Showing posts with label boundaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boundaries. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Verb 'to Love'

Y




The Verb ’to Love’
by Todd Rundgren

Some people tell me that love is a feeling,
Or a possession;
Somehow that seems so cold.
And when they say love is sweet,
Does it mean that you eat it?
Maybe you drink it?
Does it fill up an empty hole?

I’m lookin’ for a love and I may not find it.
You know it doesn’t mean a thing
Without some action behind it!

Please come home...
I can hear them calling
Please come home
Please don’t leave us all alone...
Your mama and your papa are crying all alone.
You better let it magnetize; learn to sacrifice,
’til we get the true version of - -
The meaning of the verb "to love".

What
does
it mean
to love?

And when somebody needs love,
Do they spend some money?
Say something funny,
Ask for some tenderness?
And when you wanna touch of love,
Do you lie on your back?
Stand on your head?
How do you feel it best?

I’m looking for a love with no strings attached,
To take me like I am - that’s the only catch!

Please come home...
I can hear them calling,
Please come home
Please don’t leave us all alone...
Your wife and your lover are crying all alone.
You better let it magnetize - learn to sacrifice...
’Til we learn the true version of

The meaning of the verb "to love".

Does it mean any more,
The more you talk about it?
Is it any more real
If you jump around and shout it?
I’m sick and tired of hearing
’bout everyone without it
and
Too much talkin’ sends me walkin’.
Night is falling and
everybody’s calling
for
love.

Everybody’s lookin’ for their one and only.
It’s only just a game ’cause they’re scared
to be lonely.

Please come home...
I can hear them calling,
Please come home
Please don’t leave us all alone...
Your brothers and your sisters are crying all alone.
You got let it magnetize, learn to sacrifice -
’til we get the true version of
The meaning
of the verb
"to love".

What
does
it mean
to love?


c)Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp; Humanoid Music


Y


I am not an expert in boundaries. But I am a firm believer in learning when to turn the other cheek and walk away!

There are so many people who are going through life, not only wounded, but toxic. We all have our crosses to bear, don't we? And with some luck and a lot of work on ourselves, getting our hearts into a place of wanting to feel good, asking for balance and well-being, we have access to all kinds of tools and information to get us through. Ideally we should be able to reach a continuum in our lives where we can always feel good... Knowing that happiness is a choice. Let me tell you about it: this is what self-realization is all about.

In other words, we start to feel that we are walking in God's Light. (Because we feel good!)



Y


So, many of you are asking, why is it that a happy, "nice", kind person attracts people who are hateful and mean-spirited?

How is it that someone who is so "nice", so kind, so thoughtful, can attract someone who gossips, slanders others and dumps all over them?

Here's my response... It's because they feel safe with us.

But be mindful that Jesus only helped those who came to Him and asked for help.

There are a lot of people out there who are actually crying for help, and don't know it. Never presume that you know what is best for another person; take your time.

It's one thing to accept people and love them unconditionally; it is quite other things to share in their guilt. This is why everyone needs to understand what healthy boundaries are.

I know people who truly suffer from some sort of "lack" in their minds... They use drugs and alcohol regularly; they get hooked-up into strange practices and beliefs about themselves and others; they make fetishes out of things, and out of themselves (I.E. some celebrities are known to do this); they define themselves through what they do, and not by watching their ways of being; they make overtures to control others because they are afraid of being abandoned, or they can't handle rejection in any form. Who doesn't struggle?

The challenge comes with a desire to grow... Because when people are bored, they start creating trouble for themselves and others.

This is a lot of what was going on around Jesus... In fact, He never offered to help anyone unless they first asked. Jesus understood the intrinsic nature of chaos, and what it could do to the spirit of mankind.


Y


I've noticed a pattern in my own life, of being surrounded by people who need to confide and gossip about others. Sure, we are all human beings and we talk about other people because we want to understand what drives them, what hurts them. I think I am a safe person for people to confide in, simply because I don't go to their hang-outs. I want to shift some of this chaos out of my life.

