Monthly Archives: June 2013

Being True To Your Self

Posted on by kgoodman

I don’t tend to be political here. So forgive the intrusion of the physical and political world into the spiritual.

(SoapBox-On)
There is a lot of coverage in the media right now about Edward Snowden. He exposed the NSA for spying on america. Regardless of what else he has done, is doing and will do, he appears to have been true to himself and his beliefs. Regardless of how he did it, as inconvenient as it may have been for the government, he has given a gift to the American people. Truth and Transparency.

The main stream seems to be focused more on holding him accountable and less on holding the government accountable for this violation of our personal freedom and rights. I wish more people would stand up and be true to what they believe in. We’re all in this together.
(SoapBox-Off)

When there is a truth in your life that needs to be spoken or acted upon the consequences are not always pleasant. But being on earth and experiencing life as a human is not always pleasant.

I believe one of our goals here on this planet is honing and refining your spiritual body through lessons and practice, over and over again. One of these lessons is authenticity. When we live a lie or hide from our truth we are weakened and are not being authentic.

This is a long term lesson in many cases. It can take years to even become aware that you are out of sync with your truth. The practice of awareness leads to awareness of many things. And this cascades into challenges that you were not aware you had to meet. the first challenge is becoming aware that there is a challenge.

Working in a job for 20 years because it’s convenient, even though the stress is slowly killing you and squashing your soul is inauthentic. This is a challenge I’ve personally faced and now that I’ve both become aware of it and found there is another way to live, I continually struggle to pull myself out of the old pattern and set the new pattern into motion.

From the prospective of the whistle blowers of the world, we should appreciate the authenticity that they demonstrate to us. We are complex beings and all of our motivations are not always clear. But when you step out of your comfort and present your truth I believe the results for your spiritual growth are tremendous.

Namaste,

Kevin

Traffic control

Remember to Breathe

Posted on by kgoodman

Run, rabbit run. / Dig that hole, forget the sun, / And when at last the work is done / Don’t sit down it’s time to dig another one. – Pink Floyd – Breathe

 

There will always be something else that requires your attention. There will always be another hole to dig, another hill to climb.

 

Slow down.

 

Breathe.

 

Today find something in the world that you didn’t notice before.

Make a note that it is there. Observe it. Appreciate it. Don’t try to change it.

 

Namaste,

Kevin

bigstock-The-road-through-the-meadow-an-18874391

Overpass Anxiety

Posted on by kgoodman

overpass-anxiety

I had the opportunity recently to walk over a pedestrian overpass. 3 feet thick and 12 feet wide, concrete and steel suspended over a sea of automobiles traveling 80+ miles per hour. The overpass was suspended about 20 feet over the Eight lane highway as I made my way across. It’s exhilarating and a really neat perspective that you don’t normally get on cars.

 

I could not stop myself from feeling a little anxious.

 

As I stood on the overpass trying to identify my angst, I realized that my logical brain and my primitive brain were fighting each other.

 

Logically I was surrounded in a fenced in cage. You can not jump out. You can not fall out. The concrete is not going to collapse. The walkway had survived many years and even many earthquakes. I was safe.

 

My primitive brain on the other hand was freaking out.

 

“There are cars coming right at you!”, my reptile brain stated urgently.

 

“They look like they are going really fast!”, it insisted.

 

“Could we just speed up a bit and get to the other side?”, it began to plead.

 

“Why the hell are you just standing there?”, my reptile brain implored.

 

It is interesting, that after all these years of evolution our primary instincts are pretty locked in. They haven’t really been able to make the shift into our modern life. As recently as 100 years ago this experience would have been unusual, or even impossible, cars were just starting to become common.

 

So on one level, it is crucial that I allow for grace when relating to these parts of my brain. I can realize that I’m dealing with outdated software and expired survival mechanisms. Beyond grace, I can even step into gratitude. That part of my brain is simply trying to keep me alive. While it missed the nuance of my surroundings it has clearly identified a potential threat and it is just looking out for me.

 

This is one of those awareness moments that helps us to process emotions and instinct. It is useful to realize why your body is having a panic reaction when you are simply trying to take a walk in the modern world. We live in a world that is frequently perceived by our primitive minds as threatening. The world has changed too fast to expect these instincts, that are potentially millions of years old, to adapt.

