Insights for November 2014

Kona, Margaret Gervais

“In fact, it is very difficult to be truly honest with ourselves, especially since we can simultaneously have both positive and negative self images on board and may not recognize the inconsistencies. This is due to the fact that we all wear blinders—a psychological defense that doesn’t allow one part of ourselves to see another part. For example, if we need to see ourselves as nice, we may ignore all of our harmful or self-centered qualities. Or, if we need to see ourselves as unworthy, we’ll ignore all positive data. This is actually quite common.” No One Special To Be, Escaping the Prison of Your Own Self-image, Ezra Bayda, Tricycle, Fall 2014, pg. 36.

"Actually it doesn’t really matter whether our identities make sense; what matters is how attached to them we are in are in our need to defend ourselves.” ibid, pg. 36.

“On the long path of practice we move from living from our self-images and our many stories to living more from our deepest values, our most authentic self. When I reflect on the teachers I have most admired, the values to stand out the most are honesty in looking at one’s life; not settling for complacency; living with presence, inner quiet, and inner strength; and living with appreciation and kindness–– all of which contribute to true contentment. What gets in the way of this movement toward our authentic, more than anything, is our insistence on identifying with the small self––preserving our narrow world of being special, of needing to look and feel a particular way.” ibid, pages 37 and 94.

Meditate at the office. Yes, I love this article and plan. Book a quiet room, treat it like an important meeting, and go there to meditate. Keep it simple and just do it. Ihttp://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20141107-is-this-the-cure-for-work-stress“If you cannot forgive and forget, pick one.” ~Robert Brault.

I just started to read this book, Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism, by Andrew Olendzki. Andrew Olendzki writes about psychology and Buddhism with brilliant clear insight. http://www.amazon.com/Unlimiting-Mind-Radically-Experiential-Psychology/dp/0861716205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416060331&sr=8-1&keywords=unlimiting+MindHere are a few quotes from the first chapter:

 “Buddhist thought considers consciousness to arise and pass away moment after moment, each episode of cognition grasping first one object, then another in a flowing stream of experience.” Unlimiting Mind, The Radical Experiential Psychology of Buddhism, Andrew Olenski, pg. 5.

“Buddhist thought and practice is pointing in the other direction, toward befriending change rather than regarding it as an adversary. … With every change something is lost, but something is also gained. When something slips from our grasp, it makes room for something else to come within reach.” ibid, pg. 5.

“Instead of mourning what is lost, when alteration occurs, we can open to the opportunities each new moment brings. Meditation is a form of training for this: each moment’s experience must be relinquished in order to be mindful of the next.” ibid, p. 5.

 And here is some wisdom Andrew Olendzki shared in a recent article in Tricycle:

 “My suggestion is simply this: As we walk the path, let us not look up so much at the destination, high above in the mist, but carefully place one foot in front of the other.” A Tough But Not Impossible Act To Follow, Andrew Olendizki, PhD, Tricycle, Winter, 2014, pg. 87.

“A path keeps us centered, guiding us from veering right or left into dangerous territory. It may also deliver us to the summit, but only if each step is well taken.” ibid, pg. 87.

 “Every mindful moment in which generosity displaces greed, compassion takes the place of hatred, and insight dislodges delusion, is a moment in which we are awake. “ ibid, pg. 87.

“If we can manage one moment of wisdom, why not another?” ibid, page 87.

Mark Epstein is an excellent scholar, teacher and writer and I'm eager to read his latest book about trauma. I am hopeful this book sheds light on various methods of dealing with trauma. I believe when we experience trauma, (and haven't we all experienced it at some level?); residue remains in our psyche, body and cells (ptsd on so many levels), and needs to be cleared for us to be well and move forward in our lives. http://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Everyday-Life-Mark-Epstein/dp/0143125745/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1416164898&sr=8-3&keywords=mark+epstein

"Inquiry sets the motion of the chi. Ask the questions." Sandra Brooks

“The birth chart is a symbol or mandala of our potential, and the transits and progressions reflect the unfolding of that potential over time [in reference to what Dane Rudhyar believed].” The Legacy of Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985), by Candy Hillenbrand, The Mountain Astrologer, Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015, page 44.

“…[Dane] Rudhyar maintains that what happens to us needs to happen to us. Every crisis is a challenge, and every transit or progression presents ‘an opportunity for transformation, expansion or purification.’  Dane Rudhyar, The Practice of Astrology, Penguin Books, Inc. 1971, p. 26. As quoted in The Legacy of Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985), by Candy Hillenbrand, The Mountain Astrologer, Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015, and page 44.

“The value of astrology is to help clients to accept themselves and to understand what is happening, or has already happened, in their lives.” Dane Rudhyar, The Practice of Astrology, Penguin Books, Inc. 1971, pp. 98-102. As quoted in The Legacy of Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985), by Candy Hillenbrand, The Mountain Astrologer, Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015, page 44.

“Rudhyar defines free will as ‘the will not to conform to the past, or the measure of a man’s capacity to be and act as an individual.’” Dane Rudhyar, The Lunation Cycle, Shambhala, 1971, pp. 124-125; Aurora Press, 1986. As quoted in The Legacy of Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985), by Candy Hillenbrand, The Mountain Astrologer, Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015, page 44.

“Fate is ‘the measure of his dependence upon collective and generic standards as determining structures.’ “ Dane Rudhyar, The Practice of Astrology, Penguin Books, Inc. 1971, p. 16. As quoted in The Legacy of Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985), by Candy Hillenbrand, The Mountain Astrologer, Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015, page 44.

"Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama." Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember.“The shock of grief needs both honor and time.” Sea of Sorrow, by Rhonda Kabatznick, Tricycle, Winter 2014, pp. 72-73. 

Insights for October 2014

Insights for October, 2014"Awareness is the greatest agent for change." Eckhart Tolle

This is exactly in alignment with what I believe: "I’ve found that each meditation technique I’ve ever pursued has helped me by touching another space in my being. Somehow I’ve danced through them without getting caught in a value system that would say that a single meditative technique is the only way. You cannot, however, keep collecting methods all the way to enlightenment. Sooner or later you will be drawn to one path or another which is for you the eye of the needle, the doorway to the inner temple. The journey passes from eclectic sampling to a single path. Finally, you recognize the unity of your own way and that of other seekers who followed other paths. At the peak, all the paths come together." Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember

Inquiry by Adyashanti (also posted at http://theinsightcenter.net/blog/):In the book, The Way of Liberation, A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Adyashanti, he suggests three core practices. 1. Meditation, 2. Inquiry, and 3. Contemplation. I have a good understanding of meditation and a meditation practice. I was intrigued by “Inquiry” and I found what he wrote to be fascinating.I have also been receiving teachings from Sandra Brooks, for clairvoyant energy healing and she recently emphasized the important of inquiry. When energetic images and stories show up in our energy field, it is an essential part of healing to inquire about the messages of the energy.Whatever stage or process we are experiencing for our journey of life, inquiry is a very important tool.I have quoted the chapter on Inquiry in its entirety, from Adyashanti, below:“InquiryThe sacred dimension is not something that you can know through words and ideas any more and you can learn what an apple pie tastes like by eating the recipe. The modern age has forgotten that facts and information, for all their usefulness, are not the same as truth or wisdom, and certainly not the same as direct experience. We have lost touch with the intuitive wisdom born of silence and stillness. To hold a question inwardly in silent and patient waiting is an art rarely mastered these days. Inquiry is a bridge between the ego and the soul, and beyond to the infinite. (I’m using the term soul here to mean the essence, presence, or beingness that you are.)Inquiry is not any sense anti-intellectual or anti-rational; it is trans-rational. That is, it has the power to take you beyond both the conceptual mind as well as conditioned egocentric thinking. Although rooted in stillness, inquiry is the dynamic counterpoint to True Meditation [*]. Meditation is soft, allowing surrender, while inquiry demands bold and fearless questioning.Inquiry as a way of addressing the deepest existential issues confronting every human being: who are what am I? What is life? What happens after death? What is God? What is the absolute Truth of existence? Or simply, do I know with absolute certainty that this current thoughts, belief, opinion, interpretation, or judgment is true?The common element to inquiry is Truth. What is truth?The Truth question does not arise from, or pertain to, the various agendas of the ego. It is of the utmost importance that inquiry not become subject to the ego’s various drives and motivations. The underlying drives of the ego are to feel better and survive. Inquiry only belongs entirely to the realm of the soul, that dimension of being born of stillness and light that seeks Truth for its own sake.The first focus of inquiry centers on being. Being is the key that unlocks the kingdom. Who or what am I? Apart from body, mind, belief, occupation, gender, role, memory, or history, what am I? Exactly what is “I”?Remove all that the I is not. Strip the I of all the masks it wears. What is left? Something? Nothing? What’s aware that?In your direct experience, is some-thing aware, or is no-thing aware? Is someone aware or is no one aware?Trace the thread of inquiry silently impatiently back through all of your identifications, all your beliefs about yourself, all of your hidden judgments and assumptions about who and what you are. Take your time. Look deeply into each of these questions. Let the questions remove all that you’re not. Let them undo all that you ever imagined yourself to be, all that you thought you should be, all that anyone ever told you to be. Trace the thread of inquiry back through all of your imagined identities. Follow the thread back through all that is imagined, clung to, or run from. Then be still. Rest in the contemplative silence and let the unknown workings of grace run their course.The realization of Truth and Reality can never be created by the mind; it always comes as a gift of grace. Inquiry clears away misperceptions and illusions, making one available to the movements of grace.The question of being opens the doorway to Reality and Truth, but it’s by no means the only question for inquiry. Question everything! Leave no stone unturned, no assumption unexamined, no form of denial left intact.Investigate each question slowly and deliberately. Place is question to the stillness of your being. Do not grasp for quick answers. Don't jump to conclusions. Instead, let each question reveal your hidden beliefs and opinions. Let it reveal whatever you are holding on to and believing that is at odds with what is. Look for all the ways that attaching to your mind cause you and others to suffer. Bring each question the mind poses into the ground of stillness. Meditate on it, ponder it; take your time. Don’t answer it with your mind. Be still with only the question. Be very, very still.Filled with the love of Truth, don't be surprised if inquiry began to consume all of your hidden assumptions, all of your beliefs, all of your opinions, all of your judgments, all that you have learned secondhand from others. And don't be surprised if most of your spiritual ideas are consumed as well, for it is our spiritual ideas that most effectively protect us from a truly spiritual experience.Your greatest aid is your sincerity and desire for Truth above all else. You may be shocked over and over again by the depth of illusion that you find and uncover within yourself, but never fixate on it or judge yourself. Accept, forgive, and move on, for your true being is infinite and absolute. It exists as much now as it ever did or ever will. Stand still in the sacred conflagration of inquiry and let it open you to the seat of all wisdom born of spirit. Only Truth will survive; all else will perish.It is a sad thing that so few give the full measure of their lives to Truth. Most only go so far, and then settle for less than the total surrender of all separation. In the end we all get what we value most, and if we don’t like what we have gotten, we had better take an honest look at what we are valuing.Never for a moment is Truth lacking. Never is there more or less Truth present, or more or less availability. Truth is in abundant supply at all times, and all situations. It is simply awaiting recognition. And it has all of time on its side.Question your thoughts. Question your stories. Question your assumptions. Question your opinions. Question your conclusions. Question them all into utter emptiness, stillness, and joy. The keys to freedom are in your hands. Use them.”The Way of Liberation, A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Adyashanti, page 19. 

