Ten Blessed Breaths - Discover the Practice of 10 Breaths … each a unique portal into NOW.

 

“As you breathe in, cherish yourself … As you breathe out, cherish all Beings.”

-The Dalai Lama

1. Breathe in deeply, feel this breath’s texture, be touched by its presence, know this first breath intimately, this in breath is your gift from the world. Now … pause at the top of the breath for a moment, watch carefully and notice the formlessness and emptiness awaiting you here, rest in it for a second … Now gently breathe out and feel the freshness, feel the preciousness, feel the aliveness, yes ... feel the love. This out breath is your gift back to the world.

2. Breathe in deeply, gently, slowly … feel the unique quality of this Second Breath … taste it … sense it … feel it . Once again, pause at the top of the breath and allow yourself to be liberated in this Eternal Vastness … this is your true nature … look, listen, allow. Now, breathe gently, slowly outward … enjoy this flow of beingness, watch carefully right to the bottom of the out breath.

3. Now breathe in and open up more fully to the qualities of this next breath … watch and feel just what this Third Breath has to offer as a unique moment in time … Coming to the top of the breath, allow yourself to pause and relax … right here you are in timelessness, here you can experience your eternal nature directly … sit here and appreciate this peace. When ready let go of the breath and roll back out in this out breath … feel it completely … follow it down till you reach the end of this Third Breath.

4. Now for breath number Four … quietly, softly breathe in … all the way to the top … notice how it feels in this moment, stay with it right to the top of this Fourth Breath. At the top, pause, look and wait … be here … pure, clear and ever so sweet … enjoy it. Now, gently release and watch as you journey down to the bottom … feel every step … when you come to the end of this breath .. pause and watch as the next breath arrives …

5. Breathing in, acknowledge the miracle that is the breath … Appreciate the gift of this next breath … Riding it gently to the top, pause in this Fifth level of beingness, watch and release … flow back out in gratitude for being alive in this form … feel this breath completely right until its exit at the bottom.

6. As you breathe in this next breath, watch carefully as it starts to clarify what you truly are … allow for the clarification to take place all the way up to the top of this Sixth Breath. Now pause and wait … in this pristine emptiness your true nature shines forth … bathe in it … let it soak you up into oblivion … Now, roll back down with this out breath, all the way consciously emptying all that you think yourself to be. In clarifying you are purifying … it’s this simple.

7. Here is breath number Seven … breathe it in with all your heart … gently, slowly, deliberately … watch closely how this unique seventh breath awakens you more deeply … allow it to enlighten you with its clarity … coming to the top, pause and enjoy. Now let this seventh holy breath flow out with ease and grace … bringing you out into the world with a deeper appreciation for who you are and why you are here … by simply appreciating this gift of eternal presence in every breath, through every breath.

8. As you journey up with this Eighth Breath, see it as an opening, a portal into Heaven … breathe yourself right up to the top … Meeting the emptiness here, you a blessed in knowing This is always here, This never leaves you … this placeless place is your true home. Now gently follow the out breath right back down to the bottom. Feel the weightlessness of your true nature as you naturally reach the end of this blessed breath.

9. Ahhh … the start of the total dissolution has arrived. This Ninth Breath is very close to the last step where you will be greeted by Pure Being … Flow gently to be met with your completeness at the top of this breath … Pause … Look … Listen … Allow … Now gently flow back down on this breath number nine … right to the bottom.

10. Here it is, the exquisite Tenth Breath … feel it all the way to the top … pause and let go completely in this sacred place – This Blessed Isle … You are here … pure, clear, ever so present … this is it … No more me or you, only This … Now breathe out gently on this exquisite Tenth Breath … enjoy the ride right down to the bottom. The gift of the Tenth Breath is the revelation that you have always been Here, and will always be Here.

Leo Drioli 2016

Be This, Love This, Share This!

How does it feel today?

You are alive …

You are present …

You are clear …

Joy sits at the core of you and you know it’s always here.

