Yearly Archives: 2012

You Cannot Run Out Of Time

Posted on by kgoodman

“You cannot run out of time. There is infinite Time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. This…is wrong tool” – Zathras (Babylon 5, 1996) – click for sound byte

Reminder to self, “time is abundant.”

I have been dropping things lately. The hypochondriac in me was beginning to think I might have some early onset neurological disorder. Then I started looking at when these things were happening, and I realized these occurrences are not coming from system failures, they are coming from my perception of scarcity.

I have been operating in an attitude of scarcity of time. Rushing from one thing to the next has lead me to a mindset of urgency and I have lost patience for the moment.

I could blame our culture. I could point the finger at my financial needs. I could even blame my iphone, always making me tap the screen to make sure I’m not missing anything.

But at the end if the day, blame is no resolution.

I am the one intimately impacted by my rush. I am the projector of the perception of lack.

My attitude of scarcity ripples out and impacts the world around me in so many unseen ways.

So I must remind myself, through grace and release, that “Time is Infinite”.

I love this cliche’ – Each moment is a gift, that’s why they call it the “Present”.

Namaste, Kevin

clock at midnight

The Magical Art Of Believing

Posted on by kgoodman

With Christmas soon upon us I find it appropriate that my latest epiphany regards belief.

From belief in the goodness of mankind to belief in Santa Claus, we live in a world built upon belief. The world around us tends to shape itself to match our beliefs. If we believe the world is a good place, we tend to see the good around us. If we believe the world is a bad place, we tend to see only the bad. Our beliefs manifest themselves to us through our focused attention.

Sometimes when I put my daughter into her car seat (almost 3 years old), she kicks and screams and struggles to avoid being buckled in. There is some incongruity between the action, putting my daughter in her car seat to keep her safe while we travel, and the response, being affronted that we would require that she must sit down and be buckled in. It is like she doesn’t understand that we have her best interests at heart. We are trying to keep her safe. She has her own ideas about what is supposed to happen next.

I realize, after some soul searching, that she may have picked up this behavior from me. I tend to react the same way to the universe. Instead of flowing with my life and allowing for what will come next, I tend to kick and fight and struggle, trying to change the outcome. I have my own opinions about what is supposed to happen next. When reality disagrees with me, instead of peacefully allowing for the change in plans, I tend to stiffen my back, grit my teeth, and bare down for a fight.

This all comes down to two beliefs that I’m working on.

One that I’m trying to strengthen and another that I’m trying to let go of.

The first belief, is the most beneficial, the belief that the universe has my best interests at heart.

If I truly embraced and accepted this I would relax, release and allow myself to be buckled in for safety.

Instead I tend to fight and kick and believe that I know better and that I can control what comes next.

It is this second belief. The illusion of control, that I am working on releasing. Don’t get my wrong, I have a great deal of control over the superficial. I can choose what to wear and what I will eat for lunch and whether to go into work on any given day. But when it comes to the really important things in life, I am simply a co-creator. I am involved and I am affected, but I am not in control. Releasing that perceived control and relaxing is such a blessing, when I remember to do it.

This holiday season reflect on your beliefs. I encourage you to focus in on the beliefs that are empowering you, and release the beliefs that are holding you back.

And regardless of what you believe, how you worship, or how you choose to experience the sacred – I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Namaste, Kevin

Santa Going Down Chimney 1

Breathing Through Transition

Posted on by kgoodman

breathing-through-change

Let me begin by saying, I am a man. I have only experienced birth as an intimate spectator. Our daughter came into the world in our living room, by design, with our wonderful midwife. I have the utmost respect for women and the choices they have to make involving the health and welfare of themselves and their child’s life, and I intend no disrespect in anything I say in this column. These are simply comments and observations based on my experience as an assistant and observer.

Birth is never easy. But it is natural.

Hospitals tend to make us think it’s a medical condition. When it comes to the treatment of a pregnant woman at a hospital, you would think she had a 50/50 chance of making it through the process. We seem to forget that birth is natural and more specifically something that nature intended for humanity. If birth was an unsuccessful activity that always required surgical intervention, the worlds first surgeon would have never been born.

Birth is a beautiful process involving transition from one state to another. Going from a state of Union to a state of duality. One becomes two.