Inquiry, by Adyashanti

In the book, The Way of Liberation, A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Adyashanti, he suggests three core practices.

1. Meditation, 2. Inquiry, and 3. Contemplation. I have a good understanding of meditation and a meditation practice. I was intrigued by “Inquiry” and I found what he wrote to be fascinating.

I have also been receiving teachings from Sandra Brooks, for clairvoyant energy healing and she recently emphasized the important of inquiry. When energetic images and stories show up in our energy field, it is an essential part of healing to inquire about the messages of the energy.Whatever stage or process we are experiencing for our journey of life, inquiry is a very important tool.

I have quoted the chapter on Inquiry in its entirety, from Adyashanti, below:

Inquiry. The sacred dimension is not something that you can know through words and ideas any more and you can learn what an apple pie tastes like by eating the recipe. The modern age has forgotten that facts and information, for all their usefulness, are not the same as truth or wisdom, and certainly not the same as direct experience. We have lost touch with the intuitive wisdom born of silence and stillness. To hold a question inwardly in silent and patient waiting is an art rarely mastered these days. Inquiry is a bridge between the ego and the soul, and beyond to the infinite. (I’m using the term soul here to mean the essence, presence, or beingness that you are.)

Inquiry is not any sense anti-intellectual or anti-rational; it is trans-rational. That is, it has the power to take you beyond both the conceptual mind as well as conditioned egocentric thinking. Although rooted in stillness, inquiry is the dynamic counterpoint to True Meditation [*]. Meditation is soft, allowing surrender, while inquiry demands bold and fearless questioning.Inquiry as a way of addressing the deepest existential issues confronting every human being: who are what am I? What is life? What happens after death? What is God? What is the absolute Truth of existence? Or simply, do I know with absolute certainty that this current thoughts, belief, opinion, interpretation, or judgment is true?

The common element to inquiry is Truth. What is truth?

The Truth question does not arise from, or pertain to, the various agendas of the ego. It is of the utmost importance that inquiry not become subject to the ego’s various drives and motivations. The underlying drives of the ego are to feel better and survive. Inquiry only belongs entirely to the realm of the soul, that dimension of being born of stillness and light that seeks Truth for its own sake.The first focus of inquiry centers on being. Being is the key that unlocks the kingdom. Who or what am I? Apart from body, mind, belief, occupation, gender, role, memory, or history, what am I? Exactly what is “I”?Remove all that the I is not.   Strip the I of all the masks it wears. What is left? Something? Nothing? What’s aware that?In your direct experience, is some-thing aware, or is no-thing aware? Is someone aware or is no one aware?Trace the thread of inquiry silently impatiently back through all of your identifications, all your beliefs about yourself, all of your hidden judgments and assumptions about who and what you are. Take your time. Look deeply into each of these questions. Let the questions remove all that you’re not. Let them undo all that you ever imagined yourself to be, all that you thought you should be, all that anyone ever told you to be. Trace the thread of inquiry back through all of your imagined identities. Follow the thread back through all that is imagined, clung to, or run from. Then be still. Rest in the contemplative silence and let the unknown workings of grace run their course.The realization of Truth and Reality can never be created by the mind; it always comes as a gift of grace. Inquiry clears away misperceptions and illusions, making one available to the movements of grace.

The question of being opens the doorway to Reality and Truth, but it’s by no means the only question for inquiry. Question everything! Leave no stone unturned, no assumption unexamined, no form of denial left intact.Investigate each question slowly and deliberately. Place is question to the stillness of your being. Do not grasp for quick answers. Don't jump to conclusions. Instead, let each question reveal your hidden beliefs and opinions. Let it reveal whatever you are holding on to and believing that is at odds with what is. Look for all the ways that attaching to your mind cause you and others to suffer. Bring each question the mind poses into the ground of stillness. Meditate on it, ponder it; take your time. Don’t answer it with your mind. Be still with only the question. Be very, very still.Filled with the love of Truth, don't be surprised if inquiry began to consume all of your hidden assumptions, all of your beliefs, all of your opinions, all of your judgments, all that you have learned secondhand from others. And don't be surprised if most of your spiritual ideas are consumed as well, for it is our spiritual ideas that most effectively protect us from a truly spiritual experience.Your greatest aid is your sincerity and desire for Truth above all else. You may be shocked over and over again by the depth of illusion that you find and uncover within yourself, but never fixate on it or judge yourself. Accept, forgive, and move on, for your true being is infinite and absolute. It exists as much now as it ever did or ever will.   Stand still in the sacred conflagration of inquiry and let it open you to the seat of all wisdom born of spirit. Only Truth will survive; all else will perish.It is a sad thing that so few give the full measure of their lives to Truth. Most only go so far, and then settle for less than the total surrender of all separation. In the end we all get what we value most, and if we don’t like what we have gotten, we had better take an honest look at what we are valuing.Never for a moment is Truth lacking. Never is there more or less Truth present, or more or less availability. Truth is in abundant supply at all times, and all situations. It is simply awaiting recognition. And it has all of time on its side.Question your thoughts. Question your stories. Question your assumptions. Question your opinions. Question your conclusions. Question them all into utter emptiness, stillness, and joy. The keys to freedom are in your hands. Use them.”The Way of Liberation, A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Adyashanti, page 19.

Adyashanti, The Way of Liberation

IMG_0462

I recently read The Way of Liberation, A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Adyashanti, It is an incredible little book and I highly recommend it.This book came to me at a perfect time and his information has been incredibly helpful to me. I have captured below his first steps, the Five Foundations, along with some of his, and my notes. I keep this list printed in my journal so I can see it every morning and every night.You can read about his work at his website, http://www.adyashanti.org.The Five Foundations [of awakening}

1. Clarify your aspiration

• Life unfolds along the lines of what you value most.

• Become more unified, clear and certain of your direction.

1. Unconditional Follow-through

• Gather energy and attention together into a unified force and directing it toward your aspiration.

• What are you willing to do or let go of doing?

• Be present, sincere and committed

• Aspiration of the heart.

• Aspiration and unconditional follow-through and love is the strongest force in the Universe.

• Unified and one-pointed enough for aspiration to survive.

1. Never abdicate your authority

• Take full responsibility for your life and never abdicate over to someone else.

• A spiritual teaching is a finger pointed toward Reality, it is not Reality itself.

• Apply teaching – don’t just believe.

1. Practice absolute sincerity

• Honesty, genuineness and integrity.

• Let go of being; judgment toward yourself.

• True sincerity reveals powerful clarity and discernment in order to perceive yourself honestly without being captive to your conditioned mind’s judgment and defensiveness.

• The capacity and willingness to be honest with yourself is your greatest guard against self-deception and deceit and aligns you with your genuine aspiration.

1. Be a good steward of your life.

• Do not use spirituality to avoid any aspect of yourself or your life – this will inhibit the dawning of spiritual enlightenment to a great extent – and its depth and stability.

• Completely face yourself – your life without withdrawing into denied, judgment or magical thinking.

• Embrace every aspect of your life, inner and outer, pleasant and unpleasant.

• Give each moment the attention, sincerity and commitment it deserves. A failure to do so is more costly that you can imagine.

• Pay attention to what life is trying to reveal to you. Say yes to its fierce, ruthless and loving grace.

The Way of Liberation, A Practical Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Adyashanti, pages 1-7.

Insights for September 2014

Grow. Image by Margaret Gervais, Portland, Oregon

"Letting go does not mean losing knowledge we have gained from the past. The knowledge of the past stays with us. To let go is simply to release any images and emotions, grudges and fears, clingings and disappointments that bind our spirit. Like emptying a cup, letting go leaves us free to receive, refreshed, sensitive, and awake." Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart.From Jack Kornfield, one of my favorite meditation teachers at a weekend intensive, The Psychology of Loving Awareness, Seattle, April, 2014:

“True equanimity is the true heart that can remain peaceful in this world, with its joys and sorrows. Let it all rise. Take your seat in the midst.

The silence of the cosmos is in you.

Your happiness and suffering depends on your journey and actions, not my best wishes for you.

Balance love, with the wisdom of equanimity.

 You should probably be doing less

You have to give up all hope of a better past."

From Robert Hand, An Interview with Robert Hand, The Mountain Astrologer, Oct./Nov. 2014:

“So, it’s a matter of raising your understanding and your spiritual awareness – raising your consciousness to see how you can use the transcendental creativity.” page 42.

“Higher consciousness will never be achieved by a group of people of any size. It has to be achieved by individuals first and then by the collective. There has to be a critical mass of enlightened people before that will happen.” page 43.

“Nonresistance, non judgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.” Eckhart Tolle

"The trap of high experiences, however they occur, is that you become attached to their memory and so you try to recreate them. These memories compel you to try to reproduce the high. Ultimately they trap you, because they interfere with your experience of the present moment. In meditation you must be in the moment, letting go of comparisons and memories. If the high was too powerful in comparison to the rest of your life, it overrides the present and keeps you focused on the past. The paradox, of course, is that were you to let go of the past, you would find in the present moment the same quality that you once had. But because you're trying to repeat the past, you lose the moment." Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember.

From David Pond's Autumn Equinox Newsletter, about the upcoming Grand Trine in Fire, with Uranus in Aries, Jupiter in Leo and Mars in Sagittarius (www.davidpond.com):

"Move into the rooms that already have light."

This is not so much getting the darkness out of rooms in your consciousness as it is moving into the rooms that already have light, and if there are rooms that have no light, put in a light, rather than attempt to get rid of the darkness. Instead of resolving fears, insecurities, feelings of inadequacy, overwhelm them with the positive feelings of what you appreciate about your life and are thankful for and look forward to.

What you pay attention to grows: This is the one aspect that you have more control of than in any other area of your life; after all, you are the only custodian and final authority of what you pay attention to. This is not something that could happen, it is happening now and how our individual lives are all unique, even though we all have access to the same collective energy. So what have you been growing with your attention in the garden of your consciousness? There can be favorable opportunities available, but if you stay stuck to the news channel, you’ll miss it.”

"It is much better to look at karma as a psychology of habit, rather than your cosmic bank account." Ethan Nichtern, www.ethannichtern.com.

"When Buddhists talk about the preciousness of a human birth, it’s the awareness associated with human birth that’s the opportunity. We become aware to bring ourselves to higher consciousness." Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember

Insights for August 2014

Still waters. Image by Margaret Gervais

These wise words from Mark Jones, one of my favorite astrologers, (also a teacher, psychosynthesis therapist and poet http://www.plutoschool.com/), from Power of the Circle on Phases, audio recording NORWAC 2012:

“The greatest guide is the light of your personal consciousness.”

“If in doubt, personal truth and integrity will take you through most evolutionary gateways.”

“Principle, dedication, courage, integrity, devotion to truth; you won’t go too far wrong in life with these things.”

“If in doubt, devote yourself to truth.”

