More than the sum of the parts ~ part one

.
In our lives there is hardly anything that is truly separate from us, that is really something that stands alone without having an effect on us or on our lives. To the point that one could make a good argument that if something would not be affecting us ~ it wouldn’t be in our lives.

From a spiritual, or personal growth perspective this is not an uncommon thought.
If something in our lives is bothering us, especially when it is something that other people are doing ~ perhaps in our minds are even doing to us ~ it is seen as an invitation to look at what idea, (thought-)pattern, or attitude we have that is creating the space for this bothersome thing ~ whatever it is ~ into our lives. The next step is then to change ourselves, eliminating the space for that which is bothering us ~ and lo and behold, that which was bothering us before disappears from our lives...
Perhaps because ‘they’ are moving; or because we are moving ~ yet one way or another, through changing what is inside of ourselves, that which was bothering us that came from outside of ourselves moves out of our lives.

Now, was it our fault that ‘they’ were behaving poorly and in doing so were disturbing our peaceful environment? No, everybody is still responsible for their own actions ~ so ‘behaving poorly’ is the responsibility of those adopting that behavior. And as long as we aren’t bothered by it, there is no problem. We start perceiving it as a problem as soon as we feel bothered, hindered, or hurt because of it.
That means that it is not ‘their behavior’ we want to change ~ it is the fact that we feel bothered, hindered or hurt by it. That is inside of ourselves, and as such is the only thing we can possibly influence about the situation.
And as we change ourselves, our thinking, our attitudes; we grow. We become more who we can become than we were before...

But what happens when it is not ‘them’ that are doing something to us, but rather it is something inside of us that starts bothering us? Something like an ailment ~ maybe even a simple cold?
Did we catch that cold ~ or rather, did it catch us ~ because the weather is nasty? Or is there something inside of ourselves that created the space for that cold to manifest in? A subtle trap that allowed us to be caught?

And if we we would accept that our lives are an integrated whole, and so much more than the sum of our parts ~ then how can we live it, learn from it, yet do so in a joyful, balanced space?
.
.

One day at a time

.
Today is one of the first dark and somber days we have had this Fall. Even when there was a lot of fog earlier this week ~ the days didn’t look quite as dark and somber as today... The weather man called it the first real ‘Autumn day’ ~ implying the weather will turn now from the fairly warm and bright days we have had so far into the type of weather we tend to think of when we think of the Fall season...
In a sense this is one of those days on which I wouldn’t complain if all I had to do was to curl up on the couch, the heater purring away, and having a cup of hot chocolate close at hand. Even without the whipped cream that would be a real treat!

But then again, this is a week day ~ and there is work waiting to be done. And whether you have a job from 9 to 5 or are one of the lucky ones who can more or less choose their own working hours ~ that work still needs to be done. Independent of the weather ~ not working on a week day and sipping hot chocolates instead seems an over-indulgence...

It is funny how a structure like that ~ one that divides the week into weekdays or workdays and weekends ~ keeps having such an influence on out thinking and behavior. It is one that I find very hard to truly let go off.
In all reality, it doesn’t really matter when I will sit down and do the work that is waiting to get done. There is actually an advantage in my line of work to make it happen when the energies ~ the ‘powers that be’ ~ support it, rather than forcing myself to get it done because it is that day of the week...
Something that is a lot harder to do when your job is constricted to the 9 to 5 on weekdays.

Yet the same thing goes for a lot of things in life. From what or where we eat, to when and where we do our grocery shopping, or which route we take home from work. We have a tendency to have it all planned out and to stick to our planning independent from how the energy of the day feels to us. If the energy of that day feels like getting home early and taking it easy ~ or if it feels like there is a ton of things you can still get done right now in this very moment.

When you start listening to the energies of the day; the weather, and your personal energy at that time ~ you may find that strict planning doesn’t always works in your best interest.
As a matter of fact, taking life one day at a time may be a lot more beneficial in the long run...
.
.

A Break

.
Everyone needs and deserves a break every once in a while!
A time to step back from whatever is going on ~ whether that is a busy work schedule, a trying time in your personal life, or just ‘life happening’...

What is interesting to me is that while we all need our breaks ~ those times when we take time to smell the roses, when we take some ‘personal time’, or even a vacation to re-charge our batteries ~ deserving a break somehow has a different connotation. Deserving a break seems to imply that we deserve for things to go our way every once in a while. That we can sort of coast along and achieve what we want to achieve without putting in a huge amount of effort ~ at least for a while.
Deserving a break indicates that we are worth for life being easy...

