Personal Growth Planet Blog

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”
~Rumi

I imagine this field that Rumi refers to.

I see it as this sunny, peaceful space where flowers are always in bloom, birds sing and everyone lives in harmony.

Fully visible is what lies beneath those heavy layers of judgment, criticism, blaming, superiority, ignorance, fear and hatred that we all are blanketed by from time to time.

We can be our best selves and and can see the best in others.

But, is this field a practical possibility in everyday life?

February 29th doesn’t come along every year. Somewhere in history, someone decided that there would only be a February 29th approximately every 4 years.

We call the auspicious day in which we have a February 29th, Leap Day.

What a wonderful opportunity!

Marking Leap Day is a perfect time to push ourselves a bit (or a lot).

When I think of taking a leap, the first image that comes into my mind is parachuting. I can see myself leaping confidently out of an airplane, free falling amid the clouds and blue sky and then pulling the cord of my parachute to drift back down to the ground.

“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill!”

You’ve probably heard this adage before, maybe from your grandmother or a great-uncle.

Recently, I found myself essentially saying the same thing to my older son. As I listened to him list off all of the huge and impossible situations in his life, I couldn’t help myself.

I told him that, from my vantage point,- things aren’t as dire as he was making them out to be.

I urged him to stop making problems when there really aren’t any.

Easy for me to say, huh?!

What does your inner fire feel like to you? It’s different for us all.

There are definite sensations in the body, mind and spirit.

My inner fire feels like wide awake, energized, excited about whatever I am doing, pumped up, full of ideas, fully alive and open to possibility. It might not last too long, but those fiery moments are intense and uplifting.

The whole notion of “inner fire” might initially seem trite or cliche, but it’s absolutely essential. Think about a life of dullness, boredom, apathy, no feeling and nonexistent drive.

I didn’t plan on purchasing a brand new car at the start of this new year, but this is what has happened. I’m grateful for my well-being after a car wreck that totaled my old car and also for the ability to purchase a new car.

You may have never owned a brand new car, but perhaps you’ve ridden in one. You know that smell? It’s a sort of rubber-fabric-plastic smell that you encounter in a new car (possibly due to some hideous chemicals that, frankly, I don’t want to think about).

The look of determination and focus. The sheer will to get something done…even if it’s something that’s a huge challenge or seemingly impossible.

That is being in “The Zone.”

If you look at the face of a basketball player about to shoot a free throw, you’ll see it.

If you watch a preschooler crossing shoelaces while learning to tie a bow, you’ll see it.

If you get up close to a performer on stage who is singing, dancing, playing a guitar or another instrument, you’ll see it.

You’ll see that person (or those people) in the zone.

I recently read about one woman’s challenge to not look at herself in a mirror for a full year. Kjerstin Gruys, a sociologist, wants women to re-think body image and to question portrayals of women’s beauty in the media.

What made this challenge even more daunting is that Gruys planned and prepared for her own wedding during this year of no mirrors. Gruys and her fiance were married recently, by the way.

While I applaud the statement that Gruys is making with her year of no mirrors, I have to wonder…

Is the mirror really the problem after all?

My heart soars when I see video footage of the masses of people who are raising their voices and making their presence known on Wall Street in New York City.

For almost two weeks now, activists and regular folks, union members, airline pilots, celebrities and more have used non-violent resistance to occupy parts of New York City to call for systemic changes in our country’s financial and political systems.

Have you ever had a double exposed moment? Perhaps it feels like you’re living a double exposed life!

“Double exposure” is a technique used by some photographers. The result is the superimposing of two images on top of– or to the side of– one another. It is usually done intentionally to gain a particular effect. Pretty cool art!

There are far too many times in my own life when I feel as if I am having a double exposed* moment. It is as if I am speaking and reacting to some person or situation from the past and NOT speaking and responding to what’s going on right here and now.

The 4th of July is an important date in the history of the United States. It marks the anniversary of our founders adopting the Declaration of Independence. This was the date when it was officially declared that this collection of states (former colonies) were now a free and independent country.

Setting aside the fact that on July 4, 1776 not every person living in what was becoming the United States of America was truly free…

I’m going to talk about what freedom doesn’t mean to me and also what it does mean to me…