Tag Archives: Wholeness

AWAKENING TO RELATIONSHIPS: INTEGRITY, Part 3

Posted on April 3, 2013 | 2 Comments

“Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships.  Asking for what you want and need from others.  Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension.  Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values.  Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe.”   Barbara De Angelis

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Do you have integrity?  In all situations or just some?  On what beliefs do you base your integrity?  Do you act with integrity when you know it will create difficulties?

Integrity is the third element in what I call the essentials for a good relationship of any kind.  The elements I’ve already written about are empathy and intimacy, and I’ll conclude the series next week with the topic of commitment.

Integrity Strengthens Trust and Love

Integrity is usually defined as being true to your moral or ethical principles, so it has meaning only when it is coupled with a belief system.  In a relationship, acting with integrity can create trust and strengthen love because you learn you can depend on the other person to act in accordance with their values.  This, of course, assumes that you are in a relationship with someone whose values are compatible with yours.

Integrity Begins With Being True To Your Self

I like Barbara De Angelis’ quote because it covers several important aspects of integrity, mainly the idea that we must be true to ourselves if we are to be true to others.  That’s where it starts—being true to yourself.  Only then can you be true to others.  When we always try to please others to the extent that we go against our own values or harm ourselves, we are out of integrity.

What Is Integrity In A Relationship

Years ago, I was in a relationship with a man whom I deeply loved.  We were both creative people and that bound us in a spiritual way that was very powerful.  But over and over, to be with him, I made choices that were not good for me financially.  One time, I cashed out a life insurance policy so I had the money to spend an extended amount of time with him to see if we could live together.  At the time, I was unemployed, but a month before I was to leave to see him, I was offered a good job and I turned it down.  I put the relationship first.

Our relationship had always been off and on because he was afraid of commitment although he clearly loved me, and when things were good between us, they were very good.  But in this case, I had sacrificed my security by turning down a job to be with him and expected him to understand I would need to get work.  He kept insisting that I needed to create my own business and not work for any institution.  He was self-employed and had no respect for people who worked for institutions.

I had tried to be self-employed, but I didn’t have the financial resources he did, so I had to work for other people.  He had a fit over this.  While he was true to his values, he had no respect for my needs—a not unusual dilemma in relationships.  The situation disintegrated from there.  I asked for his understanding and didn’t get it.

At this point, I realized I was settling for a lot less than I deserved.  Clearly, his set of values and mine were not compatible.  I didn’t feel I should have to sacrifice my financial security to be with him, and he couldn’t afford to take care of me, nor did I want him to.  But I was not taking care of myself and I didn’t feel good about that.  However much I disliked the choices this man made in relation to me, he was being true to his own belief system, no matter how selfish I may have judged it.  It became clear that he would not change anything in order to be with me.  At that point, I finally had the sense to walk away.

Being True To Ourselves Empowers Us

What became very clear to me was that, by speaking my mind and not sacrificing what I needed in a relationship, I felt more empowered, although it created conflict.  I found the courage to be more of who I was and committed to living with more integrity in relationships.  I could not live with someone who felt he would be out of integrity in order to meet my needs.

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Integrity Is The Core For Decision-making

Living with integrity helps us to respect ourselves even when it creates difficulty, but without it, we lack an inner core from which to make decisions.  On the other hand, we also need to look at our value system.  Does it allow us to live with integrity and relate to others in a loving and caring way?  Most of us want to be in a relationship in order to share in a deep and loving way, and that may require some compromises.

Relationships Require Compromise

The question is always: what can you compromise and still be true to yourself?  Some couples want to keep the peace no matter what they have to do because they are afraid to explore what is hidden and unknown.  The problem with hiding ourselves is that we can never be loved for who we really are because our partner never knows who we are.  It may never dawn on us that our partner might love us more if they knew who we truly were.

The Value Of Shared Values

It’s not a choice I would make.  I want the person I’m in a relationship with, even in just a friendship, to know who I really am and show me who he really is.  I want the relationship to have integrity based on a shared set of values, and if the price we pay is to disagree sometimes, so be it.  Disagreements hopefully lead to a discussion that leads to a deeper understanding of each other and enriches the relationship.  Besides, making up can be a lot of fun.  It’s all good.

Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                     ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  Selling Out: Compromising Integrity in Intimate Relationships,  Integrity in Relationships, Trust Your Inner Self – Wayne Dyer, A Lesson on Integrity from Gandhi

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AWAKENING TO GOOD HEALTH

Posted on February 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

“To enjoy true health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind.  If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will come to him.”  Buddha

English: Holistic health, body, mind, heart, soul

I wanted to write today about the connection between body and mind and good health, but when I read back over a previous post, “Body and Soul As One,” I decided to repost it because, at the moment, I feel it says everything I want to say.  When we love ourselves, we take care of all parts of ourselves:  body, mind and soul.  And when we are ill, we need to take care of the mind, body, and soul.  Even science is now proving this connection exists.

The Body As Container For The Soul

One of the problems I’ve often had with traditional religion is the way it describes the body as a lesser part of our being.  The body is, after all, the container for our soul.  If we didn’t need it in some cosmic sense, we wouldn’t have it.  At this stage in our spiritual journey, we are experiencing a physical life because we need to learn lessons we can only learn by being in a physical body.

