Post #400: Seeding Your Dream

Last week I wrote about Johnny Appleseed as an example of the archetype of the Nourisher. Some seeds scatter to the winds, but some seeds take root in rich soils, where they can germinate and grow. Now I invite you to apply this concept of planting and nourishing seeds to the practice of SEEDING YOUR DREAM.

First then, what is your Life Dream? Remember, this can be a value statement rather than a concrete objective. Five years from now or whatever time frame feels approporiate for you to envision your “dream come true,” what do you wish for your life to be LIKE? Maybe that means you want to have achieved a sense of contentment or happiness, or perhaps you can envision living in or visiting at an ideal sort of environment for you or you can plant a seed of finding and manifesting an ideal set of relationships or work or service conditions. Now then, contemplate ways that you can SEED your Dream.

At my office personal computer at work, I have placed a desktop image which is an old postcard photo of the lake I aim to retire near in three years. Recently I have added a small picture icon of a rowboat. The lake image has a shoreline that winds around toward a clock  tower that marks the historic significance of this lakeside region, near Chautauqua Institute in New York state. From now until the time I reach retirement,  with every positive step I take in life toward realizing my Dream, I will very gradually move the rowboat along the bends of the shoreline until it reaches that tower. This is SEEDING my Dream.

How can you seed YOUR Dream?

I recognize and can fully appreciate that not all of you reading this blog will feel the desire or the immediate need to focus so directly on manifesting a specific Life Dream such as I am modeling here. That’s okay! I encourage everyone, myself foremost, to build flexibility into any future envisioning. Still, your current Vision as it pertains to continually realizing your most positive, fulfilling life–whether it is the life you are living Now or some future conditions based on how you would like your current life to unfold into an ideal future–carries the SEED of your potentials.  It reveals something about your highest values, deepest ambitions, and your most purposeful sense of mission or cause. My lakeside future represents, for instance, a  freedom to pursue my ambitions of writing and service in a beautiful, peaceful environment. I believe I know where that will be, but if the universe provides a somewhat different actuality down the road or along the shoreline, that’s fine, too!

I appreciate the viewpoint of Anne Archer Butcher,  author of an inspiring recent book called Inner Guidance.  She reminds us we can ASK for what we most deeply wish to receive or achieve in our lives. “This, or something GREATER,” Anne asks of her own Inner Guide. Maybe our current vision is not broad enpugh or we are not yet aware enough to know what specifically to ask for. So ask for “This, or something Greater,” knowing and trusting that Spirit or the Universe will bring into your life that which is of the highest order to support your greatest growth and unfoldment.

I always welcome your Comments and Insights!

Take a Balloon Ride to a Higher Perspective

What is your next step forward that will move you in the direction of realizing your fullest potentials or a specific goal? Are you considering a significant decision yet remain unsure about which way you should go or whether to make a change at all? I offer you below a creative visualization/ active imagination technique that you can use to help you achieve a higher vantage point (cf. this month’s metaphor of life as “a mountain with vistas.”)

Creative Visualization technique:

Imagine you are in a round room with several doors and high, solid walls. Above the walls they are extended upwards by a clear plexiglass-like tube that forms into a dome at its apex. You know that you can open any door and step through that, but once you have chosen a door and step through it, you also know that you can never go back to this room for the door will automatically lock from the inside, behind you. You also have the awareness that each door is a portal to a specific direction that will realize one of your present options in relation to a goal or decision you are facing.

Imagine next that near the center of this large, circular room there is a small table and a chair. On the table is a sketch pad and a cup of pastel drawing sticks. Sit down and draw for yourself a colorful picture of a hot air balloon. Then move the table away from the center and place your picture there on the floor instead. Watch as this picture materializes into a real, full-sized hot air balloon, already inflated with its firebox glowing brightly.

Step into your balloon basket and you can remove sand bags from the basket so your balloon rises into the space above the solid walls of the room. Your balloon lifts slowly upwards toward the plexiglass dome, coming to a rest point to hover midway between the top of the walls and the dome.