You are eternal …

You are free …

You are deeply, profoundly loved by God …

You feel all of this …

So, how does it feel today?

Funny how the mind can hear these thoughts, yet sits perplexed.

What you are is just around the corner from what you “think” you are. The mind actually lives right next door to the Eternal Vastness, to Self, to God … And yet, here it is today, wondering how it feels.

Take a deep breath in … turn your attention inward and allow for that which looks and sees to simply be the point of your spiritual station. Coming back in to this is a sweet, gentle let go, an allowing, a soft rising up that opens you to the vast infinite vistas of the “I AMness” of your true nature.

From this felt sense of pure, deep, sweet clarity … how you feel becomes something quite different to the mind trying to understand what it will never know directly. This view is actually the clear seeing of undifferentiated awareness as it’s who and what you always really are and forever really will be.

From here, from this view all and everything is within your own field … as Rumi said, “Beyond right and wrong there’s a field … I’ll meet you there”.

Another breath in, and you are gone …. Disappearing a separate self into the True Self … Here you are one, you are supremely joyous, and … you are eternal and free … absolutely free to be who you really are.

Be This, love This, share This!

Realising the As-it-isness

“True Dharma is the Dharma of as-it-isness, where not even a thought of consciousness is working. It is ‘it’, or the truth that transcends space and time” – Zenkai Shibayama

The other day I came across a powerful 4 step process created by Buddhist Teacher, Tara Brach, which I see as a simple yet valuable form of self inquiry into any state or blockage we may be journeying through, to come to clearly see what is true. Brach calls this process - RAIN: An acronym for - Recognise, Allow, Investigate, Nurture. 

Brach invited her students to first challenge the underlying belief that's creating the tension ... and come to see that the belief or pattern is "real" as it certainly does exist, but is it true? Funny but in one of Joe Biden’s gaffes I noticed recently, he said “I don't follow the truth, I follow the facts”. I laughed at it, but I remember thinking, wait a minute - there's something in that ... facts are not necessarily truth. For example, the fact that I sometimes feel limited, diminished or less than, doesn’
t mean it’s the truth of who I am.

So, it all comes back to not believing our thoughts to be truth ... they are certainly real enough as thoughts or ideas ... but are they truth? Not necessarily!

***

Every moment offers its very own unique truth or reality. There is nothing more thrilling, worthy or noble than seeing the moment for what it is, as it is. As it vibrates into Presence, this moment has an offering … our purpose is to recognise it. If I were to apply the RAIN Process to this, let’s see what happens:

Right now … I RECOGNISE … OK … I feel an appreciation being presented, an appreciation for the gift … this gift right now … how blessed I am, alive, looking, listening, opening up … and immediately I am in the next phase:

ALLOW … I feel this radiant beauty, see it with all my senses, no wanting anything else, just This, just as it is. As I “allow” I gently slot into the vastness of it all … no efforting involved, simply “seeing” this, as it is, for what it is.

A heartfelt sense of openness and connectedness begins to happen … not “me” trying to be open and connected, simply openness and connection  taking place, no separation, “me” as This … allowing is not an action, I do not “do” the allowing, I simply relax into what is … the traffic noise in the distance, the clothes dryer whirring, the rainbow lorikeets in the back garden screeching, the crow in the distance cawing … all is, as it is … how sweet, how perfect … allowing this allowing to happen all on its own.

Immense freedom in this “just being”, no impulse to become … just this.

Now there’s a natural curiosity which leads to the next phase: INVESTIGATE, which seamlessly happens as I stay in the moment, this natural curiosity gently explores what is so evident, so available. It’s innate within awareness, when our preoccupation with time and self diminishes, the world and all its radiance flowers and opens up to all our senses. With it comes a sense of awe and a sense of joy.

