Metta Drum

I Am... Now What?

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Fri, 11 May 2012 03:39:00 +0000

good morning {03.16.12} | hello spring allergies by Lori Paquette

When all your desires are distilled
You will cast just two votes
To love more
And be happy.
Hafiz

There's this idea that enlightenment exists outside of "real life". That we can have so-called spiritual experiences, but inevitably we must return to the real world of work, family, relationships and all the struggles we face each day.

However, awakening to the truth of Who You Are doesn't mean you leave your life behind. It doesn't mean you move to a mountain top and exist in a perpetual state of selflessness. It simply means you walk the journey of your life with the realization of who you really are — your essential Self. Carrying that knowledge and that wisdom with you, even as you move through your daily chores and experiences.

Your essential Self is not found somewhere "out there". It's not something to strive for or work toward.

It's simply the You that exists closer than that which you can observe and label. Whatever you can observe or label, is not You. It is merely phenomena that You are witnessing. Closer than all that, is a space of pure Being, that which cannot be observed or labelled.

When you let go of all questions about yourself, all expectations, all labels that you or others have applied to you, you are left only with this subtle space of Being. A space of living presence.

What is this space, exactly?

I Am.

I Am is a constant flow of presence, an ever-blossoming newness. It's like a river, flowing continually into the Now.

No history or future, just Being.

It is an emptiness that is somehow overflowing with aliveness. Observing, flowing, arising. Being. Without expectation or remembrance, without worry or fear.

I Am just... is.

And what arises in the space of I Am? Joy. A sense of wholeness and completeness.

Lightness. Love.

Not the kind of love that attaches to someone or something, but an experience of Love radiating. It can't be described with words, really. It's kind of an experience of Oneness, a joyful feeling of Being and presence.

And yet it's not really a feeling at all.

It just is.

...Now What?

We can take the truth and beauty of I Am with us, even as we return to our mind, and all the experiences of living life.

Even as we go through our day and all its drama, we can remember the truth of I Am: We are not the drama. We are not our sadness, our anxiety, our worry, our fear. We are not the perceived flaws in our personality and our body. We are not the struggle. These are all ripples on the surface of the water — we are the Ocean Floor, observing all of this.

As you set aside the time to turn down the volume of your mind, your expectations, and your labels of Self, you become more attuned to the I Am that is always present and essential beyond them. More and more you can "return" to this space for clarity and perspective — yet you aren't really returning. You're simply experiencing the essential Self, that which always is. You, without labels and observations.

Let this be your practice. To know your true Self, to awaken to it. To know the transparency of all the dramas that unfold throughout your day, how fleeting and non-essential they are, and to walk in the freedom of I Am. Let this be your journey.

And realize that the I Am that exists in You, also exists in all others. It is our most fundamental connection. I Am is the Source that we all arise from and return to. In this, we are brothers and sisters. We are One.

May a sense of love, compassion and an intimate understanding of each other arise in You from this realization.

May you walk in freedom and joy.

And may your priorities be simply this: To love more, and be happy.

You Don't Have to Be Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:43:00 +0000

good morning {04.04.12} | under the dogwood tree by Lori Paquette

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.
Author Unknown

How often we look outside ourselves in search of a sense of completion... Believing we are too much of this, not enough of that. Believing the praise of another to be a critique of ourselves. Believing we are defined by our shortcomings.

What if we shifted our focus away from all that we aren't, and began an intimate walk alongside the One that we are?

Nurturing, developing, and loving ourselves — wholly, sacredly — cultivating the kind of confidence that only comes from realizing and embodying our own unique brand of brilliance?

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
Albert Einstein

Consider this your freedom declaration:

You no longer have to make yourself small and civilized, in the hopes of seeming more palatable.

You no longer have to judge your weaknesses by the strengths of others.

You no longer have to embody every desire in your lover's mind.

You no longer have to have everything figured out.

You no longer have to walk in a straight line.

You no longer have to feel embarrassed about your weirdness.

You don't have to be everything to everyone... you don't even have to be everything to anyone. That isn't your mission.

You can make the choice, in this moment, to release yourself of that burden and accustom yourself to the unique light of You. The wild, untamed animal spirit of You. The strange, irrational, totally absurd and magnificent beauty of You.

Own it. Breathe deeply into it. Walk in it.

Choose confidence, even if it feels shaky at first. Confidence is a journey, and it is work. It is freedom and brilliance. This is yours.

And when you lean forward into it, you'll see that all those little things about yourself that you missed before, are actually pretty damn amazing. It's OK to like those little things, and even to love them. This is how you will shine like a radiant jewel.

So show me who you are. I promise that I will do the same. And we'll light up the Universe.

Owning Your Magnificence

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Seeds of intention by Debbie Friedrich

Act in a way that assumes + activates bigness in everybody around you. Including yourself.
Fabeku Fatunmise

Own: Acknowledge, admit, allow, avow, come clean, concede, confess, declare, disclose, grant, own up, recognize, tell the truth.

There's this myth in our consciousness that the closer we stay to the baseline of "normal", the better off we are.

When I was a young boy, I remember my teachers asking me wearily, "Why do you have to do everything differently from everyone else?"

In my early 20's, my work supervisors and co-workers implored me to "stop bucking the system" and "stop trying to change the way we do things".

The thing is, I never set out to do things differently or buck the system — I only did what made sense to me. I've been hardwired since birth, it seems, to embody a perspective of the world that is challenging, questioning, and perhaps a bit weird.

Sound familiar?

I tried to be "normal". I gathered myself up and pulled myself in. I made myself small, I dulled my colors and I tempered my voice. Like most folks, I wanted to fit in. Ultimately, it was exhausting work — and looking back, I don't think I ever really succeeded, despite my best efforts. It just wasn't me. I wasn't telling the truth.

When I began the journey of unfolding into my fullness, I felt free. I stopped apologizing for who I am. I let my colors fly. I began the work of developing my voice through wisdom and insight, rather than tempering it out of shame. This is still my journey — it is a continuous process of unfolding.

Owning your magnificence isn't about ego, conceit, vanity or arrogance. It's about recognizing yourself — that raw, beautiful spirit of You — and telling the truth of who you are. It's about leaving the excuses and smallness behind you — no longer giving them the power to keep you locked into status quo.

And as you empower yourself to own your magnificence, the world will notice. And it will be inspired to do the same. Why? Because deep down, we all want to tell the truth of who we are. We all want to be free.

When you acknowledge and honor your own magnificence, you'll naturally acknowledge and honor it in others. You'll interact with folks from a place of bigness and power. What a gift, to radiate a presence that empowers and liberates others!

Today, I challenge you to stop playing small. Stop blaming everyone around you for keeping you from flying. Stop giving away your power.

Be big. Let your heart come out to play. Fly your colors like a banner. Let your spirit shine — step into your fullness and your purpose.

Take responsibility for your experience of this life and act like the powerful Creator you are!

How to Own Your Experience of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:05:00 +0000

Glorious Day :: Sunshine and Floral Bits by Lori Paquette

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.
John Maxwell

In a sense, we each live in our own private Universe — a world uniquely experienced by us.

This unique perception of the world around us is a direct projection of our current state of consciousness.

If you find that life is constantly happening "to you" (and often in spite of you), this is a signal that you aren't taking responsibility for your experience of life. It can be more subtle than this, however. Do you complain a lot? Do you find yourself criticizing people and systems on a regular basis? These are also signals.

All of these signals essentially point to the same thing: victim mentality.

