Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: deep spring center for meditation

  • Treasure this Day

    If what I say resonates with you,
    it’s because
    we are both branches of the same tree.

    ~ W. B. Yeats

    I’m not a “follower” of astrology, but MANY years ago something occurred that led me to respect the wisdom there.

    Decades ago now, driving home on a snowy day, the roads were glare ice. Less than a block from home, I was blinded by a cloud of snow by a person blowing out his driveway. I rear-ended the car stopped to make a left-hand turn onto a side street. I was not considered at fault due to the unusual conditions and I did not receive a citation. But when I opened the paper a bit later at home, still shaken, my horoscope for the day read: The highway will not be a happy place for you today. Be careful, even on short trips.

    And now a warning?

    Perhaps just a coincidence, or more likely something ancient and pure and worthy of being reported in the bible as announcing the coming of Jesus.

    Yesterday’s comment by a friend about the current astrological line-up led me to look up The Cosmic Tides by Leah Whitehorse. Here is an excerpt from April 9, 2022: It’s imperative to take time out to reconnect with the emotional body before direct action. That way, we can tune into our gut instinct which tells us where to best place our energy and effort. There will be time enough to conquer goals and fight the good fight. Be tender with yourself. Listen to your feelings. Know where you belong. Never doubt that you are strong enough. Nothing can extinguish your inner flame.

    We have snow again today!

    Thought for Today from Deep Spring Center for Meditation:

      It is valuable to sit in private meditation. It is lovely to walk in the woods or on a warm and sandy beach and enjoy that beauty and sense of connection. Your joy at those moments does offer light, does have real value. But at physical levels it does not touch the fundamental deprivation in the world. How can you allow that connection with spirit to begin to transform the world? This does not mean you should not take holidays, but your work is in the world. How do you bring joy and love back into the stressful situations? Would you worship a hollow god that stands above the world, superior to the world, that will not get its feet dirty? Would you strive to pull yourself up to those heights and leave the world to suffer with itself in the dark alleys? Or do you give your love to a loving God, a God willing to partake in pain through entering the human illusion?

      ~ Aaron

    A couple of days of hard work has rendered our tiny house clean and neat and ready for visitors. It is funny that our seasonal home on Bounty Lane is the larger space. Just as we squeeze back into 1,120 square feet, we continue to share one vehicle (writing all of our “times I need the car” on the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall).

    Already this morning I have done 45 minutes of chanting and some yoga. I will at some point go over to the community room and ride the stationary bike while John walks on the treadmill. We await warm weather that welcomes walking and biking in the beautiful Michigan outdoors.

    Treasure this day and treasure yourself.
    Truly, neither will ever happen again.

    ~ Ray Bradbury (Gratefulness.org “Word for the Day” April 9, 2022)

  • The Practice of Life

    Last evening’s Group 2 was only five of us out of thirteen. I am not sure what qualifies as a quorum, but I am sure all thirteen of us were actively involved in the practice of LIFE.

    Our meeting times were set at the first of the year but the evening before our meeting we received an announcement from our spiritual teacher/s: Aaron and Friends invite you to join an evening of conversation and meditation in support of Ukraine and our beloved Earth.

    A few of the 13 were called to attend that gathering. I understood that completely. A couple expressed inability to attend either. I understood that as well. One person expressed a strong desire to meet as our small group AND to dedicate some of our time in support. I opened the Zoom room.

    Our time together is so significant. This small band of merry (and sometimes not so merry) men and women share a commitment to awakening as we share love and compassion and encouragement.

    Some conversation addressed the angst that our Tuesday territory has been affected by a change in the Deep Spring Center for Meditation teacher’s schedule, and especially that our group has had several times when a larger group event was scheduled in conflict. But where is the conflict? Is the conflict on the calendar or in our minds? Every moment of every day we have choice. We choose what lane to drive in, what to have for lunch, and what to feel and think about what we are experiencing.

    As the four representatives expressed our individual perspectives on the schedule challenges and on the sense of loss of time to be together, and the missing of several members who have not made a group for quite a while, I watched my reactions. I saw compassion rise. I also saw sadness. I am certainly navigating loss. And I am not the only one. In fact, I am not even one me. I anything other than?

    Is Ukraine other than me?

    Is our beloved earth other than me?

    Adyahanti speaks about the trained and learned way of experiencing life. The talk I listened to today is titled “The Prism of Me.”

    “Egoing” is a kind of skill that we learned well, unfortunately….”

    “We are brought into the erroneous conclusion that ideas of ourselves are ourselves….”

    Awareness and an open heart sees the one human experience as each point of view expressed.

    Today, and every day,conditions give rise to thoughts and emotions. Thoughts and emotions can become distorted into an identity. Once an identity has been formed, fear takes over and drives our thoughts and emotions.

    “Even a very well-adapted me is at some level being driven by fear….”

    The people of Ukraine, this beloved earth, everyone in Group 2, and every being is a reflection of LIFE/GOD/LOVE.

    This morning I saw a snake as I was on my bike ride. I stopped and took some photos. I did not want to frighten the snake, but I wanted it to move so the video would show it was alive. I spoke aloud, “Don’t be scared. You are OK.” I told John I was not sure if I was talking to the snake or to myself.

    Is the snake other than me?

    It has been a gradual thing, taking my practice off the mat and into the moments of my life. I could watch how much we wanted things to be other than how they were. What a loss to miss loving life as it is. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes painful, sometimes not much of either.

    We learned that the owner of our winter home lost his father in January. All these weeks he has been checking in with me asking how John is doing. I am feeling sad for his loss.

    Is he other than me?

    Whether awake or asleep,
    we are in constant communication
    with someone not of this world.
    ~ Pam and Alan Johnson

  • Very Timely

    Sacred Stories

    Aaron’s “Thought for Today” was very timely.

      Practice with as much love and attention as possible, for yourselves and all beings. Your presence here at a retreat is such a gift. Some of you may be thinking, ‘I am leaving my family. I’m taking time away from those who need me.’ They need you much more awake and enlightened than they need you crabby and confused. Use this week well to find the love and wisdom in your heart so that you can bring it fully into your lives.

    The week-long Healing Workshop was starting that morning….

    She wrote to a friend who is involved in the materials: “The retreat starts today and I am VERY curious if the way Aaron’s Daily Quotes get selected are still random or if that has changed. In ways too deep for words, it is important for me to know the truth about this.”

    Her friend responded: “I know! Can you believe it?? What are the odds? The program is certainly random, and it seems unlikely anyone would be able to override it very easily or would think of this quote, to do so. Maybe Spirit pushed this one forth! Only they know; you could ask Barbara/Aaron. She probably noticed it also.”

    (Aaron’s Thought for Today is part of the program of Deep Spring Center for Meditation.)

  • He/She/They Have The Whole World in His/Her/Their Hands

    From my journal entry of an exercise during class on mediumship with Barbara Brodsky:

      You need not teach anything, Dear One, just live as your own consciousness evolves. You have been here before — but not exactly!

      Think for a moment about the park you live in now. “Separate” homes are owned and lived in yet you share the streets. Beyond that, you share the sky, the sun, the wind. Even those express with uniqueness in each case. One may be shaded because you face the east or west. EVERYTHING fits into this dynamic.

      You have been dreaming of human existence on Earth without fear of death. You have whiffs of the ripple effects. Yet, not you, nor I, nor THE ALL THAT IS knows exactly what will unfold. Like a storm. Much is known, but nothing is known exactly as it will be.

      Even the cookies that you bake time-after-time using the same ingredients in the precise measurements is subject to distinction.

      Child, what song lifts your heart?

      He’s got the whole world in his hands.

    ((The song began to play in my mind, including an ad lib verse of he’s got Deep Springs Sangha in his hands.))

      Notice how your thinking mind wants to argue a bit with the word “he.” Your heart does not demand a change in the word. Your heart agrees with the purity of the intention in that word. Notice how some demand a special application of the gender-sensitive pronouns, preferring “they” to “he or she.” Once the heart has opened to its true capacity, none of that will generate reactions.