I find, if I try to ascertain my own opinions directly about the person who is dishing dirt, I am often cut-off, or find myself in a situation where the speaker becomes contentious and judgmental of me. This is always shocking! But after 50 years of practice, I finally get it.

In the past, it has been their way of keeping me in my place (as a listener). So I have had to learn to walk away, stop participating - and even put my hand up in someone's face and tell them "Talk To the Hand"! Does it get any ruder than that?! It can, because I am a human being and I have my limitations, too.


Y



No one should be chastising you about your life. We are all doing this walk on Planet Heart as free agents; whether we want to believe or accept that or not is inconsequential. If someone hurts you, it is only a side-effect of the real problems going on.

The fact is, when one person disrespects another person's space, time, privacy, background, history, story, religious or spiritual practices, that is not love. It's something else.


It is ultimately a show of disrespect because that person's soul process is not being honored. To recognize this, and to draw back on one's tendency to CONTROL another person is a healthy boundary. Also, seeing-through someone else who is trying to control us is important.

We need these boundaries in our private lives, but also at work, and in dating and in marriage. We need them in our friendships. We do not necessarily need to be spilling our guts to individuals we don't know. People take information and sometimes use it as ammunition. Many friendships have been hurt and ruined, because people cannot keep their mouths shut and their sex lives private, for example.


We have to watch our patterns with people... And know when to knock it off.

The best clue will be that it just doesn't feel good. It isn't fun anymore.

I have written in other areas of this blog where some people feel they need to have fun at another person's expense... Be very sober and careful when that happens. Anyone who behaves in hurtful ways like that is probably not a safe person to be hanging with.




Y


We also do not need to know everything about someone in one night. It is better to allow a relationship to develop over increments and periods of time... (Rather than download on someone for two solid hours, for example; or sleep with them on the first date.)

If you want some real love in your life, take your time getting to know people. Watch the warning signals you get; make a personal note of the red-flags you get. Pay attention to people who are trying to communicate honestly with you; they are trying to tell you something! People give us signals all the time; but perhaps we are the toxic ones who are not paying attention until the situation gets ugly? Ask them more questions, if you need better understanding regarding what you sense or feel. Don't presume. Never presume! (Check out my Mr. Roger's sections.)


If you allow someone to download on you and not give you a breather, they will come back with more. So knowing your own limitations in this regard is also an important boundary. Know when to say "enough already" to someone who is trying to control you.

Don't be afraid to give someone the consequences of their actions!

"If that's your attitude or that's how you feel about things, this is how it's going to play out with me..."

It felt great to do this with my mother the other day... She is always bitching about her health. In conversations I have given her countless suggestions on how to feel better. I even began to help her work out a 90-day dietary plan - which she dismissed and put down.

So I said - "Gee, then I guess this gives us a good reason not to talk about how sick you are anymore!" I acted really happy about it!

She got upset about that.

"Well," I asked her, "why should we talk about it if you don't plan to make any changes in your life? And you expect your doctors to do all that for you?" Then she changed her tune.

You might need some time to step back and evaluate the pay-offs in the situation. This is why so many people get into relationships where they feel as if they are being used - they ARE being used! People use one another as vehicles to grow. This isn't exactly ethical, but if they can do it? They will.



Y


We need to be able to say NO to certain situations when the time is right. Sometimes this begins privately, within our own awareness. But the bottom line is, if we let someone control us, we are just as guilty as they are. And we should ask for, and seek the genuine help we need from someone who can guide us to move forward. That's another healthy boundary.



Y


It is not easy to be honest. Sometimes we can only be honest by walking away from someone... (Because maybe it is our body language they are trying to hook-into, anyway.)

When you feel good about being with someone, you won't be holding any resistance in any part of your body. If you feel that you have to posture yourself, your voice, your ways of being, if you can't be natural, getting out of the unnatural responses are going to take some honesty on your part.

Also, it can be hard if someone is in pain, for instance, yet you can see that they are actually enjoying their pain...? Choosing certain elements and volitions to keep themselves in the pain or situation of lack, you will at some point be required to ask yourself if you are being their enabler.

