Three weeks ago, I experienced a high that is taking me to even higher highs. I reconnected with my long time teacher Dr. Wayne Dyer on his HayHouseRadio show I Can See Clearly Now. The topic was ‘Where there is hate let me Sow Love’. Being the first caller, I was somewhat prepared with my question albeit not directly related to the subject matter, or so I thought. I have been keeping a secret almost my entire life. Only a handful of those people who are dearest to me ever knew. Short of making TCA a personal diary it is becoming clear to me that I’m not alone. It is an enormous pleasure to watch how a simple question about levitation can clarify and evolve into the unfolding of a life’s dream.

This weekend my oldest child will be married marking the last of my three children to do so. Being in his 30s and having been with his mate for many years, I still feel deeply moved by this ascension. They will be living across the country on the west coast where he will become a doctor of chiropractic. He is over the moon happy. His joy is contagious. My children continue to be among my greatest teachers. Their happiness sets me free. As I continue to evolve and improve in my own right, I know they will always be watching. I am so proud to be called their mother. Thanks guys, for showing me how it’s done.

my Greatest Teachers

A few people may recall the mishap I experienced several years ago. One of my favorite results is the ongoing regeneration of my body. Watching its innate ability to heal is quite a magnificent process to notice. In this 4^th New England winter since, I’m excited to be able to go about my day without the need for a turtleneck or scarf. The muscles in my face rarely cramp up in the cold anymore to the point where I almost forget it ever did. Each day and each year introduces ever increasing improvement.

More than six months has passed since I’ve taken up writing as a primary focus. I find it comes to me quite naturally. One thing about writing though is that once I’m sitting and settled and pecking away at the keys my butt gets stiff and sore, particularly my left hip. I also find that if I blow off doing yoga that the left hip can become a real pain, in that vicinity, if you get my drift. On the advice of my massage therapist I learned to manipulate and massage that area by using a tennis ball. I drop it onto the floor and sit on it, gliding around, rolling here rolling there, digging the ball into the most uncomfortable areas of the joint. It works like a charm and breaks up all that annoying fascia. Thank goodness for yoga though, otherwise who knows where that ball could end up.

Recently, I was with my trekking buddy and her dogs. The snow was shallow and crispy. A breeze was just coming up so my head and neck were bundled, curbing my visibility. As we descended the final hill I remarked to my friend, “I think I’m going to break out that tennis ball.” Then, step, step, step, when what to my wondering eyes should appear fifteen feet ahead but a tennis ball! It was obscured by a low lying evergreen. I yelled, “Oh look!” I saw only the top of it as the other 85% was frozen solid in the snow. Using my brand new hikers (on their maiden voyage) I kicked at the snow breaking the ball free. The epiphany sparkled and I was really excited. My very words had quickly manifested in the most literal terms. I broke out the tennis ball!

…a thought and it’s there

The relief is more than palpable. It is divine. It’s interesting how – when we find our behinds in a sling we always come up on a higher plane than the one we fell from. We sit UP, we get UP, we stand UP, we wind UP, turn UP, we show UP – higher thinking, higher doing, higher living – up, up, up and away and we never return to ground zero. Sometimes we mourn but then we can re-member. There is a reason for the fall. It’s to go UP. During the labor process there is progression and retraction, progression and retraction, progression and retraction. The progression is always more than the retraction. The retraction provides the traction for the progression. Sometimes we for-get and be-come stuck, bound UP and stall within the process. In life, as in labor, that lingering can be a point of contention. It cannot be tolerated for very long before there is a break to release the opposing energy. A fall is like the releasing of tectonic plates as the earth quakes. That’s all it is. With our focus we can mind UP and look UP to wherever your UP is – progression is inevitable. Energy flows where attention goes. Focus, focus, focus UP – It’s only natural.