It is also something that is easy to forget.

Whether we need a break, deserve a break or even when we need and deserve a break ~ we still have a tendency to just keep going with the same routine of working and taking care of business ~ as usual. All too often we seem to not give ourselves that much needed, well deserved break. Because there are always plenty things to do. We just keep running our lives the best way we know how to.

Until something happens that turns our lives upside down.

Something that makes us stop in our tracks. Something that questions our priorities. Something that makes us pause and think about what is going on in our lives from a different perspective. That makes us look at what we have always considered as ‘normal’ with new eyes...
It doesn’t even have to involve ourselves; it can also be happening to someone we are close to ~ a family member, or even a co-worker.

There can be a wide variety of things that gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate our lives. It can be a burn-out situation, illness, but also happier things moving to a new place, a birth, a retirement, or as it turns out reaching any milestone in life.
Yet suddenly there is that realization that we are long overdue for a break. A time-out. A pause in which we can observe our lives in order to see if the things that are truly important to us are also placed on top of our to-do list.

And suddenly it becomes really easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. When we actually take that break we so need and deserve ~ we can see with great clarity what goals we want to achieve; and what  ‘stuff’ we can discard because it is just muddying the waters.

All the more reason to actually give ourselves a break on a regular basis...
.
.

Regrets

.
Most of us regret something every once in a while.
Whether it is something we said without thinking of the consequences, or something we did or didn’t do for whatever the reason. And truth be told, more often than not the reasons we have are good reasons to do or not do something ~ even to say something, or not...
Hence most of those regrets are what I would call ‘small regrets’ that fall into the category of making choices. We all have to make choices, and sometimes even if we have chosen wisely ~ we still would have wished things had been different.
And looking back at what happened, we often just come to one conclusion: Life happened...

In other words, some regrets may just come with the choices we have to make in our lives.

But then there are the regrets that are the ‘big regrets’.
Those are usually the things related to opportunities we let pass us by. Sometimes because we didn’t believe enough in ourselves. Sometimes because it didn’t seem as good a deal as it turned out to be for the person who did grab hold of that particular opportunity.

Yet the most common reason to not do the things that are really important to us is that we react from what we believe other people expect of us rather than the way we truly are.
And when we look back at a period of time in our lives only to see that we didn’t do things we wanted to do while we got the chance to do them ~ that brings us into the realm of the ‘big regrets’.

The things is that a lot of the time they aren’t the things you might think ~ like ‘climbing Mount Everest’, or ‘walking to Santiago de Compostela’.
They are the things like not working so hard that there was never time to enjoy life; to see the children grow up, or investing time into your relationships with friends.

The regret that while you were busy doing a lot of things ~ there was never really any time for ‘being’.

That may well be the biggest regret of our time: to not having taken the time to be yourself. To do the things that were important to you at the time. To not fulfill your heart’s desires when you had the chance.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to look back and say ‘I have done that!’?
Then perhaps it is time to think about how you can go about being true to yourself. To enjoy the things you were dreaming about when you were a kid...

To answer the question: “What would it take for me to look back at my life without any ‘big regrets’?”
.
.

Sounds

.
Some sounds are sweet, and soft, and beautiful ~ soothing not only to your ears but your entire system.
The breeze playing with the leaves, the birds marking their territories in the early morning hours. The murmur of the water in the brook. The purring of a cat. All of them sounds that in one way or another make us feel good...

There are also those sounds that ~ even when we are city-dwellers ~ we still instinctively connect with danger. The still before the storm. The posturing cats, singing to warn each other off. The barking of a dog. All sounds that can put us on edge. Yet still sounds that we can easily handle; sounds that may not be music to our ears, but they are sounds at a level we were meant to hear them at.

Then there are the sounds that will shake us to our core. Like the sound of a violent storm, or the sounds of the earth, when it starts moving. These sounds have a very clear message: run, or hide!

All of these sounds are part of nature. And as we ourselves are part of nature as well ~ whether we are aware of it or not, we still understand these sounds at some level. Perhaps we even react to them; act according to that particular sounds as soon as we hear it...

However, nothing compares to the sounds we make.

Man-made sounds range from the most heavenly music one can ever hear, to the most horrific of noises. From the quiet whispers; the sound of a smile ~ all the way to roar of traffic, or even the clamor of demolishing buildings.

How we react to the things we hear is individual. Some people will like to have some sounds around them pretty much all of the time ~ whether they listen to their favorite music, or just have the radio on in the background. Others prefer silence around them; or at least not having the man-made sounds around them such that the sounds of nature ~ or even the sounds of their own thoughts can be heard.

And funny as it sounds ~ to a person who likes to hear some sound all the time, it can be as hard to be surrounded in silence as it is for a person who likes that silence to be ‘assaulted’ by the clamor of a remodeling next door.
Either way, after a while one wants to escape to that level of sounds or music one is comfortable with ~ whether that is found in turning on the radio for that comforting background music, or to go for a nice walk in the park where the only sound is that of the fountain’s water splashing back into the pond...
.
.

Lists

.
In our everyday lives there can be many lists.
A list for grocery shopping. A ‘to-do list’. A wish-list that may have your wishes and desires on it. And the list that has gained in popularity over the past years: ‘the bucket list’, things you still want to do or experience before you ‘kick the bucket’.

In the energy of today a list can be a great tool to keep track.
With the ever higher vibration of the energies around us, time seems to be speeding up as well. On top of that we seem to take on more and more things we want or need to do in a day. And between being increasingly busy and time running through our fingers ~ chances are that every once in a while there are things that fall through the cracks. Things that ‘drop off the list’...
Being afraid to let this happen tends to add to the stress that may already be in our lives ~ and yes, can make that chance of ‘forgetting something we really should have done today’ bigger.

And that is where a list comes in.
It can be a list on a note pad, on a computer or pad ~ or even on a white board. Writing down the things you want to do, need to get, or shouldn’t forget ~ even the simple act of writing it down will help you remember. On top of that, the fact that whatever it is you need to remember is no longer just in your head; it is now also written down in a place where you can retrieve it. So even if you would forget something that is on the list one day; you can still do it the next day. It may have escaped your mind, yet it never dropped off the list...

Then there is another, for most people very satisfying aspect of writing things down on a list: once you have done whatever it is, you can scratch it off your list. It is done! Even if you wouldn’t do anything else that day, this is something you have accomplished!

A totally different and lesser known type of list that can help you start the day with a clear mind is not really a list in the true sense of the word...
It is a list, or ‘writing’ you do right as you wake up, yet before you actually get up. If you would write whatever comes to mind ~ whether it makes sense or not, that doesn’t matter ~ for about ten minutes before actually getting out of bed; you’d be surprised how much ‘stuff’ you really have no need for remembering you can release that way!
And doing that it reduces stress and leaves all your ‘brain power’ to remember the things that are truly important to you...
.
.

What is the meaning of life?

.
When thinking about questions we come across in our lives ~ this one question: “What is the meaning of life?” seems to be the ultimate ‘biggie’.
And the interesting thing about this one question is that pretty much everybody would like to know the answer ~ while at the same time there are an enormous number of answers that all make sense... At least at one level or another.

The shortest answers I have heard were: “42” and “43”.
“42” is, if I am not mistaken, the answer ‘Siri’ the personal assistant that is part of the new iPhone 4S ultimately gave when asked about the meaning of life. But only after suggesting that the meaning of life would lie in the personal growth life enables us to accomplish.
“43” being the answer I have heard on any number of occasions...

As these answers seem flippant and at the surface not making sense at all. But what when we look at the numbers from a symbolic perspective. What may these numbers tell us about the meaning of life?

42 is a combination of 4 and 2.
The 4 on one hand talks about foundation. The number 4 can also refer to the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air ~ and the four directions: North, South, West, and East. When the number 4 is drawn as a symbol it points toward a person bringing balance to his or her environment.
The number 2 is all about  duality. When drawn as a symbol the 2 deals with communication from ‘above’~ from our Highest level of consciousness if you wish ~ brought into the mundane.

This would make the answer “42” as to the meaning of life something like:
“Through communication from the Highest levels we bring balance to our environment; our foundation.” Or perhaps: “Through use of our intuition we live in a balanced environment”.

Looking at “43” as the answer, the combination of 4 and 3 ~ the interpretation of the number 4 stays the same.
The number 3 indicates the balance of ‘mind, body and spirit’. When drawn as a symbol it deals with communication in the Higher realms as well as in the mundane.

Making the answer “43” sound like:
“Being balanced in mind, body and spirit ~ in a balanced environment”, or: “Through communication we create our foundation”.

