We dance ’round fires
to pray for others to change,
and we change our names
so that a reality we don’t truly want
will let us in the door…
We dance ’round fires
to pray for others to change,
and we change our names
so that a reality we don’t truly want
will let us in the door…
Dreaming is a solution, a soul elixir for so many emotional ailments. The mere act of dreaming is a life-affirming endeavour. Dream. Envision. Fantasize. Imagine…
The outline of my being
shines brighter than
agreements I made before now…
What I love the most is truth, and if I’m going to be of service — and I’m devoted to being of service, then I have to tell you: I feel so small today. I see the pain. I see the joy. I see the beauty. I feel the global scope of what’s happening, and… I feel really, really… small…
Chorus:
The long time of loud striving
the symbols of success
keeping time in my head
always a quarter b-b-beat behind…
I am looking
for a place
to put this fire…
My friend Robindra promised he’d show me some DJ ropes (because I wanna spin and mix and stuff when I grow up). He got a gig in North Van and said I could tag along for the night. So I Facebook’d about it, mentioned the locale, said it was a great way to kick off my birthday week, and I put on my black high tops to head out…
Kali came to me on a morning that felt like night. She said, “It gets dark so you can see the fire burn more clearly. Throw it all in. And by ‘all,’ I mean yourself.” Into the fire I put a habit of sadness I was married to. And so then I put in my own singular and true sadness, but not so it would be obliterated, rather transmuted, because I wanted to honour the utility of my delusions, the lies that made for density so that I could see the fire burn more clearly.
When the stakes are high or when the success is more than you’ve experienced before, Upper Limit Problems can strike. You rain on your own parade. You make a windfall of cash and you get into a car accident. You fall in love and you pick a silly fight. You come down with something before a big moment…
A little story to start the weekend… TO INDIA WE GO Just about to turn thirty, I was given a rare opportunity to have a private audience with His Holiness The Dalai Lama. “Hey kid,” my boss said on the other end of the phone, “I think I’ve got us a meeting with the...
May 2013 Roundup: What I know about working with people, listening, giving and loving sadness—plus getting to know your creativity pattern.
Sometimes it can feel like dreaming of more than what we’ve got betrays our current reality. As if to wish for something different means that we’re unappreciative of what we have. As if to long for a little less of this, or a brighter shade of that denigrates what stands in front of us.
Contrived affirmations take you out of the present. Rather than facing what’s real, we try to plaster over the difficult truths with happy thoughts. This is false optimism and it’s damaging. It undermines our capacity to be with what is, and to access our real strength and spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity includes the capacity to acknowledge our fears while maintaining our confidence and faith…
You’re going to hurt other people. Even though you don’t want to. Even though you don’t mean to. To no fault of your own. You’re going to hurt someone. We’re all bumping up against each other with our cravings and sensibilities, reaching clumsily for fulfillment…
If making a book that lotsa people are finding useful, but didn’t get approved by the ol’ bastion of book approval is the worst of my problems, then, well, there is no problem.
Usually we want to do more of what got us to where we are. Familiarity, best practices, proven techniques. But the future craves more daring from us. What boat do you need to burn?…
Sometimes we resist The Give, because it hurts to meet the other in their place of need and suffering.Generosity insists that you meet people where they are. This requires some courage, like all forms of intimacy…
The question I get asked the most in terms of monetization and business priorities is about what to focus on first. Here’s the only mantra you need: Get the money in the door. What can you do in your business to make money RIGHT NOW? Today? This week? And the week after that? Do it. I’ll bet you it doesn’t rely on having the perfect logo or the right suit to wear…
More than most subjects and matters of life, we tend to leave money wisdom to the experts. Fitness — we get that we need to do what works for us as individuals. Sex — you know that you’re the mistress or mister of your own domain. But money — few of us, would proclaim that we’re money experts…
“Active letting go” is not to be mistaken for “passive letting go”, whereby life rips stuff out of your grip, or you paint yourself into a corner, or things get so heavy they stop you in your tracks and you have to ditch them just to carry on. Active letting go is a little more…pro-active. It’s a practice. It’s awake. It’s somewhat delightful (except for the agony of it.)
I’ve got the Goddess of Permission on speed dial and she was thrilled to oblige with this sweeping list of acts of self expression and liberation. We can draw on it whenever we need. Come back often. Build on it. The Permission Goddess sends kisses and high-fives…
Depression may be the cousin of sadness, sometimes the defended response to unyielding sadness, but it makes you feel anything but alive. It dulls, weighs, and messes with your memory of your true essential nature…which is that of joy…
Sometimes, at the start of your journey, all you may have in your inventory to “sell” is passion. And sometimes, that’s enough to open doors. If you’re loving what you do and believing that it’s going to make a positive difference in people’s lives–whether it’s your wedding photography, your coaching methodology, or your zero point energy invention, then, you my friend, are ahead of the game…
Look back on this year and get very clear about what sucked. What didn’t work, got mired with resentment, felt onerous, weighed you deadly down? A note on resentment: you can’t continue to do things you fully resent and think they’re going to transform into enjoyable activities over time. It just doesn’t work that way…
Grief is one of the most powerful Goddesses. She swallows your agony and lets it tear her apart. Beautiful birds fly from her belly–each one an insight into life and your power. Grief brings the whole flock to your window and she waits and waits to reveal universal truths to you. She goes to the depths with you. She rises with you…
Years ago in Santa Fe, my friend Navjit and I went to a gathering for Guru Karunamayi. New Mexico is to gurus what New York is to rock stars–they all pass through eventually. So catching a Hindi lecture on a Friday night and then heading to the club was par for the course. So there we were in our leather pants and Timberlands, gold eyeshadow and Betty Paige bangs… in lotus position…
“I’ll figure it out,” may mean waiting quietly, even for a long time, on the will of heaven. It may mean turning over every single stone without rest until you find the answer or the escape hatch. It may mean praying til you sweat, surveying the experts, or forty days in the desert…
I wonder what my days would be like if I approached my happiness with more urgency and insistence (like I do deadlines and should-do’s.) Like: I’ve GOT to meet my dancing quota! Come hell or high water, I WILL get a facial and lay in the sun! Wild horses couldn’t keep me from lunch with my girlfriends!
Each woman has potential access to Rio Abajo Rio, this river beneath the river. She arrives there through deep meditation, dance, writing, painting, prayer-making, singing, drumming, active imagination, or any activity which requires an intense altered consciousness.
Studies show that positive reinforcement with children fosters self-esteem and better problem-solving skills. Praise the good, deflect the bad. The power of accentuating the positive isn’t something we grow out of.