I Am, I Feel, and NOW … I DO

June 28, 2017June 28, 2017Leave a comment

whatever you DO is the 3rd chakra energy directing you

As we continue exploring the raising-up of our consciousness using the yogic system of chakras to help us better understand who and what we are, we are now at the third chakra, known as the seat of our personal power. This is an energy center most humans (not in a coma) experience on a regular basis. The next chakra, the heart chakra, is where we start on our spiritual journey. Truly! Stay tuned for next post. (Sign up on my blog and receive each post via email.)

If any of you have ever been forced to do something absolutely aligned with, or totally against your will, you are familiar with that “good warm feeling” or the opposite, the aching discomfort in your midsection, close to your navel. Both reactions, opposing yes I know, are referred to as a “gut reaction” or a “feeling in my gut.”

A good reaction: Let’s say you’ve just met someone/thing who rings your bell. You feel this instantly in your gut. Sometimes the reaction almost knocks you backward. Have you ever felt it? This is your own intuition telling you that something is very right about this person (a dog, a cat?) you’re meeting. It could be a business contact, a romantic interest, but whatever it is, it’s someone/thing you’ll greatly benefit from spending some time with, learning more about them.

A bad reaction is the other kind of gut feeling, an uncomfortable ache, and sometimes it’s harsher, like a punch. This is a negative reaction to whatever you are facing. Maybe it’s a person, but it could be a job, a house you’re not supposed to buy, a type of food you’re not meant to eat. I hope you pay attention to these uncomfortable signs from your own inner knowing, as well as the more intriguing signs that make you want to know more.

Both reactions, good or bad, if those word judgements apply (better choice is interesting or not interesting) — they come from your 3rd chakra center of energy, located very close to your navel. But the sensation can come anywhere in your midsection. (See my earlier post if you want more detailed description).

Ghandi’s mantra was Ram Ram Ram. People who were there say this was the last thing he spoke as he lay dying from an assassin’s bullet. Ram is also the mantra for the 3rd chakra, where we are made to be aware of what our will is. In Ghandi’s case, I’m sure he worked hard to align his will to the highest good. Every time I repeat the mantra for the 3rd chakra, my intention is to gain insight into what is best, for not only myself, but for my fellow humans and the entire planet.

We Are ONE … Act and Do for the world’s highest good, not just your own

Sometimes we have to change our thinking, or our habits, when we become aware of what’s best for the highest good, rather than seeking to satisfy our own. Sometimes our “gut reaction” is based on our limited view, not a universally encompassing one.

I pray for our world to face these challenging times we’re all going through these days, with compassion and open-mindedness for what is best for all of humankind. I think it’s easy for people to forget that. That we can pray for change, to feel better about our uncomfortability (how’s that for a word?). When our own personal will gets damaged by things not going our way, we insist our way is the only way. If our 3rd chakra is always in a state of distress, it’s time to ask our self:

Perhaps I need to look at the bigger picture. Perhaps what’s happening (either in my own life or in world events) might be for the highest good of all, even if I don’t like it. Transformation is a great sea change. Many people get extremely nervous when things don’t go their way.

Spend time with your own 3rdd chakra, ask yourself, “Am I comfortable with what’s happening?”

If you answer, “NO!” then it’s time to take some action. You have a choice, don’t forget. Always, you have choices. If you’re uncomfortable with things around you, your choice is to either practice ACCEPTING that what’s happening, is happening. Or … you can take steps to change it.

This, in essence, is why I am a writer and an artist. This also, is why most people do what they do. Because I have never been happy with the materialism and non-spirituality of modern society, in my youth, I ran away from it. I fled to the Third World and stayed living in jungles and sailing on the deep blue sea for over a decade. When I came back to mainstream America, I swore I would use my talents of arting (creating object- and word-stories) to help others become more familiar with the Oneness Consciousness that, to me, is what this existence, called “life” is all about. You may call that consciousness something else: Nature, God, Allah, Spirit, whatever. But Oneness works for me.

These days I focus on what I can DO to be more comfortable in a world torn apart by divisiveness and materialism. I don’t run away anymore. Today I feel just great, actually, that my focus is on DO-ing, and not feeling weird, mad, confused, or … worse … destructive. My energy used to be “stuck” in the 2nd chakra, feeling pissed-off. Now my energy feels free and powerful, utilizing the direction the 3rd chakra connection gives me.

