Whole Living Today

In one of my earlier posts, The Seesaw, I compare the seesaw to finding balance within our daily life.

As we fight to maintain balance within our lives we create chaos and disrupt the natural tendency for our life to find its own balance. A balance in life needs the ups and downs. Do we really want our lives to be in perfect balance?

This is a great little film that won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1990. Watch what happens as life gradually balances itself, to fighting for balance, to achieving perfect balance. (There is a little in there about ‘careful what you ask for’ and greed as well).

Looking out my kitchen window the other day, I saw one of my squirrel friends eating the corn I put out for them. Guess he reached his fill so he started digging holes and burying the kernels.

Well, they did this last winter as well, hiding the kernels in the ground. Sometime around August I had all these corn plants growing in my backyard beds. I really doubt that the squirrels were hoping to supply themselves with fresh grown corn.

“Squirrels can teach us balance within the circle of gathering and giving out. If we are doing too much of one or the other, squirrel may appear to help us. Squirrels are the masters of preparing, but they also are reminders that in our quest for our goals, we should always make time to socialize and play. Work and play go hand-in-hand, or the work will create problems and become more difficult and less fruitful.” (Ted Andrews, “Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small)

This is how I interpreted the symbolism of the behavior I saw with squirrels last year:

I was worrying too much about the future, fearful and lacking trust that the universe would provide. I don’t know what the future will bring. All I have is right now. By living worrying about the future, I was missing out on the present. I needed to take more time to enjoy life and let go of the stresses. I was out of balance.

But I’m not the same person I was last year. So my current interpretation is more along these lines:

Plant your seeds and see what comes to fruition. No expectations. Just let those seeds do their own thing. Some may grow and some may not.

By observing the world around us, we are better able to see what is going on within ourselves through signs and symbols. Journaling these observations and interpretations validates our thoughts and feelings. It opens the way for personal and spiritual growth.

Related posts:

• Reading the Signs
• Signposts Along the Path of Spiritual Growth

This is an article I wrote several years ago that has appeared on many websites as well as printed publications. Decided to add the full article to my blog as well.  Enjoy!

“Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one is watching.” 
— Satchel Paige

What a great philosophy to travel through life’s journey with! It was interesting to receive this quote in an email as I have told many people “you just need to dance as though no one is watching.” This statement can be taken literally - go out dancing and just let your spirit soar, enjoy yourself, have fun - or, figuratively - dance through life and just let your spirit soar, enjoy yourself, have fun … does it really matter what other’s think? I’m not talking about throwing away all responsibilities (we do live in a real world), but rather about taking time to be or explore who we are. Work on finding a balance. Be true to yourself, don’t live your life to please others. Live to please yourself and others will be pleased. Emotions are infectious; why not spread happiness, joy and love?

Take the time to watch a seagull in flight. Some days, depending on the weather, they appear to just float, soar and really enjoy themselves. Watch again on a windy day, they have to work a little harder to get where they’re going. Notice how when the weather gets stormy, they land and just hang out for a while. Here’s a quote from “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach: ”Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in the trembling hard curve - slowing, slowing, and stalling once more - was no ordinary bird.” Next time you get to a stormy day, read this book again as an adult. Everyday brings something new; learn to notice something new each day. Life will always be filled with challenges, make the best of them. Enjoy life, be happy. Go with the flow.

As we learn to “work like you don’t need money”, our jobs become less of a burden or struggle. Isn’t life more pleasurable when you are doing something you enjoy rather than something you “have to”? Look upon work as something rewarding. Money isn’t everything. Take pride in your tasks, be the best you can at what you do. Smile more. Try this for a couple of days; watch your job transform into something more enjoyable. Chances are, more money will also come your way. Just imagine the difference in tips for a waiter/waitress who smiles and makes their job more enjoyable compared to the person that really doesn’t want to be there. Or the possible job promotions when you put your best foot forward. 

Now, the tough part - “love like you’ve never been hurt”. Everyone is unique, every relationship is unique. Give that person every opportunity; don’t compare them or limit the relationship because of fears from the past. Learn from the past. Release yourself from the past. Live the present moment. Don’t look back and don’t look forward. What you have is right now. It’s guaranteed that if you expect to be hurt, you’ll find it. Openness, understanding and honesty are important aspects to any relationship; they reduce expectations and allow us to “see it as it is”. People change, they grow. Love involves allowing the other to grow, to be who they are - to accept the possibility that you don’t walk the same path anymore. Love may not last forever but if you enjoy every minute you have of it and can look back without regrets … we are all here to live life to it’s fullest, to learn from it’s lessons. Everyone has something to share, be it good or bad. It is up to us to determine how fully we experience living.

So, now let’s tie this philosophy to a health column. By living our lives more in tune with our natural spirit, we add more balance into our lives, our bodies are more at ease - not dis-ease. Stress levels reduce. With a reduction of stress, blood pressures reduce, sleep routines become more restful, digestion problems subside, tension headaches disappear; anxiety, nervousness, and depression reduce … the possibilities are endless. Take the time to enjoy life.

Time waits for no one …

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured and far away.” - Henry David Thoreau

With our hectic lives and times of increasing stress, it becomes easier and easier to loose sight of the beauty that surrounds us everywhere. Do you take the time to really notice the ’small things’ in your life?

It doesn’t take much, just an open eye to see with and an open heart to feel with. Now, find something to look at. Anything; a photo in a magazine, a flower, a rock, a leaf, a cup of coffee, even your hand. Take a few minutes to really observe your object, see it with a new set of eyes, become that object.  Notice all the different colors and shades of the same color. Notice the texture. Notice what it feels like (if it’s a photo, feel what it would feel like to actually be there). Just lose yourself for a few minutes and become totally absorbed in feeling and observing.

Guess what.  Your blood pressure dropped in those few minutes. Your stress level dropped. You relaxed.  You didn’t have a choice, you were totally present in what you were doing. No other thoughts could enter into your mind. This is a simple exercise that can be practiced anytime, anywhere and with anything.

“if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” ~Joseph Campbell