I am now reading my second book by Adyashanti, The Way of Liberation:

“…it is essential to understand that a spiritual teacher’s role is to be a good and wise spiritual guide as well as an embodiment of the Truth that he or she points toward.” page 5

“A spiritual teaching is a finger pointing toward Reality; it is not Reality itself.”  page 5

“Belief leads to various forms of fundamentalism and shuts down curiosity and inquiry that as essential to open the way for awakening and what lies beyond awakening. A good spiritual teaching is something that you work with and apply. In doing so, it works on you (often in a hidden way) and helps reveal to you the Truth (and falseness) that lies within you.”  page 5

“It's like two arrows, the Buddha said. The first arrow is the initial event itself, the painful experience. It has happened; we cannot avoid it. The second arrow is the one we shoot into ourselves. This arrow is optional. We can add to the initial pain a contracted, angry, rigid, frightened state of mind. Or we can learn to experience the same painful event with less identification and aversion, with a relaxed and compassionate heart.  Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart"Meditation is participatory observation. What you are looking at responds to the process of looking. What you are looking at is you, and what you see depends on how you look."  Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

“Identity: We are the essence of karmic momentum. It is an unfolding process; thoughts without thinker, sensory without body, experience without self.” Noah Levine, Breitenbush, July 2005

“Awareness, acceptance, forgiveness. That is all you need to know.” Dr. K. K. Tan, Meditation Teacher, Buddhist Library Singapore

"What is the purpose of tranquility? Why should we have wisdom? They are only for the purpose of freeing ourselves from suffering, nothing more." Ajahn Chah, 'Meditation' http://www.vipassana.com/

Insights for July 2014

Farewell Kona

"Solid people advance. Those with grounding and preparation behind them get to move ahead on life’s game board."  Philip Sedgwick, galactic@philipsedgwick.com 

A really great posting from Ram Dass today about grieving:"It is important, as we get older, to learn how to grieve. Although this may sound self-evident, experience has taught me that it is not. In a culture that emphasizes stoicism and forward movement, in which time is deemed “of the essence,” and there is little toleration for slowness, inwardness, and melancholy, grieving – a healthy, necessary aspect of life – is too often overlooked. As we get older, of course, and losses mount, the need for conscious grieving becomes more pronounced. Only by learning how to grieve can we hope to leave the past behind and come into the present moment.The older we get, the more we lose; this is the law of impermanence. We lose loved ones, cherished dreams, physical strength, work, and relationships. Often, it seems like loss upon loss. All these losses bring up enormous grief that we must be prepared to embrace completely, if we are to live with open hearts."

"My dear friend Stephen Levine has recommended that we build temples specifically for the purpose of grieving, ritual sites where we can feel safe to pour out the sadness and loss that we feel. In the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva, and in the traditional Irish wake, we find such outlets for extended grieving, but these rituals are becoming rare in our culture and are not frequently practiced."

"Over the years, in working with people who are grieving, I’ve encouraged them first of all to surrender to the experience of their pain. To counteract our natural tendency to turn away from pain, we open to it as fully as possible and allow our hearts to break. We must take enough time to remember our losses – be they friends or loved ones passed away, the death of long-held hopes or dreams, the loss of homes, careers, or countries, or health we may never get back again. Rather than close ourselves to grief, it helps to realize that we only grieve for what we love.In allowing ourselves to grieve, we learn that the process is not cut and dried. It’s more like a spiral that brings us to a place of release, abates for a time, then continues on a deeper level. Often, when grieving, we think that it’s over, only to find ourselves swept away by another wave of intense feeling. For this reason, it’s important to be patient with the process, and not be in a hurry to put our grief behind us."

"While the crisis stage of grief does pass in its own time - and each person’s grief has its own timetable - deep feelings don’t disappear completely. But ultimately you come to the truth of the adage that “love is stronger than death.” I once met with a girl whose boyfriend was killed in Central America. She was grieving and it was paralyzing her life. I characterized it for her this way. “Let’s say you’re in ‘wise-woman training.’” If she’s in wise-woman training, everything in her life must be grist for the mill. Her relationship with this man would become part of the wisdom in her. But first she had to see that her relationship with him is between Souls. They no longer have two incarnated bodies to share, so she had to find the Soul connection. Two Souls can access each other without an incarnation.When my Guru died in 1973, I assumed that because of the important part he played in my life, and the love I felt for him, I would be inundated with grief. Surprisingly, I was not. In time, I came to realize why. He and I were so well established in Soul love that, in the years since he left his body, his palpable presence in my life has continued unabated."  http://www.ramdass.org/learning-grieve/

 "There is dissatisfaction in the astrological house that is opposite your natal Pluto placement, because it is the area for your soul's growth in this life." Margaret Gervais, 5.27.14 Kona, Hawaii “Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”

Eckhart Tolle http://www.eckharttolle.com/present-moment-reminders/?f=1 More from the book I recently finished by Adyashanti, The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment:“That which is awake always moves toward that which is not awake. That which is awake has no fear of that which is not awake. It doesn’t have any fear, because it doesn’t perceive anything as separate or other than self.” page 46.“The truth of our being is not content until it has freed itself of its own misunderstanding, its own fixations, its own illusions.” page 47.“…awakened consciousness moves in particular ways. It does not deny anything. It does not hide; it is not avoiding any part of life. That which we are, that which is fully awake, is also ultimately fully engaged and fearless. It moves the way it moves, out of unconditional love and truthfulness. It is only the fear in the mind-the fear that constructs the illusion of ego-that causes one to recoil …” page 78. 

Getting straight on your path: http://www.ramdass.org/getting-straight-on-your-path/ “

The large planet of Jupiter (represents expansion) has moved into Leo (FIRE): acceleration, less process more results, creative, confidence, manifest, materialize, connect and DREAM BIG. From the crab (Cancer) to the lion (Leo), can you feel it?” Margaret Gervais

Insights for June 2014

Blossoming, image by Margaret Gervais

“It is to untangle that we begin meditation practice. To disentangle ourselves, to be free, requires that we train our attention.”  Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, The Path of Insight Meditation, page 6. From Jack Kornfield, one of my favorite meditation teachers at a weekend intensive, The Psychology of Loving Awareness, Seattle, April, 2014:

• "The circle of compassion is only complete when you include yourself.

• If one person remains calm and centered it can calm and center all others around them.

• Let the breath do the breathing.

• Your heart has the capacity to open up to life. We have to practice, tend the heart, and nurture the heart for resilience and self-protection.

• Fear, etc., can continue to arise but you will change your relationship to it.  Name it and let it wash over you, until you know it and you have a deeper stillness.

• Relinquish to the toughest thing that arises: restlessness, loneliness, etc. Say to yourself, "I'll die of restlessness. I'll be the first person to die of restlessness." In this way you will develop a wiser relationship to it."

 Luminous insights into bardo (“...the term "bardo" refers to the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. Wikipedia.  In this article there is discussion of the bardo as a state “in between” and “...bardo experience is a doorway to awakening, which is always present. In Trungpa Rinpoche's words, "bardo is a very practical way of looking at our life."): http://www.tricycle.com/special-section/luminous-gap-bardo I recently finished a book I loved by Adyashanti, The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment, and the following are some quotes from the book:

• “It’s apparent that each being has a different sort of karmic inheritance; each person has a different karmic load that he or she carries. And it does no good to complain about your karmic load, whether you perceive it to be greater or lesser than somebody else’s. It is what it is.  Page 39.

• Each moment is the moment that needs to be happening. Page 60.

• Life itself shows us what we need to see through in order to be free. Each moment is the moment that needs to be happening. Page 60.

•  …and so one of the most important steps is to come into agreement with your life so that you/re not turning away from yourself in any way. And the amazing thing is that when we are no longer turning away from ourselves, we find a great amount of energy, a great capacity for clarity and wisdom, and we start to see everything we need to see. Page 114.

• One if the greatest poems of the Zen tradition ends with this description of the awakened state: ‘To be without anxiety about imperfection.’” Page 130.

Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addictionis a new book by Noah Levine on the Buddhist approach to sobriety.  I just ordered it and will share more from this book as I read it.  http://www.tricycle.com/reviews/dharma-drunks Steven Forrest is one of my favorite astrologers, and he has a great website with his Newsletters, classes and audio recordings, http://www.forrestastrology.com. His July Newsletter is great.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

• "Can you be like the wise old karate master and remember that often times the best karate move is often to simply walk away?

• ...are you brave enough to say, roll the dice? Somewhere in your chart (and in your life!) Uranus is asking you to trust your fiercest, wildest rebel impulses.

• Saturn and Uranus are 150 degrees apart for the entire month of July. What does this mean for you?  Specifically, Saturn-in-Scorpio cautions us that unconscious factors—old wounds, fears, and humiliations—need to be faced squarely and incisively before we get on our high horse and start arranging firing squads, SWAT teams, and Predator drones. And Uranus-in-Aries tells us that once we have done that Scorpionic housecleaning, it is time for bold, decisive action. Time to roll those dice."

(If you want to know more about the Saturn and Uranus transits in your chart, please contact me, theinsightcenter@gmail.com)  

Insights for May 2014

Hyacinth in the rain, Kona. Margaret Gervais 2014

Meditation reminder:  “Don’t create suffering over the breath being too long or too short, but simply observe it without trying to control or suppress it in any way. In other words, don’t attach. As you continue, the mind will gradually lay things down and come to rest, the breath becoming lighter and lighter until it becomes so faint that it seems like it’s not there at all. All that will remain will be a one-pointed knowing. The mind has reached a state of calm.” Ajahn Chah, A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation, page 28.“

Meditation is a cognitive control exercise that enhances the ability to self-regulate your internal distractions,” Dr. Adam Gazzaley, neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, in the New York Times Article, “Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention Deficits”, by Daniel Goldman, May, 12, 2014. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/exercising-the-mind-to-treat-attention-deficits/?_php=true&_type=blogs&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=HL_ETM_20140513&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2&.Grief.

Tough topic, but insights can be helpful for the journey. See my posting on grief, and revisit as I add more material: http://theinsightcenter.net/444/.

"The breath, if we let it, can anchor us to our awareness." A Beginner's Guide to Meditation, Edited by Rod Meade Sperry, pg. 1.

"So you must try to not think too much. If you do think, then do so with awareness. First, you must make your mind calm. Where there is knowing, there is no need to think. Awareness will arise in its place, and this will in turn become wisdom. The ordinary kind of thinking is not wisdom, but simply the aimless and unaware wandering of the mind, which inevitably results in agitation." Ajahn Chah, A Beginner's Guide to Meditation, Edited by Rod Meade Sperry, pg. 27.

“Compassion has to be supported by mindfulness to build tolerance.”

“Attachment: How do you know when it is unhealthy? There is suffering (when it gets sticky). Healthy attachment is OK.”

“We have roles. Do them well and let them go – they are not you. It is temporary. Who you are is spirit born into a body.” Jack Kornfield, Seattle, April 2014.

You are your own best proof!  "In the end, when it comes to spiritual practice, you are your own best proof. Individual practitioners can understand from their own personal experience that practice is helping them to be more understanding, to be more open, to be more at home with others, or to have a greater sense of ease."  Thupten Jingpa Langri, “Under One Umbrella” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

I am always interested in fear, because it can be very problematic for some people. What do you think of this take on fear?  "Fear is the basic anxiety that creates separation and fixation. Fear keeps us bound to the past, to our cozy, habitual way of doing things." Daniel Naistadt, “The Money Mind” from Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Grief

I have been dealing with grief and loss after the tragic loss of a dear friend and the continuing grief of losing my father.  As I contemplated grief, I started to notice wise insights presented by many gifted teachers.  The following are many of these insights. Please check back when you want to contemplate grief, I will be adding to this page.

