My Weblog

Judge Not

I was raised LDS, which, for those of you NOT from Utah, means "Mormon." I left the  church when I was 14 years old. The last straw for me, after many years of not being able to stomach the hypocrisy, was when I told the bishop that my sunday school teacher was molesting his 7 daughters (two of them had told me when I asked them about a few things I had noticed). The bishop's response was that I was JEALOUS and maybe I had a crush on the big fat ugly creepy man who had the audacity to teach the "gospel" to 14 year olds, while raping his own children.

I was already in hot water for getting kicked out of seminary. Not because I was misbehaving, but because I was QUESTIONING. Holy shit! I had no idea, at age 14, why (in a classroom, "learning" and "educational" format) I was not allowed to ask questions and posit different points of view.

I left the church and left Utah, and thank goodness I did. I moved to Oakland, CA, where I had lived for the first years of my childhood, and began searching for the spiritual grounding I knew was important to me; a grounding sadly missing from the church even though there were parts of the LDS gospel that I really embraced, and still do to this day. 

I left the church because I did not have a testimony that it is the one true church with all the answers. I still loved the scriptures but even as a young child, I questioned them. I still had the articles of faith memorized and can still spout most of them off today. (If you haven't read them in a while, peruse them because they certainly portray a church of open-minded, liberally loving, intelligent individuals.) I believed in the words of love and kindess and honesty instilled and strengthened in primary and young women's. I still do, and am grateful that I was raised to spend time thinking about these values.

Here are a few scriptures I read and studied and resonated with as a child (look them up to read them in entirety):

John 13:34-35 -- A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another.

Matthew 5:44 -- Love your enemies.

1 John 2:10 -- He that loveth his brother abideth in light.

1 Peter 1:22 -- Love one another with a pure heart.

Mosiah 18:21 -- Hearts knit together in unity and love.

D & C 88:123 (i LOVE most of D & C 88!!) -- See that ye love one another.

Ephesians 4:32 -- Be ye kind one to another.

Romans 12:10 - - Be kindly one to another, preferring one another.

1 Corinthians 13:4 -- Charity suffereth long, and is kind.

Mosiah 4:15 -- Teach them to love one another and serve one another.

1 Peter 3:8 -- Having compassion one for another, love as brethren.

1 John 3:18 --- Love in deed, and in truth.

My favorite primary song was "As I have Loved You, Love one Another." -- Childrens Songbook, page 136. If you have never really read the lyrics, you should really look them up and see if you can read them without crying. 

And my least favorite lyrics were "Put your shoulder to the Wheel, push along. Do your duty with a heart full of song. We all have work, let no one shirk, put your shoulder to the wheel."( I just threw up in my mouth a little.)

Anyway, at age 14, I was ready to leave. In fact I knew that to save my life, I MUST leave. In California, I met many of the so-called "sinners" that the church had always warned me about. I enjoyed them and loved them and was relieved to get to practice the tenet of "love one another" in California, without a list of people I was NOT allowed to love.

Many years later, I moved back to Utah, and because of many personal things going on for me with my immediate family, I decided to give the church another "go." Once again, I found I couldn't stomach it. 

However, I did get to immerse myself in scripture study in a way I hadn't done since I was a teenager. I enoyed that part again. Some of the most poignant scriptures  I found as an adult trying to make sense of this gospel are the following (again read them in entirety if you want, these are only partially typed out):

D & C 46 -- do not cast anyone out . . .  gifts are bestowed on EVERYONE.

D & C 64:10 -- The Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. . . .

3 Nephi 18:22 -- ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not; ye shall pray for them and shall not cast them out.

1 Samuel 16:7 -- Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the lord looketh on the heart.

2 Nephi 15:21 -- Woe unto the wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight! (read further on too.)

Ether 12:26 - 27 -- And if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness . . . then will I make weak things stron unto them.

Ether 12:37 -- Because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shall be made whole.

Matthew 23:12 -- and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

James 1:26 -- If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his own tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is in vain.

1 Corinthians 11:28 -- But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. 

1 Corinthians 11:31 -- For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

If you want to look at even more favorites, go to the index and look up the word "judge" -- and then read all of the scriptures that have the word "judge" or "judgement" in them. Notice how many times the word judgement is in the same sentence with the word murder -- there seems to be some correlation there.

As well, there is this underlying warning that to make of yourself a judge is to make of yourself a GOD, which violates the first commandment, does it not? "Thou shalt have no other Gods before thee." Isn't playing God's role placing YOU in front of the God you purport to worship? Doesn't that scare you a little bit to realize that?

I find it so hard to listen to any statements of superiority or all knowingness or the "chosen people" speech. According to the scriptures that LDS people claim they read and study and pray about, only God can judge another. No one knows everything about me or about anybody else. No one knows what goes on internally with my soul on a daily basis. Not one person knows of my struggles and deep seated core pain. So why do so many people feel it is not only their RIGHT but their DUTY to judge anyone different from them? 

As C.S. Lewis stated so succinctly, "All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual -- the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back biting; the pleasures of power and hatred. That is why a cold, sef-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to 'hell' than a prostitute."

There is a big temptation, for all of us, to consider ourselves superior, to inwardly assume that God loves us more than the person we have deemed the "sinner." (Really think about that. If I can point my finger at another human being and call them a "sinner", then I am meting out a justice that according to the bible and other scriptures is only reserved for the "Lord.") I am intending to and acting on taking the place of the Lord. That has to be a bigger gaffe than just loving people and being there for people and showing people that we are all here to practice and experience love, connection, acceptance, and community. And yet there seems to be a fear of beng too loving, understanding, and supportive these days. As if THOSE qualities are somehow a "sin." 

I don't get it, but felt I had to write about it today, in light of yet another finger pointing session that one of my friends had to endure yesterday. (of course, on the Sabbath, people seem to have extra license at cruelty.) I guess what I just typed out sounds judgmental too. But honestly, when you have a choice of hugging a person back into sanity, versus name calling and finger pointing, why wouldn't you choose EASY?

 

 

 

 

The importance of staying close

I have been offering yoga teacher trainings for 12 years now. In that time, we have had nearly 600 people graduate. Small potatoes, in this big world of yoga, and yet I like it that way. Why? Because I get to know every single person who attends. I get to watch a community being formed, with real and true bonds. I get to witness individuals embrace their unique talents and then  watch them offer these gifts to further enhance and strengthen their sangha. In essence, I get to be a part of a very beautiful family.

And by getting to know each other, I don't mean surface stuff. I mean we all (myself included) get to share our shadow self and find it embraced. We all get to unveil our fears and have them accepted. We all get to see each other as peers and comrades and fellow "yoga soldiers." We all get to open our minds a little more, and LOVE MORE PEOPLE. For real. Genuinely. Authentically.

And then I get to watch all of these amazing people go out into the world and offer their take on what yoga is to them. I would say that every group has bonded and remained "family." I see relationships flourishing years after the training is over. And that is really the reason I love running "InBody Academy." 

Past graduates of this program tend to open up yoga studios, create and run non-profit organizations, incorporate the yoga they learned into their already successful businesses. They also tend to become more of who-they-really-are. I wish I could take credit for how outstanding these individuals become, and all the value they create by stepping towards their own potential, but I can't.

What I can say is that I think the closeness, the small group (I limit each session to 30- 35 people), the time spent together within that group, and the obvious relationships that occur because of that proximity, is more powerful than I first realized. There is something important about the intimacy of bringing strangers together to have them find out they are family. There is something so empowering about realizing you are not alone in the world. 

I am blessed to be able to take part in that process. It is beautiful because people show up for each other when they may have lost the ability to show up for themselves. They not only build each other up, but they also question each other and hold each other accountable. This cannot really happen without a real relationship forming.

What I believe is missing today in our lives is  the opportunity to form new and enlightening relationships. When we have the opportunity to engage in a common goal (with other people who are different and maybe even intimidating or scary), we end up discovering how alike we all are. And isn't that where the yoga (the unity) really begins?

re-blog "Human Frailty"

11/20/2010

Human frailty

So today I decided to take a real day off, and not do any work at all. Then I read a post on Facebook that really hit me. It said:

"I haven't experienced "lies" from people in my life nearly as much as their inability to follow through on promises and stated good intentions. Human frailty is not dishonesty, though the end result is often the same." G.M.