I share my experiences in hopes that each and every person realizes that when you get “signals” from your gut, that’s your 3rd chakra telling you something. Pay attention. If you numb it (with drugs or alcohol, shopping, work, gambling, or other addictions) — you’ll probably just get sick, sooner or later. You certainly won’t be happy, that’s a fact. If you work on clearing this disturbed energy from your solar plexus (another name for the 3rd chakra) … you will enjoy peace, happiness, and good health. Align your will with the highest, Ram, Ram, Ram.

the 3rd chakra’s color is yellow

Try it!

And please, let me know how your inner power feels today. Sit quietly and ask yourself, “What is this weird feeling I get in my gut?” I want to know. Leave me your comment below. And don’t forget, I’m sending out a free mind-stiller audio-clip for people who leave me their emails. Below is an easy way I’m experimenting using. Please fill in and let’s BE CONNECTED! Tell me how your “gut” is feeling today.

I love you, each and every one of you. Your pal, teZa aka LordFlea

Blast Off! Why Suffer? Change!

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015Leave a comment

what to do, what to do…

Today I’m thinking about why we need to suffer. All of us. Not just the poor, the war-torn, the handicapped or the ill. But all of us. And I mean ALL of US. The so-called privileged, the wealthy, the well-born, silver-spooned rich and self-made successes alike. Every single person alive today knows what suffering is. We may have different degrees of it, but everyone who is alive knows what the meaning of suffering is to some degree.

So why is this such a commonality all of us humans have?

In reflecting about my own situations of suffering, the waves of despair I’ve known too well … today I can attest that suffering is a gift I’ve been given. This sounds so pat and dry, but it’s true. Because if we take the angst and hardships dished out to us personally, whatever their flavor happens to be, as a “sign” that change needs to be made, and we act upon that impulse of something needing to be changed—our suffering brings us closer to not only our own personal acceptance of how life can be more pleasant, as it is, but for the entire world to change into a better, healthier, more wholesome place for us all to share. Using suffering as a tool of change is, my friends, what the ancient sages meant when they described what today is called “enlightenment.”

To be in the state of samadhi, or sainthood, or great wisdom is nothing more and nothing less—than accepting things as they are ONCE we’ve had the opportunity to make whatever adjustment is necessary to get closer to feeling comfortable. I call myself a spiritual activist because yes, change must happen. But I believe the answer of social change happens from the inside out: from spiritual transformation. When people’s hearts and minds are open, through the awakening of their spiritual perceptions, then real change occurs. Everywhere. But it all begins with each and everyone one of us, inside our own hearts.

the tiny figure in the wave–is you! Trust the Great Source of all. “It” protects us, keeping us snug in the middle of its tremendous potential energy–never crushing us unless we fail to trust its magnificence. Ride the wave of power…and watch where it takes you

Here’s an example of what I mean:

A close person in my life has cancer. She has gone through many painful treatments to eradicate this cancer, and has been told that a few more years’ worth of treatments, painful and depriving ones, are necessary to do what the medical world has told her will ensure that the cancer does not spread beyond the area where the original tumors were surgically removed. Meanwhile, she eats fatty ham and sausages and doughnuts and sugary food like there’s no tomorrow, not willing to change her diet one iota.

Today there are many books and speakers and survivors of cancer who can attest to the fact that “Sugar Feeds Cancer” and “Alkalize or Die” warning against the acidity of sugar, meats and all-dairy feeding cancer cells, but … does this friend of mine believe it? No! She still indulges in Danish sweets, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, waffles loaded with syrup, and packs on the pounds in between the annual treatments when her diet is strictly limited to vegetables, the procedure the doctors put her through to eradicate cancer cells by introducing nuclear medicine to her system. No one can even get near her when she’s being given the nuclear remedy. Yet … she won’t change her diet.

In other words, she doesn’t believe that food has anything to do with the suffering of having cancer.

She has not heeded the “sign” of what cancer has brought her. She hasn’t made any change in her lifestyle, and only resents her dis-ease. My friend doesn’t think that cancer is an opportunity to change and benefit, and become a lot more comfortable in her body-mind-spirit. Her comfort level of living, is pretty nominal. She’s plenty disgusted she’s been given the suffering of cancer. I’ve tried talking to this friend, but she’s very defensive, and thinks the medical people are doing all that can be done, and she has no power over whether her cancer thrives, or dies. She feels powerless, but for the procedures the medical world promises. She does not see her cancer as an opportunity for personal growth, only a death-sentence.

