Be compassion now.

We have the unique opportunity as spiritual beings having this human experience to express our true nature, one of radiant radical compassion.

The second principle of Buddhist psychology:

Compassion is our deepest nature.  It arises from our interconnection with all things.

O Nobly Born, now there is born in you exceeding compassion for all those living creatures who have forgotten their true nature. ~ Mahamudra text of Tibetan yogi Longchenpa

In Africa when you ask someone ‘How are you’ the reply you get is in the plural even when you are speaking to one person.  A man would say, ‘We are well’ or ‘We are not well.’  He himself may be quite well, but his grandmother is not well and so he is not well either….The solitary, isolated human being is really a contradiction in terms.” ~Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu

When it gets down to one life, the mind achieves a vivid understanding.  If I take the deaths in one at a time, I notice that marine lance corporal Michael E. Linderman, Jr., of Douglas, Oregon, was only 19, and I know what it was like to be 19.  And I notice that there wasn’t a standard military portrait taken of marine private, first class, Dion J. Stephenson of Bountiful, Utah, and so they used his prom picture and you can see the hook on the strap of his bow tie….After you look at these pictures, the war becomes difficult to follow, because to be decent, you have to stop and love them and mourn their passing, and there are getting to be so many of them it’s impossible not to fall behind. ~Novelist Ann Patchett about the first Gulf War

Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter.  As you press for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the instruments of love. ~Martin Luther King Jr.

Much love, Jodi

Nobility of Heart

This celebrated guide to Buddhist psychology has so touched my heart that I would like to share it slowly, deliciously, in 24 installments, including quotes that Kornfield includes in his work.

The first principle of Buddhist psychology:

See the inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.

O Nobly Born, O you of glorious origins, remember your radiant true nature, the essence of mind.  Trust it.  Return to it.  It is home.  ~ Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Then it was if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts, where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the Divine.  If only they could all see themselves as they really are.  If only we could see each other that way all the time.  There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed….I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.  ~ Thomas Merton

I see you and acknowledge your wondrous, divine nature.

Much love, Jodi

I attended a talk on feng shui last evening by Dr. Shantung Hsu and he presented a couple  interesting guiding principles that can be applied to you, your career, your relationships & your home.

1.  Everything in the universe has three aspects:  matter, chi (energy), and information.  Tapping into the  energy & the information manifested in the matter will offer you clues on what may be in alignment with the universal principles of nature.  If that sounds foreign, confusing or too technical for you, it’s easy to try it yourself.  Sit in three different rooms & notice how each makes you feel.  Notice how the lighting, the furnishings, the furniture placement, the windows, the doors & their placement all can make you feel more relaxed, less relaxed, more energized, less energized.  This is your body resonating with what feels the most natural.  What feels the most natural offers us clues to classic feng shui principles.  One of those principles is that everything is energy:  you, your home, all of the things inside & outside of your home, the other people in your home.

2.  In this energy of life, work, relationships, emotions, home, it is important to continuously balance the energies of yin and yang.  That balance can begin in your home.  When there is balanced yin energy (inward, receptive, night, feminine, radiant) in a room, you may feel relaxed & peaceful, calm & serene.  When there is too much yin energy in a room, you  may feel tired or melancholy.  When there is balanced yang energy (outward, expressive, light, masculine, purposeful) in a room, you may feel energized & direct, focused & clear.  When there is too much yang energy in a room, you may feel distressed or aggressive.  It may be helpful to look at those same three rooms & look at how balanced they are in terms of outward expressive yang energy & inward receptive yin energy.  It will differ with the time of day, the weather outside, the other people inside the room and it may be interesting to begin to explore this.

While I am in no way a feng shui expert, Dr. Hsu’s talk reminded me that when we listen to what feels good in our home, in our relationships, & in our work, we naturally follow the feng shui principles of energetic resonance & balance.  Please feel free to ask questions or leave your comments here.

Much love, Jodi

Essence from The Power Deck by Lynn V. Andrews

I pull cards each morning during my meditation routine & this is what I pulled this morning.  I thought it fitting to share with you:

Essence (East-Yellow card)

Life is like school.  We move through it learning many things, cloaking ourselves in environmental knowledge.  You are on the warrior’s path toward enlightenment.  You must one day peel away accumulated knowledge like layers of an onion and move back into the source of your power.  When contemplating  a Zen garden, you find that the source of your power is the essence of the Great Spirit.

We come onto this earthwalk like a giant piece of smashed mirror, every one of us reflecting the light of our god.  The experience of life is a process of piecing together these scrambled fragments into one great mandala, reflecting the one source of all being.

Like the center of a cyclone, we sit at the one point of stillness, the pandemonium of life circulating madly around us.  Choose equilibrium, not frenzy.  Live life from the center.  The essence of you and the essence of the primal moving force of the universe are one.

What is your essence?  What makes you both uniquely you & intricately connected with the all?  Tap into this essence as this is where you will find your power?

Much love, Jodi

Our Flame by Accidental Faith

My beloved yoga instructor Douglas offered a visualization to us this morning from the Baghavad Gita & I would like to share this with you.  He said that the Soul or the Atman can be seen by us as a flame about the size of a human thumb, burning at the center of our chest.  This flame warms us with the very  best of our essence.  I see this flame as the thing that  connects us to the Source.  I see this flame as Pure Love.

