: Today’s Reflection is about a poem that feels very relevant
: to my life right now. Perhaps to yours too, even though the
: reasons might not be the same.
In that first
hardly noticed
moment
to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.
What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.
What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.
To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.
To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.
You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.
Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?
Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?
- David Whyte
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
__._,_.___
26 February 2009
17 January 2009
Voice Dialogue Tips
Voice Dialogue Tips
January 2009
Email us: jcoroneos@bigpond.com
Web Site: http://www.bodymindinformation.com
Dear shadowbear,
Welcome again to Hal & Sidra's Voice Dialogue Tips.
1. The month's article is the first in a series titled " The Top Ten Challenges to Relationship: Keeping Your Love Alive Amid Life's Routines "
2. Are You Interested in Writing Novels or Screenplays as a Lucrative Career?
Discover how Successful Story Writing is based on Subpersonalities (See article below)
The Top Ten Challenges to Relationship:
Keeping Your Love Alive Amid Life's Routines
(from Dr Hal & Sidra Stone's book titled "Partnering")
The basic requirement for the care and feeding of a relationship is this: Partners must make the linkage — or connection — between them a priority in their lives.
There are many challenges to relationship, some of them come from outside of us and some come from within. We are going to show you the top ten challenges so that you can recognize them and do something about them. Meeting these challenges takes commitment, time, and effort. But a good relationship is well worth this effort and, we might point out, a great deal of this effort can be fun.
There is one very simple principle to keep in mind. The basic requirement for the care and feeding of a relationship is this: Partners must make the linkage — or connection — between them a priority in their lives. If they do so, the relationship will flourish. Anything that disrupts this linkage will disrupt their relationship.
Even the most devoted of partners will have interests other than their relationships and they will form attachments and linkages elsewhere. This is an important part of life. However, if your primary linkage in life shifts away from your partner and remains elsewhere, it is likely to prove fatal to your relationship.
There is a great deal of competition for our attention. All of us have a great many distractions in our lives and we do not have to go far to find something that will divert our attention from our partners. We will describe the ten major distractions that we have seen over the years. At the end of each of these, we will give you a chance to answer the question: Where is your primary linkage? You can use these questions to look at your own relationship to determine which among these are your major challenges.
Challenge 1: Television
Most homes have a television set. Actually, many homes have more than one so that each family member has a set all to his or her own. This is a very compelling distraction. Television sets and television programs are designed to attract us and keep our attention. That is their goal. The entire industry is based upon linking us irrevocably to the TV set. They seduce us with the weekly shows, the news, the stock market, our favorite ball team, the Olympics, the latest scandal, our favorite soap opera, that special program we cannot miss. Others among us are seduced by the sheer power inherent in the remote control. We are in charge! We can do or watch whatever we like, whenever we like. We can change stations to our hearts content without anybody scolding us. We are not forced to finish anything.
In addition to this seductive quality of television, there is its lack of confrontation and complication. It essentially complements your every mood and gives you whatever you want, whenever you want it. After all, has your TV ever made demands on you? Has it ever been disappointed in you? Has it ever criticized you? Has it made you feel vulnerable? Does it pressure you to finish anything? Does it frighten you or make you feel insecure? Do its feelings get hurt? Does it ever disagree with you? In short, there is no way that a TV set makes you as uncomfortable as your partner can!
Is it any wonder that we frequently find partners spending a great deal more time linked energetically to the TV than to one another?
Think about it! Are you more attached to your TV than to your partner? Which would you rather do without?
If you would rather do without your partner, it seems safe to say that something is missing in your relationship. We find that one of the first things to disappear in a relationship is time together. Both partners get so busy that they forget each other. Life today is difficult and demanding. People are usually so overworked, overstressed, or exhausted that when they do have a moment, they drop into a comfortable chair and watch TV. It takes real effort to stay on your feet and do something different.
The next Challenges to Relationship will be presented in upcoming Voice Dialogue Tips.
For more information on Voice Dialogue, visit http://www.bodymindinformation.com
2. WRITING: Become a Successful Story and Screenwriter
Story and Screenwriting is the fastest way to generate extra income, in an enjoyable way
that allows you to use your interest in subpersonalities and self development.
SPECIAL OFFER: RECEIVE THE FIRST LESSON FREE!
2.
from Michael Domeyko Rowland,
presenter, director and writer of the Voice Dialogue Series .
This Brand New writing course reveals extraordinary information of why people read stories and go to see films.
You will discover that real writing is designed to allow the audience to experience personal integration of various subpersonalities during their reading and viewing. Very few know how to do this, now you can be one of them.
Writing is an incredibly fulfilling activity and without doubt the most creative outlet for anyone interested in the personality and exploring the deeper parts of the mind. As you write, you will reveal your own inner being and discover all sorts of things about yourself that you would never find in any other way.
Writing for the screen or the page is a fascinating and amazing experience, when approached in the right way. It is also the fastest way to generate a very large income, with royalties that can pay off for the rest of your life.
Most people make the mistake of writing from the conscious mind. The conscious mind can only ever come up with clichés, because it is not the source of originality and creativity. It is vital for editing, but not for creation. Many also make the mistake of not understanding the true function of story for an audience, which is to raise their level of consciousness.
Deep within your mind you have an unlimited resource, a realm of undiscovered subpersonalities, which only the greatest writers know about. This resource is called the Mythopoetica. It is the realm of your superconscious mind. It holds the ability to create any story whatsoever.
This is the part of your mind that also creates all your dreams. It is also the part of your mind that will bring into your consciousness the most inspiring, interesting and amazing stories you can imagine.
If you are interested in discovering the complete structural system, used by the world's finest story and screenwriters to guarantee that they have a professional and saleable story, as well as how to write directly from your superconscious, then please email me and I will send you a link for the first lesson absolutely FREE, along with an ebrochure about a web distributed writing course. You will be able to download a forty five minute audio lesson as an MP3, as well as a PDF of each lesson. You can then study the material at your leisure.
The integration of classic structure and the superconscious is what makes this course unique.
Email to: info@lifeact.com and put ‘Writing' in the subject line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send these Voice Dialogue Tips to Friends:
If you would like to send these tips on to any of your friends, please forward them by email. You can also advise your friends at http://www.bodymindinformation.com/tell-a-friend.php If you are able to help us do this, we would like to thank you by sending you a FREE REPORT titled: Voice Dialogue: A Guide To Great Relationships.
They can also register to receive future copies on our web site, which has a subscriber's panel, or they can email jcoroneos@bigpond.com directly. We will not be giving any of the addresses we receive to anyone else or any other organization. At any point you can stop receiving them - just click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
How To Change Your Email details:
If you need to change your email address, the quickest and surest way is this: click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. Then go to the web site http://www.bodymindinformation.com and resubscribe with your new address. If you find your name spelt incorrectly, or have no name mentioned at the beginning of this letter, then email us on jcoroneos@bigpond.com and we will change it.
