This Comes With Attachments

I keep noticing where I am attached to things, I suffer. Yeah, I know, so what else is new? What's new, I suppose, is when I'm noticing how many things I seem to be attached to. Big things, little things, insignificant things, important things, all sorts of things can be the source of my attachments. I'm learning, once again, to let go. Another turn of the wheel, another year, another opportunity to practice the presence. Sometimes, I must remember day by day, other times I need to remind myself minute by minute and there are those times, crazy times, forgetful times, high stress times, "everything should go the way I want it to" times, when all of it seems to go out the window and I am attached to everything! Oh yeah, "If I ruled the world, then (fill in the blank here) would or would not be happening!!!"
Then, I remember to breathe. Then, I remember Love. Then, I remember Forgiveness.
Ah, yes, the old f-word. Forgiveness, self-forgiveness, because that's where it begins. We cannot forgive others if we are unwilling to forgive ourselves. Extending forgiveness to others is an extension of self-forgiveness. I'm not talking about condoning, or blaming, or "letting someone (or the self) off the hook", I'm simply saying self-forgiveness is the practice of releasing oneself from the behaviors of the past. It is choosing to suffer no longer from events which occurred before this present moment. By extension, forgiving others is also a practice of releasing oneself from the past, because when we imprison someone else in the past of their behavior, we must remain there to be the warden.
Indulging in the head talk of "When he said this, then I should have said..." or the endless stream of "What if..." scenarios, or even the "If I ruled the world, then this would not be happening!" thoughts dis-empower us. When we are busy regretting the past, worrying about the future, awful-izing about conditions, we are in the effect, attached to all of the "stuff" of life.
Well, wait two minutes, the stuff will change. Everything in life changes. Nothing is here to stay. As they say in the Bible, "It came to pass..." Everything in life came to pass, not to stay. Sometimes my affirmation is, "This too shall pass..." Only the Eternal remains unchanged.
When I remember to breathe, to Love and to Forgive, I can release my attachments, and bring myself, fully present, into the Eternal Now. Breathe, Love, Forgive, Breathe, Love, Forgive, Breathe...some days that's all I do!

New Year, New Me?

Well, we are 10 days into the new year and have you been keeping all your new year's resolutions? Have you made any new year's resolutions? Yeah, me neither. Let's face it, they don't work. Ask anyone who is a regular gym member. At this time of the year, January, the regulars can't find an open stair master, and unoccupied elliptical or a free lane in the swimming pool. The gyms are packed with the January resolute. The regulars don't have to be concerned, though, having been through this year after year, the regulars know too well that the newly resolute will be gone before January ends.
Real change comes from within, not at the gym. We are reborn every morning, every new day brings a new you. Newness happens every moment, every time we remember who we are, not when the calendar turns a page. We can set an intention in the morning, for that day, for that hour or minute, and we can see it realized. In this way, we build success upon success, victory upon victory. Then go to the gym, just for one day at a time.

It's the Most wonderful Time of Year

It's the holiday season, Christmas time once again, and we are right in the thick of it! How is it going for you? Is all your Christmas shopping done? I'm still actively gift searching and loving every minute of it. I enjoy walking around the malls and shopping centers looking at the displays and observing the hustle and bustle of the people going by. I must admit, I do alot more looking than actual buying but I enjoy it all. Christmas music on the radio since Thanksgiving weekend, shopping and looking since Black Friday, all's right with the world...
Every Christmas season brings memories of Christmas Past, my past, growing up on Staten Island, NY. I recall tree shopping with my Dad. It always snowed when we were out picking a tree from one of the corner lots. The Christmas lights were strung across Victory Blvd. and Manor Rd. from light pole to light pole. Ribbon candy and maple sugar Santas. Ice skating at Silver Lake. It was usually so freakin' cold my ears felt like they would fall off if I didn't cover them! I remember visiting the big tree at Rockefeller Center and walking down 5th Ave. looking at each store's Christmas window decorations. Wonderful memories!
What kind of memories are you making this year that you will look back on in the years to come? Make them happy ones.