I felt compelled to reply to him:  :  "After reading this I sat and pondered it for a while. I may end up writing a blog to organize my musings. One thing that I have noticed in my own life is that whatever I am most adamant about (i.e. whatever I really take a stance on) seems to come up for review later in my life. I state emphatically something that I "am" and then life proves me wrong; makes of me a liar. I think there is something to the idea that whenever we identify with something we will be shown that indeed we never WERE that. We may possess a certain quality but it ISN'T who we are. I may WANT to act a certain way or do specific things but life itself may have different plans. So how to get around letting people down? I wonder. And thank you for the food for thought this morning."

Of course, that inspired me to get to work on a blog . . . 

I let people down all the time. I know we all do. I let my boys down when I say I will go grocery shopping and then come home empty handed. I let my staff down when I say I will get the schedule ready and then put it off another day. I let my friends down when I say I will go out with them but then by the end of the day all I want to do is curl up in bed with a good book. 

So how do we act impeccably? How do we stop lying; saying one thing and doing another? And believe me the moment you say "well, I never let people down" you will be given the opportunity to eat your words. 

When I use words to describe who I am, like "I am good" for instance, I end up doing something to prove those words wrong. I don't think that makes me a bad person; rather I believe that the universe is once again reminding me that NO you ARE NOT JUST this word "good."  I may have a lot of good energy around me, but that is different than using this word to represent my Self.  I may hold my need to be good in high esteem, hell I may even take some pride in (and thus identify with) the fact that I am good most of the time, but then life conspires to show me that, actually, I am NOT always good and thus can't use this "good" word to define me. Not because I am not worthy of that label but because simply put, that label, ANY label, limits me. 

This still doesn't answer the question I posed above: how do we stop lying? We must use words after all to connect with others and to help others understand who we would like to believe we are. I don't know if I have an answer to that, except to say that the more I realize I cannot be defined and I cannot explain who I am, the easier it is to stop putting those blanket statements out into the ether to be contradicted!!!

Today, I will practice a meditation I haven't done in a while. It is the I AM meditation. It's really simple. Inhale "I am" and exhale "That I am." Repeat it out loud for a few minutes, then silently to yourself for a few minutes, then just with the breath for the rest of the meditation. You will be amazed at how you feel in your body after this exercise. And you will be less inclined to represent who you are with words.

 

Value Creation versus Value Destruction

So, the big news this week for me was Whitney Houston's passing. I have also been following a little story about John Friend's exposure. I have sat on the sidelines and watched as both of these "stories" were commented upon. I have noticed many trends, and want to speak to them in this blog. 

ONE -- I read and heard so many disparaging comments about Whitney Houston being a drug addict and how she basically (of course) was going to end up dead anyway from an overdose. This all was said even without knowing the cause of her death. At the same time, I read and heard so many excuses for John Friend's behavior, exposed on www.yogadork.com. About how he was human, and how we shouldn't cast stones because none of us are without sin . . . blah blah blah. 

My first question then is this -- why is Whitney being villified by many, while John continues to be excused? 

TWO -- I read and heard people wondering why folks were sad that Whitney Houston died. I read many comments stating that "she is just a person, so why should we all mourn her death so much?" Meanwhile, I juxtapose that against all the comments written about how phenomenal John Friend's influence on the world has been, and how many people are mourning his "fall from grace."

My second question then, is: why are we not ashamed to grieve the loss of the LIFE of Whitney Houston and her affect on the entertainment world, but are shamed if we do not grieve the loss of  the INFLUENCE of John Friend and his influence in the yogaworld?

THREE -- While Whitney never set out to use or abuse her power and influence, the media makes her out to be weak; someone who should be dismissed as a loser because she was (for a short part of her too short life), hurting herself with her addictions. John, on the other hand, did knowingly and actively set out to abuse and use his power and influence, and yet his followers circle the wagons around him, claiming he is so strong for coming clean with his transgressions! (He was exposed, remember?)

My third question? Why is Whitney, who offers her fans a pure gift (her voice, her connection to soul, the way her singing made us feel) not considered by many to be someone who created value in this world while she was alive? And why is John, who took advantage of so many other people's gifts not considered by more people to be someone who is destroying value?

These are just my musings . . . what are yours? 

Spreading ourselves thin

This morning one of my favorite people came to the office to share with me that he finally realized what my vision at Centered City Yoga is. He has been working for me for 3 years or more. He said that for a long time he watched me, watched the stress I experience, watch the busy-ness of my life, and all he could see was that I spread myself very thin. He wondered "for who, for what?" (a free yoga class for anyone who knows who I am quoting!!!) 