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"Each of us passes in and out of this state [grace] many times in our life. This is a universal human experience. As we fall out of grace it looks and feels to us as if we are failing. Indeed we call it "failure"; a part of us dies. But this is the process by which we make space for the birth of something new, something more true to ourselves." "Falling out of Grace, Meditation on Loss, Healing and Wisdom" Sobonfu E. Somé. Thank you to Suzanne Bigelow for exposing me to this work.

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"Letting go and moving through life from one change to another brings the maturing of our spiritual being. In the end we discover that to love and let go can be the same thing. Both ways do not seek to possess. Both allow us to touch each moment of this changing life and allow us to be there fully for whatever arises next." Jack Kornfield https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15483153c1bce07e

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"Grief might be, in some ways, the long aftermath of love, the internal work of knowing, holding, more fully valuing what we have lost." Mark Doty, Don't They Know?

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“If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future.”  Eckhart Tolle

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Spring returns via the maple trees. Image by Margaret Gervais

"Closure is delusive – it is the false hope that we can deaden our living grief.  I’ve long thought that Kübler-Ross was wrong. The ‘psychological stages' of dying and grieving are wholly different. For the person who dies there is an end, but this is not so for the person who grieves. The person who mourns goes on living and for as long as he lives there is always the possibility of feeling grief.

Each of us mourns differently, but in general the initial shock and fear triggered by death does diminish with time. Through the work of mourning, we gradually feel better, though some heartache remains. Holidays and anniversaries are notoriously difficult. Grief can ebb and then, without warning, resurge. The loss of a child, a loss through suicide – these losses, and many others, can and do cause enduring sorrow.

‘Grief Lit’ – a burgeoning sub-genre of 'Recovery Lit' offers many titles, and the message is: ‘your grief is something that can be fixed. You can recover. You can have closure.’

My experience is that closure is an extraordinary compelling fantasy of mourning. It is the fiction that we can love, lose, suffer and do something to permanently end our sorrow. We want to believe we can reach closure because grief can surprise and disorder us – even years after out loss.  Closure is delusive – it is the false hope that we can deaden our living grief.”  Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves

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"Perhaps we all carry an immemorial wound, an infinite loss, a self-exile we perpetrate on ourselves. It turns us into isolated entities stalking the earth in search of what we think we need—the temporary stays against ennui, despair, loss, and terror. But sooner or later, the wound can carry us toward its own remedy, if we only let it. It seems too much to hope that right in the heart of our troubled selves there might actually be the healing we seek. But if suffering and awakening form a single weather-system, as many a wise person has come to know, then when storms come, perhaps we can accept them with less dread and aversion, and more trust, and even hope." Henry Shukman, http://www.tricycle.com/feature/beautiful-storm

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Thich Nhat Hanh is a Master teacher and this is from him.  He often teaches walking meditation and if one does a walking meditation with this exercise, you would coordinate the breathing with slow, even, relaxed steps.  This exercise can also be practiced as a sitting meditation.   Buddhist philosophy includes impermanence, that all that is alive is ever-changing and will die, and wisdom around this can set us free; free of clinging.Thich Nhat Hanh presents "The Five Awarenesses Exercise":Breathing in, I know that I am of the nature to grow old.Breathing out, I know that I cannot escape old age.Breathing in, I know that I am of the nature to get sick.Breathing out, I know that I cannot escape sickness.Breathing in, I know that I am of the nature to die.Breathing out, I know that I cannot escape dying.Breathing in, I know one day I will have to let go of everything and everyone I cherish.Breathing out, there is no way to bring them along.Breathing in, I know that I bring nothing with me except my actions, thoughts, and deeds.Breathing out, only my actions come with me.

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Learning to Grieve - from Ram DassPosted July 9, 2014, http://www.ramdass.org/learning-grieve/"It is important, as we get older, to learn how to grieve. Although this may sound self-evident, experience has taught me that it is not. In a culture that emphasizes stoicism and forward movement, in which time is deemed “of the essence,” and there is little toleration for slowness, inwardness, and melancholy, grieving – a healthy, necessary aspect of life – is too often overlooked. As we get older, of course, and losses mount, the need for conscious grieving becomes more pronounced. Only by learning how to grieve can we hope to leave the past behind and come into the present moment.The older we get, the more we lose; this is the law of impermanence. We lose loved ones, cherished dreams, physical strength, work, and relationships. Often, it seems like loss upon loss. All these losses bring up enormous grief that we must be prepared to embrace completely, if we are to live with open hearts.My dear friend Stephen Levine has recommended that we build temples specifically for the purpose of grieving, ritual sites where we can feel safe to pour out the sadness and loss that we feel. In the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva, and in the traditional Irish wake, we find such outlets for extended grieving, but these rituals are becoming rare in our culture and are not frequently practiced.Over the years, in working with people who are grieving, I’ve encouraged them first of all to surrender to the experience of their pain. To counteract our natural tendency to turn away from pain, we open to it as fully as possible and allow our hearts to break. We must take enough time to remember our losses – be they friends or loved ones passed away, the death of long-held hopes or dreams, the loss of homes, careers, or countries, or health we may never get back again. Rather than close ourselves to grief, it helps to realize that we only grieve for what we love.In allowing ourselves to grieve, we learn that the process is not cut and dried. It’s more like a spiral that brings us to a place of release, abates for a time, then continues on a deeper level. Often, when grieving, we think that it’s over, only to find ourselves swept away by another wave of intense feeling. For this reason, it’s important to be patient with the process, and not be in a hurry to put our grief behind us.While the crisis stage of grief does pass in its own time - and each person’s grief has its own timetable - deep feelings don’t disappear completely. But ultimately you come to the truth of the adage that “love is stronger than death.” I once met with a girl whose boyfriend was killed in Central America. She was grieving and it was paralyzing her life. I characterized it for her this way. “Let’s say you’re in ‘wise-woman training.’” If she’s in wise-woman training, everything in her life must be grist for the mill. Her relationship with this man would become part of the wisdom in her. But first she had to see that her relationship with him is between Souls. They no longer have two incarnated bodies to share, so she had to find the Soul connection. Two Souls can access each other without an incarnation.When my Guru died in 1973, I assumed that because of the important part he played in my life, and the love I felt for him, I would be inundated with grief. Surprisingly, I was not. In time, I came to realize why. He and I were so well established in Soul love that, in the years since he left his body, his palpable presence in my life has continued unabated."  Ram Dass

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"While we live, we are able to live. When it's time to die, we are able to die. This is the natural order of things, and to the extent that we align ourselves with this, we experience peace even in the midst of distress."  Meikyo Robert Rosenbaum, "Breathless"

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sunset

 OUR FINAL GIFT

“Our death is the gift we make for the life we have enjoyed. The fact that it is a required gift doesn’t mean that we can’t give it with graciousness and an open heart for all beings who will benefit from it. It is a gift to our children and grandchildren and to rocks and trees that need the passing of life in order to live and grow themselves. Without the change resulting in our death, there would be no new beings coming into the world – no joy of holding a newborn, seeing the smile of a child or the leaves of a young tree facing the sun. We would have never grown up, helped others, learned new things, known the joy of spring. Death is our gift to the universe, the dues we pay for the joy of our lives.

This does not mean it’s not hard to let go of this life. Dag Hammarskjold wrote in Markings, that when he was in his twenties, death was one of the crowd. But now, in his later years, death sits beside him at the dinner table. Sometimes death is a good companion and tells us wise things. Sometimes we look at death and are grief-stricken and angry. It’s normal to grieve for our lives and be angry at their being taken – saying we shouldn’t is only putting a layer of suffering on our pain. None of us wants to go.We know, in the last analysis, that there’s nothing for us to do but let go of life and trust the universe to do something good, something useful, something we would have liked with it.Death is not and end. It is a change. The elements that made us up are still there, just as yearn is still there in a finished hat. It is itself, but it’s something else, also. Even though we’re in a sense still here, “self” as we know it is gone. That “self” won’t be appreciating the sunrise tomorrow. But, still, we are here in the places where our elements alight – a tree, a bird, a rock. Remember that things had to die so we could be born – stars, rocks, dinosaurs, plants. As we give up this life, we can thank them for sharing it with us so we could be here for a while.” Zuiko Redding, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, Winter 2014.

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Insights from someone with a terminal cancer diagnosis:

"I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure."

Oliver Sacks, a professor of neurology at the New York University School of Medicine, is the author of many books, including “Awakenings” and “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html?_r=0

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Perfectly resting rose. Margaret Gervais

"Sometimes all this healing asks is that we become present. for ourselves. A meditation practitioner once came to one of our two month retreats at Spirit Rock after his four year 3 old son had died in a car accident. This man, the father, had been driving. Immediately following the accident, he had kept himself busy, seeking help and talking to shamans and lamas, and being consoled by friends and others. And yet, in some way, this was also a way to keep his grief at bay. Finally, when he knew he was ready, he came to a meditation retreat. Somehow he knew that it was time for him to experience his pain directly, to find the cure for the pain in the pain itself. He started with lots of prayers and mantras and visualizations. Finally, one morning he just sat still. Waves of grief and quilt and loss poured out. And his great and simple task was to bring a kind and healing attention to the grief and suffering that he carried and could no longer run from."  Jack Kornfield, http://www.jackkornfield.com/the-temple-of-healing/

“To bow to the fact of our life's sorrows and betrayals is to accept them; and from this deep gesture we discover that all life is workable. As we learn to bow, we discover that the heart holds more freedom and compassion than we could imagine.” Jack Kornfield

"Over the years, in working with people who are grieving, I’ve encouraged them first of all to surrender to the experience of their pain. To counteract our natural tendency to turn away from pain, we open to it as fully as possible and allow our hearts to break. We must take enough time to remember our losses – be they friends or loved ones passed away, the death of long-held hopes or dreams, the loss of homes, careers, or countries, or health we may never get back again. Rather than close ourselves to grief, it helps to realize that we only grieve for what we love.In allowing ourselves to grieve, we learn that the process is not cut and dried. It’s more like a spiral that brings us to a place of release, abates for a time, then continues on a deeper level. Often, when grieving, we think that it’s over, only to find ourselves swept away by another wave of intense feeling. For this reason, it’s important to be patient with the process, and not be in a hurry to put our grief behind us." Ram Dass,

Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember

 https://www.ramdass.org/learning-to-grieve/From Brain Pickings, 7 wonderful children's books on grief and loss. I would love to have these in my library. Who can't relate to a beautifully told children's story about such a tough subject? http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/23/best-childrens-books-death-grief-mourning/“The people we most love do become a physical part of us, ingrained in our synapses, in the pathways where memories are created.”

How We Grieve: Meghan O’Rourke on the Messiness of Mourning and Learning to Live with Loss

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"This body is not me; I am not caught in this body, I am life without boundaries, I have never been born and I have never died. Over there, the wide ocean and the sky with many galaxies all manifest from the basis of consciousness. Since beginningless time I have always been free. Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out. Birth and death are only a game of hide and seek." Thich Nhat Hanh "On the Path With Thay," Allan Badiner, Tricycle Spring 2015.