I have many great teachers in my life. They speak of the Gap. ‘We’ll see you in the Gap’ ‘Getting in the Gap’ and the process of ‘Closing the Gap’, what in the world are they talking about? I can tell you, it is quite different from the normal reference to bridging a gap, a generation gap, a stop gap or a clothing retailer. It relates to the Mindfulness of being more in the world than of the world.

Practice, practice, practice was an early mantra of mine. My father was a musician. His piano was a part of the family. I would often observe and ‘help’ my mother tune and maintain the instrument. Plucking the strings on the soundboard created a reverberation. (It also got me into hot water.) The Gap is the Space between the notes that make the vibration possible; it is the nano-second between the inhale and exhale; it is the pause between the tick tock; it is the turning point of the tide; it is the lag between the bump bump bump as our ABS engages. Our breathing, our heartbeat, our voice, the birds, the breeze, everything we know has a similar type of contrasting rhythm, even rays of light. It is an interval of Silence.

In Meditation our minds can go all over the place. With practice we begin to relax. We can often observe and bask and graze in this formerly elusive Gap as we calm and breathe and meditate for a few minutes every day. It is a shifting of sorts. It changes our tune. The Mindfulness I enjoy after grazing the Gap can be tough to describe. It is subtle. It translates into feelings and emotions and comprehension and ideas and fun. It sings beauty and grace. After touching and grazing the Gap I notice things with greater appreciation. Little things like being infatuated with the pureness of the water in my glass, or the feeling of elation as I unroll my yoga mat. (That snapping ‘crack’ sound really did it for me the other day.) Sometimes when I soak in the tub I block my ears and submerge them in the water. The sound of my breathing is loud and clear. Holding my breath I can hear my heartbeat. It reminds me how perfect my body is; I don’t even have to tell my heart to beat! Grazing the Gap stirs our attention. When we Meditate, stress and anxiety melt away and we’re left with pleasant satisfaction. Grazing the Gap… It’s only natural.

I always thought the art of meditation was common knowledge; taking a few minutes every day to focus on our b r e a t h i n g. We can stir up much ado over little things that they seem big and out of reach. How many of you know people who b r e a t h e? How many of those b r e a t h i n g people you know are ever aware that they are b r e a t h i n g? How often are you aware that you are b r e a t h i n g? If you do a workout you may be aware that you are b r e a t h i n g, and b r e a t h i n g hard and exerting yourself and sweating and panting. What I’m talking about here is just b r e a t h i n g. Sitting quietly and comfortably and b r e a t h i n g. Generally, there is no effort involved in b r e a t h i n g. We do not consciously exert ourselves or pant or sweat while b r e a t h i n g. We make so much of this idea of meditation and b r e a t h i n g. It’s not mystical. It’s common sense.

Laymen may think ‘oh my, if science says it’s so then it must be true.’ Take science with a grain of salt. I grew up when science declared Pluto a planet. A typical statistical random sampled scientific question just tells us what something is or isn’t. For example, you have a nice green granny smith apple. Using hypothesis testing you state ‘this apple is red’. You calculate the data and it tells you ‘no, this apple is not red’ ; it is null. Results don’t say the apple is green nor that it is even an apple. It just says the apple is not red. Science is a beautiful thing but common sense reigns supreme. So, how does this relate to b r e a t h i n g?

Once you know, you can’t not Know. When we take time to focus on our b r e a t h i n g our lives improve. We don’t need our doctors to tell us to b r e a t h e. Focused b r e a t h i n g is beneficial; you will be hearing that exact prescription soon enough. The art of meditation can be simply that – b r e a t h i n g… b r e a t h i n g… b r e a t h i n g… Modern imaging is proving the brain changes affected by a meditation practice. If you are waiting for science to tell you that adopting a meditation practice offers limitless possibility then enjoy your time. You may as well b r e a t h e in the interim. Through meditation, like love, the resulting mindfulness you feel offers clarity and vision. Quit asking and start Knowing. Science may catch up – someday. It’s only natural.

limitless possibility

The Meditation and Mindfulness Movement is really picking up Momentum. Davidji quotes Lao Tzu saying, “When I let go of Who I am, I become Who I might be.” What a relief! As an American- I (Who I am) and my fellow weird ones are becoming much more relaxed about expressing who we are, our organic essence. It’s amazing what happens when we Breathe. You are reading one of the perks of this becoming (Who I might be). I find myself being more and more in the world than of the world. That is something that had confounded me for decades.

