Step right up...

By Vichara

Dispense with the fragments and shards of yesterday, they will not fit into what today brings. They may seem small and translucent but they carry remnants of thoughts that sit heavy in your pockets and will throw off your balance. It is not to be said that they could have some merit they just need to be processed through the filter of being “present” now in order for them to be useful. Regardless this new day that has unfolded into your hands is another gift that has been given to you. There may not be a big fanfare (other than your alarm clock or a nudge from your cat or dog) but it will most definitely be a parade. Yes there will be lions and tigers of conflict but there will also be horses of reason, elephants of patience and giraffes of vision. You will need to don the barker’s hat to assume control of this cacophony of sound and vision because you know what is coming next…that car full of clowns that will most assuredly contain the surreal and the needed levity. Step right up folks your day has started.

The right thing...

By Vichara

Today’s sermon will be interrupted by the following message from our local sponsor. Do you know what time it is? Don’t bother to look at your watch, you won’t find the answer there folks. No the time we are in is not to be found on the face of your watch, not with the LED lights of your microwave or on that trusty grandfather clock patiently ticking over in the corner. No folks the time we are in, as a particular honored songwriter once said, is a changing. Changing to what folks? Well that is up to you. I’m only here to offer up suggestions and put down the guideposts it will be up to you what path you will step forward on. No need to pull out your credit cards folks just lace up your shoes, open your eyes and heart and step forward with equanimity, passion and resolve to do the right thing folks. That’s all, the right thing with the support of compassion and love. With that the path will become clearer and more meaningful. Now back to the sermon of the day…

A few words...

By Vichara

It is truly amazing and a frightening thing that a simple collection of words combined with intent can hold so much power. One way it can uplift and inspire you and others to elevate your efforts to do well in the world and make a difference. In another way a few words planted can infect a person so much that they kill themselves. I am of course referring to a number of recent suicides by young people that as noted in the press as being “bullied” in the classic sense. Because they were considered by a few as being different that these alleged differences made them a target of persecution and torment and drove these individuals to reconsider their self worth and their right to exist. Yes we all know that persecution and bullying has been around for countless ages and people have been tortured and killed for simple differences but it does not justify or validate these actions. The root of all this bullying of course is fear in the classic sense. Fear of the differences these persecuted individuals supposedly represent or portray. Fear that whatever lifestyle these people have is not normal in the eyes of the bully. We need to teach the young and re-enforce at any age is that all beings have a right to exist. Period. That the interconnection we share is essential regardless of lifestyle to solidify the foundation of a just society. Lofty yes but I still believe attainable. As Gandhi said “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”.

Help out our friend...

By Vichara

The paddles were out, they charged it up to 360 jewels and there was a nervous, highly charged feeling in the air. Will this be enough? Clear!...nothing…clear!...nothing, one more time…clear!! Wait a minute I think I feel a pulse. It’s weak but it’s there. Our comrade has fallen but it seems that there is still hope. We have seen better days, better moments when the clouds broke open and the light shot through with confidence. Yes there were times before when our comrade seemed to be weak but fooled many of us and it can happen again. History has taught us there will always be adversaries of our dear friend but if we, and I mean every one of us, tried to find that linking point that does exist we could help sustain our friend’s heartbeat. It truly is not that hard. Just one single small act a day will sustain our friend. Come on Compassion; get up now and put your arms around our shoulders, we got you.

Fill the pages...

By Vichara

The heavy rain clouds form a quiet somnambulistic pillow that created an opportunity for the mind to tuck into its fold, relax and drift into introspection. Somehow by being isolated because of the inclement weather did not feel claustrophobic but freeing. The overcast corridors lent themselves to be soft corners to lean into and be safe instead of the harsh edges that would be present in the cold light. While some have problems with these days I find comfort and variety in them. A change, a new vista and an opportunity to ponder a new avenue of thought. I know, I know you have perhaps read my suggestions before about taking on a new path but since we are in the change of seasons why not add a change of thought. Make a new discovery. Our lives have only a limited number of pages. Fill that book up on each page until the binding splits and it becomes heavy with joy.

The landscape...

By Vichara

We are grasping for straws of humanity in a desperate need to make sense of lives that sometimes intersect with such indifference it leaves us little strength and resolve to more forward. Even if we close our eyes to the events around us we still see images with eyes closed. We need to change our vision. Change what is out “there” and inside our hearts. Easier said then done but there are ways. As I stated in other times it will not be in the grandiose actions that will necessarily make the difference in the world around us it will be in the small gestures initiated with the heart that will have the most profound effect. Try to do something very small for someone else today to try to change the human landscape out there and in your heart.

Message in a bottle...

By Vichara

When I was a kid living close to the shoreline of one of the Great Lakes I used to imagine it was a vast ocean. In those years of reading stories like Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Kidnapped and having a wild imagination this body of water might as well have been a vast ocean. At one point I wrote a note of who I was and where I lived, placed it in a corked bottle and sent it adrift in my vast ocean, ok the lake. I imagined this bottle silently bobbing and drifting along making a very long journey to some exotic foreign shore where another boy just like me would find it and be inspired to cast a note back. This exchange could take months, even years but somehow you believed that it would and you would connect with someone out there in the world. Now that we have got older a lot of those young imaginative thoughts like that have drifted away but I do believe on some small level they still exist. We all want to cast out a message in a bottle and connect with someone, even on the smallest level. Regardless of how vast this ocean of humanity may appear there are others that want to connect like you do. Trust that they are out there and send out your message in a bottle today.

A new resolve...

By Vichara

Until we reach the dawn and greet it with open arms we will be only embracing darkness. Until we hear the sound and open up our hearts the silence will be deafening. Until we see through the fog of deception we will only be deluded. Until we taste the truth warmth of life all that we have ingested are cold scraps. There are times when we need to push ourselves from our complacency and engage ourselves to the next level. It may seem daunting, reaching into the unknown dies have that effect, but unless this is ignited we remain stagnate. I hear “well what do I do”? “what shall I do”?, “I’m not sure which way to go”? Well pull up your socks, shakes off the dust that has settled on your shoulders and look up with the resolve to engage with something foreign to you today. Just one new thing. It may not pan out or it may but one thing is fore sure whatever way it goes it will open up a new door to something else. Now get up and make sure your shoelaces are tied.

Being in the middle...

By Vichara

They say that youth is wasted on the youth and that there is no appreciation for what is being given to them. I think much worse is that “present” is wasted on the majority. There are so many fixated on the past and possible regrets and what if’s and just as many consumed with the anxiety of the future. Either one of these states, especially the past, can’t be changed. Being caught in either one of these states robs you of what is going on right now and the guidance to be received for the next step. Being present can be a difficult state of mind for most as most of our daily activities dictate the desire to be in both. But being present has a way of smoothing out the rough spots of the perceived past and will open up the vistas that will come next.

Now is waiting...

By Vichara

Between the internal and external dialogue that rattles around in our brains it is a wonder that we can ever achieve the clarity and focus to accomplish things in a day. The inner dialogue repeats snippets of what we have heard and conjures up potential dialogue that could happen given an arbitrary set of circumstances. Both are not based in anything that exists anymore or could. They are the padded walls of noise that we bounce around in an effort to make sense of the frenetic energy that surrounds us. This does not mean you are wacky koo-koo it is just another coping mechanism that tries to steer you into being “present”. Like rounding up a dozen slippery eels while your hands are wet and greasy it is challenging. Breathe and carefully put all of these snippets in a bucket and them put it aside. You don’t need them; you just need what is going on this moment. It is what is present now that is important. The past has slid off the table and the future can’t make up its mind which door to enter. Let them deal with themselves you don’t need them. They don’t exist anymore but you do and the present does right now as well. Walk with it.

Homework...

By Vichara

“Homework” even in the traditional sense is never done. There will always be something that you need to brush up on or learn and things you will need to teach to the many classes that pass through your home. Then there is the homework of the heart. The bell may have rung, the classroom empty but there are lessons we have been given that need to be processed. The episodes of the day where personal interactions left you contemplating their meaning. The moment unexpected when someone really needed your help. The look that someone you never met before gave you in that brief conversation. That one comment that left you feeling good about everything. All of these equations and problems will only need one formula to be used to process, gain understanding and receive the answers and that is the formula of the compassionate heart. Used for many centuries this formula will take any problem and render it clearer and understandable. The magical thing is that we already know this formula; we just need to take it out more often and use it.

This day that we have been given...

By Vichara

If we were to be literally given the same imagined 9 lives that cats are granted I’m afraid we would waste them as well. I know that may seem harsh and pessimistic but I’m sure you have witnessed, as I have, the number of chances, reprieves and literal stays of execution from this life that we may have witnessed or have read about. Face it today the majority of us are wasteful. We are wasteful with time, energy, thoughts and possessions. Without a defined set of parameters we believe that the “well” will never run dry. But given this life is underscored with definite impermanence there is finality to everything. As they say “nothing lasts forever” and the key is to enjoy the moment and what has been given to you and temper all of this with a deep sense of gratitude. Embrace this day that has been given to you. Don’t fritter it away frivolously.

Roadside assistance...

