Coaching Businesses and Life, a view from Long Beach

Monday 21st, Winter Solstice, A Powerful Time For Meditation

On one of the emails I receive that covers a modern version of Mayan calender, the upcoming Solstice this Monday promises to be a very powerful time.  This Solstice is a door opening where many of the energies of the world come to a standstill, making it the appropriate moment for reflection before the lights comes flooding in on us again.

Excerpt: at the precise moment: Monday Dec 21 9:47AM PST, Yellow Solar Human day, 13Kan but also, know that during Solstice the Sun stands still for 3 days before the Return of the Light - so it is an auspicious window of time!

While these are important times to gather with our family and communities, these are also important times to go deep within ourselves and to let go of the old, making space for new life and new creativity to blossom.

In this regard, I would like to share with you a message I found very inspiring, in the hopes it might also move you to engage in personal ceremony during this 3 day window.

The following message is from my dear friend and cosmic ally, Ariel Spilsbury (author of The Mayan Factor and the 13-Moon Oracle):

"Dear Beloveds,

What a powerful "Duir" door this Winter Solstice offers! Solstice means Sol-sun and stice..stands still. Far from the frenetic energy that is promulgated by the culture, the three days around Winter Solstice are a time to go inward, to "stand still" in the darkest time, to deeply inquire into what shadow baggage is calling to be totally released before you enter into the cycle of the Return of the Light. Some things are true, and sometimes they are truer still. This is one of those times. We have been personally and culturally in a process of dissolution of our baggage for many years now, and THIS solstice is time to look at what single shadow you have carried in your life that is like a "curse" or "spell" that you have "been under", that you are truly ready to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS CREATION AND FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS RELEASE!

What pattern has come down your family line that you have felt to be completely unable to be changed, so powerful was its "spell"? And by spell i mean the strength and tenacity of the belief system or pattern. Reaction is a portable prison.* Culturally this is a potent time to break the spell and break free! These dark days during Solstice are particularly powerful for that process, so please consider taking time to do a deep contemplation to discover what the spell has been and do an intentional ceremony to release it for yourself and the collective One!

This does not have to be a "heads down, serious, un-fun" process. It can be as easy as asking yourself, "I wonder why I would cast this spell in my life and who is the character in me who is continuing to perpetrate it in my movie and further more "I think i will just make a new casting call and REWRITE THE SCRIPT of my life movie without that pattern!!  That could be a lot more fun way to look at doing this process. "How can I animate and amplify the most desirable story/script for my life? What NEW VOW do I want to put into motion in my life?" For moving through the "duir" of the new year, these are questions worth answering in a Solstice Ceremony. As starhawk says in a wonderful chant you can use, "The Wheel is Turning, What Will You Give to the Night? Response: _____________ is gone with the night. Answer that and truly give it to the Dark Mother to be transmuted, that the Divine Child in you may be birthed this Solstice!!!

Starhawk's traditional Solstice Greeting: "This is the night of Solstice, the longest night of the year. Now darkness triumphs; and yet, gives way and changes into light. The breath of nature is suspended; all waits while within the Cauldron,  The Dark King is transformed into the Infant Light. We watch for the coming of dawn, when the Great Mother again gives birth to the divine Child Sun, who is the bringer of hope and the promise of summer. This is the stillness behind motion, when time itself stops; the center which is also the circumference of all. We are awake in the night. We turn the Wheel to bring the light. We call the sun from the womb of night. Blessed Be."

"The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and the longest night, known also as the Mother Night. It is considered to be the start of a new year and the rebirth of the new sun. We honor the power of darkness, the Divine Mother, the womb of creation. Yule is the return of the sun and rebirth of light. It is a time of new beginnings and a great time for dedication to new projects. We celebrate and welcome the rebirth of the sun Goddesses. Winter Solstice is a magical time for visions. Rhiannon rides through the dreams of her people by night, transporting them to the place between the worlds where they can create their own visions, giving them a gift of what they need most, helping them to make their dreams real. Let us collectively dream a new heart-centered world where our visions of Heaven on Earth are manifested."

The Importance Of Tapping The Source

The more I looked around, the more I was convinced that we need to tap the source of anything we do in order to make the best informed decision and not get caught up in the irrelevant. 

Why?  Without getting political or worldly cause, one perfect example is the futile debate on climate change.  Whether the climate change is man-made or an act of nature, one thing has been demonstrated, the climate is... changing.  The latest research have shown this beyond doubt, regardless of its cause.  Yet, it seems many debates disregard the obvious and get bogged down in sterile political rhetoric. 

When something is not right, regardless of its cause, we act on it.  In other words, when we tap to the source of the climate change ordeal, it makes little sense whether it is a holy act or a man-made one, we make sure we do not make the situation worse and start curbing down our footprint, lower our pollution emissions, as well as doing the little things we can do now.

