Easily Amazed

A couple of questions:

Do others out there feel my thoughts towards them when they are so very present with me and yet have failed to make it into concrete forms? I am absolutely LOVING reading the 5 things I might not know about many of you and yet I’ve failed to sprinkle your comment boxes with the words. Thank you so much for sharing of yourselves… and thank you Christy and Chris for inviting me into the play… it’s been cooking me and will come soon!

The second question… Is the spread of this meme being tracked? It could be such fun to have a wikipedia page with links to all the various posts and even seeing the shape of the network. I don’t know how to do that… so I just put the question out there.

I offer to you a woven tapestry of some of my notes and immediate learnings from a gathering of hosts on Bowen Island in November and learnings as they continue to emerge while I integrate back into daily life!

Recognizing what one wants to play with in service to the whole. Maintaining connection with that which one is fully present with and allowing immediate experiences of clarity to inform action.

Learning my place
At the closing circle I spoke that I am still learning and feeling my way into this hosting work, listening to see how it fits with my current commitments and action in the world. Chris asked me to share what emerges in this learning. Since ‘this experiment’ began, I have been more conscious of the doing-oriented areas of my life that are informed by hosting, holding, inviting and harvesting skills. I have started to see with more discernment projects where I can bring more of these capacities to life. I am more consciously carrying a hosting resonance and pay close attention to when and where I feel that vibration resonating in relation to my involvements. As I am starting to feel my circles of love-in-action overlap, I am learning about and inquiring into the mutual space.

Circling back to the learning mentioned in green above, I recognize that hosting is one way I play in service to the whole. I am practicing maintaining connection with what is fully present in my life, allowing my experiences of clarity to inform my action, and taking note as the practice of hosting shows up in new ways in relationship to old forms and structures that were already present.

Holding an intention for clarity and embracing the presence of stuckness, hurt or pain. Not with the intention to fix it, make it go away, deny it, but with a dedication to clarity and knowing that as this is what is present, this is where the energy is. Be with the energy and stay open and aligned with clarity. This requires a willingness to submit and release into the process being given.

A new relationship with clarity emerged for me in our time together and continues to deeply inform me – of where I am aligned and holding an intention for clarity and where I fall into old habits of trying to fix, make happen, define knowing, etc.

Some questions that have emerged: How do I currently listen to guidance? How do I notice the presence of divine guidance? What does a space of clarity feel like for me and how then do I move into wise action? What is my current process for this practice? How do I manifest this pattern?

A collection of relationships working in trust, out of commitment to and love for one another. How quickly can our gifts and talents configure to give to the world?

Feeling a vibrating vibrance illuminating our need for connection, contact and sustained support.

One learning that emerged for me was recognizing the value in (and possible need for) exploring concrete practices which bring attention to the ways we deepen connection with and presencing of those that are not physically present but are in so many other ways with us. Those being other people currently living, ancestors, loved ones who’ve passed away, future generations, Spirit, God, animals, the land, un-seeable essences, etc. How do we bring more form (form possibly just meaning collective consciousness) to the web of support that holds us and the work that we are doing?

“The world is desperately in need of women’s attention and vision, but we are so preoccupied, so dangerously distracted…I wrote this play so that women would stop fixing their bodies and start fixing the planet.” Eve Ensler

Heart touching article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a humpback whale that was freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands. The whale nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.

The 45- to 50-foot female humpback, estimated to weigh 50 tons, was on the humpbacks’ usual migratory route between the Northern California coast and Baja California when it became entangled in the nylon ropes that link crab pots.

Team members realized the only way to save the endangered leviathan was to dive into the water and cut the ropes.

It was a very risky maneuver, Stoudt said, because the mere flip of a humpback’s massive tail can kill a man.

“I was the first diver in the water, and my heart sank when I saw all the lines wrapped around it,” said Moskito, a 40-year-old Pleasanton resident who works with “Great White Adventures,” a cage-diving outfit that contracts with Menigoz. “I really didn’t think we were going to be able to save it.”

Moskito said about 20 crab-pot ropes, which are 240 feet long with weights every 60 feet, were wrapped around the animal. Rope was wrapped at least four times around the tail, the back and the left front flipper, and there was a line in the whale’s mouth.

The crab pot lines were cinched so tight, Moskito said, that the rope was digging into the animal’s blubber and leaving visible cuts.

At least 12 crab traps, weighing 90 pounds each, hung off the whale, the divers said. The combined weight was pulling the whale downward, forcing it to struggle mightily to keep its blow- hole out of the water.

Moskito and three other divers spent about an hour cutting the ropes with a special curved knife. The whale floated passively in the water the whole time, he said, giving off a strange kind of vibration.

“When I was cutting the line going through the mouth, its eye was there winking at me, watching me,” Moskito said. “It was an epic moment of my life.”

When the whale realized it was free, it began swimming around in circles, according to the rescuers. Moskito said it swam to each diver, nuzzled him and then swam to the next one.

“It seemed kind of affectionate, like a dog that’s happy to see you,” Moskito said. “I never felt threatened. It was an amazing, unbelievable experience.”

Whale experts say it’s nice to think that the whale was thanking its rescuers, but nobody really knows what was on its mind.

“You hate to anthropomorphize too much, but the whale was doing little dives and the guys were rubbing shoulders with it,” Menigoz said. “I don’t know for sure what it was thinking, but it’s something that I will always remember. It was just too cool.”

And the email circulating around (thank you Cathy) offers this blessing:

May you, and all those you love,
be so blessed and fortunate .
to be surrounded by people
who will help you get untangled
from the things that are binding you.

And, may you always know the joy
of giving and receiving gratitude.

A wonderful reveiw of Paul Ely Smith’s new album, Handmade.

He makes of each performance an exercise in adaptive re-use, bending the sonic and melodic character of the taqsim to his own purposes and gifts, but allowing it to remain in the meditative space it’s always occupied. So while remaining true to the spirit of the taqsim, he makes it his own.

Not only has Paul synthesized tunes and styles from around the world to make a music unique unto himself, he’s also internalized the forms of those tunes. The result is music of an almost rough-cut simplicity that retains its freshness with repeated listening—yielding the kind of pleasure you might derive from viewing a finely crafted handmade rug.

I find Paul’s music to be deeply moving. Listen to a couple of tracks and see what you think.

Sharing with you a handout from a parenting group:

Love is a total commitment to helping ourselves and others realize our full potential. Love is having faith in and celebrating our own abilities and our children’s abilities.

We have to develop our own internal ability to notice both how we respond to a child’s actions and emotions and to notice what is going on with the child. Research says that what parents do when kids emotions are running hot can predict outcomes of the kids. So much is centered around how we feel about feelings.

As a parent said in a parenting group, “Basically it’s about us being conscious.”

Developing our own internal ability to respond compassionately:

1. Notice what is happening. Notice another person is in need of attention, in need of help, or is in distress.
• Being mindful, being present with this other person, staying connected to what is happening in this moment.
2. Attune to the other. Feel with them.
• This relates to having mindsight – being able to see the world from their perspective.
• Listen to nonverbals – eye contact, facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body posture, and timing and intensity of responses.
3. Respond to the situation. Take action to help.
• Have response flexibility. Don’t react to the situation but attune to what is going on, reflect upon the situation and intentionally choose your actions.
• Communicate not just with words but with nonverbals as well. Be aware of your eye contact, facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body posture, timing and intensity of responses.

Staying out of the way of a child’s learning:

It’s quite normal for parents to want their child not to be in distress. When this feeling is about to launch a parent into action, parents should ask themselves: Is this my problem or hers? If it is the parent’s problem, then take action to correct the problem. If it is the child’s problem, the healthy parent tolerates any distress the child feels, giving the child a respectful chance to learn. This distress is the child’s cue that he needs to pay attention. If the child doesn’t solve the problem, the parent can support the child’s ability to take action while not removing the stress. (How Much is enough? pgs. 176-177)

Resources: Interview in Tricycle magazine with Daniel Goleman (a must read!), Pareting from the Inside Out, Alexander Kjerulf, How Much is Enough?