Patience and Tolerance: The Art of Weedeating

 

"Tis the season of the weed.   Early spring allows us to rejoice at the green abundance of life that comes forth from the earth.  As it progresses,  too much becomes too much - green eventually turns to brown with all the hazards thereof. 

 

We all have weeds in our life.  Externally, fueled by sun and rain; internally by the viccitudes of life.  Both require the same response: patience and tolerance.  A weedeater is helpful, too!

 

Tolerance allows us to see the weeds without malice.  Patience, to take the steps necessary to work with them.  Recognizing "the season of the weed" allows one to immerse oneself without getting lost. 

 

There are hazards to weedeating and it is helpful to know and learn the terrain.    Whether out in the field or in your mind, life allows us to experience the risks so that we can learn to avoid them.  And then comes the practice.

 

Tools of the trade:  weedeater, goggles and mask - or purple handkerchief as the case may be.  Choosing the time of day, avoiding the heat of the sun, enjoying the activity.  Satisfaction with the results.

 

Tools of the heart: patience, tolerance and insight.  Perseverance, gentleness and love.  Yes, of even the weeds.  Those tough times in life that herald our joy.

 

Just as goggles and handkerchief protect our eyes and face,  a fierce heart protects us and the ones we love.  A soft  heart allows us to  maintain our focus, not on the weed but the task at hand.  Expanding the heart to move through the weeds while developing faith and trust in the process of life. 

 

Here's to the weeds in your life - may they expand your joy!

Spring: The Season of New Beginnings

Spring.  Fabulous Spring.  Spring brings life back into balance.  The gray of winter transformed into green abundance.  Tender new leaves popping and full of life.  

 

It can be helpful to remember at the beginning of each new season  what is it's opposite.  Spring turns into summer, turns into fall,  turns into winter again.  

 

Grounding ourselves in the awareness of cycles helps place ourselves within the cycle.  We become part of the process of life as it moves through and around us.  Embracing this awareness keeps us soft.  We can enjoy the moment for just what it is.  We must enjoy the moment, as it too shall pass.

 

Our bodies also function in rhythm with this truth.  Our bodies relax when given the opportunity.  Our bodies know and can teach us that wholeness includes the whole cycle.  Wholeness is made up of parts.  When we embrace our parts, we facilitate balance.

 

Connecting with our bodies allows Spring to happen everyday.  New things emerge: new thoughts, new ideas new growth.  Spring, the season of new beginnings.

The Art of Receiving

Life is nice.  It is especially nice on the day of a bodywork session.   As a bodywork practitioner this has a double meaning - giving a bodywork session truly is always a good day.  However, being on the receiving end of a bodywork treatment has its own teachings.  It is a lesson in the workings of the human body, and by extension the human being.

 

Lessons learned:  the body has to learn to receive.  Receiving doesn't always come naturally, but receiving does build on itself.   What does this mean?  The first bodywork session actually prepares you to receive the next one better.  Rule of thumb is to allow three to four sessions to allow your body the opportunity to integrate the treatment. 

 

As the body comes to understand what is being asked of it - to relax and receive - the body recognizes the cues and cooperates without effort.  The natural mechanism of the body take precedent:  the breath deepens, the mind calms, the blood circulates.  Life flows.  

 

The purpose of getting bodywork?  So that we can function better as human beings.  When our body gets overloaded, our ability to move through our lives with ease and freedom goes down drastically.  Bodywork can teach our body how to receive.   And it facilitates the release of what we don't need to hang on to any longer. 

 

Our bodies are magnets for stress.  This is why we must manage our lives to respect our limitations.  The mechanism of stress, is just that - a way to hold on to the pressures we are experienceing.  When we learn how to receive through gentleness, we teach our body how to facilitate the release of stress automatically.  It is simple, joyful and joy-filled for the giver and the receiver. 

 

 

Remember Who You Are

Amidst our daily lives, we often forget our connection with our bodies.  Our activities, our minds, our emotions send us off in different directions. 

 

Slowing down, creating space, allowing time all help us to remember.   We focus, we breathe, we reconnect.

 

Remembering is a natural process.  However, it's usually best to set aside time to recapture our inherent sense of one-ness.  When we have trouble slowing down or  are under alot of stress, It can be helpful to have someone facilitate this process.

 

Remembering automatically soothes and grounds us.  Remembering happens with all of our self: our mind, our body, and our spirit.  Aligning these parts of our self allows us to stay centered in the present moment.  

 

When we are centered in the awareness of our own body, we can experience our interconnectedness with others.  We  can recognize that, in spite of our one-ness, we are always held, always surrounded, always in community. 

 

Remembering simply allows us to enjoy being a part of this wholeness.

 

As we maintain a focused center, we can allow our breath to flow, our body to relax, and our mind to stop seeking answers.   

 

A balancing process occurs.  We become quiet inside.   The silence of our being brings peace.  The joy of remembering  is the fruit of life.

The Joy of Healing

Our bodies have a sense of themselves.  If we burn our finger, our arm jerks back. If we fall down, we get up again. If we hurt, we seek relief.  These are all ways that our innate sense of self maintains our health.  

The purpose of caring for ourselves is to support and enhance this vital function of maintaining our physical life.   When we engage with our physical life - our bodies - we open to the entire spectrum of human experiences.  

Maintaining a relationship with the body is a life time journey.  The more familiar we become with its needs, wants, and demands, the more successful we will be at fulfilling them. 

Most of us are likely to be comfortable with needs, basic details of life that we all have in common.  We all grow up to learn how to fulfill our human needs. 

Our wants are the fun stuff, above and beyond our needs.  The unique domain of our personality and gifts that we use to give and receive with those around us.  They add joy and diversity to our lives and others.
  

The demands of our body are more difficult to handle, generally related to the process of life and our limitations.  Demands often present in terms of pain:  "No," our shoulder might say, "I just can't lift that any more."  Our knee might say, "I have had enough!"    Our digestive system may revolt with "I'm not comfortable with that anymore."  Our emotions may set us on fire.

Anything that threatens our sense of wholeness usually sends us on a quest for answers.  Our bodies are the mediator between our internal processes and our external circumstance.  They can help us discern what is true in life, something resonates inside us as a sense of  knowing. Or when a truth needs to be reworked and we need to change - which can not be duplicated or imposed on us from the outside.

Reducing our pain, calming and centering our body, and then seeking to discover what is real underneath is the journey of life.  Engaging with the processes that move through us is the journey of healing.  To remember the gift of human life is the joy of healing.  

Bodies - the gift of the season

     Everyone has a body.  It is through our body that we each have a direct experience of life.  The more in tune we are with our physical body, the more connected we are with life.

     Our bodies communicate with us.  They tell us when we are hungry, cold, angry, sad, or happy.  They tell us when we are in pain, injured, ill or feeling free, energized and active.  Learning to decipher the messages of our body helps maintain our health, direct our happiness and contributes to our sense of wholeness.

     Our thoughts, feelings and emotions also affect our health and well being.   We have all experienced, at one time or another, the overwhelm of life.  We over react or perhaps shut down.  Bodies do that.  Both responses affect our being - all of our being - our mind, body, and our spirit.

     As we tend and nuture our selves, the body's nervous system automatically calm and stabilizes.  Our breath deepens and our thoughts slow down.  We think and act more clearly.  Whether we have over reacted or shut down, the relaxation process corrects both.   Our body collects itself, gathers it overwhelm and releases its stored tension.  We relax.  We open.  We feel whole.

     Having a body opens us to the cycle and flow of life, our joys and sorrows.  Learning the nuances of our body, the habits of our thoughts, and the joys of our spirit go hand in hand this time of the year.  Acknowledging and engaging that process benefits the body and enhances our direct experience of life.  The gratitude that flows naturally as a result is the root of our shared humanity - the joy of our collective spirit.  May we all experience joy in body and spirit this season.

Peace is Like a River

Why write about peace and rivers?  Perhaps because it is a way to celebrate our little section of the world, and the analogy works!  Granted it is not original, however, it does bring it home for us here in our little community. 

Rivers flow.  It is their nature.  A river, by definition, is a large quantitiy of water all flowing in a similar direction.  Our bodies and live's also have a flow.  One of the primary ways we notice our bodies and live's is when the flow stops - we hurt, we have pain, we can't move around with ease, or something bad happens.  When things are overwhelming, the flow stops and our bodies, minds, and emotions get stuck.  Not only do we not feel at peace, we can feel quite the opposite!

A river analogy is helpful here.  Looking at the larger perspective, seeing all the eddies, rocks, twists and turns that occur can be very helpful.  This larger perspective also allows us to see that, even though there is a problem area, the river still flows.  It takes great patience, particularly when the river appears to stop - and yet we know it flows underground.

Maintaining our sense of health is dependent on trusting that even when we can't see it, the river still exists.  Even when we have pain, even when we lose something or someone that we love, the flow continues.  Our bodies actually appreciate and respond to the subtle reminder that life flows, things change, life is bigger than what is happening at the moment, and yet the moment, too, is full of life, even in all its disguises.  A healthy and peaceful life includes embracing and dancing along the length of the continuum, and observing the flow so we can help restore stability.

What are some of the ways we can be like a river to help support this positive directional flow in our bodies and live's?  One of the first would be to get in touch with what is happening right now.  Look out the window at the green trees and the blue sky, step out and get a glimpse of the mountains, go to the river and just sit beside it.  Give yourself permission to enjoy the simple things.  Do nothing.  Our bodies take that as a message that it is safe to breathe,  inhale with ease, and find your rhythm.   That is where peace exists, in knowing and living in your own rhythm.   Let nature help you connect to the peace that exists in being a part of the flow of life.  Your body will thank you for it.