February 28--Wide Open Hearts

What happens when people open their hearts? They get better. 
--Haruki Murakami

    This comes from spiritual teacher, Beverly Lanzetta:

    Over the years, I have composed and followed a personal rule of life. I include below excerpts from the original and longer rule, which you may find helpful in writing and living your own code of conduct.

1. Be faithful to the Divine in all that you do. Put the Divine will before your own. Ask, “What would God do?” and wait for the answer. Do not allow personal attraction or gain to cloud decision-making, or your soul’s intentions to be compromised.
    
2. Be simple of purpose. The basis of simplicity is centering on God. The heart of life is to live in God’s presence. 
    
3. Love all of creation with Divine compassion. Total commitment brings change. Give to life your unparalleled commitment, and complete love, one that is without self-interest.
    
4. Offer yourself as a place of prayer. May your presence be one that heals divisions and expands hearts.
    
5. Be attuned to the splendor of creation, and the gentle web of existence. Celebrate embodiment. Actively work—both within yourself and in the world—to make the holy manifest.
    
6. Refrain from possession. Remember the transient nature of earthly life. Possession can occur on all levels: physical, emotional, psychic, spiritual. Love expands the spirit, possession contracts it.
    
7. Pray daily to grow in humility, and to be empty of the false self. Offer over to the Divine your regrets, sorrows, doubts, motives, and unresolved desires.
    
8. In all you do, practice nonharm. Make a small footprint, tread lightly, become aware of the impact your actions have on others. The refusal to reflect on your motives leads to suffering (for others and also one’s self).
    
9. Treat all religions and spiritual paths with honor and respect. Enter silence. Keep faith alive.
    
10. Create community wherever you are. Make of your heart a home for the homeless, a refuge for the poor. Pray for the well-being of your sisters and brothers.

    I'd say practicing all of these is surely a heart-opening endeavor, and would certainly make each one of us and the world better. 

        Leta

February 27--Gentleness

Be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.  --Max Ehrmann

    Reading this quote makes me smile and feel good. It seems that there is a woeful lack of personal gentleness in our world. We are much too hard on ourselves to do and have rather than to simply be. I believe that we not only have a right to be here, but that someway, somehow, we chose to come here at this time. We are each on a soul mission, exploring both our inner and outer universes. 

    Think of a few people who have had a profound impact on your life, and consider how different you and your life would be had they not been here. The same is true for you--there are lives that would be very different had you not been here. You do good work simply being you. Be gentle with yourself. 

        Leta

February 26--Inside ==> Out

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.  --Plutarch

    I would add that the only way to change our outer reality is to achieve inward change. Sure, we can try to change people, places and situations by forcing, bullying, cajoling, and controlling, but eventually those efforts lead to exhaustion and frustration. Can you tell I'm speaking from personal experience here?!?!!

    Nothing that we seek in life--serenity, happiness, joy, contentment--are commodities to be acquired elsewhere. They are all within us. Choosing to live from the well-being that is our innate state changes how we see and operate in the world. Someone really well-known said that heaven is within us. Living from that place of heaven within makes for a very nice outer reality!

        Leta

  

February 25--Let Light In

The wound is the place where light enters you.  --Rumi

    Here's an example. I had an actual wound when I had my hip joint replaced. It's a lovely, well-healed line on the front left side of my body. Much "light" has entered since that surgery. I feel like I have a new body. I'm much lighter on my feet because walking is now pain-free. I have been astounded to learn how much mental energy I was devoting to the ache and instability of that damaged hip. I feel more refreshed in the morning because I am able to sleep well. I am very empathetic regarding the plight of chronic pain. I am extraordinarily grateful that I finally became ready for the surgery and had it done. 

    Then there are the mental, emotional and psychological wounds. We all have them. Each one gives us a choice to heal, i.e., let the light in, or to hang on, let it fester into resentments and other emotional clouds that block the light. 

    I like having the choice for light. 

        Leta

 

February 24--Required for Healing

We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.  --Marcel Proust

Dive in. 

Learn something. 

Feel every feeling. 

Forgive. 

Grieve.

Let it all go. 

Life goes on. 

Wounds heal. 

Simple.

Not easy.

The reward is resilience.

Leta

February 23--Sorrow and Joy

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. 
--Kahlil Gibran

    Mystics have known this truth throughout the ages. Granted, the carvings of sorrow are not so much the fun part. It could be losing a loved one, a serious illness or accident, or betrayal. It can also be "day-to-day sorrows." Here's my example. Yesterday, with my husband away for a skiing break, I took Barney to work with me at the tax office. We are becoming quite busy now, with many folks dropping off their tax documents and picking up completed returns. Every time another person approached the door, Barney started barking, his innate doggie behavior. He's not mean or dangerous. He wants to play. 

    Barney's mom, me, on the other hand, soon got to the point where each bark felt like someone sticking a screwdriver into my brain. This is not a good place to be for tax work. We left early, with me exceedingly irritated with Barney, which creates a state of sorrow in me, because I dearly love him. We went on another walk, it being a lovely spring-like day, and he finally settled down. He is well aware of my not-pleased glare. Despite my irritation, I melt every time I look at him. He is a source of enormous joy, and I can't imagine life without him. 

    Sorrow and joy go together like peanut butter and chocolate. 

    EnJOY,

        Leta

February 22--Being Peace

If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.  --Henry Miller

    Peace is within us. It is our natural state of being if we do not let the dramas of life overrun us. It is the challenging moment-to-moment practice of staying focused on peace rather than the events swirling around us. 

    Having stuff, and getting more stuff, does not bring peace. The more stuff we have, the more there is to take care of, protect, clean, store, repair, on and on. We may think more stuff will bring us peace and contentment, but we soon learn that is not the case.

    Cultivating peace within each one of us is the best way to create peace on Earth--it's a win-win individually and collectively. 

        Leta

😉😉