      You will be present in the presence.

      You will have peace that passes understanding.

      Dear One, another song?

    ((Peace is flowing like a river, flowing out from you and me. Flowing out into the desert setting all the captives free.))

    I had shared a quotation from a film about not asking a person who had lost a loved one how he or she is but to ask instead, “What was your loved one like?” I included a link to the film with a disclaimer, “It was a bit too preachy for my taste.” My daughter commented that probably means she would like it! When my sister commented (asking me to define preachy), I took down the post.

    I looked up the definition of preachy: having or revealing a tendency to give moral advice in a tedious or self-righteous way.

    Then I looked up proselytizing: the action of attempting to convert someone from one religion, belief, or opinion to another.

    Somewhere in my bodies I can feel the space of Loving What Is (Byron Katie) and Whatever Arises, Love That (Matt Kahn).

    Oh, my…. Byron Katie says there are only three kinds of business, and asks: Whose business are you minding?

    Notice when you hurt that you are mentally out of your business.

    If you’re not sure, stop and ask, “Mentally, whose business am I in?”

    There are only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours, and God’s.

    Whose business is it if an earthquake happens? God’s business.

    Whose business is it if your neighbor down the street has an ugly lawn? Your neighbor’s business.

    Whose business is it if you are angry at your neighbor down the street because he has an ugly lawn? Your business.

    Life is simple — it is internal.

    Count, in five minute intervals, how many times you are in someone else’s business mentally. Notice when you give uninvited advice or offer your opinion about something (aloud or silently).

    Ask yourself: “Am I in their business? Did they ask me for my advice?”

    And more importantly, “Can I take the advice I am offering and apply it to my life?”

  • LOVE Came Down at Christmas

    I am grateful John and I had a practice run at not being physically with Stacey and her family for Christmas in 2019.

    Last year we attended a Christmas Day potluck at Pine Island Cove with Michigan friends, Linda and Fred, who also winter here in Florida.

    This year, John and I share our day with all of you in our hearts.


    Our hearts are uplifted by the truth: “We isolate this year so that when we can meet again next year no one will be missing.”

    Today, our home-away-from-home may be empty of friends and family, but my heart is full of love for each of you!

    Our hearts are filled with memories!

    Our hearts are warmed by Christmases past.

    Our hearts are nourished with the true meaning of Christmas:

      That Mary and Joseph—Mary heavy with child—traveled through the countryside.

      She was at the time of giving birth to the child.

      They found shelter, simple shelter.

      And many beings experiencing, “The light has been born! Ah… The light is back!”

      It wasn’t me, it was more that my birth opened the doorway so that the Heavenly light—the Love, the remembrance of Love—could pour through.

      What was that star? Let us metaphorically call it an opening in the dark heavens where the remembrance of light and Love could pour through—pour through to where I lay as an infant, not to highlight me but to remind humans nothing is hopeless.

      Light IS.

      Love IS.

      And it is right here.

      And it was pointing at me, but it could be pointing at any of you.

      Here is the ground of love and light.

      And the earth sang, “Halleluiah!” not for my birth but for the remembrance: LIGHT IS, LOVE IS.*

    * Jeshua, channeled by Barbara Brodsky on Christmas Eve 2020, sharing some thoughts about what Christmas means to him and how we can carry the meaning of Christmas through to our times.

  • Two Wings of Mindfulness

    Deep Spring Center
    Thought for Today

    If one never were to experience this
    dark night of the soul,
    one’s compassion
    really would be limited.

    One may have a belief,
    ‘I can be compassionate
    with that which is light
    and beautiful and loving
    in myself and others’
    but one has never tested it
    to see if
    one can also extend that compassion,
    even to the utmost of darkness.

    ~ Aaron

    This morning I did something I rarely do. I followed a link and read an article after the headline caught my attention: Deadliest place in America: They shrugged off the pandemic, then their family and friends started dying.

