Insights for July 2014
Farewell Kona
"Solid people advance. Those with grounding and preparation behind them get to move ahead on life’s game board." Philip Sedgwick, galactic@philipsedgwick.com
A really great posting from Ram Dass today about grieving:"It is important, as we get older, to learn how to grieve. Although this may sound self-evident, experience has taught me that it is not. In a culture that emphasizes stoicism and forward movement, in which time is deemed “of the essence,” and there is little toleration for slowness, inwardness, and melancholy, grieving – a healthy, necessary aspect of life – is too often overlooked. As we get older, of course, and losses mount, the need for conscious grieving becomes more pronounced. Only by learning how to grieve can we hope to leave the past behind and come into the present moment.The older we get, the more we lose; this is the law of impermanence. We lose loved ones, cherished dreams, physical strength, work, and relationships. Often, it seems like loss upon loss. All these losses bring up enormous grief that we must be prepared to embrace completely, if we are to live with open hearts."
"My dear friend Stephen Levine has recommended that we build temples specifically for the purpose of grieving, ritual sites where we can feel safe to pour out the sadness and loss that we feel. In the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva, and in the traditional Irish wake, we find such outlets for extended grieving, but these rituals are becoming rare in our culture and are not frequently practiced."
"Over the years, in working with people who are grieving, I’ve encouraged them first of all to surrender to the experience of their pain. To counteract our natural tendency to turn away from pain, we open to it as fully as possible and allow our hearts to break. We must take enough time to remember our losses – be they friends or loved ones passed away, the death of long-held hopes or dreams, the loss of homes, careers, or countries, or health we may never get back again. Rather than close ourselves to grief, it helps to realize that we only grieve for what we love.In allowing ourselves to grieve, we learn that the process is not cut and dried. It’s more like a spiral that brings us to a place of release, abates for a time, then continues on a deeper level. Often, when grieving, we think that it’s over, only to find ourselves swept away by another wave of intense feeling. For this reason, it’s important to be patient with the process, and not be in a hurry to put our grief behind us."
"While the crisis stage of grief does pass in its own time - and each person’s grief has its own timetable - deep feelings don’t disappear completely. But ultimately you come to the truth of the adage that “love is stronger than death.” I once met with a girl whose boyfriend was killed in Central America. She was grieving and it was paralyzing her life. I characterized it for her this way. “Let’s say you’re in ‘wise-woman training.’” If she’s in wise-woman training, everything in her life must be grist for the mill. Her relationship with this man would become part of the wisdom in her. But first she had to see that her relationship with him is between Souls. They no longer have two incarnated bodies to share, so she had to find the Soul connection. Two Souls can access each other without an incarnation.When my Guru died in 1973, I assumed that because of the important part he played in my life, and the love I felt for him, I would be inundated with grief. Surprisingly, I was not. In time, I came to realize why. He and I were so well established in Soul love that, in the years since he left his body, his palpable presence in my life has continued unabated." http://www.ramdass.org/learning-grieve/
"There is dissatisfaction in the astrological house that is opposite your natal Pluto placement, because it is the area for your soul's growth in this life." Margaret Gervais, 5.27.14 Kona, Hawaii “Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.”
Eckhart Tolle http://www.eckharttolle.com/present-moment-reminders/?f=1 More from the book I recently finished by Adyashanti, The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment:“That which is awake always moves toward that which is not awake. That which is awake has no fear of that which is not awake. It doesn’t have any fear, because it doesn’t perceive anything as separate or other than self.” page 46.“The truth of our being is not content until it has freed itself of its own misunderstanding, its own fixations, its own illusions.” page 47.“…awakened consciousness moves in particular ways. It does not deny anything. It does not hide; it is not avoiding any part of life. That which we are, that which is fully awake, is also ultimately fully engaged and fearless. It moves the way it moves, out of unconditional love and truthfulness. It is only the fear in the mind-the fear that constructs the illusion of ego-that causes one to recoil …” page 78.
Getting straight on your path: http://www.ramdass.org/getting-straight-on-your-path/ “
The large planet of Jupiter (represents expansion) has moved into Leo (FIRE): acceleration, less process more results, creative, confidence, manifest, materialize, connect and DREAM BIG. From the crab (Cancer) to the lion (Leo), can you feel it?” Margaret Gervais