So whenever you are feeling disconnected, stuck or lacking in power, wisdom or in any way separated, know that any feeling of separation is an illusion.  See your flame.  Recognize that your flame  & the Source are one and the same.  Shine your flame brightly to the world.  Feel the love emanate from the very core of your being and radiate the warmth of your flame, your love, out to the world.

Much love,

Jodi

Community Tree

My yoga instructor Jamie shared with us the definition of community @ our Sunday bhakti yoga. COM comes from the Latin root that means ‘together’ or ‘with’. MUNOS is the Latin root that means ‘gift’, so the word community stands for a gift of coming together or the gift of being with others and it got me thinking about what communities I am in and I’m curious about what communities you are in?

I feel so blessed to be among a number of different beautiful communities. My dear family is one gift of community. I have the amazing gift of a beautiful yoga community. I am part of a meditation satsang (the Sanskrit word meaning the company of the highest truth) that is such a gift and I have created a collage community, bringing the gift of creativity into my home. My heart people serve as the strong backbone to my little Seattle community and I have my coaching community. Even Facebook has created an interesting global community.

The beauty & magic of community is when a community comes together, each individual brings his or her other communities with them, increasing the cohesiveness & fortitude of that community. As Thomas from my satsang puts it, ‘It all comes back to love.’

Much love,
Jodi

Love is love is love.

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.  And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.  Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your heigh and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth….

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed.

For love is sufficient unto love….

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy:

To return home at eventide with gratitude:

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Much love, Jodi

As I am speaking in past tense, what altered my way of waking up to the world?  I began with the baby step of recording my dreams before I even left my  bed in the morning.  As soon as the alarm clock went off (& sometimes before or without an alarm clock), I would begin to awaken & be witness to my dreams.  I felt so connected to recording those dreams & not wanting them to dissipate in the full sharp rationality of stepping out of bed (What do I need to do today?  What will I eat for dinner?  Who is on my calendar?), I felt motivated to record my dreams in that precious space of half-awakening.

I added non-dominant journaling to my dream recordings.  (I wrote about this in a previous blog post:  http://possibilitiesunlimited.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/focus_grasshopper/ ).  That brought in some conscious & intuitive creation of my day.  What are my priorities for the day?  What is most important to me today?  What would I like to complete today?  What values are being reflected in my chosen plans for today?

My intention for some time has been to have a morning meditation.  That felt like the next natural baby step in my morning routine.  I began with a very brief meditation, following the dream recordings & the non-dominant journaling, brief as in 5 minutes.  It gradually extended to 10 & now 15 minutes.  It seems to expand & contract, depending on how long the other items take & what I feel into that day.

The final item I’ve added is a pulling of cards.  I have a number of different card decks, a Power deck, a Goddess deck, a Self-Care deck, in addition to traditional tarot decks.  I think of 3 items in my day, usually me, today & the evening thing I am doing (whether it be connecting with one of my heart people or going out on a date with a new person), & pull one card for each part of my day.  I have chosen to pull the cards either before or after journaling & definitely before meditation.  (I may add yoga to this mix – & I just realized that I have a yoga card deck, so I could pull a card & do that yoga pose.  YES!)

It amazes me that after 3 decades of not being excited to wake up in the morning, of being a chronic alarm clock snoozer, of burying myself under the covers begging the universe for just 5 more minutes of precious sleep, with these little baby steps of dream recording, non-dominant handwriting, pulling cards & meditation (that can take less than 1/2 hour), I have transformed my morning awakening.

Please comment on this blog with questions, comments & sharing of your own personal experiences of morning routines.

Much love, Jodi

community. contribution. connection. creativity. caring.

I had the profound privilege of experiencing many of my core values listed above during this workshop I facilitated this past weekend.  Beautiful beings of love, authenticity & deep power – it was an amazing time & space made for connecting with intention, intuition & imagination.  We tapped into the shimmering Source through the creative visual medium of collage & the four hours went by in the brilliant blink of an eye.  At the end, the people present had learned something about themselves, the creative collage process & had the rich opportunity to connect on a soul level with others.

The passage I opened the workshop with is the passage I would like to share with you now:

A Community of Spirit

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.

 

Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Open your hands,
if you want to be held.

Sit down in this circle.

Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd’s love filling you.

At night, your beloved wanders.
Don’t accept consolations.

Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover’s mouth in yours.

You moan, “She left me.” “He left me.”
Twenty more will come.

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.

Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.

~Rumi

Much love, Jodi

create. complete. repeat.

I have been practicing non-dominant handwriting for a while now.  There is something magical, mysterious and deeply intuitive that happens when I write with my non-dominant hand.  My dominant hand is my right hand, so typically, I ask a question with my dominant hand & then, an answer shows up through my non-dominant hand.  Sometimes my non-dominant hand will posit a question to ponder.  Sometimes my non-dominant hand will offer a suggestion.  Sometimes my non-dominant hand will state a simple command.

I feel curious whether the intuition comes from the right creative brain hemisphere offering information to my left hand.  Then I wonder about folks with dominant left hands.  It appears there’s something logical and rational about your dominant hand & something intuitive and non-linear about your non-dominant hand (regardless of which hand is dominant and which hand is non-dominant).  Circuits are re-routed or transcended to get to the Source.

The following themes have showed up in my non-dominant handwritings that I thought may be helpful to share:

1. Love what you do.  Do what you love.
2. Let go of ego & trust.
3. Focus grasshopper.

Please let me know, if this has been helpful to you.

Much love, Jodi