"The Grief Path" is a beautiful story and this video shows her work to chart and paint her grief. I would love to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XilHRThzC8Great advise. Think about death everyday to be happy. http://www.bbc.com/…/20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-to-happin…Death Is a Part of LivingUntil you realize the fundamental fact that reality is really in the moment, you’re thinking about long-term goals—'when I do this' and 'when I become that'—so you think, I don’t want to die, because then I won’t be able to do all these things. But if you’re living in the present, death becomes a part of living.—Jason Lewis, "An Interview with Jason Lewis"

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“The young psyche is absorbed in itself and its point of view, until something happens to destroy that innocence – we fall in love and the person leaves us, or someone in our family dies, or there is a crushing disappointment, like not getting into the college we had our heart set on because we didn’t’ make the grade. Whatever it is, something breaks the heart, and when the heart is broken, the wound begins in the psyche, the wound that will act like the grain of sand in the oyster. Dealing with that wound over years, with awareness and hard work, will produce the pearl of inner essence that cannot be taken away, because it’s indestructible. But to build an inner indestructible essence, we must first be destroyed in our more naïve form. “ James Hillman"Within the silence that follows the final breath of a dying person is the certainty that something is occurring. In the no moving movement of air in the room one senses a deep, deep loneliness and at the same time the connectedness of everything." Robert Chodo Campbell, "Death is not an Emergency," Tricycle, fall 2016

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"Within the silence that follows the final breath of a dying person is the certainty that something is occurring. In the no moving movement of air in the room one senses a deep, deep loneliness and at the same time the connectedness of everything." Robert Chodo Campbell, "Death is not an Emergency," Tricycle, fall 2016A Meditation on Grief“When after heavy rain the storm clouds disperse, is it not that they’ve wept themselves clear to the end?”~Ghalib"Grief is one of the heart’s natural responses to loss. When we grieve we allow ourselves to feel the truth of our pain, the measure of betrayal or tragedy in our life. By our willingness to mourn, we slowly acknowledge, integrate, and accept the truth of our losses. Sometimes the best way to let go is to grieve.It takes courage to grieve, to honor the pain we carry. We can grieve in tears or in meditative silence, in prayer or in song. In touching the pain of recent and long-held griefs, we come face to face with our genuine human vulnerability, with helplessness and hopelessness. These are the storm clouds of the heart.Most traditional societies offer ritual and communal support to help people move through grief and loss. We need to respect our tears. Without a wise way to grieve, we can only soldier on, armored and unfeeling, but our hearts cannot learn and grow from the sorrows of the past.To meditate on grief, let yourself sit, alone or with a comforting friend. Take the time to create an atmosphere of support. When you are ready, begin by sensing your breath. Feel your breathing in the area of your chest. This can help you become present to what is within you. Take one hand and hold is gently on your heart as if you were holding a vulnerable human being. You are.As you continue to breathe, bring to mind the loss or pain you are grieving. Let the story, the images, the feelings comes naturally. Hold them gently. Take your time. Let the feelings come layer by layer, a little at a time.Keep breathing softly, compassionately. Let whatever feelings are there, pain and tears, anger and love, fear and sorrow, come as they will. Touch them gently. Let them unravel out of your body and mind. Make space for any images that arise. Allow the whole story. Breathe and hold it all with tenderness and compassion. Kindness for it all, for you and for others.The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in anymore. You can let it go into the heart of compassion; you can weep.Releasing the grief we carry is a long, tear-filled process. Yet it follows the natural intelligence of the body and heart. Trust it, trust the unfolding. Along with meditation, some of your grief will want to be written, to be cried out, to be sung, to be danced. Let the timeless wisdom within you carry you through grief to an open heart." Jack Kornfield, The meditation is taken from the book, The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace.

"Being alive means engaging in a continual process of transformation. Nothing in the natural world stays the same. Everything shows signs of being in relationship with its environment. Trees cannot deny the effects of a forest fire. Rocks do not try to hide the smoothness that results from the relentless pounding of waves upon them. Icebergs do not feign being untouched by the rising temperatures of our planet.Yet we humans try to defend ourselves against the inevitable changes. Aging. Loss. Grief. We spend so much of our resources chasing some external solution to our internal discomfort. We have such difficulty sitting with the feelings that, if felt all the way through, could renew us. Release us. Transform us.Our transformation depends on our ability to sit with and accept the feelings that arrive with the truth. Not our version of how we wish life would be and not the version of reality that we need to be true in order to justify how we are living. Just the honest truth. How it lands with us in this moment. What it means for our life. Right here, right now.

"Nothing about our lives or about this world will ever change without our willingness to be relentlessly honest. Especially about our past. Especially about our present. Especially when accepting the truth means that it’s time to let something go." Chani Nicholas, http://chaninicholas.com/

"The Five Invitations"

1. Don't wait

2. Welcome everything. Push away nothing.

3. Bring your whole self to the experience.

4. Find a place of rest in the middle of things.

5. Cultivate "Don't know" mind." Frank Ostaseski, "Starting With the Fruit", Heart Wisdom Podcast. May 18, 2017.

"Don't just stand there with your hair turning grey, soon enough the seas will sink your little island.So while there is still the illusion of time, set out for some other shore.No sense packing a bag, you won't be able to lift it into your boat.Give away all of your collections, take only new seeds and an old stick.Send out some prayers on the wind before you sail.Don't be afraid, someone knows you are coming. An extra fish has been salted." Sono. Frank Ostaseski, "Starting With the Fruit", Heart Wisdom Podcast., May 18, 2017.'

"Not one of us is here by mistake. Not one of us is out of place. Not one of us is unwanted by life. This world is deeply incomplete without each of us in it. Incomplete without each of our individual imprints on it. Our specific touch." Chani Nicholas"Mother's dying almost stunned my spirit....She slipped from our fingers like a flake gathered by the wind, and is now part of the drift called 'the infinite..'" Emily Dickinson, from brainpickings.org

"Whether it's physical or emotional pain, anything you give space to can be transformed."  Jack Kornfield, "No Time Like the Present," pg. 17

"Thich Nhat Hanh tells a story of awakening from a dream in which he was having a conversation with his beloved mother a year after she has passed away. He’d been close with her, and after her death he grieved the loss terribly. But on a moonlit night in his mountain hermitage in Vietnam, he awoke from a dream of his mother, fully feeling the reality of her presence. "I understood, he said, "that my mother never died." He could hear her voice inside himself. He went outside, and she became the moonlight tenderly caressing his skin. As he walked barefoot among the tea plants, he was able to feel her with him. The idea that she was gone simply wasn't true. He realized his feet were "our" feet, he said, and "together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp evening soil." Jack Kornfield, No Time Like the Present

“We all sit on the edge of a mystery. We have only known this life, so dying scares us-and we are all dying. But what if dying were perfectly safe? What if you could approach dying with curiosity and love? What if dying were the ultimate spiritual practice?”

Ram DassSeven books recommended by LION'S ROAR, September, 2018, for how to help dying people - and how to die yourself:

1. The Five Initiations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, by Frank Ostaseki,

2. Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End-of-Life Care, edited by Koshin Paley Ellison and Matt Weingast,

3. Making Friends With Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality, by Judith L. Lief,

4. No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom For Life,by Thich Nhat Hahn,

5. Living in the Light of Death; On the Art of Being Truly Alive, by Larry Rosenberg,

6. Leaning into Sharp Points; Practical Guidance and Nurturing Support for Caregivers,by Stan Goldberg,

7. Being With Death and Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death, by Joan Halifax.

“If I am going to die, the best way to prepare is to quiet my mind and open my heart. If I’m going to live, the best way to prepare is to quiet the mind and open my heart.” Ram Dass.

“Knowing how to use our suffering is essential to realizing true happiness.” Thich Nhat Hanh.“So far you’ve survived 100% of your worst days. You’re doing great.” Spiritual movement, Instagram.

“You cannot live without dying.” Consciousnessnow, Instagram

"Every thought, every emotion, every action, every moment of time, has multiple causes and reverberations-tendrils of culture, history, hurt, and joy that stretch out mysteriously and endlessly. As with us, so with everything: all things influence one another.  This is how the world appears, shimmers and shifts, moment by moment.” Norman Fisher, Lion’s Roar, March 2018, pg. 66.

HOW IT SEEMS TO ME by Ursula K. Le GuinIn the vast abyss before time, self is not, and soul commingleswith mist, and rock, and light. In time, soul brings the misty self to be.Then slow time hardens self to stone while ever lightening the soul, till soul can loose its hold of self and both are free and can return to vastness and dissolve in light, the long light after time.“You may no see it now, but this very difficulty will strengthen you. Your heart will grow wiser, your spirit stronger. You already know this. You can even begin to see the ways that this is true.” Jack Kornfield, Instagram

“Bit by bit… it comes over us that we shall never again hear the laughter of our friend, that this one garden is forever locked against us. And at that moment begins our true mourning, which, though it may not be rending, is yet a little bitter. For nothing, in truth, can replace that companion. Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.

So life goes on. For years we plant the seed, we feel ourselves rich; and then come other years when time does its work and our plantation is made sparse and thin. One by one, our comrades slip away, deprive us of their shade.” Saint-Exupéry.

“I cannot say that I am not afraid. A friend of mine had cancer, and though he was not scared, he was sad because there were so many things he wanted to do. But I try not to look away. I am consciously aware that death is certain, the moment unforeseeable and every moment infinitely precious. At the beginning of our life, death frightens us like a trapped animal; in the middle of it, we try to do everything right to not miss anything, and in the end, we are calm and clear. So, death is like a friend.” Matthieu Ricard"Here is a powerful yet simple way to understand. Look in the mirror. You will see that your body has aged. But oddly, you will also experience that you don't necessarily feel older. This is because your body exists in time. It starts small, grows up, ages and dies. But the consciousness that is looking at your body is outside of time. It is spirit that takes birth, experiences your life, and will witness your death. Maybe even say at the end, "Wow! That was an amazing ride!" Who you are is loving awareness witnessing the dance of birth and death." Jack Kornfield, No Time Like the Present."you are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a ddrop." Rumi"You left ground and sky weeping, mind and soul full of grief. No one can take your place in existence, or in absence. Both mourn, the angels, the prophets, and this sadness I feel has taken from me the taste of language, so that I cannot say the flavor of my being apart." Rumi

"goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation." Rumi

"Grief is one of the heart's natural responses to loss. It takes courage to grieve, to honor the pain we carry. We come face to face with our genuine human vulnerability, with helplessness and hopelessness. These are the storm clouds of the heart. We need to respect our tears. Without a wise way to grieve, we can only soldier on, armored and unfeeling. Let whatever feelings are there, pain and tears, anger and love, fear and sorrow, come as they will.The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. Keep in mind that grief doesn't just dissolve. Instead it arises in waves and gradually, with growing compassion, there comes more space around it." Jack Kornfield.

Insights for April 2014

Waves crash on the beach by Margaret Gervais

More insights about on grief have crossed my desk this month and have been helpful. These are excerpts from The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, by Stephen Grosz.

"Closure is delusive – it is the false hope that we can deaden our living grief.I’ve long thought that Kübler-Ross was wrong. The “psychological stages” of dying and grieving are wholly different. For the person who dies there is an end, but this is not so for the person who grieves. The person who mourns goes on living and for as long as he lives there is always the possibility of feeling grief.

Each of use mourns differently, but in general the initial shock and fear triggered by death does diminish with time. Through the work of mourning, we gradually feel better, though some heartache remains. Holidays and anniversaries are notoriously difficult. Grief can ebb and then, without warning, resurge. The loss of a child, a loss through suicide – these losses, and many others, can and do cause enduring sorrow.