There are several lessons I learned from the birth of our daughter almost 3 years ago. As we prepare to bring a second new life into the world shortly, after the new year, these lessons are coming to the forefront of my mind once more.

1) Stay calm and remember to breath. Breathing is critical to flowing with the process.

The ocean doesn’t create a beach by throwing itself at a wall of rock one time. It slowly and rhythmically works at the rock wall over many years. Breaking the rocks down bit by bit until the rocks become a fine sandy beach. So too, patience and gentle rhythmic breathing enables the dramatic transformation of birth. If you hold your breath and try to force transition, something will rip, rupture or generally become damaged. You must allow for your body to leverage the flow of the process to enable new life to emerge.

2) Birth cannot be forced, it cannot be rushed, and it cannot be slowed down.

We have drugs to speed things up, we have drugs to slow things down and we have surgery to rush it… But if you intend to stay with the process and allow nature to take it’s course, then you must let go. Be with the birthing process.

3) It’s okay to hire a coach.

Major transitions such as birth are dramatic and powerful. They can also be scary and daunting. It’s okay and even encouraged to find someone experienced at the process and engage their help in the transition.

4) Your work isn’t over after the birth is complete.

We love births! We love having a new life to wonder over and to see the world through fresh eyes. But for a parent, birth is merely a transition state. After the birth, your work isn’t over. Nurturing this newborn is a lifetime practice.

Embrace the work ahead and remember lesson number 1, stay calm and breath.

As I enter several transitions of my own. I find myself pondering the birthing process and trying to learn from it.

When transitions come, I tend to hold my breath, waiting for the next moment to come. This only makes me nervous, anxious, and increases the risk of something rupturing.

Breathe through it.

When transitions come, I tend to want them to get over with. I see the change coming. I want to hurry it up. Get this over with, so I can get on with my life. The change is more powerful if it takes its time and comes naturally. Also, the change is your life. It is not a side station to wait at, the process of change is life in action.

Don’t force it, don’t rush it, it will be here exactly when it is intended to arrive.

When transitions come, I tend to close my eyes and hope I won’t be too alarmed when I open them again. The nature of these transitions is change. Change that occurs needs nurturing after its occurance. For lasting change in your life, you must nurture the result of that change, it will not sustain itself.

Be with the changes in your life. Sit with them, work with them. Allow for the transition. And remember to nurture the results so they grow into healthy changes that can have a positive impact on your world.

Namaste, Kevin

Learning To Trust Again

Posted on by kgoodman

“Listen deeply with your heart, for your heart always knows the truth.” – Drunvalo Melchizedek

Trust is a difficult subject. Trust introduces risk. Risk introduces fear. Fear introduces paralysis.

These are the side effects of trust with expectations.

Trust is not a contract. Trust is not a guarantee of outcome. Trust is a gift.

Trust, in it’s purist form, combined with letting go of the outcome leads to freedom.

Trust encompasses many aspects of our being. One of the biggest challenges I have with trust is my ego. When I trust, I invest ego in the activity. I believe that my trust is a side effect of my insight, and the success of my insight bolsters my ego. So if my trust was misplaced and the outcome is not as promised, my ego takes the hit.

This usually results in me being offended, irritable and generally not the best person to be around.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Trust, to be fully realized and benefited from, must be given and released. The universe has its own plans for our path and the path of those around us.

No one knows for certain what the next moment holds, and mistakes will happen. Mistakes are the currency of the universe. They must be spent for progress to occur. If mistakes are not spent, the spiritual economy seizes up and stagnates.

Consider mistakes the lifeblood of your personal growth. Any healthy organism will frequently make mistakes in order to determine that pathway that succeeds.

So allowing for trust to occur you must also allow for mistakes, and in the process practice grace and compassion. Your trust was given as a gift.

This is especially true when you practice trust with yourself.

Practice compassion and grace on your own efforts. If we were to give up when a mistake happened and stop trusting our instincts, we would never become better at our lives. Every failure is a step forward to success.

Trust me.

Namaste,

Kevin

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Polarity Consciousness

Posted on by kgoodman

Good versus Evil

Liberals versus Conservatives

Republicans versus Democrats

Paper versus Plastic

 

Sometimes the right choice is to not to get pulled into the dichotomy.

