Within 11.07.11

WITHIN

11.07.11

Reading again, I pick up a book

recommended by a friend.

Off the pure spiritual bent

I've been on or so I thought.

Letters to a Young Poet is the name on the cover.

but the message is the same.

For it's a compilation of letters but no sooner do I begin

before it gives me pause.

For the first letter strikes me so.

It's as the author I've mentioned before Dr. Hawkins says:

Once you are on this path there is no getting off.

It is where you are meant to be.

So I'll leave you now to ponder what I read

that led me back to the path I'm on.

Though I thought I'd take a break tonight.

From Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Now (as you have permitted me to advise you)

I beg you to give all that up.

You are looking outwards,

and of all things that is what

you must now not do.

Nobody can advise 

and help you, nobody

There is only one single means.

Go inside yourself.


All My Love Always, Keith

I came to believe that my true identity goes beyond the outer roles I play.

It transcends the ego.

I came to understand that there is an Authentic 'I' within - an 'I Am,'

or divine spark within the soul.

Sue Monk Kidd

Love

Step Aside 11.06.11

STEP ASIDE

11-6-11

I see the mist, it gradually thickens, 39 and cold.

Nobody seems to mind, though.

Another day on the way I take a loop out by the street,

giving the dogs a treat, don't often go this way.

Weekends are light no traffic today.

Just then a pick-up truck scurries us off the street.

A change of course, kind of like my life.

Things change.

Off to work, when I get home stuff to do a trip to take.

Next week I'm off to see folks back home

even though I haven't lived there for 22 years.

Boy, has it been that long?

It's still home though where I was raised anyway,

back to my roots, where I started.

It parallels all that I read in a way.

Seeking the Spiritual Self,

back to my Spirit.

That's a more challenging road home.

I read a lot of David R. Hawkins.

He states once you start on this road you don't get off.

I remember months ago my Hospice gal

she saw the change in me, up close.

Sooner and closer than anyone else,

then asked, "will you ever go back to being the old you?"

I didn’t even wait to respond my response was “how can I?”

I look back at that day now

it’s like witnessing the birth of your child

and being asked “will you love it?”

Once I got a glimpse of my Spiritual Self the journey was underway.

It had been for years I just hadn’t noticed.

 So many instances come back to me just for everything that ultimately

led up to that one point in time when I just knew I was not alone.

I’ll never be alone again now I look for a deeper understanding

I read and listen intently I try to become even more aware.

So aware of how little I really know.

Yet so blessed to have received this gift, share it I must.

For I know some I’ve already touched.

I remember the early days telling my Hospice gal

I’ve got a compulsion to share but share what?

Not that I know anything grand

but I know far more than I knew

just a couple years ago.

For that, I am grateful.

That’s the rub things get revealed in their own time.

The ego wants to rush, but this cannot be rushed.

That’s why I don’t just read of spiritual stuff

I read it and read it again.  For some things need time.

Then they just suddenly make sense.

 I hope this makes some sense to you.

Your spiritual consciousness can be your guide,

if you can get - your ego - to step aside.

All My Love Always, Keith

Like the ego itself, the whole story is imaginary.

One does not even have to destroy the ego or even work on it.

The only simple task to be accomplished is to

let go of the identification with the ego as one’s real self!

David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. 

Happiness Blooms

Stillness 11.04.11

STILLNESS

11.4.11

Struck I am by the utter stillness of the morn.

Not even a hint of a breeze.

So quiet and still it is,

think of a meditation I do.

Then so far off in the distance

a train whistle I do hear.

Gradually closer it nears.

Then it's as close as it gets.

My how long it took to get here

but my walk continues.

Bothered by a pang

in my back now and then.

When I notice the stillness again,

the train has slipped away into the night,

and left that ever present

stillness in its wake.

May you experience

a deep stillness today.

Look inside yourself

and reconnect

with who you really are.

All My Love Always, Keith

You are the truth from foot to brow.

Now, what else would you like to know?

Rumi

Seeing

The Purpose of Life

The S Curve 11.03.11

THE S CURVE    11.3.11

I’ve been active all my life.

Running graduated into marathons.

Backpacking turned to mountaineering

and a trip to the French Alps.

Lately, it’s just been staying fit.

Lifting weights 5 days a week,

hour long treadmill sessions.

But these last few weeks my back has become a problem,

minor at first then progressively worse,

until just getting out of a chair, I paused before completion.

So calls were to a friend who’s had multiple back surgeries.

“Who’s your rack & crack” guy? I posed.

Once told I picked up the phone, surprised I was when the Dr. Answered.

The receptionist had called in sick.

I not only got an appointment, I got in that very morning.

Took a bunch of x-rays,

discussed my past with back issues.

Come back at three.