“Grief Lit” – a burgeoning sub-genre of “Recovery Lit” offering many titles, and the message is: your grief is something that can be fixed. You can recover. You can have closure.

My experience is that closure is an extraordinary compelling fantasy of mourning. It is the fiction that we can love, lose, suffer and do something to permanently end our sorrow. We want to believe we can reach closure because grief can surprise and disorder us – even years after out loss.” The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, Stephen Grosz

"Idleness allows time for the mind to wander to places never before imagined and to return transformed.Doing nothing is essential for thinking to occur. Many of the most important thoughts are unintentional—they can be neither solicited nor cajoled but have a rhythm of their own, creeping up, arriving, and leaving when we least expect them. It is important to cultivate the lassitude of mind that clears a place for the arrival of what cannot be anticipated. Idleness allows time for the mind to wander to places never before imagined and to return transformed." Mark C. Taylor, "Idleness Waiting Grace" via Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

I know I have been sharing more about loss these days, but I believe that information arises when it needs to arise. Read this beautiful article by Henry Shukman, about finding the hidden remedies in our troubled selves

"Perhaps we all carry an immemorial wound, an infinite loss, a self-exile we perpetrate on ourselves. It turns us into isolated entities stalking the earth in search of what we think we need—the temporary stays against ennui, despair, loss, and terror. But sooner or later, the wound can carry us toward its own remedy, if we only let it. It seems too much to hope that right in the heart of our troubled selves there might actually be the healing we seek. But if suffering and awakening form a single weather-system, as many a wise person has come to know, then when storms come, perhaps we can accept them with less dread and aversion, and more trust, and even hope." Henry Shukman, http://www.tricycle.com/feature/beautiful-storm

Insights on 4.23.2014, the day of the Cardinal Grand Cross: "I feel the vast emptiness and know I am alone.

Let your fears die a lonely death.Fear cannot exist in the emptiness or the void.

I am in the vortex of the moment.

Equanimity erases barriers and borders, leading the way to oneness.

Be solace in the nothingness.

Ascension is alignment and unity.The power from within emanates out.

We are all alone and also all one."   Margaret Gervais, April 23, 2014

"Although all phenomena are going through the various appearances of birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn’t become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate. She lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing, walking, lying down, or sitting."  Thich Nhat Hanh, “Simply Stop” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

This is what occurs with meditation practice:"We’ve lived our lives with negative images of ourselves, from childhood on, and we’ve built upon those images, and built upon them, and they became very heavy weights. These thoughts about us are a part of our ego, and they’re manifested through our roles of child or husband, wife, breadwinner, all of those roles. They’re built upon the thoughts of, “I’m not truthful” or “I’m not likable”, “I’m not good” – all of those negative images. Once you identify with your soul you start to taste the love in your true self, in your spiritual heart and it’s different than all of the loves you’ve ever had. It’s just different; it’s unconditional love."  Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember

"Sit under your own tree of enlightenment." Jack Kornfield

"Be present for your humanity." Jack Kornfield

"The breath becomes a mirror. You show up and so things show up." (meditation practice) Jack Kornfield

Insights for March, 2014

MontBlanc

“Each of us is born with a life task to reconnect to the core of our being. In order to do this, we must remove the blocks between our conscious awareness and our core.” Light Emerging, Barbara Ann Brennan, pg. 12

“Your embodied truth meter is your energy field at the physical, mental and spiritual levels: YOU CANNOT LIE TO YOUR OWN ENERGY FIELD.” David Pond, Astrologer, 2013 Winter Solstice Newsletter

“Your embodied truth meter includes your emotions, your intuition, your imagination and your soul’s urge. You can reclaim your ability to be the authority of these aspects of your being.” David Pond, Astrologer, 2013 Winter Solstice Newsletter

Where is Chiron in your natal chart? “The position of Chiron describes where we construct a bearable reality and a host of defense mechanisms to hide the loneliness and alienation suffered from being " different" and not being deeply understood..www.michaellutin.com

I have been dealing with grief and loss, as we all do, and this came across my desk (via Tricycle: The Buddhist Review) today, and I am contemplating it: "Grief might be, in some ways, the long aftermath of love, the internal work of knowing, holding, more fully valuing what we have lost." Mark Doty, "Don't They Know?

"The grief I am experiencing has a heavy weight of regret for time lost with my friend.” This, too, came across my desk from Eckhart Tolle, and I really liked it: “If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future.”

"Divine happiness, even the tiniest particle of a grain of it, never leaves one again; and when one attains to the essence of things and finds one’s Self–this is supreme happiness. When it is found, nothing else remains to be found; the sense of want will not awaken anymore, and the heart’s torment will be stilled forever. Do not be satisfied with fragmentary happiness, which is invariably interrupted by shocks and blows of fate; but become complete, and having attained to perfection, be YOURSELF." Sri Anandamayi Ma

"When the evolutionary intent is radical the capacity for resistance is enormous." Mark Jones.

I love David Pond's astrology. He writes beautifully about the upcoming CARDINAL CROSS this April. Yes, it is a very intense alignment of planets all calling for ACTION. But I am tired of hearing astrologers worry about it. It's a call to action after all, and the best way to handle a spinning pinwheel of activity is to be as centered as possible to your core. If you are very centered to your core, the pinwheel of energy spinning around it will activate and manifest for you. Get clear on your core and shift your energy to this solid place.

"For some who like this dynamic intensity, it can be a most productive, innovative forward moving time in their lives, while for others this swirling vortex feels like a tempest in a teacup that can’t be controlled.

Spring Equinox: To Dance with Change this spring, Don’t Expect a Waltz!

The astrology for this spring presents one of the most dynamic, intense, fast moving energy patterns we’ve encountered. The much-heralded Cardinal Grand Cross (also called Grand Square) comes into exact aspect this spring and the wheel of change will be spinning like a centrifuge. In the world around us we are seeing this manifest as extreme weather patterns and extreme political uprisings. Everything seems to be intensified as the clash between the old and new comes to a head. Such is the nature of the energy field around us this spring and in this newsletter we will focus on how to utilize this energy to initiate positive changes in our individual lives.It is the same Sun that rises and sets for all of us. It is the same energy field we are all in and yet, how each of us responds to this intense energy is totally up to each individual. This energy pattern produces the awareness of where change is necessary in your life, and provides the energy to take action. The Cardinal signs initiate action; don’t wait for change—seek it. The grand square is like a cosmic accelerator and you can use it to accelerate shifting from old to the new in your life.Moving from Dysfunctional to Functional As the wheel of life spins faster, it becomes more important to know your center. What is all of this dynamic change revolving around? This is the most dynamic, energetic vortex of swirling energy imaginable. For some who like this dynamic intensity, it can be a most productive, innovative forward moving time in their lives, while for others this swirling vortex feels like a tempest in a teacup that can’t be controlled.A pinwheel gains momentum and reveals its brilliance by casting off its spent fuel. Where is it that you could gain momentum in your life by casting off the spent fuel in your life; things, people, behavior patterns, that you are holding onto that no longer feed you, or are no longer functional.You can use the centrifugal force of this energy and the pinwheel effect to help you cast off dysfunctional aspects of your life. With Pluto in Capricorn, we know the ideal is to move towards a sustainable life, but before the ideal is reached, simply becoming functional is a big step, and casting off that which is dysfunctional is a beginning. This is an excellent time for facing that which is dysfunctional in your life and transforming it into functional.The vehicle of your being is going to be moving fast. How’s your ride? Smooth, bumpy or careening recklessly out of control?” David Pond, www.davidpondastrologer.com

"...as individuals, we must all do our part... our part is to make the best, most creatively inspired, spiritually astute thing we can out of the life in play." Philip Sedgwick http://philipsedgwick.com/

"There is no such thing as two people—whether baby and mother, two lovers, or teacher and student—being perfectly in sync with each other’s needs and wishes. Real intimacy arises from an ongoing process of connection that at some point is disrupted and then, ideally, repaired."  Pilar Jennings, “Looking into the Eyes of a Master”

“Most of what we're missing, I believe, is trust in ourselves. Self-trust is the foundation of all other kinds of trust because all of them come back to you trusting your decision to have faith in a situation. This has been injured so many times that it seems like trust is either impossible, or it is always going to be betrayed. Neither of these is true, but it will seem true if it's the only option we have.” Eric Francis http://planetwaves.net/astrologynews/646979010.html

“I believe that trust is cultivated by exactly the opposite property: understanding what we can give to any situation. Trust and love are closely related; we tend to love what we nurture, whether it's a child, a friend, a puppy or a home. One skill here is learning to properly nourish yourself, which will definitely help -- but replacing this chilly quality of "what can I withhold?" with "what can I offer?" is going to help many ways, including proving that you really do have something to offer; something truly worthwhile -- and that may answer one of your most nagging doubts.”  Eric Francishttp://planetwaves.net/astrologynews/646979010.html

“Be cool. Locate your inner weird and find your personal non-ordinary reality. Then superimpose that onto the real world.”  Philip Sedgwick http://philipsedgwick.com/

“Find a place within your inner resourcefulness that brings you absolute contentment.”  Philip Sedgwick http://philipsedgwick.com/

MUSIC can increase well-being for cancer patients. Yes! Make several playlists, and listen often. http://www.curemagazine.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/journey.showArticle/id/9/enableStageSubMenu/3/article_id/2281

Meditation helps relieve stress and helps us tap our inner voice:  “Find solitude. Meditation helps relieve stress and helps us tap our inner voice. If you don't like being with yourself, how can you expect others to like being with you?” Kawasaki wrote.

“Many of my best ideas have come to me when I am driving alone. I've often thought that my creativity has declined because I do not take long drives as often!” 