By Vichara

You get up and empty the dustbin of your mind of the things from yesterday. You think everything has been emptied and carry on for the day. Then as you reach the 5-mile marker of the day something shakes loose. A memory, a thought or a concern and it gets stuck in the gears and thing begin to create a gnashing sound. You try to ignore it like some single fly that keeps coming back to buzz in front of your face but it’s no good, it get louder. If you stop now to inspect it will it disrupt your day but the insistent grind will not subside. You can’t call a technician to handle this; it’s up to you. Stop the truck and pull out the tools. The wrench of compassion, the hammer of patience and the saw of decision, pull them all out. Open the gearbox in the shade on the side of the road and quietly through introspection locate the jiggly part that has got loose. It may take a while and you may need some illumination but in these situations you are the only mechanic suited to adjust these matters of the heart and mind. After all it is your machine. You should know and how to fix it.

Rolling up the hill...

By Vichara

We arise from our slumber to once again take up our roles as phosphorus beings rolling up the cumulative obligations and duties into various sized spheres. We assemble and push them along whatever incline that has been created to wherever it has been determined. What are these tasks that we assume? Do they serve a greater purpose or just a means to an end? Are these spheres that we labor with part of a greater lesson or just an excuse to fill our time? I would venture this that if we were to be more unified in approach to this “journey” here and help each other find the commonalities instead of laboring in a vacuum then perhaps the incline that has been created becomes level and easier to manage together. I don’t know it’s just a thought.

More searching...

By Vichara

We are all searching for “answers”. What if there are none to be found and what we find is merely breadcrumbs on a path that is put there just to keep us moving forward? Moving forward to what? The answer? To some form of understanding? Some peace? I don’t know but I believe for the sake of keeping one’s sanity it may be beneficial to have the faith to believe that this journey that has lead us to this physical being of skin and bones that we inhabit was created for a reason. We all may not be put here to find the perceived big answers but perhaps to help others in finding it.

A blank page...

By Vichara

Someone recently asked me how I think up these “thoughts” and manage to get one up here most every morning. I was asked don’t you ever just go blank or face a blank page and have nothing? Well there is a blank page in front of me right now. The thing is that there is most assuredly an infinite number of ways to look and reflect on the minutiae that surrounds us everyday. Much like the subtle rays of a prism reflecting light and revealing the many hues of colors we should encourage ourselves to be prisms of life. Use our hearts and minds to reflect the life that surrounds us. Breathe in the cavalcade and breathe out possible solutions to what we see. They could be small or grand but at this point the idea is to be engaged with the world around us and contribute in meaningful ways. You see a blank page engaged reflects and produces much like what we all can do on a daily basis through the prism of our own hearts.

Key to happiness...

By Vichara

Is there a key to true happiness? So many books, TV shows, magazines all of them claim to know the key to happiness that will change our lives. While admirable in their attempt this topic has been investigated by hundreds and hundreds of people both young and old for centuries and what they have come up with hundreds and hundreds of answers. I believe as naïve & simple as it may seem I have the key. There is no one key to happiness. With each individual person there is an individual key unique to that person. As much as there may be commonalities that we may all share in one way or another when we try to apply one measurement of happiness to all it will fail. The one thing that I believe we can all agree on is the foundation where happiness can flourish is when each person can maintain love, hope and compassion for others seeking their key to happiness.

A "shift"...

By Vichara

The foundation of the world, which is viewed as being formibidle, is more like a house of cards and the cards have started to bend, tumble and tear to revel the true nature. The scandals, the deceit, the manipulation, greed and all of the frailties are being exposed but what do we do when the ruins of greed and deception have been cleared away? Do we finally in a collective resolution bond each other to a more truthful existence? How can this be really done when the extreme desperately still exists and is precariously held together by the human ego? Perhaps we can start stripping away some of the “I” of our existence and shift some energies to the “we” and rebuild through patience and compassionate understanding.

A new day...

By Vichara

It’s far from over…so what will you do today? You have another chance…what will you change? You can begin again…but you need to stay present. It’s up to you.

Guideposts...

By Vichara

In the early dark morning as I “sit” there is this one single bright star in the west. At the time I arrive it sits just above the dense foliage of one of the trees that border our property. I have now come to look for it before my meditation time. It has become my “north star” that is set there to guide me into the morning. Of course I want to fantasize a bit and believe that my Mum is embodied in the star and is saying good morning to me and is guiding me. Do you have a north star that is helping guide you along the way? A moralistic compass that provides the direction to turn when confusion rears itself onto your path? For me I keep a journal that I fill with quotations and things I hear that I use to remind and help guide my path. I dip into this journal from time to time to find guideposts. Perhaps this type of thing may benefit some of you. My north star is fading with Mr. Sun as it rises so I will leave you with this one from my journal. “Patience is always in the slow lane”.

The direction...

By Vichara

It’s not which direction we are facing so much; it’s how we are facing the direction. Our attitude of each situation is governed by the internal processing either in the receptive positive way or an unresponsive negative way. While there can be outside influences the decision in how things are dealt remains ultimately with you and your attitude.