Doors

Lesley's Blog

Doors

 

At the beginning of the year I wrote a blog entitled "Thresholds" in which I referred to the Chickasaw tradition of "Opening the Door". That invites us to open our hearts and greet All Beings with loving kindness. In this blog I continue the theme by encouraging us to use the images of "Doors" in our lives to help us focus on reconnecting to that energy of loving kindness in a more consistent way.

Most of us live in places with doors which we enter and exit sometimes many times each day. Each time we approach these thresholds it offers an opportunity to choose to pause in the liminal space, the space of transition where we can move from one state to another, perfect if we have had a bad day at work! In this "in-between space" can we breathe and reflect so that as we move through we can do so with consciousness.

 

Most of the time in our busy lives we rush from one place to another or one task to another, rarely pausing to stop and reflect on our internal state. But pauses, moments of taking a brief time out, can help us enrich our lives as we connect with how we feel and what we are thinking. So often we enter our homes dragging all manner of baggage from the day, ready to dump it, allbeit unconsciously, onto whoever is there. In the same way we exit, followed by our home baggage, proceeding to scatter it around the world to stick to anyone we interact with.

 

To bring our life to consciousness is, I believe, a profound spiritual practice for it is how we give ourselves the opportunity to be, in any given moment, in a place of loving kindness to ourselves and others. If Christ said "I am the door", then maybe our  literal door is the place to pause, to consciously connect with whatever spiritual path calls to us. Anything that can help us to that spiritual place of pause and reflection is something to be profoundly grateful for. Can we allow the doors to our home (or any other door we pass through during the day) to be that invitation?

 

It is interesting to look at our personal doors, how we  tend them (or don't) and what we put at our entrances and exits. We can wonder what that might say about us and our life right now. We can ask how we might make them into "altars" that are true invitations for us to honor the standing in that liminal space of transformation. Can we make these threshold places beautiful by keeping them clean and maybe adding flowers or a lovely and meaningful ornament. Maybe we could choose a special doormat that has a message of loving greeting or special meaning for us. And maybe you could also leave a bowl of water to symbolize an inner cleansing or a bowl of salt for outer cleansing at the thresholds. Tending to this "altar" everyday can remind us to cross with conscious intent to enrich and deepen our life and that of others.

Have fun experimenting with doors this week, tending them, pausing in them, and being grateful for the consciousness this can bring us.

 

This is a rather different "door" as it is obviously a gate. But I wanted to use it because it leads from a delightfully fun water garden, where the water "plays" with us by going on and off unpredictably, to an amazing outdoor sculpture garden, a place where I was in awe of the number and variety of creative outpourings. This photograph reminds me that our spiritual path is not just work and suffering but also fun, creative and playful. So, do enjoy your week's experiment, should you choose it.  
 

 

 

 

 

  

        

OLD

Eric's Blog

OLD

 

Old

Is

Older

Than I Am

 

When I was a teenager, old was like my parents, in their early 40's. Very old, bordering on ancient, were my grandparents, in their early 60's.

 

Now I will be 71 years old this week, I don't think of myself as old. Sure I am older than my children, grandchildren and great grandchild and even my wife. Perhaps they might think of me as old, but I don't.

 





 



 





Recently someone in their 50's told me how old they felt. Their knees were hurting and their back was sore. They felt very old. They could feel themselves diminishing. Maybe feeling old is an attitude.

 

I hope I never feel old. 

MEMORIES

Lesley's Blog

On May 26th it was Memorial Day, a time when we remember those who have fought and died in so many terrible wars. It seems that we humans have an infinite capacity to create conflict and when that is on a grand scale as within a country or world-wide, the suffering that ensues is unimaginable.

In Britain, during my recent visit, I noticed that the book stores had many writings on World War I as 2014 is the one hundreth anniversary of the beginning of that heartbreaking war. Two of my grandfather's brothers died fighting in France as did millions of other young men who had not yet lived their lives. I bought a book of poems about that war and found myself reduced to tears by the horrors and the losses of the war that was supposed to end all wars. But, of course, we don't seem to learn and wars did not end. World War II soon followed and with it the Holocaust and since then deadly conflicts in a multitude of countries have continued to take a terrible toll on so many beings.

(My father in his World War II army uniform) 

I try to ensure that I remember what has happened over the centuries during wars by reading, watching movies and recalling the things that my parents told me about World War II. To remember war, for me, is to remember that peace and love are also choices and we can make those choices every day. There is nothing that I can do personally about war, those decisions sadly are made in ways over which most of us have very little say. But what I do have control over is the conflict in my own personal life and how much I choose to "wage war" versus choosing peace and loving kindness.

Every day I can make sure that I remember that I am accountable for my actions and the consequences that they have for myself and others. I can remember to live with the question in each moment, "What do I learn from my behavior?", especially when I have behaved in non loving ways. Breaking denial, being willing to have insight into own behavior and endeavoring to have compassion for all beings can hopefully lead me towards making peace not war. Releasing anger, bitterness and resentment and living in ways that reduce judgment and criticism are crucial steps in finding and maintaining peace within and without in our own personal lives. If enough people really did that would we finally learn to live in peace in the world at large.

Memories are interesting things. Good memories can fill us with warm, sweet feelings that seem to enrich our present day lives. But memories about how it used to be can also be distorted and/or seduce us to get lost in the nostalgia and longing for times gone by. Living in past memories, we fail to embrace the present moment so that rather than being life giving, those memories suck the life from us. It is very sad.

Memories can tyrannize us in other ways too when they are sources of shame and guilt that play over and over in our heads. The painful repetition colors our present life, darkening our days with despair. Often it prevents us from being able to discern that all experiences are teachers and the meaning from even the most painful of happenings comes from learning the lesson and moving forward with that knowledge. Sadly for some, even when they know what the lesson is, the memories still haunt them and drain energy that could be used to live life to the fullest.

I tell my clients to never let a negative thought go unanswered. Easy to say and very hard to do but without that constant effort the pathways in the brain will keep on doing the same thing, bringing the same misery. When we seek the lesson and do all we can to change our behavior then we deserve to allow ourselves to be forgiven. There is no-one alive who has not done things that they are deeply ashamed about and remembering how that feels for us can open us to forgive others too.

So enjoy your memories in ways that are truthful and life giving but do not get lost in them or allow them to tyrannize you.