Three it was, into a dark room

X-rays on the wall

that’s when I saw the S curve.

Not what you’d expect when you look at a spine

There suppose to be all straight and stuff.

So the prognosis is I’m locked up.

My bodies adjusted so many different ways

it’s just run out of options.

It’s just stuck.

But the good news is we can help.

But there’s work involved so off we go to treatments today.

I already feel somewhat better after yesterday.

Why do I write of this?

I guess because I felt it mirrors my Spiritual life

I was very locked up there not long ago,

from years of just not really knowing where to go.

I’ve got a purpose now to share the journey it’s become.

For the more I share of it the more rewarding it becomes.

People and experiences march into my life

and I see them in such a different light.

So have no fear I’ll march headlong

into straightening out my back.

Just as I’ve charged headlong into finding my Spiritual track.

Again, the perception thing, I could go on and on

about not being able to enjoy just getting up from a chair.

But what’s the point!  It is what it is.

So it’s just time to deal with it.

As we closed our training class last night it was:

Mentally come from where you want to be!

Don’t strive for something from where you are.

That was the takeaway.

So that’s my mindset:

I’m well again, moving freely, enjoying being me,

and being the clown I’ve been for years,

doing some rather insane things along the way.

So whatever comes your way it’s not the problems that befall you.

It’s how you elect to view them and respond to them that matters.

All My Love Always, Keith

From Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life

Prioritize your life
by making this the essential and foremost responsibility you have.

Your primary relationship needs to be with yourself,

not your family, business, country, culture, or ethnicity.

Affirm: the number one priority in my life is my relationship with my Source of being.

Go there first, before any other considerations,

and you’ll automatically discontinue demanding more of anything else.

You’ll begin to emulate the Tao effortlessly, living heaven on earth.

I'm Aware

Hooey 07.22.15

Hooey

07.22.15

Hooey, not a term I hear very often.

A dear friend introduced me to someone the other day.

He was discussing his brother and how he was a medium.

I don’t believe in something that’s not provable he said.

It’s all a bunch of hooey!

I stood there and listened to him go on.

After I got home I thought about it some more,

wishing I had said something to open him up.

What I realized was I was listening to myself not that many years ago.

I was very closed minded about such things.

I though all mediums, psychics, and all that “way out there” stuff

was just a lot of hooey as this gentleman said.

So I lumped it all into my “way out there” definition and wrote it all off.

What I wished I had said was there is a lot of credible scientific study being devoted

to “hooey” things by some very highly respectable people.

It just takes a little open-mindedness and some digging to find them.

Dr. Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. is the Director of the Laboratory

for Advances in Consciousness and Health

(LACH, formerly the Human Energy Systems Laboratory)

and a professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Surgery

at the University of Arizona. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard University,

he served as a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale University,

director of the Yale Psychophysiology Center,

and co-director of the Yale Behavioral Medicine Clinic.

This is from the University of Arizona website http://lach.web.arizona.edu/lab_members

He’s devoted a lot of time (15 years) and statistical analysis

documenting Evidential Mediums and a lot more.

Then there’s Suzanne Giesemann she’s a retired U.S. Navy Commander.

She served as a commanding officer, as special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations,

and as Aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 9/11.

Today Suzanne addresses questions about the purpose of life,

the nature of reality and attuning to higher consciousness.

That’s from her website.  http://www.suzannegiesemann.com/about-suzanne/

So though I’ve had a number of “way out there” experiences I’ve written about
I’m not going into that.

I’m just putting this out there for those who want to know

if there really is verifiable evidence

that there’s a lot more to life than we realize.

I’ve been to her workshops and read a number of her books.

Wolf’s Message is a real eye opener if you really want to consider

that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

I leave you with the takeaway from the book that started my search for real answers:

Keep an Open Mind

Watch For Signs

There Are No Coincidences.

All My Love Always, Keith

“I have had sessions with Suzanne and I genuinely respect and admire her skills.

She will touch you from a God-realized place, so pay close attention.”

~ Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The Caterpillar

Fog 11.01.11

FOG

11.1.11

Fog on the drive in,

it’s surreal at the dam

it’s hovering a few hundred yards above.

The sun through the fog bank

it looks like a giant

bright white dinner plate.

The tops of the hills are cut off.

Normal below but abnormal above,

just striking in the way everything looks.

Then I notice up ahead it’s no longer high.

It’s creeping lower as I drive

onto Bonny Oaks Drive.

Then it’s no longer surreal,

it’s socked in,

hard to see even a car or two ahead.

Everyone’s speed slows,

approaching cars

they just suddenly appear.

Then we hit a dip

and it’s virtual blindness.

It’s so thick there’s nothing to see.

Just a thick gray soup,

engulfing everything.

I can barely see the car in front of me.

Then just as quick as it began

we’re out of it.