Right now, the clarified insight is: It’s all a profound gift, and by simply being here, we become available to it, the world is seen truly as our oyster. A clear unobstructed view of what is deepens and broadens our perception in all directions … north, south, east, west, up down, out and in … the final frontier.

Now we come to see that all and everything “sits” within me … there is no “outside” as such … all this is here within me and a sweetness keeps tugging at my heart leading to the very natural next phase: NURTURE.

Sitting here in this deep appreciation for all life I simply breathe and love, ever more deeply. This leads to soft landing into our heart where the One who sees resides…From this vast and infinite Heart space only love remains. This precious nectar of the gods, right here, right now, in this moment just as it is.

Nurturing this is a gentle letting go, a sweet continuous allowing for it to be, just as it is, moment to moment.

As we sit in our hearts, the nurturing happens of its own accord and unfolds into deeper, wider and richer levels of awakenedness … and it’s all here … in this moment, as this moment!

 

The End of Seeking - Give It Your Love

There's an emptiness here. 

Once I used to fear it, run from it, desperately try to fill it ... with something, anything. Now, the emptiness is somehow full and complete and resolved, and I am at peace with it.  I now see it as a spaciousness, and in this spaciousness: Presence, God's Presence.

So much of our days are futilely filled with the struggle to fill the emptiness .. the gap, yet ... This gap is exactly what's required to finally come to the end of seeking. If we still seek, we are still waiting for that "missing" something or someone to be found to help fill the gap. Coming out of the struggle requires a new way of seeing, a willingness to rest in this placeless place, to be willing to not move from it and give our whole lives over to it ... when this is done, what once was feared will now be seen as nothing less than the Love of God.

Then life will simply be lived, one breath at a time, in deep devotion that which never dies ... from this, we are to do only one thing: Give It Your Love.

The Final Instruction - In Ten Breaths

Don't go looking  for,
Stay with looking at ...

Resist the temptation to seek more
Simply rest in what is directly before you.

Breath in ... see it, look and see it,
then, when seen ... no more.

Breath in ... new, fresh, clear ... This moment ...
Again, the only practice if we can call it such, is:
Look and see ... once seen, let the ripples of what has been seen dissipate ... then ... again:

Breath in .... see it, look and see it, nothing more, nothing else ...
simply This, just as it is, from this moment.
Be sure, if truly seen, it will radiate with brilliance, there's no mistaking the truth, the real ...
for the untruth, the unreal.
You will know when it's true, it will radiate authenticity ... So ...

Breath in ... what do you see?
A joy lies in each attempt at describing the indescribable.
Every attempt fails completely, yet .... undeniably, here it is, right before you ... how clear, how pure, how real, how true ... and once again:

Breath in ... Look and see ... a billion lifetimes embraced by this moment.
Every breath ever breathed, in this moment, breathed as this moment.
You have it all ... absolutely all of it!
It's yours ... see it, and you are free with every breath.

Breath in ... Look and see ... sweet surrender, that's all that's possible here ...
and this of course is not an act of doing, an act of will ...
Surrender is your true ground of Being - This you are!
So resist any temptation to take it further ...
You are here, you are awake, you are free ... Look and see.

Breath in ... Look and see ... the final instruction.

Breath in ... Look and see.

Breath in ... Look and see

Breath in ... 

Hidden Right Here

You reached down
The branch moved, just a bit,
I did notice ...
I looked, and heard you whisper
Isn’t it always like this?
In the most unsuspecting moments
You pull me out of my reverie
And here You are before me
Right in the middle of it all.
And I’m always taken by surprise
Hidden right here, right before my eyes.
You reveal Yourself once again
As The most ordinary yet ...
The most beautiful
How extraordinary.

Water Falls

Water falls ...
Rock climbs ...
Mind sits ...
Breath breathes ...
Pen moves ...
I think ...
Who
Am I ?

Emptiness stuns ...
Mirror calls ...
Water falls ...

