As this is the longest night of the year, tune into how you would feel resting in a cocoon of darkness, the element of Water, in stillness, in Yin.
Here is an article providing details of the Water element in Chinese medicine.
http://www.5elements.com/docs/elements/water.html
Wish you a meaningful and peaceful holiday full of love and joy!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Late Valentine's Day, but always pertinent
Alex and I spent Valentine's Day playing for Rumfish y Vino, great restaurant in Placencia, Belize. We were accompanied by our friends Judith, Dobs, and Chris, and of course great food. From Poet David Whyte, here's a LOVE tribute:
We have the strange idea, unsupported by any evidence, that we are loved and admired only for our superb strength, our far-reaching powers, and our all-knowing competency. Yet in the real world, no matter how many relationships may have been initiated by strength and power, no marriage or friendship has ever been deepened by these qualities. After a short, erotic honeymoon, power and omnipotence expose their shadow underbellies and threaten real intimacy, which is based on mutual vulnerability. After the bows have been made to the brass god of power, we find in the privacy of relationship that same god suddenly immobile and inimitable to conversation. As brass gods ourselves, we wonder why we are no longer loved in the same way we were at our first appearance. Our partners have begun to find our infallibility boring and, after long months or years, to find us false, frightening, and imprisoning.
We have the same strange idea in work as we do in love: that we will engender love, loyalty and admiration in others by exhibiting a great sense of power and competency. We are surprised to find that we garner fear and respect but forgo the other, more intimate magic. Real, undying loyalty in work can never be legislated or coerced; it is based on a courageous vulnerability that invites others by our example to a frontier conversation whose outcome is yet in doubt.
We have an even stranger idea: that we will finally fall in love with ourselves only when we have become the totally efficient organized organism we have always wanted to be and left all of bumbling ineptness behind. Yet in exactly the way we come to find love and intimacy with others through vulnerability, we come to those same qualities in ourselves through living out the awkwardness of not knowing, of not being in charge.
We try to construct a life in which we will be perfect, in which we will eliminate awkwardness, pass by vulnerability, ignore ineptness, only to pass through the gate of our lives and find, strangely, that the gateway is vulnerability itself. The very place we are open to the world whether we like it or not.”
We have the strange idea, unsupported by any evidence, that we are loved and admired only for our superb strength, our far-reaching powers, and our all-knowing competency. Yet in the real world, no matter how many relationships may have been initiated by strength and power, no marriage or friendship has ever been deepened by these qualities. After a short, erotic honeymoon, power and omnipotence expose their shadow underbellies and threaten real intimacy, which is based on mutual vulnerability. After the bows have been made to the brass god of power, we find in the privacy of relationship that same god suddenly immobile and inimitable to conversation. As brass gods ourselves, we wonder why we are no longer loved in the same way we were at our first appearance. Our partners have begun to find our infallibility boring and, after long months or years, to find us false, frightening, and imprisoning.
We have the same strange idea in work as we do in love: that we will engender love, loyalty and admiration in others by exhibiting a great sense of power and competency. We are surprised to find that we garner fear and respect but forgo the other, more intimate magic. Real, undying loyalty in work can never be legislated or coerced; it is based on a courageous vulnerability that invites others by our example to a frontier conversation whose outcome is yet in doubt.
We have an even stranger idea: that we will finally fall in love with ourselves only when we have become the totally efficient organized organism we have always wanted to be and left all of bumbling ineptness behind. Yet in exactly the way we come to find love and intimacy with others through vulnerability, we come to those same qualities in ourselves through living out the awkwardness of not knowing, of not being in charge.
We try to construct a life in which we will be perfect, in which we will eliminate awkwardness, pass by vulnerability, ignore ineptness, only to pass through the gate of our lives and find, strangely, that the gateway is vulnerability itself. The very place we are open to the world whether we like it or not.”
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Happy Year of the Rabbit
THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT, 2011
02/03/2011 - 01/22/2012 (Metal)
According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2011 is the Year of the Golden Rabbit, which begins on February 3, 2011 and ends on January 22, 2012. The Rabbit is the fourth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animals signs. The Rabbit is a lucky sign. Rabbits are private individuals and a bit introverted. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are reasonably friendly individuals who enjoy the company of a group of good friends. They are good teachers, counselors and communicators, but also need their own space.
According to Chinese tradition, the Rabbit brings a year in which you can catch your breath and calm your nerves. It is a time for negotiation. Don't try to force issues, because if you do you will ultimately fail. To gain the greatest benefits from this time, focus on home, family, security, diplomacy, and your relationships with women and children. Make it a goal to create a safe, peaceful lifestyle, so you will be able to calmly deal with any problem that may arise.
Not many people know that the Rabbit is the symbol of the Moon, while the Peacock is the symbol of the Sun, and that together, these two animal signs signify the start of day and night, represent the Yin and Yang of life. It is said that anyone making supplications for wishes to be fulfilled are certain to get what they want... and in the Year of the Rabbit, the wish-granting aspect of the Sun and the Moon combined is multiplied. The Moon is YIN and this is the Yin of Heaven, signifying magic. Thus on each of the Full Moon nights of this year, go out into your garden to gaze into the Full Moon and visualize plenty of Moon dust and Moon glow flowing into you, filling your whole body with bright white light and granting you fearlessness, love and courage. This will not only strengthen your inner "Chi" energy, it will also bring wisdom into your life.
This written posting is kindly borrowed from www.stanssewingsupplies.com/catalogs/store.asp?pid=253080
by way of Vivian Menjivar's newsletter
The above papercut image is from: www.sinopaperart.com
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Dr. Emoto's Prayer
Among other things, Dr. Emoto's research reveals that water physically responds to emotions. And since our bodies are mainly water, wouldn't our cells respond too? This prayer has circulated through emails about praying for the Gulf of Mexico: "I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings.
To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, coral, algae, and all living creatures . . . I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you. "
Dr. Emoto's prayer: "I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you." has been used in healing family emotional wounds and in changing peoples lives.
I know for me forgiveness has played a major role in healing my internal anger and frustrations towards my father, who is a wonderful person, and I always knew this. I have realized that the expectations that may have been placed on me, I chose to react to and internalize, though as a teenager it didn't seem like a "choice" to be hurt, resentful, and not feel like I was good enough.
Forgiveness for others, forgiveness for ourselves, ask for forgiveness. Blessings these Holy Days.
To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, coral, algae, and all living creatures . . . I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you. "
Dr. Emoto's prayer: "I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you." has been used in healing family emotional wounds and in changing peoples lives.
I know for me forgiveness has played a major role in healing my internal anger and frustrations towards my father, who is a wonderful person, and I always knew this. I have realized that the expectations that may have been placed on me, I chose to react to and internalize, though as a teenager it didn't seem like a "choice" to be hurt, resentful, and not feel like I was good enough.
Forgiveness for others, forgiveness for ourselves, ask for forgiveness. Blessings these Holy Days.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Little Big Pearl
A sweet pearl from a Thich Nhat Hanh talk:
Please remember to smile.
We can call it "mouth yoga."
Please remember to smile.
We can call it "mouth yoga."
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Intuitive Mind
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
---Albert Einstein
What does your intuitive mind say during these times?
---Albert Einstein
What does your intuitive mind say during these times?
Monday, April 5, 2010
Dandelion Flower tea
Did you notice how fast dandelion flowers have appeared overnight and all the trees are not barren anymore? As we enter the spring season and the Wood element in Chinese medicine, have your allergies flared up with sneezing and watery eyes? Do you feel restless, angry or more irritable? Does the warmth of the sun and the flowers blooming naturally lift your emotions? Do you stand taller now and you carry a "spring" in your step?
Wood element is ruled by the Liver and Gallbladder energies, thus the common "spring liver detox" programs. Liver energy rules the eyes and an imbalance is characterized by "windy" conditions: sneezing, red itchy eyes, sudden bursts of anger, headaches that come and go, PMS, indecisiveness. It is the Liver energy that maintains the free flow of qi, which is the basis of mind, body, and emotional balance.
Gardening has been a great way for me to be in touch with the seasons & with Nature, and has provided much philosophical pondering and wonderful spiritual lessons. Garden and you will never feel lonely.
Thus, the dandelion flowers were calling out to me yesterday and I remember fondly a dear elder, Mrs. Georgia, who passed away last spring and of her dandelion flower wine. I have not made dandelion wine, but "I can certainly have dandelion flower infused water", I thought to myself. So I filled half a pitcher of water and picked twenty or so dandelion flowers, covered the pitcher with a thin cloth, and set the pitcher in the sun. After a few hours of gardening, I mashed the flowers in the water and strained this sun tea and enjoyed it with a squeeze of lemon. The light honey scent of the dandelion flowers was divine! Today, just as many of the flowers as I picked yesterday have bloomed! Try it and enjoy. (Don't pick the flowers if the lawn is sprayed with pesticides, nor from roadsides).
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