Another example:

A friend who’s an environmentalist is very angry and depressed, simultaneously, at the lack of support he gets in his conservation efforts. He sees our world on its way to doom, and if it weren’t for his recent commitment to not drowning his misery in booze any more, would probably continue to stay nicely numbed out on a daily basis as he had for decades before his own alcohol bottom, when he finally had enough and embraced sobriety. I’ve tried talking to this friend about how I see the “bottom” our entire world is going through, environmentally, as necessary, and not all-negative. The dire situation our atmosphere today faces due to relentless not-caring by humanity, mostly caused by industrial waste products destroying our protective layer from the blasts of the sun’s destructive rays, fed by the rampant need of over-materialism our modern society is addicted to, in which more-more-more is the only concern of too many. I see this worldwide bottom our world faces as instrumental, and probably the ONLY way that humanity will WAKE UP! in a big enough scale to make a real difference to saving our environment from total destruction. If we weren’t facing such a doom-and-gloomy future, people wouldn’t care about change. The bottom our world faces is the same as the environmentalist faced when his own alcoholism drove him to change his life, one day at a time.

More people are waking up today, thanks to the dire situation we’re in, as a worldwide planetary family of humankind. Thanks to the Internet people know everything about everybody, everywhere. There’s no way we can be in denial anymore, about the depth of pollution, the need to change. So instead of being depressed or angry, as my friend is, what can we do about this … bottom we’re all in?

the GREAT surprise–we are ONE

I know for my own life, I’ve had to suffer tremendously to “get” the lessons I’ve been handed by my own alcoholism and other forms of nihilistic despair. But today, I’m a totally changed person from that woman who used to sing “love it or leave it.” In the past, I was angry enough to pick up guns and shoot, or rob banks … so I ran away to the Third World instead of taking my anger our on a society I was pissed about. I used to wallow in the “poor me’s” … feeling rejected to the point that I thought I had a mental disease I called “rejectionitis.”

Today I understand that I had to feel all the pain of “feeling” rejected in order to grow beyond the pain. I had to bottom out, to want to change. So I started to learn how to have better habits in order to be effective with the work I’ve set out for myself, my spiritual activisim through writing and arting. Before, however, when I was stuck in the “poor me’s” … life was all about me and my troubles, my woes, my little life and what I could do to make it better. Which in my case was to drink more, smoke more, and do more crazy stunts to take me away from my inner pain.

No matter where I go, or what I read or see or hear—it’s the same with every person. We humans suffer. Maybe quietly, in our own personal situations, or loudly, as the politicians and positive thinkers prove, from both camps. No matter in what circle we’re in, we hear about human suffering. There is even a metaphysical theory I’ve often heard that this planet we’re on, Earth, is where spirits are sent specifically to experience pain and suffering. Why? To be given the opportunity to be released from the pain of suffering.

And how do we do that? Either as a single individual who’d like nothing more than to stop feeling mad or sad or depressed, or … as a nation, or an entire community of nations. How do we change our world of humankind? How do we rise above the suffering that seems to be intrinsic with our having been born human?

For me, the answer is now clear as a bell ringing people to church. Yes, the old answer was religion. But today, I believe religion has run its course and we must go deeper in our source of comfort food. Religion has caused too many woes of its own over the ages. And religion seems to have brought us to the brink of another great worldwide crisis that already has resulted in too many people killing one another, trying to prove their religion is best.

Guardian of the People, your God

To me the answer of long-lasting change, is for each and every one of us to bless our personal story of suffering, and use it to go deeper into our own hearts, and find the answer right there, within our own experience of being alive. I found my relief by feeling the deep connection in my own heart with all that exists. Some call this Spirit, but it has many names, as God does: Allah, Dieu, Dios, Great Spirit, the One without the second. The day I learned to meditate was the day I was shown the answer for my own redemption. But … it took decades for me to embrace this opportunity. I had to suffer lots more before I surrendered to the Inner Power within … that each and every one of us shares as well.

When each of us pays attention to the opportunity our own pain brings us, and decides not to numb ourselves with pills or potions or not-caringness (denial), but seeks comfort in the deeper meaning behind all the great religions … that the Mystery of Life (yes, called “God”) is right within us … and can be tapped, felt, experienced through meditation — each of us comes to accept what we cannot change. Our world is changing right now, right here, one enlightened person at a time.

Many notes, one voice

I am doing my best each day, taking my bouts of pain and misery as opportunities to grow closer to the great comfort right within my own heart. Stay aware of the power of the Big Heart, part of the individual heart we all have, through and by which all humans are connected. By accepting that I’ve tried my best to change, both myself and those around me, I am en-light-ened. But whatever I can’t change I lovingly accept. And this, my friend, brings great comfort to any troubled soul. When this happens, we can bless our suffering. Because it brought us to our knees and MADE us change.

With great love, your pal Lord Flea aka teZa Lord

The Gift of All GIFTS — for YOU!!

December 20, 2014Leave a comment

The Gift of LOVE, of Love’s Great Compassion

Hi Friends,

All around me everywhere people are involved in the holidays, but this year is different for me. All my energies, literally and figuratively are focused on different kinds of things to which I’ve ever dedicated myself. NEW to me, this season’s holiday.

I am celebrating the Great Gift of Love’s Compassion. This is my gift to you, and the entire world.

The rest of the world swirls around me a-gaggle in holiday cheer or denial, people rushing, horns honking when usually there’s more patience–and I am slightly out of synch, here and now, at peace with my decision to not do a thing more than smile and sing along and nod to others’ good cheer.

I made a forced, very conscious, think-about-for-long-time kind of choice. Over a month ago Mom had her “incident” and became deathly ill. Right then I made up my mind to focus on healing her and keep up the final-final editing of the book I’m nearly at the finish line with.

Book of teZ

Mom’s health is still grave, but hey! When you’re 96 every moment is a gift. Her mind is sharp but her body is sadly paralyzed from waist down. For a previously to a month-ago completely independent person, this condition is synonymous with being in jail. Yes, there’s hope. But it’s all hard work for mom and her caregivers. That includes me. Her body has become my mother’s challenge, her no-fun prison. Eve’s days are filled with hours of therapy: physical, occupational, and others. Her legs awaken, milometer of nerve ending connecting by milometer. Instead of gardening, fishing, creating books and holiday full-course meals of her own, coming home at midnight sometimes with a bucket full of fish–mom continues fighting for her life and her freedom.

Her health and happiness are my only gifts, for the person who brought me into this world. She deserves my full attention.

Well, nearly full attention. Of course I still have my darling consort, son, and now a returned-to-the-hearth daughter with her son, my grandbaby. And … the Book, my book, that’s being birthed right now.

I don’t usually write about my own life so much here in LordFlea, but use this platform to share more universal aspects of my life’s experiences, so I’m not going into detail of my day-to-day caretaking of mom here. Let me say, though, that the simple ACT of Choosing–to spend my energies how my heart tell me to, not just following the “Christmas Pied Piper of Holiday Customs” that everyone else is waltzing to, but choosing–where when and how, each day and sometimes each new arising dilemma in the caretaking world I’ve suddenly been thrust into–I’m the ONE who dedicates my energies and focus.

Knowing that each one of us can likewise Choose how to dedicate our life’s energy: THIS is the greatest gift and ultimate freedom in life.

Dark or Light—we all have, many times—the Choice

Everyday I try to choose how I’m going to focus this day, this hour, this moment that’s here before me.

Intentionally, I either make a mini- (for the minutiae of life) or a grand-plan (a Goal), splitting my energy between: mental (learn something new, read about new something, speak a new English or Spanish or some other language unknown-before word); physical (when and how long can I exercise the lanky bode today? what new pose am I working toward in my hatha yoga practice?); and spiritual (is my mantra flowing with my breath? Do I need to plug in and “recharge” my connection with the Big Picture and meditate a little? And if so, I connect soon!).

These past weeks I’ve renewed my commitment. It’s taken a while but I finally realize that “to serve” is my life’s purpose. As a dedicated spiritual activist, writer, artist, and now parental caregiver–I finally know how I can serve. Even by writing these words, is one way, an important way to me how I serve. Every time I tweet a positive message is another way, or share a post on Facebook about life’s many joys. Another way I figure I’m serving the Greater Good is by finishing my first book, getting it OUT to the public so others can share the insights that hopefully will uplift them, or maybe make them laugh a little more. And then I have many other books that are waiting in the wings. Book-publishing is my main means of serving at this stage of my artistic path.

Throughout the hours of the day I also serve my family, my immediate circle, and the future of my culture–by practicing Compassion.

I want to serve Mom, my love, my family, and my community just as I’d like THEM to serve ME.

To me, this is the true meaning of Compassion. The Golden Rule says it all in such simple words:

Do unto others as you’d like them to do unto you.

In other words:

What goes around comes around.

