“Everyone with rare exception knows that you attract into your life a reflection of what you think. But you also attract into your life what you judge. If you think men are players, you attract players, if you think people are dishonest, you attract dishonest people. If you are focused on a sickness or disease, you attract more. If you focus on poverty or lack, you gain nothing more than an empty bank account. Everything you hold in your conscious thought becomes your cage and your reality.   Why not fake it until you make it.  See abundance, see honesty in all, embrace good healthy, emotionally healthy people, focus on the beauty and not the ugly. And for crying out loud fix what hurts you, heal what aches, mend your mind and restore it to perfection. You were born of perfection, it is your core, meditate, exercise, eat nutritionally and address what you are harboring, then you will attract lovely all day long.”
Sun Gazing

"You'll do as I say!"

A friend’s daughter posted on Facebook “I miss my daddy and I wish he’d come visit.”   Of course that tugged on his heart.  He is several states away from her and unable to visit due to actions of her mother.  And she knows this.  And he knows that she knows this.  It doesn’t take spidey sense to know that she made the post under duress, with mom standing over her threatening her with who knows what if she didn’t.  People, get as crazy as you want but leave the kids out of it.

To prevent big loss, copy every credit card in your wallet and keep it with the toll free numbers.  You can save hours of time doing this:  Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’ (I use “See ID,” though maybe 10% of clerks actually notice it.) Continue reading →

If you put your hands on this oar with me, they will never harm another, and they will come to find they hold everything you want.

If you put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longer lift anything to your mouth that might wound your precious land – that sacred earth that is your body.

If you put your soul against this oar with me, the power that made the universe will enter your sinew from a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realm that lives in us.

Exuberant is existence, time a husk.
When the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space;
love goes mad with the blessings, like my words give.

Why lay yourself on the torturer’s rack of the past and the future?  The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacities will find no rest.

Be kind to yourself, dear – to our innocent follies.
Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance.
You will come to see that all evolves us.

~ Rumi ~

A friend and writing partner has been spending time here as we work together on various projects, and he’s become a regular fixture in the other room.  I’m someone who is used to — for a dozen years at a stretch – being alone, spending time alone, living alone.  Most friends and family, no matter how beloved, I tend to allow them to distract me from whatever I perceive my purpose to be in the moment, so I seldom have people over.  It’s nice to find a brother on the Path who is equally motivated and dedicated, and who is so easy to share space with. We’ll have the computers side by side sometimes, quietly working on our individual stuff.  I even got to impose upon him to sneak over and feel the kitties last week after a tummy upset confined me to my room.  As I drifted in and out of sleep during the next day, it was comforting hearing him typing or playing music in the other room.  He stopped in a few times to see if I needed anything, brought me fluids and saltines. But he mostly let me know someone was there and cared about my well being.  Kinda cool when that happens.

I had a food epiphany this weekend.  The last month, I’ve been cooking for a friend and eating foods I don’t typically eat, like sandwiches, chips, granola bars, popcorn. While I wasn’t really overeating, I was eating heavier and greasier stuff (bread, meat, cheese) than I typically eat. Then I had a craving for Cantonese Lo Mein and two days later I had a bout of upset tummy and purging for a vigorous 18 hours.   I kn0w the lo mein has a lot of oil in it.   Since 2006, I keep my fat grams under 60 a day.  I’m sure the one serving of lo mein had 80+ grams.   Continue reading →

Domino asks “What is it about when I can’t wait to be with him and a few hours together I can’t wait to be away for a few minutes, then all I do is text and email and Facebook him until I see him again and then it starts all over. What is that about?”

Just a few moments ago they were bathing in the concrete bath in the east garden, they must have followed me here.

There’s a difference between treating someone like a treasured and precious gift, and treating them as though they are a fragile egg to be protected at all costs.  Love them enough to allow them the consequences of their choices.   Love them enough to let them struggle, because that’s the only way they’ll strengthen the muscles that let them stand in their own power.  The egg is never as fragile as it seems.  There’s always a whole lot going on beneath the surface.  From the outside, not much appears to be happening.  But inside: a riot of change and reorganization, feeding, growth, evolution.  My lesson is to stand back and give a space to unfold.  Trust that someone other than I can make it happen.  Don’t deny anyone the opportunity to exercise their own muscles.  Plus, there’s far less karmic backlash than doing it for them and allowing them to become dependent upon me.  That is the cruelest disservice I could do for a loved one: to allow them to look to me, rather than within themselves, to find everything they need to survive and thrive.  Plus, what they come to by themselves makes them far sexier.

Domino just sent a letter to his daughter, upon her boyfriend having asked for her (young) hand in marriage:  “Please forgive me for not answering right away. I had to clear my mind of my own emotional circumstance and experiences to focus objectively. Of course you have my blessing. I want only to see you are happy. You have a good head on your shoulders and are more than capable of guiding your own way toward your happiness. My experience tells me that we change a lot in our 20’s and 30’s so please take your time but follow your heart. My experience does not reflect necessarily on yours. As long as you both actively remain a part of each others dreams and worlds you can navigate and grow into the future together. Make sure that both of your physical, mental and spiritual needs are being met continually and that in all these aspects you are both moving forward together. A stagnant mind and\or spiritual life can be hell as we have both witnessed, don’t allow yourselves to become stagnant. Focus on the good but don’t dismiss the bad. Rather address it and move on. Passive-aggressive natures such as your mothers and I have no fruit to offer to a relationship other than to prolong and build up a larger confrontation. Deal with issues upfront and beware of bitterness and stress. Be the perfect people for each other and concentrate on being the best you that you can be. If you are both doing that you will grow to be independent in your own rights and add onto each other rather than foster a relationship of co-dependence. Forgive me for being so fatherly in my response but I have always spoke to you as an adult and I feel this is the perfect opportunity to embark a little wisdom unto you. I love you baby… and you will always be my little grrrl no matter how growny you get. Big Love, Daddy.”