 

Polarity consciousness is a way of processing the universe as differentials. It has been argued that this it is a result of our fall from enlightenment to where we are today.

 

Some would even say it is a bad thing.

 

Oddly calling polarity consciousness a bad thing, is a result of polarity consciousness. It is the way 99.9 percent of the people on the planet see the world and process information. I would say 100 percent, but I’m certain there are few people processing on a higher level than me, though I don’t believe they are running the planet or in our government.

 

Pain is meaningless without pleasure. Good is impotent without evil. We process the world, and experience the world, through the differentiating of one thing versus another. In order to judge one thing, it must be contrasted against another.

 

There are a number of gotchas or challenges involved in polarity consciousness that we should be aware of.

 

Having an understanding of how we process ideas can help us guard against that process being used to manipulate us. A great example of this a political election. We typically come out of a major election with a polarized country. Half the country thinks the other half is crazy. Half things they have won and the other half feels they got the shaft.

 

In truth everybody is a little crazy and everybody is a little sane.

 

If we could see past the labels applied to us by people that are trying to manipulate us, we could see, we really have a lot in common. Everybody on the planet really just wants to live a life of meaning and value. But we get caught up on polarizing ideas and think we must defend our side against perceived attackers.

 

Polarity consciousness leads to this type of thinking, and this type of thinking leads to separateness and destructive behaviors.

 

Polarity consciousness leads us to the illusion that we are individuals separate from others. Regardless of your metaphysical leanings, this type of thinking is blatantly false.

 

Walk with me down this path for a moment.

 

A person believes they are right and the other group is wrong. They wish the argument, and the group, would simply go away. Magically they get their wish. The next week they find a new group to disagree with and that group goes away. This would continue until there were only two people left on the planet. They would have a disagreement and now it’s just one man (or woman) and the planet. Then that individual would get in an argument with the planet and suddenly find they got their wish and they were all alone. Needless to say living without others and the planet is unsustainable.

 

This falsehood leads to wars over meaningless differences.

Gratefully nobody has been given this banishment power. When someone tries to seize it, for example Hitler, the world fights back.

 

But this kind of thinking is still going on today because we operate in polarity consciousness.

 

Given the state of our consciousness as a planet, it is difficult if not impossible to escape this way of thinking. In mindful states and during meditation we can catch glimpses of what other perceptions of consciousness are like. But in the end we return to this physical world where we perceive ourselves as ‘other’.

 

Take some time today to remember we are all in this together. Remember your connectedness to others. Unite in the common cause of living a life of value and meaning.

Namaste,

Kevin

polarity-consciousness

Rebellious Gratitude

Posted on by kgoodman

 

The season of family and remembrance is upon us. As we enter this time it seems that the world has set siege upon our senses. Black Friday appears to be turning into black week. Economists are warning that we are in an almost apocalyptic recession. To make matters worse December 21, 2012 is almost upon us. Some say it will be the actual apocalypse, some say the end of the mayan calendar, and still others believe it’s just the day before December 22.

What do we do with all this input and chaos? How do we deal with the end of the world, the end of the economy and the eager businesses looking to max out your line of credit?

Appreciate it.

If the world were to end tomorrow how would you want to behave today? Wouldn’t you want to be the same lovely person that you’ve been your whole life? Continue living to help people, enrich the lives of others and generally practicing ahimsa (avoidance of violence).

Express gratitude in your life for the inciter’s of passion (walmart, target, et al.). You don’t have to agree with them or their tactics. But there is nothing inherently evil or wrong about black friday. It’s just another day on the calender where awareness will serve you better than hysterics.

Appreciate the world for what it is today, just in case it’s gone tomorrow. And most of all live in the moment that is now, for the moments beyond this one are never guaranteed.

Most of all, live your life in rebellious gratitude. Appreciate everything and everyone for what they bring to the table.

I wish you all peace, love and joy in this holiday season. But most of all, I wish you awareness.

I am grateful for all my readers. Thank you.