I chuckle thinking about something. Whenever a person, whether stranger or best friend ever, says to me, “Gee, you’re really a nice person, teZ” or something embarrassing (yes, it feels weird, I admit) to that effect, I say to that person,

It takes One to know One.

True.

We can’t see the good in others unless we realize the good within our own higher selves.

This is why I know that whenever anyone says or does something nice to me, it’s because they have that same goodness within them that recognizes what I have, and you, too, cultured within our own inner self.

This is a tremendous thing:

Giving our Gift of Compassion …. to the Entire World.

As we say in yoga class and in meditation groups throughout the world, “Namaste!”

“The Light within me recognizes the Light within you.”

I send my Light to each and every one of you, my dear Ones.

With many waves of OMmmmmmLove!

Yuur pal, LordFlea, aka teZa Lord

Down-Dog Nut

A Reflection on Anger

September 6, 2013September 6, 20131 Comment

Recently a dear friend sent me a question about what to do with his anger so I’m responding here from my p.o.v. I hope you all find it helpful, as anger is as deadly and dangerous as any weapon of mass destruction. Yesterday, I thought I might get accidentally shot at Staples when a man went off in an unknown rage … at 9 am on a beautiful morning. Anger can also kill us, bringing disease and unhappiness to our own bodies.

“Compassion is the sign of strength. Anger is the sign of weakness.” (spoken in English by The Dalai Lama. May, 2013, at Youth Engaging Compassion conference in Louisville, Kentucky)

My friend DK wrote: I love the quote from the Dali Lamma… Anger is weakness. What to do when we feel it? And is anger derived from various means different, and different in how we can deal with it? So much of my anger comes not from hatred or from percieved wrongdoing but from just plain ol’ frustration and irritation, such as inattentive drivers and a lack of movement or “delay of game”. What do you do when you feel anger? I am sometimes inspired to action by anger, but sometimes there is nothing to do. What then?

My response: I had a great lesson about anger early on when I began working with my spiritual teacher. I was standing in line to receive her blessing, along with thousands of others. As I neared where she was seated I felt very deeply in my heart such peacefulness, a result of having found a path to which I could respond, and from which I drew great strength: her teachings of the ancient philosophy of “See God in All” that is based on the world’s most ancient scriptures, the Vedas of India.

I was next in line, and could feel the energy of anticipation, of wanting more peace, more beauty, more understanding. I knew by then this is what awaited me the more I listened and opened to this teacher’s illuminated perspective. Suddenly I heard my beloved, serene, majestic teacher YELLING to a person who was standing alongside her. She yelled in as loud a voice as a linebacker while continuing to hold a handful of long tail feathers which she used to bop the head of the person then in front of her, who was kneeling, ready to receive this great teacher’s blessings in the traditional (for India) form of having peacock feathers bopped upon the top of one’s head, signifying the “awakening” of a person’s consciousness who works with a teacher in this meditative lineage.

In this instant I was utterly flabbergasted! She, my beloved, remarkable, one-of-a-kind spiritual teacher — angry!

You could have knocked me over with one of her feathers because I had always thought “It’s so unspiritual to be angry” and was trying with all my might to suppress any smidgeon of this negative emotion whenever it arose within me, nasty and stinky, always ruining my hard-found serenity. I’d especially been vigilant about keeping anger under wraps these last months since meeting and committing to working with my teacher.

As I stood in line, mouth agape, I watched as my teacher continued to ream out one of her assistants who had just arrived. Meanwhile, the teacher, while yelling to her assistant who stood close to her side, continued to bop the student who knelt in front of her, ready to receive his spiritual teacher’s blessing.

My amazement took over any quiet expectation I might have had just one instant before. I continued to watch and listen. I wondered how the man felt who was kneeling: if he felt short-changed, or even angry, that the teacher wasn’t fully focusing on him right at that moment, which he must have fully anticipated as I was excited about my upcoming moment before her.

To her assistant my teacher was clearly, loudly, angrily stating why she was disturbed with the woman’s behavior. The teacher addressed the situation head-on. The person getting reamed out had done something she had been repeatedly warned not to do, a function of her job as hall monitor. The teacher expressed her anger, dismissed the person, who was told to leave the large hall because of her transgression — and, in the very next instant — the teacher resumed her previously held concentration and deep presence and re-focused all her attention on the man who was still kneeling in complete and patient stillness.

