Saturday, February 23, 2013

Have Body, Will Travel


On the freeway one day, an engaging tour bus slogan snagged my attention at 65 mph: "The Art of Transportation." I maneuvered closer to read the company name and logo: "Van Go," with the image of a paintbrush daubing the "o". What a playful, memorable way to advertise bus travel! Since I've written about how to see yourself as an artist, this tickled me. As usual, it also got me thinking:

What is your vehicle of transport? Will it get you where you most need to go? And are you driving/piloting/captaining your vessel, or are you a passive passenger?

While in the throes of my awakening odyssey, I often had dreams of riding in the passenger seat of a car. It's enlightening, then, to note who (or what) is "driving you." The symbolic language of dreams can often be both revealing and humorous. A friend who taught speed-reading once dreamed of driving in a car that had no brakes — but he found he could stop it with his mind!

And I dreamed of being in a car with others as we skimmed across a shimmering sea. It felt glorious, yet even in the dream, my questioning mind wanted to know how it was possible for a car to glide effortlessly over water. The answer that came to me, not from my fellow passengers but from Existence itself, was, "If you believe there is a bridge, there is."

Here on Earth, our bodies are our primary means of transport, our third-dimensional "space suits". What shape is yours in? Will it serve you well as your bridge to quantum being-ness? It's harder to house the infinite in a neglected vessel.

Perhaps some cosmic re-coloration with the planetary paintbrush is in order. We might begin on the physical plane, and then add a little airbrushing of our mental, emotional, spiritual and causal bodies. Another dream image of mine involved walking into a doctor's waiting room and picking up a magazine entitled, "Woman, Clean the Mind."

Tossing out excess baggage from all of our bodies will make it that much easier to travel light, and travel into the Light.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

How to Receive What You No Longer Want


As we emerge from our extended global gestation, I'm watching people joyfully birth long-term projects from deep inner wellsprings, ready at last to bring their unique gifts to Light. At the same time, I'm also observing how amused surrender allows our heartfelt desires to manifest more easily than ardent invocation — although I've been an advocate of the latter for a very long while.

Radical manifestation means completely feeling the fulfillment of what we want — then dropping all attachment to having it. This sounds paradoxical. However, we must get out of our own way in order to receive what we no longer want. Yearning indicates a lack of faith, which keeps our desire, like the proverbial carrot on a stick, tantalizingly just out of reach. But be all right without it, and Spirit swiftly delivers the goods.

The shift for me is appreciating this awareness from an amused perspective. Before, I'd try to remain detached, but my frustration with delays gave my true feelings away. Now, more and more, I'm living in the wellspring, watching the waters of wonder continuously renew me as I surrender to Source and allow myself to receive.

This is the feminine, attractive principle, here in the yin Year of the Snake, what so many have labeled, "The Law of Attraction": the power of pull rather than push, becoming magnetic to our good and allowing it in, rather than chasing it down, wrestling it to the ground and proclaiming victory.

At this moment of moving into ever-greater wholeness, consider (literally, "with the stars") the Native American Giveaway. In the Giveaway tradition, you offer what you value most to another, with no strings attached (to your offering or to your heart). The gift might take the form of time, talent, food, clothing, etc. If it's precious to you, you allow it to spill over, like a waterfall.

I invite you to consider a Giveaway to bring about greater balance and integration in your life — without, of course, holding that as the goal.

Putting It Into Practice

What do you love so much you'd feel blessed to give it to someone else?

I once lost an earring at the beach from a pair that was special to me for many reasons. I kept its mate in the box. Then I became friendly with a woman who had a single pierced ear. On her birthday, I was inspired to give her my earring because I couldn't imagine buying a gift that meant more to me. She understood immediately when I shared the earring's history, responding, "Oh, it's a Giveaway!"

Your Giveaway might be to the mineral, plant or animal realms: planting seedlings from the beloved tree in your backyard in a barren lot, for example.

Your gift can also be anonymous. In Pronoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings, Rob Brezsny shares the story of a woman who donated a kidney to someone she didn't know, then returned to her regular life and clerical job. Three years later she won half a million dollars in the lottery. This does not mean that a Giveaway will net you a reward in kind (or in cash) — simply that doing something you feel called to do, without expectation, puts the Universe on notice that you're living in the flow. That's when synchronicity starts.

For many of us, giving this blessing to ourselves may be the beginning place: you cannot give to others if your own wells are running dry. If you've been giving yourself away for years, perhaps the greatest Giveaway is time spent soaking at a spa, to help gift you back into wholeness.

Feel free to share your Giveaway stories ~ and may you experience waves of amusement along the way.