Look at you in your boots with a Krishnamurti book.

I had a beautiful, heartening and intoxicating (as well as intoxicated thanks to Andrew's wine service) talk with my good friend, Jenny, yesterday afternoon into evening. We talked of the Mayan Prophesies, Edward Cayce, Eqyptian Pyramids, Aliens, Quantum Mechanics, current theories of Reality, paranormal encounters, clairvoyance, etc. I felt i could easily relate all topics above with a unified theory in my head, albeit one that was not easily discussed or expressed. Everything connected. The full contents of our discussion cannot be divulged here; they remain in my sub-conscious clear as day. I do know that it was refreshing to talk with a good girlfriend about intellectual and new age ideas and theories without feeling shame and embarrassment and being met with understanding and openness and an excited interest in sharing her own related stories, theories and experiences. I had to rush out of the discussion in order to be on time to another engagement, but we made plans the following morning.

Today, Scott and I met up with her, her husband, Andrew, and son, Brixton. After an interesting trip to cartwheels and coffee (of bullies and babies) we sauntered over to our local book hole, Chop Suey Books. 20 minutes in, two and a half year old Brixton pulled a book of the shelf and handing it to his mother exclaimed, "this is for Aunty Karen." The book was "Talks and Dialogues J. Krishnamurti: The Inspiring Teachers Leads You to the Clear Consciousness that Transcends Rational Thought."

When you open yourself, the universe delivers.

Thank you Brixton. Thank you universe.

T h e G r e a t e s t G i f t

With all these recent feelings of fresh pure bliss happening within, I have had a strong desire to share the gift I have received and how I have achieved this, albeit transitory and for the moment fleeting, feeling. But my path is my own and not another's (and I have a habit of coming across dogmatic and pushing people away with my abstract intellectualizing of experiences that have no proof) and when i received this letter (below) in my Facebook inbox, i knew it was meant for me now. To heed and put into practice.

The Greatest Gift:

I realize the greatest gift I can give another is my time.. people need to be given attention, listened to and appreciated. They do not need us to lecture them or seek to change them. Let us make the time for others as we need to make time for ourselves.
The greatest gift we can give another human being is OUR TIME
Time is precious. It is a very valuable thing in our lives.
And when we give our time to hear another... to converse with another.. to gaze upon the beauty of another..we are being so generous from our heart.
How much should we appreciate it when someone gives us their time?
It is one thing to get a gift... a present... some money....
But when another person gives some of their time it is a gift worth all the money in the world.
It is someone giving themselves to us.
And when we do the same for others we are truly blessing them with what they need most of all.
All people need attention.
All people need to be heard
All people need understanding.
All people need to be accepted for who they are.
But we need to make time to listen to people, really take in what they are saying without jumping in with our own story or some so called helpful advice.
Most of all, people just want to be heard.
They don't need the fixing. They can get that from all the self help books that adorn the shelves of book stores.
They don't need to be told to do this or that... they have probably worked that out for themselves.
They just need us to be there for them.... to hear them without judgment, to just love them... not to change them!
People will change in their own good time.
If they need our advice on how they want to change they will ask for it.
But for the most part, people are sick and tired of the lectures... they are sick and tired of being told what to do or what not to do.
They don't want us to criticise them.
They don't need us to be their judge
They don't need us to be their moral authority.
They don't need us to be their saviour
They don't need us to change them.
People just want us to be by their side... to be their friend... to love and accept them for who they are.
And the greatest way we can show people how much we love and accept them is to give them our time.
We can hear what is going on for them
Give them empathy
Demonstrate to them just how much we care.
Show them that we are all in the same boat and as they might be in a place of fear right now so we have also known that place.
So let us think just how we can give people more of our time.
It is so generous when we reflect on just how we are able to give more of our time to people... at home... in our social circle... in the work place or in our community.
Let us give of our time.
And as we honour and respect people with the gift of our healing attention made possible through making time for them, we find our own hearts becoming more loving.
We also need to give ourselves time.
We need so much to make time for ourselves so that we can relax, be nurtured or pampered.
We so much need this healing time
And when someone makes the time to give themselves to you, be so honored.
So many people have so little time for other people
Blessed are those who make the time.
So dear and special friend... do open your heart and share what is going on for you on this subject or any subject
I love you

Nick

T H A N K Y O U

a letter to a dear friend. A letter to myself. A letter to the divine. A letter from the soul to the soul. A letter to my ego?