A blinding morning sun pours in.

Talk about a reversal, this is!

So bright you’ve got to squint.

My, what a ride in it’s been.

A day that appeared normal,

as I left the house,

just becomes one to remember.

May that happen to you today,

a day that seems normal

turns out to be one you’ll surely remember.

All My Love Always, Keith

From Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life  By Dr. Wayne Dyer

“Tapping into this invisible, untouchable, immeasurable force will enable you to gain the harmony that comes with being connected to the oneness, and harmony is your ultimate objective in deciding to live an “in-Spirited” life.”

May Your Spirit Soar

Listen With Your Heart

Crazy Dog 10.30.11

CRAZY DOG   10.30.11

Annie the big black dog,

all fifty pounds of her,

It's 34 degrees and she's crazy.

Head up, down, and up again.

Spinning and leaping around.

Snapping at the leash,

the other dogs steer clear.

They know her zany mood

and don't want to get trampled.

She carries on like

she was playing in the snow.

She had a blast last year

when we had that heavy snow.

The white blanket day

carried on just like today.

Except she got to bury

her head in the white stuff

and snap it up with her mouth.

Tried to eat it she did.

May you have a moment

like that today.

One where you just

enjoy life

with a reckless abandon.

Just so happy to be alive!

All My Love Always, Keith

"If we share with caring, lightheartedness, and love,

we will create abundance and joy for each other.

And then this moment will have been worthwhile."

Deepak Chopra The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Forgiveness

What if we chose

to view things

from a different

perspective?

All My Love Always, Keith

Lessons 7.15.15

Lessons

07.15.15

We were talking at our spiritual book club a couple weeks ago.

Discussing recent events and how remarkable some of them were.

I’ve been very moved by what’s been happening lately and

commented on how wonderful it was to see:

the Supreme Court rulings on health care and LBGT rights.

I choose to see a rising tide of spiritual awareness in the world.

I recounted the dichotomy I saw between events of the last two summers.

Last summer we had Ferguson which erupted in anger and retribution

that festered and dragged on for some time.

This summer we have Charleston where people responded with love and forgiveness.

Then within 24 hours you have a massive outpouring of support

from people of all walks of life

and all faiths walking hand in hand

in support of their response to a tragedy.

I read the perpetrator wanted to start a race war.

Their response of love and forgiveness

just totally diffused that type of result.

My hope is that this is a watershed event,

that we as a people of earth can see all of us that way.

So when the next triggering event or tragedy arises

we respond, in the same way,

with love and forgiveness.

We are ever evolving upward

as a people, as a nation, and as a world consciousness.

Join me in resolving to respond with love.

Open your hearts and always respond with love.

Just little old me you say?

How can I

do this on a daily basis?

Someone cuts you off in traffic or says a hurtful thing,

respond with forgiveness and love.

It doesn’t have to be on a grand scale

but think about the person you will be next year.

If you personally respond this way every time

you feel someone or thing has done you wrong or harm.

In the end, all we can do is make a choice.

Do we respond in kind negatively or hurtful.

Or do we respond in a positive uplifting way

with forgiveness and love anyway.

By now I know you have an idea of what I’m working on.

God blesses you and your this day and every day, Keith

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

Lewis B. Smedes

Two Wolves

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson

about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said:

“My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil – It is anger, envy, guilt, jealousy, sorrow,

regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment,

inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good – It is joy, peace, love, hope,

serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,

empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute

and then asked his grandfather:

“Which wolve wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied:

“The one you feed.”

-Native American Cherokee Story

The Ride 10.31.11

THE RIDE 10.31.11

Riverwalk is a local thing,

a walking, bike trail along the Tennessee River.

Someone recommended I give it a try.

So dust of the old bike did I

and stuff it into the car

on a beautiful fall afternoon.

No clue where to go.

Just headed out and let it flow,

wandered off on dead ends twice.

But that just added to the mystique of the day.

Doing something I just wouldn't have

had I not been given the idea.

On I went exploring a new avenue.

Enjoying the rush of the wind over my face,

the quick acceleration down a slope.

Push hard up a rise

just to feel the strength flow

from my body to the bike.

On and on I went

Until I was high on a bluff

overlooking the river far below.

Thought it best to head back now,

it's been 6 or 7 miles

far more than I thought I'd do.

But the trip back to the car

was as much fun as the trip out

just pedalling merrily away.

Enjoying a beautiful fall day

herons and ducks along the away

even a grove of bamboo did I pass.

The sun was getting low.

There was more of a chill in the air

but so alive I felt.

May you have a moment today

when you just feel so totally alive!

Enjoy the ride of life

it's what wonderful memories are made of.

All My Love Always, Keith

I think the thing to do is enjoy the ride while you're on it.

Johnny Depp