What Is Patience?

Patience has little to nothing to do with waiting. Most people don’t understand this. What patience is about is in possessing the knowledge to know when to act and when to keep still. Patience offers great lessons in protection. You learn to protect your resources, not abuse them. And you also learn how to not allow your problems, regardless of how big or how petty, to overwhelm you. Looking to nature as a teacher; the old oak tree has learned patience. It has grown over the years learning to soak up all the sun it can before the autumn crispness turns its leaves and it awaits for the last of frost to end in the early spring before celebrating its buds. Patience is in the timing of it all. There is no patience in the forcing of things to create the impression of advancement or growth.

Patience also affords us the insight that given time most situations will clear themselves up with little involvement on our behalf. We often get too busy with tasks and problems, conversations and dilemmas and relationships or stories that do not need our energies, our focus or our time.

In the shamanic practice the importance of death is taught. There are many times in our lives that in order for things to change a death of sorts must happen. Something has to come to an end. It could be the death of a relationship, the death of a dream, the death of a job or even the death of our pride.

Pausing and allowing the transformations to unfold makes room for the lessons and gifts to be revealed. It allows us time to absorb, to expand or constrict as needed. It affords those around us time to adjust. Manic problem solving leaves no room for this. Patience is not involved.

Finally, patience offers the gift of living consciously in the now. We do not obsess over what has happened in the past or what tomorrow may bring. We learn to appreciate what is unfolding before us presently. We give it our fullest attention. We pause as it unwinds and unfolds and wait for the next moment…which could hold action or more pause. It affords us a type of grace that brings peace, understanding and calm. We are able to just be, not have to do, do, do.

Blessings ~ Lisa

© COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade

In The Stillness

I have just returned from a three-week vacation of camping with family and friends on the shore of Cape Cod. What a glorious time was had by all. Lots of space for rest and relaxation, time for rejuvenation and recharge, time for play and laughter and most importantly time for change and growth. Bayazid al-Bistami states, "All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement and desire is outside of the veil; within the veil is silence and calm and rest." I climbed within the veil during these past three weeks. I had plenty of fun and play, but I made sure to sit in the stillness and discover the treasures to be found there as well. Creating the space for this emptiness I was able to find the stillness I needed and hungered for. Here I was able to touch hands with intuitive guidance and listen as my inner truth awakened and rose up within.

Sitting at the water’s edge, creating ritual around beach bonfires, hiking through dunes or even listening for the hoots of the owls that frequented our camp site each early morning created deeper awareness and allowed my imagination to percolate and create dreams, visions and possibilities. Journaling added jucy-ness to these thoughts.

A three-week vacation is not required for these treasures to be revealed. Taking a simple walk out-of-doors. Sitting beneath the shade of a beautiful tree. Finding a sunny spot to sit in with eyes closed as you listen to the voices of nature around you. Finding ways to connect deeper with yourself is vital to living a full and rich life. It opens the door to your relationship with your spiritual self. It gives time for creativity. It provides pause to the chaos and it sheds light onto the mundane and finds magic in the corners of our minds.

I have returned from this time feeling alive and recharged. I am excited for what the days and months ahead hold. I have ideas with endless possibilities and energy that is alive and playful. So much movement was made in my stillness!

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade

Back and Forth

When do you stop looking back? When do you stop trying to find the answers in your past? When do you stop reliving mistakes, missteps, miscommunications and mis-alignments? Or perhaps you are someone who puts all your energies into what will happen tomorrow? You keep putting off in hopes that your situation will improve with the new day. You invest in the future with a commitment to what could happen and who might be involved. When do you stop all this and take a look at now, this moment, who you can be, what you can do, and where you can go? If we choose to spend time looking backwards we will run the risk of what is being offered to us today. Living in the past does only one thing for us. It keeps our focus on the past. It keeps us stuck there. It keeps our energies mired down in events that have long gone by and nothing we bring to them is of any use. The past is a place that if you visit too often or for too long we are running too close in a land of regret.

If we choose to spend too much time looking to the future we lack follow through with what we can do now. We invest our energies into possibilities to the point that we stall what is involving in this moment. The future is a place to visit from time to time to explore for opportunities, make flexible plans or goals, but if we visit too long we are ineffective in our efforts.

If we want to bring ourselves to this world in a positive and powerful position, we must live in the present. Spirit, the Universe, your Higher Power, (whatever your belief is), presents to us continuously opportunities that hold gifts, lessons, possibilities and promise. If we are constantly looking over our shoulder, we most certainly will miss these treasures.

It takes presence of mind and intention to live in the present. It takes commitment to the moment. It is a challenge too, for our society encourages us to live in our past or in the fantasy of tomorrow. That is how advertisers pick at our wallets and how movie directors sell tickets. These are lands that can be fun to visit if done in measured doses. When we overload, just as with too much sun or too many potato chips, we don’t feel too good. Our bodies rebel and complain. In this case our spirits suffer as well. Living in the now gives us the presence of body, mind and spirit to address what we actually have the power and thought and heart to have impact upon.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade

What is Your Legacy?

What do you imagine your legacy to be? When you leave your earthly body and your family and friends remain behind, what are the stories that will be told of your offerings to this world, your relationship with others, or your gifts and offerings? Have you given thought to what you consciously leave behind? Imagine having a poignant conversation with a loved one to offer your insight, a humorous take on a situation, or to share a story from your past with a particular message. What would you choose to say?

Recently on a family road trip, one member shared quotes of famous people’s last words and it got me to thinking. So many people departed with heartfelt shares or intriguing words of encouragement to those they were leaving. Some quipped in what appeared to be unusually blasé and normal conversations. Others showed appreciation of small and simple acts we have grown to take for granted.

Obviously, for the most part, we cannot pre-plan our last words. But we shall also be remembered for our actions, our visions, our dreams, our moods, and our relationship to others and this world we live in.

What do you hope for others to remember or say after you leave this body and move on? If it holds significance to you, then paying closer attention to what we represent, how we come across, what we share with others and what we give service to may be important as well.

I have often noticed people being on their best behavior when in the company of a stranger or when meeting someone for the first time. I think this is human nature, wanting to make a good first impression and all. But should we want our lasting impression to be equally as good? I have often discussed how I make efforts every day to have my actions and my words are in alignment with my beliefs. I have shared before in this blog, how I long for my service to others and to Spirit to be honorable and worthy. Big aspirations that on some days is easier to hold true to than others. We all struggle. But I have to believe it is worth it on so many levels.

And perhaps someday, my family and friends will be sitting around a table, eating my famous vegetarian chili recipe, laughing at some of my antics, sharing some of my life lessons, and discussion some of my perspectives as I move on to the next great adventure for my soul. Maybe.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade