Who needs work?!

For most of us working sucks which I think is why work is a four letter word. Have you ever really thought about why you work and what role it plays in your life? Most of us work because we think we have to, to pay the bills or really to survive. We might have a job that we can’t stand or we might even have a job that we like or no job but when whatever we do becomes work it takes on a quality of struggle. If we work for ourselves doing what we love often it becomes work when we struggle to make ends meet. Our society is built on work and struggle, the idea that you have to sacrifice much of who you are to survive. Right behind the struggle is lack, the belief/feeling that we are incomplete or lacking something that we must seek externally whether it is money, love or fulfillment.

This mentality is conditioned into us right from the beginning. Children are taught about the different kinds of jobs in society, especially the most accepted ones and they begin to be groomed and educated to fit one of these ready made roles (policeman, fireman, lawyer, doctor, bus driver not to mention husband, wife, lover and friend). They are also taught the importance of money and what is necessary to get it. One’s education gets more and more specialized into the career path they have chosen as they get older and progress through the educational system. When you finally emerge from the educational system you go out and look for a job, basically a role that you have been properly prepared to fill. If you don’t find a job well you are in trouble because you won’t be able to make it unless you have wealthy parents or a partner to support you. This produces a constant underlying fear regarding survival, if we cease to find what we think we need “out there” our very survival is threatened. This is especially exaggerated in tough economic times like these.

This way of life urgently needs to change and that is exactly what I’m seeing because people are stopping and questioning whether all this struggle, pain and fear are really necessary. They are asking the question, is there another way, can I be prosperous and successful without sacrificing my truth and passion? These questions open up the possibility for change and create cracks in the established paradigm. I encourage everyone I work with to question their beliefs on work and prosperity and look at where those beliefs came from and whether they are serving and ultimately necessary.

What if there was another way? What if we could shed the concept of work and the process of struggling to survive? What if we no longer needed to participate in the limiting roles that society prescribes for us, not needing them any longer to define our identity? That is all quite possible and what many people are waking up to right now. To do this requires a bold step, it requires courage and it requires faith. It involves turning your perspective around 180 degrees and starting from within.

Do you experience yourself as a whole complete person just as you are? If not this is where lack begins, if you are incomplete within, you will always be struggling to find what you need “out there”. However if you sit down right now and allow yourself to be fully present you may just find that in this moment there is a sense of completeness right under the surface. This completeness is life itself, your deepest self, your true nature and it is lacking nothing because it contains limitless potential.

Through a regular practice of getting in touch with this deeper part of yourself whether through meditation or some other means you can create an entirely different life. A life that begins right now lacking nothing where there is no need for struggle. From this place passion flows freely and we can get in touch with what we are here to do, our life’s work or purpose. There is nothing to figure out or be confused about because at this level there is clarity if we can still the noisy mind and allow that clarity to emerge. Living from this place requires faith however because this clarity only exists in the moment and cannot be used to create security in the future. Security comes from following this inner clarity right now and trusting that if we continue to do that everything will be just as it needs to be. Living from this place also requires great courage and commitment because following our heart requires us to look at our conditioned beliefs and patterns of lack and face the fear and pain of challenging them.

When we begin to live from the heart life becomes less about struggle and more about flow. Less about needing to know the future and more about fully knowing and engaging right now. Pursuing our passion allows us to be fulfilled and living in a way that is congruent at all levels and so we are as effective and successful as we can possibility be putting our natural inclinations and talents to full use. This is an awakened life and it is our birthright, we just need to take that bold step and follow our heart path.