8/23/09
1:07 PM (and edits at 2:57 PM)

My dear friend,

Please accept my apologies for typing this letter as opposed to handwriting. It just so happens that my brain moves at an intense pace (as I am sure you have witnessed on several occasions), and I find that the former is better adept at keeping up than the latter.

As you know by now, I am on an amazing journey (to use your words) towards self-actualization and awareness and a responsible acceptance of my past suffering coupled with a transformation towards love and wholeness. I owe thanks to so much in my life: for all the pieces scattered far and wide (in time and space) that have brought me to this point* now. I have spent these last few days continuing in earnest research into myself, (Meyer-Briggs, sun sign, moon sign, ascending, Saturn return, Jung’s differentiation and integration technique, strength finders 2.0) and following all leads that spark an image of familiarity or interest in my mind. I have contemplated my past, the Mayan and Hopi prophesies, Quantum mechanics, physics and psychology. I have picked up a book for the 5th or 6th time which was first given to me by my first spiritual teacher, albeit a reluctant one and I was then a reluctant disciple, and have actually read it, this time with understanding.

I have always been in search for love. Until now, it was merely a search for the love lost in childhood. Now I know I am in search of the true and pure love that is IN and IS all of us. Maybe they are essentially the same thing, but the distinction was necessary for me to make to “see” my path. I have always been searching for what my purpose is in this lifetime (what human is not?) and I think in this life my purpose is not about career or success in monetary values or fame, but is about healing and coming to a spiritual awareness and level of consciousness which ties together all of humanity and the prophesies of 2012 and an enlightened/evolved homo-superior. All the pieces are seeming to begin their (or finish) their orbits and are (re)aligning. I feel a part of something much bigger than myself that is my destiny.

You, my dear friend, I believe to be a major catalyst in my life evolution at this current juncture. Our souls, I do agree, were what each other needed (see more below).

“Spiritual teachers are important guides who provide a catalyst for spiritual awakening…All awakening to love is a spiritual awakening.”

I have already offered and will continue to offer thanks to the divine for this bumping of souls, this magical cosmic intersection, however brief, of our life paths. I have and will continue offering thanks to myself for finally allowing the pain to flow through me so I may see its ugly face and know it. So I may hold it as my own. I have “made the primal choice to be saved.” As Bell Hooks defines it, “It is simply that gesture of taking responsibility for our well-being, wherein we confess to our brokenness, our woundedness, and open ourselves to salvation…This act of opening the heart enables us to receive the healing offered to us by those who care.”

And now, in written words, though I know I do not need to say it, and perhaps there are no words capable of saying exactly what I feel, and I know I have already told you in similar words and in hugs and in hand-clasped staring contests, but

THANK YOU.

Thank you for being you. (I cannot thank you for being here, because 1. “here” is relative and 2. The myriad factors that placed you and me here together simultaneously are too numerous to count and too complex to trace.) However, you are you, and for all the suffering and crises you have endured to become you today as I know you, and your open heart that has, like a sponge, sucked up wisdom you now lend to me, for all those things and more I am eternally grateful.

My one concern, however, is this slight nagging and tug I feel when I think of all you have been and are to me. You said to me at Natural Bridge that you heard me say “I am just what your soul needs.” You most definitely are what my soul needs, but I cannot figure my part in yours. Part of the joy of giving is feeling the reciprocal joy of understanding exactly what it is that you have given to another person and how it has affected them. I am missing this joy because I am afraid I do not see what it is I could possibly have given you. Perhaps it is only the reciprocation of the immense gift you have given me, that you have received. Perhaps I am selfish to look for and think that I could have given you something as precious in return, or better yet, and more likely, it is that I think too little of myself to think a gift from me could be as precious, as meaningful.

I do not know what kind of friendship this is, besides a soul one. But I do not know what that means in terms of time and space and physicality and touch and sight, at least in my simpleton and “reality” confined brainscape. I have never embarked on such a journey with a companion before; I am scared. I say this because this friendship, at least to me, is a special one and one I feel unfortunately a great weight upon me for upkeep and maintenance and survival and success. Though I am sure you will say that that weight is shared. By us, first, and by the whole universe, second. This will take nurturing and care, commitment and responsibility, trust and honesty, all of which I am committed to knowing and giving to this relationship and to you.

I do not know how to say “goodbye” to you; the very word denotes an end. This is not an end (I hope), but a beginning. I prefer the German words (and being that I am of German descendant, it is fitting) “auf wiedersehen:” see you again. However, I have a strange feeling that I will never see you again. I get the feeling you are too beautiful for this world and it may take you. I get comfort in the following:

”You have to trust that every friendship has no end, that a communion of saints exists among those, living and dead, who have truly loved God and one another. You know from experience how real this is.” –Henri Nouwen

I love you.
With all that I am, and all that I will be,
Unconditional and eternal,
Karen

M E D I T A T I O N

"What is the nature of the negativity I create? It is so I may learn forgiveness."

