unique in the dictionary it means ‘one of a kind – no basis for comparison’.  There is only and will always be only one ‘you’.  That makes you special.  Honour your own value, for you are priceless.  And second, the next time you hear someone say, “I’ve been doing this for ___ years…” ask them: “That’s great, but who are you right now?  What have you learned today?”  Listen to their answer.  Everyone has something of value to share (even the flowers and the wind).

Love,
Mike.

P.S.  I met one of my long-time friends and teachers for the first time at a Native gathering on Canada’s east coast.  One day the two of us were sitting on a blanket and talking when a young woman who knew my teacher came over to join us.  As she sat down she introduced herself and asked me, “What’s your name?”  Somewhat cockily I answered, “I’ve been given several names… which one would you like?”  My teacher looked over at me with those laser beam eyes of hers, then turned back to the woman and replied drily, “He ANNOUNCES himself.”  It was an important lesson in humility, and to this day I sign personal letters and e-mails as simply ‘Me’.

Happy Monday!

This week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post was inspired by a quote we came across recently from Andrew Cohen, who is the Founder and Editor in Chief of EnlightenNext:

“Are you a seeker or a [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader:

Happy Monday!

This week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post was inspired by a quote we came across recently from Andrew Cohen, who is the Founder and Editor in Chief of EnlightenNext:

Are You a Seeker or a Finder?

“Are you a seeker or a finder? This is a very important question. If you are on a spiritual path, have you found what you are looking for? Or are you still searching? If you are doing a spiritual practice, are you doing it to reach a goal or are you doing it just because you think it’s a good thing to be doing? Or are you doing spiritual practice from another position altogether—the position of being a finder? Being a finder means you are one of those rare individuals who has unequivocally found what they are looking for, and are now doing spiritual practice only because they want to continue to develop.” ~ Andrew Cohen

NB: This is only the opening paragraph of a longer article.  You can read the full post here.

This is a very fundamental question, and sparked different ideas for both of us.  If you haven’t already, ask yourself: are you a Seeker or a Finder?

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

This past weekend was ‘Thanksgiving’ here in Canada; it’s really no surprise that Thanksgiving comes in the fall because this is when the earth is most fully offering up her bounty.  Here on the west coast this can mean everything from an abundant vegetable harvest to [...]]]>

Hello, Dear Reader!

This past weekend was ‘Thanksgiving’ here in Canada; it’s really no surprise that Thanksgiving comes in the fall because this is when the earth is most fully offering up her bounty.  Here on the west coast this can mean everything from an abundant vegetable harvest to wineries starting up production to the salmon returning to their birth streams to spawn a new generation.

For many people the Thanksgiving holiday is associated with family get-togethers, a huge dinner and too many turkey leftovers.  That can certainly be a part of it, although our Thanksgiving this year involved dinner out at a Japanese-fusion restaurant on Saturday night, and a wonderful meal of blackened fish and root vegetables on Monday.  The turkeys were safe from us this year, although we can’t really think of turkey dinner without remembering Stuart McLean’s stories on the Vinyl Café about ‘Dave Cooks the Turkey‘, followed by ‘Dave Raises the Turkey‘.

But, as the name of the holiday implies, Thanksgiving is about more than food.  It’s about giving thanks, and we have so much for which to be grateful.  At the top of our lists, we have each other.  As of this writing we have been a couple for one month and five days shy of sixteen years and in a couple of weeks we’ll be celebrating our Eighth Anniversary of Being Married.  We celebrate each other and our lives together every day, and we’re not just a married couple – we’re also each other’s best friend.  Radiating out from ‘Us’ is our wonderful and diverse family.  Geographically separated, our family is spread out over several Canadian provinces and one US state.  Closest to us are our sons and their partners and our two grandsons and it was for the opportunity to have time together that we headed off-island on Sunday.  The boys are still small, but they grow so fast!  And yes, everyone says that.  We had a chance to see our other ‘grandson’ (great-nephew) last month when that branch of our family tree came here for a visit.  We’re also blessed with a number of friends, some of whom are new and some of whom we’ve known for decades.  We have some remarkably close friends that we’ve never met, except through the power of the internet.  We share common dreams, common aspirations and common ideals, and for us that’s what friends are really about.