Joy

Yes to this moment as it is
Yes to the fear and pain
Yes to the pleasure
Yes to the confusion
Yes to life

Opening to this moment
Opening to possibility
Opening to love
Opening to abundance
Opening to life

Pausing in this moment
Pausing and appreciating
Pausing and feeling
Pausing and forgiving
Pausing and realizing the
sacredness of life

Expressing this moment
Expressing creativity
Expressing passion
Expressing pain
Expressing life

In joy in this moment the whole universe is held………

Meditation: Finding freedom in the present

There are two things about life that never cease to amaze me, one is how painful it can be and the other is how simple and beautiful it can be. When things are going well it is very easy to grab onto that experience and expect life to remain good and comfortable but inevitably it changes and we experience pain and difficultly which we tend to want to avoid or push away. You could say that this process of attachment and aversion is one of the main causes of suffering and dissatisfaction in life because we can’t hold onto the good stuff and we can’t avoid the painful, the one constant in this is change. Often we are not aware of the way we hold onto or push away parts of our life. We can pretty much count on almost everything being temporary and this is just a reality of life which doesn’t need to be a problem, but when attachment and aversion arise it quickly becomes problematic.

When you look at the times in your life when you are suffering the most, how much of that suffering involves the past and/or the future? It is interesting to honestly look at how much time we spend feeling guilty, angry or depressed about something in the past. On the other end how much time is spent anxiously anticipating or fearing the future? While there are certainly times we need to revisit the past and plan for the future neither of them truly exist right now except as thoughts and feelings and yet we often react to these thoughts and feels as realities. This is a reflection of how much we identify with our minds and our thoughts and the degree to which we see life through this filter. Our state of mind constantly changes just as external situations do, sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are angry, sometimes we are sad. Whatever our state of mind it has a dramatic impact on how we see the world and how we see ourselves if we identify that state of mind as who we truly are. A balance to this is the practice of allowing ourselves to be fully present in the here and now and experience life directly putting our state of mind aside for a time. In so doing we have a chance to experience life directly without a conceptual overlay, without the filter of me, realizing that we are much more than our thoughts and feelings.

How can we learn to reconnect with the present moment when we get lost in the mind? One very effective way is simple awareness meditation. Whenever you are feeling emotional pain, fear or just confused and ungrounded the first thing to do is to stop, to pause. When you pause you create space and space creates the potential for a shift in perspective. So you can pause and sit (or stand) still for a moment and bring your attention to your breath. The breath has been used as a tool for meditation for thousands of years because the breath always takes place in the moment, it is body oriented rather than all in the mind and it is a reflection of life itself. As you focus on the breath you can just be aware of it flowing in and out, feeling the air in your nostrils or the sensation of your abdomen going in and out. You can also allow yourself to be aware of the sensations in your body as a way of grounding further into the moment. Once you’ve done this for a few moments try reflecting on the question – “when I become fully present right now, is there any problem?”, “are my problems a reality I need to deal with in this moment or are they an imagination from the past or future?”.

When you fully enter the present moment you become intimately connected with the immediate reality of your life, of life itself. Here there is simplicity, clarity, power and peace. Whatever you consider to be your problems may still be there in the present moment but when they are engaged in this way they often cease to be problems and instead simply become challenges, things that need to be dealt with in some way. From a present grounded place you can often see more clearly what needs to be done or when there is nothing you can do but accept the reality of the situation and let go of resistance. It is amazing to consider the possibility that most of the complication, confusion and difficulty in life may be unnecessary and created by the mind and that real simplicity and clarity are always available to us right here right now.

Romantic relationship in the new paradigm

We are living in transformative times there is no question about it. It seems almost everything on an external as well as internal level is undergoing radical change these days. This is an exciting, powerful and often painful process to be involved in but the potential is amazing. Many of the structures from the old paradigm including government, religion, financial and social are beginning to crumble, the weight of their dysfunction finally beginning to overpower their momentum. As these old structures break down it is important for us to engage a creative process collectively to form new systems to take their place. New systems that reflect a new era and a different level of conscious and that redefine boundaries that reflect the next level of growth we are entering into as a society.

Romantic relationship is something that I see radically shifting now and in the coming years. I’m seeing this in my own life and in the relationships of people I work with in counseling as well as on a larger scale. Relationship is a very broad term but one of the main things I see changing is people primarily relying on and engaging in traditional and monogamous forms of relationship. What I see as traditional relationship is the form of relationship that emerged out of the old era (up to and including the mid 20th century) where a connection between a man and a woman was seen to be a lifelong commitment within a patriarchal system. In the not too distant past marriages were arranged (which still happens today to some extent) and rarely involved love or personal growth. Marriages were about security and property and women had little freedom and equality in partnership. This has changed a great deal in the last few decades but we still carry the specter of the old relationship paradigm even if in more subtle forms.