    Dinkel says too many people are refusing to do their part to protect the elderly from COVID-19.

    “To sit there and say they are old that they will die of something,” she says, “Well, they wouldn’t have died of the flu. My dad wouldn’t have been in the hospital for a month if this was the flu.”

    Despite the efforts of local public health officials and experts, many residents aren’t taking the deadly pandemic seriously. Bearded farmers stride defiantly down Main Street past signs requiring them to wear masks. School is still in session and churches are open. Someone threatened to blow up the home of a pro-mask county commissioner.

    Nicholson, the ambulance worker, is also co-owner of a restaurant and brewery on Main Street, and she’s had customers swear they’ll never come back after she reminded them to wear a mask when picking up food. She doesn’t want to wade into the middle of a political dispute. She just wants her neighbors to live.

    But this post is not about COVID-19, even though four of our high-school classmates died of the coronavirus in just one week at home.

    This post is about how mindfulness is like a bird — both need two wings to fly. The two wings of mindfulness are wisdom (clear seeing) and compassion.

    Compassion is a result of seeing life’s experience clearly, therefore not everyone’s experience generates compassion. Life’s experiences reveal our world view.

    The people in the deadliest place in America justify not wearing masks by saying the people who are dying are old, and people die in God’s time. The kernel of truth in not only toxic, it is deadly.

    Sunday morning I went to the only grocery store here on the island. I had read “masks required” on the ad, and I checked out the website of the company to read the same thing. “Masks required” was also on the entry doors. However, customers were coming in and shopping and getting service without a mask.

    Numbers in this small community on the south end of the island are climbing, yet, the Ragged Ass Saloon still hosts live music and welcomes wall-to-wall (if you can use that term about a parking lot) patrons not wearing masks or maintaining safe distancing.

    As human beings, we all try our best to bring about a world based on kindness and compassion. What seems to go wrong, however, is that what I want, what I personally would like, becomes more important than the benefit of the whole community.

    Yes, death will come to each of us. That is not failure. The bloom is the bud’s undoing…

    We are capable of spreading our wings and soaring to the heights of wisdom and compassion.

    As the Buddha said, “If it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it.”

  • Vote!

    The vote is precious.
    It is almost sacred.
    It is the most powerful
    non-violent tool
    we have in a democracy.
    ~ John Lewis

    Today is election day 2020. From my journal entry this morning:

      Dear Holy Spirit,

      Last evening while John was showering I picked up his phone to take photos for him of his PT care plan from his online chart. A text message popped up. John was urging another to vote, saying, “We might be able to turn this thing around for Trump if enough people turn out to vote.” His next message was saying that he plans to vote in person today.

      When I told John I wished he would have voted by absentee ballot, his response was, “It’s as safe as shopping.”

      We have had friends shopping for us since we got home from Florida on April 6, using Instacart until they could manage the risks of shopping themselves. They have done this for our safety as John is considered high risk with diabetes and having been on steroid therapy for polymyalgia this past year.

      I put the question into the search engine: ‘How safe is in-person voting?’

      I saw those exact same words John had used! “The risk of voting in person is comparable to the risk of going to the grocery store.” Of course… The article went on to say any amount of risk may be too great for those who fall into the high-risk category — or live with someone who does. “That includes older adults, individuals with diabetes, and those with cancer or compromised immune systems are are at greater risk of severe complications from COVID-19.”

    I was understandably disappointed.

    The subject line from The Tapping Solution this morning:
    49% of People will be Disappointed Today.

    I had the opportunity to get a head start!

    Or not….

    At 9:30 pm EST Deep Spring Meditation Center will open a ZOOM meditation hall. The hall will remain available until tomorrow night so our sangha can gather. We plan to read encouraging words from the Mala Recollection: When wholesome thoughts arise, cultivate the wholesome. When unwholesome thoughts arise, abandon the unwholesome…. Tend the contents of the mind with compassion as a mindful gardener tends his garden. We will chant. We will pray. We will meditate. We will sing.

    A friend shared the link to the University of Michigan’s Virtual Choir. She was most moved by the finale which was 300 people singing Enya’s “How Can I Keep from Singing?” (lyrics slightly altered to match the choir).

    Through all the tumult and the strife,
    I hear its music ringing,
    It sounds an echo in my soul.
    How can I keep from singing?…

    No storm can shake my inmost calm,
    While to that rock I´m clinging.
    Since Love is lord of heaven and earth
    How can I keep from singing?

    (If you’re interested this song starts at 53:25.)

    Sound (singing, chanting, drumming, humming) has been scientifically proven to bring us back to our hearts.

    Following the amazing Enya song, Melanie DeMore breaks into a wonderfully happy ‘Lead with Love.” Here are the lyrics:

      You gotta put one foot in front of the other
      And lead with love
      Put one foot in front of the other
      And lead with love

      (repeat all 4 lines)

      Verses (call and response):

      Don’t give up hope
      You’re not alone
      Don’t you give up
      Keep movin’ on

      Lift up your eyes
      Don’t you despair
      Look up ahead
      The path is there

      I know you’re scared
      And I’m scared too
      But here I am
      Right next to you

      Words & music (c) Melanie DeMore.

      (usually sung a cappella)

    Melanie DeMore gets my vote!

    People knowing how to move themselves up the emotional scale gets my vote. People putting one foot in front of the other gets my vote. People leading with love gets my vote.

      Lift up your eyes, don’t you despair.
      Look up ahead, the path is there.

    How can we keep from singing?

      I know you’re scared, and I’m scared too.
      But here I am, right next to you.


  • Awaken the New Species

    We must not wish
    for the disappearance
    of our troubles
    but for the grace
    to transform them.

    ~ Simone Weil

    Yesterday John did not mention my blog post, so I did not share it with him. I watched the choice points for stories to arise: he doesn’t really care; he still does not value what I write and share; I won’t bring it up unless he mentions it…. on and on and on the ego drives us away from peace, if we allow it.

    Last night I turned on my heated mattress pad and was heading to the shower looking forward to crawling into bed early before I realized just how early it was. If I set the manual clocks to the end of daylight savings at that moment, I would have been going to bed at 6:45 pm!

    Ugh…

    So, I came into the office and surfed for something enlightening, settling on a talk by Barbara Marx Hubbard, an American futurist, author and public speaker. In Awakening the New Species in You, Barbara opened shared how she recognized her life purpose as — “I am helping the noosphere to get its collective eyes.”

    Barbara’s vocation was/is to be a communicator and teacher about the history of this planet, the current events, and our opportunity for conscious evolution.

    (According to the World Wide Fund for Nature’s 2020 Living Planet Report, wildlife populations have declined by 68% since 1970 as a result of overconsumption, population growth and intensive farming, which is further evidence that humans have unleashed a sixth mass extinction event.
    ~ NationalGeographic.com )

    Barbara’s message prepared me for a good night’s rest and for today’s post:

    “We are at a vital shift point where our own actions could lead to greater extinction, or our own actions could lead to greater evolution, or conscious evolution.”

    We are at choice to help the nervous system of humanity devolve or evolve! What we do with our energies each moment makes a contribution.

    “Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet We must learn ethical evolution quickly As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”

    This morning, I read the transcript of Dharma Path class from Tuesday, October 27, 2020. From Barbara Brodsky and Aaron:

      Let’s start at the end, what you hope to bring forth this year: To learn how to co-create with love. To co-create in your own body, mind, spirit. To co-create in the world. To do this work can only happen from less of the ego self and more of the awakened heart/mind, as I like to call it. You cannot co-create for the highest good of all beings and still be centered in the ego. It doesn’t mean there will be no ego, but there will be ways of bypassing that ego, not getting caught up in the ego’s stories.

    This brings to mind The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz:

    Agreement 1: Be Impeccable With Your Word.
    Agreement 2: Don’t Take Anything Personally.
    Agreement 3: Don’t Make Assumptions.
    Agreement 4: Always Do Your Best.

    These agreements are a pathway we can all walk making room for the ego, without getting caught up in the stories.

