What does he see?

February 25, 2016 by

I’m waiting to leave for cataract surgery, left eye, scheduled for 11:40 am. The eyes are sensitive. Those of us who have not had to adapt to blindness, rely on our visual cues to assess what is going on around us. We look at faces to discern what is being communicated, for movement for signs of danger, at sunsets for just shear beauty. pic-eye-anatomy
So I sit waiting, and remember what I wrote when I first found out about the cataract last October.  Post eye drops, I was sitting in the chair waiting for the ophthalmologist:

The Eye Doctor

Waiting, dilating, I wonder,
“What does he see?”

Is the the eye a window
to the soul?
Is mine covered
by a gossamer curtain?

Deceived by magic and illusion
Blinded by hopes and fears

We can be so sure, but
not necessarily so right.
We don’t see the same colors, yet
argue as if we see the same world.

The soul’s eyes do they
bypass the curtains of deception?

Still dilating,wise_owl_with_big_eyes I sit waiting—
wanting some great insight,
at least some better eye sight—

and I wonder,
“What does he see?”

2015
besliter

Filed Under: Life, Perception

Do you want extraordinary?

January 11, 2016 by

A recent post on Improvised Life highlighted the work of Kate Conklin, a performance coacaeralists-Cirque-du-Soleilh. She asks the question: What are the qualities that make a performance extraordinary? What are the things that happen that make both the performer and the audience feel like they’re flying? …like these aeralists from Cirque-du-Soleil.

Well the answer, she found out was not just in the desire  but in the work that follows. Deep down, what  do we care enough about, desire enough to, as Kate says, “Respond to that desire and do the work to support that response.”

It led me to wonder, how many of us really want extraordinary? extraordinary lives, work, relationships….

Hard and persistent work in service of what we want is not what most of us want to hear. We want easy answers, magic pills, miracles.   It’s OK but chances are it won’t be enough for the Universe to deliver the result we want….and without a shift, we’ll settle for mediocrity, for less.

So, I sit pondering, “What do I want?” Want enough to do whatever it takes?

And if nothing comes, I wonder, what is that all about?

Filed Under: Heart's wisdom, Intention, Steps, We are creators Tagged With: , , ,

Luck or ?

March 17, 2014 by

Saturday afternoon I was driving with my husband, just knocking around, seeing what we could see. We decided to take back roads and drive north as much as possible. A GPS is a great tool for this sort of meandering road trip. We Lucky Dicewere enjoying the 60 degree day and the sun which had been absent far too many days this winter. So we drove, feeling the sun’s warmth, looking at houses, trees, small towns. I was happy and thought to myself, “How lucky I am!”

As soon as the thought registered I noticed a certain unease. “I’m lucky now but this could go away. Lucky could become unlucky.” It was subtle but luck suggested that what I do doesn’t matter. That a roll of the dice determines outcomes. It was “just luck.” Really?

I decided to shift to “I’m grateful: grateful for my husband, the warm sun, the car with a sun roof, the ability to take off and drive for the sheer fun of it.”  This felt totally different. Appreciating what I had in the moment made it richer. I felt richer. I was richer.

How we think matters. To think of ourselves as “just lucky,” is to discount the power Soaring-Eagle-1-300x182of our own imaginings, our thoughts, intellect and choices. These are the tools we’re born with to co-create our lives on earth. How we think about something actually changes our experience of it. Words matter. Would you rather be lucky or grateful?

We are co-creators, learning to live more skillfully.

Filed Under: Choice, Perception, We are creators Tagged With: ,

The branches were bare!

May 6, 2013 by

Thursday. I planted the lovely little Red Chokeberry bush.

Saturday. I went to see how it was doing. There were no small white flowers, no delicate green leaves; just bare branches. The deer had dined!deer

All day I mourned the loss of this pretty little plant with its bird friendly berries. I struggled with whether I should replace it. Might it grow back? What would I need to do to keep the deer away?

Sunday. I began to think that this was a gentle wake up call. It was a reminder that I’m part of a bigger system, and not totally in control. There’s other life, with other priorities. A garden is not only about aesthetics, it’s also about lunch.

I had to decide what to do. Do I fence in the shrub? Buy something more deer resistant? Spray noxious concoctions to discourage the deer eating.  Do I walk away and grow flowers?  Somehow I think it is important for me to accept the fact that deer roam the city streets.  We’ve not found a way to coexist with the wild life that inhabits our cites. Is this natural? Well, at the moment it just is.