Interestingly enough, in both answers ‘balance’ plays a profound part. Balance of ourselves as well as balance of our environment. And the other similarity is ‘communication’; it is apparently important to communicate ~ not just logically, but also intuitively.

So if either of these answers would happen to be the ultimate answer ~ balancing ourselves and bringing balance to our environment, to the earth we live on; probably through the use of communication is important in our lives.

And it begs a different question: “What are you doing on a personal level to balance yourself and  to your environment?”
.
.

Questions

.
Even on an average day there are so many questions!
Questions that are being asked of us ~ and those questions that we would like to ask ~ or at least discover the answer to...

From a true spiritual perspective, there is ~ arguably ~ only one question: “What is the meaning of life?”
And while that is an universal question that we all would like the answer to; it seems that the answer to this particular question ultimately is more of a personal process of discovery, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ answer...

But that leaves all those simple, ‘every-day questions’...

In a sense the easy ones are the questions about the things that need to get done: “What is on the agenda?”, “Do I have any appointments for today?” ~ and even when that doesn’t seem to be the case, there is always the question: “Is there anything that really needs to get done today?”
Of course that can be anything from getting the kids ready to get to school to walking the dog, or cleaning the bathroom...

There are the questions about timing: “Will I get there in time if I leave now?” type of questions.

And then there are the questions about small things, like: “What color clothes will I wear today?”, “Will I go grocery shopping today or will I leave it for tomorrow?”, or “What will I cook for dinner tonight?”.

Whether you look at these simple questions as true questions, or tend to see them as the choices you have in your daily life ~ the fact of the matter is that over the course of a day a lot of them come up! And while the answers ~ or choices ~ may not have an ‘earth shattering’ quality to them; without reaching conclusions on each of them we wouldn’t get anything done! We would stop in our tracks...

When you really get to the nitty-gritty of the questions in your life ~ or the choices that are to be made ~ even every next step you take has a question associated with it: “What direction will I take my next step in?”. Both literally and figuratively.

Just looking at all these simple questions seems trivial, doesn’t it?

The thing that is interesting about them ~ at least to me ~ is that we tend to answer a lot of those simple questions geared to something outside of ourselves. We make our choices ~ even, or perhaps especially, on a fundamental level like this ~ often based on what others expect us to do.

It makes me wonder what the answers to all those questions would be if they were found bearing in mind what is best for ourselves...
If we would start doing that, would all those questions still be there ~ or would they disappear altogether?
.
.

Shoes

.
Shoes are many things. They are the protection of our feet as we walk ~ especially outdoors. They are in that respect our connection to the earth. But they are also a fashion item. And for some even a fetish.
And so, every once in a while we hear about people with enormous amounts of shoes...
High heels, flats, running shoes, tall boots, low boots, and in all conceivable colors.

In some cultures shoes are a luxury item. Walking barefoot may even be the norm; when protection of the feet is needed, it will most likely come from some sort of inexpensive yet functional sandals...

For me, the times I can kick off my shoes and walk barefoot for a while ~ for instance for a Summer’s walk on the beach ~ are special. To feel the sand and the water on the soles of your feet. The slight aggravation of walking over sea shells that have washed up on the shore. The reluctance when I am leaving the beach to put my shoes back on.
And then the disappointment when the comfort of walking barefoot on the beach is lost as the pavement starts ~ followed by the relief of being able to put my shoes back on as I arrive at my car.

This shows that, at least for me, what makes the question about wearing shoes or going barefooted is about a sense, the feeling I get when my feet are touching the earth directly. When there is the pavement between my feet and the earth ~ I may as well wear shoes...
I also realize that going for that distinct sensation of being in touch with the earth is something I wouldn’t dream of doing during the cold Winter months, when it is raining, or when the wind blows the sand over the surface of the beach so hard that pretty soon it starts hurting my legs.

As it turns out, we have a lot of very comfortable options as far as our footwear is concerned.
Having all those options (and being human) we tend to choose for the comfort, the protection, even the looks our footwear offers pretty much every time.

However, in doing so we have to a certain extend lost that sense of walking the earth. That direct contact with the vital, living, nurturing earth through the soles of our feet...

The reality is that walking barefoot has a danger associated with it ~ the danger of stepping in things like broken glass, or any other sharp objects. And from that perspective it is just plain common sense to wear shoes.

Yet I can’t help but wondering ~ wouldn’t it be nice if we could protect the earth from those things as well...
.
.