Insights January 2025
What I like to do, what I am drawn to do, and what I try to do is make sense of things. I try to have a practice that is based on knowing and truth. Deep knowing and deep truth. And right now, it’s really challenging. How do we understand and accept what is as what is? Even though this is true. In this context, we all still have our soul’s mission on the planet, and I believe we are here to know what that is and to be it as best we can. In that context I am here to help. Vipassana Meditation, Reiki and Intuitive Healing, and Astrology are all modes of understanding and practices to help us be more aware, wiser, and more aligned. I am committed to these methods and practices and available to help however you need help and feel like I can help. Let’s all stay connected and engaged with our deepest awareness and wisdom as we navigate these challenging times.
Remember that we are in Aquarian times now and that means to expect the unexpected, live on the edge of change, and attune to revolution and resistance.
Announcements
The Journal of Awakening will be published in 2025.
Meditation and Spiritual Practices Courses will be commencing. Please see Meditation for more information or inquire.
I will be teaching Reiki Workshops this year.
Watch my Newsletter and website for all announcements.
Awakening
“When we stop, we can create space. When we stop, we can settle the mind and then think from a place of clarity.” Rev. Grace Song, “How You Think Today Is How You Live Your Life”
5 Goals for 2025:
1. Feed the friendships that feed you.
2. Energy is limited so use it wisely.
3. Treat your body like a temple.
4. Treat your mind like a space you can design.
5. Take calculated risks. “Denial of the truth will always cause you to be afraid.” Ajahn Suchart Abhijãto
“The path of awakening is the path of inner transformation.” The Insight Center
“I am in me and out of me in me and out of me.” The Insight Center
“Wisdom is a thing that is living, real and constantly moving.” Krishnamurti
“It’s about being true to the core and doing everything you yearn to do that serves your soulful center.” Philip Sedgwick
“There is a gift behind every storm.” The Insight Center
“Know what your “not me” is, and don’t be it.” The Insight Center
“We all carry exactly what we need to awaken, in every moment.” Cortland Dahl
“The shift is from self-improvement to self-discovery. It’s not about getting the circumstances of life just right, it is about learning to see ourselves clearly - letting go of limiting beliefs we have about ourselves so we can live with a heart full of wisdom and compassion.” Cortland Dahl
“The soul’s passion must crank the ego.” Philip Sedwick
“Each spark of wisdom will transform your life.” The Insight Center
“Freedom is to stand alone, unattached and unafraid.” Krishnamurti
“The process is to dissolve the habitual habits that cloud recognition of our own true nature. By breaking through the patterns of dissatisfaction and suffering, our experience is transformed.” Cortland Dahl
“Awareness, compassion, and wisdom become our way of being in the world. We are attuned to the present moment with and open heart toward everything that arises and the wisdom available in all situations. That is what awakening is.” Cortland Dahl
“We train ourselves to examine how our beliefs, assumptions, and expectations shape and distort the way we see things, especially the way we perceive ourselves.
As their hold over us diminishes, we slowly gain insight in the fact that things are always changing (impermanence) based on complex constellation of causes and conditions (interdependence) and we realize the ungraspable dream like nature of experience (emptiness.)
Transformation is a change within an individual that is a revolutionary change, but one that does not change that beings’ essential nature - it brings out the essential nature.
Transformation is a purification that brings out the best of what is already there.” Cortland Dahl
Astrology
Retrogrades and Ingresses for 2025
www.theinsightcenter.net/blog/planetary-retrogrades-and-ingresses-2025
For 2025 - time to launch into the air energy with Pluto in Aquarius.
This is what I am looking at for 2025:
MAJOR PLANETARY ACTIVITY IN 2025
Pluto is in Aquarius for the year (and for 22 more years)
The outer planets will move to new signs:
· Jupiter will move from Gemini to Cancer
· Saturn will move from Pisces into Aries
· Uranus will move from Taurus to Gemini
· Neptune will move from Pisces to Aries
Eris and Chiron are conjunct all year – cultivate personal wisdom
January 1 Jupiter is retrograde until February 4
March 2 Venus retrogrades until April 13
March 30 Neptune moves from Pisces into Aries
May 26 Saturn moves from Pisces into Aries
May 25 Chiron conjunct Eris in Aries exact
May 26 Rest of year Saturn and Neptune are conjunct in Aries
“…limits only exist in your ability to perceive the unimaginable. Imagine well and imagine huge.” Philip Sedgwick
June 10 Jupiter moves from Gemini to Cancer
June 15 Jupiter in Cancer squares Saturn in Aries
July 8 Uranus moves from Taurus to Gemini
July 12 Saturn retrogrades
September 2 Saturn retrogrades back into Pisces for the rest of 2025
October 23 Neptune retrogrades back into Pisces
Oct/Nov/Dec Jupiter in Cancer squares Chiron and Eris
www.theinsightcenter.net/blog/major-planetary-activity-in-2025nbsp
“Peering through the clear lens of evolutionary astrology, most of our psychological dramas resolve into understandable reactions to wounding experiences in prior lifetimes. What was once labelled as some sort of defect in our characters – some sort of craziness – quickly dissolves into compassionate understanding and the wisdom of self-forgiveness.” Steven Forrest
I have made a small increase of $20 for Comprehensive Astrology Readings. You can see all options here for readings: https://www.theinsightcenter.net/astrology-offerings
Vipassana Meditation and Buddhism
“Wisdom means that we see things as they really are. Understand things dearly without distortions. When we are looking at freedom and emptiness, it is not something that is cold and remote. This open, spacious, awareness contains everything.” Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Mingyur Rinpoche likes to say that meditation is like ending a dysfunctional relationship with ourselves.
