Connected and Committed

male and female

Balanced and integrated, our inner man and woman guide us through life with clarity and intuition and generate a well-spring of vital, creative and loving emotional energy. The result of the inner marriage of male and female is wholeness, inner peace, and power. It does not make us neutered androgynes, as if our dual qualities, once joined, canceled each other out. In truth, we become a dynamic whole, a shifting interplay of yin and yang, qualities harmonized in complementary partnership. No longer at war, they form a unified whole greater than a sum of parts, which we might call the integrated self. Through this inner union we become impregnated with the conception of an endless creativity and joy in life.

Such a balanced man acts dynamically,with calm clarity, trusting his own nature, his life. He is gentle, yet strong. He willingly accepts responsibility, out of deep commitment to his vision. He does what is required with integrity, holding back nothing. By spending himself fully, his flow of energy increases. The secret of his power is his connection with his inner feminine, which enables him to love deeply, and this gives him faith in life. He finds his ecstasy through service and accomplishment.

A balanced woman is patient. She has a deep, intuitive sense of how life works and what it required of her. She is loving and clear. Her emotional strength nurtures those around her and draws others into her sphere as co-creators. Connected to spirit and life at an intuitive level, she is a natural healer and a source of inspiration. The secret of her depth is in her heart. Her connection to her inner masculine gives her power and clarity. And she finds her ecstasy by nurturing and empowering others and in acts of creation.

The Art of Everyday Ecstasy: The Seven Tantric Keys for Bringing Passion, Spirit and Joy into Every Part of Your Life by Margot Anand

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I've had occasion recently to recall what I learned about masculine and feminine power from reading David Deida. Sadly, I no longer own any of his books. But the essence of his message can be found elsewhere, as I discovered last night while reading from the text above. Deida puts his own Western spin on how male and female might best enter into relationship, and I heartily recommend his body of work to anyone looking for "what's missing." But for now, I think Anand captures it quite well here.

tee shirts

attracting, manifesting, allowing, receiving - oh my.

a shout out

Tonight, my friend D is going out on his first date since his divorce.  It's been a long road and he has valiantly traveled it. Not taking my advice to wait three months for every year of the dissolved marriage, but then who does. D, I know you and N are going to be nervous wrecks here in about an hour, but I want you to know we're rooting for you. Take a few breathes every once in awhile, OK? Breathing is good. Smile. And laugh, too. Accept the fact that you are going to be flustered and flub up your enunciation and maybe even say something totally outrageous. However, it's all good. And I want a full report tomorrow morning.

keep up

This is what we see as an ideal relationship: Someone who has a
majority of things, that I easily feel at ease with. Things I like. Not someone who
satisfies me on every single level because expansion is fun, but
someone with whom I can easily be comfortable. Someone, who like me,
understands that they are an expanding being, who is eager about life, and eager about expanding and willing to keep up with who they are becoming.

- Abraham-Hicks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The keeping- up-with-who-they-are-becoming part seems to be the kicker in my experience. For some it's just so much easier to fight it, kicking and screaming all the way to the inevitable. No thanks. Change is the only constant, and I say, bring it on. 

pandora's box

ain't it so

Many people are wanting to fan your flames of discomfort, because they believe that "you're either with us or against us; if you don't stand in the same disgust and horror that we are all standing, then you are not with us." It's hard for people to understand that you can not agree with them -- and not be against them. That you could be for something without being against something else. --- Abraham

pink glasses

it just keeps getting better

~~her legume go caption~~

Cyber marketing dudes, you make my day. Seriously, you do.

more cyber marketing genius

Elmer Yang - I drop to my knees and worship, for what else is there to do with this figment of a cyber marketer's name generator? Elmer Yang, I love you.

roller coaster

I had a conversation the other day that was a sign post for me, like when someone gives you directions to somewhere you've never been that employ buildings and color and weird measurements rather than directional maneuvers and counting mileage. The conversation began nicely enough but quickly waded into waters that I knew I didn't want my toes stuck into.

And for the first time it sunk in that this work I've done with joy pullers, and resistance toys, and Hafiz poetry, it's changed me. Or I've allowed myself to be different.  Instead of concluding that the offerings in this conversation were right and true and what I should be doing, my small, still inner voice was telling me, No. That might work with someone else, but it's not what you are about. You will find your way without it.

