Envisioning The Future...

"Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Things I Have Learned...

"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it.   If you do that, you will double the danger.   But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half."

~Winston Churchill 

OK then... after a week of turning my back on a problem I knew existed, I took the bull by the horns a couple of days ago and checked the bank account to see what had caused the quite rapid and unexpected dissipation of my funds...

And in doing so, I found out what happens when I forget that a particular chunk of money now goes into one account AND that now I have to transfer it to the working account to cover my outgoings... 

The credit union was helpful and understanding (though not as helpful and understanding as I would have liked!) AND still the results are not pleasing! 

A substantial correction is called for, please Universe...

The positive that has emerged from this financial mess?

I learned that I have finally let go of the need to internally slam myself for days and nights on end, for my oversight, for adding to the difficulties we are experiencing...

I learned that I can finally be understanding and compassionate with myself for being human and not perfect... 

 

 

 

 

Wisdom Of The Elders - Now Is The Hour...

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.

Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.

Here are the things that must be considered:

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your Truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast.

It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.

They will try to hold on to the shore.

They will feel like they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off toward the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.

See who is there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves!

For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lonely wolf is over.

Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

~ The Elders,

Oraibi, Arizona

Hopi Nation

Wisdom Of The Elders - Kotahitanga

Wisdom Of The Elders - The Land Owns Us

The Goddess Speaks...

The Goddess speaks through her vessels - women - the carriers and birthers of all life...

Women Raise Their Voices...

Time to listen to the women again...

Christmas Truce 1914...

Here am I, wondering why, if they could stop the shooting and killing because it was Christmas Day, they just couldn't stop their shooting and killing for good?   

Isn't a human life worth just as much any other day, as it is on Christmas Day?   

Isn't it just as morally repugnant to kill someone on any other day, as it is on Christmas Day?

Each of us makes a personal choice to pick up a weapon and agree to kill others - strangers we don't know, have no personal interest in hurting...

If they made the choice to put down the weapons for one day, could they not have made the choice to put down the weapons for good?

War can only continue if we as individuals agree to participate...

Refuse to fight and wars end... simple logic really... 

Or is that the logic of woman, who gives birth and so knows what taking life really means?

Kahu Paikea Apirana...

What happens when old traditions meet new realities?

Call To Tara, Goddess of Compassion...

Praises to the 21 forms of Tara...

Green Tara: 

OM represents Tara's sacred body, speech and mind.
TARE means liberating from all discontent.
TUTTARE means liberating from the eight fears, the external dangers, but mainly from the internal dangers, the delusions.
TURE means liberating from duality; it shows the true cessation of confusion.
SOHA means "may the meaning of the mantra take root in my mind."

Tara (whose name means "star" or "she who ferries across") is a Bodhisattva of compassion who manifests in female form. 

In Tibetan, Tara is known as "Dölma", or "She Who Saves." In particular she represents compassion in action, since she's in the process of stepping from her lotus throne in order to help sentient beings. 

Tara's mantra is a loving play on her name. According to Sangharakshita, a traditional explanation of the mantra is that the variations of her name represent three progressive stages of salvation:
1. Tāre represents salvation from mundane dangers and suffering. Tara is seem as a savioress who can give aid from material threats such as floods, crime, wild animals, and traffic accidents.

2. Tuttāre represents deliverance into the spiritual path conceived in terms of individual salvation. In traditional terms, this is the path of the Arhant, which leads to individual liberation from suffering. This is seen in Mahayana Buddhism as a kind of enlightenment in which compassion does not figure strongly.

 
3. Lastly, ture represents the culmination of the spiritual path in terms of deliverance into the altruistic path of universal salvation - the Bodhisattva path. In the Bodhisattva path we aspire for personal enlightenment, but we also connect compassionately with the sufferings of others, and strive to liberate them at the same time as we seek enlightenment ourselves.
 
Svaha, according to Monier Monier-William's Sanskrit Dictionary, means: "Hail!", "Hail to!" or "May a blessing rest on!" Her mantra can therefore be rendered as something like "OM! Hail to Tara (in her three roles as a savioress)!" although this may one of those occasions when the mantra is best left untranslated.

White Tara:  

The mantra for White Tara is:
OM. TARE TUTARE TURE. MAMA AYUR PUNYE JNANA PUSHTIM KURU, SWAHA

Tibetans say: OM TARE TUTTARE TURE, MAMA AYUR JANA PUNTIN KURU SOHA

White Tara is distinguished by "her body ... white, as an autumn moon; clear as a stainless crystal gem, radiating light." She has one face, two hands, three eyes. She is described in manuals as having "the youth of 16 years" but is often depicted as more full-bodied than Green Tara. Her right hand makes the gift-bestowing gesture, and with the thumb and ring finger of her left hand she holds a branch of white utpala, its petals on the level of her ear.

There are three flowers in various stages of growth symbolizing the three times (past, present and future.) The first bloom that is in seed, usually on the right, stands for Buddha Kashyapa who lived in a past eon; the second in first bloom stands for the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, whose activity has brought you here today, and the bud on the left symbolizes future buddhas -- the expected one is Maitreya Buddha.

Her hair is dark blue, bound up at the back of her neck at the back with long tresses hanging down; her breasts are full; she is adorned with divers precious ornaments, her blouse is of vari-colored silk, and her robes are of red silk, the palms of her hand and the soles of her feet each have an eye, making up the seven eyes of knowledge; she sits straight and firm upon the circle of the moon, her legs crossed in the diamond posture."

This description (Beyer 379) from the beginning of her sadhana is included as characteristic of the details in texts used as a basis for tantric visualizations. In a Buddhist sadhana, the practitioner is not really worshipping a goddess since the image is his or her own self imagined as a deity.

White Tara is referred to as "Mother of all the Buddhas." This is because she embodies the motivation that is compassion. Her whiteness "Radiant as the eternal snows in all their glory" is indicative of the selflessness -- the purity -- of this compassion but especially the undifferentiated Truth of the Dharma.

Her seven eyes stand for her perception of suffering that is apparent (the two we normally have,) that is psychological/spiritual (the one in her forehead,) and that is inherent in activity (in her palms,) and in what is usually considered as progress (in her soles.)

Self-Delusional Arrogance...

Beware - this is a rant... so if you don't want to read a tirade, click out now!

It's been one of those days, when, with insufficient coffee and food in the system and too much stress over too long a period of time, I've run out of elastic in dealing with self-righteous, self-centred, arrogant, delusional, "know-it-all" housemates who hide behind their "spiritually advanced" personas to "win" or "maintain" their power...

 

I find it ironic that people who claim to be so advanced don't recognise when they're using actions, language, tone of voice and body stance to disempower others, to manipulate the conversation and to generate the outcome they desire...

I find it ironic that they can't accept that there's a place of "and/also" where both points of view are valid and that it's possible to find resolution of issues without having to make one person/perspective right and the other wrong...

I find it ironic that these so-called spiritually advanced people preach one thing but practise something else altogether, and don't recognise when they're not living their teachings... and then criticise others for not "walking the talk"...

I find it ironic that these people hide behind their own "stories", including so-called past lives as famous people, to bolster their egos and to claim their space, legitimacy and authority in the world, while at the same time they criticise other people for being so much in the "ego" and so attached to their "stories"...

It's sad really, watching these people do that... It reminds me of my mother, who, when life was really tough and she felt like a failure or that she was being judged, used to remind herself that her family came from minor French nobility and that they lost all their power, prestige and lands in the French Revolution... 

I'm disturbed when I hear them denigrate other people, including their teachers, respected leaders of the Buddhist community here in this town...

I'm disturbed when I hear them, in conversation with third parties, denigrate other people for whom they are providing astrology "readings"...

I'm disturbed when I hear them judge other people for not journeying through life in the way they think is most appropriate; it's frightening that such "spiritually advanced" people don't acknowledge their own limitations and yet don't recognise the Divine, infinite autonomy of others and the  sacredness that is their journey, however they choose to walk it...

I'm disturbed when I see them meddling in their clients' lives to the extent that relationships and careers are irrevocably affected, all on the 'authority' of astrology and their so-called spiritual enlightenment... 

I'm plain pissed-off when another "alpha" female criticises me for using ultra-pasteurised cream for a dessert, saying it has no nutritional value left, when she nukes her food in the microwave...

I'm plain pissed-off when the same female interferes in my parenting of my son, and attempts to correct his behaviour by mocking him.   I have raised three children to relatively successful adulthood already, and I think I know what I'm doing...

I'm plain pissed-off when the same "know-it-all" woman insists that peptic ulcers are caused by a virus and that they are treatable by antibiotics... they're not caused by a virus but by a bacteria...