The more I have thought about it, the more I am still convinced that tapping the source, or getting to the gist is still the best way to see the relevant picture and making the best overall decision.

How To Spot The Ego Taking Over

Most people feel bothered when they don't act in integrity.  That feeling is not a pleasant one and you feel out of balance.  Mostly, it happens when the ego takes over and you lost control.  So what can you do to spot the early signs and place trigger points to remind you to not let it run lose?

There are five obvious aspects of an ego gone wild: anger, hatred, judgment, control and pride, amongst the biggest ones.  These are the five ways our ego can manifest when we forget about it and let it lose with unpleasant results.  While we all judge, get angry at times and feel an urge to control, most of these things can be controlled with simple awareness. 

Watch yourself more often.  We spend the first five years of our lives controlling our body for better handling of objects and movement but never did the same with our minds.  By being mindful, aware of our moods, we can spot when the ego spins out of control. 

The ego isn't a bad thing.  In fact, we need one to function in this society but it needs to be tamed in order to pay well with others while being used as what it should be, a tool to represent the cumulative sum of your experiences.

Funny Thing Happened To Me Tonight

A lot has happened today and I will put it into words the next few days.  It has been one long stream of events that came together to un-knot.

I went to my last student's place and he was late.  I decided to wait but insisted to leave no later than 6:30 for no apparent reason.  For some reason, I chose to take a different route home and use other streets.  I wondered around until I landed on this Tibetan temple in our neighborhood.  For once it was open.  They were celebrating their Master's passing 49th day.

I invited myself in and stayed for the entire two hour ceremony.  It felt familiar, as if I was home.  I have always felt close to the Tibetan culture and would be surprised I lived there more than once.  The chants were familiar, so was the atmosphere and the music.  I was reading the roman wording of the Tibetan chants, which was nice.  I felt happy and it ended in a perfect day the strange day I was having/

Moral of the story?  You have to pay attention to your inklings.  Sometimes your guts tell you to go somewhere and you should do it without over analyzing, as long as it doesn't harm you or others.  It is that fine line when you are doing something, knowing you should but not over thinking it, knowing you are in the right.

Boy, how philosophical I am tonight. 

Leave Room To Grow

Ever wonder at these people who look like they made it.  Whatever and where "it" is. 

There is a saying that goes something like: "it's better to be a wicked person who knows he's wicked than a righteous person who knows he's righteous."  Why?  If we know we are good, what is the drive to even better ourselves?  Of course, you can carry that thought a little too far and drive yourself crazy, so adopting a careful balance is healthy. 

If our purpose was only to be good, we'd have done it by now.  Surely million of people are good, have been good and will be good, but wars still rage on.  Maybe it's because our purpose is to become better, to better ourselves.  It makes sense since since if we feel we have made it and have achieved that certain "good" level we wanted, it would leave us no room to grow.

So instead of reaching for perfection, go towards perfection knowing the road getting there is far richer than the actual state.  And anyway, what is perfection but just a point of view?

How True Friends Are

Sometimes the friends we have aren't the way we feel friends should be.

I have been on an online forum for the last 7 years and have made some friends.  It has had its share of moments, but nothing prepared me for what has happened this last year.  It was hi-jacked by a few.  You know the drill, many times when nice people get together, you have a person who comes in and wants to take control.  You know who I am talking about?  Those people who need to control and take control of things.

This group talks about philosophy,. mostly around the Kybalion and other Hermetic disciplines.  As is, many of the members are well learned and have much to teach... however, they don't talk much.  Why should they.  But when they talk, it's like honey flowing from heaven.  It's stimulating, beautiful and simply hits home in its simplicity and accurateness.  Sadly, however, these groups attract power hungry folks, those who feel they need to teach others and fancy themselves learned masters.  Of course, ti makes you laugh at first, but what was more interesting were the multitude of feelings they arise in people.

The funny thing is the last wave of pseudo-masters has reminded me of what real friends are, gentle and accepting each other.   It reminded me that the friends I have made in that group are gentle folks that sometimes know, sometimes don't, but have two great qualities, humility and acceptance of others. 

The Pain In Their Eyes

It was hard to not see but the pain in his eyes was too great.