As you look down from the balloon you can see the room you were in and you can also see 360 degrees all around that room on the outside. You can see where each of the doors of opportunity would lead you to, what sorts of pathways each represents for you as choices you could take toward achieving your goal or desire.

Stay as long as you wish in your balloon, considering all of your options freely.

When you have become aware of which of the doors below appears to open to the most desirable positive direction for you to take, you can lower the flame gradually in your firebox so your balloon settles gently back down into the room.

Now you are free to open and walk through the door that opens onto your greatest future potential!

I welcome your Comments or stories!

How to Be a Johnny Appleseed

A legendary example of the NOURISHER Archetype is John Chapman, the historical person remembered as Johnny Appleseed. Chapman was a professional nurseryman who traveled by foot across several Midwestern U.S. states, sowing apple seeds to create abundant orchards. Mainly these apples were used for making  hard cider or applejack, and Chapman established use of the lands he sowed so he amassed a large amount of property. But he also had noble ambitions, e.g.:

“ Johnny Appleseed’s dream was for a land where blossoming apple trees were everywhere and no one was hungry. A gentle and kind man, he slept outdoors and walked barefoot around the country planting apple seeds everywhere he went.”  http://www.applejuice.org/johnnyappleseed.html

Some of Chapman’s apple seeds flourished while many did not. But he scattered so many seeds that enough would take root to spawn fruitful orchards that would last for many generations. Here was a NOURISHER who never stopped giving of himself through his knowledge and his literal ‘legwork’ to accomplish his dream.

In what ways might you practice a Johnny Appleseed ambition? What can you do to give abundantly of yourself and to realize your greatest talents, simple as they might be?

My sister has a good friend who has retired from high school teaching. In recent years after a trip she took to Nicaragua, she has formed an informal organization through which she collects donations and then buys and furnishes school books and she also gives out scholarships to Nicaraguan children who might otherwise not be able to attend or to afford school. Many of these students have by now gone on to higher education and to useful jobs. My sister’s friend continues to give from and to grow this fund. She receives nothing in return financially from this act of love and service; she gives because she can; and, because she cares.

Planting seeds is a great metaphor for any endeavor. Even maintaining positive, good thoughts might be a Johnny Appleseed sort of activity; your good thoughts can bear many fruitful outcomes. Pruning negative thoughts and replacing them with strong, life affirming, generous beliefs and ambitions can help you sow a lifetime of golden apples!

A Letter from Your NOURISHER

You deserve in life everything that supports your positive, life affirming dreams and ambitions.  You are here to do all that you can, to BE all that you inherently ARE.

What limitations there are can be gifts, like Stephen Hawking’s Lou Gehrig’s disease, which has allowed him to focus mentally in ways possibly more productive for him than any other condition.

Many limitations can be transcended if doing so would support your highest self-realization in this lifetime. Often we establish self-limitations and settle for less than it is possible for us to manifest or achieve. We might be restricting our own potentials from unnecessary feelings of unworthiness or from simple inertia. (A body at rest stays at rest unless impelled by an irresistible force.)

Enter Your NOURISHER, certainly a kinetic force when you allow her or him to motivate your actions. Your NOURISHER is a part of yourself— a vital archetypal energy form in all humans (at least). Your NOURISHER is that part of your Self that knows you are capable of manifesting your highest potentials and will be your strongest Ally and cheerleader to propel you toward realizing your deepest-felt, positive goals.

Imagine Now that your NOURISHER stands ever available and wants to encourage you to go after that next goal post that moves you irreversibly in the direction of your Heart’s desire. Maybe it is your Life Dream; you do not need to postpone envisioning and realizing a pathway that fulfills your greatest sense of life purpose and Mission in this world. Or maybe it is something as basic as finding the motivation to go to a gym to work out, or to eat a healthier choice of food or drink when you are faced with options.

