I sit here on this cool, brisk, beautiful, crystal clear sky day, in reflection.

My life, of late, has had much time, both for reflection, and active practice.

I am just home from 5 weeks on tour, teaching in Spain and Switzerland.
It seems I was constantly in practice, which brings very heightened states of insight and awareness.
My definition of ‘practice’ here means, with groups, in private sessions, but, also, daily, in life.

The ‘practice’ is one of mindfulness, openness, and connection to ‘realized’ states, or greater states of reality.

This opens the heart, peers into & from luminous states of wisdom, and has a clarity, a purity, not unlike these crystal clear blue skies.  Bliss and Joy are close friends and neighbors in these realms.

My hosts (on tour,) for some time now, are dear friends.  We mutually hold each other with great love and respect for the work we do, for all in our lives, for each other, and all our relations.  It is a loving, breathing family of friends and others we work with.

It is ever more easy to practice in such conditions.
But, I, like you, have a very busy, full, rich life.  And I, like you, have seen the growing potential of stress and apparent chaos in the world around us.

There is always ‘so much to do.’  
At times it can seem overwhelming.  And, ‘time’ can appear to not co-operate.  But, in the greater reality, it is we who are not in the ‘zone’ of no time, or connection to ‘all time,’ or, ‘all life.’

Equally, I am learning how easy it is to step back, take a moment, and enter, or reflect upon mindful presence, before taking action, before being overwhelmed, or making decisions, or just to take a ‘break’ from the work or other life pursuits I am engaging in.  It is a most quick resolution to the difficulties and challenges so many of us report in our lives.  Actually, it is immediate.
By stepping into a mindful state of clear presence, we allow our connectivity to the Greater Whole to become dynamically alive, enriching us, clarifying our awareness, interacting, engaging with us, interweaving at conscious or subconscious levels, those states of clear mindful presence, into greater and greater states of awareness.  Those states, then, become fulfilling in this very moment; but, also, guide us in our choices and actions.  Often, in such states, being in this, what I am calling Mindful Presence, is enough.  It brings us to such states of clarity, tranquility, fulfillment, enrichment, because we are in the moment, and because we are feeling the greater connectivity and Potential of Life.  It is pulsing through us.  We are IN it, we are PART of it.  We are honoring and opening to that connection.  And, by so doing, we deepen those interconnections and interweaving of the threads to All Life, and to the “Rhythms in Harmony with All Life.”  It then becomes easier and easier to be, just be, as well as to act, from this place.

We enter the ‘no time’, or “All Time,” whichever you may prefer to call it.
There is Great Potential resting here.  Perhaps, we should say, the Infinite Potential rests here, or, is available here, as we are resting in it.  This is the Place of Greater Knowing, where one’s own voice and wisdom can rise, as well as the voices and wisdom of all realms of Light, and of Life.
That may include our body’s own wisdom, our higher essence speaking, that of the Earth, the Sky, the Cosmos; the voices of the Ancestors, of all lineages we have ever been associated with, the elemental, fairy or devic kingdoms, so many potentials; the voice of the little child or other ‘wounded’ aspect of our personalit, that may still be resting within, in some cases incomplete, still yearning to be heard, felt, or loved, perhaps in need of healing, nourishment, attention, to become full, mature and to integrate more completely into our adult consciousness.  Any of these may come forward and speak, or guide, as we take a moment of reflection, entering the vast ocean of mindfulness, awareness, stillness, completion.

This ‘guidance’ may not be in the form of forms or voices.  It is important to understand, the subtle realms speak through vibrational languages.  Our skilled receptors may interpret and form those vibrational emanations into language, shapes, colors, forms.  But, I can assure you, English was not the original language of the Cosmos.  Vibration is.

And, it is with the subtle senses we receive and interpret those things ‘spoken.’  These are subtle impulses wereceive, which guide us into understanding who we are, are to become, or how to act, from a place of harmonious union with our highest essence and purpose.  It is most beneficial to pay attention to, to give credence to, those subtle impulses of ‘knowing.’  This is where our inner truth, peace, and fulfillment arise from.  These impulses may also, arise in other forms, from our dreamtime, to meditations, to ‘medicine’ signs from the animal or other kingdoms of the Earth and Sky (the full moon births through the clouds at just the right moment of affirmation, the hawk, or spider, or fox appears just at that moment……  or a friend or other loved one calls, just then!….  Do we listen?