Warmly,
Dr John Coroneos
Medical Doctor
Producer of The Voice Dialogue Series
January 2009
Email us: jcoroneos@bigpond.com
Web Site: http://www.bodymindinformation.com
Dear shadowbear,
Welcome again to Hal & Sidra's Voice Dialogue Tips.
1. The month's article is the first in a series titled " The Top Ten Challenges to Relationship: Keeping Your Love Alive Amid Life's Routines "
2. Are You Interested in Writing Novels or Screenplays as a Lucrative Career?
Discover how Successful Story Writing is based on Subpersonalities (See article below)
The Top Ten Challenges to Relationship:
Keeping Your Love Alive Amid Life's Routines
(from Dr Hal & Sidra Stone's book titled "Partnering")
The basic requirement for the care and feeding of a relationship is this: Partners must make the linkage — or connection — between them a priority in their lives.
There are many challenges to relationship, some of them come from outside of us and some come from within. We are going to show you the top ten challenges so that you can recognize them and do something about them. Meeting these challenges takes commitment, time, and effort. But a good relationship is well worth this effort and, we might point out, a great deal of this effort can be fun.
There is one very simple principle to keep in mind. The basic requirement for the care and feeding of a relationship is this: Partners must make the linkage — or connection — between them a priority in their lives. If they do so, the relationship will flourish. Anything that disrupts this linkage will disrupt their relationship.
Even the most devoted of partners will have interests other than their relationships and they will form attachments and linkages elsewhere. This is an important part of life. However, if your primary linkage in life shifts away from your partner and remains elsewhere, it is likely to prove fatal to your relationship.
There is a great deal of competition for our attention. All of us have a great many distractions in our lives and we do not have to go far to find something that will divert our attention from our partners. We will describe the ten major distractions that we have seen over the years. At the end of each of these, we will give you a chance to answer the question: Where is your primary linkage? You can use these questions to look at your own relationship to determine which among these are your major challenges.
Challenge 1: Television
Most homes have a television set. Actually, many homes have more than one so that each family member has a set all to his or her own. This is a very compelling distraction. Television sets and television programs are designed to attract us and keep our attention. That is their goal. The entire industry is based upon linking us irrevocably to the TV set. They seduce us with the weekly shows, the news, the stock market, our favorite ball team, the Olympics, the latest scandal, our favorite soap opera, that special program we cannot miss. Others among us are seduced by the sheer power inherent in the remote control. We are in charge! We can do or watch whatever we like, whenever we like. We can change stations to our hearts content without anybody scolding us. We are not forced to finish anything.
In addition to this seductive quality of television, there is its lack of confrontation and complication. It essentially complements your every mood and gives you whatever you want, whenever you want it. After all, has your TV ever made demands on you? Has it ever been disappointed in you? Has it ever criticized you? Has it made you feel vulnerable? Does it pressure you to finish anything? Does it frighten you or make you feel insecure? Do its feelings get hurt? Does it ever disagree with you? In short, there is no way that a TV set makes you as uncomfortable as your partner can!
Is it any wonder that we frequently find partners spending a great deal more time linked energetically to the TV than to one another?
Think about it! Are you more attached to your TV than to your partner? Which would you rather do without?
If you would rather do without your partner, it seems safe to say that something is missing in your relationship. We find that one of the first things to disappear in a relationship is time together. Both partners get so busy that they forget each other. Life today is difficult and demanding. People are usually so overworked, overstressed, or exhausted that when they do have a moment, they drop into a comfortable chair and watch TV. It takes real effort to stay on your feet and do something different.
The next Challenges to Relationship will be presented in upcoming Voice Dialogue Tips.
For more information on Voice Dialogue, visit http://www.bodymindinformation.com
2. WRITING: Become a Successful Story and Screenwriter
Story and Screenwriting is the fastest way to generate extra income, in an enjoyable way
that allows you to use your interest in subpersonalities and self development.
SPECIAL OFFER: RECEIVE THE FIRST LESSON FREE!
2.
from Michael Domeyko Rowland,
presenter, director and writer of the Voice Dialogue Series .
This Brand New writing course reveals extraordinary information of why people read stories and go to see films.
You will discover that real writing is designed to allow the audience to experience personal integration of various subpersonalities during their reading and viewing. Very few know how to do this, now you can be one of them.
Writing is an incredibly fulfilling activity and without doubt the most creative outlet for anyone interested in the personality and exploring the deeper parts of the mind. As you write, you will reveal your own inner being and discover all sorts of things about yourself that you would never find in any other way.
Writing for the screen or the page is a fascinating and amazing experience, when approached in the right way. It is also the fastest way to generate a very large income, with royalties that can pay off for the rest of your life.
Most people make the mistake of writing from the conscious mind. The conscious mind can only ever come up with clichés, because it is not the source of originality and creativity. It is vital for editing, but not for creation. Many also make the mistake of not understanding the true function of story for an audience, which is to raise their level of consciousness.
Deep within your mind you have an unlimited resource, a realm of undiscovered subpersonalities, which only the greatest writers know about. This resource is called the Mythopoetica. It is the realm of your superconscious mind. It holds the ability to create any story whatsoever.
This is the part of your mind that also creates all your dreams. It is also the part of your mind that will bring into your consciousness the most inspiring, interesting and amazing stories you can imagine.
If you are interested in discovering the complete structural system, used by the world's finest story and screenwriters to guarantee that they have a professional and saleable story, as well as how to write directly from your superconscious, then please email me and I will send you a link for the first lesson absolutely FREE, along with an ebrochure about a web distributed writing course. You will be able to download a forty five minute audio lesson as an MP3, as well as a PDF of each lesson. You can then study the material at your leisure.
The integration of classic structure and the superconscious is what makes this course unique.
Email to: info@lifeact.com and put ‘Writing' in the subject line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send these Voice Dialogue Tips to Friends:
If you would like to send these tips on to any of your friends, please forward them by email. You can also advise your friends at http://www.bodymindinformation.com/tell-a-friend.php If you are able to help us do this, we would like to thank you by sending you a FREE REPORT titled: Voice Dialogue: A Guide To Great Relationships.
They can also register to receive future copies on our web site, which has a subscriber's panel, or they can email jcoroneos@bigpond.com directly. We will not be giving any of the addresses we receive to anyone else or any other organization. At any point you can stop receiving them - just click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
How To Change Your Email details:
If you need to change your email address, the quickest and surest way is this: click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. Then go to the web site http://www.bodymindinformation.com and resubscribe with your new address. If you find your name spelt incorrectly, or have no name mentioned at the beginning of this letter, then email us on jcoroneos@bigpond.com and we will change it.
Warmly,
Dr John Coroneos
Medical Doctor
Producer of The Voice Dialogue Series
08 January 2009
Simon's Reflections 2009
: Today’s Reflection is about the end of a year and a beginning of another.
: And, I believe, a lot more.