      … the ego self is the outer clothing. We don’t say, “Barbara is a blue vest.” It’s just something she’s wearing today. The ego, the thoughts, the body, all of these attributes of the self are precious, but they are not your essence.

    “Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet We must learn ethical evolution quickly As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”

    The last section I highlighted from Tuesday’s Dharma Path class:

      My dear friends, as humans you are not meant to 100% glitter. You would burn each other’s eyes out! You need to have a bit of dimness, it’s okay. You teach each other patience, compassion, generosity of spirit.


    Barbara Marx Hubbard speaks well the opportunity: “If we continue to grow separately and in competition with each other we could self destruct.”

    Or we could awaken the new species!

  • Let it Shine!

    We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

    ~ Pema Chödrön

    This week’s Oakwood Retreat has been very intense. Staying at home for retreat has some benefits. You don’t have the expense of lodging or travel time, and you get to sleep in your own bed. Like all of life, though, everything holds its opposite.

    The morning instruction on working skillfully with distortion and heavy emotions was soooooo relevant…

    I have had one of the decidedly most unskillful weeks I have had for decades. When you are sitting in meditation for 6-8 hours, day after day, stuff will come up. The catalyst for my stuff was the (hopefully) last of the work to complete home repair related to the mold remediation. But vital to realize the catalyst (whatever the catalyst) is not the distortion. The distortion is how we relate to the what is triggering us.

    On one walk, I saw two crickets. On another, about a half dozen earth worms. Twice I had a red-bellied woodpecker hanging right on my window! Every day that shrub is filled with the comings and goings of sparrows. But one morning I heard a disturbance, opened my eyes and saw that a hawk was actually in the middle of the shrub. I had six Blue Jays at the feeder one morning, and this morning I had four big crows.

    Cricket totem: A sign of good luck in many cultures, cricket symbolizes initiative and intelligence, and having the gift of foresight.

    Earthworm totem: Working old ground; examining the past and its effects upon present conditions; including exploring past lives.

    Sparrow totem: Integrity, empowerment, persistence, hard work, peace and wisdom. Guides us to learn to work hard with all.

    Woodpecker totem: The power of rhythm. Discrimination. Connected to the heartbeat of Mother Earth herself. Symbolizes the stimulation and awakening of new mental faculties. New ways to look at things — new wisdom and new rhythms to dance to.

    Hawk totem: Represents focus, strength, and poise, and can show you your hidden abilities to lead yourself and others to a more positive outcome.

    Blue Jay totem: Symbolized by assertiveness, determination, and above all, intelligence.

    Crow totem: Watchful creatures with sharp and powerful foresight. An omen of transformation and change.

    When you go on retreat, you practice noble silence. This does not just mean not talking. You are excused from any of the normal social politeness. No small talk, no anticipating others needs, no distracting yourself with discursive thought. You see clearly the weeds in your own garden. So I wrote a poem.

      When Weeds Grow: A Haiku

      Every place where weeds grow
      Oxygen is shared with you
      Breathe in and feel TRUTH

      Challenges abound
      And LOVE is always around
      We have so much help

      What do you see as
      Weeds grow there in your garden?
      Breathe…. They are pure gift

    During the final sitting, my mind went back to some trauma I experienced while traveling to Europe in 2011 — this exact same week! Mind was churning trying to remember the details. What was the name of the country where I had gone to the exotic gardens? Thinking, grasping, trying to remember until I let my mind soften, like taking a step back, and simply intended access to the information. Pop! Monaco….

    This is not a new lesson for me. I remember leaving the house a bit late with my earrings in my hand. Pulling up to the stop sign, the left earring slipped in but I could not find the hole in my right ear. The next stop sign, I tried again. Again without success. At the third stop sign I asked for help. Pop! The earring went right in and I heard a voice say, “We would have helped at the first stop sign if you had asked.”