Sacro Monte ... In This Very Breath

Every breath is God's breath whether we breathe it consciously or not. So, with each breath we find this gift, this profound opportunity to be with the Presence, to participate in the "seeing" through these very eyes, through God's eyes.
There comes a moment when there's nothing left to do but to make oneself clear and available to what is already taking place, to let that which God sees, be that which we see.
There's a sweet joy in this that is absolute and incomparable ... it's the gift that is waiting to be received, with each breath. When seen through these eyes, God's eyes, everything is charged with a dynamic stillness filled with purpose. Nothing needs to be done necessarily yet, doing will naturally and effortlessly follow ... and all that we actually do, becomes God's work ... Suddenly the most menial task or supposedly insignificant event is witnessed in the expanded awakened awareness that always accompanies this sacred seeing, and the emptiness that may once have  been experienced as nihilism when seen only through the limited lens of the human condition, becomes the emptiness that gives space to the rich fullness and completeness of the Divine, of God Itself.
When we suffer, we have forgotten how to look. The simple reminder, is the rediscovery in each breath that God is here ... in this very breath ... this one, right here.
For now, don't worry about any future breaths, simply come back in to this breath, for this breath is the only one that is real ... Slow down ... let the sanctity of this inhale be full and complete ... follow the breath right to the top of the inhale ... and at this point watch carefully and sit in this most
precious juncture ... and as if standing at the top of a mountain ... simply pause and take in the vast panoramic vista ... witness your surrounds in the depth and clarity being offered from this vantage point ... and watch as the emptiness gently transforms into what it truly is ... God's fullness, God's completeness.
Now ... gently follow the out breath right to the bottom of the mountain. Once back down, simply allow for the ascension of the  in breath to take place .... watch carefully, and as you look through these eyes, God's eyes, for this breath only, allow for the glories of Heaven to come into view, for this breath only ... reach the summit, pause, look, listen ... and in deep gratitude: allow, simply allow this sacred immersion  to be the encounter with the Divine that it truly is.
Every time you remember, let the ascent ... the pause ... and the descent  be witnessed.
With each breath, you will deepen your appreciation for how very sacred this life truly is, lived and witnessed through these eyes, through God's eyes in this very breath.

"To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work."

- Mary Oliver

Could Anything Be Sweeter Than This?

Could anything be sweeter than this? Looking out I feel the joy of these sacred gardens (Chinese Friendship Gardens) right in the heart of crazy whirling Sydney ... an oasis of serenity and stillness ... everything reflecting God’s presence ... right in the middle of this endless pursuit of more and bigger lies this conscious expression of the divine ... tasting the delicate flavours of the French Earl Grey I am sipping, I savour the subtle the delights of this perfumed blend of bergamot, apricot, mango, cornflowers, rose and tea leaves ... delicately combined to open the heart and uplift the spirit ... beautifully complimenting the soft view before me. As I’m sitting here, a gentle heart is serenading the keys with a sweet jazz melody that blends beautifully with the texture of the moment.
“This moment” loves to be loved ... life loves to be loved.
As I drink it all in I am reminded of the line from one of John Lennon’s more obscure songs, Intuition ... wonderful words of appreciation for the moment: “I confirm an old suspicion , it’s good to be alive.”
As the weeping willow sways gently to the breeze, eloquently arched over the lotus pond before me, that “sneaking old suspicion” seeps deeper and deeper into my heart.
Gobsmacked ... dumbfounded ... absolutely astonished ... God’s forever outpouring can never be touched by words, yet we keep forever trying ... and there’s such joy even in the trying ... these words are like shadows trying to frame the light ... fingers forever pointing at the moon ... none ever getting closer yet here it is ... in all its glory, in all its splendour, radiating suchness, isness and beingness ... always and forever.

The Quail in the Fields of Spring

 

You came to me the other night to remind me of the importance of caring and connection. You sat quietly in that precious space of pure being … interbeing. And I sat quietly with you, mostly in silence and stillness.