It is so easy to do.  To enter mindful awareness, and hear the messages received.

It is just that we have learned to put so many hindrances and obstacles in the way.  Those subtle senses are subtle.  If we obscure our perceptions with misguided truths or thoughts, unresolved emotions, beliefs not in harmony with the Greater Whole, the ‘vibrations’ of those thoughts, feelings and beliefs, distort or block the senses of the the greater subtle truths which we all can perceive.  We may have learned to just go beyond those thoughts and beliefs, emotional scars and wounds, unresolved pains and bitter disputes.  We cannot just put them away.  They must be dissolved, to clarify the field of subtle energy and perception.  
We often put our energy into things relating to these misperceptions.   I am not enough, there is not enough, I am not good enough, others will hurt me, I am not loved, I am not worthy of love, all misguide us into focusing on the external veils of misperception that elude us from the greater truth residing, and resonating, within, in completion, and in harmony with Life.  We focus so much attention, then, on the outside, it may seem hard, or even that we cannot lift the veils of illusion or perception, and, we do not feel the connection which can only be established within.  We are part of the Greater Whole, we have enough, there is abundance in the world around us, all come pristinely clear when we clear the mind and rest in the inner worlds.

If we but rest in nature, whether that is resting internally in our own inner space, in calm, coherence, tranquility, peaceful states of clarity, or resting in nature itself, we can gleam those subtle truths.  As, either state will clarify and harmonize our field of perception.

It is so simple.  Some may say too simple.  But, the truth has always been simple.  It is perhaps why in our ornate and complex culture, we have amplified so many distortions to that simple truth, to try to find or bring attention to our own ‘better’ way of perceiving or being, that we can longer see the simple truth.  Our culture now overwhelms the senses with sights, sounds, things we must buy to be happy, tv and music, and more, indeed, our way of life, not at all bringing us closer to the harmonious truth or sense of fulfillment, completion, or sense of connection to the greater whole.  Step back from your culture, your work place, your home environment, family, tv shows, music, all you engage in, and simply ask:  Is it in harmony with the Essence of Life which flows through every living thing?  If not, put it away, and find a method to step closer to this fundamental essence.  Let it become the primary purveyor in your life.  Invest your energy and life force in harmonious living and conditions of being.  Learn to engage in those things which allow you to thrive!  And surround yourself with others who have a similar sense and purpose, and support you in yours.
We do not need a college degree to learn how to thrive, just as we do not need to teach an oak seed one single thing about how to become a great, full, beautiful, thriving oak.

It is inherent.  It is within us.  The Knowledge and Ability to Thrive, is within us.
We need no other.
We need only to rest, live in peace, and allow the voices of deeper wisdom and being to rise from within us, to bring to us, to restore, even greater peace, stability, beauty, joy, and, yes, abundance.

(Close your eyes during this or any point of this commentary, rest in, and reflect on what was just said, then, say, simply, ‘yes, yes, yes…’ to your self, at least three times, and see if the feeling of that does not permeate, rise, and/or thrive to even greater states of awareness and understanding within you.)

But, abundance, also, should not be measured in dollars and cents.

It should be measured in the abundant ebb and flow of life force through us, as we are and perceive that we are interconnected to the vast and most abundant universe.
When we see that, the riches of heaven far outweigh the gold standards of the earth.

We are wise and radiant beings.
May we address this, perceive this, live from this place of our own Knowing and Essence.

The vessels of illumination are all around and within us.

Certainly, there are marvelous practices we can engage in, (and which we teach regularly.)  And, having a quality practice, a quality helper, facilitator, guide or teacher, and a quality community all help tremendously.  Indeed, in Buddhism, these three qualities are known as the ‘three jewels.’

The entanglements of chaos and confusion can reign in our world, and reign havoc.  But, if so, it is only because we are focusing our attention upon these very small aspects of reality.  We invest our beliefs, and ‘power’ in them!  They are not where the Greater Truth is stored.  That is in the Halls of Universal Wisdom which are accessed through our mindful essence and being, through our hearts.  It behooves us to step back into, and feel this essence of self, thriving within, simply waiting to restore Beauty and Harmony to our being as soon as we allow it.
Focus on this.

And your life shall be restored.

 

Blessings to All

Zacciah and Those Who Walk with Him