The evidence is mounting that the old style of marriage and relationship is dying as we see the rise of new kinds of relationship while divorce rates increase well over 50% and surviving marriages see unprecedented issues that bring the couple to some form of counseling or intervention. Rates of satisfaction overall have been steadily declining for some time. In my view this points to the need for a shift in relationship patterns as a society. The core of what is lingering from old paradigm relationship style is what I call attachment based relationship. Even today where each partner is likely to be more independent and equal we still see emotional attachment as a disempowering force that makes people dependent, resentful and unsatisfied. In this type of pattern (which is unfortunately still the common pattern) partners seek stability, emotional fulfillment and security from their romantic relationships and in the process they give their power away to their partner believing that the source of these things lies in something external. In more extreme cases you can have a total enmeshment where each person loses their individual identity and takes on a shared identity of the partnership. This results in growth stifling dependence as each person feels incomplete internally while anxiously trying to hold onto their partner for fear of losing what they think they lack. Resentment almost always follows as the other partner is unable to live up to what is being projected onto them. No one ultimately likes being responsible for someone else’s happiness.

Today we see all sorts of alternative forms of romantic relationship such as polyamory, same sex, bdsm, non-committed partners or romantic friendships and many more. It isn’t that these types of relationships haven’t been around in the past but today they are becoming more mainstream and people are more likely to see them as alternatives to the heterosexual life-long commitment as well as a form of self expression. The box of relationship is beginning to break open as people see they can allow relationships to take different forms with different people and at different stages of their lives. As we enter a new era of consciousness and growth it is only natural that our relationship styles follow suit. When we’re able to fully develop our potential as individuals and thereby coming into full communion with our inherent power, clarity and fullness we can enter into relationship from a very different place. A place of wholeness where we don’t “need” to be in relationship to be completed or be ok rather we enter it as a way to expand our consciousness, grow and share who we are. We can also connect far more intimately with partners because being in a state of wholeness we don’t need anything from them so are free to see them for who they truly are and appreciate it fully. A relationship based on unconditional love as opposed to need and fear. If we end up being with someone for a lifetime as a monogamous partner it is something that is created new in each moment rather than something held onto for security and fear of the unknown.

I believe the key to this type of relationship is a personal spiritual connection whatever that looks like for each of us. A way to tap into the divine within so we can directly experience our natural state which is complete, free and lacking nothing. A natural state which is unconditional love itself. It is difficult to ever feel unloved when you recognize directly that there is boundless spring of pure love right within you at your heart. It is what you are and you are already always loved beyond any limit of physical relationship. Getting in touch with this spiritual heart center also includes bringing awareness to and healing to our old wounds, the parts of us that feel in need of something to complete them. We heal them simply by allowing ourselves to feel their pain openly and without resistance letting go of the old mental stories that inevitably come forth to talk us out of being present with pain. An amazing thing happens when one accepts and openly feels ones pain, a light or radiance begins to shine through it from a deeper place allowing healing to take place. It is only resistance to feeling and being present with our pain and old wounds that causes them to persist. Getting in touch with the spiritual center makes healing possible because we can see there is something deeper than our pain which is untainted by it but which contains limitless compassion for it. So ultimately relationship in the new paradigm is about first getting into true relationship with ourselves which opens the door to true relationship with others.

My will or my heart’s will?

I think it is fair to say that there is a crisis of meaning and purpose in society today. Much of what we see in the world is a reflection of this in my opinion. This leads to the question of where meaning and purpose come from, if many of us are lacking it or think we are, what exactly is it we’re lacking or out of touch with? I see it as something that comes from within rather than any external accomplishment or involvement and in the world today you see people engaging in ever more desperate and destructive behaviors in an attempt to get something out there that they can only find within. Their futile attempts to find it externally only lead to frustration and greater separation but the search for meaning and the dilemma that creates seem to be consuming many people because what happens when you look for something you already have?