This past year feels both very long and short at the same time, which I find interesting. What happened last year? Some of the global-scale events that come to mind include:
The extradition of Radovan Karadzic (the "Butcher of Bosnia") to The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal, to face charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.
China hosted the Summer Olympics games.
Rising food prices that pushed millions around the world into hunger. The UN estimates the number of undernourished people worldwide to be almost 1 billion, which is about 1 in 6 or seven people worldwide. For instance, in Haiti, people were reduced to eating patties made of mud, oil, and sugar. “It’s salty and it has butter and you don’t know you’re eating dirt,” 24-year-old Olwich Louis Jeune told "The New York Times."
There were terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
Leadership changed in Russia (at least, officially).
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, on February 17, and became the world's newest state.
Barack Obama was elected the 44th U.S. President.
And, of course, The Global Financial Crisis, which is being called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And like the Great Depression, the 2008 version began in the United States, but soon spread around the world. This is where I lost about 20% of my savings, so far.
:: "The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do is
:: to withdraw the projection of our shadow onto others." – Carl Jung
For me personally, it has also been quite an eventful year. I finally started drumming and taking lessons on a djembe drum, which I absolutely love. I witnessed Tobi being attacked by another dog, experiencing myself as a mother bear protecting her cub. Saw another live show of my favorite Cirque du Soleil. Started a very humble roof-top gardening project, eating some home-grown food while realizing that I am definitely not self-sustainable, food-wise. Spent some time in Israel, visiting my parents, reconnecting with a few dear friends, and eating awesome Israeli food that I miss not having in Vancouver. Spent time in the beautiful wilderness of Interior BC. Encountered the wrath of US Customs and Border officers, and (as a result of it) experienced the pain and sadness of having something I dearly love being taken away. Luckily, temporarily only. Together with Keli and Tobi, discovered the magic of coconut oil, both in its internal and external applications. Readjusted my lifestyle
I am sure there is a lot more that happened last year; somehow, it is quite the blur right now. Dear friends, exciting work, fun times and adventures, moments of love and connection, challenges and sadness and tears, quiet moments of solitude, gratitude for my life and all it brings forth, and the joy of being here and now. Overall, I would say that I have experienced the richness of life, with its highs and lows, a lot more than before. It certainly was a year of growth and humility, the companions that forever walk the journey hand-in-hand.
:: “The saddest thing I see in the world are people who have stopped
:: dreaming. People who cannot legitimately imagine themselves as someone
:: greater than they are. People who cannot see the power in their weak
:: legs or the acumen in their tired minds...” - Loren Bors
One of the incredible gifts of this past year was a book. “A Language Older Than Words” by Derrick Jensen is a book that each person must read, in order to understand the world we live in on a whole different level. This book is absolutely profound – shocking, disturbing, realistic, touching, horrifying and uplifting at the same time, compelling, and inspiring to action. You can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/a7j49v.
How and why do we numb ourselves to our own experience of life in favour of what we have been taught? How and why do we deafen ourselves to the voices of many others who occupy this world together with us? How did it happen that we pretend that anything that we don’t understand - anything that cannot be measured, quantified, and controlled – does not exist? How is it that pagans, Jews, Muslims, heretical Christians, Indians, Africans, Polynesians, Asians, women, men, children, salmon, forests, have been murdered by the millions in the name of a man who said that people should love their neighbours and love their enemies? Why is it that in our economic system, money is valued above all else? What happens when we really and truly open ourselves up and really listen to others around us, and not only humans? What if the point of life is not to accumulate wealth, to create ever-expanding regions of control, and not to keep at bay all those people, objects, beings, and em
This book will take you on a journey you will never forget, and you will never be the same again. I am actually considering contacting Derrick and getting copies of the book, which I would love to share with those willing to embark on this journey. If, for whatever reason, you cannot get the book yourself, please connect with me; I hope to be able to provide you with a copy.
:: “It is not possible to recover from atrocity in isolation. It is, in fact, precisely
:: this isolation that induces the atrocities. If we wish to stop the atrocities, we
:: need merely to step away from the isolation. There is a whole world waiting for us,
:: ready to welcome us home. It has missed us as sorely as we have missed it. And it is
:: time to return.” - Derrick Jensen
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
: And, I believe, a lot more.
This past year feels both very long and short at the same time, which I find interesting. What happened last year? Some of the global-scale events that come to mind include:
The extradition of Radovan Karadzic (the "Butcher of Bosnia") to The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal, to face charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.
China hosted the Summer Olympics games.
Rising food prices that pushed millions around the world into hunger. The UN estimates the number of undernourished people worldwide to be almost 1 billion, which is about 1 in 6 or seven people worldwide. For instance, in Haiti, people were reduced to eating patties made of mud, oil, and sugar. “It’s salty and it has butter and you don’t know you’re eating dirt,” 24-year-old Olwich Louis Jeune told "The New York Times."
There were terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
Leadership changed in Russia (at least, officially).
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, on February 17, and became the world's newest state.
Barack Obama was elected the 44th U.S. President.
And, of course, The Global Financial Crisis, which is being called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And like the Great Depression, the 2008 version began in the United States, but soon spread around the world. This is where I lost about 20% of my savings, so far.
:: "The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do is
:: to withdraw the projection of our shadow onto others." – Carl Jung
For me personally, it has also been quite an eventful year. I finally started drumming and taking lessons on a djembe drum, which I absolutely love. I witnessed Tobi being attacked by another dog, experiencing myself as a mother bear protecting her cub. Saw another live show of my favorite Cirque du Soleil. Started a very humble roof-top gardening project, eating some home-grown food while realizing that I am definitely not self-sustainable, food-wise. Spent some time in Israel, visiting my parents, reconnecting with a few dear friends, and eating awesome Israeli food that I miss not having in Vancouver. Spent time in the beautiful wilderness of Interior BC. Encountered the wrath of US Customs and Border officers, and (as a result of it) experienced the pain and sadness of having something I dearly love being taken away. Luckily, temporarily only. Together with Keli and Tobi, discovered the magic of coconut oil, both in its internal and external applications. Readjusted my lifestyle
I am sure there is a lot more that happened last year; somehow, it is quite the blur right now. Dear friends, exciting work, fun times and adventures, moments of love and connection, challenges and sadness and tears, quiet moments of solitude, gratitude for my life and all it brings forth, and the joy of being here and now. Overall, I would say that I have experienced the richness of life, with its highs and lows, a lot more than before. It certainly was a year of growth and humility, the companions that forever walk the journey hand-in-hand.
:: “The saddest thing I see in the world are people who have stopped
:: dreaming. People who cannot legitimately imagine themselves as someone
:: greater than they are. People who cannot see the power in their weak
:: legs or the acumen in their tired minds...” - Loren Bors
One of the incredible gifts of this past year was a book. “A Language Older Than Words” by Derrick Jensen is a book that each person must read, in order to understand the world we live in on a whole different level. This book is absolutely profound – shocking, disturbing, realistic, touching, horrifying and uplifting at the same time, compelling, and inspiring to action. You can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/a7j49v.
