Our Learning Devices are Meant to Bring Us Together…
I finally have a shorter video for you this week—it’s in the five minute range, which is what I’ve been hoping for every time, but I just haven’t been able to pull it off (until now!). Oh, and in my hurry to finish, I got up to turn the camera off before I was done with my last sentence, so don’t be surprised when you see an ultra close-up of my face on the final frame (I’ll work on that, too)!
My intention with this week’s post is meant to gently (though I do excitedly snap my fingers at one point in the video!) remind us to be mindful of when ego sneaks in and uses our learning devices (books, teachers, religions, etc.) to create separation when they’re meant to move us towards oneness.
Leave it to ego to make a mess of the exact things that are intended to bring us together…ego is definitely going on the naughty list for this (okay, so ego probably lives there full-time!)! 😉
(I tend to talk with my hands a lot as perfectly captured in this week’s thumbnail!)
If you found …
KEEP READINGGrace
I think that grace is one of the most phenomenal and beautiful elements available to us in our human journey. It is the exact opposite of how we are encouraged to learn in school. In school, there is very much a “get it right” the first time approach. There isn’t much room for stumbles or mistakes. One bad, or below average, grade leads to another and another and before long a child is labeled as “remedial” or “average”. These thoughts become internalized beliefs about what is possible in one’s academic journey. Life paths seem to be set based on these early established trajectories, leaving no room to “jump” paths. It all feels so binding, constraining, and stifling, whereas grace is the exact opposite—it is completely liberating!
Grace frees us from our perceived constraints and allows us to begin again, no matter what path we may be currently traveling.
Grace is what allows a path to truth (or love) to ALWAYS be available to us, no matter where we are in our journey. It doesn’t matter if we are so far removed from understanding or experiencing our divine connection to …
Fostering Oneness
Right now I am sitting in my friend Lindsey’s apartment in Boquete, Panama writing this blog, while a sewing class for indigenous women is going on in her living room. Lindsey has been living in Panama this past year working to empower the lives of women and children through her non-profit, Sowing Seeds of Love. A few months ago Lindsey and her sister approached some indigenous women and offered them the opportunity to make some dresses that Lindsey had designed with the intention of selling in the states as a way of not only funding her non-profit, but giving women a chance to earn an income. I can just imagine what these women must have thought when Lindsey and her sister approached them. It is unfortunate to note, but there is quite a division between the indigenous, Panamanians, and the ex-pats (people who have moved here from the states, Canada, and Europe) that live here. Most do not intermingle, or if they do, it is with a clear division in social status. Lindsey is working to bridge this gap in social status by giving the least fortunate an opportunity to …
Spreading Joy Year Round
Hi Everyone,
Welcome back to my blog. Now that we are fully immersed in the holidays, I wanted to take a look at what we can do to stay centered in our spirits such that we can spread joy year round.
In order to set the stage for this blog, I wanted to share something that Thomas Merton, a Catholic Monk, wrote in Choosing to Love the World. As a heads up, he is long winded in his sentences, but he seems to have enough commas to slow us down such that we can digest what he is conveying. I was really drawn to this passage, even though, admittedly, I had to read it a few times to fully digest it. I think he nails down the major impediment regarding our ability to spread joy year round. In the following passage, he illustrates the root cause to the problems that we experience, which, is also what impedes are ability to stay centered in the spirit. He says:
The aggressive and dominative view of reality places, at the center, the individual with its bodily form, its feelings and emotions, its …
