Let your purpose use you up.

"This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can."

-- George Bernard Shaw

This quote is offered in tribute to the incredible people I'm meeting these days who are surrendering to being used up by a mighty purpose and are giving themselves to the caring and cultivating of their communities. There is more than enough talk out there these days of corruption, duplicity, greed, scandal, scarcity, terrorism, war, etc. In the face of all of this chaotic noise, I tip my hat to those who march to a different beat - those who courageously love and serve and really live their lives in a way that makes a difference.

Joy shared is joy multiplied.

"The more I give myself permission to live in the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty . . . the better I feel about the quality of my work."

~ Wayne Dyer

I can really relate to Wayne's sentiment here. I gave myself full permission to live every moment of yesterday, and it was pure delight, and my work was an expression of my joy. And then, as my day ended, I received the following acknowledgement from the hosts of the speaker luncheon I did, and it was wonderful affirmation of a day well-spent.

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Dear Jim,

I know I am speaking for the entire Council and our fellow participants when I say that this was truly the most joyful presentation we have experienced to date at SpiritSystems.

Thank you for bringing so much positive energy and intention to our gathering. We hope you will participate with us in future gatherings.

With delight,
Stacey
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Thank you to all who shared this wonderful day with me, whether in person or in spirit. I enjoyed it full-out, without feeling the list bit guilty.

Amazing day about to unfold

Today I am going to have the extreme honor of speaking in front of an amazing group of about 50 people during a luncheon hosted by SpiritSystems, a non-profit organization dedicated to "Bringing Consciousness into the Corporate World." The subject of my talk is "The Pursuit of Personal Integrity and its Impact on How Life Works." I know half of the people who will be there personally and at a level that could easily move both of us to tears. The thought of them all being in the same room together, along with others who I know are dedicated to the same level of relatedness in their lives and their work is truly an emotional and spiritual extravaganza. I am nervous and scared, not that I will freeze or mess up, because this meeting is not really about what I have to say on the subject of integrity. Who am I to speak as an authority on such a topic, anyway? It's way bigger than me. No, I'm most afraid that I will not be able to be fully present to such a magnificent gathering of souls - that I cannot possibly honor them to the full extent I feel in my heart. To assist me in this endeavor, I am going to call on my community, to hear and acknowledge these human fears, but more importantly to stand behind me on my highest commitments. Here is what I am committed to today - the intention I am establishing for this meeting:

- To honor the life experience of every person there - all of our commitments and fears

- To enable and facilitate a genuine sharing about the subject of "integrity" as a personal growth pursuit

- To enlist the support of community - in this case a fabulous collection of like-minded people - in that pursuit
- To honor SpiritSystems as our host for the meeting - for providing a place to exercise, explore, and socialize -
and to nourish the ongoing expansion and fulfillment of their mission

There, I feel much better now. This should be a great party!

Which are you focused on securing?

"This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be good again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come. ... They'll pass the money over without thinking about it. For it's money they have and peace they lack."

-- Terence Mann character in the movie, "Field of Dreams"

An amazing movie - a powerful metaphor. Ray built his baseball field (the nostalgic place in which he could find peace with his father and the past) in the middle of his cornfield, in the face of all conventional wisdom and the numerous naysayers, simply because he was instructed to, in a simple, yet powerful inner voice that said, "Build it, and they will come." He risked everything, gave it everything, and rediscovered everything that was important to him. And people flocked, willing to pay money to see it, touch it, understand it, because they had focused their energy on securing money vs. securing peace and fulfillment in their lives, and they were now willing to pay the former for a brief experience of the latter. It begs the question, "What are we focused on securing in our lives?" We cannot secure our peace through the pursuit of money, or even through securing large quantities of it, but enough money can find its way to us when we surrender to our peace. Thanks for the reminder, S.W.

The Art of Living

When I was 13 years old, I stood up on the stage of the Mayfair Elementary School Auditorium in Philadelphia, PA, in front of my classmates and our parents at our 7th grade graduation ceremony, and recited by heart a piece called The Art of Living (a slightly different version than this one, but essentially the same). After 35 years of not ever having seen it again after that day, it has found its way back to me, thanks to you, R.A. I had little or no hands-on experience of the immense power of these words when I first spoke them, ... but I do now.


