what's your story?

This is Our Moment!

Marla Durden — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:43:03 +0000

Moving beyond change to transformation…

We are living in a moment of extraordinary change. Things seem to be falling apart all over the place and we are uncertain how or when it will come back together again. For those of us who have honed the skills of resilience, steadiness and deep inner reserves this is our moment. THIS IS YOUR MOMENT! When things fall apart, we can affect real change –> transformation. Far beyond change, in metaphor change would be like moving the living room furniture around, while transformation would be ripping up the floor, moving the walls and adding windows for a more expansive view. Like any major home renovation, this much change (transformation) can be more than a little unsettling. This is where we find ourselves as Americans and as global citizens. This is our moment.

We have been living with the same furniture, in the same spots for a long time. Sure, it worked great for many and for many others it has not been comfortable at all. Even though the sofa may be on the other side of the table from the chair, they both inhabit the same room. I may live in Houston and you in Hong Kong, but we inhabit the same world. Now, in the midst of the ripped out floor of our economy, climate change, population growth etc., we get to decide… change or transformation. Tapping our inner reserves to steady ourselves, to calm our nerves, let’s think clearly:

* How can you use this opportunity to transform your life, business, career, community, the world?
* What are the personal habits and mind-sets that will serve you well now?
* Who are your allies, those people who are ready to ride the wave to greater love, joy and happiness?
* If everything is up for change, what would you really like to change about your life right now?
* What are you willing to let go of… to be open to?

Consider these questions. Then set about nurturing the habits, choices, goals and mind-sets that will enable you to transform our world!

“Every few hundred years in Western society there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself… We are currently living through such a transformation.”
– Peter Drucker

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Happy New Year Everyone!

Marla Durden — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:31:01 +0000

In 2010, may you live the light of your soul and know the fullness of love!

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment.

When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient.

When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

~ Roi Solberg

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Is this a spiritual crossroads?

Marla Durden — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:37:24 +0000

Deepak Chopra has written a cogent article about where we are now as a nation with the economic recovery and cultural revolution. Over the past few months, I have been feeling very strongly that this is not going to be a "normal" economic recovery after a recession. Many of the jobs that we lost will not be coming back.

What is required now, I believe, is that we dig deep into our creative and innovative reserves and begin creating a new economy, new lives and a new nation. This is our challenge and incredible opportunity. Deepak says it so eloquently. See for yourself.

Is this a spiritual crossroads?

A front-page poll in the New York Times confronts an issue no one likes to talk about: the pain of losing our job. Fifty percent of the unemployed have borrowed money from friends or relatives. Around the same number have experienced depression or anxiety. Four in ten are struggling enough that they have noticed behavioral changes in their children.

Normally, a recession as bad as this one wouldn’t be coupled with a jobless recovery. The last time the unemployment rate hit ten percent, during the early Reagan years of 1981-82, the country returned to normal by having workers go back to familiar jobs. That isn’t going to happen this time. The recovery involves a crisis of identity for millions of people.

Read the rest of his post here: Is this a spiritual crossroads?

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C. W. Mills decribes in Surrealism in Art.

Marla Durden — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:50:49 +0000

As i move forward with photography i’m finding my direction of choice
is more towards transforming the normal and demanding a different view
point. I feel that our minds are becoming narrow and we choose to
conform because it’s easier !!! I say open your minds, choose your own
path… explore.

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We Are Evolving

Marla Durden — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:12:13 +0000

We are evolving. It is a natural fact of life. It has been on the whole a tumultuous adolescence for us, human history has proven this to be true. We have evolved and grown in complexity in some ways) with each successive generation. We see that there is movement. And just as there is evolution, there is a natural resistance, fear, need for certainty and the ancient unhealed belief in lack, need for power, hatred, greed and aggression that is still being worked out. And… yet still we evolve. Humanity- this beautiful and noble complex organism.

What we have forgotten is what we are. We are not slaves to emotions, to jobs that draw on the wealth and energy of the many to benefit the few- the few, many of whom have more than enough to live in royal decadence more than 3 or 4 lifetimes. Humanity is one and we are each a living cell in and as a dynamic Being.

DNA research is showing us that there is no division. If we are quiet, we can hear and feel our collective resonance. We are one race and yet the ancient fears and divisions remain. But we are being called to something more. It is innate within us… our essential selves- glorious, beautiful, majestic, vast… ancient and young… wise and innocent.

