Easily Amazed

i’m looking for suggestions of what to watch for in the olympics. i’m not a t.v. watcher so the thought to turn on the television requires a bit of planning for me. last night my brother was watching some of the olympics and i saw a clip about synchronized diving. i had no idea that such a competition existed… and i was amazed at how aligned the divers were with one another. so, i’d love any suggestions for “must sees” in these summer games.

many thanks,

ashley

right now i do feel a little out of presence with that all-pervading love … as i’m typing, i realize it has just snapped back-funny, it’s so much about simply remembering.

here’s a little story i use as a tool to help me remember to remember!

I was hoola hooping with a 5-year-old one day. She picked up the hoola hoop and began playing with it, without asking me for assistance or guidance. We took turns watching one another and playing. She was catching on to the rhythm of hoola hooping pretty quickly. After about 30 minutes she turned to me and asked, “how do you make it stay?” I thought for a moment and responded, “you know how when you’ve got it, you know you’ve got it?” She nodded in understanding. “Well, when you start to feel like you don’t have it any more, go back to feeling like you’ve got it.” Certain that my words were complete babble, and uncertain of what she would get out of them, I went back to watching and she returned to hoola hooping. To both of our amazement, from then on, she had a new level of mastery for keeping the hoola hoop rotating her hips.

When we feel like we’ve fallen out of the flow, it is just a matter of returning

to what we know.

perfect presence. what is perfect presence? the dictionary guides a definition like this:

presence is the state or fact of being present, being aware of what is existing or happening now. presence is also the area immediately surrounding someone… and the quality of self assurance and effectiveness.

the word perfect used to be hard for me to use. it’s a total no-no in the child-friendly world. we’re taught to be exceptionally careful about labeling things as perfect because it sets children up to feel like they have to aspire to “that”. and yet,

perfection is simply being… perfection is living an existence so full-y ourselves…

it’s amazing to me how foreign this concept of simply being 100% authentic really is. i just returned from an incredible weekend of sharing with my dear friend thomas in seattle. prior to heading out there, i was inspired by the freedom and excitement that i felt about getting to be totally present with another person. thomas had invited me to spend a playful weekend guided by

– undivided attention –

no hidden fears, no grasping hands

all opening, all accepting, all inviting, all tingly

i was deeply moved by the divine gift that accompanies no hidden fears, no need to grasp, total acceptance, total invitation, total peace and ease, open and simply purring. and now, after returning home i reflect on the perfect presence that we shared with one another. the whole weekend was one spontaneous fluid movement of each of us deeply connected to our centers and sharing that space with one another. complete undivided attention and presence… following joy and sharing whatever comes up… lots of smiles, grins, laughing, crying, cradling, caring, supporting, expanding, moving, mentoring, sharing, enjoying, giving, receiving, loving, loving, loving… on the doing side of our weekend, it was all about following attention.

following attention — allowing one’s moments to be guided by pure attention, following the flow of awareness. “if you stay grounded in awareness (this present moment) then you can freely examine ways of bringing the wisdom of the past and the potentials of the future so that the wave of now is ever-expanding.” ~thomas

one of my favorite things to do in this world is to simply follow my own or another person’s attention. i learned this from being with children. children give the greatest gift of presence, total presence in each moment that surrounds their life. they are experts at staying focused on exactly what they find interesting in a moment. they are my teachers. children also give the gift of curiosity, wonder, and awe. i have found that the most natural way to enter into a child’s world is to do just that, enter into their world rather than trying to bring them into my world. when i go into their world, life seems to be filled with new colors, new details, unlimited wonder. this is the medicine that youth feed me with that has kept me passionate about being at their side. and this is the journey through life that i cherish sharing with others.

so as gassho reminds us

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. ~Richard Moss

what do the some of these colorful words evoke within you?

thank you, christy, for this beautiful post to the oslist.

Butterflies and Open Space, Any Form

our original thought wanders into chaos,
and dissolves
into a liquid body suspended weightless
at the wild and quivering edge,
ripening with the passion fruit of silence: yes *and* no

we re-mind
we re-member
the pattern of Our Body re-forms, and
the radiant chrysalis Opens
at just
the right

time

this is living in truth, and beauty,
in conflict, confusion, and love
these wings whisper into unexpected being
the fierce light-net that cradles the grief

this is the World to Come:
now
here
this

Love,
Christy
Seattle (finally cooler!)

Comments:

Hi Ashley, I’m so glad you enjoyed this–as you can tell, almost all of the words and images come right from here, from you and Chris and Chris and others of the easily amazed ones, and Practice of Peace and the voices of the OSList. On another note, we went to hear/see Ram Dass and Krishna Das the other night–sweetly extraordinary Ram Dass is as twinkly as ever. He gets around in a wheelchair now, and his pauses can be very very long as he listens for the words to come–but with no sense of strain, no whiff of wishing that life were otherwise. One of the things he mentioned was the equivalence of “soul” and “imagination”–that made me think of you, dear A. love, Christy Christy Lee-Engel | Homepage | 08.04.04 – 1:42 am | #

oh christy, you so frequently leave me blushing… thank you. i would love to hear more about what he said regarding the equivalence of those two words… or what his words meant for you (you know how much i love to fine tune my use of words and ‘soul’ and ‘imagination’ are two powerful ones to which i haven’t given much Conscious Thought.) and as it is, i just heard krishna das for the first time this weekend… deeply moved. much love and gratitude to you and your radiance here at easily amazed and elsewhere in the world in which you roam and inspire! warmly, ashley ashley | Homepage | 08.04.04 – 3:54 pm | #

Chris Corrigan presented an idea that simply has me humming!

What is missing is companies (and their people) figuring out how to actually use the power of corporations to become givers. Corporate philanthropy is a step in this direction, but can it be taken down to the individual level? What if a corporation took a portion of its philanthropic budget and gave it to individuals within the company to pursue their personal giving plans in their communities, encouraging individual staff members to bond through sharing their gifts of time and money? Can we enable that for our staff? For our citizens? There must be some companies that do this. Are there countries that support their citizens’ engagement with their gifts?

does anyone know of such a system in place? it seems like a phenomenal idea. even inviting staff to write up a brief proposal for their personal giving plan could inspire the gift of movement (getting excited about giving, filling themselves with the belief that they have the ABILITY to give, turning attention away from daily stresses and worries and towards better-ment and sharing with others, etc.). it could inspire cohesion as well, “what organization are you proposing a gift to?” “wow, i didn’t know you were interested in that, tell me more…” and the process could potentially motivate the individual to give, regardless of being selected by the company.

i’d love to hear any thoughts about this and perhaps suggestions of companies that would be interested in such an idea.

this format could easily be implemented by parents, teachers, clubs, etc. i love the idea of spending time with children deciding where we will donate our money and as they get old enough, giving them the freedom to decide where the money goes. i assume that when the children are younger, the parents would help monitor the final decision. what a transformational moment it could be, however, when the declaration is made that the money goes to whomever the child chooses, without the adult having the final word. what an expression of trust…

comments:

There is such a program currently in place. Many companies have a policy in place that will match all or part of any employee’s charitable contributions. It is currently less than previous years but still very much alive. Unfortunately it often stops with a statement in policy manuals. The idea of giving being joint is a good one. Companies rarely give away dollars that do not create profits. They do, however, respond to opinions backed by actions of large groups of its employees.

Paul | 07.29.04 – 6:00 pm | #

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It’s wonderful to see these days, how more and more companies realize this – that they have lots to give.

The best example I know is Patagonia and 1% for the planet. From their website:

Since 1985, Patagonia has pledged 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. We’ve awarded over 18 million dollars… 1% for the Planet® is an alliance of businesses that understand the necessity of protecting the natural environment.

The really cool thing is that Patagonia employees decide who the money goes to.

More info at http://www.patagonia.com/enviro/one_percent.shtml

Alexander Kjerulf | Homepage | 07.30.04 – 4:30 am | #

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hi paul,

“Unfortunately it often stops with a statement in policy manuals. ”

is there anything else, besides making giving a joint venture, that could be done differently so that it wouldn’t stop at the policy manual?

your words speak perfectly towards open space. it’s a great way to get employees together to share their opinions and take steps towards actions.

and alexander, thanks for the info about Patagonia. it IS wonderful to see realizations that one (company/individual) has lots to give!

ashley | Email | Homepage | 08.03.04 – 1:43 am | #