Even in spiritual circles you can see this reflected. There is so much discussion of the law of attraction and manifestation and that we have the power to create what we want. While this may be true it is interesting that so much of this talk of manifestation centers on material things – money, houses/cars, relationships and jobs. Are material things any more satisfying ultimately if we create them using the techniques of manifestation? I’m not saying this is wrong, it is an empowering act and generally much more in tune with abundance than the usual ways of acquiring things and there is no denying that we do need material things. However I’m not sure this really addresses the deeper issue of meaning and purpose. When we accept our power to create the life we want a good question is what part of us is creating the vision? Is it the small “me”, the ego or is it the larger self, the heart?

I think this is a profound question because if you believe as I do that real meaning and purpose come from within, deep within then in many ways our surface wants and desires can often cut us off from meaning. Another question is what would our lives look like if we surrendered control and allowed ourselves to fully follow our hearts or higher selves? Where does true creative power and peace come from? If it is from the heart then it would follow that a heart directed life would be a deeply meaningful and fulfilled life even if it didn’t result in many of our surface wants and desires being fulfilled. I imagine many of them would disappear no longer being needed in such a deeply satisfying life. The challenge here is stepping out of the mind/ego and getting in touch with the heart enough to allow its peace, clarity and power to really emerge into your life. That represents a challenge because we are so used to following and identifying with the mind, to figuring out our life rather than feeling it out. At the same time it is the easiest thing in the world because we have full access to our hearts or higher selves, to the divine within. It is right here, right now and its power is ours to tap into but only if we surrender the small “me” and open into the greater mind of the universe. We then become an instrument of divine will and purpose in complete and total harmony with all that is and serving the whole in the most perfect way possible. No more crisis, just challenge, growth and service.

I think this is what was meant in the bible by the saying, “not my will but thine be done” referring to God’s will. Surrendering to and becoming an instrument of God’s will or as I prefer to see it the will of the heart, the whole or the Universe.

Allowing what is

Since my intense experience at a Zen retreat a couple of weeks ago my spiritual practice (or really my life) has begun to shift significantly and it is shifting in the direction of simplicity. What I reacted to at the retreat was the degree of structure and technique. Zen practice is itself a very simple form of spiritual practice in one sense but it involves a great deal of form, procedure and technique in another sense. In sitting with my post retreat experience while I understand the purpose of that I am finding myself drawn to the utter simplicity of presence without the technique and form. I find that I can actually use meditation techniques to try and control my meditation experience, “trying” to do it right or achieve something which takes me into another mind story.

My practice now is basically just sitting and relaxing into the present moment and allowing my experience to be whatever it is while letting go of control at all levels. Essentially sitting in pure presence. I used to think that this was an advanced technique and that it would take years to achieve this “transcendent” state but now that seems completely absurd. Sitting in presence is the easiest thing one could do and at the same time the most powerful. So easy in fact that it is hard to accept at first. If one sits in meditation without concern for technique, without the question of doing it right or wrong and without needing the experience to be anything other than it is something amazing is revealed. What is revealed is the underlying power and stillness of life itself. All that is required for this is surrender, surrendering completely to the experience as it is and allowing whatever happens or comes up to be there without resistance. The experience may be peaceful, painful, agitated, sad, happy, irritating or whatever it does not matter if there is surrender. Initially there is a letting go as the mind may really want something to do, a technique, something to focus on. However if the mind is engaged it is hard to go beyond the mind, the mind can subtly come in and try to control the experience, to try and make it a proper “successful” meditation. This is not surrender but just another form of mind activity. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with meditation techniques or the activity of mind but for me there is a time to put down the techniques and step out of the mind to allow a deeper experience.

The experience of allowing life to unfold as it is without resistance is a deeply peaceful experience, even in the midst of an unpleasant situation or pain. It is peaceful because most of our suffering comes from resistance to what is rather than the raw experience itself. With resistance comes mind activity and stories about the experience which further separate us from just being with it, we may just have some pain or emotion to feel but that can be threatening to the ego for fear of loss of control. So when we surrender we still experience pain but without resistance it doesn’t need to become suffering, it is just an experience of a particular quality, pleasant or unpleasant it does not threaten or effect the underlying state of inner peace or calm. From this perspective we could say that any time we are suffering it is an indication that we are in some way resisting what is, we are not in a state of surrender and so we suffer because ultimately life cannot be resisted.