He had been continually receiving the feather dusting as he waited for the teacher to finish expressing her angry words. In this next instant the teacher’s anger was totally and completely gone, rippled away like ice in a sudden heat wave of love. Like a thunderstorm heard far off in the distance, the room still resonated from the boom of her anger. The teacher then looked just as lovingly, just as intensely positively as she had moments before been fearfully angry. Now she shot her arrow of love at the man before her, and spoke gently to him, as if she never felt, or had demonstrated her anger just moments before. I was doubly astounded!

Then the man thanked the teacher, arose, and walked off.

I wondered if perhaps his life’s journey had needed that particular lesson about anger, as mine certainly did. But I didn’t think any more about that other person’s individual journey because now it was my turn. I greeted my teacher and looked right into her eyes, as was my way. Others might kneel and bend their heads in supplication, but I met my teacher face to face, eyes engaged fully with her pools of love.

I wanted to see the effects, if any, of her anger, so I looked for any residue of an anger that had been so clear, so succinctly felt just moments earlier. I wanted to know more about how she had used her anger for what it actually is: a natural emotion that results when things are perceived to be “not right.” Within my teacher’s eyes I found not a shred of anger, not even a hint. They were clear and filled with the pure, unrestrained, unconditional love I had noted in her eyes from other such encounters I’d had up close with her in previous months, when I’d gone to receive her blessing at the end of a teaching session and got bopped myself. And now I felt the peacock feathers dusting the top of my head again, and smiled with relief. Anger had not stopped the flow of love. God was still within me, within my teacher, and within All.

As I walked away I realized I had been given one of the biggest lessons so far in my quest of achieving higher insight, the search of which had always been a passion of mine. My teacher had shown me (and probably the man who received his feather-dusting at her feet during her loud wrath) — that anger, in its pure and affect-less state, is a tool, a spiritual tool even, that can be used to “correct” even the worse “wrong” in this challenging world of ours. In some cases this “correction” might mean for us to let go of the anger after we quickly note and express it, as the teacher demonstrated so well that day.

To suppress anger, or deny it is the worse thing a person can do. No spiritual growth will be made if this happens. Our anger, as well as our tears, shows us where we’re supposed to do our work. For each individual, the path that our passions show us is different. We must learn to accept and work with our negative emotions, but not to retain them. In my case, in that flash-incident of witnessing my teacher’s anger, I came to realize that whenever I feel anger within my being, I now knew that anger is a healthy sign that a correction needs to be made. And since that day when I saw how my teacher “used her anger” I’ve often, as a result, contemplated what exactly “that action” is meant to be.

Ahhhh, here comes the challenging part for those of use who want to be good people, worthwhile citizens of the Earth, and spiritual warriors all at the same time.

Sometimes, when I feel anger towards others’ actions, it is a sign that the action I’m supposed to take is to grow more. And to quietly, peacefully … detach. Not to respond with anger toward the source of my anger, in other words. Yes, my teacher quickly “reamed out” her assistant (after all, she is the teacher, in that context). But my job, as a spiritual activist is to identify that the strong emotion of anger is within my heart, and to acknowledge that yes, I am supposed to do something about it.

I am not anyone’s teacher. I am just a person who loves life, and wants to help make our world a little bit better. Let the teachers do the admonishing, in my opinion. We warriors can take a different tack.

The spiritual action of detachment is a double-edged sword, just as everything is on the Road Less Traveled. It appears as if there’s nothing happening on the outside, were one to be observing someone practicing detachment. But for me, when I practice detachment as a response to another person’s actions (someone close or a stranger, a government offense or a corporation’s, etc.) inside my heart, mind, and soul a LOT more is happening than is apparent on the outside.

When anger rears its nasty head within my otherwise peaceful life I know I’m supposed to do something more than “merely detach.” My form of detachment is to take that HUGE amount of energy that anger brings into life, and focus it, forge it, hone it, and direct it toward whatever aim the anger points out and needs help from as many awakened folks at this time as possible. Starting with me.

Two examples:

I have a relative I’ve had communication problems with, and recently had a flareup of my age-old resentment because of our badly strained communication. Or rather, our lack of being able to communicate. Because it’s a close family member, I can’t simply write this person off, never to talk or see him or her again. No. Instead, I chose, very consciously, and very deeply, to detach from ever trying to “work things out” because that has already failed numerous times, and my efforts have been many. My new form of detachment with this person, therefore, is a friendly acceptance of another person’s inabilities. Simply that. No judgment. No more anger. Just seeing this person for whom s/he is.