“Everything you ever wanted is right here in this present moment of awareness.” Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
“Emptiness invites us to look uncertainty in the eye.” Cortland Dahl
“Thoughts come; emotions come. We return to the breath again and again, not getting lost in the highways and byways of evaluation and judgment. We just drop it, drop it. And then? The silver light comes shining. We are the moon.” Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi
“Good choices lead to good outcomes. Bad choices lead to bad outcomes. Many people are making the good choice to meditate to calm their minds. This is a step in the right direction. But for lasting joy, it is not enough to simply calm your mind; you must also choose to be an architect and work with your mind in such a way that you build a world worth living in. Furthermore, you mustn't work only with your mind but also with your heart!
Your mind and heart operate as a team. If you make wise choices that include caring for and sharing with others, you'll create a world filled with peace and compassion. Your choices generate change.” Architect of the Mind BY KHANGSER RINPOCHE
“Meditate” in Tibetan tradition is “to get to know something.” Cortland Dahl
“Nirvana is simply what happens when we are fully in touch with our true nature and our lives are no longer fueled by attachment, aversion, stress and overwhelm.” Cortland Dahl
“Nirvana is simply a free mind.” Cortland Dahl
“Be the open sky. Begin by setting a positive motivation for your practice. Think to yourself, I am going to meditate to help all beings discover their true nature and the nature of reality. May this help all beings to truly flourish!
Next, let go and rest in open, effortless awareness for a few moments.
Drop the busy, "doing" energy of your life and give yourself permission to simply be.
As you rest with a sense of effortless presence, bring awareness to your
body. Notice the solidity of your body. Feel the pull of gravity.
Now bring awareness into your body and notice any sensations there.
You might feel the movement of your body as you breathe or perhaps tingling or vibration in your hands or other areas. There might be tension or discomfort. Explore all this with a sense of curiosity and openness.
Notice how these feelings and sensations are dynamic, constantly moving and changing. At first, the body seems very solid, but now, notice all the movement and change. Simply be aware of that.
Next, look even deeper. Explore one small part of the body with a little more precision. Notice the sensations and then keep looking. Can you feel a sense of openness within which the sensations are happening? If so, notice that. See if you can tap into a sense of spaciousness or openness within your body.
If you get a glimpse of that openness, let go and rest in that feeling. If not, continue to explore the shifting, moving sensations you find.
To conclude, let go of the exploration and rest again in open aware-ness. Be the open sky of your inner experience, and let all the clouds of your thoughts, emotions, and perceptions flow through without needing to focus on them or do anything with them.” Cortland Dahl
Grief
This is a great Young Pueblo article on heartbreak:
https://open.substack.com/pub/yungpueblo/p/on-heartbreak-772?r=joe4w&utm_medium=ios
“As humans we tie our mental and emotional well-being to situations and relationships that are unstable as the weather. In one moment, something is the source of all our happiness and then suddenly in becomes a source of unbearable anguish.”
Resources
I have a suggested reading list on my site!? Scroll to the bottom of any page and click on “Reading List.” You can search on this page for any topic, such as grief, awakening, mediation.
What I am reading
A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism: The Path of Awareness, Compassion, and Wisdom
by Cortland Dahl and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
We all know there are many challenges and many issues facing the planet and the people on the planet. You may choose to act locally or globally, and I hope you do. I have done both.
Many countries continue to experience political and neocolonial oppression, dealing with authoritarian rule, economic exploitation, and foreign influence that hinders their self-determination and development. Some of the most affected countries are: Palestine, Western Sahara, Myanmar (Burma), Kashmir (India-Pakistan Dispute), Tibet (China), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Indigenous Communities in the Americas, African Nations Facing Neocolonialism - Countries such as Mali, Niger, and Chad.
These all face various forms of political and colonial oppression, whether through direct occupation, economic exploitation, or external political interference. Please watch non - commercial news sources to follow these regions and nations - talk about these issues, boycott companies that support their exploitation, and give your support. Please also pay attention, be aware and provide your support and efforts to mitigate global warming. That is of course another vast issue and we know there are many resources for how we can help.