Domino Effect

“Who says you need to wait until you 'feel like' doing something in order to start doing it? The problem, from this perspective, isn't that you don't feel motivated; it's that you imagine you need to feel motivated. If you can regard your thoughts and emotions about whatever you're procrastinating on as passing weather, you'll realise that your reluctance about working isn't something that needs to be eradicated or transformed into positivity. You can coexist with it. You can note the procrastinatory feelings and act anyway.”― Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

Action begets more action. Reflection woven between brings clarity. Being and doing – both. Habits and rituals drive commitment. Podcasts, reading, writing, inquiry are tools that expand and deepen our understanding, fuel imagination, prompting starting and unfolding. In doing, our gifts are revealed. The only way to arrive is to start and continue. Begin imperfectly today and keep going.

Push one domino and the next one falls. Progress is a cumulation of steps. One domino at a time. Start.

“It is not surprising, then, that though we feel intermittently gifted, our gifts are ever-present. For if enlightenment stems from a clarity of being, then talent is no more than a clarity of doing, an embodied moment where spirit and hand are one. The chief obstacle to talent, then, is lapse of being. It is not that people have no talent, but that they lack the clarity to uncover what it is and how it works.

Talent, it seems, is energy waiting to be released through honest involvement in life. But so many of us check whether we have power with the main switch off – the switch being risk, curiosity, passion, and love.

With this in mind, happiness can simply be described as the satisfaction we feel when we are in ultimate accord, however briefly, in being and doing. In those unified moments, our purpose is life and out talent is living it in its most immediate detail, be it drying the dishes or raking the leaves or washing the baby’s hair.

So when I can’t find my purpose, I beg myself to sit in a field in the sun watching the ants in hopes that I will meet my clarity. When I am convinced I have no gifts at all, I implore myself to search for the switch, to try something out of view, to gamble on what is remotely calling. When I lapse between comets, I try to watch fish swim and hear birds glide while I trudge out of synch. And in a tremor of faith, I know if I don’t try at all, it will all return surely and swiftly as light fills a hole.” – Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Reflection Time

As we wrap up August and enter the transition to a new season, reflect on what summer gave you and what you gave it. What seeds did you plant? What places did you see? Who did you spend time with? What actions did you take that added or subtracted from your own journey of fruition? Did you make a difference in others lives? Are you growing? What activities do you find flow and ease in? Are you learning and expanding or contracting? What are you grateful for daily?

Each day, each season and cycle, we can begin new again, take inventory, find gaps, fill them, celebrate progress and moving forward imperfectly into our becoming and unfolding.

Ask questions and listen for the answers.

What are your goals and aspirations for the fall?
What’s ready to harvest?
What needs nurturing and time?
What seeds need to be planted?

Get specific, write them down, take them from the abstract to concrete. Break down your desired destination into steps and remember to enjoy the journey along the way too. Life is about being and doing, using all of your talents and gifts and remaining present in each day.

Reflection time prepares us for transition and inspires action for what is next in the journey.

The Balance and Dance of Being and Doing

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” - Albert Einstein

In between our being and doing, lies the clarity we seek, the purpose each has within, no exceptions. Starting new things, trying each day creates the path to knowing. Quiet contemplation allows for being to do its work, for unknowing to enter. If you’re stuck, start doing. If you’re caught in too much doing, go back to being, to a deeper consciousness, to the longing.

“It is not surprising, then, that though we feel intermittently gifted, our gifts are ever-present. For if enlightenment stems from clarity of being, then talent is no more than a clarity of doing, an embodied moment where spirit and hand are one. The chief obstacle to talent, then, is a lapse in being. It is not that people have no talent, but we lack the clarity to uncover what it is and how it works.

Talent, it seems, is energy waiting to be released through an honest involvement in life. But so many of us check whether we have power with the main switch off-the switch being risk, curiosity, passion, and love.

With this in mind, happiness can simple be described as the satisfaction we feel when we are in ultimate accord, however briefly, in being and doing. In those unified moments, our purpose is life and our talent is living in its most immediate detail, be it drying the dishes or raking the leaves or washing the baby’s hair.