The year started with the MINDFUL REVOLUTION cover of TIME magazine (2014Jan23).  In the following months Science tallied hypothetical, statistical, empirical, categorical type data with analysis ongoing.  Initial findings indicate potential limitless beneficial consequences in adopting a meditation practice. The evidence is overwhelming. Our brains improve. We become Mindful. The simple act of sitting quietly and comfortably for a few minutes a day and breathing… Breathe In/Breathe Out, returning our focus back to – breathe… breathe… breathe… we’re mindful. We find ourselves noticing and comprehending  much more. Our creativity is sparked, and that is always a wonderful thing! — The year ends on a high note with Anderson Cooper presenting a ’60 Minutes’ segment on meditation and mindfulness. Andy Kelly aka The Boston Buddha and United States Congressman Tim Ryan are outspoken teachers and advocates, encouraging everyone to develop and benefit from a daily mindfulness practice. Andy explains that meditating  20 minutes a day is ideal in cultivating mindfulness. Being mindful has enormous benefits for our entire country, and the world. We are redefining the mainstream.

Our Millennial/Gen-Y’ers and their children are at an advantage. Meditation and mindfulness, along with the realization that energy flows where attention goes, offers huge potential for us. Even though there may seem a lot of ugliness surfacing at the moment, the mass consciousness is evolving. From outrage and helplessness into anger and frustration, that’s a step up! We know better now. Cultivating a meditation practice makes way for us to continue the relief process. It allows us to engage genuine well-being into every category of life. That shift is happening now. A quantum leap is in the works.

We are coming together as a People. We are attracting and aligning. We are bright forward thinkers. We appreciate a peaceful world. We believe in kindness. We are the river carving out the canyon. And, we’re picking up momentum doing it one drop, one person, one breathe at a time. We are becoming a Meditation Nation. It’s only natural.

Imagine – you are at a free buffet and it has all of your favorite foods cooked and prepared to perfection. The buffet is limitless in its culinary fare. It is conveniently located near your house. On those ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ days, it can be waiting for you when you arrive home. You may come up to the buffet any time you are hungry and even when you are not. You can pick and choose and nibble and enjoy every morsel of yumminess you desire. It is delicious to choose whatever you want whenever you want it. The creation is at your pleasure. Maybe at first you gorge yourself. After a while you realize there is no need to overdue it at one sitting. The buffet is always open. You begin to relax about this part of your living experience. Your balance takes over and you feel good and you are happy. Imagine now that your free buffet also includes dishes that you don’t care for. Some of the foods you may even detest. They make you feel ill just smelling them. They contain no aesthetic appeal to you. You can’t imagine why this stuff is included on your buffet table. Then you realize, there are unlimited choices on the buffet. The buffet includes everything. All of the unappealing luftwaffle is way over there, in the remote areas. You don’t even have to go there. There is so much more of what you like in the forefront of the buffet that the other stuff seems nonexistent. You understand that it is ALL available to you and YOU get to decide what it is you would like to put on your plate.

There are many  buffet types. On the entertainment buffet we perceive a range of sentience from the heavy and dark to the lighthearted and laughable. We get to choose how we want to feel in watching what we choose to watch. Humankind is now discovering an energetic buffet. On this buffet is a limitless array of possibility. The delicious part is we get to choose what we put on our energetic plates. In our ignorance we usually go for those habitual, chronic thoughts. They don’t always taste very good but it’s what we’re used to. We always get to pick and prefer and decide where and what we are going to focus on thus think about. Through our choices at the buffet, we set a trajectory, pre-paving a feeling-direction for our imminent living experience.

