For those who read my blog on Sunday about my trip to the ER, I’ll let you know I’m doing well.  The wound on my arm is doing well and the stitches will come out in a few days.  The bump on my head is healing, the cuts there and around my shoulders and back are healing up too.  I’m very grateful I haven’t had a lot of pain.  Until today, I was taking some aspirin a few times a day and that really relieved the pain.

I think I feel noticeably better today in part because I’m on the fourth day of cleanse, but also because I haven’t had any aspirin since yesterday morning.  It’s just a feeling I have, but I think it was affecting me.  Also, the numbing drug they shot into my arm is the same exact kind they use for dental surgeries, and those drugs always make me feel a bit off for a few days, so the detox is happening and the healing is noticeable.

I’ve become even more aware of how great I feel most of the time and what a blessing that is to have high vitality and vibrancy.  Of course, my spiritual practice is the #1 reason for that.

I’m also actually amazed at how little pain or discomfort I’ve had.  It hasn’t mentally, emotionally for physically bothered much at all.  That feels kind of cool.

How we hold things in our mind affects our experience.  We know this, but when we prove it time and again, we realize that we’re never victims.  We’re always at the very center of the mind of God and all of life is with us and for us.

The weather has improved and cooled off here.  The unusually hot and sticky (for Vermont) seems to have moved on for now  and the summer paradise that Vermont is can be felt and enjoyed for the glorious days of summer that are right now.

Here’s Bodhi on our walk after dinner last evening.  It feels like heaven to me:

My cat, Sattva, has even been coming home at dusk after a long day of adventuring and I know that he’s tucked in and sleeping most of the time before it’s even dark.  That’s a nice change!

Of course, outside my home, out in the world it seems like all hell is breaking loose between floods, tornadoes, shootings, wars, anger, divisiveness, and gut wrenching politics.  The mood seems to be F.E.A.R. in the sense of the old “false evidence appearing real.”

If we are interested in being worried, there’s lots to choose from.

If we’re interested in enjoying the Peace of the moment, it’s ALWAYS there just beyond our thoughts about the world.

Be still and know, I AM God.

When the world calls us to be worried, it’s our job to be truly helpful by remembering that we’re responsible for what we think we see, and how we see it.  We often don’t see what’s really there.  We see a memory of the past, projected onto the present moment.  Through a glass darkly.

When we’re upset, we’re not seeing clearly.  It’s good to know that we can Partner UP and tune into our Higher Holy Spirit Self in order to see clearly.  Clarity is available if that’s what we’re interested in.  Sometimes we like to feel upset because it makes us feel righteous and “alive,” but that’s an illusion.

True Clarity reveals Peace of mind.

And Peace is worth everything we let go of to have it.  It’s the best trade in the world, but we won’t know until we make the trade.

For me, being upset was just one of many ways I played small and siphoned off my creativity.  I wasted many years of my life being upset about meaningless things without even realizing what it cost me.  Live and learn.  It’s great to really figure these things out and live life the way you’d like to live it!

If you feel like you might be playing small, holding yourself back, toughing it out, ignoring your needs or letting other people treat you poorly because of your beliefs about yourself – if you think maybe those beliefs are false and could be eliminated, and if you have a willingness to do some inner work to make a real and lasting change then please consider joining me and some other folks just like you who are SO DONE WITH PLAYING SMALL and ready to let those patterns go.