Everything in moderation

Everything in moderation

"Water in moderation never killed anyone"-Mark Twain.  One of my favorite quotes. Water is so powerful that its power can never truly be harnessed, yet it travels gently in streams and with tumultuous force in water falls and in storms. We are always rearing to go. Have you noticed that when you are driving and come to a red light, the moment the person in front of you has moved forward you too accelerate with full force and close the gap quickly. The same applies while driving on the high way leading to tail gating as you speed up behind the car. We are quick to react, we are quick to consume the life around us whether it is food, conversation, or love. If we cannot control our minds how can we expect to control our  temperaments. Unfortunately moderation has fallen out of our vocabulary. Even political reactions between countries have to be an "appropriately  measured response." Yet bombing another nation is never a moderate response regardless of who started the fight. 

The definition of moderation is avoidance of extremes. Too high or too low, too much force or too little force. Excess or scarcity of anything violates the concept of moderation. Moderation is about balance. It is about being equanimous and resisting the tipping of temperaments in any direction. We can start by understanding moderation by simply being aware of the moment we are in. Therefore by being aware of the moment we immediately "see" what we are doing and so realize the upset of balance and hence the movement back to harmony is quick and swift. There are innumerable examples in our daily lives of how we are off kilter and just by recognition of the moment we restore moderation. Eating and drinking at every meal as one example. Acknowledging what we are putting into our bodies, and the types and portions of food and drink helps control what touches our lips. By exercising portion control or number of alcoholic beverages consumed at any one time through awareness of the moment helps us to swing back the pendulum of excess to moderation. 

Yelling and screaming at another person is yet another example. Pausing before the yell helps awareness to take hold and an instant judgment of appropriate response is calculated. This in turn helps to "moderate" the response. Centering your  mind helps  to maintain a focal point from which a response and reaction is controlled by the Self and not by the uninitiated mind. Moderation is a great tool in not just life and self fulfillment through exercise, nutrition, social interactions but also in  connection with our fellow beings, nature and our inner selves. 

One might argue that if you just stay in moderation you do not "get ahead" in life or in competition or through exercise when " pushing your limits" to get stronger or more stamina. Competition is when we get ahead whether in the pursuit of areas finance, intellect, profession or even in relationships. I would propose that the "pushing your limits" is beneficial certainly but not mutually exclusive of moderation. If you are advancing your "set point" then do so with a clear conscience, thought and purpose. Ethically with restraint the set point is moved to a new higher level of progress whereby a new balance and moderate status is joyfully achieved. Lack of good conduct, lack of faith and integrity will upset the balance and the new set point will never last. Every peak can be advanced. Even the highest tip of the Himalayan mountains has a new height each year, as the mountain grows ever so slowly, with poise and purpose, and so moderation is always achieved. 

We can learn a tremendous amount from nature and its use of moderation to grow, expand and flourish. Respect, reverence and resolution are some of the stepping stones as you try to embrace moderation. The force and fluidity of water,  the solidification of a mountain, the vastness of the sky, the intensity of a burning fire, and the wonder of the immeasurable Self are all examples of extremes that have moderate temperaments within nature. The more aware you are of the moment, the more "in moderation" you become. The more moderate you become, the more awake you truly are, and so the harmonic restoration of balance of your Self is attained. And is not that what we are in fact what we are all searching for in our lifespan?

All this immense expansive power to grow tempered in a little child or seed of a plant, now that is moderation. 

Ground hog day

GroundHog Day

Many of us remember the famous movie with Bill Murray when this once miserable reporter is stuck living in the same day ( the Groundhog day), doomed to repeat it over and over again until he finally learns the "error" of his ways, and finally comes out of it. Despite being a cleverly devised fictional tale, there is an interesting lesson to acknowledge.  We live in our lives with the daily grind of work, home, work, home, weekend chores, work, home and so on. The tune of this monotonous song continues day after day, year after year, lifetime after lifetime.  We love to complain about the misery of our lives and dwell in the cave of negativity, and frolic in the pool of self  pity, yet rarely do anything about it. The slight changes we do in fact make are necessary, yet not substantial enough to warrant celebration and so the net result is still the same. Littered with excuses we drudge on the streets of our lives. So similar to the Ground Hog Day movie we are unable to get out till we embrace our fate and rise above it.