Often people imagine that if they totally surrender to what is it will perpetuate unpleasant situations or they will become inactive or passive. But surrender is a state of empowered non-resistance and because we are accepting what is we are fully connected with our power, our clarity and life itself. From this place we inherently know when to take action and what action is appropriate and also when to just be still. It is a very alive empowered place and it is always there and always accessible if we can just let go and allow it to be…………

Resting in stillness in the midst of chaos

How do you cope when you find your life in chaos? I’ve been experiencing increasing chaos in my life in many areas and its been interesting to notice my reaction to it. My process has involved trying to create a new livelihood so that I can create the resources I need in my life without sacrificing my heart. It has not been a easy process and the short term result has been very little money. My living situation is coming to an end this month so I’ve also had to deal with finding a new place to live with very little money. As a result my life feels like chaos, nothing stable, no stable work, no stable living space and no stable peace of mind.

Throughout this period I’ve noticed my reaction to the chaos and interestingly it has been to make it worse. Not intentionally make it worse but I realized that the more chaotic my life became the more fearful and negative my perspective would become. The more instability I experience now the more I fear even more instability in the future. As my stress increased I would also ignore or stop doing certain things like meditation, yoga and eating well, things which reduce stress and chaos and reground me in the moment, at the very time I need them most. What I’m seeing is that there is a pattern of responding to external situations and events in a way that perpetuates them and makes them worse.

I’ve been trying to work with this by reconnecting with my meditation practice and the present moment in general and its beginning to make a big difference. When I’m grounded in the moment my chaotic life while still chaotic doesn’t seem problematic but instead more like a challenge. Seeing it as a challenge rather than a problem opens up more possibilities for dealing with it and allows my internal state to be more at peace. The interesting thing is that the shift from problem to challenge is accomplished by the utter simplicity of returning to an inner place of stillness. Basically by just stopping what I’m doing, sitting down, breathing and bringing my attention out of my mind and stories and into the immediate experience of the present moment. Sometimes this involves feeling some emotion that I’d rather avoid or maybe just reconnecting with my body and the tense state that it been in. This also brings greater clarity because I see that much of my confusion is generated by my own mind and when I let go of that and just attend to whats happening without the conceptual overlay clarity is much easier to find.

What this experience is teaching me is that no matter how chaotic and difficult the external situation seems to be there is an inner place of stillness and peace that is always there. If I can just remember to stop and allow myself to access it I can deal with the difficultly far more effectively and with far less pain. I actually find it quite freeing in the sense that I’m beginning to see that what happens really cannot stop me from being at peace, its only my reaction to it that cuts me off from the natural peace within. We can be at peace within chaos……..

A Vision of Community, sharing the burden and the benefit

Some friends of mine and I have been discussing the idea of creating our own community house as an alternative to our various living situations. That discussion has prompted me to look at what community means to me now and in the future. Community has been quite important to me but I’ve started to realize that it has also been very limited compared to its potential. I have a community of friends and we maintain connection, support each other, and even share certain resources like food, services and such. This is a wonderful thing but I’m interested in taking it much farther.

In my view our society is suffering greatly today due to the separation between its members living the individualistic lifestyle. Our society takes individualism to a drastic extreme to the point where we have all but lost the nurturing tribal ways of life of our ancestors. There was a good reason for the development of the tribal community, humans are social beings and they thrive and survive best in community. One person’s weaknesses don’t take them down instead they are compensated for by other members of the tribe. In our society even within a family structure we are individuals, we are supposed to provide for our own needs, pay our own bills, maintain our own house and car, buy our own food and take care of our own health. Even in seemingly close families people often feel disconnected, isolated and overwhelmed. While we may seek help and support to some degree many responsibilities remain ours alone. This presents a massive burden on the individual. The ever changing nature of life inevitably results in us not being able to meet our needs at times such as when we loose a job, get sick go through a major transformation or have a child. Our individualism becomes a liability especially when the systems that allow it begin to collapse as we are seeing today, it is not a sustainable way of life.

