The Sublime Passage

A few weeks ago I watched a re-run of Oprah featuring Kirsty Alley. She was on the show after having  become a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, losing over 70lbs and then gaining it all back a year later.  She talked about what it was like “failing” so publicly.  As they discussed the weight issue, Oprah said of her own struggle,  “I can’t believe I’m still talking about this”. That really resonated with me.

This is how I’ve been feeling lately. I can’t believe I’m still talking about certain issues in my life. (more…)

There is a washing machine in the basement of the house I live in. It sits directly beneath a window which is a favorite spot for my landlord’s cats Persephone and Zoe. They jump on to the washer en route to the window ledge which affords them a grand view of the driveway.  They are not little cats and their repeated jumping onto the washer has shifted the sensor mechanism in the lid.  When you use the washer, it stops as soon as it fills with water.  Getting it to continue requires a delicate operation of nudging the lid to the left – while it’s closed – until the sensor engages and the machine starts running.

I was getting ready to go on a trip and ran down to the basement to do a load of laundry. It had been a while, so I’d forgotten what the trick was. Feeling a little silly, I called my landlord who explained to me again that I just needed to nudge the lid to the back left corner.  It sounded simple enough, but after 15 minutes I just couldn’t get the damn thing to turn on. Luckily my neighbor came home then. SHE knows the trick and she demonstrated it for me.  Her version of the trick turned out to be a little more involved. (more…)

Today I was inspired by the latest post, entitled “Be the Real Spiritual You”, at Lola Fayemi’s blog Nourishment for your Spiritual Awakening.  (Thanks Lola).

I consider myself to be a spiritual student/seeker/being.  More importantly I consider myself to be a “conscious” spiritual student, meaning that I now understand it to be the very foundation of WHO I am. I choose to focus energy on nurturing and developing in this area. It’s so clear to me that my ability to be happy, loving, productive and functional correlates directly with the amount of energy I put into my spiritual health. That being said, if you haven’t been living your life with this understanding, when you take it on you’re forced to rethink that whole “WHO AM I?” question.  Take it from me; it can be really be challenging to reconcile whatever notions you used to have about who you are with the new spiritual notions of who you are – particularly if, like me, the whole “Who Am I?” thing has been kicking your butt for most (OK all…) of your lifetime. The spiritual component adds another sometimes perplexing layer to it.

There are so many assumptions placed on the word spirituality and even those of us who consider ourselves to be spiritual carry our own set of misconceptions, judgments and stereotypes about what spirituality looks like. This is what causes many of us to shy away from coming out of the “spiritual-closet” – as Lola put it so beautifully – when we become consciously spiritual because we’re afraid some of our family/friends/colleagues won’t get it and will think that we’ve lost our ever-loving minds.

Early on in my spiritual journey, I remember telling a friend that I’d started taking a basic meditation class at a local Buddhist Center. (more…)

I’ve heard many spiritual teachers say that love is the key to success in business.  I love the idea that no matter what type of work we do, the only real job we have is to love people.

When I first moved to my new house several months ago, I was unfamiliar with the area. I didn’t have any preferences in terms of the businesses I frequent. I didn’t have a favorite place to get coffee or buy groceries. I made my decisions about where to go based on convenience.

This was true each time I needed to put gas in my car. I’d stop wherever was closest and had the best price.

Several weeks ago I stopped at a tiny gas station which is about 5 minutes from my house.  It’s in the opposite direction of the route I normally take when I go to work, but that day I happened to be near it so I stopped. (more…)