Namaste, Kevin

 

 

Don’t Allow The Future To Harass You

Posted on by kgoodman

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“Don’t allow the future to harass you. Express what you need, and be grateful for what you have.” – Greg Nelson

 

As I was meditating this morning, I was struck by the power of this statement. Starting my own business, and having end of year goals looming in front of me, I find, I have begun to doubt myself, my abilities and my future. How can I grow the business? What will happen tomorrow? How can I feed my family and my passion at the same time?

 

I have found recently that my thoughts tend to dwell on my finances instead of my passion. And the financial thoughts lock me up creatively and emotionally. So when I came across this saying during my meditation this morning, I was struck by how important it is to me right now. I have been allowing the future to harass me.

 

As we approach this time of cultural gratitude (Thanksgiving), here in the US, it is crucial to embrace the opportunity for thankfulness. Thanksgiving is a beautiful time to pause and reflect on what we have. So why not get started a week early and appreciate the things in life that keep us going. Be grateful for your passions and your quirks. Appreciate the things that set you apart and the things that bring us all together.

 

Most importantly, be with what is, and not what may be. The future will unfold and become whatever it needs to be. Worrying about the future, dreading it, or trying to force change into it, is just a waste of precious energy. Embrace the river of life that we all flow with, and follow the current to your goals. Embrace your dreams and release the outcome.

Namaste,

Kevin

Embrace Your Falling Leaves

Posted on by kgoodman

embrace-your-falling-leaves

I was talking to my neighbor this week as he worked on his front yard. He was complaining about the tree in his yard and how it kept dropping leaves onto his lawn.

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to spot destructive behavior in others, than in yourself?

If I do something destructive that undermines my energy, I always have a ‘good’ reason. But when someone else does the same thing, I can usually spot it right away. I’ve complained many times about the leaves on my lawn. But it always seemed worth complaining, when I do it. Silly leaves. Upon reflection, silly me.

Destructive? Isn’t that a bit harsh?

Yes, in general I would agree. This is only a mildly destructive behavior. The real challenge comes in how you move forward.

Leaves have to be raked. The lawn needs to be managed. How do you approach it? Do you grit your teeth, steady your resolve, and muscle through it? Or do you accept the action and find the joy in the task?

It’s just plain silly to complain about falling leaves. And sillier still to let it impact your mood. But I’ve done it, and I do it, and I’m working on changing my reaction.

There are so many tasks in our lives that resemble falling leaves. Dirty dishes come to mind for me. I’m really not a fan of doing the dishes, but I really appreciate how the kitchen looks after their done. And I often find that, if I am grumpy when I’m doing the dishes, I’m much less happy with the results.

It takes me just as long to rake leaves grudgingly as it takes me to rake joyfully. But the results on my emotional health are completely different.

Try to identify the falling leaves in your life. The daily maintenance, the people interactions, the tedious tasks that once completed just need to be done again. Embrace these activities and learn from them.

All things change over time.

You may even find that you miss the leaves when their gone.

Though if I never had to wash another dirty dish, I think I would be okay.

Enjoy the time left in autumn!

Namaste, Kevin

Citta Vritti – Mind Chatter – Meditation Guide Part 6

Posted on by kgoodman

The Sanskrit term Citta Vritti (pronounced: CHITTA VRITTIE) can be translated to mean mind chatter, or modifications of the mind. Sanskrit is an ancient language from India.

Imagine for a moment that your mind is a vast ocean. On a calm day when the surface is flat you can see deeply into the ocean. But on a typical day with waves and weather and all manner of aquatic activity the surface of the water becomes turbulent and cloudy. Our thoughts disturb the surface of our mental ocean. Too much mind chatter keeps our mental energies on the surface and prevent us from seeing deeply and utilizing our inherent wisdom.

Turbulent waters lead to poor visibility.

This also represents the filters that our minds process information through. These filters prevent us from seeing the truth of a moment. We have learned to perceive the world around us through filters. These filters and both subtle and gross. They both aid and hinder us. It is the use of these filters that allows us to see one detail but completely miss another. Just like shifting the focus of your eyes allows you to see the mirror, or the reflections in the mirror. So too, shifting the attention of your mind, allows you to see the moment or your interpretation of the moment.

It is often through seeing only our interpretation of a moment, that the truth of the moment is lost.

One example of this is language. When we hear someone speaking we have trained our minds to recognize patterns in the inflection of sound and process that into words. These words are then translated into definitions. Our mind processes each word into analogous objects till a root definition is found that we relate to directly. The words form sentences as they are pieced together and the mind translates the sound waves into meanings.

