Your Own Reality

I have been wondering...actually experiencing from a peculiar standpoint a rather strange shift, actually seeing some monumental ways in which people and our world are changing. Have you felt it too?..or is it just me living in my own little bubble, perceiving things differently because I am different. The personal experiences and transformation I have lived over the past few years has given me cause to reflect and a desire to share.

I will be the first to admit I have cycled through fear and trust so many times that my entire existence felt like it was on a repeated wash, rinse and dry cycle! And I do feel cleaner for the wear! I also feel less heavy because of the succession of purging old habits and thought patterns. Undoubtedly, I often visit in the recesses of my brain, old notions of right and wrong, good and bad, and my assessment of what constitutes happiness and sadness.

Consider where your mind feels the most peaceful between premodern, modern and postmodern views. Inspect for a moment where your strongest (and possibly only) perspective lies. Is it premodern, where your view of reality is guided mostly from human history; and that what you see and are told is and must be as they really are, seeing all things that are in your mind as FACT? For those who live this way your assumptions are so fundamental to your thinking you could not even fathom that they are assumptions. Do you align more with a modern view where diversity is legitimate and no one is necessarily right or wrong, but there are "different strokes for different folks."

Is a Dandelion a weed or a flower?

When I was a little girl i loved the beautiful yellow flowers in my grandma's yard. I would play joyfully on the grass while these yellow beauties made me happy. I was intensely disappointed when i found out that they were a, so called nuisance, and someone would be spraying them to kill them off! Which brings me to the postmodern view, which is a tough one to wrap our mortal minds around...all that is "real" are the images and thoughts we get through our own points of view.

May i offer a thought for you to consider that may enlighten your perspective of how you exist in the scheme of the whole? I have a heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and eyes. Each of these components of my body have a particular job to do and none of these parts can survive or have any use unless they are used as parts of my whole body. If I'm not mistaken you are no different. And yet these parts of mine/yours could be used/transplanted to another person's body to help them sustain their lives, nevertheless the organs in and of themselves without a body have no purpose. We may believe that if our heart is bad we will assuredly die (which we all do), but had no one ever consider the possibility that we could live with another persons heart many would have died earlier. Just think of the possibilities that have occurred because we transformed a pre modern view to modern and post modern.

I invite you to watch this short video clip and entertain the possibility that the present is a "map in which all the ways the present can reinvent itself (Silva)." I have at times experienced this "flow state" where existing in the "zone" was a connection to something or someone bigger than myself. As for me I call it inspiration from God and tapping into our own magnificence through His awesomeness. What ever you call it, or whether you believe it or not...well, is your own reality.

Perspective & Unconditional Love

Some events become photographically etched in our psyche, and verbal tapes can play to and fro in our minds. Each individual can have a completely different perspective of the same event depending on your viewpoint and interpretation.

Where we may tread rough waters lie in believing our interpretation is the right way, and therefore everyone else is wrong. This rigidity is painful and a tough way to live.

For instance, one may look at this photograph and think, "BAD DOG, tearing up a $200 textbook is bad, very bad!" To PAC this may have been FUN! He may have been missing his Dad or Uncle, who were dutifully at school, the textbook just lying there as active bait for anxiety control! Who are we to judge PAC's frame of mind when he was doing his deed? Was he attacking ferociously, or was he playfully enjoying the paper as the books page's were flying about, or was he possibly feeling mischievous wanting to even the score after Uncle Chase did not share an ounce of his juicy hamburger? How do we REALLY know what is going on in a dog or any one's mind, really?

So we judge another by their actions and intent. We make mistakes in this life. Speaking for myself, my greatest lessons have been from the mistakes i have made, my recognition, acknowledgment and restitution of those mistakes. They have molded me into the woman i am today. I have learned not to judge others for choices they make, for i do not see things from their viewpoint, unless i know them well enough, it's best for me to make no assumptions and unconditionally love.

 

This journey called life frankly, has kicked my butt so hard lately, i don't know if I am coming or going, but I am neither special, entitled or different than anybody else. Life has many challenges and i am grateful every day that i have the health to get up and face each day. I am grateful I have a great family, good friends and a mind to think and act of my own accord. I am grateful to be at this stage of life, with experience and knowledge to understand and have insights, ability to listen to the wisdom of my elders, ambition enough to work hard from roots that taught me to never give up, and humility enough that ultimately I know in my soul that God is in charge. I know that as i trust Him, He can and will do more with my life as i seek Him for guidance and strength.