    I have wired lamps, lifted heavy objects, remembered things, found things, and received guidance regularly for a very long time. Our teacher, Aaron, was speaking of how the mundane mind can be very helpful to orchestrate some tasks. One student asked Aaron if he uses Barbara Brodsky’s mundane mind for working with the technology. Aaron replied, “No, I just invite the computer to co-create with me.”

    The current conditions are chaotic. We need all the co-creation with spirit we can access. As Aaron said, “How can I save anyone if I can’t save myself?”

    This week I saw a quotation by Thich Nhat Hanh: “The next Buddha may be a sangha.”

    It definitely took a sangha to offer this wonderful week of focused dharma practice. Sharing a few notes from my journal:

    You have come as midwives. You can be the midwife who is there in the room being calm or the one running around the room saying, “It isn’t coming quickly enough!”

    Be with things as they are. Not stoically, but lovingly. Liberation means walking on the unstable ground and finding your own balance.

    Allow the practice to ground us in the innate perfection without denial of the conditions.

    Say, “I consecrate this effort to the good of all beings.”

    Each time you are able to offer kindness in a difficult condition, it changes the world around you.

    One day when we sang “This Little Light of Mine” the teacher said it is really a great big light, so I wrote new words to the tune:

    This GREAT Big Light of Mine
    (sing it to the tune of This Little Light of Mine)

    This GREAT BIG light of mine
    I’m gonna let it shine
    This GREAT BIG light of mine
    This light is divine
    This GREAT BIG light of mine
    Isn’t even really mine
    Let it shine, let it shine, let it

    Let it shine around your town
    We can let it shine
    We have help, we’re not alone
    Please just let it shine
    Let it shine when fear appears
    We can let it shine
    Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

  • Skies Upon Skies

    “Skies upon skies are available for your flight.”
    – Osho Zen Tarot

    I feel a little bit like the morning after Christmas, or the ninth day of Hanukkah. For the closing sharing of this eight-day Intensive/Retreat—the culmination of a two-year commitment to study and practice—I had written: When I logged on this morning, Dallas was the only other one online. I asked him about his virtual image in his background – a waterfall. I showed him a photo of me, also at a waterfall in Maui. We had a lovely visit and I am so glad we shared…

    That photo of me at the waterfall is framed and sits on my altar helping me value the dharma path that began long before I knew the word dharma.

    I was born in fear and I was living in fear. Not MY fear, but THE fear. My mother was informed that she had syphilis simultaneously with the discovery that she was pregnant. My first trimester in her womb was spent with my mom at a sanatorium being treated. She was angry, embarrassed, afraid….

    My alcoholic father had had sex with someone else, and that is how my mother got infected. I knew nothing of this until in my 40s when I began to have awareness of feeling unloved, unsafe, and unwanted. I was a successful professional, happily married, and I had had a good relationship with my mom. Nothing could account for those feelings, but I knew they were there.

    I knew I would benefit by uncovering the pain.

    In a hypnotic regression to the womb, hearing Les Crane sing Desiderata to me through headphones I had total realization of those feelings. Later I asked my mother if she could help me understand. She told me of the syphilis.

    Many of you were there when I shared this as part of “Listen to Your Mother” and it is still available on YouTube.

    The fear I lived with, the feelings of not loved, not safe, not wanted arose out of the human condition. I am so grateful to know the truth. Those feeling, any feelings, are not me nor mine.

    Instead of sharing all of those words as my closing, I simply shared a series of photos of the sky taken from the window in the guest/room office where I was “on retreat” for those eight days, and where I am now with my fingers on the keyboard, looking at the ever-changing sky:


    Aaron’s closing talk was brief and to the point:
    You have everything within you
    to co-create a future
    for the highest good of all beings.
    A future where beings are awake,
    free of suffering.


    Two years ago,
    we did not know that
    there was going to be
    a COVID-19 in our future.

    But of course,
    there would be something
    in our future.

    Some challenge.
    And you are meeting it with
    wisdom and open hearts.

    Please do not forget to imagine…
    to hold your heart open
    and picture an earth free of disease,
    free of hatred

    —an earth in which
    all sentient beings
    can truly flourish.
    May it be.
    May it be so.