The world as we know it is changing in so many ways…

This flux is not new. The flow from one experience to another is part of the timelessness of our existence. That we have changing needs, changing habits and changes in friendship, career and location is all normal.

And yet it feels as if there are bigger changes afoot all around us right now.

When we feel a new and dynamic form of energy start to affect us, sometimes we embrace it, and sometimes we just want to shut it out. When it’s an unknown sensation, and there’s no one who can explain it to us, the quick reaction would be to ignore it, or to avoid it altogether.

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Everything about the giraffe’s body is built for one thing: reaching towering heights. As the world’s tallest land animal, they have an unrivaled reach. With legs that are taller than many humans — about 6 feet — to a neck that weighs over 600 pounds, the whole structure enables the giraffe to eat tasty treats unavailable to others constrained closer to earth.

Yet you don’t see other animals lamenting the fact that they can’t reach what’s easy for the giraffe to reach. The zebra or lion don’t appear to be jealous. You don’t see them being melancholy over the fact that they are height-challenged in comparison.

It seems a purely human trait to compare ourselves to others, only to find ourselves lacking in one way or another.

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As far as the sun knows, it is now giving us, the inhabitants of the Northern hemisphere, a little more light every day. Every day will have a few more minutes of sunlight than the previous one.

I wonder if we notice this.

Do you notice this subtle change each day?
Or do you realize at some point that the sun is setting later than it was a month earlier?

Becoming aware of the subtle changes around us, as with the sun’s movement north, is a perfect reference point for an understanding of the amount of attention we apply to all things. What kinds of change attract your attention?

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Two weeks passed before I felt comfortable leaving my sanctuary to venture into the real world. I plugged the supra-pubic catheter and carefully secured it in my fiancée-designed, custom-made, inside the waistband, semi-sterile (not even) samurai pouch.

I presumed that no one in the restaurant could tell I was packin’ (a catheter, not a pistol/piss tool).

Using my Diaper Dude super powers (Act Four), I began visualizing and imagining all of my fellow diners with a cornucopia of unseen devices: prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, bags for all reasons, transplanted organs etc… When it began to resemble a Fellini film, my mind returned to dinner.

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Inspiration struck at the grocery store. I was heading for the checkout counter when my eye was caught by a photo on a greeting card: a darling baby with her bright, sparkling eyes peeping over the top of a bucket, above the words, “Give us dreams a size too big so that we can grow into them.”

I bought that cute card.

Dreams are never meant to be toned down to what is reasonable, comfortable, and in a size that fits you now. Dreams need to be bulky, unwieldy, a bit too big to hold, with plenty of room for a growth spurt or two.

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My dear, dear uncle has finally transitioned to his new journey.
The last few months, we spent several hours a week together.
Not the same as when he was staying in my home, but still it was wonderful to laugh together and — being Portuguese — eat together!
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What is your breath doing?

We have established previously that the breath is not only vital to the survival of our physical being, but that it is also vital to the sustenance and maintenance of our spiritual and emotional bodies.

When the breath is fluid within us, encountering no obstacles or blockages, we can utilize the oxygen, prana and renewing energy of the breath, unencumbered. In this case, the breath is pure nourishment. It feeds all of our systems, physical and other, allowing us to be ready and available for whatever the day asks of us.

We become ready for physical activity, we are full of vitality for emotional interactions…spiritual openness flows through us. Our intuition is free and clear of encumbrance to its purity and clarity.

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Being patient while the shift happens…

I know many people who feel that they are not ‘doing’ enough right now. They feel that there simply must be something that they should be actively engaged in, something that, in the ‘doing’, is working for the greater good.

Many sense that there is deep planetary change afoot. They can feel themselves perched on the cusp of a change. The change seems imminent. The change seems rather pressing. The change feels unavoidable. There is also a sense that whatever the change may be, it is more important than anything else that may have happened to them thus far in their lives.

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Last week, here in Canada, there was a death that moved many right across the country… It was movement of the people’s hearts and minds in response to the loss of a man who believed in unity and fairness above all else.

Jack Layton was a father, a deeply affectionate husband, and a grass roots organizer, always bringing to the fore the true needs of some of the often ignored members of society (including women). His social democratic focus allowed him to rise in our political realm, from the position of city councillor in Toronto to the head of the New Democratic Party and official leader of the opposition as a Member of Parliament in our capital city, Ottawa.

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What do you believe in?
What do your beliefs do for you?

Does it feel like your beliefs help you? If you changed some of your beliefs, would it change your life?

It is so comforting to have something to believe in. It is so rewarding to believe that we know what to do, and that we are making an accurate and valid decision. When there is a strong ‘reason’ behind a choice, we feel safe in making that choice. We feel convinced that what we do is ‘right’. We believe in what we are doing.

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