We often think of evolution writ large, as a sweeping movement across species and worlds – and so it is; but for me, my own evolution is personal, it's something I can only experience in the quality of my relation to Life, to others, and to my self. It's a spiritual evolution on every scale, writ as large as the entire planet, or as small as, well...as small as I Am.
I was asked by my spiritual teacher to visualize what balance looked like in my life. At the time, I felt very much out of balance between my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies and was out of alignment. I also was in a bad place with work and knew I needed to get back to a health balance.
Today, instead of thinking of everything you're grateful for, I want you to pay a little mind to the anomaly of existence. I have an expression that I like: "to FEEL the anomaly of existence is to be infinitely grateful".
Being thankful shouldn't be something we remember just a couple of times a year on holidays. Gratitude is a way of life. Finding something to be thankful for in every situation and experience opens our hearts, expanding our awareness of our reality and enabling us to find joy even in the worst times.
The following is a written account of what I experienced the day of the big Japan quake. I live in Takasaki, Gunma, about 300 kilometers from the epicenter, though closer than Tokyo (so close enough!). It was written on the following Monday when I had time to give an hour to recollecting what had gone down. Here goes:
Join us for a 3 day festival of fun and games, workshops and lectures exploring the many facets of land care and people care in Southern California!(more)
1ST AUSTIN GIFT CIRCLE
Held 21 Feb 2011
Facilitator: Evolver Austin / evolveraustin @ gmail.com
OPEN -
Opened floor for group to share experiences of gift circles, sacred economy, alternative currencies. Offered a few ways to proceed based on research and prior experience with sacred economies and autonomous groups in sister regions. Opened floor to suggestion.
We all need friends and family and there are no guarantees in life about our relationships. My path in life took me 100s of places including including seventy places in Hawaii over the last twenty years. While I've lost touch with many friends I am blessed to have a wonderful family of four brothers and two sisters and my parents are still alive (Dad is 83 and Mom is 80).
Can we as a collective re-frame our perspective of the Oil Spill into that of a miracle? I realized tonight that we as a humanity all co-created this event for us to come into clarity as one humanity.
A married couple seeing me for counseling a while back asked, “What do we do when things have been going great, and then we have a fight and suddenly everything looks shitty again? How do we get back to the good feeling?” The answer I gave them was not what they expected.
Thank you, Divine Mother
for this beautiful opportunity to experience the world of desire.
Thank you, for the capacities I've been given,
for the ability to see through the veils which have been placed over my eyes.
Thank you for letting me fall in love,
and for my broken heart,
without which I would not have come to realize your divine beauty.
Thank you for each day, each breath.
"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we have been waiting for." — Hopi elders