So when I can’t find my purpose, I beg myself to sit in a field in the sun watching ants in hopes that I will meet my clarity. When I am convinced I have no gifts at all, I implore myself to search for the switch, to try something out of view, to gamble on what is remotely calling.” – Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

The Answers are within YOU

“From sitting backstage with some of the most brilliant scientists and wise rabble-rousers and calm healers, I can tell you, without a doubt, that everyone has weird neuroses and surprising insecurities, and everyone has moments of befuddlement just about being human. We look to them for answers, but they too are still searching. This realization has ground into me the truth of what has been said across the ages, but somehow we never really believe: that the answers are within you; that you, yourself, are the answer.” - Elizabeth Lesser, Marrow: A Love Story

Now and then, we all need inspiration, a pep-talk to get us out of ruts and self-inflicted mental blocks. Inspiration is good. Starting is better. Rather than overthinking options and underestimating yourself, do the work, take small actions daily to figure out the path by walking it out. Consistent actions strung together builds confidence, breaks old patterns and creates new connections.

At the beginning of the year, I started writing posts every day on Cast-Light. While not all posts are perfect, spending one hour each morning writing morning pages, meditating and posting consistently has created a daily practice, ritual and rigor. Progress comes one step at a time.

Author Anne Lamott was on Cathy Heller’s Don’t Keep Your Day Job podcast and shared valuable insights from her new book on hope, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage:

1. “Be available for any idea, be permeable and be curious about all of life.

2. Take the action. The insight will follow.

3. Don’t try to figure it out. Let the thing inside of you help you get it done.

4. One of the keys to the kingdom of inside reserves of new material and insight and awakening is, “I don't know.”

5. Create what you'd love to come upon. It tells you that something deep in your soul is trying to get your attention.

6. Start where you are. Break through perfectionism by doing it badly more often.

7. The point is not to try harder. The point is to resist less.

8. There is only now. There is only the Holy moment. So do it today.”

The process is the point, the journey. Wander, wonder, practice and try new things daily to expand your perspective and deepen your resolve to keep becoming your most authentic self. The answers are within you so start asking the questions.

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” - Arthur Ashe

3 Doable Practices to Gain Clarity, Foster Connection and Get Direction to Discover Your “Thing(s)”

People often say what they “are not” rather than what they “are.” I’m not creative. I’m not artistic. I’m not good at this or that. It’s too easy to fill in this blank. Three simple practices can change your focus to possibility rather than lack. These “doable” practices have worked for four decades for author and teacher Julia Cameron, who just published her 40th book The Listening Path: The Creative Art of Attention.

Writing helps order thoughts, find patterns and gain clarity. Julia Cameron has been a proponent and practitioner of Morning Pages which has resulted in a rich and deep portfolio of work with thousands of students who have followed in her path.

“Writing is a form of active listening. Listening tells me what to write. At its best, writing is like taking dictation. There is an inner voice – that voice speaks to us when we listen. It is clear, calm, and guided. It is surefooted, putting one word after another, unspooling the thread that is our train of thought… When we listen, we are led spiritually. Listening for our emerging truth, we become increasingly true to ourselves. Honesty becomes our currency. We are given a glimpse of our souls,” she states.

The daily practice of Morning Pages is simply writing three pages every morning upon waking before the mind wanders off into busyness of the day. According to Jungians, we have a 45-minute window to get to our “undefended self” before our ego’s defenses kick into frame and limit our day.

The simple rules are that they need to be done upon waking, they are handwritten and no stopping, editing or judgment for three full pages. Releasing and surrendering any and all thoughts about anything, everything and nothing. The act of writing them is the point, requiring us to get out of our own way as the proven process unfolds.

After two to three weeks, Morning Pages take hold, make sense and the benefits become apparent. Over the years, I’ve dabbled in the practice inconsistently. For the past year, the practice has become a daily non-negotiable ritual, paying back big dividends in all areas of my life – work, relationships, creative endeavors, in understanding of self and others.

“Morning pages are like a little whisk broom that you poke into all corners of your consciousness…In the pages there is no room for evasion…Pages nudge us toward action. Something that seem ‘good enough’ no longer seems that way. We admit we may deserve better, and then we admit our own inertia: our regrettable tendency to settle, which we have now outgrown. Pages are a form of meditation,” she says. In addition to Morning Pages, I have been using the Insight Timer meditation app every morning for the past 180 days. Both practices have provided a depth, breadth as well as energy and flow.

“Writing morning pages is like driving with the high beams on: we ‘see’ ahead of ourselves, farther and more clearly than our normal low-beam vision…Although pages can be about anything and everything, gratitude is fertile ground. Counting our blessings on the page makes room for more gratitude… All lives contain grounds for gratitude. Focusing on the positive breeds optimism. Optimism is a primary fruit of the listening path…Morning Pages lay out my day’s trajectory… We spend our time on our own agendas – no longer on the agendas of others. We are often stunned to discover the amount of time and attention we have spent ‘people-pleasing’ others. As we withdraw our energies back into our own core, we are shocked by the power that is suddenly ours to do with as we please. Many of us have spent our lives being batteries for others. Suddenly, with pages in place, our dreams are within our reach. As we take each small step that the pages indicate, our dreams become our reality,” Cameron states.

As a recovering “people pleaser,” I can attest to the power that Morning Pages has infused into my days. It’s measurable and palpable.

“The listening path requires attention. Our dreams are often soft-spoken. As we listen to their whispered voice, our hearing becomes more acute. Our daily pages tutor us in the art of attention. As we listen to each thought as it unspools, we come to trust our own perceptions. Each word marks a point of consciousness. Taken collectively, the words are jotting of our souls. As we attend to their unfurling, we pay attention to the narrative of our lives. Far from colorless, our stories are multicolored, rich in their patterns. As we heed our dreams, more dreams unfold for us. Examining our lives, we find our lives to be worth examining…With our heightened intuition, we often sense the shape of things that are to come…Our gifts are many, and often unsuspected,” she continues.

This week, I am beginning Week 1 of her 6-week program laid out in this book. “It is my conviction that pages function as what I call ‘believing mirrors.’ They reflect back to us belief in our potential. They are optimistic and positive. They believe in our strength, not our weakness. Every artist needs believing mirrors – not only the pages, but people as well.” Who are your believing mirrors? Are you a believing mirror for others?

The second practice that Cameron follows is “The Artist Date” – a once weekly solo expedition for one to two hours to explore and simply experience play. Artist Date ideas to prompt thinking on your own adventure include going to a children’s bookstore, a pet shop, a movie, the zoo. The purpose of the Artist Date is to replenish the well.

“With Morning Pages, you are ‘sending.’ With Artist Dates you have flipped the dial over to “receive.” It is as though you are constructing a spiritual radio kit. You need both tools for it to work properly…Creativity experts teach that breakthroughs are the payoff of a two-part process: concentrate and then release. With Morning Pages, we are concentrating, focusing our attention on the problem at hand. With the Artist Dates, we practice release, and our mind fills with new ideas. It takes ‘letting go’ for the process to work,” she states.

The third tool to pave the “listening path” is walking.  Awakening our senses, walking anchors us in the present while working both our body and mind. “Walking, we are attuned to the rhythm of our thoughts. We hear the words and the emotion behind the words. We become intimate. It is difficult to lie, walking. Each footfall engages our attention. Each footfall engages our breath. We find ourselves saying the unsayable. We listen as we talk,” she says.

Morning Pages, Artists Dates and walking work together to help you gain insight and clarity to what is already within you waiting to rise to the surface. A whisper to heed. Dare to say “yes” to your becoming and fruition. The listening path is calling you. Start tomorrow, no looking back.

Butterfly Work

“Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it’s accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another’s eyes or heart.” – Sue Monk Kidd

I keep tripping and wandering back to foundations that have carried and anchored this soul for five plus decades – grace, seasons, empathy, connection, God, faith, joy, family, friends, character, delight, generosity, silliness, imperfection, laughter, resilience, worthiness, purpose, nature, struggle, waiting, patience, more patience, mystery and simplicity.

The past few weeks have been quite a ride for all of us. A roller coaster that has us loosely bound, uncertain whether the seat belt will hold, lonely, socially distanced and longing for connection, uncertain of the future, floundering in open space, unbound by a familiar busyness, confined to our quarters and becoming increasingly aware of what we can control and what we can’t control that we convinced ourselves in the recent past that we could control.

Our first response is to get off the ride and go back to the familiar. Don’t. Forge ahead confident that you and we as the collective whole have what it takes to move into the unknown, to reach deep within to the power that will carry us into a purposeful, burgeoning, creative and abundant near future. Hold tight and enter deep into the gifts of this uncertain time. Where we’ve been in the past won’t instruct us for our new normal. But the past has done its part to build our resilience, reserve and grit to enter the future capable to meet it completely.

This is fertile ground right now. Sacred actually – give it reverence, awe and respect. Cultivate the soil, plant the seeds and prepare for the hearty harvest. We are deep in butterfly work – the cocoon – dark, illusive, waiting, impatience, struggle, unfamiliar territory. Drop assumptions, past narratives and open your arms to the beautiful, dense and rich unknown!

The near future is filled and overflowing with abundance and fruition in due time. Let it play out and drop your preconceived, incorrect notions. You and we have no idea so let it present itself. The ground has been leveled so release the BS, your ego and arrogance to make room for this most excellent and fulfilling journey. Be open to new possibilities. The ones who are not predicting the unpredictable now, the ones who are willing to look at the world with new eyes, the ones who are doing the deep internal awareness and management work will survive, thrive and build the future.

In this very moment, we are in the cocoon on the journey to metamorphosis – the great transformation. And in the struggle, the laws of nature will unfold to transform the caterpillar to the butterfly.

In the past few weeks, many have been rallying to go online, to predict the future, to create virtual connection. The shallow efforts of panic shall fade away and be replaced with depth, meaning and rigor. One of the best learning methods that has existed for centuries is reading books – the classics mainly, which have stood the test of time. The most relevant book on “Butterfly Work” is Sue Monk Kidd’s When the Heart Waits.

Here are a few insights from her work:

 “The True Self is not our creation, but God’s. It is the self we are in our depths. It is our capacity for divinity and transcendence.”

“God is offering an invitation. A call to waiting. A call to the mysteries of the cocoon.”

“And somehow the transformation you knew would never come, that impossible lumping of fresh life and revelation, does come. It manifests itself in unseen slowness.”

“The fullness of one’s soul evolves ever slowly. We’re asked only to go within to gestate the newness God is trying to form; we’re asked to collaborate with grace.”

“When the fullness of time comes a sacred voice at the heart of us cries out, shaking the old foundation. It draws us into a turbulence that forces us to confront our deepest issues. It’s as if some inner, divine grace seeks our growth and becoming and will plunge us, if need be, into a cauldron that seeths with questions and voices we would just as soon not hear. One way or another, the false roles, indentities and illusions spill over the sides of our life, and we’re forced to stand in chaos.”

While we have been lost and wandering aimlessly in open time, in remote work, in home schooling, in toilet paper supply angst, we are right in the middle of the mystery, process and gift of metamorphosis. Do not miss, dismiss or bypass this time. Enter fully into the grace that will carry us through and move us fully through to the #otherside - new, whole, refreshed, transformed and very different than what was before. Do the rigor of the butterfly work. Cocoon to butterfly.

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” – Anne Lamott

The Utility of Joy

“Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.” – Angela Duckworth

We often think of joy as frivolous, of no real use, fluffy, the icing on the cake if you even get cake. Joy is so much more than a bonus. It’s the salary of a life well lived. Joy is not an extra, an anomaly, it’s the main character, center stage. It’s utility, a necessity, a requirement. Dancing is fundamental to this life.

