30 Days + of Gratitude ~ Day 27

Having been in deep retreat in the mountains of New Mexico over New Years, my writing got a bit off schedule.  There've been a couple of double-entries of Gratitude in this series.  I'm being nudged intuitively to finish out the series going back to the single entry of five points for each day.  Still feeling into whether I'll continue the series beyond 30 days on this blog, and if so, for how long.  I'm still experimenting with the flow of writing through this blog.  My sense at the moment is that some other pieces are ready to have creative focus in the blog writing.

1. I am grateful for the power of firewalking this past Saturday, Jan 2nd.  If memory serves me, I took my 7th and 8th walks across the burning coals that night.  For me, at this time, it's an affirmation and a demonstration (to myself) of my faith in the Reality that transcends, and includes, what my five senses report.  There's far more to the process than I'll include here, and I would say I'm very much a student of the many lessons around fire, with much to integrate and discover along the way.  I can't speak for other walks led by other teachers or groups, but with the ones I've experienced, there's no gimmick.  Having been involved in helping with the preparation from the gathering of the wood all the way to supporting the walkers, I can say that the fire is real, very hot, and commands respect and humility in order to not be burned.  That is a lesson I'm continuing to learn about every powerful tool or medicine along the path.  Anything that holds great power for Awakening can easily be twisted and misused by the ego, and this is where the harder lessons seem to come forward.  In the way we approach the walk, there is a great deal of awareness, focus, intention, and humility cultivated...as well as fun and humor!  Getting too serious is just a different manifestation of a lack of humility, a form of pride that stems from insecurity...and a lesson I've gotten to engage with more times than my ego would like to remember :)
2. I am grateful for the continually growing willingness to trust intuitive flashes that are outside the box of what I may have some conscious knowledge or information around.  A more practical example is in treating the plantar warts on both of my big toes.  I've been getting flashes of keywords to google, an old book nestled in the back of my closet ("Back To Eden"), and other nudges around plant usage that I haven't seen any written materials about.  This morning these flashes were around specific essential oils to use, in particular, Frankincense.  When I googled the usage of Frankincense in wart treatment, there were entries speaking about successful treatment.  
3. I am grateful for the power of the spirit of Frankincense.  With so many uses and applications, the life-force of this plant contained in its plasma, it's resins, has the ability to awaken memories, open energy flows in the subtle systems, raise the energy of people and spaces to expansive and refined Awareness, as well as treating physical conditions.  Just this morning, I ran across a piece of information suggesting that it repairs damaged DNA, suggesting strong usages in releasing viruses from the DNA (where they take hold and replicate).  The DNA is the physicalization of one's karmic blueprint...all the thoughts, feelings, and actions taken in this and other lives are all recorded in the DNA.  Perhaps this is the physical correspondent to the famed akashic records said to have recorded all the history and future of All the manifest world.
4. I am grateful for my new subscription to National Geographic Magazine (thanks Mom!).  I'm completely geeking out on it.  The pictures are insane, and the articles are fascinating (like this month's focus on Bionics...they're actually hooking up bionic arms, eyes, ears, and more to peoples nervous system, and the brain is able to make these machines function the way the original human parts would have).
5. I am grateful for Facebook.  Yes, Facebook!  Really.  I am able to keep up on the lives of people I care about all around the world in meaningful and hilarious ways.  While it may not be the same as a live conversation, I feel like Facebook is one of the tools that shows how connected we all are, and gives ways to nourish and expand all those circles.  We haven't even begun to work into the power of collective wisdom, collective awareness yet...and it's already been great.  You get out what you put in.  Like a garden.  Maybe all of life reflects how we're willing to see it.

30 Days + of Gratitude ~ Day 23/24

1. I am grateful for the power of past discipline in my practices.  In traversing the the variety of terrain and weather in yesterday's 11+hour drive from Los Angeles to the high desert mountains of Sandia Park, New Mexico, there were three snow-storms to pass through, and two additional passengers to carry safely to "the Land of Enchantment" for this weekend's retreat.  There were periods of next to no visibility of the road, the lanes, the territory ahead, or even past my windshield when dark fell and the lights of oncoming cars would turn the window into a flash of white.  In my mind's eye, I could see the candles lit on the altar in New Mexico gently encouraging my passage, drawing me to my destination.  It was in these moments that the muscles of faith and trust I've been cultivating in the gym of Spirit got to be tested out in actual life circumstances.  It's usually fairly easy to feel a sense of connectedness, wholeness, trust, and faith sitting in some formal meditative practice.  But in the circumstances of life's unfolding, to let go of the fearful controller, lean into instinct and intuition, and carry onward... these are the places where the muscles of Awareness get honed and honored for the power they carry.
2. I am grateful for the continually deepening Trust in Love in my relationships when my ego tries to convince me that some "wrong" has been pointed in my direction.  I see myself more committed to the quiet truth of shared love, shared commitment to the relationship between myself and my relations, than the past pulls to right/wrong, good/bad, and seeking redress for imaginary trespasses.  This too, is continuing to evolve and deepen.  
3. I am grateful for the growing willingness to rest.  Learning to deeply relax and do nothing is an art I am cultivating.  Very distinct from laziness, procrastination, or checking-out, this is a practice that entered into consciously can recharge me in remarkably powerful and efficient ways.  The pull to busy-ness, the pull to incessant activity, physically or in thinking, is the ego's lack of trust and faith. The more trust and faith I have in myself and the Universe I am a part of, the easier it is to take these periods of doing no thing.  At the end of a hatha yoga practice, there is usually a pose called Shivasana.  It's a pose done lying flat on one's back, a time to integrate the work just completed, a time to enter the Self within.  It's known among adepts as the most difficult pose for humans to master...the art of doing nothing...no thought, no activity...resting in and as the Eternal Being.
4. I am grateful for my curiosity.  It is a way I am led into wider perspectives on all matters, out of the myopic viewpoints of a contracted sense of self.  As a kid my parents nicknamed me "Curious George".
5. I am grateful for this retreat property in New Mexico, to David Elliott for stewarding it, and to all the people, critters, and elements for supporting it.  This property is a living altar, it has been loved so deeply through countless hours of work and nurturing, and to all who come here in a good way, she showers and endless rain of blessings, rejuvenation, and remembrance.
6. I am grateful for laughter.  Especially the kind that just won't stop...that bursts out in waves long after the original joke has been forgotten...the kind that ripples back and forth between two people until your stomach muscles scream "Uncle!!!"
7. I am grateful for the way time expands and stretches out to accommodate everything that needs doing when I'm present and unattached to outcomes.  I mesmerized by it every time.
8. I am grateful for conscious community.  A gathering a people who can manage their own states more of the time than not, who can come together as a powerful collective...a powerful collective that can accomplish nearly anything.
9. I am grateful for the One Teacher revealing itSelf through all things.  May my hearing, my feeling, and my seeing always perceive You as You are...may I recognize and honor the teachings quickly in full Trust and Faith.
10. I am grateful for travel.  Traveling changes my routines and helps me become more adaptable and agile in all ways.