I know that other people have noticed the same thing, and I have heard rumors that I am WAY too ambitious. That I am after money and fame and fortune and all the rest of it. Why else would I work so hard at the studio, in the teacher trainings, and as a mother? Why not be happy doing less? 

Well, there's such a thing as urgency in this lifetime. It just feels like we are running out of time; that I myself may be running out of time to follow my heart's desire and my intention all the way to fruition. 

Maybe some of you don't feel it but I BET that most of you are feeling almost a drastic need to CREATE and CONTRIBUTE. To offer something of value to the world (in a world that is indeed so valuable to us!!) It is this urgency to get the word out -- that we are all powerful and we are all connected and we are all LOVE - that looks like ambition to those who would judge my success.

Yes, I just said my success. I admit I have accomplished something. I have created something pretty special, and I just can't pretend that it means nothing to me. However, beyond that "confession," let me clarify a few things:

1) I am not in this for the money. I have a kick ass education and I am not using it at all telling people to inhale and exhale. I am an intelligent woman who could be doing a hundred different jobs making beaucoup bucks. I CHOOSE to run a yoga studio because Yoga means something to me.

2) Yes, I said I'm intelligent. Admit it -- so are YOU!!

3) I get up everyday to do all the things I did yesterday so that my boys know they are loved, so that the people who teach at CCY and make their living there can continue making their living, and so that the people who show up for class find a community when they get there. I keep the doors of CCY open because there is something about that place . . .  something much bigger than ME, that continues to draw me back to it.

4) I do not take my identity from teaching Yoga and therefore see no reason to pretend I am "yogic." I am a MOM who has three boys and a mortgage and a husband and responsibilities up the butt. And I do not even take my identity from all that. I have found whom I know to be ME but she/he/essence is un-nameable. 

5) My motivation when I teach yoga is to get people out of their heads and into their bodies. To tangibly experience the present moment. It is NOT to proselytize or to bring people over to MY personal way of thinking. My desire is to show people how easy it is to experience freedom, breath by breath, not to enslave them. 

6) I do not think like anyone else on this planet and I do not want anyone else to think like me. I just want people to KNOW themselves, their own brilliance, you know?

7) I am spread thin because that is what life is right now for all of us. This is what my friend and co-worker pointed out to me. That it is okay to be pulled in so many directions; it makes me stronger, it is what it is, and really there is no other way to be right now (for a lot of us).  He said my example makes him feel better about spreading himself thin -- he likened it to a diamond, so clear, so translucent, and yet so powerful (and yet a diamond needs stress and pressure to become that way.)

So I hope that clears things up for you as well. I YAM what I Yam. Who are YOU and have you anything to offer of value to this world? If so, get in and start offering it up!! RIGHT NOW!! Or not. You know. It's all up to you.

Peace out.

D'

From well beyond and well within and above and below . . . part one

I've been remiss in blogging since coming back from the retreat. The retreat is such an unbelievable experience, where we all somehow get along and love each other and bring out the best in each other. And then we come BACK, to the news. News of oil spills (how can we really call it a "spill?"), brutally murdered children, and anti-"everyone who is not the same as me" propaganda. 

So, for a while I was just feeling sad and tired and impatient, but also feeling a deeper despair, unnamed, the feeling that there is nothing I can do to make a difference. We've all felt that despair. I felt like I was just kidding myself that all this work I did at the retreat actually meant something. And yet . . . and yet . . . I still keep coming back to the hope; to the memory of the beauty that shows up at every retreat, in every yoga class. And I realized that part of that beauty is watching a group of yoga practitioners stew in their own shit and come out cleaner and brighter because of it. 

I don't mean to be gross, I mean to illustrate an actual powerful tool in Yoga; a way to actually face our demons, our darkness, our secrets. Smell what we actually smell like without spraying perfume over it. Feel what we actually feel, without popping a pill to "kill" the pain. See what is really in front of our face without creating stories to explain our seeing away. 

And then realizing that the part of us that is smelling and feeling and seeing these "outer stimulants" is ACTUALLY who we are; THUS we are NOT the stench, NOT the pain, NOT the scene. We aren't the darkness. We are the light shining on that stuff. This allows us to: 

BOTH acknowledge that there really is stench and pain and ugliness in the world 

AND realize that it is okay to discover it, bring it into the light, and eradicate it. FIERCELY.