Insights for February 2014

Great image about seeing what is coming 150461_500790863303697_577324546_n

I have been trying to better understand the hype and buzz around the word "mindfulness" when it didn't seem like people were meditating. This article explains the difference between mindfulness meditation and simple everyday mindfulness. He advocates for simple everyday mindfulness and I think for some people that is a good solution and possible to manifest for benefits. I also think that classic relaxation techniques are helpful for alleviating stress. But for many, mindfulness mediation, or vipassana and it's precursor, concentration, or samatha mediation, or the classic deeper meditation practice, is more useful.http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/more-mindfulness-less-meditation/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Which meditation method is right for you? This article explains five different meditation methods and will give you good general insights into these methods. Please contact me if you would like to talk about these and which will work best for you.  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/health/which-meditation-method-is-for-you/story-fnivsuep-1226814003078

Meditation app (!) - this looks pretty good - check it out - and let me know how it works for you! http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/technology/software/meditation-apps-aim-to-lift-spirits-1.1641083#.UvEcc2SwKmA

There is so much buzz around meditation! Here is really good online source teaching classic technique. This is the same method I teach. Please contact me if you are interested in starting a meditation practice. http://whatmeditationreallyis.com/index.php/dare-to-meditate/item/15-6-meditation-methods.html

“It is when we are trapped in incessant streams of compulsive thinking that the universe really disintegrates for us, and we lose the ability to sense the interconnectedness of all that exists.” Eckhart Tolle

"A lot of people try to counteract the ‘I am not good enough’ with ‘I am good enough.’ In other words, they take the opposite and they try to invest it. That still keeps the world at the level of polarities. The art is to go behind the polarities. So the act is to go not to the world of ‘I am good’ to counteract ‘I am bad,’ or ‘I am lovable’ as opposed to ‘I am unlovable.’ But go behind it to ‘I am.’ I am. I am. And 'I am' includes the fact that I do crappy things and I do beautiful things and I am. That includes everything and I am. As you start to rest in the I am-ness, from that place, you can start to set boundaries on the way you play the game and become more impeccable in the way you play it." Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember

"Wisdom arises through the simple act of giving someone or something your full attention. Attention is primordial intelligence, consciousness itself. It joins the perceiver and the perceived in a unifying field of awareness. It is the healer of separation.” Eckhart Tolle

“If you have not found that which is timeless or formless in yourself, then nothing that you manifest will satisfy you.” Eckhart Tolle

It's an Eckhart Tolle day (!): “The significant is hiding in the insignificant. Appreciate everything.” Eckhart Tolle

"The capacity of the mind to label reality is not the same as the capacity of the soul to full experience reality." Mark Jones, Healing the Soul. http://www.plutoschool.com/

"Life expresses itself through the field of reality in which we are self-conscious centers of co-creative experience." Mark Jones, Healing the Soul. http://www.plutoschool.com/

"From the point of empowerment we better understand our place in the Cosmos." Mark Jones, Healing the Soul. http://www.plutoschool.com/

Relationships:

Have you ever wanted really good, straightforward, reasonable relationship advise? This is a great article: Stay in the Canoe & Keep Paddling. Harville Hendrix offers valuable advice to couples for successfully navigating the currents of life when in a deep relationship. http://www.eomega.org/learning-paths/relationships-amp-family/Harville-Hendrix-stay-in-the-canoe-paddle

Insights for January 2014

Mt. Hood. Image by Margaret Gervais

“I consider non-violence to be compassion in action. It doesn’t mean weakness, cowering in fear, or simply doing nothing. It is to act without violence, motivated by compassion, recognizing the rights of others.”  The Dalai Lama

“Gratitude is the confidence in life itself... As gratitude grows it gives rise to joy. We experience the courage to rejoice in our own good fortune and in the good fortune of others... We can be joyful for people we love, for moments of goodness, for sunlight and trees, and for the very breath within our lungs. Like an innocent child, we can rejoice in life itself, in being alive.” Jack Kornfield, "The Wise Heart"

“If it isn't good, let it die. If it doesn't die, make it good.” Ajahn Chah

"Winter is a time of calm, naked reflection, just like the trees without their leaves." Margaret Gervais

"Pure awareness is always centered." David Pond

“Jupiter’s intention seeks to fulfill goals, make larger claims in life and blow away limitations, resulting in boundless horizons.” Phillip Sedgwick

Send your birth date, time and place to theinsightcenter@gmail.com and I will give you insights to where Jupiter is in your birth chart, and is manifesting this energy. Margaret Gervais“

Pluto wants to egg folks into soul-fulfilling enlightenment, typically conjuring life-transforming circumstances. … may …render reactions from other people of, “WTFWYT?” … when you make such a life-shifting decision.” Phillip Sedgwick

Send your birth date, time and place to theinsightcenter@gmail.com and I will give you insights to where Pluto is in your birth chart, and how it is manifesting this energy.  Margaret Gervais

“Being creative, fulfilled and stepping out in life is good for the soul” Phillip Sedgwick“Purity of view is a gateway to greater insight and even deeper levels of happiness. The momentum of mindfulness becomes so strong that the perception of phenomena arising and passing away becomes crystal clear. Concentration and awareness are effortless. The mind becomes luminous. We experience precise, clear insight into the nature of things. It is our first taste of coming home. We have rapture and gratitude.” Joseph Goldstein, Tricycle F’05

“As a being of power, intelligence and love, you hold the key to every situation, and contain within yourself that transforming and regenerative agency by which you may make yourself what you will. “ James Allen

"On an everyday level, we can bring this awakened consciousness into all that we do throughout the day. Simply staying aware and mindful of your energy while you are involved in the activities of your life, even in a difficult moment with another person, will pull you back to your center quickly. It is that simple and accessible. Your awareness is always centered and non-reactive. Your ego isn't, but when you stay consciously aware of your energy while experiencing the ego's reactions, you don't remain stuck in polarities and awareness pulls you back to your center." David Pond's Winter Solstice 2013 Newsletter

Meditation for teens, and the results have been astounding."http://www.nj.com/parenting/index.ssf/2014/01/meditation_for_teens.htmlI have created a Cardinal Cross of 2014 Synthesis Worksheet that is a very insightful and helpful tool for looking at your chart and the Cardinal Cross of 2014. What Insights/Affirmations/Intentions will you find and use to navigate and empower yourself this year?

Email me if you would like a copy or to schedule an appointment to work through your chart and the synthesis worksheet. theinsightcenter@gmail.com

This looks really good, A Beginner's Guide to Meditation: Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary Buddhist Teachers: http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Meditation-Inspiration-Contemporary/dp/1611800579/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1390585989&sr=8-24&keywords=the+beginners+guide+to+meditation

"Mindfulness is close to reaching a tipping point. Only two years ago, mindfulness and mindful leadership were discussed at the WEF for the first time. Since then, almost all of the mindfulness-related events there have been oversubscribed. Mindfulness practices like meditation are now used in technology companies such as Google and Twitter (amongst others), in traditional companies in the car and energy sectors, in state-owned enterprises in China, and in UN organizations, governments, and the World Bank." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/otto-scharmer/davos-mindfulness-hotspot_b_4671062.html

Workshop on Buddhism through the 12-step program. I have been wondering how this works. Looks like a great workshop at Spirit Rock Meditation Centerhttps://www.spiritrock.org/calendarDetails?EventID=3716Check this out: Mindfulness at Work - a podcast by Sharon Salzberg, from Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. I know it's going to make me want to buy her book.https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tricycle-talks/id695108281?mt=2Re: Samatha Meditation and the watcher, very wise words from Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember today:

"The technique of the witness is to merely sit with the fear and be aware of it before it becomes so consuming that there’s no space left. The image I usually use is that of a picture frame and a painting of a gray cloud against a blue sky. But the picture frame is a little too small. So you bend the canvas around to frame it. But in doing so you lost all the blue sky. So you end up with just a framed gray cloud. It fills the entire frame. So when you say 'I'm afraid' or 'I'm depressed', if you enlarged the frame so that just a little blue space shows, you would say ‘ah, a cloud.’ That is what the witness is. The witness is that tiny little blue over in the corner that leads you to say, ‘ah, fear.’" Ram Dass“Mindfulness training, Jha hypothesizes, may work as a protective factor against the typical stresses of student life—or any stress, for that matter, since it improves emotional equilibrium and enables people to better handle distractions. “It’s similar to how physical exercise can change the body,” Jha said. “We know that physical activity helps our bodies, but we’re just coming to the understanding that mental exercise is also critical to promoting mental well-being. It’s a cultural shift.” Amishi Jha, a neuroscientist who directs the University of Miami’s Contemplative Neuroscience, Mindfulness Research, and Practice Initiative. New Yorker online blog January 29, 2014.      

Meditate to Let Go

Sunet image by Margaret Gervais

I read this article on Sunday and feel compelled to share highlights.  The article is “The Bearable Lightness of Being” by Pema Chödrön, in Shambhala Sun, March 2014.

“Meditation teaches us how to let go.  It’s actually a very important aspect of friendliness, which is that you train again and again in not making things such a big deal.  When you have pain in your body, when all sorts of thoughts are going through your mind, you train again and again in acknowledging them openheartedly and open-mindedly, but not making them such a big deal. ...Generally speaking, the human species does make things a very big deal. Our problems are a big deal for us.  So we need to make space for an attitude of honoring things completely and at the same time not making them a big deal.  It’s a paradoxical idea, but holding these two attitudes simultaneously is the source of enormous joy: we hold a sense of respect toward all things, along with the ability to let go.  So it’s about not belittling things, but on the other hand not fanning the fire until you have your own private World War III. ...When you begin to see life from the point of view that everything is spontaneously arising and that things aren’t “coming at you” or “trying to attack you,” in any given moment you will likely experience more space and more room to relax into.  Your stomach, which is in a knot, can just relax.  The back of your neck, which is all tensed up, can just relax.  Your mind, which is spinning and spinning like one of those little bears that you wind up so it walks across the floor, can just relax.  So shunyata refers to the fact that we actually have a seed of spaciousness, of freshness, openness, relaxation, in us. ...Enlightenment – full enlightenment – is perceiving reality with an open, un-fixated mind, even in the most difficult circumstances.  It’s nothing more than that, actually.  You and I have had experiences of this open, un-fixated mind.  Think of a time when you have felt shock or surprise; at a time of awe or wonder we experience it.  It’s usually in small moments, and we might even not notice it, but everyone experiences this open, so-called enlightened mind.  If we were completely awake, this would be our constant perception of reality.  It’s helpful to realize that this open, unfettered mind has many names, but let’s use the term “buddhanature.” ...Enlightenment isn’t about going someplace else or attaining something we don’t have right now.  Enlightenment is when the blinders start to come off.  We are uncovering the true state, or uncovering buddhanature.  This is important because each day when you sit down, you can recognize that it’s a process of gradually uncovering something that’s already here.  That’s why relaxation and letting go are so important.  You can't uncover something by harshness or uptightness because those things cover our buddhanature.  Stabilizing the mind, bringing out the sharp clarity of mind, needs to be accompanied by relaxation and openness. ...But change happens, even in our practice.  This is a fundamental truth.  Everything is always changing because it’s alive and dynamic.  All of us reach a very interesting point in our practice when we hit the brick wall.  It’s inevitable.  Change is inevitable with relationships, careers, with anything.  I love to talk to people on the meditation path when they’re at the point of the brick wall: they think they’re ready to quit, but I feel they are just beginning.  If they could work with the unpleasantness, the insult to ego, the lack of certainty, then they’re getting closer to the fluid, changing, real nature of life.” From How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind, by Pema Chödrön.  Copyright by Pema Chödrön. 

She also has a CD set, under the same name, for teaching meditation. Pema Chödrön is a great teacher, and I highly recommend her book and CDs as tools to learn more about meditation, or to provide insight and inspiration to keep your mediation practice on track.If you are interested in learning more about meditation and/or taking Individual or groups classes at The Insight Center, please contact me at  http://theinsightcenter.net/contact/.

2014 Astrology Forecast

I am starting the new year with expanding my practice to Seattle! I will be seeing clients in person in Portland, Seattle and always globally via Skype.  Please feel free to share this email with others and I will appreciate you sharing my work with friends and colleagues in Seattle.

2014 Forecast: retrograde planets and Pluto/Uranus transits.

Insight Center Forecast chart

2014 is a year with many key retrograding planets and major aspects of outer planets.  Read this accompanying chart by looking across the top at the months and read down to see what is happening that month.  For example, if you are feeling confused and having a hard time moving forward in your life in early March, you can look down the vertical column for March and see that Mars (the planet of ACTION) is retrograde after March 2 and Saturn (the planet of DISCIPLINE) is retrograde after March 2, and Jupiter (the planet of EXPANSION) is retrograde after March 5. 

Read below for more insights into what Mars, Saturn and Jupiter retrograde mean.If you want to know specifically how these retrogrades are affecting you based on their placements in your chart please contact me for an appointment.