Your NOURISHER wants the best for you, and from you, at all times and in every circumstance. It wants to help you to succeed in every endeavor, to learn from every experience regardless of the outcome; to strive and to thrive.

I invite you to take time out from your busy routine to sit down with pen and paper and ask your NOURISHER to WRITE YOU A LETTER.  Allow him or her to encourage you. Listen with your Heart. If you like, you can also write back and start a conversation. Welcome your NOURISHER into your Ensemble Cast of Archetype Allies. You deserve to be nurtured and pampered even. Your NOURISHER deserves to express him/herself, too! As a Giver, and as an integral facet of You, you will find that allowing your NOURISHER to nurture your dreams will also spill out as unconditional loving service to others.

I welcome your Comments or stories!

Just Ask! Meet Your Dreamtime Nourisher

How does your NOURISHER Archetype Ally show up in your life or Psyche? Often we are more nurturing of others than of ourselves, but your NOURISHER is there for you too!

One way to get in touch with or to explore your own Nourisher nature is by identifying when and how your NOURISHER appears in your dreams.

Can you think of a dream or perhaps a recurring series of dreams that have included some form of Nourisher character or theme? Cooking or feeding others in your dream, or being fed or served nutritious food by someone in your dream are sure signs of your unconscious NOURISHER persona. Or simply a dream theme involving any form of Giving and/or Receiving a gift could also reveal your NOURISHER nature.

If you don’t recall a specific instance of your NOURISHER appearing in your dreams, or to explore this vital archetype Ally further, Just ASK!

Before you go to sleep, invite your NOURISHER to appear in your dreams, to reveal himself or herself to you. During the day, think lightly about how you will invite your NOURISHER into your dreams that evening.

Remember to write down your dreams, all you can recall on waking. The form that your NOURISHER might take in your dreams could be a bit surprising or disguised, especially at first.

I recall a recurring dream theme from several years ago that involved my suddenly discovering a pet–usually a horse or an aquarium with fishes–that I had forgotten I had, so therefore I had neglected to FEED or to give water to them! I was able in these dreams to find food to feed them, but when I awoke I felt awful and would review what this dream might mean in my life at that time. Was I neglecting to communicate with a loved one? Was it my own Soul I was not nurturing regularly enough? I would take this dream as a sign that I needed to nurture and nourish in any way possible, and usually this led me to some form of giving and/or receiving that would help me feel I had addressed the ‘neglect’ revealed in the dream.

I would ACT on the dream message, and that is something I encourage you to do whenever your dream indicates a needed or a corrective course of action.

Nurture your NOURISHER, and it will serve you well in turn!

I welcome YOUR comments and stories.

 

To Nourish Your Dreams, Change It UP!

One fun way to let your Nourisher archetype Ally express itself is to Change It Up! That means, practice doing things outside from your normal routine.  Julia Cameron called this taking an “artist’s date” in her seminal book, THE ARTIST’S WAY.  She recommends we do this at least once a week in order to break through writers block or any other form of artistic or emotional blockage.

So take a different way home from work, and look around at the change of scenery. Maybe stop off at a park and take a walk. Be spontaneous! Go to a $1.00 film in the middle of your day; popcorn may be called for! Or go to a museum or that arboretum you have always meant to visit. How about the zoo; when is the last time you went? For me, that would have to include a carousel ride!

Changing It Up is an easy, fun way to NOURISH your Self, and you can use this “time out” to lightly focus on your Life Dream.  Freeing up space in your life that jogs you free from daily or weekly routines allows you ro “prospect” your future alternatives.

So go ahead: write a poem, color in a Mandala or in a Mehndi or Labyrinth art book. You can paste a wall with your creative output! Or go on a photographic spree, capturing sunsets or sunrises on those extra evening or crisp, early morning outings.

And always, keep open to bringing change IN to your life. Open your Heart to receive the blessings of Life! You are so deserving!!!