How and why do we numb ourselves to our own experience of life in favour of what we have been taught? How and why do we deafen ourselves to the voices of many others who occupy this world together with us? How did it happen that we pretend that anything that we don’t understand - anything that cannot be measured, quantified, and controlled – does not exist? How is it that pagans, Jews, Muslims, heretical Christians, Indians, Africans, Polynesians, Asians, women, men, children, salmon, forests, have been murdered by the millions in the name of a man who said that people should love their neighbours and love their enemies? Why is it that in our economic system, money is valued above all else? What happens when we really and truly open ourselves up and really listen to others around us, and not only humans? What if the point of life is not to accumulate wealth, to create ever-expanding regions of control, and not to keep at bay all those people, objects, beings, and em
This book will take you on a journey you will never forget, and you will never be the same again. I am actually considering contacting Derrick and getting copies of the book, which I would love to share with those willing to embark on this journey. If, for whatever reason, you cannot get the book yourself, please connect with me; I hope to be able to provide you with a copy.
:: “It is not possible to recover from atrocity in isolation. It is, in fact, precisely
:: this isolation that induces the atrocities. If we wish to stop the atrocities, we
:: need merely to step away from the isolation. There is a whole world waiting for us,
:: ready to welcome us home. It has missed us as sorely as we have missed it. And it is
:: time to return.” - Derrick Jensen
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
08 December 2008
(Simon's Reflections)To Give or To Receive
: Today’s Reflection is about another perspective of looking at our deeply
: and profoundly interconnected world, where nothing exists in isolation,
: and everything impacts, affects, and depends on everything else.
The following is a story Keli
told me, about a live performance Prince gave in Vancouver a long time
ago; I hope that in retelling it, I will do the story as much justice
as it deserves.
Prince. Live performance. Crowds. Music. And
everything else that accompanies such an event. At some point, Prince
stops playing, turns to the audience, and asks: “What’s better, to give
or to receive?”
“To give,” scream some. “To receive,” shout others.
He
repeats his question. In return, even more screaming and shouting and
noise, all variations of the same answers. He points to a woman,
screaming from her seat in the front row: “What is better, to give or
to receive?”
“To give!” is her reply.
“OK,” says Prince.
“You are saying that to give is better than to receive?” Her loud “Yes”
carries through the whole space, as he raises his hand and quiets the
audience.
“I want you then,” he says, pointing to the woman, “to
give your seat to someone at the very last row and go sit there
instead. Trade places.”
Silence descends on the whole place.
“What is better, to give or to receive?” he asks again.
By
now, the silence is palpable and the audience can feel, sense, taste,
and touch it. It is as if time stands still. He repeats the question
again. Now the silence is heavy, drawing people deeper and deeper into
themselves. Nothing moves.
He then invites the woman from the
front row to the stage. Assistants bring pillows and make a comfortable
and cozy area for her to sit, right there, in the center of the stage.
He turns his back to the whole audience and performs a song – facing
the woman, singing just for her.
:: “You cannot teach an ego to be anything but egotistic, even though egos have
:: the subtlest ways of pretending to be reformed. The basic thing is therefore
:: to dispel, by experiment and experience, the illusion of oneself as a
:: separate ego.” - Alan Watts
When the song is over, he turns to the audience and asks again, “What is getter – to give or to receive?”
There
is still silence in the space, yet it is different now. Somehow, it is
more gentle, contemplative, intimate. “You cannot have one without the
other,” says Prince.
I keep coming back to this story, time and
time again, in a variety of situations and circumstances. How true his
message is. Some weeks ago, I witnessed a profoundly beautiful,
touching, and inspiring ceremony, where a group of students and faculty
acknowledged and appreciated a program dean, who has contributed
immensely to an MBA school, from the very beginning. She is now taking
a short sabbatical, and in an opening circle, people stood up and
acknowledged her contribution to the school and their own lives. Beyond
the appreciations themselves, one of the things that touched me the
most was observing her receive the appreciations – gracefully, humbly,
without trying to avoid or deflect the kind words that were shared with
her in front of a group of about a hundred people.
One cannot
fully give, if the message is not being fully received. The giver and
the receiver depend on each other for a full experience of grace,
kindness, appreciation, and love. Without such relationship of
interdependence, there is no giver and no receiver.
:: “The hostile attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic interdependence
:: of all things and events – that the world beyond the skin is actually an
:: extension of our own bodies – and will end in destroying the very environment
:: from which we emerge and upon which our whole life depends.”
:: - Alan Watts
This is It
and I am It
and You are It
and so is That
and He is It
and She is It
and It is It
and That is That.
- James Broughton
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: And I do welcome your thoughts and comments.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
: and profoundly interconnected world, where nothing exists in isolation,
: and everything impacts, affects, and depends on everything else.
The following is a story Keli
told me, about a live performance Prince gave in Vancouver a long time
ago; I hope that in retelling it, I will do the story as much justice
as it deserves.
Prince. Live performance. Crowds. Music. And
everything else that accompanies such an event. At some point, Prince
stops playing, turns to the audience, and asks: “What’s better, to give
or to receive?”
“To give,” scream some. “To receive,” shout others.
He
repeats his question. In return, even more screaming and shouting and
noise, all variations of the same answers. He points to a woman,
screaming from her seat in the front row: “What is better, to give or
to receive?”
“To give!” is her reply.
“OK,” says Prince.
“You are saying that to give is better than to receive?” Her loud “Yes”
carries through the whole space, as he raises his hand and quiets the
audience.
“I want you then,” he says, pointing to the woman, “to
give your seat to someone at the very last row and go sit there
instead. Trade places.”
Silence descends on the whole place.
“What is better, to give or to receive?” he asks again.
By
now, the silence is palpable and the audience can feel, sense, taste,
and touch it. It is as if time stands still. He repeats the question
again. Now the silence is heavy, drawing people deeper and deeper into
themselves. Nothing moves.
He then invites the woman from the
front row to the stage. Assistants bring pillows and make a comfortable
and cozy area for her to sit, right there, in the center of the stage.
He turns his back to the whole audience and performs a song – facing
the woman, singing just for her.
:: “You cannot teach an ego to be anything but egotistic, even though egos have
:: the subtlest ways of pretending to be reformed. The basic thing is therefore
:: to dispel, by experiment and experience, the illusion of oneself as a
:: separate ego.” - Alan Watts
When the song is over, he turns to the audience and asks again, “What is getter – to give or to receive?”
There
is still silence in the space, yet it is different now. Somehow, it is
more gentle, contemplative, intimate. “You cannot have one without the
other,” says Prince.