M E D I T A T I O N

"Just keep going with it and let the blessings come."

- Scott

M E D I T A T I O N

" Now all the rocks have faces, and I know I am not alone. "

RESEARCH: The Mayan and Hopi Prophecies of 2012 and The End of the Mayan Calendar

I keep wondering if my spiritual awakening that I am experiencing is a part of this massive world change. I feel bizarre even stating such a thing. Who am I to think I could be linked to such an immensely powerful event and be blessed enough to be aware of the transformation personally and divinely at the same time? But, then again, that is the whole point! I also ponder (and more research is required) how my Saturn Return, which will come about in 2 years, the same time as the 2012 prophesies (My 30th birthday is 9 days after one of the proposed end of days!), is playing a role in the transformation and self-actualization.

Taken from Point of Light. Read the whole article here.
How Does the Maya Calendar Apply to Our Time in History?

Most perceive events of the current unfolding of history as alarming and grim. The reason that it doesn’t seem that humans have evolved to a higher level of consciousness is that so far, ever since “the Fall,” we entered a consciousness of duality, of perceived separation from God, each other and Earth. “The Fall,” expressed in Biblical and other cultural stories, was pinpointed by the Mayans as occurring in history 5,125 years ago. This is the time frame when the current “great creation cycle,” called the Mayan Long Count, began on August 10, 3114 BCE. This also marks the period of history when patriarchal systems of religions and national identities were organized, and written languages arose. A consciousness of domination, competition, inequality, scarcity and fear accompanied this duality perspective. And the earlier experience of the interconnected web of life began to fade. The “Wisdom–Keepers” of indigenous cultures have fortunately preserved some of this ancient knowledge.

The final, Universal Underworld level of our evolution will shift us into our divine consciousness of love and oneness in 2011/2012. But first we must complete our current development in the Galactic Underworld, which heals our duality-based consciousness.

This rebalancing of duality occurs on a human level, primarily through integrating the feminine and masculine aspects of our brain and consciousness. So, the feminine/right brain aspects of awareness and functioning (heart, feeling, nurturing, intuition, cooperation ) will increasingly integrate with the masculine/left brain awareness and functioning (mind, thinking, producing, analyzing competition) whether we are males or females. Humans will become more whole and integrated. And females will rise to truer equality with males as a result. (Interestingly enough, i recently read Art and Physics by Leonard Schlain and was struck deeply by the chapters on the brain, since neurology is one of my favored nerdy subjects. He speaks of the evolution of the brain through the evolution of species, and i remember thinking after he spoke of the split to separate right and left hemispheres that i believed there would come a time when the parts would be united again though more evolved that its previous united state, and perhaps the apparent large number of "whole-brained" individuals was evidence of this slow transition.)

The healing of duality is also occurring through integrating ancient wisdom into modern technology and science, integrating spirituality and materialism. This has been reflected in the new research in Quantum physics, where the scientists themselves are experiencing spiritual opening as they learn about the zero-point field, for example. (Read an exciting article about zero-point field theory here.)


Other Teachings and Theories that align with the 2012 Prophesies:

This “shift of the ages” addresses the astrological progression of Earth’s movement through the influence of the 12 zodiac signs in our cosmos. Each astrological age lasts approximately 2,155 years long. We are currently shifting from the astrological Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. The archetypal themes of each zodiac sign are seen as informing the next developmental stage of human consciousness.

In the Piscean age, which opened 2,000 years ago with the arrival of Jesus Christ, most of humanity’s moral/emotional/spiritual evolution was in its early stages. People needed strict rules from outer authority/institutions about what to believe and how to act. During this era, people typically did not have direct access to sacred teachings, but could only receive them through religious intermediaries. With information being controlled by leaders and institutions, it unfortunately was easy to withhold or distort sacred knowledge in order to control the masses.

In the Aquarian age, humans are portrayed as shifting into our capacity for direct access to knowledge and direct experience of spiritual revelation. We are moving away from outer authority, to an inner authority aligned directly with divinity. This ascended status is seen as portrayed by the Aquarian symbol of the “Water-Bearer.” Rather than being like the fish of the Piscean Age, immersed within the waters in mass-consciousness, the individual now has mastery to contain the waters of consciousness in the sacred vessel, and carry it forth. Debate is still occurring in astrological circles whether the Aquarian Age has begun already or not.