I had a Better Ending/ Change It Up Moment myself, today. I drove to Denver and met with a financial consultant from my retirement fund organization. I told her about my Life Dream that involves retirement in 3 years. After signing a few forms, I moved all retirement funds into secure accounts, removing the risk of losing retirement income or having to postpone retirement due to any possible financial collapse or downturn. So, voila! In one “time out” moment apart from my normal routine, I have secured a modest but reasonable retirement income–for life!–so long as I stay true to the parameters of what we discussed today.

Thank you, Nourisher!!! Thank you, Soul and Spirit and my Inner Guidance…All of you are NOURISHERS too!

Have you had a Nourisher “time out” or a ‘Better Endings’ Moment? I would love to hear your stories and for you to share them here!

The Principle of BETTER ENDINGS

I am extremely grateful for this blog, the book it is prefacing, the agent who recommended it, and for all you readers whether checking in or visiting regularly.  Now Your Life Path will soon be circulated to publishers and I have a sequel book already in progress. The two main features of the approach I am sharing here and in these books are Life Mapping and the Principle of BETTER ENDINGS; these personal growth & development tools are closely interconnected.

Life Mapping is a process anyone can use  that I will be presenting as a complete rites of passage program in Your Life Path—Life Mapping to Live Your Dream, Now!  This tool allows you to  visually map  the significant, shaping events of your life and then to see how these have formed into Life Themes, Life Chapters, and a coherent Life Story that has mythic significance with you as the key dramatic protagonist! From the point of dwelling “at the Threshold” of awareness—indeed like standing at the top of a mountain, able to view vistas of past, present and possible futures—life mapping can help you to mine the potentials you have already  developed so as to “re-model” your future based on claiming or reclaiming and refining your own Life Dream.

This photo of Pikes Peak is courtesy of TripAdvisor

 Life Mapping can help you to discover pathways to your own Better Endings. But for today I would like to remind regular readers and introduce more recent and new readers of this blog to what I mean by the Principle of BETTER ENDINGS itself and how you can apply that, not only through life mapping but in your everyday life.

The first year of this blog (November 2013- November 2014; see calendar below) was called Better Endings, and it is here that I first explored and developed this concept and came to realize that it is indeed a principle that anyone can apply. It started to become apparent for me when I left a movie showing of the newest King Kong just before Kong was about to cascade off from the top of the Empire State Building to his imminent death; a death of primal significance metaphorically: a death of all that is primal and wild within all of us, within me. So I left the theatre and went to a coffeeshop where I took out my writing journal and rewrote the ending of this classic plot. In my version, Kong Lives! This was to me a Better Ending.   So I started practicing this approach with several other stories with endings I had always wished had resolved otherwise. I felt a giddy, almost guilty sense of satisfaction and empowerment, like I was discovering a freedom I never knew I had!

Try it sometime. Just think of a story whose ending you have never liked, and revise it! Maybe Juliet wakes up before Romeo swallows the poison, and they marry and live happily ever after.  Or maybe Lincoln never died from his bullet wound; it just grazed his forehead. Yes, history itself is an open field for re-visioning with this process.

Your own life is also a ripe, open terrain for replanting, re-visioning, re-modeling! The decisions you have made, moves, choices, risks taken or not, desires expressed fully or repressed; with every step we take in life we are re-routing our Life Path according to parallel realities!

So this is the principle of Better Endings that I am inviting you to explore and to practice. For me it has grown over time to become a principle I apply every day. Even writing this blog, for me, is an act of applying Better Endings. The principle is useful regardless of your spiritual path or philosophical bent.  It is something more than simply “positive thinking,” because better endings are not always necessarily “positive” in the maintsream sense, though they are positive for the person seeking valuable, meaningful change, adventure, or greater awareness.

I welcome your comments and stories!

To Nurture Your Dreams, Be a Nourisher

Sometimes we might not trust our inner vision to steer us in the right direction. We may feel afraid to Dream, wary of being disillusioned “yet again.” This cautious perspective might seem ‘practical,’ “realistic” or even wise.