We cannot change other people. We can only change ourselves.


Y


I once offered to pray for someone... And she reprimanded me for it, saying that she didn't want my prayers, because she felt my prayers would interfere with her spiritual practice.

It's okay. I am fully aware that I am here as an extension of Source Energy, burning through Karma... I learned that we don't have to put in a major petition to God on their behalf. We can light a candle for them.

fire dakini

I think this person was lucky to have me in her life for as long as she did.

She took me for granted. We thought we had an honest friendship, but we could never talk about our friendship or how it was playing out, honestly.

So I turn personalities like this over to Christ, and just send them white light.

Life is too short, ya know? We have better things to do with our time and energy on this earth walk; and Christ has shown us that through His teachings.


Y


If someone is acting as if they must control you, somehow, in order to have a relationship with you? That relationship is not worth keeping.



Y


People who give you freedom will also give you honesty.



Y


This blog has a consistent theme... It's about coming out of slavery and into freedom.

We can change ourselves!

Starting with prayer and meditation, we can begin to refocus our intentions on things that support and empower us to be happier.

We can choose to reach for positive emotions, and use negative situations and people as pivotal points to choose something better.

We can choose to get ourselves free from worry.

We can focus on those things that we really want in our lives, and ask ourselves a lot of questions about WHY. This helps us to track our spiritual intentions.

We can get free of being compulsive, by choosing stillness, quiet and peace with God.

We can choose to participate in positive things because they inspire us...

Using these values helps the chaos in our lives to fall away.

We can learn to persist, rather than resist and keep ourselves locked in pain.

We can allow ourselves to go through a complete cycle of emotions, and persist in reaching for those feelings that help us to feel better.

We can learn to speak with one another more honestly and be heard.

These are ways of working through inner inspiration where we can watch for the manifestation of God's Love... The spirit is always there.



Y


Monday, February 2, 2009

Self-Contained Heart

Y



Fun, huh? I love how this heart looks so timeless and perfect.


"The truth shall set you free."
- Jesus Christ

This image puts forth a balanced energy,
showing protective safeguards and healthy boundaries,
at the same time radiating a lot of love.
The heart is yin, the golden sun behind it is yang.
The thorns are neutralizers.
This is the image of a young adult heart
who has come into his or her own self.
It not only radiates faith, but self-trust and kindness.
At the same time, it is not leaking any energy;
it is cautious, aware, contained.


Y


"I will reveal all things, beloved,
so that through knowledge and understanding
you will become like Me.
I will reveal the hidden things to you.
Now, put forth your hands and hold on."
- Jesus, The Second Apocalypse of James


Y

Here's a photo of my town, the city of Seattle...


Many of you reading this blog
are too young to remember or know about



The Battle In Seattle

November 30, 1999 -
December 2, 1999





It was the first national protest
organized by caring American citizens,
on the internet.



Organizers and citizens came together to protest
against the World Trade Order (WTO).
People intended for it to be a peaceful protest...



However Seattle city officials
were very concerned about the crowds of people showing up...


So the police force was called in
to watch against any disorder.




You see, President Clinton
and other important officials
from all over the world were coming to town!




There were diverse crowds
of every nationality and age!




People wanted to take a stand
against the exploitation of people in other countries,
the loss and outsourcing of our jobs,


the quality of our food,
water, and air...


All these concerns affect us directly
and were, and continue to be based in
corporate greed.



So the people came together,
standing in one voice

as the officials came into the airport
and through the gates of Seattle...




It was very cool,
how the people of Seattle created blockades,
so officials for the WTO
could not meet in their conference rooms
or gather at the Space Needle.


Instead, they were forced to face the people!



Of course, the cops didn't like that.





By late afternoon
the police were given permission to use
whatever tactics they thought necessary
to drive back the crowds.




Therefore, police began
to push the people
out of the way using tear-gas.





By the end of the night
police had pushed the people up the hill,
and into my neighborhood,
where my friends and neighbors
were tear-gassed, too!




The next morning,
some people began to riot
and the windows of many buildings owned by corporate companies were busted down.
Since no person was being physically hurt,
some thought about it and felt
creating material damages was okay.
Newspaper boxes were uprooted from the sidewalks and thrown into the glass!



Again, the peaceful protesters
returned to the streets, chanting:

THE PEOPLE

UNITED
WILL NEVER BE
DIVIDED!


They came again
to block the WTO organizers from gathering.



And again,



protesters were tear-gassed,
beaten with clubs, and driven by police
up to the hill where I live.



The protests went on in the streets
for a total of three days.




Y

This year will be the 10th Anniversary
of the Battle in Seattle.







Y


The citizens of Seattle were put on a nightly curfew:
we were told to be out of the streets by 7:00 p.m.,
or we would be tear-gassed.


Naturally, not everyone
was able to get out of the streets in time!


For three days and nights, all we could hear were helicopters...


On the third night, I rushed home from work.
I couldn't find anything on the local news
about how the night would go.


But I tuned-in to PBS and saw
there were police lined up


right in front of my apartment building.


Dozens of squads stood out in the street,
in lines outside my door,
poised in their "riot gear",
face shields down like Darth Vader.
They stood waiting for the downtown squads
to push the protesters up the hill one more time.


People I worked with got tear-gassed on their way home from teaching at night.



A friend who was tear-gassed had to sleep on my living room floor.



There was no way a lot of people could get home!



Reporters said
the protests weren't helping much
with the Christmas Shopping season.



By the time the protests were over,
some people went to jail...
Merchants boarded up their windows.



Which did not look very welcoming
uptown or downtown.



(No one was really in the mood to go shopping.)

Y

In fact, Seattle has never been the same.


We all know
knew this event
would slowly change the world.



Y


This is a story about greed.


http://www.zmedia.org/WTO/N30.htm


http://www.gapsucks.org/gwa/history/wto/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_in_Seattle

http://www.johncallan.com/Archive/PM/WTO--%20The%20Battle%20for%20Seattle.htm


http://www.spectacle.org/0100/main.html


http://archives.dailyuw.com/2000/120100/N2.WT.html



Y

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Man's Heart


Y



"Admit what you feel, feel it, and then give it up. You must surrender before you engage the influence of the negative. The issue is not that you experience the emotions. The issue is what you DO in response to the emotions." - Iyanla Vanzant

Y

Ever notice how some men are feeling less and less, and and doing less these days? It is as if they are becoming more miserly with their energy. It's because men have been acculturated to live more in their minds than in their hearts.

Thus we have this thing we live with called "dominator culture", or patriarchy (which goes way back to the beginning of time).

But for some men, it is so built-in that they never grow beyond it. In this heart image, you can see it's yearning to grow. If you look closely, you will also see a spiritual eye, deep down in there.

In the '60's, when young men were fed up, and more willing to be experimental, and were doing things in America, like refusing to participate in the draft, and dropping LSD, that eye was starting to get opened a little.

We have always had young men like that in our histories, you know, who took chances and lost their minds doing it, literally. Drugs, you see, dissolve boundaries. (But that's another post.)


It is NOT just about being being male, but also how all of us are using our masculine or yang energy out there in the world... American women have become harder, more self-serving as we also experiment with our male energy.


Y

There is a great spiritual shift happening on the earth right now.
Some people are not going to make it, are they, Lord?


"Surrender allows us to face the things we fear and places us in the offensive position. When we surrender we mentally go through to the end, through the thing that we fear, which in effect releases us fear-thoughts from the mind. It also makes room in your mind and in your heart, for the Divine to give you a new idea." - Iyanla Vanzant

Y


Y

Dear Jesus,
help us not to be just flailing around
on the planet in self-interest.
Help us all to balance our masculine, male energy,
so we can continue to be
the great creators and lovers,
the avatars you would want us to be.
Guide us into directions where we can dis-cover
the passion and enthusiasm
which makes us Divine.



Y