In any situation, no matter what the circumstances, there is one thing you always choose: your attitude. The key to owning your experience of life is owning your attitude towards it. Once you take responsibility for your own attitude, the world begins to look very different. You become aware of yourself as the Creator of your experience, rather than the victim of it.

Being the Creator of your experience doesn't mean unpleasant things won't ever happen to you — they are a fact of life, guaranteed. It simply means you choose your reaction — and ultimately, your perception — of them.

Will you let difficult experiences discourage you or will you see the growth potential in them? Will you continue to allow your own personal status quo to reinforce your dissatisfaction with life, or will you do the work needed to improve your life? This is what owning your experience of life is all about.

Like any worthwhile journey, this is easier said than done, and it won't happen overnight. We all struggle, to some degree, with taking responsibility for our lives. I've found the following guideposts to be helpful along my own journey. Integrate them into your awareness.

Guidepost #1: Your attitude is a habit.

A habit is either reinforced or weakened by your actions in the Now, which you have full control of. Take responsibility for this fact and own your attitude in all situations. Your attitude isn't an outward display — it is an internal choice that radiates outward. Remember this.

What do you want out of life? Let your attitude reflect this. Difficult situations are your greatest ally in developing your attitude, because they challenge you to honestly bring forth what you've developed. Allow them to propel you into a higher awareness of yourself and what you want out of life.

It won't be easy. Sometimes it will be extremely difficult, and sometimes you will stumble. Accept this as a given, and remember that this is a journey, not a destination. Cultivate the habit of your attitude with love and compassion toward yourself.

Guidepost #2: All people and situations in your life point back to You.

This is the ultimate in taking responsibility for your experience of life. The world around you is a projection of You. So own that projection, and open your eyes and your heart to the root issues in You that this projection is pointing to.

Think about the patterns that keep showing up in your life — they are your teachers. Don't resist them, or they'll just continue popping up in your life. Embrace the learning experiences contained within them. All people and events in your life are teachers.

Guidepost #3: The Universe is neutral.

This means your experience of it — for better or for worse — is your own projection, your own creation. So take responsibility for what you are creating. See the seeds of your own personal development in every person and situation in your life. Choose, in this moment, to let your attitude and actions be driven by what you want to create in your life.

Ask yourself what you truly want out of life — what you want your life to feel like. Then get down to the work of creating that. This is your joy and your responsibility, and it is always your choice.

I choose a life of expansive beauty, habitual joy and adventure. How about you?

What We All Need

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:13:00 +0000

Neil Degrasse Tyson Vs Mr Piper - The Most Astounding Fact by James Piper

Life is beautiful, painful and surprising – it is so many things. Often we think we are too small for our own life – including the painful parts. But that doesn’t have to be the case. We can be big enough for our own life.
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

Sometimes the roads all disappear and the maps stop making sense. We find ourselves in the wilderness.

In the wilderness, we have a choice: We can focus on the oppression, the darkness, and the fear, or we can use the experience to know ourselves more profoundly.

Where is the intensity being felt? Where is the epicenter of it? What deeper pain is it re-awakening? There lies the wisdom. We find ourselves in the wilderness because something has triggered our own darkness to cry out, wanting to be known, wanting to be embraced, wanting to be healed.

We can resist — through denial, through self-medicating with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, and more — or we can take a good look into the darkness and find the wisdom that's there.

We spend so much time and effort trying to avoid ourselves — to mitigate ourselves, to make ourselves small, to bargain with ourselves. We hide, we cover, we deny.

What we all need... is the confidence to be ourselves. The courage to be truly free. The hard-won guts to stand up in the face of rejection, fear, uncertainty, and anxiety and simply say, "I Am" — and to let that be enough, yes — but also to allow it be beautiful. To find clarity and strength in that most ultimate of truths.

This is Self-Love Warriorship. This is Creatorship.

Confidence is having trust in our inherent qualities. It is Ziji — Brilliance. You are not thinking, but you feel completely embodied.
Sakyong Contemplation

We find confidence when we commit to the responsibility of being the Creators of our own experience of life. Perhaps this first involves removing that burden from others. Removing that expectation, that hope, that the right person will say all the right words and do all the right things, and we'll finally be happy.

When we free ourselves from that prison for the first time, we learn confidence. Trials will come again — and again, we'll have a chance to see the deeper, darker parts of ourselves reflected in others around us. Don't get discouraged or lost in the reflections. Let them point you to the truth.

The truth might be hard to accept, but it won't destroy you. It will liberate you. It will shake you up, turn your world upside down, and you might think that all of this is a cause for sadness and suffering.

But it's not. Suffering may arise, but only as an indicator, not as a final stop.

Stay with it. Explore it. Surrender into it. And I promise you, liberation will be there at the heart of it. This is your starting point of healing and growth. Your own self-awareness is your greatest treasure — don't resist it. All experiences, all perceptions, all reflections point back to You. They are all a projection of You.

So let them be the crucibles of your own Creatorship.

You have a soft spot. Contrary to popular belief, it is not where you are weak, it is the gateway to indestructible power.
Susan Piver

Step into your fullness. Let it fill up your Universe. Own that awesome responsibility — take it on as yours, and no one else's. What you seek is already within you, waiting to be nurtured and developed.

You can be free. You can be big enough for your own life.

The Great Misconception About Love

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:08:00 +0000

A spot of sunshine for your happy mind by Debbie Friedrich

Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.
Tom Robbins

Love can seem like a difficult thing. The expectations, the anticipation, the hopes, the vulnerability. All of these can be met with disappointment and disillusion, causing heartbreak.

This is the great misconception about love: That it entitles us to own someone — body, heart and mind. That isn't what love is. The pursuit of ownership over someone only creates suffering. Ultimately, it can even create a mental and emotional prison that persists long after the relationship is over.

Love isn't ownership.

The nature of love is to simply be, of its own accord. To radiate outward, to find connection, to be unconditional. To be free.

We start creating a tangled mess when we begin to impose our own fears and insecurities on someone else in the name of love. We want someone to be a certain way, to behave in a certain way, and we even want them to think in a certain way. There is nothing rational or sane about that. However, our culture is deeply rooted in the idea that is what love should be.

Our fears and insecurities can be useful indicators, showing us where some of our most profound work lies. Attempting to bury them in a relationship may seem romantic, but this is a delusion. They will live on, burning and smoldering, and eventually they will resurface. Unfortunately, this process often involves a good deal of pain and suffering for everyone involved.

True love begins in You. It becomes unconditional in You. Then, and only then, can it radiate outward freely and unconditionally. Your sense of completeness comes from the realization of your own worth — not from someone else. To put the responsibility of completing you upon someone else is a tremendous and dangerous burden.

When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on--series polygamy--until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.
Tom Robbins

What if we begin a different practice of love in our relationships?

What if we let the work of reconciling our fears and insecurities point us inward rather than outward? What if we let that work be our own work, and not pass it onto the one(s) we love?

What if we agree to love with reckless presence and wild freedom? Without timelines or ownership? Without rules or the expectation of merging into some kind of single entity?

What if instead of completing each other, we give each other the honor of enhancing our lives with beauty, richness and the kind of sparks that only come from iron sharpening iron?

Perhaps our most beautiful experience of relationship will be when we agree: My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.

Dealing with Difficult People

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:31:00 +0000

Natural mandala from the top of a juicy fruit by Debbie Friedrich

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
Sam Keen

We all come across folks who are difficult, irrational or unkind. Our first instinct may be to mirror the person, countering their negative attitude with one of our own. It's normal to feel angry, hurt, and frustrated. What's worse, is the time we spend afterward thinking about how we were treated, perhaps staying emotionally charged for hours after the encounter.

The purpose of this article isn't to show you how to turn a difficult person into someone easier to deal with, although that can certainly happen. The point here is to offer a deeper look at what is happening within you when you experience a difficult encounter, and to present a few ways of handling it in a more favorable way.

A very useful lesson is taught to us by the Buddha, who was approached by a man who verbally abused him, insulted him and offended him. Buddha was unmoved, asking the man one simple question:

"When someone offers you a gift and you decline to accept it, to whom then does it belong?"

Here we realize that the way someone treats you is their choice — the way you receive and react to that treatment is your choice. Still, there's an emotional charge that comes along with any difficult encounter, and it can be really hard not to be driven by it. Here are a few things to keep in mind to help you stay centered in the midst of this:

The way someone treats you is a projection of what's happening inside of them. Even though it feels like it's being directed at you, it's not yours, so don't take it on as yours. We can never know the heart of a person — what pain or stress they themselves might be experiencing in that moment. Getting caught up and identifying with their drama isn't beneficial. Instead, take a deep breath, create space, and let their stuff be their stuff. You don't have to get drawn into it.
Negative emotions are always the expression of a need that isn't being met. And even though you may not be able to fulfill that need, you can still choose to act with compassion. Perhaps you are both frustrated in dealing with each other. Perhaps the other person feels threatened or offended by you (even if that isn't your intention). You always have a choice: You can take the easy road and let your negative emotions drive you, or you can take a mental step back and become the observer of your emotions. Then, you can act consciously.
Instead of mirroring their negativity, be an ambassador of grace. Forget the idea of "killing them with kindness", which I believe is nothing more than a passive aggressive way of mirroring their negativity. Instead, offer a word of kindness or encouragement. Offer a sincere compliment. A kind, gentle word can immediately transform a bad attitude and, in some cases, it can transform a life. I can vividly remember times when I was shown grace that was totally unwarranted. It opened my heart, and it changed me.

Sometimes, showing grace can be as simple as just letting something go — resisting the urge to call someone out, or point out what they're doing. Letting it go can be immensely transformative for you as well as for them — see, most of the time, folks know when they're acting out of line. When they see that you are choosing to let it go instead of firing back at them, it clears a space for them to rethink their own behavior. Sometimes, this little bit of space is all they need.

Remember, it's not about teaching them a lesson or ensuring that they understand the folly of their ways. It's about you rising above the situation and walking the path of your own growth and development. If your light just happens to have a transformative effect on the other person, well that's pretty awesome, don't you think?

Last But Not Least...

None of us are rational and fair 100% of the time. We all have moments when we just don't have the patience or the mental/physical fortitude to treat others nicely. Ask yourself how you'd like to be treated during times like these, and keep it in mind.

There are many layers to us humans, far more than the ones that bubble up to the surface from time to time. Let's practice being a mirror of the highest potential in each other. Showing each other that, despite bad attitudes and poor ways of communicating, we still see a heart that beats deep inside, a heart that longs for peace and unconditional love.

Holding Up the Mirror of Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Newness by Daniel Collinsworth

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever been around someone who made you feel really good about yourself? Not through words of simple flattery, but through a genuine quality of their presence that just seemed to magnify the good and beautiful aspects of You?

It's truly inspiring to be in the presence of someone like that. Someone who shines a bright, loving light on your potential, and reflects a glimpse of who you are underneath all the filters of fear and yuck that we tend to see ourselves through.

Now... what if you could be that mirror for others?

Seeing the best in others, reflecting their awesome back to them. Nurturing their brilliance, their gifts and their dreams. Inspiring them to see beyond the yuck, and shift their focus toward owning their beauty and their magnificence. How would that change not only their world, but yours?

Here are a few ways in which you can cultivate a habit of holding up the Mirror of Awesome:

See the Sacred. I wrote about seeing the sacred in one another last week, and it is an essential aspect of holding up the Mirror of Awesome. When you choose to perceive someone as an event — a sacred phenomenon — your whole perception of them transforms. Seeing the sacred in others transcends all surface judgments and acknowledges the brilliant, magnificent Being that they truly are. And what a beautiful gift, to reflect someone's sacredness back to them. To show them a reflection of themselves that they've possibly never seen before.

Be a Wellspring of Encouragement. Being generous with words and acts of encouragement makes others feel seen and validated, and can uplift them to a higher state of awareness. Let it come from an honest place — shallow encouragement doesn't reach deep into the heart of a person, but sincere, meaningful encouragement is like water to the soul.

Be an Ambassador of Grace. This is simply showing unconditional loving-kindness, even when it doesn't feel easy to do so. It's about having an attitude of kindness that transcends the tone of a situation. Grace opens the heart. It shows others that you see their potential, not their faults, and this is healing and inspiring.

As we choose to be mirrors of the highest potential in others, we create a space for healing and transformation — not only in them, but in ourselves. Imagine how the world might change as we begin to see each other in this way.

Seeing the Sacred in One Another

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:47:00 +0000

good morning! {01.19.12} | gratuitous beams by Lori Paquette

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
Rumi

Cultivating a profound, compassionate respect for folks goes beyond feelings and attitudes. We can enjoy a deeper experience of connection with others through a simple shift of focus.

The Phenomenon of Being

I've found that when I see someone not as just a person, but as a phenomenon — an event happening right in front of me — my perception of them changes radically. All at once I am aware of this masterpiece of wild energy. I become attuned to a deep river of emotions, wants, needs, passions. I realize that I am experiencing something unique and amazing.

All I'm really doing is looking beyond preconceived labels and judgements, which have a way of dulling our experience of the world. Just a tree. Just a flower. Just a person. We create these labels over time and become jaded to the true wonder of the world around us.

When we shift our awareness of one another to the event of each other, we no longer rely on a "feeling" of compassion / kindness / oneness to arise in us, because now we realize we are witnessing something very special. Something sacred. As we attune to the phenomenon of being in one another, tapping into that wellspring of holiness, it is natural to feel a deeper sense of connection.

It is a joy to experience folks in this way. In my experience with this, I can almost see an aura of energy around a person, circulating and radiating like golden threads and sparks. My sense of empathy increases. I feel that I am truly seeing them, and we are not so different.

As we learn to see the sacred in one another, and cultivate a sensitivity to it, perhaps our world will begin to change. Perhaps we will become less irritated, less troubled by the presence and actions of others as we acknowledge our essential connections. Our common drives.

Our desire for a life of peace and our need to love and be loved, and all the joys and pains that live in-between.

9 Ways to Be Gentle with Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:13:00 +0000

Dreamcatchers by Media123

If you took a blue spruce tree and planted it in the desert, it would obviously perish. How do we forget that we too are living systems, and each of us have unique environments, needs, and conditions within which we flourish or wither?
Dawna Markova

Creating a habit of gentleness toward yourself is not only a healthy, consciousness-raising practice for You — it also cultivates an authentic sense of gentleness toward others. Here are some of my favorite ways to recharge, refresh, renew and realign myself with gentleness:

1. Pay attention to the tone of your self-talk. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to shift your state of mind. What "tone of voice" are you talking to yourself in? Is it aggressive, impatient and unkind? Become aware. Take a deep breath and change your mental tone. How would you talk to a close friend, suffering from stress and frustration? Let your self-talk be kind and gentle in this way.

2. Give yourself a break. Step away for a few minutes, or simply allow yourself to slow down. Give yourself rest and relief. I call this balancing nearness with distance. If I'm working for a long time staring at a computer monitor, I give myself a break to go to a window and gaze off into the distance. If I'm feeling drained from being around a lot of people, I give myself some solitude. Take time to balance your obligations with periods of rest.

3. Get up, forgive yourself and keep walking. Replaying an event in your mind over and over again, wishing you had done it differently, is robbing you of your joy. Let your heart and mind know rest. Ask yourself what you've learned from the experience, let go of the guilt and the regret, and move forward. Life is a journey, don't stop at the root you tripped over. What's done cannot be undone. Let it propel you into a higher state of consciousness, instead of keeping you a prisoner of the past.

4. Eat consciously. In times of difficulty, it can be tempting to eat comfort foods that aren't very healthy. Keep in mind that the comfort these foods bring is very short-lived, and likely followed by a crash or depression of some sort. Nourish yourself with healthy foods that naturally boost your energy and elevate your mind. Raw fruit and veggie smoothies are a perfect example. Leafy greens, citrus fruits and powdered maca root are some of my favorite energizing, mood-boosting foods.

5. Treat yourself. Do something nice for yourself. Give yourself a gift. Spend some quality time doing something you enjoy. This will renew your heart, your mind and your attitude.

6. Acknowledge your needs. Are you hungry? Eat. Are you tired? Rest. Are you burned out? Do something enjoyable and invigorating. Attune yourself to what your heart, your body and your mind are telling you that you need. Make yourself a priority.

7. Stop worrying and create solutions. Whenever I catch myself worrying about something, I take a mental step back and ask myself what solutions are available. Is there anything I can do to improve the situation? If so, I take note and put a plan into action. If not, I must let it go. Worrying is an energy vacuum that accomplishes absolutely nothing in and of itself, other than holding your mind captive. Do your best — that's good enough.

8. Yoga. For me, yoga is meditation, deep breathing, release, energy, emotion, connection, lightness, endurance and absolute satisfaction, all rolled into one. Lying on the floor after an hour of vinyasa yoga, exhausted and drenched in sweat, I become consumed with a radiating sense of love and completeness. I lie with it and I savor it. My body, heart and mind feel completely renewed. I highly recommend this practice.

9. Breathe. Becoming conscious of your breath is one of the single most transformative things you can do for yourself. Notice your breathing pattern during times of difficulty and stress. Take a deep, slow breath. Do this as often as it comes to mind. Regulating your breath is an excellent, effective way to take control of your mental and physical state. Slow, deep breathing is immensely relaxing, and activates your body's natural stress-fighting response. So breathe, my friend!

I hope that you find these tips useful. What are some of your favorite self-gentleness practices? I'd love for you to share them in the comments!

Finding Liberation in Your Shadow

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Sun-set Bunting by Robyn Woolston

To live without the creative potential of our own destructiveness is to be a cardboard angel.
Sheldon B. Kopp

Your Shadow. A name for those unconscious aspects of yourself that you either deny, resist ownership of, or simply aren't aware of.

We all have one. And as long as we aren't taking ownership of it, our shadow is right there behind the scenes of our daily lives — directing our actions in ways that cause suffering and frustration in ourselves and others.

Your shadow can manifest itself in those destructive patterns that leave you thinking, "Why did I do that again?" And if you've noticed that you typically react with negativity around certain types of folks and situations, there's a pretty good chance that your shadow is the driving force behind that.

That feeling of "Everyone around here is crazy except me!".... yup, probably your shadow speaking. Bummer, eh?

Becoming aware of your shadow is the beginning of a very powerful, very edifying journey of personal development. Not only can you grow immensely from it, but your new insight will increase your compassion and empathy towards others as well. You will understand that their shadow is not very different from yours.

This simple exercise will help you to uncover several aspects of your own shadow:

Write down the names of 5 people in your life who tend to elicit negative feelings and reactions from you. Next to each name, write the quality that makes them so difficult to deal with. For example: Control freak, Angry, Emotionally unstable, etc.
Contemplate each quality that you've identified. Acknowledge that your strong reaction to these qualities means that they also exist within you. You react strongly to them because you are unconsciously at war with them within yourself.
Ask each of these negative qualities what purpose they are serving in your life. What hidden hurts are they pointing to? What can you learn from them?

When I first did this exercise a few years ago, the answers I got were surprising and slightly terrifying, but ultimately enlightening and healing. Answers like:

"My anger arises when I feel that I'm not being heard or acknowledged. The source of this is a lack of self-worth, which I'm looking to fulfill through the validation of others."

This was just one of several revelations that rocked me to my core. I found that some qualities didn't make sense at first, until I realized that I'd unconsciously pushed them so far down below the surface that I didn't recognize them. But once I accepted them, connected with them, and began communicating with them, I was able to clearly see how my life was being driven by them. More importantly, I was able to begin the work of healing the root issues that they were pointing to.

In addition to all of this, I've noticed that my attitude towards those who really irritate me has begun to change. Instead of focusing on the negativity I feel, I see that it's really my own reflection that is irritating me. This shows me where my work and my healing lie, and there is liberation in that.

Are you ready to shake your world up? To begin the work of digging deep into your own darkness?

Give this exercise a try. Your growth, your healing and your freedom await you there.

Stop Searching, Start Being

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +0000

Beauty Freedom & Light by Daniel Collinsworth

No single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

There is a tendency in all of us to search for what we feel is missing in our sense of Self. Many of us have a concept of an idealized, perfected Self, which we set as our standard. We then spend our entire lives searching for ways to fill the emptiness of what is missing — searching for happiness because we aren't happy, searching for beauty because we aren't beautiful, searching for freedom because we aren't free.

Yet we keep coming up short – always flawed, always incomplete, never content with who we are.

The reason for this, is we are searching "out there" for a completed sense of Self — in material things, superficial appearances, other human beings, careers, religion, and so on. And, sadly, none of these things can ever fulfill us completely. As long as we are focusing on them, we are distracted from facing ourselves. The emptiness is still there.

So what is the solution?

Let's shift our perspective a bit. Instead of starting from a space of "I'm not" or "I don't have", what if we begin with the understanding that what we are searching for already exists as a seed within us? Our work, then, becomes nurturing and nourishing that seed to grow into a mighty tree.

To make a tree grow, it is useless to go around searching for "tree-ness" to give to it.

You can't show it other trees and say, "Be like that!"

You can't show it birds and squirrels and say, "They're waiting for you! Hurry up and be a tree!"

You can't take it out of the ground, put it in a box, and say, "When you start growing, I'll reward you with earth and water and sunshine."

To make a tree grow, you have to plant the seed in fertile soil. You have to nourish it with water, sunshine and nutrients. You have to protect it from outside forces that can damage it. You have to stay committed to this over time. Only then can it become strong enough to stand on its own and be what it's meant to be.

And so it is with you.

You are not incomplete, and there is nothing you must search for. You only have the work of nurturing and developing those aspects of You that you feel driven to bring forth. They are already present within you.

Nurture them in the fertile soil of self-love, which comes from realizing the truth of who you are.

Nourish and protect them with quality time, loving acts, encouraging self-talk, and supportive relationships.

Remember that the work of becoming is a process, and it takes time. You must honor the process and you must honor yourself. Commit to yourself and the work of your development, the way you would commit to raising a mighty tree from a seed in the ground. No shortcuts, no quick fixes, no substitutions.

Just do the work.

And that search for the perfect You? Leave it behind you forever.

The Story You're Telling Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:52:00 +0000

Driftwood by Luke McGuff

The inner speech, your thoughts, can cause you to be rich or poor, loved or unloved, happy or unhappy, attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.
Ralph Charell

Every day, all day long, there is a story unfolding in your mind. It's the story you're telling yourself about who you are, and what your world is all about.

What kind of person are you in this story of yours? If you were reading about this character in a book, what would you think about them? Would you like and respect them?

I used to know a woman who was one of the sweetest, most gentle people I'd ever met. She was very accommodating, gracious, and easy-going — except when it came to herself. Whenever I heard her talk about herself, she always used words like "stupid", "forgetful", and "all over the place".

I never once heard her talk about herself in a positive way. Whenever I gave her a compliment or told her something I appreciated about her, I could almost see my words bouncing off of her — she'd immediately counter them with a combination of thanks and disagreement.

This sometimes led me to wonder whether her compassionate way with folks came from a place of authentic love, or merely from a sense of duty. The words she spoke about herself didn't reflect a very loving inner world.

I think we do ourselves (and ultimately, the world) a devastating disservice when we aren't conscious of our own inner story. This story is what shapes our self-image over time. It creates our worldview. And yet, we tend to be very careless in the telling of this story.

Today, I ask you: what kind of story are you telling yourself? Is it a story of resilience, beauty, and adventure? Or is it a story of loneliness and pity? Is it a story of you against the world?

If your story isn't serving you — if it's not continually boosting you into a higher space of being — then I encourage you to begin paying attention to the words and phrases you find yourself thinking on a regular basis. Take note of them, and begin to trade the destructive ones for productive ones.

Instead of tearing yourself down and reinforcing a negative self-image, try encouraging yourself. What would you say to a close friend in need of encouragement? What adjectives, nouns and advice would you speak to them?

Why not speak those same words to yourself?

Today, I invite you to take responsibility for your self-image. You, and you alone, generate the story that tells you who you are. So why not make it a beautiful one? Why not build a habit of encouraging yourself, being playful with yourself, having a sense of humor with yourself?

Why not tell a story that inspires you to be your best You?

If you celebrate your differentness, the world will, too. It believes exactly what you tell it—through the words you use to describe yourself, the actions you take to care for yourself, and the choices you make to express yourself. Tell the world you are a one-of-a-kind creation who came here to experience wonder and spread joy. Expect to be accommodated.
Victoria Moran
{ Lit from Within: Tending Your Soul for Lifelong Beauty }

Have you already begun the journey of changing your story to better serve you? What steps have you taken that have worked for you? I'd love for you to share in the comments.

We Can Agree

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Cliffs of Panther by Sathish J

The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.
Deng Ming-Dao
{ Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony }

I think one of our biggest challenges in day-to-day life can be communicating with people whose perspectives are very different from our own. It's natural for feelings of agitation and even hurt feelings to arise when our wants/needs aren't met in the space of an interaction, or when we get an unexpected response that doesn't match our view of a situation.

Some examples of this might include:

Your words/gestures being dismissed or misunderstood
Your work/actions being unexpectedly criticized
Feeling unsupported, especially regarding something that's important to you
Dealing with someone whose expectations of you are unreasonable
Dealing with someone whose actions or response to a situation seems absurd

In all of these situations, we feel a sense of frustration because a disconnect is occurring between what's happening and what we feel should be happening.

And it's our tendency to blame this disconnect on the other person, isn't it? If they would just be more reasonable, or listen more closely, or just be supportive for once, everything would be fine! Sound familiar?

But here's the truth:

Everyone is doing what makes the most sense to them. Even if it seems completely nonsensical to us, the other person's actions make perfect sense to them — they are just operating with a different synergy of perception, past experience and communication tools.

That person speaking to you in an obnoxious way? Their own needs — however different from yours — aren't being met. This may or may not have anything to do with you, personally. Sometimes folks project their own drama onto others. Sometimes they just need to know they are being acknowledged.

That person being overly critical of you? They themselves have been harshly criticized throughout their lifetime, and they are probably harder on themselves than they are on you.

That loved one who is being unsupportive? Perhaps they have conflicting feelings about the situation, or maybe they just don't know the feeling of being nurtured with support from others.

So... how do we deal with this?

We can navigate all of these situations by releasing our need to be "right" — by letting the experience of others be their experience, and realizing there is no need to "correct" them for it. There is no need to superimpose our perception onto someone else's — just as we come to every situation with our own lifetime of experience, so does everyone else.

You don't have to involve yourself in a battle of perspectives. Just do your best, and let the rest flow past you. Don't take on anything that isn't yours. Let your patience and loving-kindness be an example.

This is operating from a place of personal power, rather than giving your power away to others. By exercising grace and understanding in our communication with others, we don't get pulled into unnecessary drama. We begin to create a habit of flowing more easily. We develop a greater sense of empathy.

A good way to quickly find that space of power and kindness in the midst of a challenging interaction, is to say to yourself:

We can agree.

Think these simple words in your mind the very moment you feel that tension pulling at your emotions. This will put you in "us" space rather than "I" space, and will serve as a reminder that grace and understanding are in order — that it's OK to let someone else's perception be their own. It's OK to let go.

We can agree doesn't mean you agree with what they are saying or doing. It simply means you agree to release the need to win, to correct, to control, to dominate. You agree to let their stuff be their stuff, and let your stuff be your stuff.

And when We can agree reaches you on deeper and deeper levels, you will begin to notice an evolving sense of loving-kindness towards others, where you only felt frustration before.

It is a worthwhile journey that you can begin today.

The Healing Power of Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Sunrise at the Mittens by Laura Gooch

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart

I've recently begun a practice of being thankful for little things throughout the day, and ending each day with gratitude for at least 5 people or events that happened that day. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it is changing my life.

Something very special happens when you focus your awareness on gratitude. Your mind illuminates. The tension in your body eases up a little bit. The Now becomes free-flowing and a sense of joy unfolds.

This is because gratitude is an acknowledgment of Oneness. It's a way of connecting to Oneness in a very intimate way. Think about something right now that you are thankful for, and notice how present you become. The feeling of lightness radiating from your center. The feeling of love and connection.

Now, imagine going beyond what you are accustomed to, and bringing gratitude into the center of your day-to-day awareness — making it a way of living.

Being thankful every time you get into your car, or every time you walk into your place of work. Every time you sit down to eat something. Every time you lay down to sleep in your bed at night.

You can even create space throughout your day and just be thankful for being alive — whenever you are waiting at a stop light, for example. Any moment in your day can be enhanced with space for gratitude, and taking a deep breath at the same time is even better. This practice will radically transform your outlook on life.

Studies have shown that a daily practice of gratitude — where you take time each day to focus on what you are thankful for — increases happiness and well-being, and nurtures a more optimistic outlook. It also reduces the presence of stress and disease in the body. Gratitude affects every layer of our being in a positive way.

I can tell you from my own experience with this practice, that it works. I enjoy more frequent moments of joy and completeness. It has also helped me immensely in dealing with stressful, challenging moments. Gratitude has a way of breaking up a wall of negativity into much smaller, more manageable bits.

Here's my challenge to you: Starting today, begin creating space throughout your day for gratitude. Say a quiet "thank you" out loud or in your mind whenever one of your needs or desires is being met, whether it's through the kindness of a friend or a coffee pot making your morning cup of coffee. Be thankful for the good things in your life, big and small. Let gratitude become a regular part of your day — a way of living.

Life just feels better when you're thankful.

The Great Lesson of Loneliness

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Silent Valley by Jule_Berlin

To transform the emptiness of loneliness, to the fullness of aloneness. Ah, that is the secret of life.
Sunita Khosla

I have known loneliness for most of my life.

For so many years, it consumed me like a wild fire. The more I reached out to others to quench my loneliness, the more intensely it burned. I didn't fit in. My words never came out quite right. My gestures went misunderstood. And love, for me, was always a confusing and unfulfilling thing.

Throughout my 20's I explored spirituality, subculture and relationships in an attempt to find that magic connection — the kind of connection that would make me complete. And yet my loneliness persisted in the midst of all of it.

It wasn't until I stopped pushing my loneliness away and sat with it that I began to understand its purpose, and began a different kind of journey.

I've found that loneliness is not something to be avoided or covered up, even though this is typically how we humans try to deal with it. Once you understand that loneliness is a teacher, pointing you inward where you are accustomed to looking outward, it becomes possible to transform it into something altogether different and beautiful.

The only solution for transforming that uncomfortable loneliness into fulfilling aloneness is self-love. There's just no other way around it. Without self-love, you look to others for validation and approval. You externalize your power. You wait for outside signals to let you know that it's OK to accept yourself, to love yourself, to be yourself.

You could say that this is loving yourself vicariously through someone or something else — whether it's a relationship, an ideology or a dogma that isn't in alignment with your truth. And the nature of this sort of artificial self-love is that it can never fulfill you. At most, it can only satisfy you momentarily. Loneliness will always be present where self-love is absent — sometimes murmuring quietly in the background, and sometimes weighing heavily upon you.

This loneliness is not your enemy. It is a compass, showing you that you've been looking in the wrong direction. And it's always pointing inward, because that's the only place in the Universe where you'll ever find the acceptance you're looking for.

Of course, we need the company of others. This is a natural human drive. But how much more fulfilling our relationships can be, when we approach them from a state of wholeness and self-acceptance! Already complete, already loved from within!

This is a worthwhile journey that you can begin today. Start by saying it out loud: No one in this world can ever give me more than I can give myself. Take hold of that understanding and let it empower you. Begin turning your focus inward — accepting yourself, loving yourself, validating yourself.

My journey in the transformation of loneliness has been both fulfilling and challenging. There's nothing easy about learning to stand strong in your own self-love. I still experience moments of intense loneliness, and I sit with it. I let it show me where I have room to grow in my self-love.

Once you begin this process in earnest, you'll find that when approval and validation do come to you from others, it feels beautifully complementary rather than vitally necessary. In time you'll discover that the burning loneliness that once consumed you is becoming a lush, fulfilling aloneness.

And, perhaps for the first time, you'll find yourself enjoying the breath-taking view from the top of that mountain, where you once only saw distance and emptiness.

Letting Go of What You Are Not

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

main building peeling paint by Matt Johnson

We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us.
Jean-Paul Sartre

Lately I've been exploring this idea of transformation as letting go. Letting go of what I no longer resonate with, and nurturing the deeper "me" underneath all that, instead of trying to patch myself up in an attempt to become something new and improved.

Scraping the layers of paint and dirt off of the mirror, so to speak.

I think we lose sight of who we are when we find ourselves identifying with the paint and the dirt. We think all those layers of "stuff" define us, and then we feel defective. So we try to become less of this, and more of that.

In this way, we continually create a distorted, unsatisfying sense of Self.

You won't find any long-term solutions in the less of this, more of that approach. Instead, consider the idea that the You you've been searching for is already present within you, just waiting for conscious connection. Let go of the idea that you need fixing, because deep down, you aren't really broken. You've only taken on layers of concepts, habits and dogmas that aren't serving you, and certain basic needs have gone unmet for awhile.

So begin to strip away those layers that you've built up over the course of your lifetime and discover the truth of who you are.

For example: Instead of trying to be less argumentative and more understanding of the viewpoints of others, simply let go of the need to always be right, the need to win. Underneath that, you may discover a fear that you aren't being heard, a fear of being invisible and unimportant. This fear may reveal the need for a very specific type of self-love — and once you understand where nurturing and healing are needed, you can begin your work of letting go at the source.

That's just one example, but it illustrates the process of letting go of the outermost layers of "stuff" and revealing the deeper issues underneath, where you can discover your root needs and begin to nurture them. This is where true healing and transformation take place. This is where your higher Self is waiting to emerge.

This will not be a comfortable process. You may stir up some scary, negative stuff. You may experience some very unpleasant awakenings that shake you to your core. But on the other side of this discomfort and this work, enlightenment and healing are possible.

It won't be easy, no. But it will be worth it.

Begin the process of letting go of what you are not, and uncovering your neglected/abandoned needs. Nurture and clarify your true Self in this way. The process of transformation is really a process of discovery and refinement of who you truly are.

Today, you are not asked to change in order to become a better version of yourself. You are free to simply let go of what isn’t You. Free to let go of what isn’t magnificent and beautiful. Free to delight in the nakedness of You. The beauty and excellence of You. The fullness of You.
{ Today, You Are Free }

As I Am, So This World Is

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:28:00 +0000

Grenadier Pond by Wanda Gould

The world I see all around me

Is the world that is inside me

And as I am slowly becoming

So the world is slowly becoming around me.

I cannot look outside for a way, a teaching,

Because I only see reflections of myself.

Only when I am silent and still

Do I glimpse the truth of Being.

As I Am

So this world is

And so I understand —

There is no outside in this Universe.

Everything is inside.

My Enemy is My Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Reflections by Danny Plas

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you.
Buddha

Who is your enemy?

The one who talks down to you and criticizes your work? The one who treats you carelessly? The one who puts obstacles in your path and makes your life more difficult?

Perhaps you sometimes see an enemy in your friend, or your lover, or your co-worker. The distinction can be blurred, at times. We can all be many things to many people.

We can even be an enemy to ourselves.

Where we see an enemy, we essentially see one thing: resistance.

Resistance creates a disturbance in our sense of peace. We have developed defense mechanisms to counteract it: shutting down emotionally, strong-arming our will through abrasiveness, argumentativeness, violence, manipulation and more.

This process of pushing back gives us a sense of victory, because we have grown accustomed to perceiving outside resistance as a threat to our sense of self. We meet that outside resistance with our own brand of inner resistance in order to re-establish a status quo that feels comfortable.

Unfortunately, this is nothing more than a self-reinforcing cycle in which long-term growth and transformation are forfeited for short-term ego satisfaction, rooted in the belief that if we don’t push back, we will be defeated.

Now, let’s unravel that belief and expand our view.

Without outside resistance, we cannot grow – we remain in a static state. So it follows that meeting outside resistance with inner resistance is counteractive to growth. It simply becomes a battleground of will, where no growth takes place – only the repeating of existing patterns.

True transformation occurs when we choose to meet resistance with acceptance.

I call this victorious acceptance – when I accept that I am responsible for my attitude and my actions, in the face of resistance from someone else. I do not pass this responsibility onto them. I stand strong in my own sense of stillness and peace.

And where I don’t stand strong, I know that is where my work lies. I accept this lesson with gratitude.

In this way, those who put resistance in my path are not my enemies – they are my teachers. They hold a mirror up in front of me, reflecting my blind spots and my weak areas. They show me where I have work to do. I choose to meet them with acceptance and conscious action.

I choose gentleness. I choose kindness. I choose peace. I choose love.

This is a far cry from defeat. This is, in fact, the ultimate victory: the victory over yourself. Here, you have transcended a layer of the story-telling ego and expanded into a state of liberation. Here, you have empowered yourself to act consciously and compassionately, because you aren’t locked into a game of me vs. them.

And here, there is revolution and growth.