We are called to the sky of joy, to pure delight every single day. That still small voice, that calling grounded in purpose, height, depth and the seemingly impossible. It is the seed of joy inside ready to burst into full bloom.

The times are uncertain right now to be sure, but this moment, this slice of time is open to explore, wander and inquire with fortitude. Our self-imposed limitations have been removed and excuses for not starting have melted. So start. Begin the dance.

Run fast and furious to starting new things that you never had the time for. You, we, all have the time right now in this moment. This is our collective invitation to stop the futility of busy, the guilt of commitment to nothingness to begin the important – to give stage to your calling.

In Laura Story’s song Blessings, she beautifully ponders whether our blessings are amidst our trials in disguise. Indeed they are. This moment right now is our blessing in disguise. This very moment is fertile ground for starting, for exploring and for answering the questions that have been drown out by busy, condensed time and BS excuses that we have given credence to without question.

Tap into the utility of joy right now when it makes absolutely no sense. This defining moment for each of us calls us to rise above and pursue right through the middle of fear and consternation.

Begin something new today, amidst the unknown and uncertainty. This is the exact time to explore, start and get going on your dreams. “The only joy in the world is to begin.” – Cesare Pavese

Succumb to the utility, necessity and rigor of joy. It is exactly what we all need right now in this moment. Release despair, scarcity and hording. Give, spend and risk it all.

“Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.” – Oscar Wilde

Brush to Canvas

Ideas, inspiration and insights motivate, build confidence and make the case for action. They show us possibilities, invite us to dream and make way for that still small voice inside to be acknowledged and heard. The next step where we often stumble is execution, in operationalizing our dreams. Starting is a daily decision not a one-time activity. There are inflection points where we just need to jump out of idea gathering and choice overload into decision and action.

Over the past year, I’ve become more aware of my own limiting beliefs and narratives that have halted execution of my ideas, plans and pursuits. Busyness, saying yes to things that I should say no to, being a people pleaser, worrying about what other people think are a few narratives that I have given credence to and allowed them to be roadblocks to progress.

We need to create boundaries on what we let in so we can knock down walls that prevent us from moving forward. By exposing false narratives, we give ourselves permission to create new narratives, making execution easier as the answers become obvious, hiding in plain view.

“Every one of us wants to do work that matters — work that aligns with our personal values, talents, and passions. Work that makes a difference in the world,” states Ken Coleman, author of The Proximity Principle. There are three questions to ask yourself to activate the “proximity principle:”

1. Who do I need to know?

2. Where do I need to be?

3. What do I need to start doing?

The three enemies that we need to manage are fear, doubt and pride. When we breakdown the journey into actionable steps, we overcome fear, doubt and pride, moving confidently and imperfectly to the “mountain” of our choosing.

The path is made clear through consistent action, embracing a beginner’s mindset and ignoring our inner and outer critics. Through practice and effort, I am a better writer than I was three years ago but not as good as I will be in a year with ongoing application and execution.

If you are not sure where to start, Glenda Eoyang, Human Systems Dynamics Institute offers six practical steps on what to do, when you don’t know what to do:

1. Breathe;

2. List 3 things that you know for sure to ground yourself and 3 things you wonder to give yourself a diving board into the future;

3. Decide what you need to expand or contract – do you need more options or do you need to narrow to less options – divergence or convergence;

4. Explore tensions – will you:
   act or ask
   go alone or with others
   quickly or slowly
   now or later
   down a tried and true path or new adventure
   be open or closed
   join or leave

5. Do something! Anything!!  - action!

6. See what happens and then start again.

We convince ourselves that we need every step figured out before we proceed. While a plan, goals and deadlines are important, starting provides clarity and creates opportunities that define the path.

By putting “brush to canvas,” filling the blank page with words, we move from abstract concepts to concrete execution, doing it again, adjusting and then doing it again until we arrive home to ourselves.

Stop pondering and putting off. Pick up the brush and start painting. No more overthinking or being overwhelmed with all of the color choices. Put brush to canvas and start painting your own beautiful, brilliant and imperfect picture.

“If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh