Meaning in Life

The Parable of the Trapeze

Turning the fear of transformation into the transformation of fear.

Sometimes I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I’m either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments in my life, I’m hurtling across space in between trapeze bars.

Most of the time, I spend my life hanging on for dear life to my trapeze-bar-of-the-moment. It carries me along at a certain steady rate of swing and I have the feeling that I’m in control of my life. I know most of the right questions and even some of the answers.

But, every once in a while as I’m merrily (or even not-so-merrily) swinging along, I look out ahead of me into the distance and what do I see? I see another trapeze bar swinging toward me. It’s empty and I know, in that place in me that knows, that this new trapeze bar has my name on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart-of-hearts I know that, for me to grow, I must release my grip on this present, well known bar and move to the new one.

Each time it happens to me I hope (no, I pray) that I won’t have to let go of my old bar completely before I grab the new one. But in my knowing place, I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar and, for some moment in time, I must hurtle across space before I can grab onto the new bar.

Each time I am filled with terror. It doesn’t matter that in all my previous hurtles across the void of unknowing I have always made it. Each time I am afraid that I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless chasm between bars. I do it anyway. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees, no net, no insurance policy, but you do it anyway because somehow to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives. So, for an eternity that can last a microsecond or a thousand lifetimes, I soar across the dark void of 'the past is gone, the future is not yet here'. It’s called 'transition'. I have come to believe that this transition is the only place that real change occurs. I mean real change, not the pseudo-change that only lasts until the next time my buttons get punched.

I have noticed that, in our culture, this transition zone is looked upon as a 'no-thing', a no-place between places. Sure, the old trapeze bar was real and, that new one coming towards me, I hope that’s real too. But the void in between? Is that just a scary, confusing, disorienting nowhere that must be gotten through as fast and as unconsciously as possible? NO! What a wasted opportunity that would be. I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only real thing and the bars are illusions we dream up to avoid the void where the real change, the real growth occurs for us. Whether or not my hunch is true, it remains that the transition zones in our lives are incredibly rich places. They should be honoured, even savoured. Yes, with all the pain and fear and feelings of being out of control that can (but not necessarily) accompany transitions, they are still the most alive, most growth-filled, passionate, expansive moments in our lives.

‘We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore’

Anonymous

If you want to take responsibility for your life?

If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences. No excuses. No negativity. No psychic pollution. Keep your inner space clear.

Eckhart Tolle

Why aren't you already doing it?

If you know what you should be doing - why aren't you already doing it?

Whatever you think about ...

'When you feel worthy of having your dreams, they appear. Your innermost dominant thought becomes your outermost tangible reality. Whatever you think about and thank about - you bring about'

Dr John Demartini

Sustainability

“Sustainability is about more than just the planet’s resources, the community of birds and the trees; it’s also about the health of the people who live there and their hopes for the future. The web of life connects us all. When we destroy a part of the web we destroy a part of ourselves, whether through depression, rickets, obesity or disease. Let’s work together to make a difference"   

Gayle Souter Brown (http://www.greenstonedesign.co.uk)

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else”

Judy Garland

100/0 Principle

100/0 Principle | 100/0 Principle

You Are Wise - Jedimaster Yoda

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings…

As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become.

From the Dhammapada Sayings of the Buddha

Travelling

A journey does not need reasons. Before long, it proves to be reason enough in itself. One thinks that one is going to make a journey, yet soon it is the journey that makes or unmakes you.

Nicholas Bouvier

The algorithm for happiness=3:1

Say/think/perform three positive things for every negative one.


Positive emotions tell us not just what the body needs but what we need mentally and emotionally and what our future selves might need. They help us broaden our minds and our outlook and build our resources down the road. I call it the "broaden and build" effect.

from 'Positivity', by Barbara Frederickson

Simple really!

Say YES and take action!

When you consider this quotation from Marshal Goldsmith (Mojo)

   Our default response in life is not to experience happiness
   Our default response in life is not to experience meaning
   Our default response in life is to experience inertia

it is clear that the only way to have meaning and happiness in our lives is to say YES and to take action!

I Promise Myself ...

To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person I meet.

To make all my friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.

To forget the mistakes of the past 

   and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times 

   and give every living creature I meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of myself 

   that I have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, 

   and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, 

   not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, 

   so long as I am true to the best that is in me

Written by Christian D. Larson in 1912

When the voice and the vision

When the voice and the vision on the inside become more profound and more clear and loud than the opinions on the outside, you have mastered your life.

John Demartini

The Secret

And in a similar vein ...

“There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. 

We see the world not as it is, but as we are”

William Shakespeare

What we know, we perceive!

A fitting quote:

"Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come, joys, delights, laughter, and sports, and sorrows, grief’s, despondency, and lamentations, And by this, in an especial manner, we acquire wisdom and knowledge, and see, and hear, and know what are foul and what are fair, what are bad and what are good, what are sweet and what are unsavory, and by the same organ, we become mad and delirious , and fears and terrors assail us, … All these thing’s we endure from the brain."

From "On the Sacred Disease" By Hippocrates, 5th Century B.C.

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight

and his reward is that he sees the dawn

before the rest of the world"

Oscar Wilde

Too smart and not nearly smart enough!

Without question we are a far too smart and not nearly smart enough for our own good - as we flail about helplessly as Mother Earth gently reminds us of our place in the grander scheme of things.

Read this from The Observer newspaper ...


Humbled by a volcano, we can only sit in wonder!

The eruption in Iceland and the ash cloud that has brought our airlines to a standstill give us a true picture of our standing in nature

For those whose plans have been disrupted and whose holidays have been aborted – or expensively prolonged – by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, the seismic spectacle is nothing to celebrate. There will be some travellers whose inability to get airborne is the source of real misery. They deserve the utmost compassion.
For most of us, however, the plume of ash and smoke rising from the beneath the Earth's crust, 30,000-feet tall, is cause only for awe, mixed perhaps with linguistic discomfort in trying to grapple with the volcano's name: Eyjafjallajökull. We are doubly humbled by Iceland's natural wonders and its orthography.

By colonising the space above our heads and above much of our continent, the eruption provides a reminder of our status in relation to our planet and over which we have arrogantly seized stewardship. We imagine ourselves its master and yet with one modest belch it hems us into our little island, sweeping instantly from the skies the aeroplane, which we consider to be an example of the irrepressible genius of our species.
When Eyjafjallajökull last erupted in 1822, man-made flight was a distant dream. We think so much has happened since then, so many lifetimes have been spent, and yet, in tectonic terms, the interval is nothing, a minuscule fraction of a blink to the volcano.

It would be crippling to retain that kind of perspective on a daily basis – anyone who set their watch by geological time would never get out of bed – but a glance at ourselves in proportion to the universe is salutary on occasion. It is worth imagining, for example, how exercised we would all be if the equivalent disruption had been caused by some human agency. If the threat of terror attack, industrial action or government ineptitude meant no planes could fly, a dense cloud of rebuke and indignation would fill the ether. But we cannot blame the volcano, only observe how liberating it is sometimes to be powerless before nature.

The Observer Editorials
Sun 18 Apr 2010

Maybe this blog ends up being a collection of great quotes!

Here is another one:

"Choice is the only tool we have that enables us to go from who we are today to who we want to be tomorrow"

Sheena Iyengar, The Art of Choosing

A quote sent to me recently that I thought I'd share:

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage
Anais Nin