Peace

Peace is born out of the calming of conflicts. Peace exists in total acceptance of what is. What is is what is. Why argue with that? I have to say that meditation has shown me the path to peace in any situation. There is no amount of anger that cannot be turned to calm. There is no frenetic anxiety that cannot be quieted in solitude. I feel so blessed to have my meditation practice. I learn more and more as I meditate. I learn to not only accept myself more, but also others. The desire to control or change people and situations totally dissipates. Once I accept reality as it is, I suddenly am freed to create anything I want. The energy spent fighting what is, pushing against, can be turned to magnificent creation. That is the beauty and magic of life. That is why we should give our undivided attention to what we want and let reality just be reality. With enough imagination and pretending, a new reality is easy to create. That is the miracle of our existence.

I am so powerful that sometimes I scare myself.
I am so capable and enough that at times I pretend I'm not.
When I came here, I knew my ability to create was unmatched.
Sometimes, when life seems hard I just need a little reminder.

The equality of all things..

I had a profound realization this morning as I watched the sunrise and walked my little sister to her bus stop. I suddenly realized that there is no better source of joy out there. Joy is joy. Anything that makes me happy is priceless be that a sunrise or a friendly smile or a million dollars. I also then realized that any situation in life is not inherently better than an other. For example, being in a relationship isn't better than not being in one nor is being single better than being in a relationship. It is only my mind that establishes a sense of greater than and less than. Wow. That is the source of misery. My decisions about better than and less than. It doesn't mean that I shouldn't want a relationship, it just means that I shouldn't push against being single. Anyways, poem time!

I've got me.

Looking at what is going right...

Meditation is a constant reminder for me that I choose how I experience the world. I succumbed to a moment of pessimism yesterday. I allowed myself to let circumstances out of my control make me feel bad. Rather, I should say simply that I chose to feel bad. It is always a choice isn't it? Luckily, I sat and remembered that one unpleasant thought will only draw another and another and another and another. Meditation allows me and all of us to break that cycle. When we quiet our mind, we are given a blank slate to rewrite our experience in that moment. Thankfully, the reverse is true. A positive thought leads to another and another and another until an avalanche of well-being floods in. It almost seems to come out of no where. It is exhilarating to step back into the vortex of well-being that is truly mine. I realized that I had gotten caught up in the uncontrollable. Once I surrendered control, I hopped right back into the flow. It was like escaping from a powerful current to a peaceful, lazy river. The power in the current was only my negative thought patterns. Meditation is truly a gift that is priceless to me.

Yet unseen or unheard
It brews, bubbling in my mind.
Ideas and worlds without end.
Something or someone beyond form.
What, I cannot tell.
It incubates in the fertile fields of my imagination
Waiting to burst forth into new life.
Already alive 1000 times over.
A hunch.

Solitude

Today, I got back in touch with my center. I feel so good. I realized that I have a tendency of getting a little frenetic, especially when my life gets busy. Today was a nice relaxed day that allowed me to get back to that. I know that my perception of time is how time occurs for me. When I'm hurried and stressed, life happens that way. When I'm relaxed and chilled out, life occurs like that for me. So, I want to keep my entry brief today because it's a day of repose for me. I love that!

Microscopic and negligible.
That is what I am in the grand scheme of things.
Yet more important than the universe itself.

Honoring boundaries..

I had a lesson today about honoring my word and my boundaries. I have communicated certain boundaries within my business of what "works" in the relationship. Part of that is my 24 hour policy. I realized today that when I don't enforce my policy, I'm actually breaking my word to my students and myself. I realized how this detrimental not only to me financially, but also to my students that do always give me proper notice. I took the bullet and enforced it today and I felt amazing! I realized how much energy I had wasted by not honoring my word and splitting my energy. I think we all tend to definitely understand honoring our word and being authentic with others; however, it's harder to apply the same standard to oneself (at least I've noticed anyway.) We too often forget to include our relationship with ourselves when it comes to integrity. After re-communicating the boundary, I felt lighter and able to move on. I made an agreement with myself today to not worry about the reaction I get when I honor myself, but rather worry about the honoring myself and my word with me. It was a nice thing to be re-minded of.

Today is okay.
Tomorrow will be better still I think.
I'm always in the tomorrow it seems.
I can't wrap my head around just being here now.
Cares and worries, goals and ambitions, so much to focus on.
Well, anything to avoid myself.
Anything to be somewhere else but where I am.

Here I am again...

Well, this post is a little belated but I had a busy day. Ha. Not really busy in the strictest sense of the word. I was busy relaxing and also reading. I found out something interesting about meditation today. It instills a desire to withdraw from time to time and be alone. I was at a wedding today and noticed that I wanted very much to withdraw periodically and take in the surrounding plants and trees. Meditation causes me at least (and I would be many others) to be a bit more still, a bit more introspective. This is new for me. I've noticed that life is filled with information that I was missing because I was so busy talking or distracting myself. The information is all right there to be easily digested for those that are open to receiving it.

I don't really feel like a poem.
So this is it.
Some half-assed shit.

The art of telling a different story...

I love how today feels. I feel so open and happy. I realized talking to a guy on my way out to teach that life is really about telling a different story. You can't look at what is and expect to get anything different than what is. I've seen the truth of that with my voice studio. I can't wait to see how visualizing a different story will affect other areas of my life. Ahhh. Life is so good at the moment! I can't even describe how good... I feel so fortunate and blessed to know what I know. If I want anything, the universe can provide it. That is reassuring indeed! I even experienced this with my voice. I realized that if I visualize my voice functioning in a balanced manner, than it will do so. I need to spend time pretending that my voice is balanced and free to make that manifest in my life. It's not that my voice isn't balanced already, I just know that I will always be looking for greater and greater balance with my voice. Like life, my voice will never reach a point that it is "done." That's exciting! The adventure of life after all is expansion. I didn't come here to sit on a stump after all. Ok! Poem time.

I sit down on the stained and weathered bench.
Next to me is a man with brilliance in him.
His story goes largely unheard.
Like a diamond caked in coal, he is unseen.
Few can see past his rough exterior at the brilliant soul that lies within.
I see it. I don't feel pity for this man. I feel inspired.
The alcohol can hide the shine.
The story he tells can distract the world, but not me.
I will always see him as perfect and whole.
I will always see his disenfranchised brothers as franchised.
Humanity is more the same than different.
I don't mind listening to his story.
It doesn't change what I perceive.
The potential isn't wasted or lost. It is expressing itself in its own way.