I usually make people feel better, or at least smile when they feel blue.  It's just how it is.  Making people feel good and move forward is really the most important thing.  The rest, heals itself eventually after.  Yet, his eyes were different this time around.  They didn't smile.  They didn't have that usual zest.  They looked tired and weary.  In fact, they looked remote and far away, almost distant.  Something was different about him and I didn't know what.  I asked how the newlyweds were doing and I saw an unfamiliar smile.  It had anguish in it.  Something was wrong.  Then I realized how much the election results had affected him, them, this newly wed couple.  Proposition 8 had passed after the law had decided otherwise backed by out of state churches dubious motives.  He and his husband felt rejected, dejected, slapped across the face.  He felt shunned, chastised, cast aside by other human being who felt they could tell him, tell "them", they could not have normal lives and marry, as people from the same sex who love each can.  This is now off limit.  He felt he was sharing his country with people who didn't wish him well, with people who didn't want him to be happy and live a normal life.  He was being told he could not share marriage with his true love,  that same way Virginia and I are privileged to have.

Exactly why?  A church from another state reads a "holly" book written by the hand of a man who supposedly interprets God's will.  How preposterous!  Human beings who cannot even quiet the chatter in their minds claiming to know the all mighty, all encompassing source of all things, they call God.  In a day and age where more than half of "normal" marriages end up in divorce, where many married man are caught pants down in public bathrooms and parks, some of these good-conscious people feel two people of the same can not marry.  In a day and age where more than 30% of men in the US admitted to having cheated, it's hard to understand the hypocrisy.  If God is omnipotent, omni-powerful and omniscient, what is it not?  Surely God loves all creatures, equally.  What does one creature feel the right to tell another creature they can be happy or not?  When you stop to think some of these faithful, fear-riddled folks get drunk on a Saturday nights, go home and watch dirty movies and wake up in church next morning.  Oh, the abomination!  The hypocrisy!  And to think our country is the number economic factor behind child and regular pornography, what hypocrisy. 

Whatever happened to the holly passage of he who is pure, cast the first stone?  Look deeply into your minds and hearts first.  Know thyself.  Marriage is a sacrament only reserved to those lucky enough to be part of the genetic pool that favor the other?  Did we jump back more than 200 years?  Didn't Hitler having similar genetic theories.  It's a slippery slope.  There is a reason we separated religion from government, they never mixed well and were co-authors of some of the biggest horrors worldwide.

I am deeply spiritual.  My quest is to find my way home, my way directly to the source, God, Light, Source, whatever you would like to call it, The All, I want to experience it directly, not through a book and even less through another man.  I listen to wise men, their speeches and writings but ultimately, the only thing that will do is that Ultimate Source, That Which Is Underlying All.  The All.  It humbles me enough to know I cannot tell anyone what to do.  The only underlying principle is to not hurt anyone, love your neighbor and do good, not force your ideals onto others.  That is fear ridden attitude.  This time, my fellow citizens have hurt part of the population by rejecting them.  Remember what your good book says: "Love thy neighbor!"  A far cry these church fear mongers are from their ideals they try to force onto others.  They cannot even do it themselves and when they try, they are miserable.  They know not what they do.

What lingers in my mind to this day was the pain in his eyes.  It was slow, sad, intense and oozed a far and distant pain.  It was all there for me to witness, someone who had never experienced this kind of rejection.  I understood it intellectually but  I had never seen the pain.  This time around, I felt how cruel and heartless some ill-advised people are.  I saw how easily manipulated these "good folks" can be when their only purpose in life should be the two most noble causes: Know thyself and find God for thyself, not through someone else's eyes.  What miserable creature abandons their right to finding God directly much as a dead leaf is taken by the wind?  I have never understood what it must be to feel cast aside, now I saw in my friend's eyes. 

The funny thing about these two is that they truly care for each other.  They are good people, a good couple.  They work hard, do good things for society, don't cheat, don't do drugs, are reasonable people and are happy together.  They wish no harm on anyone.  One is a lawyer who combats injustices in the work environment.  How ironic to think "those" people who have fought injustices have had some of the people they help, turn against them, unknowingly.  I wish more heterosexual couples could be like them.  When you see too many guys treating girls as sex objects and worse yet, too many girls using their bodies to get male acceptance, it makes me sorry for them.  A gay couple can teach you a lot.

I am pained to see that look in his eyes.  It truly hurts me to see my friend in disarray.  It just isn't fair in this time and age to tell people how they can marry, who and not whoever they love.  Genetic and sexual discrimination has no place in a civilized society.  We've seen the consequences all too often.

Many people and experts claim the vote was pushed and funded from a church that allows polygamy.  In this day and age I can find no reason for such a thing.  Nor could I find any reason God would want only men to marry more than one wife.  If same sex should be banned, then marrying more than one person should also be.  Why not allow women to marry as many men as they want?  And since children seems to be the crux of the ill-thought off rhetoric, then couples like us, Virginia and I shouldn't be married because neither of us wanted children.  In a world where millions starve, we should take care of the children who need our help.  Stop converting people.  Teach them how to fish.  I, along other people, just find it ironic and insincere that people who feel it is alright for a man to take many wives, but not the other way around, can tell others who they can and can't marry.