Isn't this worth letting your feathers get a little ruffled? Isn't the potential for this kind of transformation worth welcoming those experiences that shake you and challenge you?

I encourage you to see the light of your own personal development within the adrenaline and emotion of negative encounters. To see that there is a facet of yourself in your judgments of others, and a powerful lesson in that which you feel compelled to resist.

Victory is calling your name. What will your answer be?

2012: Theme & Upcoming Offerings

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Sunrise by Tones Photos

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Andre Gide

As I sit here at my laptop with a steaming cup of peppermint tea steeping beside me, only a few days remain in the year 2011. It has been a beautiful year.

I started this blog on January 1st of this year. I had no idea how much it would change my life – the lessons I would share and explore here, the amazing people I would connect with, the dreams that would take root in my heart and mind.

I didn't go into 2011 with any particular themes in mind, but as I look back and reflect upon the year, I can see that self-love was a major theme. Healing, too. Release. Life purpose discovery & alignment. Gratitude. All of these.

For me, 2012 will be a year of mental, emotional, physical & spiritual development, stepping out of comfort zones, and taking my message beyond the pages of this blog.

I'd like to share my goals with you today.

My Theme for 2012: Gentleness

I chose gentleness as my theme for 2012 because it has been one of my most challenging lessons. I've spent a lot of my lifetime being defensive, impatient, critical and gruff. Part of my journey now is learning how to express myself authentically and concisely, with gentleness. It doesn't always come easily for me, but I feel irresistibly drawn to it. Like it's the doorway to a deeper, more brilliant experience of being.

I intend on gentleness serving as my approach to all experiences, lessons, challenges and relationships. Consciously developing and refining myself in gentleness. Being an ambassador.

Goals & Upcoming Offerings

In 2011, my blog posts were somewhat sporadic. Sometimes I posted several times a week, and sometimes I didn't post anything for months. I've discovered that posting once a week is a pretty good speed for me, and my goal for 2012 is one post every Thursday (as well as every other Tuesday at Kind Over Matter and once a month at The Goddess Life).

I'll also go beyond blogging in 2012 with audio, video, online and in-person offerings:

I'd like to make videos a regular part of Metta Drum.
A guided meditation journey CD is currently in development.
I have ideas for several e-books, which I'll be offering for free.
A few e-courses are in the works.
Workshops in Northern Virginia, DC & Maryland... perhaps some other places, too?
Some surprises along the way...

2012 is going to be an awesome year.

A year of fulfillment. A year of healing. A year of freedom. A year of brilliance. I can only imagine the amazing people I will meet, and the lessons and victories that will be experienced. The new things I will learn and the new places I will go. The challenges. The joy. The love. All of these life-changing experiences waiting to be known in the coming seasons.

I am ready. Are you? What will you be creating in 2012? I'd love for you to share in the comments.

Thank you for being a part of this most wonderful, beautiful, awe-inspiring journey.

A handful of pine-seed will cover mountains with the green majesty of a forest. I too will set my face to the wind and throw my handful of seed on high.
FIONA MACLEOD

The Art of Gentle Speaking

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:26:00 +0000

Photo by Danikapierce

A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Biblical Proverb

Thoughtful, soothing presence.

Take a moment to let that imagery develop in your mind.

How does it feel? What does it look like? What does it sound like?

I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

So often, we speak to each other with haste and self-interest. We react to negativity with negativity. We speak abruptly. We let our own mental and emotional storylines command our way of thinking and speaking.

There is freedom – although it is challenging to walk in, at first – in taking total responsibility for how we speak to others. To let our words and demeanor be proactive, rather than reactive, in the presence of negativity or intensity. To be a calm presence in the face of someone else's drama.

It helps to remember that when someone comes to you with any kind of emotional negativity, it is because their needs are not being met. Always. This may or may not have anything to do with you, personally. But you can choose to be a thoughtful, soothing presence, or you can choose to be a presence of ego-centered resistance.

One choice is aligned with service to others. Your growth lies in which choice you make.

I can think of no reason to take pride in being a blunt person – that's the easiest thing in the world. Speaking your mind with no filter of compassion or kindness, taking only your thoughts and feelings into account, requires no effort or discipline at all.

The real challenge, and the real work, lies in taking responsibility for your way of communicating. To commit to speaking with gentleness, drawing upon the resource of your own stillness rather than reacting to emotions and storylines – now that is a truly worthwhile journey, and it is healing.

You won't always know if the person in your presence is occupied with worry, or sadness, or frustration. It won't always be apparent. So listen with love. And let your words be a refreshing, soothing balm. Let them be like reeds in a soft breeze.

Let gentle speaking become your discipline, and see how it changes the world around you.

Finding Center in Difficult Times

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Waters Still by SusanG2

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.
Hermann Hesse

When the storms of life come, it’s easy to feel beaten down and defeated. Failed expectations, broken hearts, financial troubles. Perhaps you're dealing with something now, as you read this, that you're having a hard time with.

I know how disheartening the storms of life can be. The feelings of insecurity and worry, the fear. I was once like a boat on the ocean – happy and content with sunny skies and still waters. But whenever the storms came, my peace and joy would go overboard. My sense of self was completely tied to the stories my circumstances, and I didn’t know how to weather serious storms.

So when they did come, I'd just retreat into despair, depression and loneliness.

Now, when the storms are at my door, I go to that place called center. Like the eye of the storm, center is that place of stillness around which everything revolves. Perfect stillness is central to all that is.

So how do you get there?

I find center through a process of 2 simple steps:

1. Slow, deep breathing. Usually, 6 breath cycles is where the magic happens. The key is breathing slowly and deeply.

2. Focusing on “I Am”. I meditate on this statement, I breathe with it, and I let it evoke in me a sense of stillness and being. It brings me back to the still center of pure being.

Does this make my challenges go away? No, and that's really not its purpose. My challenges remain, for the most part, for me to work through and grow from. Finding center just allows me to navigate my challenges with a clarity of heart and mind.

And this is the wisdom: Finding center isn’t about making everything work out the way we want it to. It’s not about a plan coming together or a solution appearing. It's not about the past or the future – it’s about the now. And right now, you are. It’s as simple as that. You are.

So what are you, exactly?

OK, that’s a trick question. Because you’re many things, aren’t you? On the surface, yes. Yet your center, your core truth, is simply being. I Am. Nothing more, nothing less.

So finding center is really just about taking off those layers of thoughtforms that you are momentarily identifying with, and simply revelling in the nakedness of what you always, ultimately, essentially are – which is I Am. And in this space, there is peace.

So let peace unfold in your experience, even if it seems to be trespassing on grounds where it doesn't belong. Because where peace unfolds, there is joy. Higher perspective is there, too. Center is a space where inner wisdom and higher self dialogue can take place, and this is immensely helpful in navigating the challenges you are facing.

And if you find yourself looking to external sources to validate your being, and depending upon them to maintain your sense of worth, finding center will bring you back to the truth of who you are.

It is up to you to do the journey work of rooting your sense of self strongly in the I Am, rather than in the stories and thoughtforms built up around your circumstances. And finding and communing with your I Am center – on a regular, ongoing basis – is an excellent place to start this work.

Peace and joy in your journey.

How to Forgive Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Sunrise in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India by Mehul Antani

We are what we choose to be.
Daniel Collinsworth

This past Thanksgiving weekend, I got to spend some time with my family – my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law, all of whom I love very much.

In the midst of the laughing and good times we had, I felt a heaviness bubbling up from deep within me. As it surfaced – slowly, cumbersomely – I felt an unshakeable sadness covering me. An old sadness, one that had been hibernating for years.

Old heartache and regret.

I became haunted by years worth of memories, from childhood onward – of not being a good son, of not being a good big brother. Things I said and did that have left irreparable scars. It was all still there, like a briar patch in my heart and mind.

I felt overcast and morose. I drank to numb these feelings so that I could enjoy my time with my family. I felt unbearably heavy. Big, hot streams of tears came as I lay in bed that night.

Finding Center and the One Real Truth

As I set out on the hour drive back home that weekend, I allowed myself to sit with these feelings that had surfaced. Sadness, yes. Regret. The anger that I was feeling toward myself. The excruciating reality that I couldn't go back and change any of it.

Once I got home, I retreated to a deep breathing meditation. I connected with that central still point, around which the entire Universe revolves. It eased my suffering and brought clarity into my awareness.

I observed the following conversation unfolding in my mind:

What's done is done – I can't change it. I can move forward from here. I can be the man I know in my heart I want to be. The man I know, deep inside, that I am. I am. I am.

And as I just kept repeating "I am" in my mind and throughout my being, I became sharply, freshly aware that it was the only real truth in all of the Universe.

I am. I am. I am.

The sadness, the regret, the heartache – illusions. It was my choice to let them take up residence in my consciousness, or to let them go.

To let them go forever, and to just be I am. Not I was or I could've been.

So I chose I am. I let that old sadness go. I released it like a kite flying high into the sky, smaller and smaller until it disappeared from view.

Forgiveness knows your name, and is waiting for you.

Today, you have a choice. To be I was or I am. And the true beauty of it is, you are who you choose to be. This moment. You just choose, right now, and begin walking in the I am.

You can't rewrite the past. But you can write the story of today. Today, you are who you choose to be.

Today, you are free.

Tapping into Sacredness

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:59:00 +0000

Mountain in highlands of Scotland by Michael King

Become totally empty
Quiet the restlessness of the mind
Only then will you witness everything unfolding from emptiness.
Lao Tzu

A big part of our experience of the world is to know things as "things". We look around and see trees, buildings, people. Sometimes we notice their beauty, sometimes we don't.

Something special and amazing happens when we look beyond ideas of beauty/ugliness, interest/disinterest, and all the other concepts that we form around the phenomena in our world.

To experience something – not as something, but as being – to soften your gaze and experience the stillness and the vast infiniteness hidden inside of it, is to catch a glimpse of its true nature.

In doing this, all labels fall away and you're left with the presence of sacredness. You are filled with a sense of joy and wonder. Like a river of nameless energy is moving between you and that which you are observing, adjoining the common stillness between you and it.

The sacredness of being, without attachment or judgment.

I like to have fun with this wherever I am. At a stoplight on my way to work, or while taking a walk, or just while sitting at home. Connecting with sunlight breaking through clouds, a tree moving gently in the breeze, a person walking by, or with myself in the quietness of meditation. Connecting with that sense of joy and completeness found in the experience of pure being.

I encourage you to see and feel the stillness in all things, the emptiness, the sacred source that all things return to. Yourself included.

The Divine in me recognizes and honors the Divine in you.
Namaste

What Makes You Come Alive?

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Collinsworth) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:22:00 +0000

One Mum by Care_SMC

One way or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to that.
Joseph Campbell

We all have something that lights us up inside.

Service to others. Creative expression. Travel. Exploration of nature. Science. Spirituality. And on and on.

None of these are mutually exclusive of each other, either. It is natural for our individual passions to overlap and synergize with eachother, in ways that feel vast and limitless.

But we don't always devote our lives to our passions, do we?

Well... what if we did?

The Journey vs. the Destination

I think we tend to see our dreams as islands of reality, existing in some indefinite future, once all the necessary circumstances meet in perfect alignment. With lots of somedays in between. We tend to see them as destinations that can only be reached through no small number of conditions and life changes.

What if we eliminated someday from our thought process and shifted our thinking and motivation to what can I do today?

Because here's the cold, hard truth: Someday doesn't exist – it's an intangible concept. Nothing in the history of the Universe has ever manifested someday. But today happens every day – today is real, and it's happening right now.

So in shifting our mindset from destination mentality to journey mentality, we realize that there is work that can be done today that is in alignment with our dreams. And when tomorrow becomes today, we can build on that work. Every day we can build and progress.

This is how dreams are made into reality – through the journey. Step by step. But you have to commit yourself to the work.

"I don't have time to make my dreams come true."

I hear this a lot. Especially from folks who have children, or work full time jobs.

It's not for me to say how you should balance family and/or work life with pursuing your dreams. All I can say about that is this: life is about choices. Some choices impact your life more than others. But at some point, you have to ask yourself:

Do I want to live my dream?

And if your answer to that is "yes", then you have to figure out where that starting point is, and begin. Your journey may be bear fruit slowly, or it may bear fruit swiftly, and you may or may not have a whole lot of control over that.

But you can start. And you can commit to staying on the path. You aren't powerless. You always have choices – always. So step into that.

Are Jobs Bad?

I'm addressing this because I've heard countless personal development folks talking about how having a job will destroy your dreams and your life, so you should quit today and start living your dream right away.

This just isn't realistic. Jobs aren't necessarily bad. Obviously, if a job is causing you undue stress and misery, it's probably a good idea to look for something better. But the reality is, bills and rent are due every month, and you need to eat. I don't buy into the nonsense that the Universe will magically provide for your every physical need the moment you decide to quit your job and pursue your dream.

However...

I do believe – wholeheartedly – that once you begin stepping into your fullness and your power, and begin doing the work, the Universe opens up the floodgates. It's almost uncanny the way possibilities and opportunities open up to you once you start that journey in earnest.

But we come back to choices: Is finding a better job a possibility? If not, where can you begin doing the work to build your dream, so that you can eventually leave your job and support yourself doing what you love?

And if your job isn't too unpleasant, you have a great advantage. You can work toward your dream while supporting yourself doing a job that is bearable.

My Dream

Starting this blog at the beginning of 2011 was the first step in the journey of living my dream. Since then, my journey has unfolded in ways I never would've imagined, and the scope of my dream has grown quite a bit.

So what really lights me up inside? The idea of sharing my message not only here in my blog, but also in front of groups of folks. Creating fully immersive, live teaching and healing experiences – including guided group meditations, sacred sound work, and intimate satsang-style interaction. I want to feel the energy and presence of people as I share insights and teachings, and I want to soak up the wisdom of their reflections.

I want to experience the awesome energy of that kind of love exchange.

I want to travel all over the country and to different parts of the world doing this. I want to write books. I want to lead drum circles and healing, meditative retreats.

I want to do all of this for a living. I can't imagine living a more fulfilling life than this – just thinking about it lights me up to the core.

For now, I work at my full time job, supporting myself and creating the means to continue building my dream. I have committed to doing something every single day that is in alignment with my dream – whether it's working on a blog post, or developing an e-course or a workshop, or finding a place to host the ongoing healing meditation group that I will be leading very soon.

Sometimes it's just sitting in silence, or observing nature, or enjoying conversations with like-minded people.

Every day, I'm doing something that makes me come alive and I'm following my life purpose. I have thrown away someday along with all the excuses I once had, and I'm doing the work.

And I gotta say... it feels pretty awesome.

Now I ask you: What makes you come alive? Are you living your dream? Are you laying the foundation? Do you have a dream but don't know where to start? Are you not yet sure of your life purpose?

I'd love for you to talk about it in the comments, and let's share wisdom, advice and encouragement with each other.