To that end, there is no denying we are an informed nation. To the degree and quality to which we are informed is completely up to us. When you’re at the buffet, take the high road and be picky. Ask yourself, ‘is this information enhancing me for the better? I’ll take some of that. Does this type of input lift me up? Some of that too, please. Is there nothing constructive I can contribute? Does it make me feel powerless? I think I’ll pass on that.’ We can only give what we have.

…changing the channel

Did you know that there are ConstantlyNegativeNews -entertainment channels that use animal names too? The perfect example of how a group of people, one by one, can come to invest their time/thought/capital. With hypnotic influence, constituents parrot the jargon. It tends to breed distaste and disrespect in misguided cultures – only for the moment. Our response has been akin to mindlessly standing in front of that beautiful buffet and then tearing up the place, frantically reaching for the dreaded, dry, pan fried liver with canned beets, and then eating it! Its addictiveness is a practiced daily routine. Alas, it’s all part of the buffet. We’ve been ingesting this liver, seems like forever. It’s so great to remember that there is all this other stuff, right here up front, that we like so much better!

To some, the world appears as snowballing muck. To others, it appears as mucking snowballs. It is plain to see feel how our attention is commanded to this end of the buffet, the loud and obnoxious non-stop hype. It makes us sicker and sicker with each thought we devote to it.  Fortunately, we have an Organic Essence. In times of crisis as in times of Peace let us remember the buffet. Think of it as a thought playground where you can, in any ‘now’ moment, lean toward a feeling of improvement. It’s the part of us that calmly walks up to the buffet and decides ‘I’m going to plate only my favorites and enjoy that incredible triple chocolate truffle for dessert – first.’ We are what we eat. It’s only natural.

1. Mindfulness

Living as a cultural social mass our forms of language is ever evolving, faster and faster. Words like Natural, Organic, Wellness – and now Mindfulness and Meditation and Law of Attraction, are being hastily homogenized, gelatinized and regurgitated throughout the corporate swirl. Yesterday, I happened upon a program on NPR regarding those very subjects. Until a few years ago I hadn’t realized that meditation and mindfulness was such a Thing. It has always been a part of my daily life in one form or another.

Mindfulness is often a by-product of Meditation. Mindfulness takes many forms and they’re all good. Science is grabbing hold of the evidence. Here’s a taste of some heavy duty mindfulness. I can recall as a child, a fondness for the feeling of being tuned-in, being in the woods on my own; and, as I do so recall the feeling, I feel the feeling, and I am no longer recalling it, I am mindful I am being it, now, feeling it, now.

‘Don’t look back – you’re not going that way’ are great words of wisdom. The re-call process can be tricky. Unless we have eyes in the backs of our heads, like my mother always professed to have, we are meant to look forward with confidence. Being mindful to notice our energies out ahead of ourselves with an easy-going intent and eagerness, radiating a genuine improved feeling, tends to flow life experiences through us with a little more grace.

Be mindful about feeling. Every day, upon waking, before your feet hit the floor, before your head comes off the pillow, spend a moment finding a feeling of appreciation. I love to bask in the residual warmth of my slumber and the peacefulness of the morning. This one little thought, even before I open my eyes, sets a positive trajectory for my entire day.

 When using buzzwords it is our meaning that matters. Words like ‘dharma’, ‘karma’ ‘suffering’ ‘forgiveness’ and ‘god’ have about as many definitions and nuance as there are people on this earth, which equates to just under 7.2 billion to this point. A billion days ago no one walked the earth on two feet. Our words have authentic meaning yet fall short when describing the Indescribable. Being mindful, our thoughts, intentions and our very Beings will never become a corporate commodity. And that, my friends, is called Freedom.

