The Right Questions

I just finished reading Debbie Ford's "The Right Questions." I saw the book in the library and dug the theory that asking better questions can bring about a more fulfilling, meaningful life. So, what are the right questions? All have to do with choice and what we willingly accept in our lives. Read on.

1. Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?

2. Will this choice bring me long-term fulfillment or will it bring me short-term gratification?

3. Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please another?

4. Am I looking for what's right or am I looking for what's wrong?

5. Will this choice add to my life force or will it rob me of my energy?

6. Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?

7. Does this choice empower me or does it disempower me?

8. Is this an act of self-love or is it an act of self-sabotage?

9. Is this an act of faith or is it an act of fear?

10. Am I choosing from my divinity or am I choosing from my humanity?

There were several important points I took away from Ford's book. Here were the ones that rang out for me. I offer them as an example of the interesting nuggets her book offers:

• My only job is to tend to my inner flame and keep it vital and roaring at all costs.

• Are the choices I'm making throughout my day ones that will add fuel to my inner fire?

• Am I following a vision map of all my deepest and most profound dreams OR am I following a default map which smacks of automatic programming?

• What are my real first commitments? These are the beliefs or commitments I have made to myself unconsciously which may prevent conscious goals and dreams from taking flight. Another way to frame this is: what underlying commitments drive us to repeat the same self-sabotaging behaviors over and over again?

The book is a terrific exercise in learning more about yourself. Heartily recommend!

Passage

there's a storm coming, child.
see how the leaves flip their skirts
to reveal silver legs in flight?

take comfort.
the gods always send messengers
to warn the people.

come into the hearth
where baked sugar beckons
and my cracked fingers
and old eyes can better find your tears.

'cuz your momma, baby,
your momma's not coming home no more.

iris has lowered her rainbow bridge
and souls take their passage.

press into my soft arms
so that your loss can journey
through old cotton
into the space of my heart.

inside, a tender lullaby
joins the wails of a child.

outside, the gods
incite electricity into fire
and the heavens pour down a cleansing
to match our own.

Listen, my Child -- For the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

i like for you to be still, my child,
and listen to what your grandmothers
whisper to you
when the night is blackest,
and even the tigers retreat
into the shadows to sleep.

your black feet
and yellow feet
and red feet
and white feet
are birthed by the same mother
who holds and cradles you.
mitakuye oyasin.

we are one.
there is only one.
does it tickle your ear
as i breathe it into the air?

all of you, my seed carriers.
listen.
this is my precious give-away.

come to the sacred waters--
to the running waters
and to the frozen waters--
come and listen
to the ancient one.

for the selkie has risen from the depths
to bask on sun-baked rocks
as she has done since the moon was young.

but man has captured her
and dragged her away far from home.
she cannot go back
and drifts without purpose
while her sealskin stretches like
oil over water,
always out of reach,
black tears of her exile.

listen.

one among you will rise
and swim to her,
so that she may heal.

listen.

is it you?

Quantum Physics and Dreaming

My interest in dreams takes me to all kinds of unusual (or usual!) places. Most recently, I've been digging into books on quantum physics and thinking about its relationship with consciousness. I dig movies like "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" and writers like Fred Alan Wolf because their theories stretch my brain, get my synapses firing at a faster rate, and indulge my belief that what we think, we create.

I just devoured Wolf's "The Dreaming Universe," which, like Izthak Bentov's work (definitely check out his book "Stalking the Wild Pendulum"), really challenges what you consider "reality."

Here's a few of my favorite quotes from Wolf's book, ones I like to return to often, to consider, chew and dream about:

"Legends have attempted to describe this. For example, the Australian Aboriginal people believe that a Great Spirit dreamed all of reality, the whole universe of it, into existence. They say that the land they walk is a reflection of this Great Spirit's dream, and then they walk this land, they become aware of the songs of their legends, which resonate with the land itself. These songs resonate as song lines in the earth and give them directions. There are stories of runners moving across the land at great speeds in the dark, seeing the glow of the song as vividly as if they were running along a great lighted highway. They can find out where to go, where the sacred grounds are, as if this spirit were still speaking to them and lighting the way" (p. 345).

"When we dream, we return to that reality in order to gain information about how to survive in this reality. But survival may not be as it seems from a single perspective" (p. 346).

***

"We become afraid because people tell us what is real and what is not real. But we sense an inner conflict with what people tell us. We feel fear because we know that the viewpoint of, say, a political system is not consistent with our own view. The Communist Party is not the answer to the world. The capitalist system is not the answer for the world's problems. Going to war is not the answer to the world. We know these things from some deeper voice inside ourselves. What happens is that fearful images enter our minds, and we don't realize this. But if you have fearful images, they tend to come into reality: whatever you can imagine begins to appear as if we called it into existence.

"We are creating these images as realities because the universe is ambivalent and paradoxical. It doesn't care what you produce. It doesn't say to you that you can't do this and you can do that. It is like a mother who loves all of her children: the ugly ones, the beautiful ones, the starving ones, and the rich fatted ones--it doesn't care. It says whatever you create as imagery, so will it be. Why? Because at the core of the universe, at its most fundamental level, it is not solid stuff. It is not hard reality. It is capable of forming reality into whatever our images produce" (p. 348).

There is much more to say on this point and I plan to return to this thought often in the coming weeks. The point is to clean up your thoughts, your vibrations and your energy, so that you effectively remove any resistance between you and what you are wanting. (i.e. those who are interested in this line of thinking, do be sure to check out the Abraham-Hicks material on the Law of Attraction. Good stuff!)

Wolves

I'm lately fascinated by wolves. I love it when they find me in dreams, meditations, on billboards, in waking life. It makes sense then to learn more about them. Barry Lopez's "Of Wolves and Men" and Smith and Ferguson's "Decade of the Wolf" have given me tremendous insight into wolf biology and behavior. Other books and writers provide the mythos -- "Wolf Totem," certain fairy tales ("Firebird," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Three Little Pigs," "The Dog and the Wolf"), Jack London.

People fear the wild wolf and call it "dangerous." I admire it as a great hunter and respect its pack mentality. Wolves typically nurture the young and tend the old. Here are a few of my favorite passages from Lopez's work:

"In the native American cosmology, insofar as it can be regarded as the same from tribe to tribe, the universe was perceived in six directions: the space above; that below; and the four cardinal divisions of the world horizon. Frequently on the plans the bear represented the west, the mountain lion the north, the wolf the east, and the wildcat the south. They were regarded as the creatures with the greatest power and influence in the spirit world.

"The Pawnee of present-day Nebraska and Kansas differed from most other tribes in that they divided their world horizon into four semi cardinal points, assigning the wolf to the southeast. In the Pawnee cosmogony the wolf was also set in the sky as a star, along with the bear and the two cats, to guard the primal female presence, the Evening Star. The Wolf Star was read -- the color associated with the wolf by virtually every tribe (red did not signify blood; it was simply an esteemed color.)
(p. 102)

***

"The Pawnee conceptualization of the wolf was that he was an animal who moved like liquid across the plains: silent, without effort, but with purpose. He was alert to the smallest changes in his world. He could see very far--"two looks away," they said. His hearing was so sharp he could even hear a cloud as it passed overhead. When a man went into the enemy's territory he wished to move exactly like this, to sense things like the wolf, to be Wolf.

"The sense of being Wolf that came over a Pawnee scout was not the automatic result of putting on a wolf skin. The wolf skin was an accoutrement, an outward sign to the man himself and others who might see him that he was calling on his wolf power. It is hard for the Western mind to grasp this and to take seriously the notion that an Indian at times could be Wolf, could actually participate in the animal's spirit, but this is what happened. It wasn't being like a wolf; it was having the mind set: Wolf." (pp. 112)

Firestorm

I was skyping with a good friend this morning and the subject rolled around to firestorms. We both knew, having lived in the West, that there are certain fires which are necessary for the health of forests. They burn away the dead material. They create space for sunlight. They open the world to new species. In fact, some fires burn so brightly and fiercely that they manage to burst open certain pine cones, which allows the cones to spread their seeds and extend their horizons. As outsiders, we fixate on the aftermath...the destruction. But for the forests, it is part of the natural cycle of life.

Cannot the same be said for human relationships? Sometimes we encounter individuals who burn us so deeply that we feel destroyed. But, this is because we're in the moment and still feel the fire's immediate effects. Parts of us are singed. Other parts crack open and we begin to notice growth that seemed impossible. With time we encounter wonderment, strength and gratitude. The trick is not to get stuck in the aftermath of the fire. Notice the forests. After a raging fire, though seemingly impossible, growth happens. Green spurts burst through soil. Saplings creep up and reach for sunlight. Animals come to pick off insects drawn to the dead wood. New ecosystems form. It's fascinating and humbling.

I don't think any of us escape human firestorms. Some of us encounter them again and again. If you, sweet soul reading this, finds that this rings true for your experience. Have faith. Growth is on its way and new life will find you. If the lesson of forests is true, then how could it not?

Travels and Quotes

I've been out and about in this big world of ours lately,
taking a bit of a walkabout, traveling, seeing new terrain and folk on the street.
I've been traveling through inner worlds too.
It's good to get one's passport stamped in all kinds of worlds.

Here's some doodle writing:

they sat in silence, each absorbed in a section of the paper. she was murmuring real estate descriptions to her husband, neatly punctuated by pauses while she sipped coffee and rustled the pages to get his attention. "three bedrooms"..."close to national zoo." a raspy sigh. "i just don't understand," she grumbled as it all faded in the din.

***

i listen to the man give advice to the woman seated next to him. the most extraordinary part of their exchange is that he is also answering my questions. i smile, thinking that even in this city people are willing to reveal themselves to each other, to become so vulnerable. souls crack open like saucers and the caffeinated walk back into the world a little taller, somehow a little more certain of the journey. i giggle as i leave because i feel exactly the same way.