Alrighty then.

No getting pulled in two directions but always listing to one side. No beating myself up for feeling ooky about a situation that just isn't for me but trying to cram myself in it anyway.

Just, No.

The weight off my consciousness is palpable. These twists and turns on life's roller coaster ride get subtler but more profound as it gains momentum, just when you think it's going to slow down and stop to let you off and other people on.

For god's sake, enjoy the ride.

self portrait

tis the season

I believe this food group now covers the entire year's spectrum of holidays.

Another great gift idea - an Elvis guitar-shaped popcorn container.

Surreal, folks. Surreal.

It's official. The Bratz play in the Sushi Lounge.

Puh-lease.

detain convoy, Crabtree Sophie

detain convoy, Crabtree Sophie

------------------------------------------------

By all means, cyber marketers.

I watched Love Actually last night. Not a film I would expect to contain some spiritual elements in it, but maybe my filters are just tuned that way now and I see it everywhere. Turns out one of the best scenes had to be cut in order to package a less-than-three-hour user experience. I'd like movie makers to know that I would watch a well written, well acted, well edited three hour movie. But I digress.

One of the scenes that hit the cutting room floor involves Emma Thompson's character paying a visit to her son's school at the request of the headmistress because of an essay he wrote that she and the staff took exception to. He wrote about a Christmas Wish that involved being able to see people's farts, and while I can understand their reaction to this wish compared to many others, that included wanting a cancer-ridden sister to be well for a day, Emma's character, after reading some of her son's writing out loud in the headmistress's office, chose to pull him out into the hallway and, rather than join in the school's derision of his chosen topic, apologizes to him for his having to endure a mindset that did not appreciate his comic genius. Not exactly what the son, nor the audience, had expected her to say, and I loved her for it.

A very timely reminder to me to not allow others who are not on the same path to direct me with the sign posts on theirs.

And hey, that Kelly Clarkson can sing.

sophia his wife

There have got to be some great stories behind this.

on the heels

You see, you're giving others too much power as you even acknowledge how they make you feel. What you've got to decide is how I'm going to feel.... Manifestations come on the heels of what you've conjured in thought --- Abraham

shift

The question that we would ask is, how does it make me feel when I focus upon it? And if the answer to the question is, it doesn't make me feel very good when I focus upon it, then we would say, true or not, it does not serve you. And if you will activate a different part of your vibration--the "truth" will shift. --- Abraham-Hicks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We all have our filters that attract what we need and what we want and what we have. Don't like what's showing up? Change your filter.

Reach.Dabble.Shine

fork below the bridge

I've been messing around with random sentence generators that I've found online. These are some of the better examples that have spewed forth:

I don't have a fork below the bridge.

Jane will be very friendly a few weeks from now.

I spent all day doing nothing but forgotting to bring money.

A rigorous glove disappears.

welcome

"The Human Game was designed to be played so you'd reclaim your power, wisdom and abundance one piece at a time so you could savor each returning piece - and the expansion it creates for you - like you savor a fine wine, a fine meal, a great play or novel."

Robert Scheinfeld

how did they know?

Latest cybermarketer subject line winner - sweet potato obsession

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-

69.

Ram Tzu knows this...

A few of you very clever ones

Have figured out

The metaphysical puzzle

And boy are you ever proud.

You condescendingly watch

The fools flounder about

Their wretched little lives

Ignorant of the Truth

As you know it.

Meanwhile

You grow increasingly isolated.

You sit cold and aloof

In your lofty domain.

Until

One day you realize

You're old

And alone

And afraid

And oh so very clever.

afoot

Relax in your deepest truth. It may frighten, it may taunt, it may stupefy, but relax in your deepest truth.

mining the moment

Mining the moment for something that feels good, something to appreciate, something to savor, something to take in, that's what your moments are about.