Retrogrades

We say a planet is retrograde when it appears to be moving backwards through the zodiac.  It is important to be aware of retrogrades because it is a time to re-evaluate, pause, re-think, re-do, remember. The adjoining chart illustrates all of the planets that will go retrograde in 2014 and the dates of their retrograde pattern.Below is narrative on what each planet in retrograde motion may be signifying to you:

Venus Retrograde – Jan. 1, 2014 – Jan. 30, 2104 (short-lived!)

Venus is the planet of DESIRE.  When Venus is retrograde, what you desire may not be manifesting as you wish.  It is a good time to revise, re-new, re-establish what it is you desire about relationships and values.  Do some inner work and get clear about your desires/values and wait until Venus goes direct to manifest these revised desires/values.

Mercury Retrograde – three times this year – two of them for quite short times.

Mercury represents our MIND and COMMUNICATION.  We all hear about Mercury retrograde.  This is when computers break, emails can’t be sent, documents get lost, cell phones won’t work and communications get screwed up.  All things “communication” are affected.  Linear thinking takes a break. This is a great period to take a “time out” from fast paced expectations around communications and re-think, revise, re-do, re-analyze and re-study your communications.  Build flexibility into decision-making. Take time, be patient and when Mercury goes direct, your revised communications will flow.  Patience is key.

Saturn Retrograde – March into July.

Saturn represents what we take seriously, rational and direct action, rules and regulations for guiding our lives, looking at our responsibilities and limitations, and defining boundaries by keeping us focused on what needs to get done. When Saturn is retrograde, this capacity does not function properly, making us less clear and less able to assess realistically what can be expected in any situation. A common mistake is saying YES when we should say NO, especially in activities and relationships ruled by Saturn’s house position.  This is not the best time to make commitments.  It is a good time to re-asses commitments and responsibilities, say a final NO to a commitment not worth keeping. Re-think goals along with commitments.

Jupiter Retrograde – January into March, and December.

Jupiter represents expansion, opportunity and good fortune. Jupiter retrograde is a spiritual and philosophical influence and is a time to explore ideas and philosophies to gain perspective on your life.  It is also a good time to complete a Jupiter oriented project such a going back to school, taking a journey you have put off or connecting with old colleagues and friends. Because of the spiritual approach to this Jupiter retrograde transit, it is not a time to initiate business or material activities.

Uranus Retrograde – July through most of December.

Uranus represents expansion, innovation, and impulsive movement. A Uranus retrograde is a time when this energy builds and results can be very expansive and innovative. Uranus’ retrograde motion tends to stimulate deep psychological investigation and analysis. It favors activities that require bursts of inventive and intuitive energy. When Uranus transits retrograde, it will reawaken freedom urges causing the individual to suddenly rebel against ruts or confinement in their life.  Wait until the retrograde is over to implement new discoveries.

Neptune Retrograde – June into November.

Retrograde Neptune causes dreamy/visionary/idealistic sensitivity and receptivity to be much more acute. Due to this heightened receptivity, we see more possibility than when Neptune is direct. We are more intuitive. Be very attuned to your inner voice/emotional intelligence at this time. Be sure to communicate and share what you are experiencing because this can be a time of psychic overload for those who are very attuned and sensitive.Note: avoid drugs, chemicals and stimulants during Neptune retrograde. And if you are sensitive intuitively, protect yourself by refraining from associating with addictive personalities, psychic attractions, and overwhelming people who drain your energies. Be aware of picking up too much energy from others. As an asset, it is also a good time to deepen psychic intuition and deep spiritual interests.

Pluto Retrograde – Mid April into Mid September.

As with these other “outer planets” (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), Pluto tends to operate even more Plutonian when it is retrograde. It is far more intense, and concentrated.  When Pluto retrogrades, we are driven to let go of (regenerate) attitudes, thinking/communication modes, sense of security, tightly held emotions; in other words, a very good time to undergo internal house cleaning.  Go inward and see what is happening on a soulful level.  Eliminate what is not working and that you don’t need. This is a great time to gain greater control over our personal life.

Chiron Retrograde

Chiron in direct motion helps us heal others and ourselves. Retrograde Chiron attracts the guidance and healing we need in order to heal the deepest, darkest parts of ourselves. Chiron retrograde directs our focus inward. This is a good time to reflect, review, and repair. Our abilities to be more aware of the problem and the extent and root of the problem will be increased. And this will help us find the solution or gain the healing necessary to move past the problem.

Transits

All planets are in motion.  As they move they are activated by the angles between them and other planets.  This report focuses on the most transformative transits created by outer (farther away and more transpersonal) planets.

URANUS SQUARE PLUTO (as indicated in red on the chart) EXACT ON APRIL 22 and DEC. 15.

This powerful transit has been the dominant transit for the past several years, and will continue into 2015.  On April 22, 2014, these two powerful outer planets will be exactly squared to each other (90 degrees apart).  At the same time Mars and Jupiter will also square these planets, creating a Cardinal Grand Cross.Uranus is in Aries, the rebel that demands expansion of the new and is bringing in new energy.  Pluto is in Capricorn, represents breaking apart and complete transformation. Mars is in Libra, which makes this planet of action more ambiguous and somewhat graceful under the circumstances, and Jupiter is in Cancer, creating expansion of caretaker/security-based energy. 

There is a lot more to be said about this very dynamic and intense transit!  If you want a reading during this time to see how the cardinal cross will impact you, please contact me.

Jung, Mythology, and Astrology

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I wanted to know more about the historic lineage from Greek to Roman mythology, Carl Jung, archetypes to modern astrology. What is the connection between these?  How is Hermes related to the planet Mercury and why?  I recently found a great book to help me begin to better understand this, Mythic Astrology, Archetypal powers in the Horoscope, by Ariel Guttman & Kenneth Johnson, Llewellyn Publications, 1998.   

Here are some quotes from the book that create a certain lineage from ancient mythology to modern astrology.  This information is fascinating to me and forms the basis for our modern astrological interpretations.  Read through this to gain insight to this progression of symbols, psychology, and consciousness.   Modern astrological readings are based on these ancient and deep roots.

“Jung argued that the gods and goddesses of ancient mythology were symbolic of deep motivating factors in human psychology, elements which were shared by all humanity.  Jung postulated a level of consciousness, which he named collective conscious, shared by the entire human race. (Man and His Symbols).  It is the collective unconscious which creates the powerful symbolic images that lie at the heart of our deepest psychological processes and which Jung called the archetypes.” pg. 3

“Jung believed that symbolic or archetypal realities interact with the events of our everyday lives through a process called synchronicity.    He described this as “an acausal connecting principle,” meaning a process which links two factors (the cosmic symbol and the worldly event) without any apparent or physical cause for that link.  The union between reality and symbol takes place in an internal, psychological level, and the unconscious in the active agent which shapes the union.” pg. 3

“…astrologer Dane Rudhyar argued that the moment of an individual’s birth is perhaps the most synchronistic moment of all, for it marks our entry into a larger cosmos, both physically and symbolically.  As a diagram or image of that moment, the natal horoscope or birth chart is also the image of our symbolic relationship with the cosmos around us; it places us, as individuals, in the archetypal scheme of things (The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar), The birth chart diagram itself lends credence to this notion, for it is unquestionably a kind of mandala.” pg. 3

“The word mandala is Sanskrit in India and Tibet, it describes a symbolic picture or a diagram used as a tool in meditation.  A mandala is a symbol of wholeness, or psycho-spiritual unity; to meditate in a mandala aids the seeker in the search for that wholeness or unity.  A mandala is generally circular, since wholeness or oneness is conceived of as a circle, without beginning or end. “ pg. 3

 “A horoscope is a diagram of the sky at a particular moment in time.  …a horoscope represents the birth of a human being, you are the mandala.” pg. 4

“The planets, as we have noted, are named for the gods and goddesses of Rome, all borrowed from Greek mythology, and each sign is associated with one or more of these gods and goddesses.  Though astrology was born in Babylon and influenced by Egypt, it has come down to us primarily through Greek thinkers and writers.  When we consider the psychological or archetypal meanings behind planets and signs, we are considering the world-view of Greek myth.” pg. 4

“The Greeks had a complex mythology, which included the story of creation and the birth or appearance of the presiding deities of human affairs.  Each god and goddess had a specific function and was honored through celebrations, offerings, holidays, prayers and rituals. These pagan rituals later came to reflect the sophistication of Greek philosophy, and to embody a metaphysical rather that a purely ritual paganism.” pg. 5

“ …with the emergence of the Roman Empire, the Romans borrowed many of their deities from the Greeks.  The names and costumes were changed to reflect Roman style, but the meanings changed little.  Greek Hermes became the Roman Mercury, Hera became Juno and so on. The planets whose circular paths in the heavens orbit around one central deity, the Sun, have the Latin names of the gods and goddesses of Rome.” pg. 5“

Astrologers have generally been content to link the planets and signs with the Greek deities in a very general way.  Mercury is about the communication because Hermes/Mercury was the messenger of the gods; Pluto is about the process of death and rebirth because Hades/Pluto was the god of the underworld.  We believe that this is only the beginning, and that the key to proper understanding of all the astrological symbols – planets and sign – lies in a deeper understanding of all the mythic archetypes upon which the symbols are based.  To richly experience the myths which lie at the heart of astrology is to gain a deeper and more spiritual perspective on the art itself.” pg. 6

“Astrology has indeed evolved into a psychology of myth.  “Mythology is a validation of experience, giving it its spiritual or psychological dimension” according to Joseph Campbell (Thinking Allowed, Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove). 

When properly examined and understood, astrology offers the same spiritual and psychological dimension as myth.” pg. 6

Follow this blog as I continue to read and explore this book.

Tough Times Clear Tough Karma

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“…what has happened to us has happened because of the formed soul we already have within us at birth, the special gift we have to give the world that needs to be developed, and so we experience what we experience in order to strengthen and expand this unique soul talent or skill, and if we self-actualize this gift of our soul we will have found our calling in the world around us.”The Soul’s Code:  A Search for Character and Calling, James Hillman

This was part of a great posting about Persephone, by http://esotericembers.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/persephone-queen-of-soul-and-spirit/ that is beautifully written and very apropos for today, our times and soul growth in general.    I ordering James Hillman’s book today because this aligns with my thinking about the soul and the soul’s evolution.“Any situations we may have been drawn into recently, no matter how difficult, are most likely connected with our soul path and for whatever reason on a soul level we are meant to have faced whatever difficult trials and tests we have been experiencing.  In fact, there may have even been a side to the difficulties that called out to us like a siren, something about our future direction calling to us from the events surrounding the experience. “http://esotericembers.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/persephone-queen-of-soul-and-spirit/“

Persephone, who transforms her abduction experience into wisdom and empowers herself with the mysteries of life, death, and the spirit world.  Persephone alternates between two worlds- the living and the dead, the light and the dark, the conscious and the unconscious- in order to bring balance and equilibrium into her being.”–Ariel Guttman and Kenneth Johnson, Mythic Astrology, (p. 174) (I ordered this book too, I’ll let you know how I like it.) http://esotericembers.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/persephone-queen-of-soul-and-spirit/

If you are experiencing tough times and/or tough changes, I hope this gives you a broader perspective and opens you to possibilities.  Tough times clear tough karma.