I keep coming back to this story, time and
time again, in a variety of situations and circumstances. How true his
message is. Some weeks ago, I witnessed a profoundly beautiful,
touching, and inspiring ceremony, where a group of students and faculty
acknowledged and appreciated a program dean, who has contributed
immensely to an MBA school, from the very beginning. She is now taking
a short sabbatical, and in an opening circle, people stood up and
acknowledged her contribution to the school and their own lives. Beyond
the appreciations themselves, one of the things that touched me the
most was observing her receive the appreciations – gracefully, humbly,
without trying to avoid or deflect the kind words that were shared with
her in front of a group of about a hundred people.
One cannot
fully give, if the message is not being fully received. The giver and
the receiver depend on each other for a full experience of grace,
kindness, appreciation, and love. Without such relationship of
interdependence, there is no giver and no receiver.
:: “The hostile attitude of conquering nature ignores the basic interdependence
:: of all things and events – that the world beyond the skin is actually an
:: extension of our own bodies – and will end in destroying the very environment
:: from which we emerge and upon which our whole life depends.”
:: - Alan Watts
This is It
and I am It
and You are It
and so is That
and He is It
and She is It
and It is It
and That is That.
- James Broughton
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: And I do welcome your thoughts and comments.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
04 December 2008
Voice Dialogue
Dr Hal & Sidra Stone's Voice Dialogue Tips
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:10:40 +1100 (EST)
From: Voice Dialogue Tips
Voice Dialogue Tips
December 2008
Email us: jcoroneos@bigpond.com
Web Site: http://www.bodymindinformation.com
Dear Participant
Welcome again to Hal & Sidra's Voice Dialogue Tips.
1. The month's article is titled "Meditation and Voice Dialogue"
2. Become a WRITER: Learn the Art and Craft of Story and Screenwriting
The most highly paid profession and rewarding career!
1. Meditation and Voice Dialogue
by
J'aime ona Pangaia
The goal of Voice Dialogue practice is the emergence of the Aware Ego Process. What is that? It's operating with free will, the ability to make choices in the moment with compassion and an energetic connection to our body. Essentially that means separating from our identification with a, or any part of ourself and having an ego experience ("I") that has the capacity to make choices with Awareness. By Awareness, I mean non-judgmental, unconditional, un-attached witnessing awareness. Choice-less awareness. Unvarnished beholding. Dispassionate Compassion. How many of us experience that?
This type of awareness may occur for moments, randomly in a person's life, or we may never experience it consciously. But, we have a greater potential to experience this awareness when we've engaged in an activity to practice it, to cultivate it. One of the oldest, simplest form of awareness practice is breath meditation. This involves setting our intention that the natural rise and fall of our breath be the sole object of our attention for a set period of time. This is a humbling discipline, because as soon as one begins meditation, other experiences rush in to compete for our attention. Thoughts, sensations and emotions layer in and our attention on our breath is lost. We quickly become possessed by these competing perceptions; we become attached, identified with whatever wins our attention in the moment.
We become consumed by that feeling of anger, or sadness, we become obsessed with that sudden, relentless itch behind our ear, we are mesmerized by our plans for tomorrow's meeting, we start rehearsing what we're going to say to someone. Our intention to focus on our breath is forgotten and our attention has been hijacked by whatever perception has won the moment.
Practicing meditation helps us to develop the strength to separate from selves. When I sit down for a half hour of meditation, I have to separate from selves a thousand times. Or more. Over and over, I bring my attention to just watching my breath, without comment, without emotion, without distraction or avoidance, without desire or resentment, just watching. With every returning to my breath, I groom my capacity to just watch. I discover Awareness, which is omnipresent although not often consciously experienced due to the almost ceaseless possessions of the ego. Again and again, I intend to watch my breath and over time and practice, I become more attuned to the experience of empty awareness, and what clouds it over.
Awareness doesn't do anything, and so we cannot 'aware our way through life'. We must engage with life, make choices and live with the consequences. Voice Dialogue, a psycho-spiritual discipline shares the stance taken by Buddhism that we can train ourselves to recognize ego states (sub-personalities, inner selves, 'parts', individualized archetypal patterns) as states, not what-I-am, once we are aware. We call this the 'aware ego process'. From there, we can begin to live life with choice, compassion, engagement and non-attachment. Through awareness, we recognize the existence of these selves while remembering and experiencing them as means of being; they are not our essential being. Our essential being is paradoxically full of every creative possibility, indelibly unique, and empty of anything in permanence.
Our closest common experience of awareness is with an inner part I'll call the Inner Critic. While witnessing Awareness is non-judgmental and has no agenda, the Inner Critic also perceives everything, but with negative judgment. When bringing our Awareness to the Inner Critic, we can perceive that it has an agenda - to change our behavior in order to protect vulnerability. Awareness of the basic nature of the Inner Critic can transform our relationship with the Inner Critic. We can pay attention to what it's trying to orient us to ~ our vulnerability, and when we start becoming relating to our vulnerability with Awareness, the Inner Critic calms down. Now we are no longer victim to the Inner Critic, nor trying to change or repress it. We accept it.
Meditation is a practice, it is an exercise, a discipline to potentiate a direct experience of Awareness. Any given time we settle down to meditate, we may or may not have much direct experience of Awareness. Or we may. We practice meditation, not so much so that we have awareness experience while meditating, but that our practice of meditation provides us with more Awareness experience in everyday life, on and off the proverbial meditation cushion. In fact the more we try to have an Awareness experience, the less we'll have one, since we're fixedly in a self that has an agenda.
The same goes for Voice Dialogue facilitation (a kind of engaged, two person practice of meditating). We may, or may not, have a big 'aha!' during the facilitation experience, in fact, it often comes afterwards, and more quietly. Because of Voice Dialogue facilitation, we simply see more clearly and immediately when we are in the throes of an inner self, and we can recognize it as such: ah, a self! There's a choice now, and we're more aware of it. We perceive that choice with less, or no judgments. We may still have to wrestle ourselves from the habit of our old patterns, but this is very similar to wrestling our attention away from passing thoughts, feelings, and sensations while meditating.
In everyday life, the practice of meditation conditions us to a return to the fleeting, yet expansive moment. Here I am now, and I have options. In meditation, our option is to return to our breath. That's our intention, our practice. In everyday life, our intention is to return to the present, to complexity, to paradox, to include more of how we can be, given the actual conditions of the moment.
Without the Aware Ego Process, we live by habitual patterns, we live through projections on the world, we live identified with some ways of being and by disowning others, we live by 'right' and 'wrong': judgment, we live through memories and fantasies, without relating much to what actually is, right now. Meditation and Voice Dialogue are like twin practices, complementing each other. Either one by itself is helpful; together, our direct experience of Awareness, and the Aware Ego Process is more probable.
For more Voice Dialogue tips and information, visit http://www.bodymindinformation.com
2. Become a WRITER: Learn the Art and Craft of Story and Screenwriting
The most highly paid profession and most rewarding career!