I invite you all for at least a few of your practices to watch how yoga facilitates this in a very safe way. It allows us to come face to face with what is usually hidden away inside of us. And in that seeing it also frees us from identifying with what we sense. SLowly this leads us to a different way to identify ourselves. This is self realization at its finest.

Sorting the Past; Finding Your Roots

I have been preparing for the next retreat I will offer to 60 people, and part of that preparation is to read over all of the stuff in my "files" for some tid-bit that might inspire me. I came across this article, which I have condensed and edited a bit to make more sense today . . . thought I'd share it with you all.

As humans, we crave wilderness and open spaces. We regularly seek out aspen groves, desert oases, ocean shores, mountain lakes. But we can’t be camped by a turquoise lagoon forever. At some point, we pick up our feet and trudge back to our lives, hoping to keep those times of nature and calm with us. In yoga practice, we learn how to. Yoga philosophy teaches us that to be truly happy, we must find these places WITHIN us. We learn to access the peace, calm, and beauty from the inside, our insides, even when we can’t find it on the outside. We cultivate an inner universe of calm and beauty, and our bodies and our lives soon start to reflect that inner landscape.

D’ana Baptiste’s Yoga is a practice of stillness and movement, strength and submission, energy and calm. It tones and strengthens the body and, inevitably, the spirit as well. The two come closer into harmony. A yoga teacher and student of D’ana Baptiste, Scott Moore, says of yoga, “It strengthens and tones my body in ways all my other activities and sports couldn’t. At the same time, my inner life has transformed as well. I am more patient with myself and others. I live more purposefully and intentionally, not always reacting and overreacting, but living more true to my best self and desires. Yoga has changed my life.”

Come experience D’ana Baptiste’s warmth, knowledge, strength, and down-to-earth humor and warm laughter. You’ll find yourself comfortable and welcome. In this re-birth season of spring, open yourself up to change - in your body and in your spirit. -- Celeste Keele

This morning, someone asked me what unhappiness means in your life. Here's my reply.
There is somewhere inside of you that is pure unadulterated happiness. It is quiet, it is still, and it is soft. BUT YOU KNOW that it is there. It's being there is not conditional at all. It can never be damaged or stolen or drained. However, it can be hidden or almost forgotten.
Even when it is forgotten, true happiness is always there, and it walks with you in all of your trials and tribulations. When we choose to identify with the trials and tribulations more than this soft, still, quiet happiness, we "feel" unhappy.
The best way to call forth this happiness (to remember it) is to truly BE with that "unhappiness", feel it, observe it, and notice the transitory nature of this unhappiness. The part of you that is noticing it is the part of you that is intransitory, it is the part where true unconditional joy resides.
The more you can USE this observant part of you to notice the pain, the more you begin to identify with your inherent JOY. Pretty soon things start to affect you less, and one day you will wake up with a strange realization that you are "happy" because you are finally identifying with "YOU the real YOU." It doesn't mean the shit stops being thrown at you, only that the shit doesn't seem to stink as much, and less of it sticks to you.
Now, as far as being unhappy in your present CIRCUMSTANCE, the yoga answer is this -- if you are clinging to a different "future" or if you keep clinging to your memories of the past and how unhappy they made you, then YES that is attachment.
HOWEVER, if your SOUL is yearning to be heard and your circumstances keep shutting your soul down, then it means you are ready to let a lot of attachments GO. Does that make sense?
There is an angst that we all feel when we find ourselves imprisoned by our attachments; when we realize that we HAVE been so attached to things/feelings/memories/plans. That realization/angst/yearning is the SOUL waking up and calling for more "space."
Of course it feels uncomfortable because you just realized that you put yourself in a box and now that you've grown this box is too small for you. The soul wants OUT, the ego wants the soul to stay IN, and this translates into a war of the inner worlds.
I am not sure what you are feeling, but the way out is to see the box, notice the box, observe the box of your own creation. You can't really see the box when you are inside of it, now can you?
I hope that helps.

A walking contradiction

When I was growing up, I was the only person in my extended family that didn’t like meat. Now that I teach yoga, I DO eat meat, while surrounded by vegans and raw foodists. (I probably could have saved myself a lot of grief by reversing the order of my food choices.)

While young, I didn’t know I had to label myself a vegetarian. I just didn’t like meat. I had never heard of Gandhi, so couldn’t have claimed that I was following in his footsteps. I just didn’t want to eat meat. I had no idea that it was soon to become a political statement. I just kept not putting meat on my plate. Well, except for bacon . . .

Then, one day, and I have no idea when this happened, I learned I was a vegetarian. I learned I was not a vegan, because I ate ice cream, but that I was definitely a vegetarian. I embraced the label. It was a relief, probably, to learn I belonged somewhere, since growing up I had felt so different from my meat eating family and community. Now I had a group I could align myself with. Except I still ate bacon . . .

Fast forward to El Salvador, at a Yoga retreat with Walt Baptiste, where I fully expected to be greeted as a fellow vegetarian. I mean, all yogis are vegetarian, right? Walt took one look at me and told me to eat some meat to get healthy, and stop using my food choices as my identity. Hmmm. I explained to him that I don’t like meat, but if he had bacon around I would gladly partake, as long as it was burnt. . . .

Well, I’m not sure when I started eating meat, but I did drop the label; It was such an obvious thing to do. I mean, hell, when was I going to be honest with myself and admit that bacon falls into the meat group?

I do know that when I got pregnant I inhaled meat. I craved tuna during my first pregnancy, meat sauce on pasta during my second pregnancy, and sausage from Trader Joe’s during my third pregnancy. I don’t really like meat and don’t eat it much, but when my body wants it, I find the best quality meat and partake of it with gratitude. Here’s the worst part however; I am still an outcast in my new “family” of yogis. Well, maybe not an outcast; let’s just say there are those who think I need to be converted to veganism or raw foodism. I am still a “project.”

For the record, I can’t be converted, I won’t be labeled, and I feel no need to be defined by my food choices. I won’t choose sides or feel guilty. I won’t declare superiority or feel inferiority. I just want to flow, and be allowed to flow, and allow others to flow in whatever direction feels right to them.

I may choose to eat meat one day, then eat rice and beans the next day. I may choose a turkey sandwich on Monday, and a hummus wrap on Tuesday. I may order a hamburger with bacon tomorrow, or may choose to eat a raw salad. I don’t know; I am just going to wait and see what my body needs.

This isn’t a confession, nor is it a defense. This is my attempt to use this small example as a larger metaphor. How many times do we “label” ourselves only to find that now we have to live within the confines of that overly simplistic label? Or, constantly contradict it? 

How often do we define ourselves only to find that there really is no definition that can fully describe us? When will we accept that NOT ONE OF US is here to fit into the confines of any one generalization! We actually aren’t on Earth to fit into a box.

 

A few days ago I read this quote: "The enlightened man is the greatest stranger in the world; he does not seem to belong to anybody. No organization confines him, no community, no society, no nation." ~ Osho


It felt like a response to an inquiry that has been meandering around my mind for at least a few days. Why do we define ourselves by our actions? We say “I am a doctor” instead of “I practice medicine right now.” Why do we identify so completely with our feelings? We claim “I am angry” rather than “I feel anger in this moment” or “I have anger presently.” Why have we made an identity even out of the food we eat? We declare “I am vegan” instead of “I choose to not eat meat today.” And can ANYONE tell me exactly WHAT is the importance of BEING a “patriot?”
The quote above was followed by this “afterthought”:

“We are now challenged to be courageous enough to . . . break the chains of society's repressive conditioning and opinions. We embrace all the colors of the rainbow, emerging from the dark and formless roots of our unconscious past to grow wings . . .
Our very way of being is rebellious - not because we are fighting against anybody or anything, but because we have discovered our own true nature and are determined to live in accordance with it . . .
[even at the risk of losing our identification with those very communities which gave us solace and meaning and a place to BELONG.]”

We have too long been subject to our own misdirected “loyalties.” Too long have we been held hostage by generalized definitions of who we are. In our attempts to belong we have followed false prophets, parroted false doctrine, partaken of too much “kool-aid,” and confined ourselves to a path that suddenly feels much too narrow.

DO you have the courage to live your life as one big contradiction? If so, you are in good company. Gandhi said it best when he remarked (and I paraphrase!!) “I am not concerned with appearing consistent; I am only concerned with Truth.”