Win

If you want to be a winner, don't whine, bitch, or complain. Do what you've got to do and do it well. Mean what you say, know what you mean, and only say what comes from spirit and honor.

Set clear goals and take all the steps necessary to reach them, no matter what it takes. Nothing is as important as your goals. Have discipline to stick with them in spite of all the mess going on around you, in spite of all the confusion, chaos or doubt. Do it. Don't give up. Stick with your goals, and keep them close to your heart, and most importantly, dig in and get started.

Remind yourself of your goals constantly. Put notes where you can see them all the time. Make visual boards. Stimulate your imagination and consistently take small steps. The world is built by small steps. Enough small steps will equal an amazing leap forward and that's what you want.

Make sure your goals are clear, simple and direct. Keep your convoluted BS out of it. That is only a distraction, of many distractions. If it's not simple you're doing it wrong. If it's not fun you should rethink what you're doing. It'll feel good when you take action. It'll feel good when you see results.

No matter what anyone says, does or thinks, you know what you want, you know what you need, honor that before all else.

And under any circumstance, or any condition, do not whine, bitch or complain.

Do you want to win or not?

Then do what you've got to do. And do it well.

Speak Your Truth

This past Sunday I attended a service at the Unity church. Following the service, I had a conversation with a man who told me about running for congress. He said he had built a website for the race and put a good deal of effort into it. He said he had thousands of hits and it was a great way to gain exposure for his campaign. He said it was useful. He said, now, since the race is over, he let it go and hasn't given it any attention.

I called him out. I said, so you mean, just because the race is over you've given up your service to help and lead people? It sounds like you were working for money, power and society and not for love? Your decision to serve is a life long goal that you work towards in every waking moment of your life.

He thought, wow, not only is this a sweet, endearing face telling me things, but there's some true power behind her words. He very sincerely said, wait wait wait, I did lalalala, this and that and that.... this is what I worked so hard for and this and that and lalalala....

"But your not doing it now?" I said.

Hmm. He couldn't defend himself. He had to just sit there and take what I was saying. I said, "It's ok. You don't have to know all the answers or be perfect. Following a spiritual path is work. Serving is work. It never ends. It's a life long process. Otherwise, we'd be angels flying in heaven. And maybe we will be one day."

He said, "Thank you for setting me straight."

I said, "I didn't set you straight. You set yourself straight."

He chose to stop talking and listen to me. He quit his BS and focused for a minute on what I had to say. He gave me attention and respected my words. And for that I thanked him. We both learned from this moment. I was reminded of my calling to serve and to lead. And it's work. It's a life long process. Every moment is an opportunity. Through this conversation, I was reminded of what I needed to do in my own life. It was also a success in standing up and speaking my truth. We both had things to learn from each other, and we were grateful for the moment.

fly

and when the days seem long and unabiding, alas a bird came to tell me what to do.

fly it said. go where no one has gone before, and i replied not with a word but with a prayer as silent as the deepest ocean and the most distant star from my view

perhaps these things aren't really silent, perhaps there is more activity than i can imagine.

their language calls to me.

A Note on Desire

Desire implies a lack of, a need, a want that is addiction. Desire is the opposite of love. When you say you desire something, it means you are addicted to something. If you love someone, you do not want anything. There is space to breath and fluidity exists that is natural and whole. When you desire something, you destroy that fluidity and natural release. You kill what already is. To love means to be aware, to know the space that is and to sink into this space. To be aware is a choice that requires attention and focus. It is simple and the most pleasant way of life. Desire breeds pain, lonliness and obstruction. It is the source of all misery. Suffering is optional. Hurt is part of life. For when the shell breaks open and new life emerges, tears will be shed as the light breaks free. This is the cycle of life. Where there is struggle there is life. Do not confuse suffering with struggle. They are two totally opposite aspects. Suffering is a choice to stay inside the shell, to stay in the cages that were built for you by small and unaware people. Struggle is a choice to break free, to crack the shell and emerge as your spiritual DNA sees most fit. Struggle is growth, growth is life, and life is as is, present and whole. We are not meant to be perfect, we are meant to be present. Desire dissolves, for it really is only an illusion. Who you are, your spirit, the love that creates all, is the force of the universe. It's a choice we make. To love or to desire. To be or to be addicted. To grow or to suffer. A breath of awareness is all you need to make this choice, to sink into what is.