 

These every day experiences can lead us to stress and anxiety that we are not even aware of on a conscious level. But the subconscious concerns raised by our primitive mind are very real and our body reacts in a very real way. Over time it takes a toll on us mentally and physically.

 

This is why it has become crucial for us to remember to take down time. This is why we need moments in silence away from the threats of the newly developing world. Your reptile brain has no clue what to do with a pedestrian overpass, or a Facebook news feed, or a glowing display that you hold in front of your eyes for 10 hours a day to keep on top of your email. This is why your body keeps telling you to take a break. So we sit down and pull out our phones and take a break… Not what your body was asking for.

 

Since our minds won’t be able to evolve and adapt to the world we’ve brought them into, perhaps we need to evolve our patterns and habits to take into account what our primitive brain needs. You’ll be glad you did. After all, you are really just doing yourself a favor. Now turn off your phone and go play in the grass.

Namaste,

Kevin

 

Somebody Else’s Problem

Posted on by kgoodman

SEP-Field-text

I was awoken to the sound of gushing water, it sounded like a geyser spraying out onto the road. My instincts kicked in, and I got out of bed and rushed to the window to see if I could identify the problem. I had heard this sound before at home, a broken sprinkler, but I was staying in someone else’s home. I got to the window and looked out, just as I suspected, a sprinkler head had broken off and was gushing out a geyser of water high into the air.

 

As I looked out and considered my options my logical brain awoke to meet up with my crisis brain. The mental conference call began.  I considered my options. As I assessed the situation I remembered that I was staying at my sister’s house and the sprinkler was on community property. There was no easy valve I could shut off. It wasn’t ‘my water’, it wasn’t even my sisters water. There was a home owners association to handle such a thing. In the middle of the night they wouldn’t even care. Nor did I have a way to reach them. I also reasoned that no one was being hurt by the geyser and that it could wait till morning. So really there was nothing I could do about it at the present moment. So I went back to bed. A few moments later I was fast asleep as the soothing sound of water splashing on pavement soothed my nerves and sent me off to dream land.

 

The remarkable thing about this story, to my mind, was my reaction of allowing it to not stress me. If it had been at my house, with my sprinkler I would have gone into a panic and rallied the troops (my dogs) we would have gone out and further assessed the situation. Gotten frustrated with the broken sprinkler, found a way to disable it, possibly have gone as far as fixing it (at 3am) and then spent the rest of the night agitated that I couldn’t sleep because I was so keyed up on adrenaline.

 

This to me was notable because in both cases it would have been mostly the same situation, but my perception of control and ownership would have caused me to escalate to a whole new level of alarm. My ability to handle the physical situation would have caused me to lose control of my mental situation. I can say this because I’ve been through it enough in the last few years to realize how I would have reacted, had I perceived the situation as “mine”.

 

Perhaps my stress reaction is just part of the  burden of ownership. It appears that I can handle situations just as well, if not better, if I perceive myself as being the assistant or an extra, instead of being the lead character. Allowing myself to become a supporting actor instead of the star of the show could actually enable me to live a more relaxed and burden free life.

 

Perhaps it will aid in my efforts not to be a control freak in other areas of my life… Well, maybe.

 

I read Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy, when I was in high school. One of my favorite parts was the S.E.P. field. There was a spaceship on earth parked right next to a large public area, but nobody was seeing it. The reasoning was, that it was hidden by an S.E.P. field (Somebody Else’s Problem). This distortion field caused the viewer to not see the ship when looking at it directly. You had to view it out of the corner of your eye. If you caught a glimpse and then tried to look at it directly it would simply disappear again.

 

I believe it is a valuable concept to apply to my life. I tend to take on everything that comes my way. I end up wasting a great deal of energy trying to deal with things I don’t even need to deal with. I need to learn when to apply an S.E.P. field, so I can see past these distractions to the things that actually matter.

 

Now, to learn the skill about when it’s appropriate to apply these fields and when to keep paying attention. I guess that’s a lesson for another time. Remember, don’t sweat the small stuff!

 

Namaste,

Kevin