(All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.)
- The last leaf of Winter -
Young Beech trees shed their leaves only after Winter is over.
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"Work"
Why capitalized? The reference here is not to what we do for a living but it is about the growth process we live in and the needed effort that promotes and maintains movement into wholeness and welbeing. God's Work in the ongoing creation of the universe is in actuality our work as well. To move into our true selves we connect to the Universal "Work" and allow change to happen as we become a new creation, over and over again.
My "Work" for the last 30 plus years has been to a great deal the nurturing of psychological growth which in turn opens the doors of authentic spiritual exploration and allows that process to continue. I have found the truth in the oft repeated statement, "Once you open the doors of the heart, they can never close again."
Having spent a lot of time in psychotherapy with outstanding professionals in that field, I have come to understand that the many old reactive behavior issues I accumulated throughout the first half of life were simply constructions that blocked the view of my interior existence. This was, and still is the "Work" of the second half of life, as well as the rest of my life. I have learned that the knowledge of the gains to be made is the motivation that releases the passion to grow and change.
Here is an excerpt from a book by John Welwood titled Toward A Psychology Of Awakening that talks of the need to grow past our constructed self.
"One set of questions has to do with the psychological ramifications of the spiritual path. For example, what happens to people psychologically when they recognize or turn toward their larger nature? What psychological issues and challenges are likely to come up and need to be addressed? As awareness starts to move beyond the boundaries of the conditioned personality structure, this expansion inevitably challenges that structure, flushing out old, subconscious, reactive patterns that often arrive with a vengeance. Traditional religions used to describe these obstacles and attacks along the path in terms of demons or devils. But from a modern perspective, they can also be understood and worked with psychologically as subconscious aspects of one's conditioned personality structure that often break through into consciousness only when that structure is challenged by the process of awakening to one's larger nature.
If these psychological issues are not addressed, they often cause distortions in people's spiritual development. So it is not enough to have spiritual realizations. It is also essential to deconstruct the subconscious emotional and mental patterns that are held in the body and the mind, and that prevent people from fully embodying a larger way of being in their lives."
(From the introduction.)
God is calling us to wholeness and to live an authentic life, and will put in our path those people who have traveled this way before we set foot on the journey. To awake and be aware of what is happening internally is the beginning of becoming what our Creator intended for us all along. What a Gift!
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Like the many acorns on a pine tree waiting to drop and allow their seeds to be planted,
we also will have many insights arise from the fertile ground that is our interior life.
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- Co-creators With Our Creator -
Creativity is experiencing in this moment
All that is visibly inherent simplicity, without attachments -
Observing now, the process of change and transformation,
Moment by moment, as we learn to express The Seen.
God says, "I was a treasure, and I wanted to be seen."
The tree says, "I am a tree, and I want to be seen."
We learn to say,
"I want to know the treasure that I am,
Here in this moment, and in this time of my life.
I want to see myself."
Following the Voice from deep within we hear,
"I am here, never there.
You will once again know me, here -
And you will understand that I am only here, and now.
My next moment, is always this moment."
Ordinary experience
Is God's Gift to us -
The material for creative expression
As the Artist in us releases the heart's desires.
Life can be enjoyed well in the details of the ordinary.
As we become ordinary we will be able to stand in awe of the Extraordinary -
Love's Gift, known and accepted in another "This Moment."
Stand on Holy Ground in front of your Creator and know yourself.
Bill Lagerstrom, April 2012
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Audio Offering:
Mark Nepo, a short thought on operating from our center -
Click here: http://www.box.com/s/44577c8515891277e659
Video: What landing in our hearts center may look like to the uninitiated -
Click here: http://www.flixxy.com/landing-at-the-worlds-most-dangerous-airport-lukla-nepal.htm
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And to end a bit of humor - What actually happens once we enter the depths of ourselves -
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