Saturday, January 23, 2016

2016: PRESENT MOMENT POWER

Researchers have determined that by this time in the month of January well over 90% of people who have set resolutions-intentions for the coming year have already abandoned those intentions.

January gets its name from the two faced god Janus that is both looking into the past and into the future. Sound familiar? Janus is a powerful representation of the ego-thought dynamic. It is the nature of the ego thought structure to constantly be looking back and projecting forward from that past focus. This is a hard wired reptilian dynamic that is designed to keep us safe. What it actually does is keep us from experiencing and accessing the only point of power we have at our disposal: the present moment.

Perhaps some of you are reading these words and determining that the solution to this dilemma is to not remain a Janus. By some act of mind-control the decision would be to not look back and to not project forward. Perhaps. May I offer what for me has been an easier and less stressful proposal?

Recognizing and remembering what the dynamic of the ego-mind is and how it operates is transformative in and of itself. Now that I know there is a Janus dynamic that I am plugged into I can choose to simply become friendly with it. If I give resistance to the tendency to look back and forward that resistant energy then feeds into and strengthens the dynamic that keeps me from the present moment power. Finding the middle point within my awareness allows me to recognize when in fact I am staring back in time. It offers me the ability to realize when I am projecting out into an imagined future that is based entirely on a past that I am either avoiding or seeking to recreate. When I know I am looking back, from the point of the present moment, I am more anchored in the now than I am in the past. I can feel the energy of the focus and work directly with the vibration from a present moment perspective. The same is true of projecting into the future. When I know I am doing it that awareness provides me with the possibility of choice. And choice is what staying spiritually awake is all about.

I believe that a key reason for the abandonment of so many New Years intentions this early in the year is that they are made almost exclusively from this Janus Dynamic. We look back at what we perceive is not working or is unavailable and then project a solution from that perception of lack. Often the inquiry is steeped in what is missing and how I can get it. This only serves to energize the lack. If we are not awake to the underpinnings of this dynamic we are stuck in the Janus mode. When we know it is happening the awakened relationship to it expands the potentiality of true change happening. When I am no longer defined by my past the possibility of something new opens within and before me. When I question my projections they no longer have the power to imprison me. I can take a breath and realize that I am not the memory or the projection. I am the one that is focusing my awareness. I am the one that is looking. Seeing the dynamic as a dynamic gives me dominion over it. In the friendly awareness of what is happening I am free. The Janus dynamic will either have me or my awareness will use it.

So if you have already ditched the intentions that you had for 2016, take heart. Be friendly with the Janus within you. Reclaim your year from a place of friendly, awakened, caring relationship. Give a wink to the part of your mind that tends to look back. Blow a kiss to the tendency to project the past into the future. It is not a problem. You are not a problem. You are an opportunity. The past is precious. Even the parts that weren’t preferred. And just because there has been a habitual way of showing up does not mean that the habit cannot be changed. Just be aware. From that awareness accept what has been. And know that awareness is everything. It is potential and it is power.

What you are choosing to experience in this moment is in reality the quality of your 2016. Right here and now. This. Yes, you will look back. You will project forward. It is just what the mind does. And you will always be doing it in and from the spaciousness of the present moment.

Friday, January 1, 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR: 2016 YES!

Happy 2016 to all of you! I have designated this year as my YEAR OF YES. I am committed to living in the energy of YES throughout this year. This means I will internally say YES even when my circumstances seem to be saying no. This means I will say YES even when my programming is screaming no. This means I will repeatedly come back to YES, regardless of what is happening in and around me. YES, YES, YES.

So though it is a New Year's holiday, and my body is somewhat tired from yesterday's activities, I am saying YES to the prompting to share an excerpt from an e-book I wrote a few years back. This is Day One of a forty day collection. I am saying YES to the desire to finally publish some of my writings during 2016. Until then, please enjoy a snippet from my heart. Though written a while back, it still rings true for me on this New Year's Day.

,br> Day One There is something unique, special, magical, and yet daunting about an individual or collective demarcation point in life. A common collective demarcation is the bringing in of a calendar New Year. Many people individually choose to observe a birthday in a conscious and intentional way.

There are myriad examples of these choice points,perhaps the most dramatic being that of a near death experience. These are often spoken of in hushed and hallowed tones. This is perhaps appropriate in that they may drastically alter the way in which we view and participate in our life experiences.

To realize at a felt sense level that we are finite beings can be a profound and miraculous wake up call. It invites us to really take a good, intimate look at how we have been living. What quality of attention have we been bringing not so much to the grander occasions of our lives, but especially to what is usually thought of as the more mundane and ordinary aspects of the day to day? How engaged are we in our moments? How congruent are our thoughts, feelings, activities, and interactions? How present are we when no demarcation is calling for heightened awareness? How present am I to my own Presence? How much of my surroundings am I actually cognizant of, and how curious am I about the astounding capabilities of my own inner workings?

Each moment is demarcation if we are paying attention. Perhaps that is the richest of all invitations. To pay attention to attention. To reside in a state of perpetual curiosity and awakened awareness. To be less intrigued by the near death, and more committed to the now life.

What is this moment of demarcation calling you to, my favored friend?