THE ART OF LIVING, by Epictitus

(version by Sharon Lebell)




Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars.


Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed.

Quit the evasions.


Stop giving yourself needless trouble.


It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in.


You are not some disinterested bystander. Participate. Exert yourself.


Respect your partnership with Providence. Ask yourself often:

‘How may I perform this particular deed such that it would be

consistent with and acceptable to the divine will?’

Heed the answer and get to work.


When your doors are shut and your room is dark, you are not alone.


The will of nature is within you as your natural genius is within.

Listen to its importunings. Follow its directives.


As concerns the art of living, the material is your own life.


No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time.


Give your best and always be kind.

The illusion of need in relationship

"The ego seeks to use other people to fulfill our needs as it defines them. When we try to use a relationship to serve our own purposes, or we abandon it in a belief that it has failed us, we falter because we are reinforcing our illusion of need."

None of us really "need" specific things from other people, other than their interactive presence in our lives. Yes, we all deeply need relationship. It's how we get to experience ourselves and to learn and grow as human beings. When we expect (or insist on) a relationship to serve us in a specific way - to fill some hole in our heart that we have not been able to fill ourselves - it is not uncommon to be left disappointed and frustrated. In our fear and pain, we often thrust our defenses and demands in others' faces, sometimes disguised in carefully selected words (because we don't want to actually look or sound like we feel), and they feel it when we do and then turn right around and do the same to us. As described in an earlier message, our purpose in life is to learn how to love and then to consciously do so, again and again. The way we learn is through making numerous, painful mistakes, and then getting right back into relationship with the lessons fresh and alive. The lessons we don't learn are bound to be repeated until we do, so we have our lifetime to work it out. The way we delay learning is to declare ourselves right with others and/or to avoid the lessons and/or the relationships. However, in this game - the game of life and loving - you can run, but you cannot hide. The lessons never stop coming.

Life of service

I slept and dreamt that life was all joy.
I awoke and saw that life was but service.
I served and understood that service was all joy.

--Rabindranath Tagore

I offer this poem in honor of those all over
the world who use their lives to serve others,
and in deep appreciation of my sister-in-law
for thinking to send it to me. Thank you, C.H.

Have a great Sunday, all!

Crossing the bridge of time

As I listened to a dear friend and inspiring visionary speak about the process of escorting people over a metaphorical bridge between this world and the world that is "real, and alive," I had some mental imagery show up that I thought might be useful to him, and to you:

First, I saw a scene from the movie "Shrek," which Jake likes to watch at least once a day, where Shrek encourages and walks behind Donkey, who's scared to death, onto the swinging bridge traversing a deep pit of molten lava. He coaches Donkey to "look straight ahead" and "don't look down." Donkey very tentatively follows these instructions until a board breaks under his feet, which evokes great terror as he cries, "SHREK, I'M LOOKING DOWN!" As Donkey tries to turn around and walk back - because he figures, "I know that side's safe!" - Shrek continues walking toward him, tauntingly rocking the bridge. Donkey takes feeble and terrified steps backward, cursing Shrek every step of the way, until he backs right onto "terra firma" on the other side. He just looks up, smiles, and sighs, "Cool!" Donkey wanted to get to the other side all along, but needed Shrek to help him move backwards across the other half of the bridge as his fear of death froze him right in the middle. What an awesome metaphor.

It reminded me of the King Arthur stories in which Merlin described his journey through life as "youthening." While Arthur and everyone else around him was "aging," Merlin was experiencing life backwards as he journeyed home, or "to the other side." As a guide, he could encourage and support Arthur in his journey, because he knew where it was leading - he'd already been there and is passing by on his journey home.

Merlin, the magician, always preferred to talk of "youthening" instead of aging. Could our problem be that every day, because of the way we've learned to approach each present moment, that instead of growing younger in our hearts and spirits, we're getting older and feebler in our outlook on life? And isn't it possible that this could all change with an able guide who knows how to get us to face our fears, reverse the habitual process, and to cross the second half of the bridge backwards?

Hmmmm... Cool!