You gently reminded me that one of the primary awakenings on the path was to the Self.

“When this Self is realised,” you whispered, “vast, eternal surrounds reveal themselves as our ground of being. And in this, as this, from this … immense love always dwells and flows.

“And from its outpouring we awaken to our own innate and ever abiding freedom …. The spiritual liberation of the Self, the Soul, the Jivan Mukta.”

As we sat together in the vast, gentle and sweet silence, I was reminded that on entering this life, we come in with a vision, a mission and a plan. Our days are truly numbered, yet, each one a stepping stone deeper, closer, clearer … moving us back into that which we have now realised ourselves to be. And from this, looking out into the world and trusting that all we really came to do was to love.

Sitting together, in this new way, I feel deeply loved, deeply protected and cared for and deeply connected to the God that creates and dis-creates all things.

Sitting here, you have reminded me that yes, I am eternal, but my days in this life are truly numbered. A sobering reminder to be with each day, as they will quickly pass.

I take a deep breath in and allow my heart to listen for the whispers and in the silence, three instructions arrive:

1.       Be “with” each moment. Sit in “my” presence, know that I am here with you always, and be “in” each moment, allowing it to reveal the purity of being that it always contains.

2.       Share the gifts you receive. Your life is yours to live as you choose and in it, infinite opportunities will arise to share the Presence that is the only constancy. Open up to the truth that no matter where you are or what you do – love dwells here.

3.       Live as the Self. Liberation asks only one thing of us – to live authentically, with courage to be who we really are, to live as THIS. And to remember, that every breath is another doorway in ... and out. Always come back to THIS and freedom is eternally yours.

 

Rumi reminds us:

“Come and be Love’s willing slave, for Love’s slavery will save you. Forsake the slavery of this world and take up Love’s sweet service.

“The free, the world enslaves, but to slaves Love grants freedom. I crave release from this world like a bird from its egg; free me from this shell that clings. As from the grave, grant me new life.

“O Love, be as the quail in the free fields of spring, wildly singing its song of Joy!”

 

It’s all Sacred

It’s all sacred. When it’s realised that without is within, it’s realised that it’s all made out of the very same fabric of creation or God’s Presence as consciousness. When it’s seen that everything that arises within your consciousness is being created out of the very same living divine Presence … it’s all seen as being equal. No object is better or worse, higher or lower, more or less … it’s all sacred because it’s all the presence of the Divine, arising within consciousness.

There is no outside and in truth no inside too … it’s all simply emptiness filled with divine love … the natural, clear, open spacious awareness of the heart.  If all and everything is naturally arising in consciousness, as consciousness then how can one arising be better or more real or more pure than another? If it’s all created out of the very same substance … this love of God?

This realisation is transparent … it cannot be seen, yet sits as Truth within each miraculous moment … every arising, every new encounter … simply God meeting God … Life meeting life … Love meeting love.

In this view, as this view, there’s no striving to locate it, there’s no seeking the elusive other state of perfection, enlightenment if you will … because everything is This … Everything … absolutely everything.

So, nothing exists outside of consciousness, nothing ever has, nothing ever will. Because it’s all simply Self manifesting as other for the sake of seeing self and other as One.

When it’s seen, when it’s clearly seen and realised … Each moment is revealed as another encounter with the Divine … fresh, new, clear, true and real.

No judgment … no higher or lower seeing, simply seeing it as part of one’s own true nature, one’s own fabric of being … this is love.

And, now the great adventure truly begins. As the love of the heart has now revealed its own presence as life itself, within one’s own consciousness, there’s only this continued seeing of the Divine presenting Itself as new form … within each moment. How can it not all be sacred? Everything … absolutely everything is sacred because it’s all the One revealing Itself through the many. Not “out there” … not “in here”  … but simply the Eternal Vastness that is the only field of consciousness, right before our very eyes. Everything …. Absolutely everything is sacred.

Your thoughts are not you

But are made out of you.