--- Abraham

That's what my Joy Pullers are for - to document, and retreive, and remember those moments.

artist date

success

You can say things like, "As I look at successful people, and by that I mean rich people, yes, and I mean happy people, and sometimes they're rich and happy. But when I'm talking about the successful ones, what I really mean is the really happy people. People that are really joyful, that want to get up every day, that are eager to get into their day. Almost without exception, they had a pretty rough beginning, which turned them into a powerful rebel initially. And then they found a way to relax into their natural birthright of Well-being. --- Abraham-Hicks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I notice that I am drawn to people who have that rebel in them, and now maybe this is a glimmer as to why. I'm thinking I'll catch a whiff of someone who is on their path and working their way to relaxing into their birthright. But so often, it's just more rebelling, which ultimately manifests in veering off the path, and living a section of the emotional scale that I am not interested in living. At all. Oh, this is juicy......

new glasses

Miu miu, not Armani. And no bifocals this time. How cool is that?

into the sunlight

Get out into the sunlight, out where everything is, with a vibration that is so dominant that those who annoy you, those who don't agree with you, those who make your life feel uncomfortable don't come into your experience, because your vibration, through your practice, has become so clear, so pure, so clean, so in keeping with what you want, that the world that revolves around you just feels like that. That's what you planned. --- Abraham

Trust me, people, this stuff works.  It just takes some discipline to remind yourself that not doing the work will leave you where you've been, and that that option is less than mediocre, less than acceptable, less than what you deserve.  Seriously. It  just feels like that.

flutter subsidized

flutter subsidized

I wonder - do these people, these cybermarketers, have a word generator application on their computers that spew out this stuff? Or do they do it the old fashioned way - open a dictionary and point, hang up lists of words and throw darts at them, open a book to a certain page and line number to mine for good words? What is the process? If anybody knows, I'd love to hear the details.

lamp

more hafiz

I can't seem to get enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know the Way You Can Get

I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:

Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.

Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one's self.

O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:

You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.

You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.

I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love's
Hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For I am a Sweet Old Vagabond
With an Infinite Leaking Barrel
Of Light and Laughter and Truth
That the Beloved has tied to my back.

Dear one,
Indeed, please bring your heart near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!

All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!

From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' - Daniel Ladinsky

The Happy Virus

I caught the happy virus last night
When I was out singing beneath the stars.
It is remarkably contagious -
So kiss me.

From: 'The subject tonight is love' - versions by Daniel Ladinsky

What Happens?

What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world

To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions ~
Like Hafiz.

From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' - Daniel Ladinsky

diversions in the hood

Gosh - go away for a little while and see what shows up!

A brand new pole dancing studio. It's predecessor was a seller of doll houses.

She's ba-a-a-ack! The fat lady, yes indeed. Now she's got a monkey mascot, apropos for the new moniker of the place - Monkey Bar. Latin dancing featured on the weekend. Hmm.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The latest in the cybermarketer contest of snazzy email subject lines: carelessness hot dog.

hafiz

Some Fill With Each Good Rain

There are different wells within your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that.

In one well
You have just a few precious cups of water,

That "love" is literally something of yourself,
It can grow as slow as a diamond
It if is lost.

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,

Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

There are different wells within us.
Somefill with each good rain,

Others are far, far too deep
For that.

hey, you culinary cats and kittens!

The beginnings of salmon en pappilote.

Cookin' it up right.

It's all in the presentation - note the sliced limes and the cilantro butter.

 

It's "Fork in the Road!"

birth day

Birthday celebrations at work today - one for a coworker turning 23 - yes, I said 23 - and one turning 40. The yungun was adequately horrified by the round of group restaurant employee serenade where we took him for lunch. The older dude was out of the office today and will return to several enchantments at his desk on Monday:

Personally, I think life makes itself most readily available at 40.

rock and water, water and rock

Watching an artist do what she can't help but do, what she is compelled to do, what nags at her until she does it, what taunts her in ways that she can't explain - that is the agony and the ecstasy of the film River and Tides. I love this man Andy Goldsworthy for how he lives his art, how it encompasses how he breathes and the words he chooses to articulate what is going on in his soul. Every part of the movie is my favorite after having seen it, and I have immediate watcher's remorse, wishing I could experience it again for the first time.

metabolism

Metabolism is vibrational response to your moment in time. Metabolism is the way the Energy is moving through your body. And so, everything is in response to the way you feel--everything is. Everything is mind over matter. Every disease is mental first. Everything is about thought. Everything is about vibration. Everything is about the way you feel. Practice scenarios that feel good--and never mind reality. Reality is only a brief moment in time that you keep repeating. --- Abraham

This is so good to know. I'm a little under the weather, so in addition to my arsenal of 1000 mg. Ester-C capsules and Throat Coat tea and Ricola lozenges, with the above information also in my quiver, I think I'll be fine.