What I’m envisioning at least in terms of what I wish to create is more of a modern tribal community or an extended family. Not a family based on blood or birth but one based on shared intention and conscious choice. In the past tribal communities were based on birth, you were born into a tribe or you became part of it through marriage or geographic proximity. You didn’t usually choose your tribal group. This is the old tribal paradigm which we have outgrown in my view so need not return to. Having come from this and now through to the other end of the spectrum of isolated individualism we have had the opportunity to individuate from the blood family and find out personal paths and identities. From this place we have the opportunity to come back to the middle, to choose to create tribal community based on conscious choice with shared intentions, paths and goals. This is the new paradigm of tribal community and I think it represents the most sustainable way of living going into the future.

The ways this looks for me in my visioning process at the moment is gathering a group of people who share a similar vision, who have compatible intentions and interests and creating a community house here in Portland. Ideally we would buy a house and collectively own it co-op style, this has been done here already by many people. What I would add to it would be the connection and container of the dream groups (a way of connecting with each other at a deep level, sharing our experience and processing issues that come up in community life in a safe container) as well as an interdependent connection in terms of resources. In this community we would assume responsibility as a collective for resources such as food and material items, for financial requirements and each others well being. If one person got sick they would not have to worry about not being able to buy food or pay the rent as the other members would support them during their sickness and vice versa. By functioning as a collective we would lighten the burden on each person and create a sustainable and powerful support system that could weather almost any crisis or situation.

What I’m envisioning here is not dependence but interdependence. Each person would be able to pursue their own path and interests and they would be in this community by choice based on shared intentions and goals making the fit work smoothly. I can imagine many such collectives forming each representing different intentions, styles and goals with groups of collectives forming supercollectives thus creating a wider web of support and interdependence. I truly feel this is what many people long for as they leave the old patterns of working at incongruent jobs, struggling to pay bills and “make it” in a society that is deeply sick from its own neglect of meaning and connection. I’m learning from my own experience that to step out of the old paradigm, to let go of the old ways of doing things requires embracing new creative ways of living and working.

Jukai, pain and precepts

After getting back into Zen practice a year ago I decided a few months ago to formally take the precepts this year. I felt like this was the right step and that I was ready because for the first time in my more than 20 years as a Buddhist practitioner I started to see the precepts not as commandments or rules but as reflections of a conscious and compassionate way of living. They became invitations to bring more awareness into different areas of my life and activities. From this perspective I found them to be a loving support on my path, a generous gift from the Buddhas and Dharma ancestors or really from my true nature.

I had a well thought out plan for the past week, I would go to extended practice sessions each day and then spend the entire weekend practicing at the center until the precept ceremony on Sunday morning. Well that plan quickly went out the window after my body went into full revolt. Mid-week I began to experience more and more pain in my back and it got to the point of being almost unbearable, like a hot knife stuck in my mid back. I was of course resisting and resenting it and not surrendering and accepting it which clearly made it much worse. Then later in the week I began to get sick with coughing, congestion, headache and sneezing. I couldn’t believe the timing of this, it was ruining my week of practice. Slowing I came to see that I just needed to let go of my plan and that this was my practice. I worked with the sickness and pain by trying to be fully present with it and tending to my body while still working with the precepts. I did end up going to three blocks of practice at the center and had one interview with the teacher, much less than what I anticipated but still powerful.

I’m beginning to realize that my work with the precepts leading up to this and my increased practice brought up some significant stuff for me a good deal of which manifested physically. I now see this as part of the process rather than ruining the experience. My sickness and the mental suffering I created around it were my practice and a great place to apply the precepts. This experience illuminated for me how I can enter a state of intense suffering and still practice can go on being continued simply by bringing awareness into the suffering while not needing to change or resist it. It feels freeing in that I can see a new power in my practice, the potential for bringing whatever happens in and making it the practice instead of an obstacle. This was one of the great gems of the week.