The purpose of language is to teach people a common way of thinking. This has the positive impact of opening communication. Our automatic translation of sounds into meanings enables us to focus on the word and dismiss extraneous details. But the nuance of a moment can often be found in the discarded context.

Language is one of the more commonly studied and analyzed filters we have. But there are thousands. And they operate in a very similar fashion. Processing an experience and breaking it down into meanings that we can hold onto. In this same way we often discard the context and lose much of the moment.

A simple example of this can be seen in the experience of a rose. It is easy to see a rose, perhaps even appreciate it’s color and smell, but from the level of filters we have labeled it ‘rose’ and moved on from the actual experience of that rose. Rose is a word we know, therefore we have understood the rose and experienced it. So we move on. When in truth this rose is a unique entity. There are no two roses in the world alike. And this rose will soon pass from it’s moment of beauty, and fade and die. The experience of this individual rose can be lost in the process of filtering and labeling.

Many of our filters formed in the first few years of our life. We have automatic response mechanisms built into us that predate our earliest memories of childhood. Response patterns we established before we even learned to hold our heads up.

We don’t consciously remember the cause, or the need for these filters, but they are still there, working for us, and against us, through every moment of our lives. These filters provide context and insight informing our interpretation of each moment. They also cloud the moment overshadowing what is really happening with your ‘perception‘ of what is happening, interpreted relative to occurrences from years past.

One of the goals of meditation is to calm the fluctuations of the mind. Breathing exercises can be a simple and quick meditation that can help quiet your citta vritti and empower you.

Breathing Exercise

Shift your awareness to your breathing.
It can help to focus on a single point in your inhale and exhale.

Either visualize the air as it passes in and out through your nostrils.
Or monitor the expansion and contraction of the lungs.

Simply Observe your breath

Notice the air as it passes through your nostrils, into your body
Notice the air as it leaves through your nostrils, out of your body

Now take a deep inhale through your nostrils

Slowly inhale to the count of 10 (adjust the time as needed to account for your physical abilities)
Pause at the top of the breath and hold to the count of 3

Slowly and fully exhale through your mouth

Again exhaling to the full count of 10
Pause at the bottom of the exhale for a count of 3

Repeat about 6 times.
Then return to observing your breath

Namaste – Kevin

The Season Of Change

Posted on by kgoodman

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Living in California, specifically the San Francisco Bay Area, you lose the stark contrast of seasons. Winter is the time when my lawn is green and in summer my grass dies and turns brown (I should probably water it more). Our magnolia tree loses it’s leaves during the summer and blooms in the autumn and winter. And generally the seasonal changes are soft and gentle, distinct, but subtle.

 

I am presently in the middle of a two week visit to the heartland of America, I am in Michigan. Michigan seasons are not subtle. You cannot ignore the oncoming autumn, nor the incoming winter.

 

Viewing the autumn colors and feeling the cold in the air, I am reminded directly of the natural order of things. It is powerful seeing the changing of the seasons again. The awareness of just how little control we have over nature. Everything is either dying or going into a deep state of hibernation and sloughing off everything not needed to survive through the long cold winter.

 

Rains come almost daily, and we experienced a good old heartland thunderstorm this week. I sure do miss seeing a good storm!

 

Change is powerful.

Change is unyielding.

Change is cyclical.

 

I cannot stop the leaves from falling from a tree.

I cannot hold onto summer.

I cannot change the weather.

 

It is wonderfully liberating to remember there are things beyond my control. Remembering that I can, and must, let go and allow nature to take it’s coarse.

 

Please don’t misread me, there are many things in my life in California completely beyond my control. But I frequently forget. Often the lapse in memory works to my detriment as I stress over the changing of the tides. I foolishly waste energy in my attempt to manage the unmanageable.

 

It is so easy to burn up valuable resources trying to resist change, to hold back the seasons.

 

As change approaches you this autumn I invite you to welcome it. Remember it’s only a phase. Change will come and change will go, and if we’re lucky, we’ll learn a little something in it’s passing.

 

As we move forward in this wondrous fall remember the serenity prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Namaste,

Kevin