Moonlit Oakland

"...when we let our own light shine, 

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same ... 

our presence automatically liberates others."

~ Maryann Williamson

Quoted by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 Inaugural Speech

Wishing You Joy & Peace 

during this 

Holiday Season 

and into the 

New Year

"To Give is to Receive ..."

Nona & Sawyer ~ August 2013

"The more we care for the happiness of others,

the greater our own sense of well-being becomes."

 ~ His Holiness The Dalai Lama

It is said that the greatest gift we can give another is our own happiness. An interesting concept, yes?

It leads me to think about: well, how do I generate my own happiness? I mean, when we're happy, it's inevitable that we share the resonance of lightheartedness with another as it effortlessly emerges, generally catalyzing a similar lightheartedness in them. Lightheartedness allows for seeing the world from a better perspective, through lenses that allow for greater possibilities.

What is particularly interesting in the Dalai Lama's quote, is that paying attention to another's 

well-being, being interested that another feels uplifted, actually increases our own well-being.

How does this make sense?

If I am paying attention to what you need, my attention on my own issues is suspended for the moment. I become present, listening to what is important to you. When I become present, a whole world of ease and wisdom becomes available to me, for as I stop paying attention to my own thoughts of concern, those thoughts lose the substance gained from my attention to them, and fade into the background, as if I turned down the sound of one radio station while I listened to another frequency.

What exists in the Present, in the moment of attending to what is happening in the Now with nothing else on our mind, allows for all of the attributes of well-being that exist in the present moment to be available to us.

My own happiness and well-being increases as I pay attention to increasing another's well-being because the resonance of the Present has to come through me before I can give it away to another.

"To give is to receive."

Get it?!

Listening for What we Don't Know

"The ancient Masters

Didn't try to educate people,

But kindly taught them how to not-know.

When they think that they know the answers,

People are difficult to guide.

When they know that they don't know,

People can find their own way."

~ Lao Tzu

 How do you listen for what you don't know? 

What might you hear? 

What contribution would it be to yourself and others for you to hear 

what is available from "not-knowing"?

In the Footsteps of Creativity and Beauty

Monet's Garden in Giverny, France 

June 2013

Three weeks in Europe, tracing the footsteps of 

Van Gogh, Gaughin, Cezanne, Monet, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others ... 

viewing their paintings and in many cases standing in 

the very same places where those paintings were created ... 

the power of their masterpieces' beauty still resonates ... 

these artists simply painted what was there in their worlds, but isolated 

small pieces of their realities - the simple beauty of an uncle's face, a neighborhood fence and tree, a kitchen bowl, a passing train ... 

and by framing each everyday image 

captured in paint the perfection of the ordinary 

that we tend to miss by 

perhaps never being fully present.

"All through eternity 

Beauty unveils It's exquisite form 

in the solitude of nothingness ..."

~ Rumi

Peaceful Ongoing with Love to You

Virtle Line Bush

January 18, 1923 - May 8, 2013

We love you, Mom. 

Thank you for my life.

You did your job, because I have an amazing life.

Blessings, Love, and Godspeed,

Until we meet again ....

True Listening

True Listening

“We all have a perception of life experience which is unique to our own past and experience and memory. Essentially, we are all perceiving separate realities. We are all unique cultures with diverse points of view. In order to truly communicate with another we have to listen to their particular reality with respect and fascination, and then engage with them from understanding their vantage point. This is true dialogue. 

Dialogue is not talking as much as it is truly listening. 

Insight and rapport come from respectfully listening for understanding.

We have many blocks to listening. We all do. We “listen” until the other finishes talking so that we can say our piece, or we look attentive as we have judgmental thoughts, or we are thinking about what we will have for dinner, or we simply space out, or we experience boredom, etc., etc. 

The key here is to know that we all have ways in which we distract ourselves from listening, and that all of these “blocks” to listening are simply us listening to our own thinking rather than the thinking of the speaker! 

No matter, simply notice what is distracting you from being present with the speaker and clear your head of your own chatter and come back to listening with curiosity about how this person sees life. You will find that boredom disappears, and knowing the “right” thing to say occurs as an insight, and rapport deepens, and understanding deepens, and communication is effortless and creative and empowering.”

~ From: “Listening”, by Laura Basha, Ph.D., 2007

© White Bird Rising, 2013

Beauty & Grace: Accessible Realms ...

"Beauty is a realm. 

Grace is a realm. 

They are vantage points from which to stand to view one's life. 

Accessible to all: artist, homemaker, business person, corporate executive, gardener, teenager, any human being of any age and any cultural background has access to these realms. Standing in the realms of Beauty and Grace, looking out from the Center of either of these vantage points, gives one access to Infinite Intelligence, Omniscient Wisdom, Omnipotent Love. 

With these attributes available to all persons. perceptual shifts occur to address any problem or circumstance, be it health, finances, business challenges, parenting - any creative endeavor. All of the solutions are informed by the inspired thinking available through the realms of Beauty and Grace."

~ from the article "Beauty and Grace: Accessible Realms", by Laura Basha.PhD, © 2013

Love Lives On ...

Bert, Laura, & Ariel

1982

Settling back in after moving houses at the end of the year. 

Some things in order, others not so much. 

Odds and ends of sacred things that used to have a reliable placement in the previous home pop up to be noticed, wanting to find their perfect setting in this new abode.

Above is one. Tomorrow marks another year gone by without him, without my old-shoes-friend and comrade, my great and terrible love, my irreplaceable children's Dad. We walked through centuries together and no doubt will walk some more before the whole journey is complete.

Wishing you well. 

Wishing you Joy and Freedom. 

Thinking of you, with Love, old friend.