Mid life Crisis as Midlife Transformation.

A basic truth of Mid life Crisis is it being an ever changing process. In effect it's a time of transformation. It doesn’t make a difference who you are, how organized or how spiritual you are. This is a complex time spanning years in a person's life.

Midlife Transformation isn’t a process of a neat single step. A person living this transformation will experience many changes, make many mistakes along the way and almost always will end up in a place they never even suspected exists. Midlife Transformation most often will lead to several experiences of “Enlightenment” during the overall process.

If you are fortunate enough to have experience such a feeling of “Enlightenment” once, then be aware this is just the starting point of a longer journey. If you haven’t reached the “Enlightenment” you seek, then it means not having yet relaxed into a practice of acceptance yet.

This process of receiving insight and growing is gained by tumbling through all the edges/boundaries of the transformation providing a person perspective. It's this perspective and the changes in your perceptions that fuel the “Enlightenment” process. So don’t hesitate to change, don’t hesitate to practice and try new activities.

When Julie and I guide others in our Personal Retreats, we help a person walk along their life in many ways. The most important teaching being a practice of acceptance. From this point a person can begin to relax into their own nature. Acceptance is the spring from which “Enlightenment” emerges. Once this lesson is shown, we then literally teach many many different practices (be it Dance, Yoga, Qi Gong, Laughter, Taoism, Herbalism, Physics, Hiking, Meditation, Art etc) which help a person towards what they would like to become.

People make the mistake that any new practice they learn could be the key and the actual process of Enlightenment. This is a mistake. Never confuse the tool , a practice, with the destination of Enlightenment. To make this mistake just means taking longer to find your own personal acceptance.

While a practice could lead towards Enlightenment. Thousands upon thousands of practices exist which can be helpful for a person. We each have and will learn many many practices over our life, to fit and make life wonderful to experience.

The process of Enlightenment is simply acceptance and living of one’s life fully!

Midlife Crisis
is the active process of Rejecting your current state of life.

Midlife Transformation
is the active process of re-learning how to be yourself.

It's possible to find guides in this journey, just be careful and try to find a guide who respects your changing nature rather than trying to make you into a clone of their practice. This is a very common mistake people make in their Mid life Crisis.

Trying to be something you are not, actually continues and lengthens the process of a Mid life Crisis.

Discover the secret that Mid life Crisis is actually allowing it to become a Midlife Transformation. This means allowing the change into yourself. Don't limit or try to be something else. Simply explore the options as they occur and along the way this opens up discovery and unexpected joys to life.

The experience of joy itself becomes the guiding light to your own nature without forcing the issues of crisis.

This whole process of movement when done with joy becomes a guiding force known as grace.

Following this basic outline will help turn a Mid life Crisis into a time of wonder and exploration. Yes it always will be a hard journey, but it can also be the most enjoyable journey within one's life when being open to the overall experience.

Grace in your journeys. :)

Peace

Thinking, Working and the Joy of being Lazy

So todays topics in order:

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Thinking... It's problematic. When working at physical labor... it's very easy to turn that into a meditation and let the work tumble on pass.

But thinking... when you work by thinking all the time... well it isn't so easy to turn that off... since if you do... well you get fired. Yet at some point it hits a person... having to think ... and having to go into the zone... Hitting the need to be within a quieter state of being while forced to be in a higher more agitated state of THINKING....

This is the point most people just slowly start shutting down and begin to drop the balls of life they are juggling... having to work seriously at thinking while the mind is shutting down to not thinking: Because quite simply it has had enough.

So how does one:

Stop thinking -> when thinking

It's an interesting problem.

Eventually I will have to write that one up in my next book. but for now, it's a red sticky on my glass desk that says:

How to stop thinking... When thinking...

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Which brings me to the next topic of writing.


Looks like I have a new Personal Tao book to write. The Personal Tao is actually going to be a series of books. The next book is a more practical how to book. Some of the book topics will include.

• How to shape the empty space.
• How to get married in 3 days or less and stay happy
• How to change one's reality.
• How to live and change through mid life crisis.
  

etc. It will be a more practical book. The first Personal Tao was truly an expression of art, of living. This next version should be something publishers will enjoy ;)

Which leads me to the next Topic

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Ah to be a Taoist Master is to enjoy life lazily at times.

The book is laid out and initial materials strewn about electronically in my computer and blog. But life is enjoyable as is... who knows when I will assemble it. Right now it's much more important just to be ... as is. Don't really have enough motivation yet, because right now it's just more important being as is.

Much love to all.

;)

Peace

Spiritual Whining, Money and Action

Whining…

I never thought about this until a few days ago watching my daughter Brisamina whine about wanting Julie.

She whined: “I want Mommie…”

I immediately thought about how adults can whine in a similar fashion except it becomes:

“I want Money…”

For example: watching the spiritual movie “The Secret” was a hour long spiritual whining session on exactly this topic, focused primarily upon how to make lots of money. This film is making money hands over fist indicating how many people desire “money” as a goal of their spiritual path. More disturbingly I have been watching mainstream Hollywood movies showing a trend portraying if a person is “spiritually” correct then the money follows as a reward…

Why do people focus on money? To answer this, let’s first ask what is money?

Money is a form of power.

When people feel powerless, it’s no surprise a person will desire money as a path towards empowerment. However, money rarely fulfills a person with a truly fulfilling spiritual power. The reason hearkens back to the previous posts. Spirit represents the flow of one’s life. If a person is so busy flowing around to make money: then often times the meaningful aspects of spirit literally get lost in the shuffle. A fulfilling flow of life is about graceful interactions of life… which is quite a bit more than just working hard towards some cash for transitory items.

Now back to the main part of the topic. After listening to my daughter whine, I wondered:

How many people pray unintentionally with a whining tone?

Praying is a powerful medium where a person sets intention towards betterment. It’s the first step in aligning everything to open possibility.

Now remember what spirit is: Spirit is the movement of our life. This implies action... your own personal actions towards fullfilling your prayers. If the intention of prayer isn’t followed up with actions (no matter how seemingly minor they might be, such as chanting or starting to speak out loud)… then the intention gets lost in the shuffle….

Brisamina when whining “I want Mommie” didnt follow through with action. She could have walked over to hug Julie. Instead she cried on and on in whining hoping some angel would cause Julie to sweep her up. Instead she was lost in her crying and all the Angels fled in the whine of noise.

Spiritual prayer is like this. It’s very very important part of life and does have power: as it sets the stage for intention, allowing for the larger universe to get ready for you to make a difference…

So when praying... dont forget the often unmentioned second step of follow up with action to back the intention , the intended motion and finally hopeful goal the prayer sets forth for life.

peace



PS I mention chanting as an action to prayer. Chanting is a very powerful healing and connection medium for improving life. The sounds and vibrations have been shown to be very healing for the body. Sound also can be a channel for the mind to follow and open up new ideas and feelings.

Chanting is an action to follow the prayer, one of many examples of simple but effective actions a person can take to empower their prayers.

Corporate Spies and Stooges in our Midst

I came across this blurb yesterday about "Sesame Street”

As for Cookie Monster, he can be seen in the old-school episodes in his former inglorious incarnation: a blue, googly-eyed cookievore with a signature gobble (“om nom nom nom”). Originally designed by Jim Henson for use in commercials for General Foods International and Frito-Lay, Cookie Monster was never a righteous figure.

Damn cookie monster was stooge and spy for the corporate machine that runs our country!... Shit that is depressing! I mean Cookie monster was my fave from Sesame Street and he was so very "righteous" fighting for the right to eat what the hell he wanted to eat... I mean COOKIE MONSTER...

How could you betray us all?





I am sorry converting to fruits and veg's just doesn't make up for crimes against society now. Perhaps its time to testify against the lords and masters of General Foods International. Surely you must know the dirt behind the throne...

Gads some days the news just kicks one to the curb... Time to give it a rest already and get on with living life well...

peace

Passing on a smile

Just a note to those who pass by this way. I wanted to pass on a simple gift today

a smile :)

some recognition

some thanks for sharing in my life

some peace of the moment

some autumn winds dancing with colorful leaves

some happiness... if even in words

Thanks for sharing in life with me. I wish you well today.

Peace

3 Halves and An Overflowing Cup

Always dream
Even when awake
It creates a new world,
letting you defy gravity

I have this poem on my Taoist Master business card. It feels strange to have a business card as a Taoist Master, but we do meander in society and all the masters I know including myself maintain various types of "jobs" in healing, communication or martial practices to earn cash for odds and ends such as food.

While money may not grow on trees, Food does grow freely on trees and all around.. except all those fences and guns and governments seem to insist to making everything based upon money... Which in turn mean it's all about control and power really. Oh well... until sharing becomes the standard unit of exchange, I will have a business card.

I got some wonderful feedback from someone who the poem touched the other week. They wrote back saying:

Because of you I have been dreaming while awake, not sure if I'm accomplishing much but it sure does brighten days!

This made me smile, since to make a difference is to reach out and share. It's something I always do and it does ripple out and help others. It's very easy to share peace and spread it out by being oneself and sharing the enjoyment of life.

I thought about the comment and I do need to add something to it

• The first half of the trick to "happiness"...
  
  Is dreaming while awake, this makes life beautiful in the moment by opening up possibility...
  

• The 2nd half of the trick:
  
  Simple Actions in the now truly lead to results.

The problem becomes people like to add a 3rd half to the whole process. We add expectation, we add the desire for accomplishment to the mix.

It isn't possible to have 3 halves to whole... which means once expectation and desire of accomplishment is added to the mix, it forces a person to overshoot, to go beyond and work a whole lot harder... and all this extra action ends up distracting a person from missing the goal altogether ...

When Taoists talk about action without action: about wu-wei: it's closer to say from a western perspective this is action without expectation.

See where this is going?

Taoism teaches a person to drop the expectation, to drop the desire for accomplishment... Since by dreaming and acting in the moment... means results will fall out naturally on their own.


So drop accomplishment, instead live each moment and then surprisingly, in each moment, make a little more true in the dream, one little action at a moment... and then... something happens! It's beautiful since this process opens possibility. Oh the dream itself may not happen... but along the way, new and brilliant opportunities will arise from just enabling the dreams and action to mix together.

Its hard to do since we are taught in this society to live by expectation, yet it's a process of mixing dreaming and living to small actions in the moment.... that open possibilities... .... this way when something special comes along its possible to recognize the moment and not hesitate to move with the process .


Peace

Acceptance and Healing

What is the baseline for healing?

Healing is based upon acceptance.

To heal is to repair & restructure oneself to an established baseline. That baseline drawn upon acceptance.

This winds up being a personal definition for how far healing can go: based upon terms of acceptance placed upon life, our bodies... our soul.

If one accepts a diminished state, then healing is likewise diminished. If one embraces life fully, then the healing process then fulfills out as water fills a bowl.

In Taoism, a person accepts their ever changing nature. The only limit being what we ourselves bound ourselves by. Healing isn't process to push, it's part of everyday movement of life. Every day we change, every day... our souls shift (and then heal) into something new.

Once discovering this, healing becomes more than simply a repair process... instead the mind and body integrate into a process of embracing those shifting moments, ever becoming what you accept yourself to be. So from this perspective (as it's part of the movement of the soul) healing is as much a spiritual process as a physical process. It becomes a process of growth.

This could be confusing since from a Taoist perspective, on one hand being complete in every breath and on the other hand expanding and changing to something new upon each moment. For a Taoist simply living is the ultimate healing practice, in which it isn't a process of healing into what you were, but instead transforming constantly anew, upon each breath , upon each morning sun rise. Healing literally then becomes a state of being.

When you hear about Taoist Masters having a "high energy" about them, It comes out of the very process of being oneself and always transforming into oneself creating a soulful dynamo that drives A Taoist Master's healing ability.

We are all healers, in taking the time to be ourselves.

Peace

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More on Soul and Spirit

More about Soul and Spirit and the Empty Space.

OK first a refresher course:

• Soul is what you are.
• Spirit is Soul in motion.
• Empty space is the reflection of your life.

I have been teaching Taoism and helping others come to terms with the nature of life. In these conversations, Soul and Spirit and the Empty Space come up quite a bit.

Here are some tidbits which might be helpful from these sessions.

Is spirit the same thing as soul?

No. While since spirit is soul in motion... one could make the mistake to think the two are the same thing. This link is one of the reasons the term spirit and soul are used so interchangeably. They are separate but interconnected and related. Much in the same way the tide is not water, but gravity's dancing movement between the earth and the moon. Where the water is caught up in the motion of the tide to reveal its existence.

This is important due to the nature of our empty space.


Now before explaining, lets further define the nature of "empty space". Taoists will often describe empty space in relative terms. Because it's uniquely defined for each person... as the meaning of our very life. However, this definition leaves people wanting for more. Since most people struggle for a fulfilling meaning for their life.

From a practical point of view: Empty space is defined by how we embrace it. This gives empty space a surprising definition:

Empty space fulfills with all the connections to the larger world.

We hold within the empty space all the connections to the universe we hold dear.

This is an exceedingly powerful definition and helps give surprising insights for each person on how they connect and maintain their relationships.

So back to soul and spirit.

Soul defines the shape of our life: in that space: it creates a "empty space" a bowl within which we capture the essence of connections to the larger universe. Just as a bowl holds water, our soul holds everyone and thing we hold dear to our life.

Now this is the tricky part. Our shape is more than a static form: It's also the shape that gets carved out by our soul moving in our life: Our spirit!

When our soul moves with life.. expressed as our spirit: it also creates a larger shape, which also in turn creates a larger empty space: within which we can hold even more connections to the larger universe.

This is why spirit is very important as it helps a person expand to reach out and experience ever more life.

The Practical Meaning of This Discussion

The movement of our life is important as it helps add shape/form to our nature. So learn how to Dance with Life: enjoy the very movement of our existence since it's fulfilling to our very meaning in how we reach out and connect to the surrounding world.

It's not about doing the most, the best or following the path of others... it's simply a question of living, stumbling, recovering and moving on with grace. It's never too late to embrace grace and to do so has surprisingly amazing results in reflection to how one will feel and then be able embrace their very life.

peace

New Directions

Julie and I are changing directions again.

We are offering a very special Taoist / Spiritual Personal Retreat for people now. It's starting off as a word of mouth business.

Over the years we have helped others: settle, find themselves and discover acceptance. So we are going to do this now as part of our long term business. It makes sense to finally combine our life path with work in a more practical way.

I still have to write up some descriptions and ideals of the holistic teaching and healing practice we will provide, but no rush either since until spring/summer 2008 it will be an exclusively word of mouth based activity shifting with each person depending on their needs for finding direction, acceptance, peace, resolution and paths of living.

After helping people discover "A Personal Tao" with writing and general teaching, I am excited to begin this next step of aiding others with a practical day to day and personal approach. When it's so easy to be overwhelmed by the pressures and constraints of living in modern work culture, it's really not about finding the "Secret" with a mass marketed product.

It's simply about discovering personal truth in how you really want to live: On your own terms.

Peace

This Year's Autumn Poem

Autumn's Flood

The seasonal dam breaks.

Flooding Leaves...

Golden Yellow Streams
Aerial torrents...
Grounding: into an aftermath pool
of paper thin leaf

Kicking feet: crunch, swish, brush aside
that which drank deeply of summer
now blanketing in oranges, reds, yellows.
Dancing to decaying brown...

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Nov 2 2007
Prescott Az

Chaos, Dance and Life

Julie and I are working together, combining our practices together.

Merging Dance and Taoist practice together. It's been a meandering process , not with intentions, but occurring from sharing the love of life.

So we were talking last night

Julie asks: "What is Chaos's expression in Nature?"

It was interesting since with that question my third eye opened and visions danced across my mind. This is one aspect to being a Taoist Master, the opening of the third eye and how it reveals information and wisdom. It's a strange experience in that it overlaps one's senses and yet it is also a very distinct sense onto its own.

So from the visions the response came back immediately: It's the basis and final form of true individuality.

More Fractals

In the fractal pattern of life: We start off as a seed pattern. However the final shape, the final form is unique to each one of us. For example: just as fingerprints are unique even to twins. A finger print is defined by the initial fractal pattern seed (Yin) combining to the random interactions of growth (Yang) within the womb end up producing each final finger print to be unique.

Our individuality, our unique spin in consciousness is due to Chaos. Chaos is what makes each human uniquely an individual human.

Without Chaos we would each be just simply organic computers without a defined sense of true self.


We are a fire engaged within a dance of life and the peak of our experience, is also the peak of our individuality. IN this, is part of the reason why the hardest times of life are often remembered as the best times of life... since we are shaping towards our ultimate expression of what we are.

A Taoist always embraces now fully, every moment is lived fully and in that is the chaos of why people have such a hard time following a Taoist Master in their course... We dance with Chaos to live fully, while flirting with a sense of order to maintain balance ....

Taoism as a practice is truly a wonderful dance indeed!

Peace