On Sunday morning I still wasn’t feeling well but got up and went to the center anyway because it was my intention to receive the precepts. I felt a bit out of it and alienated from others as my level of suffering was still fairly intense but I nevertheless experienced the power of the ceremony and felt the transmission of the precepts and the lineage of those who have gone before. Today, the day after, I feel a renewed energy and clarity and deep gratitude to the Buddhas and Dharma ancestors for carrying this tradition forward so I and others have access to these incredible practices and teachings. My gratitude and thanks go out to Gyokuko, the preceptor, for her kindness and generosity in offering the precepts this year and Kyogen, the co-abbot of the center and all those of Dharma Rain Zen Center who do so much good work for all beings, they helped me tremendously even though they don’t necessarily realize it.

Turning it around, creating from the heart

I’ve been working a lot with trying to balance the perceived need for money with what I really want to create in my life. In working with this I’m seeing how the process of creating has been reversed at least relative to the way I am choosing to do it now. The way I would do it before would be to focus on money first. I would need to make money usually by getting a job or doing some kind of work. The amount of money I was able to make which was always limited would then determine what resources I had access to which would also be limited. I’m seeing more clearly now the way this process is dysfunctional why it has involved struggle and lack.

The problem is characterized by the focus on money as the source or the necessary requirement for resources. Money was never what I really wanted, what I want is what I can buy with money – food, shelter, clothing, travel, entertainment, teaching etc. Money is in many ways symbolic of the way of lack and struggle because it is inherently limited and in limited supply. Money takes the limitless abundance of the universe and condenses it into a limited controlled form. Money has the energy of struggle and lack associated with it. So by focusing on it primarily in order to acquire the other things in our life we are immediately engaging the process of lack and limitation.

The way I am working on creating now feels much more powerful, more limitless and more natural (and of course more edgy). This approach does not negate the need for money but it puts it into a more appropriate place in the creative process, as one of many means to acquire what we need. Instead of focusing on money first we instead focus directly on what we actually want. If our desire for something is genuine and not just an ego desire we will be able to access joy and enthusiasm when working on creating it. This joy and enthusiasm is the power of creation itself. Putting money first often cuts us off from that creative power because what we want is now filtered through the limitation of money.

For me the creative process first starts by grounding myself in the present moment, the now, which is where creativity emerges from and where my power and clarity lie. In order to engage the now however first requires surrender and acceptance of what is. If I don’t like whats happening right now or the way I feel right now there is no way I can be present. I must first accept and be ok with things as they are. Then in the stillness of the now I can be in touch with what I want to create and why and can feel joy in imagining it. From that still joyous place I can then take action to bring my vision into manifested form while all the while remembering to let go and not be attached to an outcome because that also limits the creative process, the universe needs enough space to determine how best something can be brought into form. In the now I can also feel that I am whole and complete as I am so I don’t need to seek or chase after what I want, I can truly create it from that place of wholeness.

I find that the symbol of a tree particularly speaks to me. By surrendering to what is and becoming present I cultivate the fertile soil in which to plant the seed of my vision which will grow into the many branches of manifested forms in my life. I nurture the seed with acceptance and feeling the reality of what I’m creating and bring it into form through joyous effort that emerges out of stillness. The tree grows and the branches become the many forms of my creative vision each of which must be nurtured and cared for with presence and joyous effort. Another example for me is from Yoga practice where we practice a posture called tree pose. In tree pose you start by standing on two feet and firmly grounding yourself, then you shift your weight to one foot and raise the other one placing it up against your thigh while bringing your hands together at your heart. To maintain balance you must stay grounded and to stay grounded you need to be fully present. From that grounded present place you can then extend your arms as branches above and out. If you lose your grounding the pose comes apart much like life.

I believe that a key part of the transformative process we are undergoing as a collective involves taking back our creative power and fully realizing that lack and limitation are not the natural state. They are instead created by conditioning, beliefs and patterns of behavior which we have the power to illuminate, let go of and replace with healthier more whole ways of being. In so doing we become manifestations of a new society which has a ripple effect on the greater field and helps usher in a real paradigm shift. From where I stand we are on the verge of something incredibly remarkable and powerful………