But when we squelch our Visions, often another part of our Self grieves.

 

What happens to a Dream deferred? 

Does it dry up, like a raisin in the Sun?

Does it fester like a sore, and then run?

Perhaps it stinks, like rotten meat,

or crusts and sugars over, like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags, like a heavy load… 

Or does it explode?

–Langston Hughes

 

Our archetypal Ally for this month is the NOURISHER. I invite you to get in touch with your own nurturing, nourishing part of Self. When do you feel most nourishing and with whom? When do you feel best nourished and how or by whom?

I experienced a lot of Nourishing–from both sides of giving and receiving–during my road trip and visit Home  from June through July. Being with family and with my dog Sophie (my travelling companion and BFF) is a great gift of love for I have lived thousands of miles from my parents and sisters and brother for over 30 years.  We came together—all of us plus several cousins and nephews/nieces—around my elderly mother, Elizabeth—over the 4^th of July holiday weekend. Mom was in the crux of a hospital emergency—not what we had hoped or planned for!—and we all came together to help her survive that visit and return to her familiar nursing home with its loving and competent, caring staff.

Mom is experiencing late stage Parkinson’s. At 88, for her this means she has very little independent mobility. She cannot walk on her own nor can she use her own hands to eat. She must consume pudding quality water and only pureed food which others must feed to her in such manner as not to cause her to aspirate or swallow food into her lungs.

While at the hospital, because staff there were inexperienced at preparing the pureed and pudding quality food and water and because most did not have experience (or time for the patience it takes) feeding in this way, it depended on us, her daughters mainly, to feed her morning, noon, and evening, as much and as best as we could.

And we did!  We bought Gerber’s pureed food to supplement or replace the hospital’s too thick or heavy portions. We developed a formula, with help from a speech therapist, to produce her pudding water, and we added fresh lemon juice and used ice cubes to give her more satisfaction.  She was depending on us for her very survival. Each of us stepped up as best we could. We shared our observations and listened to one anothers’ suggestions. We expressed our concerns with the nurses and aides until finally one doctor in particular became focal in helping Mom recover enough to be able to return to her nursing home.

I know my Mom would do the same for any of us and often she did, whenever we were sick or ailing.  While at first honestly I was afraid of feeding Mom, afraid I might cause her to aspirate, over time I did the best I could along with my other sisters. And she improved! I believe the nurturing care we all gave helped her more than any medications. The love we all shared was a healing force in itself.  It is a healing energy that will never diminish, no matter what the future may hold.

So, I learn from my Nourisher that LOVE is the heart of it all and all that really matters. To NOURISH is to give and to reciprocally receive divine, unconditional Love.

I invite you to journal and/or to talk with a loved one (or send your insights, comments and stories to us, here!) about one or more of your own Nourisher moments.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

This month’s topic is the metaphor Life is… A Mountain with Vistas.  I offer this topic to encourage you to nourish your own capacity to thrive, not merely to survive.  The principle we are working with here is VISION, and the method is to energize your divine gift of imagination via creative visualization.  Daydreams, for example, can help you discern where your deepest desires are so that you can increase your motivation to fulfill your most intrinsic life purpose and Quest.

The daydream I shared Friday and Sunday, for instance, revealed to me my deep desire for spiritual freedom and creative independence. On the surface this daydream was about reading a great book while drifting in a rowboat on a peaceful lake, then bumping up against an island and getting out to explore. Yet this is my spiritual quest (to a degree) in a nutshell! It shows my desire for spiritual freedom (the boat floating freely), my love of knowledge (the book), and my creative curiosity and love to explore and to thereby serve (by being a trailblazer). Nurturing this daydream has allowed me to cultivate free thinking and an adventurous freedom which I also have sought to share and foster in others: students, friends and family, readers.