In the movie, after being quite distressed about repeatedly reliving the same day, the hero decides to use the time to learn numerous skills that he would otherwise never have learnt, like playing the piano, learning to ice sculpt, learning to dance, learning to do art,  being a better person by helping others, and of course falling in love, that eventually breaks the "cursed" day. Was it really a curse or was it the cosmic universe providing him the opportunity to learn from his mistakes and change his life for the better. Are  we doomed to repeat the same mistakes of our lives till we choose to step out of our own shadow and make a change? I think not. This lifetime is an amazing opportunity for us to grasp the reigns of our lives and use every day to learn something new, and build on each experience. As we progress emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually we accelerate with great rapidity to shed the shadows of our former selves and get clothed with new wiser garments. 

Liberation in the form of love, and I mean selfless Self-love, is without loathing or disdain. That is the time we are truly free to spread our wings and soar. We break our own personal Groundhog Day and appreciate ourselves and others for who they are and in doing so respect the life that we have in order to grow and learn. Every experience in my opinion should be treated like when a child is presented with something new, namely with awe and wonder. Easy task? Definitely not. Impossible? Definitely not. Give up? Definitely not? So go out and instead of having the same day over and over again, I hope that you have the best day of your life filled with new experiences, ever evolving fun and interesting rewarding challenges every day repeatedly.

Just hope there is no sequel to the Ground hog Day movie in your life !!

Weaving your life

Weaving your life

Look at your clothes. Now look at them closer. Notice each strand of fabric. Observe the texture and its color. Note how each strand is not just present but is part of something. It is woven into the garment. The property of being unique and yet part of something is a quality we all share with ourselves and each other. The cloth is woven with a pattern in mind and with a purpose. So too are we here together with a grand design of peaceful coexistence and the purpose of fulfilling our goal. 

Each strand can be extricated from the fabric and yet harms the overall structure of the cloth. The garment is henceforth never complete. If we are extricated from our-selves or from society, the rest of the society does lose something valuable, no matter how small you may think your contribution to it is perceived. This means that you too have  a purpose. Each strand can be seen as a fabric of life. If each strand is us, and the length is time of our existence, then it behooves us to make it not only a tough strand but a long one at that. 

We say that the garment is one color or another, let us say for example it is green. Is it green because that is its intrinsic property color, or is it that it absorbs all colors except green and that is how we perceive it. Or does it even mean that it reflects green from within. Someone is characterized as being good. Is it that they reflect goodness by absorbing the bad and not allowing it to be released or is that they their very nature is good that they deflect the bad that only goodness is seen. I use this particular quality, however this idea can be applied to describe any quality positive or negative. The strand takes on any color or quality that you dedicate your life towards. 

Trusting the weaver is as important as the making of the garment. Whether you choose to believe that the  weaver is yourself or God is immaterial. Yet trust the process of creation and the weave starts to take shape. Cooperatively we make the garment. Cooperatively we form a delicate but intricately woven society of principles and values. The long term durability of the garment is dependent on the quality and dedication of each strand, namely you. So next time you pick out something to wear from your closet, take but a few moments to appreciate the clothes you wear, not just for its intrinsic properties but also for the weaver who made the garment. That way you bring in the appreciation of the garment that is the society and yourself as a valuable part. Moreover you bring in the gratitude for your life overall as a little strand in a big universe. You may be pleasantly surprised how your day goes just by this simple exercise in reflection and gratitude.

My my you look good in that outfit today !

Anniversary, a day to remember

Anniversary, a day to remember 

We all have anniversaries of some sort. Wedding, graduation, death of a loved one, moving into a new home, or some sort of commemorative date for remembrance . Each has its own significance and celebrated in its own way depending on traditions and rituals of our families, cultures and more over ourselves. It is a time for reflection. It is a time to pause and reassess the past and see how it plays into the present and therefore gauge or plan for the future. 

Take wedding anniversaries for example. It is a time to rejoice of another  year passing of a couple being together. They remember the hard year that they have witnessed, and all the fun that they have had, and in that communion of being together and recollecting events,there is a lot of cathartic release of bad energy allowing the entry of good vibrations and energy to enter the new season. Some may look at it like drudgery or simply blow off the fact that another year  has passed, but in reality simply brushing the date aside or stuffing it into a drawer does not help the experience. Regardless of the number of years, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20....50 the number only serves to reinforce the lastingness and strength  of the relationship versus the number of years spent tolerating the spouse. By letting go and openly discussing the troubles, we actually allow the exit of the negative out of the relationship. By discussing the past events of fun and good times, we plant the seeds for the upcoming years harvest of a healthier and productive relationship.

Take graduation anniversaries. It is a time to remember finite days or finite years of hard work, late nights, sacrifice, and due diligence with the conclusion being a happy finish and a long waited goal accomplished. We all have some sort of graduation to look forward to. Be it graduation from school, higher level training courses, or even as simple as diapers, it is still a day to remember. The success was noted by the person experiencing the work in progress, be it a child, and adult or even an infant or toddler. We do not call them baby steps for nothing !

Take death anniversaries. This is usually a time of mourning, a time for sadness, and no celebration. Unlike the other sorts of anniversaries, we usually spend time brooding, but we do spend that time remembering. Instead of remembering the bad, why not rejoice in the good fact that the deceased person is free? Instead of remembering the date of death, note this date to be the one of physical freedom. The date that they joined their other prior deceased  loved  ones. A date of no more physical or mental suffering in the material world. The date should remember a life lived, not a life gone. If you bring forth the remembrance of goodness of that individual you then learn to celebrate their life and their passing and not dismiss their life and only focus on the end. 

A shift of focus changes our awareness. Our shift of awareness changes into peace. Our shift into peace brings about enlightenment. Do we ever have a date that we can say we attained enlightenment,that we can celebrate just the same? A date that we can recall and remember every minute, hour, day, week, month and year, a date that we harnessed freedom from our troubles. If that date occurs for you at this moment and you stay in that state of awareness and joy, then it does not become necessarily an anniversary but a whole time period of celebration. Remembering the date of enlightenment is interesting as it does also let go of the past ills through introspection, but a lot faster. It gives one a unique perspective of time vis a vie  time standing still. Awareness of the moment and evolution after hard work into the state of enlightenment relinquishes the feeling of time and its persecution or its mastery over you. Time then neither exists nor it ever did, and so the celebration anniversary is not of the date but of the experiential state of heightened existence. Just like traditional anniversaries when everyone comes and celebrates with you, it would be great if everybody has this enlightenment anniversary, it would be a time to party indeed. 

Wishing you a happy anniversary, in every aspect of your life. 

Don't hit the snooze button

Don't hit the snooze button

Ahhchooo ! The familiar sound of the sneeze in spring time is heard everywhere we go. It is the sound that plagues all allergy sufferers. The itchy eyes, the running nose, the scratching throat are all the symptoms that I and many of my fellow spring lovers have to tolerate while we try to enjoy the spring garden and balance the allergies of the bloom. Be it pollen, the tree sap or the multitude of natures pollination processes that cause our bodies to react adversely to the insulting stimuli, we still plow through the season. Just like the physical body warning us of the environmental allergies and upcoming dangers of walking through a field of pollinating flowers so too warnings from within are ever-present.  We mount a response that may look quite odd to a being from another world, as "they" might say "well if you are reacting to something in a bad way, then do not keep exposing yourself to it." A brilliant idea but then why do we ignore the internal and external alarms and yet forge on. 

The same is true when dealing with life circumstances that do not feel right to us but yet we do it. We stay or take on a job that we know is going to be non progressive or mind numbing. We eat the food that we know is going to make us feel sick afterwards. We stay in a relationship that has become toxic and destructive. We maintain friendships when we know that they are going to become detrimental. We buy something that we know we are going to regret later on  or that we cannot afford to buy it. We take on yet another alcoholic beverage knowing full well that we are already at our limit. There are numerous examples of actions that we take regularly and repeatedly without listening to the universal mind that is connected to your mind and spirit. This universal mind is warning you not to proceed, but we hit the snooze button on our spiritual clock anyway. When the bad outcome occurs, we blame it on luck, fate, God, or anyone else except taking responsibility for our actions. 

If we listen with faith, an open heart and mind, we will hear the alarms go off and so make better informed decisions. Some would call it intuition, and others would call it intelligent decision making, and yet others would call it divine intervention. Whether it is "gut feelings" or instinct or what I like to call it, awareness, it is an everpresent tool that we have to ward off dangerous situations. We have the ability to sharpen our senses through practice, and so just like learning to ride a car, we can learn to listen and hear the univeral guide of intention helping us like a "Spidey Sense" used by Spiderman superhero. Precognition is a wonderful thing, yet we have fooled ourselves in the delusion that this cannot be, and foretelling a particular future is impossible.However the gut feelings and instinctive senses are always there. Is this not essentially precognition? Why are we not listening and why are we so quick to hit this snooze button of our intuition?