Living here on Vancouver Island, we’re surrounded by an incredible beauty.  The city of Victoria is becoming ‘home’ for us, a concept  that neither of us could even envision for much of our lives.  It’s a great city, warm and welcoming and we feel lucky to live here.  With the moderating climates of the Pacific on our doorstep the (relatively) warm temperatures means that even in mid-October we have flowers in bloom.  Last winter we had snow for about 10 minutes on a Wednesday afternoon in March; it didn’t stay long.  Mother Nature may have more in store for us this year… we’ll see!

At the risk of running out of superlatives we won’t continue to list all of the many reasons we have to be thankful, but we do encourage you to discover what reasons you have to be thankful in your life and to remember that giving thanks doesn’t have to be a one-day-a-year affair.  It was Dr. Wayne Dyer (so far as we know) who first coined the phrase of living with ‘an attitude of gratitude‘.   Maintaining an attitude of gratitude means that being thankful becomes a part of every moment, every day.  This can help us heal our past, but living with such a Way of Being also means that we carry this idea with us into our future.

A recent ‘Secret Scrolls‘ message had the following to offer:

“From The Secret Daily Teachings

We can never bring anything to us unless we are grateful for what we have. In fact, if somebody was completely and utterly grateful for everything, they would never have to ask for anything, because it would be given to them before they even asked.

That is the power of Gratitude.

May the joy be with you,

Rhonda Byrne”

And finally, one idea you may wish to take up came to us from a friend of ours, Rev. Karin Wilson.  In a recent newsletter from the Centre for Spiritual Living^TM Kelowna, Karin wrote:

“This month, I took up the challenge to write in a Gratitude Journal. I did this years ago in the midst of the worst time in my life (pending marriage break-up and all that goes with that), but somehow on the path to healing, I left that tool behind.

I gave gratitude daily in my treatment work, but didn’t make a point of writing it down in my journal.

What I’m noticing now is that writing it down is not only a good practice in the moment, but good practice in the long-run. I wrote a diary for decades (literally). At that time, I turned to my diary to spew out my crap. The result was every time I looked back, it only depressed me more.

A Gratitude Journal achieves exactly the opposite. Imagine this: one year from today I’ll have page after page of great things (and small things) that have made my life worth living. And I’ll also know more about what makes me tick – what makes me grateful to be here, gives me purpose, and makes my light shine.

A Gratitude Journal is a gift we give to ourselves – not just for the moment, but for all times. I dare you to make the commitment and see what reveals itself to you!

Rev. Karin”

By the way, if you live in the Kelowna, BC area or happen to find yourself there on a Wednesday evening, Karin and some others operate a ‘Gratitude Café‘ from 7:00-8:30 p.m.  More information is available on the Centre for Spiritual Living’s website.

And so, our thanks to you this fine October day for dropping by our little corner of the internet!  We’re so glad to have you here with us!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. Stacey Kramer gave a short (3-minute) but emotionally-compelling talk at TED 2010 titled, “The best gift I ever survived“.

P.S. II, the Sequel.  Went for a walk this afternoon and came across a whole patch of crocuses in bloom.  I’m convinced that flowers in Victoria bloom whenever they feel like it.  The bees, however, didn’t care.  There were more than a dozen honeybees, a rather large bumblebee, an alfalfa leaf cutter bee, a hoverfly and even a ladybird beetle zooming around the flowers (although I’m not sure why the beetle was there – enjoying the view, perhaps).  The bees certainly appreciated the nectar, the flowers appreciated the pollination the bees were providing, and I was mesmerized by the whole scene.

Mike.