Breathe.

joy/passion/love

joy comes from the guts combined with love from the heart. joy brings passion and passion springs forth love. working from honor, joy and love, rather than duty and fear. work from heart and guts and you will get far.

Nature

Let's just go outside in nature. Let's just frolic with the leaves. Let's just walk the way the wind walks, talk the way the trees feel, say everything that's on our minds.

Let's just be the way our heart feels, as if for only one day. For one day, as if by surprise, all the things happened, like whispers of truth. Let's be the wild thing in our heart, let's be the lazy thing on a cold winter day. Let's be explosive too, like a volcano or a flock of sharks swimming without repose or doubt or concern, fierce in their pursuit, or an avalanche in the middle of a furious fleet of ice.

Let's be the birds today. And fly away. To all the places we wish to go. Let's be the insects in the trees, the sticky sap traps our little feet. Let's be a tiny world in a web of infinite space.

Today, as if only for today, let's walk away into the deep place of the woods. Let's meet some fox and stare at him for a long time. His big brown eyes, his red fur, his pause, intense and strong, he won't flinch. What about the presence of danger? How nature stands still and waits for the moment to pass, nothing will tempt surrender.

Survival of the fittest, sure, survival of our hearts maybe more close to the truth.

I think of waves of deer, cattle, birds, following the patterns of weather. They don't think, they don't worry, they live, they run, they go where they must.

Let's walk in nature today, as if only for today, and stay awhile. Long enough to be free. Long enough to let our hair fall with the rain, the night's secrets the owl reveals as he stands on the branch, high in some tree whose limbs live forever.

Let's sleep in the tree. Let's watch ghosts and halos of the moon and the stars and our hearts. Let's fall in webs of spiders, let's float in the lake, catch ourselves on the wet mud, listen to the sounds in the soft ground. Let's fall in the ground, let it all go and feel alive, as if for only today.

Let's go in nature. Let's feel real, as if only for today. And let's live to tell the story of how big our hearts really are.

Let's go away. In nature. Today. As if only for today.

Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice

halo of the moon, a blue star round in the distance
i’m contemplating the legacy of my heart as you
wish for more in the quiet hour

i thought about despair today and then hope
hope not the distant kind not a fleeting land i’d hope
to sail to. but hope like the will and an encouraged word

and an unexpected phone call from friend. that kind of hope
the kind that sustains the kind that fills my belly with sweet sweet
space. it’s like the halo of the moon

the abundance of it’s presence, so full the the times really
are changing. and the the absence, the stillness complete
how i wondered how i’d changed tonight

i thought about it as i sat quietly dreaming how’d i’d grown
how i relaxed i became as my dreams became my breath
sometimes it seems as if the end is never in sight

as if the answer, is but a faint hope for something more
sometimes it seems far away, another age, another time
another mooning that passes, glows, then dissappears

i hoped it would be now. i hoped i would stop waiting
and start becoming. the darkness i would overcome and
fly above the rest. i hoped i would be that strong

i saw an image of the moon flicker, not just in my mind
but in the crystal clear perfection of what is real
speak of brilliance, speak of hope.

sometimes it seems as if the brightness will never come to you
it’s just one more bad story, one more bad dream, one more
wound to stuff away with rest. i don’t believe that anything

can harm me anymore. i am in the light. and i will not stop glowing
like the moon. like it’s halo, so am i, full and abundant, my presence
to never subsist. i will never cry alone again,

not for the things i never was, not for the things i can’t become
but only for the brilliant that i am. only for the halo around my heart
bright moon you light the way, like nothing has before.

now you know that true love, finds you. your friends are true.
the rest dissolves. all you can hope for is to be present, the rest
emerges as if by surprise. true love with find you, if you step into

the light. you will see who your friends are. don’t give up. not now
follow the impulse from within. you know all of the answers
you know who you are. the fears are silly. you are so strong.

this new person that i am is strong
this new person that i am is wise
pure and true
brilliant and hopeful
like the moon. like it’s halo.
the the blue star in the distance.

And this is an important night.
hold on, there are no coincidences.
full moon songs
the dialogue begins.

this night is beautifully powerful.

what is living afterall?

this is what it is all about, nights like this
the power of the universe. the power of yourself
and the connection to all that is.

i am alive and i am grateful
i will continue making things
i will not be let down