I'm plain pissed-off that just because I don't spout off my life history and everything I've learned along the way, the same woman assumes I know nothing and feels a need to lecture me on everything from spirituality/metaphysics to history, politics, economics, parenting, pet care and housekeeping...

I'm plain pissed-off that this woman has a need to correct everything I say that's not 100% accurate.   The other day, in the middle of a tense discussion about how warm the house should be kept, she corrected me that the word I should be using was "oil" and not "gas"...

Such a strong need to exercise power and control and to "win", coming out of her own deep-seated insecurity... 

So today we had a blazing row which no one "won" and did not result in any solutions/agreements...ugh!

In my teachings, there are only two states of emotion - love and fear...

Love is expanding, fear is contracting...

All other "negative" emotions - anger, disappointment, frustration, envy etc - are cover-ups for fear...

And there are four basic fears: fear of death, fear of abandonment, fear of rejection and fear of humiliation...

In any situation where we're not feeling love, one or more of these basic fears has been triggered in us...

I wonder which fears my housemate and I are each reacting to?  

We're all  mirrors for each other, bringing to light unresolved wounds from the past, and playing the role of other people in those unresolved dramas, so I'm feeling her fear will be complementary in nature to mine...

I'm saying my version of prayers to my version of god asking for insight into my part of this tangle and for guidance to resolve this with ease, dignity, grace and love...

What The World Needs Now...

What the world needs now, is love, sweet love, said Tom Clay in 1971 in his remix of the 1965 song written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach...

40 years later and nothing has changed... 

Tilting At Windmills - Someone's Got To Do It... Will You?

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Pale Blue Dot - No More Turning Away

I Am Woman - Hear Me Roar

First, Do No Harm....

My spiritual practice is based on the tenet: First,  Do No Harm and John Wesley said:
 

"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can."

~John Wesley (1703 –1791) Church of England cleric & theologian, Methodist movement founder
 

Does education, and education "deform", first "do no harm"?

I have been thinking about that more and more, since I wrote the letter to my child's teacher, principal and school community, withdrawing him from standardised testing and relieving them of any responsibility and liability for his academic achievement.

As the weeks have gone by, and I've processed the 100% positive feedback I have received on the stand I am taking, and I look at my son as we go to school everyday, I wonder - withdrawing him from testing - is that enough?

There are so many ways in which we don't honour our children as free human beings, and it seems to me the worst is yet to come - in some respects we are going back in time to much darker, almost feudal days...

Merit Pay Turns Children Into Workers

In many ways, I share some of Alfie Kohn's thoughts on education. 

Learning is a lifelong activity – it doesn’t just happen in the time period between 5 – 17 years of age, within the confines of school walls.   I don’t think the purpose of educating for life is to learn academics...  I think the purpose is to turn out a well rounded, balanced, confident, happy, fulfilled individual - physically, intellectually, socially, emotionally, spiritually and to develop all the talents you were born with, not just the intellect, so that you can contribute the best of yourself to your community...

But School = Prison for many kids, something they have to do, that they don’t have a say in...

Do any of us think abut how we would feel if someone came up to us and said:

“For the next 13 years or so, you will do this for five days of the week, whether you like it or not... You don’t get any say in how you spend the day or who you spend it with... 

You will stand when we say so, sit when we say so, talk when we say so, write when we say so, read when we say so, eat when we say so, exercise when we say so, do art (if you're lucky) when we say so... 

You will spend at least five hours of your day in this fashion and you may - if we choose - have up to one hour to be somewhat free and unrestrained - but even then, if you don’t obey us and do exactly as we instruct, in the manner we instruct, you will have that free time rescinded...”

And kids are supposed to believe this is all in their best interests, that the pay-off  (good job, a safe place in society, relationships, happiness, a house - and a mortgage to go with your student debt - and a generous retirement  before slipping into the night-time of death) is worth it and there is something wrong with them if they can’t or won’t conform, or enjoy it, or do their best …

I see the current model as a confining, controlling one of indoctrination into/moulding for the system and it physically hurts me inside (a twisting of the gut) to see my son being changed/restricted every day... 

So, each day I am dithering about his continued participation in formal schooling....

I want freedom for him - freedom for us all... But is that my projection, coming from deep within, my own rejection of, revolt against the dynamic of power and control...   

And am I gambling with his future if I take him out and let him 'educate', ‘unschool’ himself in something like a Sudbury model school, or even at home... (Or am I just preparing him for a different world, one that will come when this system finally collapses, as it surely will?)...

