Skillful Living

Hola mi Gente,
When I facilitated workshops, I was always looking out for experiential exercises. This, in turn, kept me in a state of constant exploration and learning. So, in a very real sense, my workshop participants were actually my greatest teachers.

Alive

Change your words into truth and then change that truth into love…
 -- Steveland Wonder, As

Ever consciously reflected on the fact that you are alive -- right now? I mean really get into that? Try this, soften your belly and relax your jaw. Feel -- feel don’t think -- feel your heart beating deep inside your body, and feel the rhythm of your heart as it radiates outward, pulsing in your hands, feet, and neck. Feeling your heart in this way, relax and open as in an offering to the world.

While you are at it, take a moment and try to feel how you live your life. How do you spend your life’s moments? What did you or will do today or yesterday? What are your plans for tomorrow? Who do you love and do you love deeply?

The undeniable truth is that no matter what -- no matter how much money you have made, how many Coach Bags you own -- one day you will become numb and your heart will stop, you will stop breathing, and all this will disappear. In some moment just like this one, your life will end.

Period.

Are you ready for death? Are you ready for the death of your children and your loved ones?

Perhaps one day you will be friends and family celebrating, a gentle breeze, the sun caressing your face. Suddenly your heart stops. A final plea… and then fade to black… 

Are you ready? I mean, are you truly ready? Have you loved and lived fully and given of your deepest gifts?

A life well lived is a life faced with an open heart in every moment. You can be wide open, holding nothing back and you will receive in return without pushing away. This is true whether you are living in a penthouse or the Big House (prison). The opening of your heart does not come from an analysis of some kind, it is not dependent on external factors, it does not come from “loving” in the normal sense that we conceptualize love. The opening of your heart comes from a deeply felt sense. You are openness, inseparable from this entire moment. The one truth is that everything comes and goes. Everything must change.

Your child’s smile: precious but temporary and already dissolving.

Your lover’s tender embrace: already disentangling.

Life often resembles the ocean in that, try as we may, we are essentially helpless to stop the waves -- they come and go, no matter how much we rail against them. Yet, while it is true that we cannot stop the waves, we can still learn how to surf. Every moment is a miracle and already disappearing. Every experience is at the same time full and empty -- both.

A life lived merely for the sake of experience is a cheated life full of tension, insecurity, loneliness, and a deep sense of emptiness. Your Coach bag cannot fulfill you because, at some point in time, it will fade. It will break, or get lost, stolen, or worse: it will fall out of fashion. Your experience cannot fulfill you because as soon as it comes, it is already gone. Like the addict’s obsession/ compulsion for a fix, it’s an illusion, just out of reach.

If we stop the grasping, life becomes free and full of light. Surrendering is opening. That’s how you open -- you surrender, opening full and bright, breathing deeply. Offering your heart of hearts, you are reborn in this moment. Believe me, when the end comes the only questions that will matter is whether you loved deeply and lived fully. But do not wait, death gives us the permission to live freely and love openly this very moment.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization… 

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, please consider helping me out by sharing it, liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, or even throwing me some money on GoFundMe HERE or via PayPal HERE so I can keep calling it like I see it.

Sunday Sermon [Simplicity]

Hola mi gente,
Yeah, it’s winter here in the land of the snow, but I still prefer to live here than in whatever Armpit, USA you live. LOL

For every complex problem, there is a simple solution that doesn’t work.
 -- H. L. Mencken

I was recently reminded of the story of the man who kept constantly snapping his fingers. When someone asked him why he did this, he answered, “Well, to keep the snakes away, of course.” When it was pointed out to him that there weren’t any snakes in their city, the man said, “You see how well it works?”

You might laugh, but this kind of fallacious thinking happens all the time. This is the kind of logic that often guides the search for simple solutions -- until we finally roll up our sleeves and do the actual work. You find this frame of mind to be true of those who champion positive thinking or prosperity spirituality. The truth remains that using techniques to change our beliefs, fix our feelings, banish self-doubt, quiet the mind, think only positive thoughts, or attract whatever or whomever we desire, represents simple solutions that don’t work. Visualizing money will not magically attract it unless I act as much as I focus. I also have a problem with spirituality that is grounded on getting and hoarding material things. As far as I’m concerned that’s the opposite of the spiritual life.

Whenever I ask a group of people how many have read books on positive thinking, many hands go up. When I ask them to keep their hands up if they have had only positive thoughts in the last week, all the hands disappear. How many of us who visualize positive outcomes, listen to subliminal tapes, or affirm out the ass, actually realize the desired results?

::blank stare::

Besides, as I have been writing about for years now, there’s a tremendous amount of potential in “negativity” or negative thoughts. Negative thoughts can act as motivating factors in success and there’s a wealth of knowledge and experiential lessons to be gleaned from them and our failures. Believe me, I just went through a year and a half of some of the most challenging circumstances, and using negative “energy” was a huge factor in keeping my sanity.

The truth is that there is no way to keep our emotions or thoughts positive because we have no direct control over arising feelings or thoughts. In actuality, much of our suffering is rooted in the false belief of control. In any case, in the real world, people who transcend their situations are not fixated on changing their feelings, manipulating thoughts. They are focused on doing what needs to be done, and doing it regardless of whatever feelings may arise. Of course, this does not mean repressing or denying our feelings or thoughts. In fact, I value my thoughts and emotions as I would a beloved child: I value, honor, listen to, and learn from him, but I don’t let them take over the house.

Simplicity has power, no doubt, and grounding our lives on constructive, positive behavior is the simplest and most powerful approach I have known. However, simple doesn’t mean easy. On the contrary, the techniques proposed by many motivational speakers appear easy on paper, but are as complex and fascinating as they are unworkable. And when we try these techniques and fail to get our desired outcomes, we assume we didn’t do them right or applied ourselves enough and enter the madness of continuing to do the same actions and expecting different results. 

Yes, simplicity has power. But what can be simpler than just doing it?

 

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization… 

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, please consider helping me out by sharing it, liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, or even throwing me some money on GoFundMe HERE or via PayPal HERE so I can keep calling it like I see it.