With the impending involvement of the US military in Syria’s civil conflict, or seeing how people or businesses ignore the signs of Nature needing our protection before we toxify ourselves into irreversible pollution — my detachment (so I won’t walk around an angry, picketing, radical or plain ol’ grouch) takes on the form of speaking truth when false information gets spoken aloud in groups, writing blog posts, finishing writing my book that will hopefully add to the upward spiral of consciousness-growth. Thankfully we have so many more positive thinkers at this time than ever before. My detachment is NOT about being so angry that I am paralyzed and can’t accomplish anything. This type of anger, the type that makes a person toxic, when a person holds onto their anger as a defense, as ammunition — is only self-destructive and usually results in worsening whatever situation is at hand.

Concerning any political conflict, we can only trust that we, the American people, did our job correctly when we elected our government officials. That’s what democracy is all about. If we don’t like what our president does, or says he’s going to do, I have to think there might be something I don’t know that he does … and I’m going to trust that he knows what he’s doing. It’s a game of charades anyway, the political game. A lot of posturing, chest-puffing, rooster-calling goes on. My “game” is the spiritual one, and I’d rather use the uprising of energy that gets stimulated from anger, to funnel that rush of enthusiasm (energy galore!) into sending my mental, spiritual, physical activism toward peace — prayer, chanting, meditation, writing, talking, tweeting, blogging about compassion, etc.

Or just talking to another person about why anger is not the answer, but yes, anger is the impetus, the rock-drop in the mirror-surface pond that result in peaceful, long-lasting change.

As far as dealing with the bad effects of unscrupulous folks and institutions that I know particularly trouble you, DK, I truly believe One Person has just as much effect as a HUGE group, rally or nonprofit foundation. In the end it’s HOW we live our life that matters. Not what we do, not what we accomplish or how many so-called successes. To me, success is a person’s simply attaining inner peace. And if even One Person can do that, and pass it on to one other Person, ahhhh, now that’s a successful life well lived, if you ask me.

So, this is my thinking about anger, and specifically how it relates to the way you asked about what to do with it, my friend. I’m going to use this letter as a blog post on Lord Flea, and I thank you for inspiring me to think, and write about a subject that’s so important to all of us.

Love to you all from your pal Lord Flea, aka teZa Lord

Dare to be Spiritually Correct … huh?

October 15, 2008October 15, 2008Leave a comment

Hi Friend,

Just back from Boston where we spent a pleasantly gentile weekend attending a gathering of old college friends.

bridge to nowhere ... crossing the Charles River

we got to share stimulating thoughts, discussions, symposiums, dances, exhibits, and most importantly, the sharing of life’s sweet laughter.

as i’d mentioned in an earlier post, i’m starting a new awareness about all of us catching ourselves in our tendencies to over-intellectualize and/or over-politicize, and become, more and more, aware of each opportunity to practice, and finally arrive at BEING … more and more … with practice, with joy, even … being SPIRITUALLY CORRECT

instead of being p.c. i suggest we all try to be, and help each other to remember to be … “S.C.” — spiritually correct.

you may laugh, but once you get the hang of this new movement, you’ll enjoy this carefree, “all for others” attitude, even in midst of the worst financial crisis, the most confusing and challenging of political climes.

take our pal Bob, here, showing off his new tattoo. bob chose the ancient hebrew phrase honoring “Logos”… the “word” of Spirit … in his humble way of proclaiming his own brand of reminding himself to be spiritually correct. a former businessman, now an ordained minister, bob has branded his love of Spirit into his very flesh. i kept calling him “reverand biker bob” but … we just laughed, because surely he is not that. bob’s tat is his own private reminder of his dedication to this new way of being:

Reverand Bob showing his new "Logos" tattoo

so, for the moment, my journey with you that my blog records, documenting my personal lust for art, nature, and adventure, is taking an inward turn as i report more about my most cherished discovery … that among all things people like to share about, the most important journey of all, and perhaps the most unbelievalbe … is a person’s discovering, and then embracing, the Inner Light within.

being Spiritually Correct, s.c., is to acknowledge this Truth (of Spirit) as not only real — but really important to remember. to call yourself s.c. is to remind yourSelf to keep a heightened awareness ever at the center of all actions, all thoughts, in the rest of all our daily living, whatever that might entail. being “spiritual” doesn’t mean just now and then. being s.c. means to live with awakened recognition that we are all ONE. being s.c. takes precedent over being any other kind of “correct,” be it social, political, intellectual, environmental, groovy, hip, religious, anti-religious, cultural or quaint, material or non-consuming, or … any other ways of being fashionably or unfashionably human.

try something new — be s.c.

being s.c. means … letting go and letting Spirit into the scene.

