Living The Emerson Rule

January 11, 2015December 30, 2022

Knowledge and Inspiration

“…knowledge comes in flashes of inspiration as he desires it. When he expresses his desire by inner thinking it unfolds within his Consciousness, and he recognizes it. He realizes that he has always known it.” – Lao Russell, God Will Work With You But Not For You

Seeking knowledge – creating with Intent – allowing what develops to unfold.

What makes living with ambiguity so uncomfortable? There was a time I immersed myself in astrology. I thought that if I could read the future I’d be happier with the crap that was happening. Looking back, some of that “crap” were the best times of my life. Life isn’t deterministic. Free will, our daily choices; the quantum uncertainty all unfold life and can only happen in the moment. Yet the moment isn’t cherished. How curious.

There is a paradox. Some planning is necessary if I’m going to be healthy; need to exercise and buy good foods at the grocery. Planning is necessary to reach my goals; vintage love, education, comfy home, right work. It makes sense to create with Intent and seek knowledge. Once that’s done, if I lean into the day I can appreciate what materializes.

Why then do I get caught up in the future? So I’m not an expert immediately! Or the past?! Remember the time I got burnt? What if it happens again? Yeah? So what?! What if it doesn’t!

I will continue to seek knowledge – and revel in the inspiration I find. I will create the Intent of the day – and believe in its truth. I will allow my Intent to unfold – and to rejoice in the wonder it brings.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

“To have faith requires courage, the ability to take a risk, the readiness even to accept pain and disappointment.” – Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

January 4, 2015December 30, 2022

Carry On and Do It

The gym at work shut down for renovation. I have to come up with a new plan to keep the commitment I made to myself 2 years ago – regular, steady exercise at least six times a week. The convenience of an on-site gym and a flexible work schedule gave me the edge to get started. Discovering my love for dance and the camaraderie I found in group classes keeps me engaged and motivated.

My habit of listening to audiobooks on my way to work introduced me to Younger Next Year for Women, by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D. I got the message; even bought the original Younger Next Year, Live Strong, Fit and Sexy-Until You’re 80 and Beyond.

“Aging is inevitable, but it’s biologically programmed to be a slow process. Most of what we call aging, and most of what we dread about getting older, is actually decay. That’s critically important because we are stuck with real aging, but decay is optional.”

Decay is optional! People from my demographic (Generation Jones) were brought up to believe that getting older means becoming creaky, chubby and experiencing a gradual, continual physical decline. What a bill of goods! Two years ago I heard a different message; what we are told about aging is not the whole truth. The truth is we have a choice. Yes; we can allow what we were told to come true and wither and creak into the sunset. Or we can take control; adapt our behavior and live healthier and actively.

I’m lucky. I had a healthy, non-decrepit platform when I decided to choose differently. Some people have a harder row to hoe. Crowley and Lodge walked me through the importance of exercise:

“The point is that steady exercise is a coded message to your body—and your mind—telling you not to turn into a dribbling old fool. Serious exercise, six days a week is not extreme; it’s the middle of the road.”

Aerobic exercise four times a week, strength training twice; easy peas-y Right!? The message doesn’t stop here. Beware the importance of good nutrition (“quit eating crap”), being committed to something, anything—care and connect; and spend less than you make. Choice; it’s all about choice. They didn’t say it would be easy.

Here I am, years into a GREAT health habit (yes, it was hard won). Work continues on the food front. My cornerstone commitment is exercise. And now I gotta to change it up. Hysterical! The quality of my problems these days are pretty darn fine.

I will muscle through – carry on and do it. Who knows, I might find a routine that’s better than the one I had. I learned during a Covey Training Course that living with integrity means keeping commitments to myself. Living with integrity – that is an objective and an Intent worth pursuing.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

“act as if”

December 31, 2014December 30, 2022

Resonance – What Do You Vibrate?

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: res•o•nance
noun \ˈre-zə-nən(t)s, ˈrez-nən(t)s\
: the quality of a sound that stays loud, clear, and deep for a long time
: a quality that makes something personally meaningful or important to someone
: a sound or vibration produced in one object that is caused by the sound or vibration produced in another

Dianne Collins (Do You QuantumThink?)
“Resonance is vibration . . . You attract what you vibrate.”

The Mirror Concept; been encountering it quite a long while now. It’s everywhere. My physical, visible world is a reflection of what’s going on inside. Michael Jackson said to “start with the man in the mirror” if I want to see change. I agree. But knowing something doesn’t always mean I’ll act on it. The responsibility of it – wow, can I really own it?

After weeks of setting positive “Intents,” Dianne Collins knew I’d have questions. Like: “When you get a result you didn’t want or you don’t get a result you want and find yourself wondering, How did this happen? – or – Why isn’t this happening? … “Why isn’t my Intent working?” Know what she said? “Check out the Resonance . . . ask, “What am I resonating?”

“What happens to you, to your spirit, when someone screeches at you and shatters the resonance of your peaceful state?”

“If you attempt to change only the physical and it doesn’t sustain itself it may be because it is necessary to change the underlying pattern of Resonance.”

We are a system; intertwined and connected; I am me and I am he … he is he and he is me. How do I distinguish what I bring to the table? My clue is the difference between “responding” and “reacting.”

When I “respond” I’m present, I listen and consider what is said, then comment. When I “react” – I’m not listening; I’m acting out an entrenched belief, past distress, something else is VIBRATING inside me. That’s my clue. Do I act like a sane, relaxed and reasonable human, or an annoyed, jabbering whack-a-doodle? Very obvious and in my face way to know if it’s mine or not – Crazy is mine (lovely)!

When I get honest and admit I’m holding a pattern of Resonance that’s negative – Just Notice It – Then Replace It. The negative is not absolute truth. Generate a new pattern. Dianne Collins says it’s “more effective.. to generate a new pattern which as you strengthen it, will displace the old pattern.”

“What we create we resonate and what we resonate we create.”

“Notice what you’re vibrating.”

I’m startled when strife comes my way. But not always surprised. Accepting responsibility for what I see playing out in my personal reality can be quite a pain in the butt. But! At least it means I have the power to change it.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

“To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.” ― William Blake

December 25, 2014December 30, 2022

Freeing the Wily Fox

Seth Godin explains how to catch “the Wily Fox” in The Icarus Deception.”

“Build an eight-foot-long wooden fence in the forest.

Lay out some bait and then go away for a week.

The fox is too crafty to be caught in a simple trap, and he will smell you and avoid the fence for days. But eventually, he’ll come and eat the bait.

At the end of the week, build a second length of fence at a right angle to the first. Leave more bait.

The fox will avoid the fence again for a few days, then take the bait.
At the end of the second week, build a third wall and a gate. Leave more bait.

When you come back at the end of a month, the fox will be happily prancing in his safe enclosure, and all you will have to do is close the gate. The fox will be trapped.”

Yes Seth, this “happened to us.” To me anyway. No, not all at once, and oh Yes! I was seduced by the glittery prizes, the security – uh, “apparent security.” I agree that the industrial age continues to fade and the connection economy skyrocket (See “Elbow of the Curve”). Now you tell me “the fence has been dismantled.” That “It’s Gone.” Interesting. It doesn’t feel that way – I must be like the dog with the electronic collar and invisible fence! As Spencer Johnson would say “Who Moved My Cheese?!”

Part of me wants the fence gone SO BAD!! I AM the Wily Fox. Crap – I got caught. I want uncaught! What to do, what to do! I’m kinda secure (as one can be in today’s wobbly world). I’m certainly older, am I wiser or just plain scared to lose my stuff?

If I have people around me that love me; encourage my wily nature, egg me on even – who cares about stuff. But then what about the old age / health dilemma? Must I sacrifice my mischievous, rascally self so I don’t end up a bag lady? No. Already laid that one to rest; not going to happen. Although I’d be a darn great wicked bag lady.

I can express my authentic voice in the business world and in my writing. Just takes courage; courage to be brave enough to push my comfort zone. Oh – and luck; which I have with a jam-up Mentor who agreed to work with me on this objective in 2015. She’ll make sure I’m not so whacked I alienate my audience; at least not too bad. Courageous, lucky – and maybe smart enough to know I’m not alone in this.

So – here’s to freeing the Wily Fox!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson (quoted in The Icarus Deception)