Your Invitation

Soulmate or Solemate?, Kailua, HI, April 2020, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens, 135mm,
1/160 sec @ f10, ISO 200, -0.33 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Your Invitation

Are you frustrated with your life?
Asking why this befalls you or that keeps on happening?
Wishing some pain would just go away?
Wondering why you feel so tired or trapped by despair?

You could take up arms!  Cinch tight your armor!
Spend every free moment devising the master battle plan!
Envision the vanquishing of your archest enemy!
Surely then, with your foot upon his neck, the sun will shine brightly!

Funny thing about life.  The sun is always shining brightly.
It’s just that some days clouds bless the earth with rain.
Each night, if we look up, distant stars will twinkle.
And we may glimpse the infinite vastness of life unfolding.

So let us recalibrate our thinking. Judge not each day,
By the harvest that you reap, but by the seeds that you sow.
That’s the measure of control you have with life.  
Then, if conditions are favorable, life will be bountiful.

But when conditions leave the ground dry and barren, 
As life surely will from time to time, you have
Only two choices:  1) Acceptance;  2) Acceptance, 
While you till the soil and water by hand.

The truth about life is that we are not in control 
Of the whole of it.  But we can influence our role in it.
We can check our motivations, reset our expectations.
See that it is our actions that count, and not our wishes.

This is the good news.  Everything you can control is 
before you and inside you.  Before your ego is hurt or stroked.
Inside the heart and soul of your very Being.  Go There.
To that place of Knowing.  A subtle Opening.  That’s your Invitation.

Note, this post was inspired by a quote I read this morning, and you'll find my 

close approximation of his words above:

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant."

-- Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1094), Essayist, Poet, Novelist

The Unfurling

The Unfurling, Akaka Falls, Big Island, Hawaii, December 2012, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens, 
300mm, 1/30 sec @ f5.6, ISO 720, 0 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Are you managing and controlling all aspects of your life?  Checking off your to do list?  Ensuring each day is crackerjack-full of productive activities?

Or are you letting your life unfurl before your own eyes?  Are you open and receptive to opportunities that might just be around the next corner?  Are you leaving space -- precious space -- during your day for something magnificent to unfurl?

We've been conditioned by time management experts and self-help gurus to shape our lives to fit our preconceived notion of success ... only to realize later in life that we may well have been sold a bill of goods (quite literally).  

What would our life be like if we followed our nose to see just what opportunities were ever-present that ignited our creative spirit, or touched the depths of our soul, or let us express our deepest compassion.

Life has its own way of unfurling, and will do so quite nicely without any help from us, thankyouverymuch.  Can we learn (or unlearn) to accept that unfolding, and consider what is the wisest response to each situation?  

You will be surprised the degree of peace that can arise from that unknowing, that lack of control.  Indeed, it is our desire to control our world that introduces tremendous stress and suffering (when things inevitably don't follow what we had in mind).  

So resign today from your envisioned job as master of the universe.  And watch the miracle of life unfurl all on its own.  And then ... be at peace.

Out of control

Out of Control, Uncanoonuc Mt., Goffstown, NH, August 2007, Nikon D40 with 18-200mm VR lens, Focal length varying, Exposure 1/10 sec @ f25.0, ISO 800, exposure bias -1/3 stop, no flash, circular polarizing filter © Steven Crisp [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Step 7. Practice Self-Responsibility
{continuing the series, by Susan Skog}
"We want to put an end to wars without giving up our violent intentions and violent relationships," -- Arun Gandhi

Wars break out over our evening meals--or in the world--when we try to control someone else. Accept that everyone holds a piece of the truth, Arun Gandhi says. Accept that you're only responsible for your own values, beliefs, and choices.

Control. It is such an interesting concept. We feel we need it for our security. For our sanity. We wish to control the future, to control the world, and to control others. But there is only one that we may control -- and that is ourself.

Indeed, we burden ourselves by trying to control the outcome, either consciously or by want. For if the world does not give us what we want, then we feel stressed.

Try as an experiment, consciously not trying to control the outcome, the future, or another. Instead, revel in the divine dance that is underway, taking into account the infinite interactions of all forces, all actions, to precisely yield this present moment.

Live with an openness, a receptivity, a wonder, and an awe at what is unfolding before your eyes. That is life itself. That is creation.

Instead of trying to control it all, instead try to get "in tune" with it, and float along the river of life, laughing as the bubbles come and the bubbles go, and of course, enjoy the scenery along the way. For it will never be the same again. That is part of the magic and the beauty.

Just how courageous are you?

Spider and web, Chiang Rei, Thailand, November 2005, Pentax Optio 555, Exposure 1/320 sec @ f5.0, ISO 64, with flash © Steven Crisp [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Do you think you are brave? Courageous? Willing to take a stand? Fight for your principles? Take on injustice?

Well, here’s another view.

That’s not really the hard path. The hard path — where courage is really needed — is to accept that adversity as a fact of life. To be present in the face of the suffering for which you are all ready to take up the good fight.

We all seem to think that the world should be somehow different than it is. And, being good citizens, and very altruistic, we would like to be a force for that change, right? Social activists. Politically involved. Green consumers. Back to nature. Anti-war. Truth and justice.

Well, what if that was the wrong first step? What if that fundamental premise — that the world should be different than it is — puts us on the slippery slope of right/wrong, good/evil, us/them. Do you see it?

Consider this a test. You can feel your inherent reaction to this idea. Let go of that. Expand your thinking. Open your eyes and your mind.

I think the question, then, is can you be so courageous as to be present for another’s pain and suffering, or your own. Accept the fact that life will deal you happiness, sorrow, and everything in between, and it is NOT your job to change things.

Maybe now you can see just how hard this task will be. And why it will require such an act of bravery.

”As long as we are caught up in always looking for certainty and happiness, rather than honoring the taste and smell and quality of exactly what is happening, as long as we’re always running away from discomfort, we’re going to be caught in a cycle of unhappiness and disappointment, and we will feel weaker and weaker. This way of seeing helps us to develop inner strength.”
-- Pema Chödrön