Balance has always been one of my biggest challenges. I am driven. It is easy for me to take things to the extreme, maybe you relate with this and maybe this is not your challenge at all? What ever your challenge is, speaking from experience...the first step in overcoming is recognition/ acknowledgment, having some type of support system and loving yourself through it, knowing that God is always on your side, no matter what. I learned this parable as i anguished watching my son detox off of drugs and i realized the love of a parent is pure and unconditional. There is nothing that could make me not love my children. This is exactly how God is with each of us, now i feel comfortable talking to Him about...everything!

Butterflies are Free to Fly

The freedom of the butterfly to randomly move over the landscape and spread its beauty while contributing to our ecosystem seems trivialized at times. Similarly the lessons we learn during the tragedies of life are marginalized yet the contributions to our lives are monumental.

I suppose what happens in life is we all perceive things in our own way…I may see the glass as half full, to someone else it is half empty, and we both are right. But what does it really matter?.......I believe what matters is that we love and respect one another for the experiences we each have. What I believe matters is we place no judgment beyond that… for that would be injustice and a tragedy. After all, we have not walked in the other mans shoes. No one chooses pain, yet pain is a part of life. What we do with the pain is what makes the man.

“The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly.” Richard Bach.

The pains of life cause us to fear, and fear causes us to want to control. What in fact we learn is we have control of so little. Only when we surrender do we actually become free…

“If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were.” Richard Bach

What you try to control, controls you.

Butterflies are free to fly...it could not have been otherwise.

August 22, 2016

This blog was posted 6 years ago, it was inspired by this song...

I am now free to fly...

Sly Yellow Foxtails

This mature yellow Foxtail is classified as the "natural enemy weed"! I suppose there are other things in life that are natural enemies to us as well.

One of the things I have found to be quite destructive is making assumptions. We automatically assume that whatever we think to be RIGHT...in OUR minds, often times can turn out to be our own personal enemy. Ironically we created the enemy, justified the enemy, dramatized the enemy and it just plain made life harder than it had to be for ourselves and those around us! Whether it is a situation, a relationship, a belief, or anything in our lives that causes us discomfort, somewhere along the way someone (mostly ourselves) assumed something, and we believed it!

One of my favorite books of all time is The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz. The 4 agreements are: 1)Keep your word. 2)Don't take things personally. 3) Don't make assumptions. 4) Do your best.

My thoughts are that we make assumptions about everything because we do not ask and/or answer enough questions! Basic poor communication.

You have probably heard the expression 'Sly as a Fox'. Well I have no desire to be sly. I want to live what ever time I have left as real as possible.

As I 'do my best' to live by these four agreements, it is a continual awareness on my part as to whether or not I am actually even close to living by any one of the agreements. It is much harder than you can imagine. But just being cognitive of these principles has brought some understanding as to the drama we create for ourselves and just how important good communication is for inner peace and happiness.

And finally accepting ourselves for the imperfect beings that we are. I certainly have varying degrees of "BEst" from day to day! Yes, I do realize other people may be more consistent than I and that's okay too!! When I am good I am very very good...when I am bad, well you know the rest of the story...:)

Composites Not Everyone Can See

Beaver Mountain - Utah's best kept winter secret

The largest of all flowering plant families is the Composite Family. The daisy type flowers are part of that family. Daisies are my favorite wildflowers.

If you have ever stood in a field of wildflowers or been in a crowd of people you may look to see if you can recognize that SPECIAL one, one that really stands out. Sometimes we have a language that is so powerful and bonding with someone you can just be in their presence and you understand them and they understand you. How beautiful! Likewise, sometimes amongst a crowd their are loved ones looking over. We know this and yet we want to really KNOW this!

How often we seek for signs in this life. Does he/she love me? Am I good enough? How can I survive? The signs are all around us.

We keep our heads down a lot in this life, sometimes we keep each other down. All the negativity...it's catchy. But if you Look up you might be able to see the trees in the forest. You can find angels in trees!!!

Life is better when you have an angel on your side...