Everything Old is New Again

I reached that age where I am recognizing the repeating cycles, cycles of fashion, cycles of politics, cycles of learning, cycles of fads, cycles of everything. I suspected it a while ago when I started to see high school kids wearing bell bottoms, ugh. If bell bottoms can come back, what could be next? I wore bell bottoms in high school, along with other highly questionable fashions. There were the bell bottoms with all the patches, the Danskin body suits, orange construction boots, overalls, all those gauzy woven shirts made in India, headbands, puka beads, platform shoes and carpet bags. Blast from the past, right? But seriously, what else can one do with jeans? Bell them out, peg leg them in, make them tight as can be, make them elephant legged, low rise, high waisted, zipper fly, button fly, stone washed, acid washed, but that's about it. The cycle continues and round and round we go...
Same is true with those other things I mentioned. Just watch.

Everything That's Old, is New Again

Things run in cycles...
We plant seeds, we see the sprouts spring up from the ground, they grow into full bloom, we harvest, we turn the soil under and see the ground as barren, fallow earth, then begin to plant again.
And the cycle repeats itself...
What would you plant this time? We have the power to set our intentions, to make manifest what we would experience for ourselves, so again, what would you plant this time around?
I know for me, I would have Peace of Mind, I pray into Joy, and I affirm Abundance for all. I know God's gifts come to all alike and I pray rain for the parched, Wisdom for the ignorant, Unity for the separate, Balance for the tipped, Freedom for the bound, Love for the despised, Order for the confused, Power for the weak, Wholeness for the fractured.
I know the gifts of Spirit come to all alike and as we affirm the gifts are ours already, I know we experience them. Blessed be.

YoufromNY?Nokidding!ImfromNYtoo!

So, I'm reading the book, "Revolutionaries" by Jack Rakove, which is a wonderfully insightful look at the a 20 year span before, during and just after the American Revolutionary War. It provides great detail about the lives of our Founding Fathers and the events surrounding the birth of this great country.
The part that made me laugh out loud, however, was in the telling of the journey some of the delegates made from Boston to Philadelphia to attend the first Continental Congress. As the men made their way south, they stopped in various cities, New York being one of them. They loved the city, thought their accomodations were first rate, but John Adams had this to say about their New York hosts, "They talk very loud, very fast, and alltogether. If they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you again-and talk away."
It just made me howl! The country wasn't even a country yet, and already NYers had a reputation! It took only 100 years for a colony of European settlers to acquire "the New York state of mind." Hilarious! Some things never change. I know, being born and raised in NY, it is still the same! And so am I. I really have to practice speaking slower, lower and not interrupting. It's a spiritual practice really, breathe & listen, breathe & listen...

Where Does the Time Go?

This grand experiment called my blog is being neglected by me. I don't know what is blog worthy and what isn't. I find that the sharing down to one's toenail clippings is way too much information and yet I can't decide what is appropriate to share. I guess the bottom line for me is to make a decision regarding what I want to share and stick to that. I still wonder why on earth someone would want to know what I'm thinking about.
So, we just celebrated Independence Day yesterday and it got me thinking about the Founding Fathers and their contribution to the endeavor. I'm reading the book, "Revolutionaries" by Jack Rakove and it's a facinating look at the men who were in the forefront of the fight for independence.
I don't know about you but I was taught that the founding fathers were this group of cohesive men, icons really, all together on the same page, good Christian, God fearing men, united in the cause. What hooey! Politics is politics and these guys were no different than the ones we have in government today. Well, except for the powdered wigs. They were all over the place regarding the fight for independence, some moderates, others wanting to stay loyal to the crown and still others were radical firebrands. These were men, products of the European Age of Enlightenment, who fought against each other almost as much as they fought against the British.
And, most of these men were not the "good Christians" that the right wing conservatives would have us believe they were. But more on that later...