Your thoughts are your creations

And you can dance with them.

But be careful not to lose yourself in them.

Your thoughts, all of them

Good, bad or in between.

All of them are not you

But they are made out of you.

You can look at the miracle of their existence

Dancing mysteriously in the sun.

Or you can become them for a while.

But, know that your thoughts are not you.

They are made out of you.

What a dance this can be

this sacred dance of Clear Seeing.

You, reflected in these ephemeral bubbles of Light.

Learn to dance with them.

Do not desire them, do not fear them.

They are simply bubbles of “You-nesss”.

See these thoughts for what they truly are …

Miraculous outpourings of spontaneous

reflections of God’s Light.

They dwell here for a while …

They were birthed in you, they took their breath from you

and they will die their own natural death in you.

Know this: Your thoughts are not you.

They are made out of you.

Your thoughts are not you.

Everything is Music

Our whole life truly is a song … one endless melody sung with the heart.

Each year, each month, each day, each moment … is a part of this song we have come here to sing. And this sweet Heart song, holding both the pleasure and the pain, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows … all of it, absolutely all of it, is part of this divine manifesting. And, we aren’t simply practicing to sing it … we are actually singing this song with every breath we take.

In all its mystery, the events in our lives can, at times, appear as chaotic and seemingly without rhyme or reason, without purpose, yet …  in every moment, we are actually playing each note of the eternal melody. This Heart song is this very life we are living, this life … from beginning to end, filled with days of connection and disconnection, knowing and confusion … all following the natural blueprint that our hearts were birthed with when we entered these bodies in this lifetime.

So, how is your song sounding today?

If joyous … good.

If not … fine.

Practicing the Way of the Third Patriarch is actually a beautiful Heartsong in itself:

If you wish to see the truth

then hold no opinions for or against anything.

To set up what you like against what you dislike

is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood,

the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.


The Way is perfect like vast space

where nothing is lacking and nothing in excess.

Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject

that we do not see the true nature of things.

If we step back a bit and attune to the currents that flow through us in our daily lives, we meet the possibility of discovering that just where we are … Joy is available. In fact, this Joy is the “true nature of things” … the very music that sings through us moment by moment. It’s our true essence and if we make the time, the music in our hearts can be heard and will raise us Home.

Here’s Rumi’s invitation to listen with the ear of the Heart:

We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and if the whole world's harp
should burn up,
there will still be hidden instruments
playing, playing 

This singing art
is sea foam.
The graceful movements
come from a pearl
somewhere
on the ocean floor.

Poems reach up like spindrift
and the edge of driftwood
along the beach
wanting, wanting

They derive from a slow
and powerful root
that we cannot see.

Stop the words now.
Open the window
in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly
in and out!

And so this is Christmas ...

OK … here we all are, the season for giving and receiving is upon us once again.

So, what’s it like this time of year for you? Are you happy to be celebrating or do you question its relevance or significance these days?

It’s actually the perfect time to relax and deepen into a fuller appreciation for what is real and true by listening to all that’s being offered. In his beautiful book “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen” Mark Nepo offers just this, the infinite ways we can allow the world to touch us and move through us by listening with all our being.

“Deep listening,” Nepo says, “is a form of gifted receiving.”

And isn’t this so? We usually feel at our lightest, we feel the most inspired, aligned and attuned when we are at one with That which whispers through our hearts. When we listen in this way everything makes sense and feels perfect just as it is. This could also be called the “Gift of Presence”, and whenever it presents itself in our lives we always feel blessed and grateful.

As we go about our Christmas and New Year’s celebrating, we could take this as another opportunity to dive a little deeper in the company of loved ones around us. Instead of simply gifting presents we could offer our own presence, making ourselves more available to all our family and friends. Surely this is what these gatherings are really all about.

And, there’s also that after effect that happens when all the celebrating ends. Here lies another opportunity to deepen. Instead of getting caught in the collective dullness hangover, wondering what all the fuss was about, we can simply sit with what is and allow the call to our next cycle of growth to meet us in our listening.