Dive into living In Spirit, being s.c.

fly from your restraints and you, too, can learn to fly, In Spirit! let your own Inner Spirit be one with the knowledge that we are all connected, we are all One. there is a discernible energy that connects us all. as Chief Joseph said, “we are all connected, in the web of life.”

right now, everywhere i go and you, too, people are buzzing, ranting, non-sequituring, going off the wall (but not jumping out windows–yet!), being passionate about politics, the financial fiasco, the mess our environment is in. on everyone’s minds is the need for climate change; we’re desperate for conscious, compassionate leadership. and so it should be, all of us being passionate — right now — at this election time. because we all must fight for what we believe in, and that includes stating, even fighting for our choices. each of us must discern from the political pile the best of what is offered.

but come the evening of november 4th, we must all come together as One, no matter what the results of the u.s. presidential election is.

i won’t go into politics here. this blog is not about that subject. my thoughts are about art, nature, the environment, and the more important subjects (hey! it’s MY blog, right!) of finding the universal Truth that hides in the heart of all members of the human race, of all living beings, too. we are all tiny cells in the body of what some call “God” but … it doesn’t matter what you call “IT.” IT is a mysterious, mystical, but very real, very tappable energy. IT is a force that is unseen, yet IT connects us all, in more ways than science has yet to discover, but they are quickly on the trail of pinpointing and proving: cellular knowledge, quantum physics, string theory. stay tuned: michio kaku will explain it all, in all good time.

the IT of plants is the same as ...

the IT within all … spiritual energy … a person’s chi, also called the kundalini, qi, tao, Great and Holy Spirit … whatever name we choose to call the Divine … is the only reality there is, the alpha, the omega, and … the Logos:

the Force within i call Noname

this is not serious, no-fun business i’m talking about here. i hope you realize i am reporting on the absolute certain joyousness i feel in my heart, and soul, based on my own experiences of discovering we are all One, all connected. if you don’t think this is fun stuff–lighten up! don’t get me wrong or put me in some box marked “weirdo serioso.” no sirree. when i speak of living a life based on being s.c. i’m conveying the choice to embrace an attitude, based on personal experience. but don’t just scoff. put this s.c. business into practice for yourself, and see your face light up, the smiles barge into your life, and others!

a person whose life is based on being s.c. is much more prone to laughing and doing silly things like … being in an elevator with or without friends (as happened this past weekend up in Boston) and, for the hell of it, when the doors close and the strangers stuck with you refuse to look you in the eye, or even crack a smile … gently, mellowly start to Ooooooommmmmmmmmmmm. you’ll feel the energy change, BIG TIME!!! boy! you’ll see, as we did, uptight strangers rush out of an elevator so fast you’re practically knocked down! we laugh and we laugh, and we continue to Oooommmm in the most unlikely places, with or without friends. this is all good, all great, all unbelievable loosening action:

BE A SPIRITUAL ACTIVIST … be s.c.

help others rid themselves of stiff, old, doesn’t-work, irrepressibly stuffy and unfun thinking that needs to be unwound from the human collective soul.

let go let Spirit into your heart, and learn to fly!

so come on, i dare you! do something totally whacked-out remindful of Spirit today, and forget being “proper” or “polite” or “afraid to offend”…. just spread the word, of IT, of God, of Spirit, however you sing that song of bliss, whatever the Name is, whatever IT means to you.

IT may be nature.

allow yourself to become calm, secure enough, just for today, somewhere a wild bird might easily choose to come and rest upon your head. sit still, and thoughtful, breathe, become filled with s.c. … in your yard, by your window, on a park bench … in a golden autumn meadow.

just allow yourself to feel the goodness of being in tune with the earth, this glorious earth that we are ever-more-consciously stewards of. your activism starts with remembering the beating of your heart, of listening to your own breath. your entire life will feel so much better if you invite your busy mind to just stop — for a little while — and merge with your natural surroundings. become safe enough for a wild bird to trust its life to, to alight upon the top of your head. feel the tender feet of the bird believing you and IT are indeed, the same.

breathe deeply in, pushing your belly out with the in-breath… breathe gently and long out, contracting your belly with the out-breath. merge with your breath. why not? what have you got to lose?

that is what i mean by being “spirituall correct.”