What do your daydreams reveal to you about your own inherent gifts and motivations?  What vistas and quest do they expose?

Consider next the lyrics to a rather mysterious song, taken from a somewhat obscure and equally mysterious musical starring https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZyNKZUWJSa0?rel=0“>Barbara Streisand, Yves Montand and Jack Nicholson, ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER.

“On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)”

On a clear day
Rise and 1ook around you
And you’ll see who you are

On a clear day
How it will astound you
That the glow of your being
Outshines every star

You’ll feel part of every mountain sea and shore

You can hear
From far and near
A word you’ve never, never heard before…

And on a clear day…On a clear day…
You can see forever…

And ever…
And ever…
And ever more. . .

 

Do you remember this movie musical (also a long running Broadway show)? It was about this young woman (Streisand in the movie) who while trying to overcome a smoking addiction by seeing a psychologist who practices hypnosis, becomes a high class lady from a former lifetime under that hypnotic influence. The doctor (Montand) falls in love with the past-life version of his client. At some point she and the doctor realize they have a Soul bond that may transfer across lifetimes, so that perhaps in a future life they might find each other again and fall in love!

What can you take from this to apply to your own aspirations?

To me: Life is greater than, vaster than only what appears on the surface.  As spiritual sojourners each on our own cosmic quest (however we might individually conceive of this), there are stones to upturn (to look under), mountains of knowledge to explore in search of WISDOM, LOVE, FULFILLMENT. 

ANY life experience can bring one to the awareness and fulfillment you might seek. It doesn’t matter if you are a housewife or a scientist, a millionaire or unemployed. From wherever you ARE, you can LOOK and SEE that which you seek to understand.

So, here’s a technique I offer you this week, based on the lyrics from this musical above.

Imagine it is a CLEAR DAY. You are at a mountain top, overlooking a vast expanse.  Turn West and you can see highlights from your Past. Ahead and surrounding you immediately is the Present. To the East (the direction of the new dawn) is your future. Contemplate these vistas freely. How do these vistas relate to each other, and how can you bring great Bounty into your present life from your Future that fulfills all that which has brought you to Here-Now?

I always invite and welcome YOUR insights and stories!

 

Remember to Daydream, Part 2 (The Lake Isle of Innisfree)

Here is an excellent demonstration of creative future casting by William Butler Yeats. Like my story of how daydreaming can relate to manifesting future realities (below), Yeats reminds us in his evocative poem to hold a vision in our minds of our desired state or condition; smell it, feel it, and it IS!

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wing.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

******   ******

Consider: the future consists of an unlimited number of possibilities only habitually constrained by conditions and circumstances of your past and present choices. If you can break the habit of perpetuating self-limiting thoughts, anything is possible. How can you do that?

The power of imagination is our greatest birthright for creating life conditions that realize our goals. Whether by contemplation, active imagination, meditation, yoga, positive affirmations, or prayer, we always do have the freedom to cast our dreams outward and forward into manifestation.

In Your Life Path I’ll provide Life Mapping personal development tools for “future casting.” Like casting a net widely into the realm of fertile future possibilities, you can cast a diverse spectrum of desirable future “lifescapes” to help you shake off feelings of inevitability regarding future  conditions or the sense  of futility regarding significant change.

Here’s an example: remember to Day Dream! When was the last time you indulged in a great day dream? Have you ever thought about the possible relationship between daydreams and your actual future conditions?

When I was in high school I remember that I did engage in active day dreaming, especially when in classes that bored me. I developed one particular daydream that I kept going back to, time and again. It became clearer and more real to me every time I went back to it.

I am on a rowboat, alone on a lake, with a great book I have brought.  I row out to near the middle of the lake, then I put the oars up to rest and I lay back between the two seats on a recliner mattress with a large outdoor pillow gently lifting my head; I open the book and read! I hear the water lapping up against the wooden sides of the boat. This is the most peaceful moment I can ever experience. Then WHOMP! My boat has hit a soft landing. I look up and see that I have drifted onto the banks of a small Island. I get out to explore.

So looking back at this daydream now, many decades later, I smile. First, I can still feel the vivid lucidity of this boat, the island, and the peace and freedom I experience from exploring this ‘alternate reality.’ More importantly, I realize with some surprise now that my ‘retirement’ Life Dream that I do expect to fully realize in three years actually does include a lake, a boat, and close focus on books (including my own!).

Today while working out at a YMCA, I sat in a rowing machine, always my favorite exercise vehicle. I closed my eyes and rowed. I was on that boat again, rowing peacefully along near the shores of Lake Chautauqua, which I expect to be free to explore in a few years.

By future casting, you can PULL your unfolding Present into harmony with your most deeply desired future. You are NOT bound irrevocably to repeat your present conditions; you can CHOOSE your own course. All it takes is that you exercise your freedom to IMAGINE; that is your Divine Gift!

I welcome YOUR Comments and Stories!

 

Inside Out? Explore Your Islands

 

Have you been to the new Disney movie Inside Out yet? I recommend it as a story of self-discovery and inner psychological exploration.  The aspect I like best about the concept of revealing what “goes on” emotionally in an 11 year old girl’s head is how some experiences form not only long-term but “core” memories, and these core memories can grow into “Islands.”

The Islands are what I would call your Life Themes: repeating, primary kinds of situations that interweave through your life like uniquely colored threads in the overall weave of your Life Path. FAMILY, for instance, or EDUCATION, or TRAVEL might be central Islands that occupy much of a person’s thoughts and focus much of their interests and goals.

Each of us develops several LIFE THEME Islands as we grow up. Some of these are happy places, others maybe not so happy, depending on the nature of the Core Memories around which they have formed.

As this month’s Life Metaphor is of life as A Mountain with Vistas, I invite you to explore your own core memory Islands this week. It is very easy to identfy these Islands. List 10-20 key memories from your life. Just identify these as events or situations that have been influential in shaping “the person you have become.”  after you have created this list of some of your Significant Life Events, next then simply SORT THESE experiences from your life into KINDS of situations or experiences. For example, some of these events may have to do with FAMILY, others with FRIENDS or ROMANCE or WORK or TRAVEL.  Simply make a new list now of the kinds of events you have referred to with your first list of memories. This set of kinds of events in your life are some of your dominant LIFE THEMES. These are your Islands.

Now then I invte you to EXPLORE your own Islands. Visualize and actively contempate one LIFE THEME at a time. You can take several days to do this. What is the nature of each of your LIFE THEME Islands? Are you happy there? Does it lift you or hold you “down”? Write about these in your journal; discuss them with a loved one. Consider how each of these Islands affects your life.

I welcome your insights and stories!

Life Is… A Mountain with Vistas

Do you sometimes wish you could view your entire life—Past, Present, and Future—as a whole? This month we will entertain various ways by which you might approach this sort of overview in relation to your Life Dream.

What is a Life Dream, anyway? It is your Vision of an ideal set of future conditions. To establish a Life Dream requires imagining a holistic Vision, like being on a Mountain with vistas!

From the top of a mountain you can gain a 360 degree overview. You can see how the different landscapes interact with the sky and sea, for instance, and where the lush forest ends and the plains extend.

 

So I invite you to a form of Vision Quest this month. Set out to discover or further explore your Life Dream.

A Vision Quest requires dedication and preparation. Contemplate in silence, surrendering your Mind to Highest Good. Ask to receive a Vision when you are ready to, one that will help you to clarify the path you are on; study its direction as you wend your way forward. Where is your current path leading to? Have you designed it well to reach a place of fulfillment and service? Are there turns you can anticipate in the Road ahead? How can you be an active Agent in your own chosen path?

A Vision without a task is but a dream

A task without a Vision is drudgery

But a Vision with a Task can change the world.

–often attributed to Black Elk (Sioux)