And, it’s good to remember that it’s all a gift of giving and receiving, every single breath we take is a gift. Remembering this gives us the willing heart to move forward no matter how life appears or presents itself.

In conclusion, here’s Nepo again:

Let the gifts stitch or cut the web

Let what needs to come together or break apart

Come together or break apart.

Let the miracles, even the ones we don’t want or see, unfold.

...

...

Only the Love is Real

Only the love is real ... When everything else drops away, through either willingly letting go or through having it forcefully taken away from us, all that remains is the love ... Pure, clear, constant, ever-present, joyous, precious ... So very precious.

No matter what story we carry, how good or bad everything feels ... Behind it, at the back of it all is this perfect love.

As we get older, the stories we harbour may become more ingrained but if we dare to step back from them for a moment ... We easily see that it's the love that allows them to be.

My mum has dementia. She cuts and pastes together memories of moments in her life that have made an impact on her. Every time the story is retold, it's a little different, she adds another piece from another place and time in her life, creating a "new" mind-loop to be caught up in. Then as soon as she's had her fill, of laughter and of tears ... She slows down and stills back into the emptiness ... And ... The love is there. The truth of her is this love ... The truth of  us all is this love.

Watching my mother slowly lose her mind reveals to me how we all operate ... We too cut and paste the thoughts and feelings of our past and create a "memory" across the screen of the moment. It feels so very real, so very true ... But it's just as unreal as my mother's dementia fantasies ... The only difference being that we believe our "cut and paste" jobs are more sane or coherent somehow. But, it's all a story ... A creation that spellbinds us too.
...

If seen through we will be free to simply allow the love to shine through, as it always does anyway.
This is our purpose here, to dream our dreams, cut and paste our memories, then see clearly once and for all that's all we've ever been doing ... And catch a glimpse of the love that is left ... The only thing that is real and eternal. And if that glimpse is profound enough, it will continue to awaken our hearts, right through to the very last breath we take ... Where only the love will remain.
Only the love ...that's all there ever is, was , or will be.

Only the love ...

Playing Inner Scrabble

In a dream  the other night I was playing a game of “Inner Scrabble” with a small group of people. We had all picked our seven letters, then arranged them into words. This was similar to the normal game of Scrabble, but we didn’t win or lose by the word score, but by the word’s true worth, it’s meaning … and everyone could be a winner.

One person in the group complained that they had a bad batch of letters … “You picked them,” I said. “But you can exchange them for another set if you want to.”

Life’s a bit like this: A bunch of letters drop into our world … we can choose another set, or we can settle for what’s arrived, making the most of it. No matter, it’s ultimately up to us to creatively arrange the chosen letters into words … these words become thoughts …which then become actions … which we then experience as our karmic journeys … our very lives.

We can work with the first set that pops up and create wonderful lives … if we learn how to live … or we can keep forever trying to get a better set, a more perfect set of letters.

But, it’s not the letters, but how we arrange them that counts. Sometimes, a “bad” batch can create miraculous results … winning right through our lives. At other times a “good” batch can deliver one misery after another.

It’s not about the letters, it’s how we arrange them that counts.

So, here we go … let’s say you pick the letters “V” … “I” … “L”... “E”…

What would you make out of this set?

1.       Vile?

2.       Evil?

3.       Veil?

4.       Live?

Same 4 letters … such different outcomes.

So then you receive the letters “G” and “O” …

Add these to the letters above and see where it takes you … I’d take it here: LOVING,

with a letter “E” left over to become whatever it chooses to be.

If a “B” happens to show up, you are home.

Be Loving …

We create it all.


PS Did you notice that I didn't pick the letter "N" above? Ah ... no matter, I didn't either until after I wrote this. Again, it just  goes to show ... It's not about the letters or how many, but how we arrange them.