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Patty. Being very young she was happy and playful and naturally carefree. She was born to a large family with four older siblings and two parents who were very creative and artistic; they were people who enjoyed life. She grew up surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods. There was always a swimming pool in the yard, overgrown apple trees in the field, a full sized barn, sheds and a garage. They had rabbits, chickens and two pigs along with the three dogs and numerous cats. There was a bigger farm a quarter mile from her house half way down the hill. Many times Patty would wake to a lot of excitement and commotion. “The neighbor’s cow is outside my window again!”

Patty’s parents were from a long line of city slickers. Very hard workers, happy, laughing, party type people where evening cocktail hours and comfortable wealth were the norm. Her grandparents were mortified that Mom and Dad had exceeded the number of children that was appropriate for their status. That was the final straw. So, with four children in tow they moved 400 miles away to the country to flee from their controlling families. In the 1950s that was a very big deal. Beyond the logistics of such an action they were brand new to this farming game. Dad was a pianist and whole hearted musician at his core. Mom, well, she was brilliant with an attitude far ahead of her time. Patty was the first born after that.

Being child number five in the pecking order held many advantages for Patty. Her parents were now experienced and more relaxed where child rearing was concerned. She learned a healthy practice of outward shows of affection. Kisses and hugs were normal when leaving the house and before going to bed. Words of adoration were often used and rarely a cuss word was heard. Sibling rivalry was quickly reconciled.

She adored her father. He was often away from home with work. Every day when his car would pull into the driveway Patty would jump behind the sofa so Dad could find her when he came in. “Where’s Patty? Over here? Over there?” Then, she would gleefully jump out in celebration. She had fooled him once again. She learned patience while waiting for him to change his cloths and sit down on his easy chair. In hopes of sitting on his lap while he had his cigarette she would often be denied this luxury because he changed into his suit and tie. He had a very short time before he had to leave again. He played church organ, had choir rehearsal, gave piano lessons and on weekends had frequent ‘double-headers’ playing weddings with Louie’s band all while holding down a full time day job at the mouse house.

One day, Mom and Dad came home and four and a half year old Patty hid herself behind the couch only this time they did not look for her. As they entered the room they called for her to come out from there almost like they knew she was there all along. When Patty did disappointedly emerge from her hiding place she saw her parents standing there with their coats still on. They were holding a baby. This was the beginning of the end for a lot of things that Patty treasured in her young life. Mom had to go to work. Patty and the baby had to go to a sitter and playing in the minstrel shows* was now a thing of the past.

Life continued on and for her sixth birthday Patty was gifted a two wheeled bicycle. It was blue just like her sisters’ bikes. Her brother’s bike was brown and was a boy’s bike. That summer Dad was on vacation and she helped him install a flagpole in the yard and he helped her learn how to ride the bike. Starting at the top of the small grassy hill by the new flag she mounted the bike with Dad’s steady hand holding the balance. Then, with a gentle push she would roll down the knoll only to plop to the ground over and over again. It took days for her to balance on her own. She finally got it but only after Dad said, “if you can’t learn to ride this bike I’m going to take it back to the store.” It was in that instant that she was on her way. Spending those few hours together unfettered was in itself – the gift.

It is an exhilarating time to be alive!

It’s November 2014 and I am thrilled to be back in the field experiencing life with a free flowing lilt. The word appreciation almost pales in the richness of its visceral affects. I’ve met new and talented people and have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched and energetically sensed unique and novel existences. From making new friends and watching the series finale of Boardwalk Empire to becoming ‘tuned in, tapped in, turned on’ at an Abraham-Hicks workshop and sitting in the audience of His Holiness the Dalai Lama – in the breathtakingly beautiful Wang Theatre in Boston – on the same day of the passing of its beloved Mayor Menino – I know that I have only scratched the surface. With another excursion at hand my brain will continue to process and my heart to open and download the graciousness of happiness that is only natural. You will be the first to know how it all translates into written word. It is an exhilarating time to be alive!