The Lotus Within-Out of the mud and into the light

Make friends with your breath, make friends with your body. Little by little by little, make friends with what's arising. Keep the awareness intense and a little more intense. And pretty soon, by familiarity, fear retreats.-- Norman Fischer

The journey into inspired living and open hearted awareness is one that can be filled with challenges. As soon as we have our sights set on living a life of love and care, we come face to face with the heaviness of the mud that has been covering us for so long. Often times, we allow ourselves to get dragged back down by the weight of the mud, which prevents us from the fullest blossom of beauty that we could be. We must learn to go deep and practice creating space with our “stuff” and from the spaciousness, arise like the lotus flower, out of the mud and into the light.

Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.- Joseph Campbell

The deeper we get on our journey the more muddy we realize we are. What’s even more fascinating is that just as we arrive at the moment where we think we are about to bloom and feel the light of the sun soak our petals, we fall face first back into the pool of mud because the touch of the first ray is so foreign, and while the mud is dirty it appears to be more comfortable than the embrace of the sun's rays.

I compare this experience to experiments that have been done with animals in captivity, who after being tortured into staying in their cages, when they try to leave, no longer try to leave because even though they are free now, they have been conditioned to believe that trying is futile (or worse will lead to torture).

Sometimes we don’t blossom, quite frankly, because we have forgotten the will and the power to bloom. Sometimes the mud, while disgusting, is still more comfortable than the uncertainty of the light.

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life.
Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.~Joseph Campbell

When we are ready to make the courageous choice to open to the light and affirm it as our life giving energy that feeds us so that we may feed it right back we then open to the treasure and gift of life. It is because we have been so muddy and have been weighed down by the dark that we can with strength and radiance shine out with beauty.

Those who have dealt with dark yet have chosen the light have a depth and truth about them that cannot be mistaken. Those who constantly go to the well of love to quench their thirst have a fountain within themselves from which others may drink freely. We must remember we are not born a blossomed lotus, but that we grow into it and we must pass through the mud to get there.

Knowing this how do we uncover the mud? Quite simply we feel it and then from noticing it, quite literally shake it off. It can only be shaken off while it’s still wet though—if we let the mud dry up and harden it remains with us.
Eckhart Tolle’s, "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose" tells a story of the Duck with the Human Mind. He observes that after two ducks get into a fight, which never lasts long, they will separate and float off in opposite directions. Then each duck will flap its wings vigorously a few times, thus releasing the surplus energy that built up during the fight. After they flap their wings, they float on peacefully, as if nothing had ever happened.
He points out that if the duck had a human mind, it would keep the fight alive by thinking, by story-making. This would probably be the duck’s story: "I don’t believe what he just did. He came to within five inches of me. He thinks he owns this pond. He has no consideration for my private space. I’m not going to stand for this. I’ll teach him a lesson he won’t forget. And on and on."
So literally like a duck we must shake the mud off us before it hardens into the never ending story. Whether it’s an external fight, or and internal fight—mud is mud—energy is energy—shake it off and shake it loose—and move on.

May you bloom beautifully!

Transition

It's amazing to me how quickly bad habits and behaviors can quickly slip back into everyday usage if we are not paying attention. The good news for me is that I have recognized my own slippage and am fully committed to bringing myself back on track. As I began my new job just over a month ago, I came in full of hope and excitement about contributing my talents to an organization that I thought was doing good for the local community, and the world. Within a week I quickly learned that the organization had some quirks and conflicts, and I chose to remain neutral and observe before reacting in any way. Then at about my two week mark, I chose sides completely missing an opportunity to bring peace, reconciliation, and love--of which I now commit to bringing again.

Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one. --Marianne Williamson

This is always a comfort to me, and is something I think we all need to deeply understand. Whatever is lacking in any situation is what we are not personally willing to give. That is a deep metaphysical truth. We can always use the excuse-- "But they won't let me shine" which comes in many forms, yet it is truly our own lack of clarity and commitment that dims our light. No one else can take anything from you without your permission. If we are committed to a life of love and compassion then the only way to experience it is to live it in every moment. As we live it, it is reflected back to us in every interaction. This is where it can get tricky. If you are walking into a situation such as the one I recently walked into, where love and compassion are lacking, then what is reflected is the call to love. In fact there could be hostility, fear, manipulation, and everything unloving and evil that you can think of. The task then is not to respond from the place of attack, but to dig deeper and remember that love first must meet everything unloving and unjust in order to fully know itself as love. How deep would it be to say we are loving people and live a life in which you never faced off with the cold dark piercing gaze of evil looking you square in the eyes? Love that has faced off against and touched the dark is way more powerful than an empty conviction. The empty conviction quickly flees when the evil strikes, the love that has rooted it's heels down and met evil's glance with grace, is the love that transforms fear, through divine alchemy, into love.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. Carl Jung

So I must move forward, and we all must move forward, remembering not to meet dark with dark (although that seems like the easiest thing to do) but remember that all forms of attack are a call to love and that if we are committed to love--then that act of commitment is met with a universal challenge. If you commit to love the universe will put you face to face to with all that is unloving--so that you can help love spread on this planet and forever remove the stale dark force of fear.

I extend my love and gratitude to all of you! Love fiercely and deeply!