Our increasing ability to receive direct knowledge and spiritual experience is being supported by the internet, TV, books and media. Also, specific 20th century discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, yielding the wisdom of the Essenes, and the lost Gnostic Gospels, of Mary Magdalene, Philip, and Thomas have been a major leap in this direction. Each text reveals ways we can access spiritual mastery through direct experience rather than through institutionally controlled and prescribed doctrine. The current ease of public access to such ancient teachings and other forms of knowledge, through the internet and other sources, is like a confirmation of the shift of consciousness we are undergoing with the arrival of the age of Aquarius.
Many other ancient sources of mystical knowledge and spiritual technology, previously withheld from public access, are being revealed as well. The Kabala, or Tree Of Life, from within Judiasm; the Sufi tradition from within Islam; Kundalini yoga and Shri Vidya (the knowledge of Divine Mother) from within Hinduism are examples. Recent archeological discoveries have also emerged, demonstrating the existence of world-wide, pre-historic, peaceful, Goddess-based cultures that long outlasted our merely 5,000+ years of patriarchal culture and male dominated religions. These discoveries triggered the women’s spirituality movement, which helped restore the feminine face of divinity to public awareness. New information about Mary Magdalene herself being the Holy Grail of the lost sacred feminine consciousness, as well as being the sacred partner of Jesus has also assisted this awareness.

With this background, we can see that we are entering a time where ancient knowledge is emerging in new ways in support of a leap of consciousness many call “ascension” or the “shift of the ages.”

Taken from Point of Light. Read the whole article here.

Blog Manifesto

“On high occasions we’ll make cherry pies with criss-crossed lattice tops and ravioli with crimped edges for the satisfaction of seeing those storybook comforts become real.”        

                                                                                                     ~Barbara Kingsolver


Why can’t each day be a high occasion and cause for celebration? Don’t we deserve an extra dollop of whip cream on our pie slice? Aren’t we special enough for Grandma’s silver to make an appearance on a non-holiday? After all, each day is a gift… and a miracle!  Take time out each day to enjoy the finer things in life and your happiness quotient will rise exponentially. It does not take that much, really, to add a touch of the sacred and wonderful to your home, a beacon of bliss to your life.

Each season has its gifts and each day its moments. In winter, I collect seedpods off brittle botanicals and happily await a blanket of snow while safely curled up in a wool blanket sipping from a steaming teacup. In early Spring I clear the garden beds and unearth the first crocus and daffodil. On laundry day in summer time, I truly savor crisp white cotton sheets hanging in the sunshine and enjoy scouring country roadsides for wild flowers. Fall finds me boot-clad and hunting for the perfect red, orange and yellow maple leaves. Just as we can enjoy the little pleasures inherent in each season, so too can we seek out simple joys each day: lingering in bed an extra few minutes, French-toast Sundays, a throng of swallows overhead, a pink and orange sunset, a napping cat, a three-year-old’s giggle.

My goal is to eke out a life of satisfaction and fulfillment by counting all the little things I have to be grateful for. I embark on this blog-journey to share with you my intimate secrets and new found discoveries of how I infuse my life with more bliss by making each day in some way a “high occasion.”

While my dreams of playing chatelaine to my own little homestead with 3-5 acres is just some distant dream, I still foster farm to table habits you’d expect from a crunchy native of a bygone era like chopping wood, canning seasonal produce, baking ooey-gooey berry cobblers, thrifty furniture re-dos and sprouting plants from seeds in my own peat blend. Here you’ll find mouthwatering recipes to satisfy your taste buds, get you excited to try something new and inspire yourself into an apron; DIY craft tutorials, décor photo essays and “before-and-afters” to help you revamp your home and garden, plus inspiring poems, passages and pretty photos that will remind you what a beautiful world we live in. I’ll also share other emblems of my joy where the simple, rustic and mundane holds hands with the sacred, spiritual and special.

As I seek out and find my bliss, my hope is to become a better co-creator and manifester of my dreams. I wish to express myself wholly, unleash my inner “Jane-of-all-trades” and share the simple (and at times the extravagant) things that make my heart sing. By doing this, I wish to encourage you to let your authentic and unique light shine forth, to follow your bliss and embark on a similar journey of wholeness and happiness.

Love + Light to you all,
       Thanks for stopping by,
                   Karen Diane Wolfe

“I am going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life.”  ~ Elsie de Wolfe

"Our primary drive in life is not pleasure…but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.”     ~ Victor Frankl