2. from Michael Domeyko Rowland,
presenter, director and writer of the Voice Dialogue Series.
Writing is an incredibly fulfilling activity and probably the most creative outlet for anyone interested in the personality and exploring the deeper parts of the mind. You will reveal your own inner being and discover all sorts of things about yourself that you would never find in any other way. Writing for the screen or the page is a fascinating and amazing experience, when approached in the right way. It is also the fastest way to generate a very large income, with royalties that can pay off for the rest of your life.
Most people make the mistake of writing from the conscious mind. The conscious mind can only ever come up with clichés, because it is not the source of originality and creativity. It is vital for editing, but not for creation. Many also make the mistake of not understanding the true function of story for an audience.
Deep within your mind you have an unlimited resource, a realm of undiscovered selves, which only the greatest writers know about. This resource I have called the Mythopoetica. It is the realm of the superconscious. It holds the ability to create any story whatsoever. This is the part of your mind that creates all your dreams. It is also the part of your mind that will bring into your consciousness the most inspiring, interesting and amazing stories you can imagine.
If you are interested in discovering the complete structural system, used by the world's finest story and screenwriters to guarantee that they have a professional and saleable story, as well as how to write directly from your superconscious, then please email me and I will send you a free ebrochure about a web based writing course I am offering. It is available for a limited time only.
The integration of classic structure and the superconscious is what makes this course unique. Email to: info@lifeact.com and put ‘Writing' in the subject line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send these Voice Dialogue Tips to Friends:
If you would like to send these tips on to any of your friends, please forward them by email. You can also advise your friends at http://www.bodymindinformation.com/tell-a-friend.php If you are able to help us do this, we would like to thank you by sending you a FREE REPORT titled: Voice Dialogue: A Guide To Great Relationships.
They can also register to receive future copies on our web site, which has a subscriber's panel, or they can email jcoroneos@bigpond.com directly. We will not be giving any of the addresses we receive to anyone else or any other organization. At any point you can stop receiving them - just click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
How To Change Your Email details:
If you need to change your email address, the quickest and surest way is this: click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. Then go to the web site http://www.bodymindinformation.com and resubscribe with your new address. If you find your name spelt incorrectly, or have no name mentioned at the beginning of this letter, then email us on jcoroneos@bigpond.com and we will change it.
Warmly,
Dr John Coroneos
Medical Doctor
Producer of The Voice Dialogue Series
Copyright Wiseone Edutainment P/L
No part of Hal and Sidra's Voice Dialogue tips may be reproduced, in any form, without the written permission of Drs Hal and Sidra Stone except for forwarding an issue, in its entirety and complete with copyright information, to a friend.
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:10:40 +1100 (EST)
From: Voice Dialogue Tips
Voice Dialogue Tips
December 2008
Email us: jcoroneos@bigpond.com
Web Site: http://www.bodymindinformation.com
Dear Participant
Welcome again to Hal & Sidra's Voice Dialogue Tips.
1. The month's article is titled "Meditation and Voice Dialogue"
2. Become a WRITER: Learn the Art and Craft of Story and Screenwriting
The most highly paid profession and rewarding career!
1. Meditation and Voice Dialogue
by
J'aime ona Pangaia
The goal of Voice Dialogue practice is the emergence of the Aware Ego Process. What is that? It's operating with free will, the ability to make choices in the moment with compassion and an energetic connection to our body. Essentially that means separating from our identification with a, or any part of ourself and having an ego experience ("I") that has the capacity to make choices with Awareness. By Awareness, I mean non-judgmental, unconditional, un-attached witnessing awareness. Choice-less awareness. Unvarnished beholding. Dispassionate Compassion. How many of us experience that?
This type of awareness may occur for moments, randomly in a person's life, or we may never experience it consciously. But, we have a greater potential to experience this awareness when we've engaged in an activity to practice it, to cultivate it. One of the oldest, simplest form of awareness practice is breath meditation. This involves setting our intention that the natural rise and fall of our breath be the sole object of our attention for a set period of time. This is a humbling discipline, because as soon as one begins meditation, other experiences rush in to compete for our attention. Thoughts, sensations and emotions layer in and our attention on our breath is lost. We quickly become possessed by these competing perceptions; we become attached, identified with whatever wins our attention in the moment.
We become consumed by that feeling of anger, or sadness, we become obsessed with that sudden, relentless itch behind our ear, we are mesmerized by our plans for tomorrow's meeting, we start rehearsing what we're going to say to someone. Our intention to focus on our breath is forgotten and our attention has been hijacked by whatever perception has won the moment.
Practicing meditation helps us to develop the strength to separate from selves. When I sit down for a half hour of meditation, I have to separate from selves a thousand times. Or more. Over and over, I bring my attention to just watching my breath, without comment, without emotion, without distraction or avoidance, without desire or resentment, just watching. With every returning to my breath, I groom my capacity to just watch. I discover Awareness, which is omnipresent although not often consciously experienced due to the almost ceaseless possessions of the ego. Again and again, I intend to watch my breath and over time and practice, I become more attuned to the experience of empty awareness, and what clouds it over.
Awareness doesn't do anything, and so we cannot 'aware our way through life'. We must engage with life, make choices and live with the consequences. Voice Dialogue, a psycho-spiritual discipline shares the stance taken by Buddhism that we can train ourselves to recognize ego states (sub-personalities, inner selves, 'parts', individualized archetypal patterns) as states, not what-I-am, once we are aware. We call this the 'aware ego process'. From there, we can begin to live life with choice, compassion, engagement and non-attachment. Through awareness, we recognize the existence of these selves while remembering and experiencing them as means of being; they are not our essential being. Our essential being is paradoxically full of every creative possibility, indelibly unique, and empty of anything in permanence.
Our closest common experience of awareness is with an inner part I'll call the Inner Critic. While witnessing Awareness is non-judgmental and has no agenda, the Inner Critic also perceives everything, but with negative judgment. When bringing our Awareness to the Inner Critic, we can perceive that it has an agenda - to change our behavior in order to protect vulnerability. Awareness of the basic nature of the Inner Critic can transform our relationship with the Inner Critic. We can pay attention to what it's trying to orient us to ~ our vulnerability, and when we start becoming relating to our vulnerability with Awareness, the Inner Critic calms down. Now we are no longer victim to the Inner Critic, nor trying to change or repress it. We accept it.
Meditation is a practice, it is an exercise, a discipline to potentiate a direct experience of Awareness. Any given time we settle down to meditate, we may or may not have much direct experience of Awareness. Or we may. We practice meditation, not so much so that we have awareness experience while meditating, but that our practice of meditation provides us with more Awareness experience in everyday life, on and off the proverbial meditation cushion. In fact the more we try to have an Awareness experience, the less we'll have one, since we're fixedly in a self that has an agenda.
The same goes for Voice Dialogue facilitation (a kind of engaged, two person practice of meditating). We may, or may not, have a big 'aha!' during the facilitation experience, in fact, it often comes afterwards, and more quietly. Because of Voice Dialogue facilitation, we simply see more clearly and immediately when we are in the throes of an inner self, and we can recognize it as such: ah, a self! There's a choice now, and we're more aware of it. We perceive that choice with less, or no judgments. We may still have to wrestle ourselves from the habit of our old patterns, but this is very similar to wrestling our attention away from passing thoughts, feelings, and sensations while meditating.
In everyday life, the practice of meditation conditions us to a return to the fleeting, yet expansive moment. Here I am now, and I have options. In meditation, our option is to return to our breath. That's our intention, our practice. In everyday life, our intention is to return to the present, to complexity, to paradox, to include more of how we can be, given the actual conditions of the moment.
Without the Aware Ego Process, we live by habitual patterns, we live through projections on the world, we live identified with some ways of being and by disowning others, we live by 'right' and 'wrong': judgment, we live through memories and fantasies, without relating much to what actually is, right now. Meditation and Voice Dialogue are like twin practices, complementing each other. Either one by itself is helpful; together, our direct experience of Awareness, and the Aware Ego Process is more probable.
For more Voice Dialogue tips and information, visit http://www.bodymindinformation.com
2. Become a WRITER: Learn the Art and Craft of Story and Screenwriting
The most highly paid profession and most rewarding career!
2. from Michael Domeyko Rowland,
presenter, director and writer of the Voice Dialogue Series.
Writing is an incredibly fulfilling activity and probably the most creative outlet for anyone interested in the personality and exploring the deeper parts of the mind. You will reveal your own inner being and discover all sorts of things about yourself that you would never find in any other way. Writing for the screen or the page is a fascinating and amazing experience, when approached in the right way. It is also the fastest way to generate a very large income, with royalties that can pay off for the rest of your life.
Most people make the mistake of writing from the conscious mind. The conscious mind can only ever come up with clichés, because it is not the source of originality and creativity. It is vital for editing, but not for creation. Many also make the mistake of not understanding the true function of story for an audience.
Deep within your mind you have an unlimited resource, a realm of undiscovered selves, which only the greatest writers know about. This resource I have called the Mythopoetica. It is the realm of the superconscious. It holds the ability to create any story whatsoever. This is the part of your mind that creates all your dreams. It is also the part of your mind that will bring into your consciousness the most inspiring, interesting and amazing stories you can imagine.
If you are interested in discovering the complete structural system, used by the world's finest story and screenwriters to guarantee that they have a professional and saleable story, as well as how to write directly from your superconscious, then please email me and I will send you a free ebrochure about a web based writing course I am offering. It is available for a limited time only.
The integration of classic structure and the superconscious is what makes this course unique. Email to: info@lifeact.com and put ‘Writing' in the subject line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send these Voice Dialogue Tips to Friends:
If you would like to send these tips on to any of your friends, please forward them by email. You can also advise your friends at http://www.bodymindinformation.com/tell-a-friend.php If you are able to help us do this, we would like to thank you by sending you a FREE REPORT titled: Voice Dialogue: A Guide To Great Relationships.
They can also register to receive future copies on our web site, which has a subscriber's panel, or they can email jcoroneos@bigpond.com directly. We will not be giving any of the addresses we receive to anyone else or any other organization. At any point you can stop receiving them - just click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
How To Change Your Email details:
If you need to change your email address, the quickest and surest way is this: click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. Then go to the web site http://www.bodymindinformation.com and resubscribe with your new address. If you find your name spelt incorrectly, or have no name mentioned at the beginning of this letter, then email us on jcoroneos@bigpond.com and we will change it.
Warmly,
Dr John Coroneos
Medical Doctor
Producer of The Voice Dialogue Series
Copyright Wiseone Edutainment P/L
No part of Hal and Sidra's Voice Dialogue tips may be reproduced, in any form, without the written permission of Drs Hal and Sidra Stone except for forwarding an issue, in its entirety and complete with copyright information, to a friend.
12 November 2008
More Simon's Reflections
: Today’s Reflection is about being in, and with, Nature. Something that
: many of us, city dwellers, have forgotten.
It was late, dark, and raining here in Vancouver. And the world was beckoning me to come and visit and wander the streets. I felt the need to answer the call...
A dark, quiet, windless, and rain-ful night, as Tobi and I were wandering through the neighbourhood. The rain called me out, out of the comfort of my cozy and warm home, to come and join Nature and inhale the fresh air and feel the rain drops on my clothes. Shining tiny diamond-like drops of water on the edges of pine needles, shimmering in the street lights. Feeling the gratitude for the eternal and mysterious self-sustaining ways of Nature was a beautiful thing to notice and feel. Inhaling the fresh air was a gift. The human-made world was mostly asleep, yet Nature did not stop her endless magic of sustaining and creating life. Seeing many naked trees getting ready for a long hibernation made me think about the importance of taking time-out, to sustain and rejuvenate my own well-being.
Even though I was outside the “comfort” of my home, I felt comfortable, at peace, belonging, and connected with the world around me.
:: “Human behavior is rooted most deeply in nature’s intentions
:: and desire. The rhythms of nature underlie all of human
:: interaction: religious traditions, economic systems, cultural
:: and political organization. When these human forms betray the
:: natural psychic pulse, people and societies get sick, nature
:: is exploited and entire species are threatened.”
:: - Stephen Aizenstat
And then, when I came back home, I stumbled upon the following piece, by John Milton, and it suddenly made a lot more sense.
“The profound healing power of Nature. This healing power comes directly and naturally, without any artifice or complicated treatments, prayers, rituals or ceremonies.
All that is required is a commitment to come alone to Nature’s heart, to relax into the silence, and to trust. In living closely and alone with Nature for the first time, most people’s initial experiences are of radical slowing down... and of silence. Both are powerful healers. Modern technocratic culture is characterized by ever-increasing pressures for speed, and by almost continuous noise - inner and outer. In our contemporary cultural frenzy to boost our economies, we produce increasingly processed products; we consume increasingly greater quantities of these goods and energy, hoping to fill the gnawing void within we fear to meet. As we feed this growing industrial/technocratic mesh, our natural world is systematically replaced by an artificial one. And in this artificial world, the values of silence and slow, organic rhythms are rarely encountered.
Consider how many millions of years it has taken for our current interconnected web of body, mind and emotions to evolve. And consider what kind of environment supported this evolution, and coevolved with us. The environments were natural ones, where organic rhythms of day/night, moon cycle, solar cycle, constellation cycles were part of us; and we were part of them. Trees, flowers, streams, lakes, ocean shorelines, mountains, rocks, sky, clouds - all of these elements of Nature have been companions in our journey into our contemporary embodiment, and influenced our growth. Now, in a few generations, we have leapt into incredibly new processed environments. Plastics, millions of new chemical compounds, air-conditioned air, fluorescent lighting, artificial food, powerful drugs, glass/steel/plastic housing and transportation units, alien electromagnetic fields, intense performance stress, speed, environmental pollution of every imaginable kind, breakdown of community/extended fami
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: And I do welcome your thoughts and comments.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
__._,_.___
: many of us, city dwellers, have forgotten.
It was late, dark, and raining here in Vancouver. And the world was beckoning me to come and visit and wander the streets. I felt the need to answer the call...
A dark, quiet, windless, and rain-ful night, as Tobi and I were wandering through the neighbourhood. The rain called me out, out of the comfort of my cozy and warm home, to come and join Nature and inhale the fresh air and feel the rain drops on my clothes. Shining tiny diamond-like drops of water on the edges of pine needles, shimmering in the street lights. Feeling the gratitude for the eternal and mysterious self-sustaining ways of Nature was a beautiful thing to notice and feel. Inhaling the fresh air was a gift. The human-made world was mostly asleep, yet Nature did not stop her endless magic of sustaining and creating life. Seeing many naked trees getting ready for a long hibernation made me think about the importance of taking time-out, to sustain and rejuvenate my own well-being.
Even though I was outside the “comfort” of my home, I felt comfortable, at peace, belonging, and connected with the world around me.
:: “Human behavior is rooted most deeply in nature’s intentions
:: and desire. The rhythms of nature underlie all of human
:: interaction: religious traditions, economic systems, cultural
:: and political organization. When these human forms betray the
:: natural psychic pulse, people and societies get sick, nature
:: is exploited and entire species are threatened.”
:: - Stephen Aizenstat
And then, when I came back home, I stumbled upon the following piece, by John Milton, and it suddenly made a lot more sense.
“The profound healing power of Nature. This healing power comes directly and naturally, without any artifice or complicated treatments, prayers, rituals or ceremonies.
All that is required is a commitment to come alone to Nature’s heart, to relax into the silence, and to trust. In living closely and alone with Nature for the first time, most people’s initial experiences are of radical slowing down... and of silence. Both are powerful healers. Modern technocratic culture is characterized by ever-increasing pressures for speed, and by almost continuous noise - inner and outer. In our contemporary cultural frenzy to boost our economies, we produce increasingly processed products; we consume increasingly greater quantities of these goods and energy, hoping to fill the gnawing void within we fear to meet. As we feed this growing industrial/technocratic mesh, our natural world is systematically replaced by an artificial one. And in this artificial world, the values of silence and slow, organic rhythms are rarely encountered.
Consider how many millions of years it has taken for our current interconnected web of body, mind and emotions to evolve. And consider what kind of environment supported this evolution, and coevolved with us. The environments were natural ones, where organic rhythms of day/night, moon cycle, solar cycle, constellation cycles were part of us; and we were part of them. Trees, flowers, streams, lakes, ocean shorelines, mountains, rocks, sky, clouds - all of these elements of Nature have been companions in our journey into our contemporary embodiment, and influenced our growth. Now, in a few generations, we have leapt into incredibly new processed environments. Plastics, millions of new chemical compounds, air-conditioned air, fluorescent lighting, artificial food, powerful drugs, glass/steel/plastic housing and transportation units, alien electromagnetic fields, intense performance stress, speed, environmental pollution of every imaginable kind, breakdown of community/extended fami
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: And I do welcome your thoughts and comments.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
__._,_.___
22 October 2008
Simon's Reflections
Today’s Reflection is not about any one specific topic.
The past few weeks have been full of many events, activities, challenges, and even victories. It feels as though there are too many thoughts and ideas in my head and heart right now, which makes it challenging to pick any one theme to zoom in on. Hence, I am going to let it all go, and instead, share with you various quotes, passages, and stories that have been collecting the metaphorical techno-dust in my computer.
"Divine chaos is a course corrector, a way of bringing down the systems that distraction built in order that they can be replaced with systems or structures designed with conscious thought." - Caroline Myss
“Legacies aren't the result of wishful thinking. They're the result of determined doing. The legacy you leave is the life you lead. We lead our lives daily. We leave our legacy daily. The people you see, the decisions you make, the actions you take- they are what tell your story. It's the sum of everything you do that matters, not one large bequest at the end of your tenure. Despite all out talk about leaders' needing to be concerned about the future, the most important leadership actions are the ones you take today. You just never know whose life you might touch. You just never know what change you might initiate and what impact you might have. You just never know when that critical moment might come. What you do know is that you can make a difference. You can leave this world better than you found it.” - anonymous
“I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.” - Kahlil Gibran
"Human behavior is rooted most deeply in nature's intentions and desire. The rhythms of nature underlie all of human interaction: religious traditions, economic systems, cultural and political organization. When these human forms betray the natural psychic pulse, people and societies get sick, nature is exploited and entire species are threatened."- Stephen Aizenstat
"Nature exults in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy. If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic fringe... No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe." --Annie Dillard
“When you lose your sense of humour, things just aren’t funny anymore.” - Philip Clement
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: And I do welcome your thoughts and comments.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
__._,_.___
The past few weeks have been full of many events, activities, challenges, and even victories. It feels as though there are too many thoughts and ideas in my head and heart right now, which makes it challenging to pick any one theme to zoom in on. Hence, I am going to let it all go, and instead, share with you various quotes, passages, and stories that have been collecting the metaphorical techno-dust in my computer.
"Divine chaos is a course corrector, a way of bringing down the systems that distraction built in order that they can be replaced with systems or structures designed with conscious thought." - Caroline Myss
“Legacies aren't the result of wishful thinking. They're the result of determined doing. The legacy you leave is the life you lead. We lead our lives daily. We leave our legacy daily. The people you see, the decisions you make, the actions you take- they are what tell your story. It's the sum of everything you do that matters, not one large bequest at the end of your tenure. Despite all out talk about leaders' needing to be concerned about the future, the most important leadership actions are the ones you take today. You just never know whose life you might touch. You just never know what change you might initiate and what impact you might have. You just never know when that critical moment might come. What you do know is that you can make a difference. You can leave this world better than you found it.” - anonymous
“I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.” - Kahlil Gibran
"Human behavior is rooted most deeply in nature's intentions and desire. The rhythms of nature underlie all of human interaction: religious traditions, economic systems, cultural and political organization. When these human forms betray the natural psychic pulse, people and societies get sick, nature is exploited and entire species are threatened."- Stephen Aizenstat
"Nature exults in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy. If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic fringe... No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe." --Annie Dillard
“When you lose your sense of humour, things just aren’t funny anymore.” - Philip Clement
A sunny week to you all, inside and out.
:: Simon’s Reflections newsletter is published on a
:: bi-weekly basis and contains writings that touch
:: the heart, provoke the mind, and inspire action.
:: And I do welcome your thoughts and comments.
Simon
About: http://www.SimonGoland.com
Blog: http://www.SimonGoland.com/news
Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimonsReflectionsList
__._,_.___
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