November 30--Out and In

Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.  --Tom Stoppard

    Earthly death is the big example here, leaving life as we have known it to return to wherever we were before we arrived here. I believe that to be an eternally blissful energy state. I'm thinking that the combination of eternity and unending bliss gets boring, so we periodically sign up to come back among the living for adventures--yet another exit/entrance combo.

    We leave the "nest" and create an adult life. We leave jobs, we go to new ones. We end relationships and form new friendships. We leave home and enjoy a vacation in a new spot. In looking for a photo for today's post, I saw the quote "When one door closes, another one opens, but sometimes it's hell in the hallway." Sometimes we get mentally and emotionally stuck in the exit, regretting the loss, and it's tough to see the good in the entrance. It always comes though, even if it is not in the form we may have expected. 

    Another quote I encountered: "If one door closes and another one opens, your house is probably haunted." 

    Always an adventure,

        Leta

November 29--Eternal Good

Don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens--the main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.  --John Steinbeck

    Huh? This sounds to me like relax and trust the process. I know that hurrying and/or trying to force things to happen does not help, and it only serves to stress me out. 

    Nothing good gets away... let's run with that. Yes, people, situations, places and experiences pass through our lives, but I believe ultimately that we hold the memories and goodness from each forever. Love is eternal. Everything that shapes us stays with us, making it all the more important to stay focused on the good, forgive as needed, and find the best in each person, situation, place and experience.   

    I think of nature. We are in the season of trees losing their leaves. It's right, it cannot be hurried. It is all good and necessary for the trees, to enable them to move through the winter and return their good to us in the spring. It is a beautiful process! Nature is an excellent example of perfect timing and infinite good. 

    Remaining calm,

        Leta

Fall foliage in central Pennsylvania, 
where I grew up.

November 28--Good Orderly Direction

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.  --Ursula K. Le Guin

    I have been for quite some time feeling mostly "rudderless." That voice in my head is loud: "You should do more." More what? It is important for me to feel useful. However, I'm not really feeling jazzed up about anything. Tax season (mid-January to mid-April) is coming up, and that fully consumes me. However, this will likely be my last working tax season, and that will be three months of usefulness to replace. I really enjoy my assorted part-time work activities, but they don't use up all my time. Golfing keeps me going in warm weather, but it is quite limited now until spring. As you can see, my journey right now is kinda murky. Such has been the case before, and as I trust the process, clarity comes. For now my routine daily "journey" keeps me mostly content.

    As I sit and ponder an "end to journey toward," what I really want is to spend more time with my sons and daughter-in-law. We shall see how that journey develops...

    One day at a time,

        Leta

P.S. A tribute to one who had a helluva journey... As I was trimming the Christmas tree, I pulled out the ornament pictured below, given to me by my friend who transitioned this past summer. It was a comical gift, in that she knew I never have and never will own or wear such a pair of spike-heel shoes. She did, however. She had a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marcos. The inside says, "All I want is peace on earth and really cute shoes." Thank you, Blanche, for sharing your journey with me!

 

November 27--Wind Through the Trees

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.  --Kahlil Gibran 

    This one is a little too deep for me, so I'll just fiddle with it. My thoughts go to this: I believe we probably learned in childhood and adolescence that NO ONE can truly keep a secret. At least that was my experience. If we don't want something out in "the wind," we need to keep it to ourselves. 

    This leads me to considering the shadow side of ourselves. There are some things that for our mental, spiritual and emotional health we need to set free. That is when a trusted professional comes in handy, someone we typically pay to keep our secrets. This has been an invaluable service in my life. 

    Bob Dylan: "The answer is blowin' in the wind."

        Leta

November 26--Still Thankful

Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them.  --Albert Camus

    It's the day after the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving and I'm still thankful. For gratitude to be meaningful, it has to be a daily gig. 

    I can't figure how one could truly experience success and happiness without sharing them. Joy is meant to be spread around. What uplifts one of us uplifts all. Our fear-based world needs all the good news we can get. 

    Here's a goofy fun example of sharing success... I am having physical therapy to strengthen my left leg and hip. Despite my quite-active lifestyle, a year after my hip replacement, my left leg is still weaker than my right, and I know that long-term compensation for that in my body is probably not a good thing. So PT is "kicking my ass," which is what I signed up for. Now remember, I'm a yoga teacher. I am learning great hip stabilization moves that I can use in my classes. My students know generous sharing is coming when I say, "I had another PT session yesterday." It's a win-win for all. 

    It's a good time to focus on GOOD and share it!

        Leta

A shot from the recent rehearsal dinner...
family joy!

November 25--Forgiveness is Worth the Effort

Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. 
--William Arthur Ward

    Just do it. We forgive for ourselves, not for the benefit of the offender. If I don't forgive, I'm letting the person or situation live in my head rent-free. It consumes me and benefits no one. 

    Two things have helped me over the years to forgive. The first is "don't take anything personally." (See The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.) I'll admit that this is easier said than done. The second is to look on the situation with compassion for the offender. For instance, I see that my mother was an addict herself and had no means to recognize the problem or have help to recover, even if she had admitted to her problem. I feel sad for her as I experience the wonderful life that recovery has brought me. 

    Any situation is either love or a cry for love. May we allow the infinite Source of Love to flow freely through us.

        Leta

Thankful for love and forgiveness!

November 24--Wealth?

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.  --Helen Keller

    I'm approaching this from two directions...

    We in the U.S. are rich beyond imagining for the majority of the world's population. This was brought home to my heart on a mission trip to Uganda in 2005. My group built a simple brick home for a house mother and eight orphans in the Watoto village of Suubi. Watoto has done an extraordinary job of rescuing women and children and fulfilling their mission of creating leaders for their communities. The solid foundation of their work is a faith-based community built on the teachings of Jesus. The power of Spirit is mighty among them. This is true of the many indigenous peoples who have been able to maintain their cultures. 

    We in the U.S. are tragically poor spiritually, despite our material wealth. This is summed up by Father Richard Rohr:

We are finding it is nearly impossible to heal isolated individuals inside of a culture as unhealthy and unhealed as the USA, and inside any version of Christianity that supports exclusion and superiority. Individuals who remain inside of an incoherent and unsafe universe soon fall back into anger, fear, and narcissism. I sadly say this after 46 years of giving retreats, conferences, and initiation rites all over the world. Only people who went on to develop a contemplative mind could finally grow and benefit from the message that they heard.
A contemplative mind enables one to embrace and integrate their personality, shadow, woundedness, family issues, culture, and contextualizing life experiences under The One. . . .This is a truly integral spirituality.

 

    The power of Spirit is not mighty among us. We are missing the "truly integral spirituality," and that is true wealth beyond imagining. 

    Accepting daily the challenge of living in love,

        Leta

Astronomy Picture of the Day, Nov. 23
X-ray photo of our steadfast sun