Our egos run the show and are the ones that hit the button. To prove that we can survive and be the better in the dying relationship, or buy something that is unaffordable and prove that we are richer, or consume that extra alcoholic beverage and be arrogant enough to drive pretending to be sober, or take on that job and love it or die trying to enjoy it. This is what the ego does best. Ignoring the alarm and take the risk of waking up late to your life is a common phenomenon that we all have faced at some point in our lives if not on a daily basis. Being more mindful, quiet, and attentive allows us to discern the gentle voice from within that guides us to better decisions. If practiced well, and carefully and regularly, you can hear the gentle voice and you will learn that it is not a voice ladened with fear and caution, but a voice paved with instruction and beneficial insight. 

Tuning in to the universe offers us the chance to bring forth advantageous opportunities and we are guided with more well advised routes. In the end it our free will that makes the choice to take the action or like everything else we do, snooze it by the ego. I would urge you to listen to your Self and the universe as you take on your day. You may find that there are hobbies that you are pursuing that you do not even like, yet you keep doing it with arrogance and misplaced gusto because you "have to." Redirect your energies to feeding your spirit rather than your ego. Find the things that make you happy, and in turn you will find happiness in all things. I personally do not use an alarm clock to wake up in the morning and I instinctively wake up at the same time every day, fresh and ready to go. No alarm clock, no hitting snooze. No ego, no ignoring the universal mind of intention. 

Does your alarm clock talk to you? What does it say? 

song for the new year

Song for the New Year

(Thank you for reading this blog,

Hope that your mind it helps to unclog)

We welcome with open arms a new year,

A time for personal change is finally here,

Again ego based resolutions we will make,

Not from the heart so they will only break,

Let's fill our Selves with understanding and compassion,

A parade of forgiveness is the new fashion,

Letting go of the past for goodness sake,

Envisioning the joy we choose to bake,

Rejuvenated, empowered and enriched are words we sow,

Peace, harmony, and happiness we feel and know,

Love or hate is always a choice,

Let's pick the former and rejoice,

Unselfish caring for others gives us our divine connection,

When Beings of Light we see in our reflection,

We climb onto our horses of strength as we ride,

Bringing in hope to the New year we gallantly stride,

This year let's explore the realm of time and space,

Unwrinkling  our thoughts revealing a happier face,

All our troubles of the present we hereby release,

Happily our mind, spirit and consciousness are now at peace.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa

The season of joyous celebrations are here again. Whether it is Hanukah, Christmas or Kwanza, it is a time of family, friends, communing with nature and feeling the magic of it all. Delicious foods are  prepared, gifts are wrapped, homes are adorned with warm cosy decorations and musical cheer is spread through out the lands. It is a time of remembrance and a time of faith to unfold and ring in the New year. There is always a balance between hardship  and good times that we all face on a daily basis. This season is there to remind us of a vindication from ill times, troubled minds and sorrowful states with the promise of hope, love and faith regardless from where and which religion these teachings originate. 

In our hearts we have the long list of "things" that we write to our minds that we want or desire, our own personal " Dear Santa..." Yet what we really want within our hearts is peace, happiness, stability and most of all, love. Everything else that comes additionally to these ideals, is simply icing on a very elaborate cake, made with a host of unhealthy mental ingredients. The fictional letter we write in our hearts outlines our deepest desires and longing for a clearer and positive  vision for our futures. However why does this get transplanted with a materialistic filled list of personal possessions? It is the ego that jumps in at the opportunity to write this letter for You, and You then take a back step to your own center stage and watch the runaway production of your life unfold. In my humble opinion, take it back. Polish your own writing skills of your heart and take note of what you really desire. Allow the spirit of the season harness your unmet wants of love with compassion, your bitterness with forgiveness, your disappointments with faith. 

Together you can then forge a better future for yourself once your letter decisively reads " Dear Santa.. I choose to love" or " Dear Santa..I invite hope into my life" or " Dear Santa.. I am compassion"  or " Dear Santa.... I am joy." A change in tone of the letter is sometimes all it takes to make the difference in experiencing the holidays or having a holiday experience. It is with the leap of faith in not just the universe but moreover within yourself that you activate the essence of this magical season that is all around you. Once you understand this ability, you can use it at any time, knowing then truly that this season is all year round within you. Each religion that celebrates around this time has a symbolism of a candle burning. This is to reiterate to everyone that the light of love, faith and compassion shines bright and without borders of race, religion, age or gender. 

I hope that your reply to your letter comes swiftly and reads ".....may all dreams come true, love Santa"

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed holiday season !!