And I wonder, if that is how it is for me, how must it be for teachers who are being forced by their masters to put children through what most of them must know is not real 'education'?   I wonder how they stand there day after day jumping through the hoops a sick society is putting in front of them?

And that is not a criticism - truly... I know that place; I have been in a place where I was asked/expected to do things that I knew intellectually, morally, spiritually were not "for the highest good".   I couldn’t justify it, couldn’t find a good enough reason worth the pay-off and I had to lay it all on the line to stay in personal integrity... 

I am guessing many teachers face that dilemma daily...

My son's teacher is a fine teacher, who is used to mustering and employing all her talents (artistic, dramatic, musical) in the business of teaching her class whether that be in math, language arts, whatever...

But she is being compelled by her principal and the district to teach to the test, in content and form - worksheets, worksheets and more worksheets, formatted exactly as kids will find them on the tests including multiple choice answers with bubbles to fill in...  

It's killing her - the internal conflict and stress is literally making her sick... 

And it's killing me to see my son struggle with boredom in that...

It’s turning him off - now he says “school is boring, math is boring, too much sitting, too much writing, it’s too hard, I don’t get enough time to just read (currently his completely favourite activity), there’s not enough time to eat lunch, recess is too short”...

My son is not unique - this is happening to hundreds of thousands of kids - we are killing their spirit/creativity/curiosity/enthusiasm... I think that's a crime - which is why I do what I do against education deform...

But stopping education deform is not enough;   what was happening in classrooms before education deform wasn’t good either.   

If I know the system is broken and I don’t agree with the values of the system, and the system won't let me change it (but will let others with money change it as they see fit, in ways that I think will harm all children), what do I, as a parent, do?   

What does a teacher do?

I want to know what we as a people do, when the system is so broken it can’t be fixed?  

How do we get our world to a place where we really nurture/educate our children in a holistic way…

Do you do the best you can within the bad system, or create something outside the system?

Passing Through the Eye of the Needle...

Are you ready, and will it hurt?

New: Teaching Session Offered Each Tuesday in Seattle

                

I'm launching a new class...
It's a 45-minute teaching session offered each Tuesday, focusing on the practice and benefits of breath work, and uncovering limiting core beliefs and self-sabotaging patterns of thinking, choice-making and behavior.

We'll be discussing what, how and why you think, do and say what you do, what are your expectations of yourself and life and what keeps you from reaching your full potential.

We won't just be sitting around; we'll also use experiential exercises to get to profound, deeply personal understandings.

So, if your life isn't going as well as you'd like and you need new ideas, strategies and tools to change that, come and check out what I have to offer.


Time:       6 - 6.45pm

Location:  5 Focus Fitness,
              1009 8th Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109

Cost:       $10.00

RSVP:      5 Focus Fitness at 206 631 2818
              Sahila at 206 679 1738

For more information on breath work and the other modalities I offer, see my website: www.metamind-spirit.com

 

 

 

BREATHE & TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE - its that simple, REALLY!

Well, its that time of the month again, for men and women all! Time to come and breathe your way to a new life... Please join me and discover the amazing benefits of circular breathing...

Date:	Sunday, June 27, 2010
Time:	10:00am - 1:00pm
Place:	5 Focus Fitness
Street:	1009 8th Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109

Who knew that just a little extra oxygen in the body would bring such amazing results?   Use your breath to:

• Achieve more focus, clarity, energy, motivation and insight.
• De-stress, unwind, unburden yourself from the past month's challenges and set yourself up for a positive, productive, joyful month to come.
• Clear blocks and release fears and other negative, draining emotions.
• Work on specific issues.
• Build and repair relationships and set goals - create an "Unlimited Life". 
• Establish/add to a physical, emotional and spiritual self-care 'maintenance' program.

Sessions consist of experiential teachings around uncovering and releasing sabotaging core beliefs and behavior patterns, plus 90 minutes of Conscious Connected Breathing.

• Appropriate for both beginners and experienced 'breathers'...
• Maximum 15 participants.
• Refreshments provided.
• Bring yoga mat, pillow, blanket and writing materials.
• Cost: $75.00/session (2-hour individual session usually $125.00)

This workshop repeats on the 4th Sunday of every month. Discounts are offered for those who pre-register and pre-pay for more than one session.

email: sahila@metamind-spirit.com or call 206 679 1738 for more information and to register.