Energy
December’s Spiritual Discipline
December 3, 2021
[Vector illustration]
There is a disciplined and persevering quality to the month that works in your favor as long as you are persevering in the right direction. If you are pursuing an addiction, bad habit or an old attachment, then no. But if you are clear about an intention or a will to change a pattern that does not serve you, then perseverance becomes an asset and an ally that will help you stay focused.
Perseverance can easily turn to aggression, so stay in your own lane and don’t expect everyone to be on the same page with you regarding your latest thoughts, beliefs and intentions. Give others their process without judgment or reaction. If you get angry, just allow that emotion to be there without pinning on someone or something. There is a lot of pent up emotion that has been pressurized that needs an outlet at this time. Use it wisely to become proactive and willful about something you desire. Channel it into confidence, optimism, creative expression, and a positive future.
Perseverance can also easily move into stubbornness so make sure that you are not in resistance to change but moving instead towards something you want. If you are around someone who is exhibiting obvious stubbornness, don’t argue or try to convince, but simply go your own way and let them be where they are.
Building stamina also requires having good boundaries especially against other people’s expectations, projections and judgments. And, when you have good boundaries, you will need to protect them to preserve your space. This will help you to manage chaos and to more easily recognize what is yours as opposed to what belongs to someone else.
Discipline is a big part of this month’s curriculum. Once you choose a practice, new attitude, positive change, or path, it will take discipline to stay on track and not get distracted by unimportant energy leaks.
Embrace that this is a busy month of intensity, action, sudden changes, reversals, opportunities, a bit of chaos and confusion, and many, many things on your plate. It is not a month to sit around and wait for it to be over. This is it. Lean into it with curiosity and adventure, and with the intention of harnessing the growth and power that becomes available when you do.”
~Lena
thepowerpath.com
December 4th
New Moon / Eclipse
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Kindness and Energy for La Luna
April 10, 2021
3d illustration of the moon and the sun over the ocean-Power Path.
The New Moon in Aries is Sunday, April 11 at 8:30 PM Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)
This moon brings up the physical body, the condition of your health, re-evaluation of the structure of your self-care, and a reflection of what needs to change in your daily organization of life. Be sure to take some time to reflect and evaluate. The dynamic energy of this new moon will give much fuel and ignition to any changes and choices you make for improvement however it can also trigger negative reactions, impatience and irritability as you face uncomfortable truths and challenges. Don’t take your discomfort out on others and remember to be kind no matter what.
Make sure not to make decisions out of fear or being pressured by others. Take your time, check in with your own intuition and what feels right. A new moon always supports personal decisions that must include your own timing, not pressured by others.
There is a part of us during this volatile and dynamic time that wants to see justice around what was done to us and how we have suffered either personally or collectively in the past. There is potential anger and attitude towards righting the wrongs and our personalities would love to see the alleged perpetrators go up in flames. However, the responsible and mature thing to do is to forgive the past, let go of your attachment to suffering and harness this fiery, creative energy to move yourself forward in the most positive way.
Friday.
November 6, 2020
‘We wait for the morning, we wait,
but your light is already here.
-Stephen Garnaas-Holmes
Hope is an energy field, writes John Freeman in his Dictionary of Undoing. Stay steady, stay engaged.
︶⁀°• •° ⁀︶
Steady.
Resilient.
Compassionate.
ℒ ℴ v e
Absorbing the holoflux.
October 30, 2020
[NASA]
From Maria Popova.
“For a moment of calibrating the correct scale and splendor of things: Nasa captures the first “sprites” – brief, bright flashes of light in the upper atmosphere – on another world, dancing their intense blue in the immense sky of Jupiter.”
Maria wants call it ‘Juno Blue.’
Dr. David Bohm’s holoflux: the flowing movement of all that is, the ground of our being, the mysterious domain in which mind, matter, and meaning are an organic whole…’folding and enfolding.’
☆
Center for Action and Contemplation/Fr Richard Rohr
Glimpsing a new world.
Thomas Keating’s final message was the following:
Dear friends: In the universe, an extraordinary moment of civilization seems to be overtaking us. . . . It’s a time of enormous expectancy and possibility.
We are called to start—not with the old world contracts, now that we know that they are all lies—but [with] what we know as the truth. . . . So I call upon the nations to consider this as a possibility: that we should begin a new world with one that actually exists. This is the moment to manifest this world, by showing loving concern for poverty, loving appreciation for the needs of the world, and opportunities for accelerated development. We need to find ways to make these really happen. I make this humble suggestion, that now arms-making is of no significance in the world. It hinders its progress.
This will allow and offer the world the marvelous gift of beginning, [of] creating, of trusting each other, of forgiving each other, and of showing compassion, care for the poor, and putting all our trust in the God of heaven and earth. I leave this hope in your hands and hearts, coming as a real inspiration from the heart of God. What does [God] care about who has this or other lands, when the power to begin with the truest history is coming from religion as expression of the Source that has been realized for centuries? Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Indigenous, and Christianity—all religions—oneness is their nature. Amen. [1]
Richard: In this injunction to the world, Father Thomas Keating says what he has been given to know. The only path forward for the survival of our species and perhaps even our planet is a path of nonviolence, of contemplation and action prioritizing justice and solidarity, an affirmation of Oneness and the interconnectedness of all things, which science confirms, and spirituality has always known on its deepest level.
I think the real purpose of the spiritual journey is to expand people’s ability to do good by liberating them. This is what Jesus did, after all—free people from their pain, their sin, their “uncleanness,” and even their deaths. Then he sent them back to their families and to society to live in relationship and live lives of freedom and wholeness. As a devoted student of Jesus and lover of God, Thomas Keating did the same through the gift of Centering Prayer; he helped people connect to an inner stillness and experience of God that liberated them from egoic strongholds—so they could become free and whole. His final words help us imagine the possibilities for ourselves and our world.
[1] Thomas Keating, Fr. Thomas Keating’s Last Oracle (Contemplative Network: 2020), transcription (October 2018), YouTube video.
One love.
June 4, 2019
Love, the attraction of all things toward all things, is a universal language and underlying energy that keeps showing itself despite our best efforts to resist it. It is so simple that it is hard to teach, yet we all know love when we see it.
After all, there is not a Native, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, or Christian way of loving. There is not a Methodist, Lutheran, or Orthodox way of running a soup kitchen. There is not a gay or straight way of being faithful, nor a Black or Caucasian way of hoping.
We all know positive flow when we see it, and we all recognize resistance and coldness when we feel it. All the rest are mere labels.
When we are truly “in love,” we move out of our small, individual selves to unite with another, whether in companionship, friendship, marriage, or any other trustful relationship.
For Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), a French Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist, love is “the very physical structure of the Universe.” That is a very daring statement, especially for a scientist to make. Yet for Teilhard, gravity, atomic bonding, orbits, cycles, photosynthesis, ecosystems, force fields, electromagnetic fields, sexuality, human friendship, animal instinct, and evolution all reveal an energy that is attracting all things and beings to one another, in a movement toward ever greater complexity and diversity—and yet ironically also toward unification at ever deeper levels. This energy is quite simply love under many different forms.
(Please, use another word..energy…flow…Gaia…if it works better for you.)
-Fr. Richard Rohr, Center for Action & Contemplation
[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “Sketch of a Personal Universe,” Human Energy, trans. J. M. Cohen (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: 1962), 72.]
Upgrade.
December 1, 2017
POWERPATH
Now that we have turned the soil and processed, recapitulated and come to terms with certain areas of our lives, it is time to think of where and what we need to change in order to prepare for what is next.
I chose the theme of UPGRADE because that is where we want to end up. Not with business as usual, but with goals, intentions, plans and determination to improve our lives so that our experience is upgraded from what is was before.
Navigating this month will take focus and discipline. You cannot be lazy about your practices and if you say you are going to do something or start a project, program or discipline, you better be prepared to follow through. There is a fine line of balance between focus and imagination, between your will and your intuition. You need all of them to work together and in harmony.
There is an expansive quality to the month that should lean towards excitement and inspiration about the possibilities. We can struggle a bit with fear of the unknown but remember that fear and worry are usually about things that have not yet happened so part of the discipline of the month is to stay present. In the present you have just your current experience to deal with. This is an active month and one of transition, movement, preparation and improvement. Burst of energy channeled into action will be balanced with down times of assimilation and integration. Stay out of judgment about what is happening, not happening and how. It all leads to an upgrade.
Think of yourself as a computer. If your computer is beginning to show signs of not being able to keep up with new programs and needs more memory and a higher processing speed, it is time for an upgrade. While the upgrade is in process, the computer is down. When it comes back up, there are often glitches that need to be fixed or refinements made to the way things are organized. When it is rebooted, you are able to do and process more.
It is the same with our physical, mental, emotional and energy bodies. At times, as we are in the process of upgrading, the body is down and offline. We are checked out. Sometimes this takes the form of an illness or simply a total lack of energy and focus. It could even be defined as depression, apathy, lethargy and confusion. Let it be. And then when we come back on line, we are improved and better capable of handling more than before. So be careful what you ask for this month. Don’t hold yourself back, but know that the bigger the upgrade you seek, the bigger the “growth period” of being offline may be.
This is rather an exciting month as long as you can keep your eye on the ultimate goal and not get mired in the discomfort of the process. It will be important to pay close attention to your daily details and to stay really present with what is working and what isn’t. The only way to successfully upgrade is to tell the truth about what needs it and then to be disciplined about taking the necessary steps. Because you are most likely going to be changing patterns as you upgrade, you will need to be conscious of being persistent. If you get distracted and go to sleep during this process, you risk sliding back into the very habits you are trying to change. So, stay awake, stay present, tell the truth, and get serious about dreaming what you always wanted and putting your discipline behind it.
We need to be aware of impatience this month and to work with time in a new way. Once you decide something, the discipline is not to hurry it along but rather to stay focused and not distracted by doubt and worry. Be inspired by the intelligence of right timing instead of frustrated by the lack of mental information. This may be a tough time for those that have a strong need “to know”. We have no mental idea of where we are headed with this upgrade but we do have an intuitive one that requires trust and patience. Always look to inspires you when you feel yourself in need of a reminder.
It is best to try and enjoy the process this month, whatever it is, and to see all aspects as important on your journey. If you are “offline” it may be difficult for you to trust that there are gifts at the end. Especially if you are upgrading through a health crisis, it may be a challenge to stay positive. The best interpretation of these times is that we are being rewired energetically in preparation for something new: new ideas, new insights, new belief systems, new experiences, new attitudes, and a new relationship with life. This is always hardest on the physical body so have patience with however your upgrade is choosing to show up. And remind yourself daily that you are indeed moving towards an UPGRADE.
[Full forecast: https://thepowerpath.com/monthly-forecast/december-2017-monthly-forecast/ ]
Are you fired up?
August 16, 2015Fired up
A friend was in a meeting with a few colleagues when my latest book came up.
One person said, “After I finished it, I was all fired up, and I felt like quitting my job to go do something amazing.”
The other one said, “That’s funny. After I finished it, I was all fired up and I couldn’t wait to come to work to do something amazing.”
Fired up isn’t something you can count on, but it’s certainly possibly to create a job, an opportunity and a series of inputs and feedback that makes it more likely that people get that way.
And fired up sometimes drives people to do amazing work with you, especially if you’ve built a job description and an organization that can take that energy and turn it into work that matters.
Give people (give yourself) projects that can take all the magic and energy and enthusiasm they want to give.
-Seth Godin