Letting Your Story Unfold

There is an ancient eastern story. In it there was a boy who wanted a drum, but his mother couldn’t afford a drum, and so, sadly, she gave him a stick. Though he didn’t know what to do with it, he shuffled home and began to play with the stick. Just then he encountered an old woman trying to light a fire under her stone oven. The boy freely gave the lady his stick. She lights her fire, makes some bread, and in return she gives him half a loaf. of bread. Walking on, the boy comes upon a potter’s wife whose child is crying from hunger. The boy freely gave the her the bread he had. In gratitude, the lady gives him a pot. Though he doesn’t know what to do with it, he carries it along the river, where he sees a man and his wife quarreling because the wife broke there one pot. So the boy gave them his pot. In return they give him a coat. Since the boy isn’t cold, he carries the coat until he comes to a bridge, where a man is shivering. Riding to town on a horse, the man was attacked and robbed of everything but his horse. The boy freely gave him his coat. Humbled the man gives him his horse. Not knowing how to ride, the boy walks the horse into town, where he meets a wedding party with musicians. The bridegroom and his family are all sitting under a tree with long faces. According to custom, the bridegroom is to enter the procession on a horse, which hasn’t shown up. The boy freely gives them the horse. Relieved, the bridegroom asks what he can do for the boy. Seeing the drummer surrounded by all the drums, the boy asks for the smallest drum, which the musician gladly gives him.

Meditation:
Are you willing to stay open and let your story continue to unfold even though right now it doesn’t seem to be making sense and you're not sure where it's leading you?

Are you willing to stay open to a continual practice of giving and receiving which could open up the mystery of your circumstance?

Could you be open today to the possibility that the unexpected gift you might have received might not be for you?

Discovering Your Dreams...

"Whatever outrageous dream keeps flowing across your mind, allow it to live inside you. Don't deflect it, diminish it, invalidate it, or come up with some excuse why it can't happen. This will allow it to explain itself to you -- why it's there, what it means and what if anything you should do about it."
Marianne Williamson

Meditation:
What dream has been flowing across your mind lately?

Have you invited it to explain itself to you?

Is there any step it's inviting you to take action on?

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Goal Setting to the NOW!

I came across this idea in Gary Keller's book: The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.
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​I think Gary Keller has created a simple and effective way to translate a goal that you want to achieve Someday into an action step you can take RIGHT NOW!
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​To try it out simply take a Goal you want to achieve Someday and begin to follow the arrows and questions down the page until you get to a concrete action you can
​take today!

How to Set Yourself Up to Receive a Miracle

Marianne Williamson in her new book, The Law of Divine Compensation sums it up perfectly…

When our attitude is negative, few opportunities arise.

This is not because opportunities don’t exist, but because our negative attitude and energy blind
us to them.

You might be sitting at lunch one day next to a woman who could provide you with a wonderful work opportunity, but because you’re going on and on about how rough things are and how tough
it’s been for you, it doesn’t occur to her to engage you in a conversation about professionally moving forward with her. For one thing, you’ve showed her how effective you are (or aren’t) at handling problems in your life.

Your energy deflected whatever miracle might have occurred.

Your energy, your attitude, your positivity, your words, your ability to listen to others and truly dwell in the present – all those things make you a person others want to be with, want to work with, want to share ideas with.

That energy is the spiritual basis of wealth creation.

In almost every moment we’re at the right place at the right time if we step fully into the moment at hand.

So how do you set yourself up to receive a miracle?

Be FULLY PRESENT in each moment!

Let me leave you with three practices to help you step more fully into the moment at hand, which might also open you up to receiving and experiencing more miracles in your life (and I say a big YES to that!)

1) Pause before you enter a moment or space, whether that’s a meeting, a store, a personal conversation and tune into the present, by becoming aware of your physical surroundings.

Jan Bays in his book: How to Train a Wild Elephant has a simple practice you can use to
move between spaces (or meetings or conversations)…

Before you walk through a door (or go into a meeting or conversation), pause, even for a second and take one breath. Be aware of the differences you might feel in each new space you enter. We often move immediately into a new space (or conversation or meeting) without mentally finishing up the old one.

Pausing can help us do that.

We want to mentally and physically let go of the past moment, then pause, and open ourselves up to all the possibilities of the fresh moment we’re about to step into. I often use actual physical doors as cues/symbols to remind me that I am leaving one space, conversation, or meeting, (in a sense I’m closing the “door” and completing what has just happened) and then I enter (or open the “door”) to this next moment. I pause, take a breath and then as best as I can, fully enter into the next space, conversation or meeting.

2) Some people find it helpful to whisper a prayer such as…”May my presence connect with your presence” as they begin a conversation or meeting.

First and Last Breath

Mark Nepo in his new book 7000 Ways to Listen shares the following story...

At a gathering in San Francisco, I met Marco, a careful and patient photographer from Santa Clara.

When asked what surprised him during the last year, his voice began to quiver. He'd witnessed two breaths that had changed his life. His daughter's first breath. then his mother's last breath.

As his daughter inhaled the world, it seemed to awaken her soul on Earth.

As his mother exhaled hers, it seemed to free her soul of the world.

These two breaths jarred Marco to live more openly and honestly.

He took those two breaths into his own daily breathing and quickly saw their common presence in everyone's breathing. Is it possible that, with each inhalation, we take in the world and awaken our soul? And with each exhalation, do we free ourselves of the world, which inevitably entangles us?

Is this how we fill up and empty a hundred times a day, always seeking the gift of the two breaths? Perhaps this is the work of being.

FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION
- Can you remember experiencing someones first or last breath? How did that event impact you? (Below is my answer to this question).

LAST BREATH
A few years ago when my mother died I was able to be there for her last breath (as she was there for my first breath) and that was a very sacred moment. I felt so honored to be by her side in those last moments. It reminded me of a story from Space for God by Postema

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it - every, every minute?”
Emily, a young woman in Thornton Wilder’s Play Our Town asks that question.

In the play emily dies in childbirth, but is granted a unique experience: the Stage Manager allows her to return from death and live one day of her life with her family.

Although Emily has high hopes for that one day, she is disappointed. Just before she returns to her place in the cemetery, she reveals her frustration to the Stage Manager:

Emily: We don’t have time to look at one another. (She breaks down, sobbing.) I didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed…

Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it - every, every minute?

Stage Manager: No. (Pause) The saints and poets, maybe - they do some.

Emily’s observation challenges us to live with awareness, realizing: Life while we live it - every minute.” We need to be reminded to appreciate all that is going on around us and inside of us, to be in touch with other people and ourselves.

FIRST BREATH
In five weeks time (Jan 22nd) my wonderful wife will give birth to our first baby and we will experience their first breath on this tiny spinning globe (we call earth). That is a moment we're so excited to witness.

A MEDITATION
- Become aware of your breathing today, use it as a reminder... as you breathe in receive this moment and the gift of life and fully experience it (as best as you can)....As you breathe out release this moment and any attachment you have to lingering feelings, thoughts and doubts. Then begin again afresh...each moment is a new beginning.