Taking Wing With The Spirit: September 10, 2012

September 10, 2012

(All photos are mine unless noted. You can bring the pictures up in full screen by double clicking on any image. Click on a border to return.)

Surgery was successful and I am recovering. A hard week to be sure, and a long recovery ahead for a detached tendon which dropped of the shoulder rotator cuff - something I have gone through before for the other shoulder. Medicine is good, and God is Good having Called talented people to the work of repairing broken parts of people.

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Be sure to see the post from Jim Lapierre's BDN blog below the poem.
A worthwhile read

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Mindfulness Practice - One of the best practices I have had over the last decade has been "Mindfulness". Taking an online course with Ines Freedman of the Insight Meditation Center in California on mindfulness produced a major shift in the way I see things. Primarily, to stop, take one, two, three breaths and then look at what is around me or in front of me brings my surroundings into clearer focus.

John Cabot Zinn in Cambridge Massachusetts brought mindfulness practice to the United States without using the "B" word, Buddhist, in a manner that allowed the practice to be picked up by therapists, hospital workers, teachers of all sorts, essentially just about everyone. The practice which focuses on breath, emotions, and the body has the ability to bring peace and equanimity in all of life's situations.

Here is my teacher Ines Freedman talking on mindfulness meditation practice - Click Here You have to listen to this talk one track at a time after clicking on the Ines Freedman folder,

Many of her talks as well as loads of additional talks on Buddhist practices by American teachers are available at the Insight Meditation Center website

Click Here

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Summer here in Maine is ending

soon the green of the passing season

will become a fading memory

as we wait on the miracle of Spring to come

- A Fall Day -

How can one say the day is gray, rainy, and dark,

When there is Light everywhere!

Diffused, yes, softened, yes,

Still, very much visible are all of Love’s Creations.

The eyes of the head open automatically to the dim light,

The eyes of the heart can remain closed because of what

lies behind the eyes of the head.

To enable the Jesus nature within to see in darkness,

and in dark places,

Ah, …… yes, release the body’s senses and the heads thinking,

so the senses of the heart and soul can be set free.

“How?” you ask.

I do not know, there are no words –

Only my surrender to, and acceptance of Love’s actions

Within this once heavily guarded life within my breast.

Bill L.

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Here in the Bangor area and beyond we have a valuable resource in Jim LaPierre who has a Blog in the Bangor Daily News as part of their community outreach. It is called "Recovery Rocks" and besides being beautifully written, the content is truly worth reading for everyone, not just those in recovery. Please take a look Click Here From this page you can see all the past entries by scrolling down and clicking on "Older Entries."

I include his entry for this week which is for me right on target for the thoughts I have had on my own creative nature. Please take a read. (Posted with Jim's permission.)

How To Get Out of Your Own Way

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Jim LaPierre

So…I have an intern. I’ve resisted having interns for a lot of years now. I’m a busy person. Busy people don’t look for protégés much but I have one. She’s brilliant – strong skills base, good knowledge of the field, excellent organization and communication skills…hell, I’d probably hire her if I had any money. Here’s the thing: She asks me how I do what I do. Here’s the problem with that: I dunno.

Kinda makes me sound ridiculous doesn’t it? Ask an artist how they paint. Ask a gambler how he knows what the other player’s cards are. It’s good to have technical skills and knowledge. Everything else is creative insight and expression. If you’re good it’s because what you do is an extension of who you are.

I've been a therapist for over ten years now. They told me in grad school that I’d be seven years into this thing before I got really comfortable. I hated that. I wanted to be really, really good and I wanted to not be scared from day one. Turned out like any other job I’ve ever had. You gotta pay your dues. I struggled. I worked hard. I learned a lot from every client I served and I learned a lot about myself. It took me a long time to realize that the more secure I am in who I am, the more patient, tolerant, and kind I became to the world. This outweighs anything I happen to know about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Fear makes us crave control. I pursued the illusion that if I had tons of technical knowledge, I wouldn’t be scared cuz I’d know what I was doing. This is akin to reading every book ever written about pottery but never picking up a handful of clay. What I learned in school was valuable but it wasn’t enough. People’s lives aren’t covered by text books and theoretical knowledge is of limited value. Get to know people on their terms, in their language, based on their comfort level. People want to be understood – they just fear the vulnerability it takes to share who they are.

Most of us are afraid to discover who we really are. (What if deep down I’m actually an asshole?) To access our true potential is terrifying because we don’t know where the limits are. Children derive a sense of security and wellbeing from knowing what the rules and boundaries are –these are the lines they can’t cross. Those of us who raised ourselves didn’t get that sense of security and safety. For us to explore who we are and what is possible for us requires that we overcome our insecurities (reasons why we are not good enough). We have to get out of our own way in order to become something greater.

Ira Glass said “…the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.” He was referring to the creative process. Really connecting to people involves very little science and a whole lotta art. Artists of every type tend to be at least a little neurotic because when you’re judging what we create, you’re judging us. If you’re an accountant your spreadsheet is not who you are – it’s what you do – it’s your work. It’s important and ideally you take pride in it but it’s not who you are.

I’m good at what I do because I’m good with who I am. I had to do a lot of work to get here and that work was as a client in therapy and in connecting to something greater than myself spiritually. My work on me will never be done. I don’t ever wanna be done – that would be like settling and saying I’m not willing to get any healthier, any happier, or attain any more joy than I have. In much the same manner – for the artist a piece is never really done you just have to stop working on it and move on to the next piece.

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