I don’t want to do battle. I don’t want everything I grow to be fenced in.
So, I’m planting a Molly Schroeder Viburnum, less tasty to deer. This new shrub will remind me I’m not alone on the planet. It’ll be a humble reminder that I’m part of something bigger and that my desires aren’t the only ones that count.

Monday. I’m posting this. It’s one of many lessons I’m getting about the systems we are a part of.  I don’t want this post to be a diatribe about too many deer in our cities.  It’s really a love poem to the complexity of life.

Filed Under: Intention, Systems Tagged With: , ,

If you are the environment you live in…

February 15, 2013 by

I like Peter Diamandis’s comment “you are the environment in which you live. ”  Creating works best when we focus on what we want. Negative programing shifts our focus to what we don’t want, fostering fear, worry, and negative thinking. I thought Peter’s study of Times Magazine covers was telling as well.

Filed Under: Heart's wisdom, Perception Tagged With: , , ,

Luck? Perserverance? Timing?

October 29, 2012 by

Cathy Thomas has written about her own creating process in getting her book published.

“For several years I have had the intention of writing a book. …..I can tell you that at the start, the idea of me actually writing a book seemed really crazy. …So what I did was just start… And then…my dream got stuck. I just could not get it to move forward.”

The creating process can be messy, with many opportunities to just give up. In Cathy’s case, there were no heroic bells and whistles…just a thread of desire for it to happen that kept it all moving. She listened to her own sense of when to move and when to let it rest. She was open to it not happening at the same time she still wanted it. Creating often requires holding polarities: seeing the end result complete but being OK with not having it;  being willing to put a hold on something but still be alert to possibilities…..

Read the rest of Cathy’s post here:   Making your Dream Become a Reality.

 

Filed Under: Creating with others, Heart's wisdom, The Creating Process, We are creators Tagged With: , ,

Changing one word…

October 15, 2012 by

What if you could change one word and shift what happens next?  One word that creates new possibilities as you expand vs. contract your thinking?

Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, had been a professional stand up comedian who did improvisation. Improvisation requires you find ways to use whatever the audience throws at you. You need to be able build on what has been introduced.

Mr. Costolo carried what he learned doing improvisation into his job at Twitter, “running a company of 1,300 employees.” He uses a basic improv principle, one essential for keeping the improv going.

While seemingly simple, it is actually quite profound.

“He rarely uses the word ‘but.’ Instead, he says ‘Yes and…’ –an improv principle that allows people to discuss something without disagreeing.”

It allows the actors to think about and use what was just said; building on it or not, but not discarding it.

In improv, this can lead to some pretty funny scenarios. In life it just might get us to expand our thinking instead of contracting around our point of view.

Yes and…?

Filed Under: Creating with others, Perception Tagged With: , , , ,

In the shelter of a tree…

September 3, 2012 by

We take for granted the benefit nature bestows on us. Six months after a tornado hit Moscow, Ohio, one woman remembers:

She “used to be able to walk from her home for five blocks down toward the river and be under trees nearly the whole time. Not anymore… now she knows why she has always loved Moscow’s trees … There is the shade, of course. But now she says the wind feels different. It is harder when it sweeps up from the river. And she can hear the barges that carry coal to the William H. Zimmer Power Station on the north edge of town.”*

So here’s to greater appreciation of those everyday things, like the trees we take for granted or get annoyed at when they shed leaves or nuts: the “things” we will truly miss when they are gone.

*The Enquirer, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012 p. B6.

Filed Under: Perception, We are creators Tagged With: , , ,

Lessons of a Creator: #5

August 25, 2012 by

I found a way to shift my attention away from my thinking mind, to ask questions and to listen for the answers: FOCUSING IN MY BODY. I shift my attention into my body (I focus on my heart), center with my breath and feel a moment of genuine care. As my thinking mind quiets,  I can get a felt sense of what is going on.  I can tune into an inner guidance that goes beyond my fears, worries and limitations.

My heart-focus filters out the noise my head is  broadcasting.

(Some of the science  behind this can be found at: www.heartmath.org)


Filed Under: Heart's wisdom, The Creating Process, We are creators Tagged With: , ,

Lessons of a Creator: #4

August 22, 2012 by

Our thinking minds are heavily influenced by what we’ve been taught, our beliefs about how things work, and our assumptions about people. These, too often, lead to worry, judgment, and fears that distort what we think is happening, and limit what we think is possible.

As a creator, I learned I had to go beyond what my “head” can do for me. That led me to lesson #5…

Filed Under: Fear or Courage, Perception, We are creators Tagged With: , , ,
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