At this moment when the Sun, our glorious solar Being makes its annual return toward more light, I invite you to relax into the evolution that is natural to Life and therefore to us. Put down any last remaining resistance you may have. Leave the lie of disconnection and come home to your luminous Soul.

BIG CHANGES | EVOLUTION is coming in 2010 for this work… new story. Stay tuned! Thank you.

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Gifts of the Cave- Happy Winter Solstice

Marla Durden — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:33:29 +0000

The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year. It is the time where the darkness of winter is at its nadir before the growing days of spring and summer bring us out into the light again. In traditional cultures, this is a time of rest, contemplation and appreciation for the deep mysteries of life.

Many of our modern cultures have lost touch with this NEED to rest and reflect. However, we would do well to give ourselves some time and space to receive the gifts of the cave. This consciously honoring the shadow and in many ways the deep feminine aspects of our humanity gives us balance and the ability to tap the vast and deep ground of BEING that can sustain us in times of change and adversity. And, change and adversity are abundant in our modern society.

The Ground of Being
The laws of Nature are very simple. Gravity does what it does, spring is followed by summer, the sun always moves the same direction in the sky. These things create the foundation that is the stability upon which we can grow, create and live with some certainty, even if everything else seems less than orderly.

So it is with our personal spiritual practices. Giving ourselves the time and space to BE with ourselves and the Divine consistently creates a foundation for our personal growth and ability to perceive and live into expanded paradigms. And, to maintain a deep and abiding connection to what is truly real and important.

A POWERFUL RITUAL
The winter solstice is a great time to honor and celebrate the return of the light as well as honoring the gifts of the shadow. I invite you to spend some quiet time with a candle, consciously connecting with the energy of fire and light, giving thanks for all that it gives and the gifts that this part of the yearly cycle brings. THEN blow it out and sit in the dark, honoring:

- what maybe present, but not seen;
- known, but unspoken;
- obvious, but not acknowledged…

What strengths and gifts lie there?
What have you placed in the cave of darkness to protect?
…to forget?

Then light the candle again and be present to the entirety of your being. What is ready to brought into the light? And what gifts of the cave will emerge with you into Spring?

NAMASTE

The Winter Solstice is Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 11:47am CST

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Post tags: coaching, happiness, nature, soul

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Tell a Different Story

Marla Durden — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:08:22 +0000

This is a lovely video, by Abraham-Hicks about changing your thoughts and focus to create a New Story for your life with ease… going with the flow. Enjoy!

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On Love

Marla Durden — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:49:43 +0000

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep,
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
‘God is in my heart,’ but rather,
‘I am in the heart of God.’
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night,
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

~Khalil Gibra n

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Re-connecting

Marla Durden — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:38:36 +0000

Halloween, Samhain and Dia de Los Muertos are holidays that we celebrate now. The harvest is complete and it is time to celebrate, to contemplate the coming winter and honor our ancestors and the departed. We give ourselves permission to indulge and celebrate the darker sides of our nature and life as we costume ourselves as goblins, villians and ghouls. We also indulge our fantasies as super-heroes, goddesses and animal spirits.

It is also a time when "the veils are thin" as our grandmothers and sages tell us. A powerful moment in the calendar year, we can feel the energy and connection of this holiday / holytime across time and space. It has been celebrated for millenia across a wide swath of our planetary cultures. This makes it a great time to do personal rituals of change and transformation.

Thursday night before Halloween, I took some time for a personal ritual. I cleaned my house, set intentions for the evening and prayed for guidance and a pure heart. I then acknowledged that I live as part of an ever-flowing River of Life and honored the ancestors, my ancestors, all ancestors in whose foot-steps we walk.

I then sat listening to music, chanted, read tarot cards and looked into the fabric and future of my life. Rather than push for an outcome or some flash of insight, I simply followed the flow and allowed it to open my mind and reveal Its gifts to me. Indeed the veils felt thin as I could see with a fresh clarity. My questions were answered and I felt the power of the loud and rolling thunder, lightening and rain outside as I sat in ritual space. Stepping outside onto my porch, I laughed loudly as I felt the energy of the rolling thunder roll through me as it passed. My awareness of my connection to and as Nature renewed. It felt good. I felt powerful, alive, happy!

May you make time to nurture your connection to your essential self. If you would like some guidance or a guide, please feel free to contact me. It is my honor. Happy Samhain!

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The Vortex

Marla Durden — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:35:38 +0000

This is a wonderful video about being in the Vortex of Being and Manifestation. It is powerful and a great reminder of how a simple shift in awareness can open new worlds of possibilities. Enjoy!

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