Women have finally won the right again to chose what is right for their body in regards to abortion, for the 4th time.  Hopefully, these extreme religious fundamentalists will stop meddling with the law and manipulate minds of our country.  It was one step in the right direction, now we need to continue and allow for everyone's happiness.  This country was built on freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  When religious sect interfere with laws, they have taken that right away and desecrated our founding concept... freedom of choice, freedom of religion.  We need to work together, not separated.  The evils of Machiavelist theories have harmed us, I fear almost beyond repairs.  While we devote our attentions on ridiculous outdated notions, the rest of the world is taking us over.  Ah, but at least the gays can't marry!

The Careful Balance

The famous Secret movie encapsulated ancient hermetic principles into one "law" the Law of Attraction but there is much to it than that.

If you want to consider the "law of attraction" into details then you might also want to consider the principle of polarity, rhythm, vibration, opposites which will give you a better understanding of the intricate nature of life.  Of course, the more you study in depth the rest of the principles, the better it is.

Wanting something, wishing for it won't make it happen unless you do something about it.  At times, you might want all you want but it doesn't happen.  There could be many reasons, such as you might not be ready yet, or everything around that which you wish to happen is not ready to come together and you need to wait.  There can be many, many reasons.  The important point is to be aware and stay open to what comes your way.

When you ask for something, wish for something, allow time for your body, mind and spirit to integrate the new information.  You can view it, feel it then release to your subconscious and let it go.  During the day, you need to work towards it without attaching too many strings to it.  In other words, don't dictate how it will happen, asking for it is all.  Maintaining that balance being in the present opens you up for what you need to be aware in order to materialize that wish.  When you are fully engaged
in what comes to you in the present, you make yourself open to the changes that will make the
future even better. 

It's a careful balance but it makes sense after you think it through.  Sometimes thoug, no matter how much you wish for it it just wonb't happen.  There can be many reasons but keeping your attention in the present moment will rmake you open to the why.

A philosophical note for this Sunday brought to you by Nick ;)

Questions From Ekhardt Tolle

Ekhardt Tolle in his book The New Earth has caught the attention if the public media and with good material.  Here are some questions I found to be very valuable in my practice.

What is my relationship with the present moment?  Not only has this hit home for a lot of clients, but I also have used it in meditation.  What is me and now?  How do I stand in this now?  What is it, anyway.

The pearl is the following: Am I treating the now as no more than a means to an end?   Am I living constantly for a future moment  that is more important than now?  If so, am I not fully aware in this now and losing opportunities?  If I live in the short term future, always doing things quickly so that I can get there, am I missing things right now by not paying attention?  Am I neglecting things now by looking ahead?  I don't know know about you but this one particularly hits home for me.  How often have I found myself rushing to get somewhere to realize I forgot something?  Or how about rushing to do something, like carrying things to the kitchen and piling too much in order to go quickly only to drop them and have to start over?  Same thing with typing.  By trying to go too quickly, I end up wasting time correcting my typos.  You could go on and on and on with this one alone.

So, is the present moment an obstacle?   If so, why do you see it such?  What have you thought of to change the way you perceive it?  How can you make it work for you?

I haven't read Tolle's complete work but he is in the lineage of other insightful teachers.  I consider him right there with Krishnamurti.

Another great little exercise is to lay down, body fully relaxed and observe it being decomposed, as if you had passed away.  Observe your body vanishing, passing away, decomposing.  Who is observing?

Now go out there and breath some fresh air!  :)

The Big Shift

Most definitely, things are changing everywhere.

I am amazed at how many people freely talk about spirituality, something that wasn't too common only ten years ago.  Yesterday at the gym, I talked with this gentleman about having grand kids, not mine but his.  What was striking was that he told me he had an epiphany and changed the way he saw life.  He said that after seeing something on PBS about how we think effect life, he changed his thinking and everything started to change.  I don't know about you but I hear language like this, I am home.  This is where I feel most comfortable and I hear this more and more.

I am taking a class on how spirituality incorporates in our coaching practice and there also, I was struck by how much people are actual spiritual, IF you let them be.  Another eye opener was the varied definitions of "spirituality".  As I've mentioned before, spirituality isn't automatically religious for me.  Nonetheless, it is interesting to see most people have a sense of this non-defined, non-linear, non-sectarian life force that we call God, The All, The Source Of All Things...

So things are changing, at last, thank Goodness!  But in the department of things-that-don't-change or things-that-have-a-hard-time-changing, the cash stricken GM with dismal car sales, see news here,  managed to find $5 million to throw a party showing how "cool and sexy" their cars are.  Another sign that the Microsoft way of doing business, if it doesn't sale throw more cash at it until it does, is still trying to make it work like that.  The question is just for how long?