If we embrace the idea of wholeness or oneness, then we have to acknowledge that all parts of ourselves are sacred.  Living in a body offers us infinite opportunities to learn.  As a child, I had many illnesses including one that left me with a heart murmur which I out grew by the time I was twelve.  I missed those early carefree years of life that others remember with joy.  What I remember is lying in bed alone reading and designing paper doll dresses, feeling weak and shy and inadequate when we played softball at school and never learning to ride a bicycle.  I remember having a friend or two but never feeling part of a group because so many group activities were too strenuous.

 Awakening The Body And Soul

As a result of this childhood experience, I developed two interests: good health and creativity which I later developed through dance and writing.  Staying healthy became a priority in my life.  As a young adult I began to search for the answers that would allow me to become stronger and stay in good health.  My love of dance was not just about expressing myself creatively.  It was about building muscles on my skinny frame to become strong.  It was also about the mind/body connection.  Having rejected traditional religion by this time, I found that dancing brought me joy and touched my spirit.  At times, dancing was transcendent, my body seemed to fall away and I was all spirit.

Each physical challenge has been a teacher.  Around 1976, I studied with an amazing dancer, Erick Hawkins during a summer dance program at American University.  Having studied Eastern philosophy and anatomy and kinesiology, he had created a modern dance technique that trained the body gently, working with the pelvis as the center of the body, and teaching us to respect our own bodies.

Hawkins in El Penitente, 1930s

Hawkins in El Penitente, 1930s (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But that summer, I was in distress, and despite Hawkins’ peaceful way, I made a decision I would regret.  I injured one foot simply walking across campus, adding more pain to the tendinitis slowly healing in the other foot.  I was in a dance company and had a performance coming up.  We were short on dancers; I couldn’t disappoint the director.  So, I demanded that my doctor give me cortisone shots which he did, going against his own better judgment.

When I danced, my feet were numb; I couldn’t feel the floor, but somehow I got through the performance.  Afterwards, as I rested and healed over several weeks, I realized I had committed a terrible act of aggression against myself.  I’d somehow crossed a line I’d never crossed before and was willing to abuse myself in order not to disappoint others. This was clearly a signal that something was very wrong with my thinking.  I realized at that moment that I couldn’t stop thinking about the reverence with which Hawkins treated the body even in training.  As I thought about Hawkins and the reverence he had taught us to have for our own bodies, I realized he had been my spiritual teacher that summer.

 Loving Ourselves With Good Health

This experience made me realize that I needed to learn to love myself.  I had created unnecessary suffering and my soul ached. Dance taught me about one aspect of taking care of my body, but other experiences taught me about a healthy diet.  When I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I found a doctor of integrated medicine who taught me how to use food and supplements to heal. What I learned from him has continued to serve me well over the years to support my immune system, keep my blood sugar level, and sustain a level of energy that creates a feeling of well-being.

It is difficult to enjoy life when we don’t feel well, and while it is important to take care of our minds and soul, taking care of the body is sacred work too.  To deny the body’s needs is just as detrimental to our well-being as ignoring our spiritual or emotional needs.  Although I am middle aged, I’m actually healthier than I’ve ever been, and I believe that is because, in addition to taking care of my spiritual life, I have cared for my body, this precious container for my precious soul.

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 Do you want life to be a dance or a drag?

We have a choice and it’s an important one.  Caring for our bodies makes it possible to do things that feed the soul like walking in the forest, dancing until dawn or jogging through the early morning air with your daughter.  What are you willing to do to make your body and soul one?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Articles:  Erick Hawkins, Dancing to Our Imperfections, The Mind Body Connection –  Health is a State of Mind, Mind Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health

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AWAKENING TO ALL THE LOVE

Posted on February 13, 2013 | 2 Comments

“Love is a state of Being.  Your love is not outside; it is deep within you.  You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.”  Eckhart Tolle

Malaprop's Book Signing

Malaprop’s Book Signing

When I think of love, I have to remind myself that it comes in many forms.  There’s the romantic version with roses and champagne, kisses and hugs.  There’s the long-lasting, deeper love that allows one to accept and solve the real problems that always arise in life and stay together over time.  There’s the love of friendship and community, of being there for each other for fun and support.  There’s the spiritual love that puts us in touch with something greater than ourselves, greater than anything we can find on the physical plane.  There’s love of mankind that motivates us to become involved with helping those who have less than we do.  There’s also the self-love that allows us to accept ourselves, be the best we can be, and see our mistakes as learning opportunities, not has a reason to condemn ourselves.

A Different Valentine’s Day

Last Friday, I read from my memoir Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville.  It felt like Valentine’s Day, for the room was full of friends, acquaintances and strangers.  Some were there just to support my writing efforts; some were there because they were curious about the story; others were there just because we love each other.  Robin, who introduced me, made me sound like a celebrity.  The audience was wonderfully responsive and asked great questions.  It was fun to use my dramatic skills to interpret literature publicly – especially since it was my own creation, and I could see immediately the audience’s response to what I had written.

Malaprop's Signing 002

Surrounded by Loving Friends

Among my friends were several who have seen me through all kinds of challenges, especially the most difficult one, two years ago, when a love relationship ended.  The pain overwhelmed me, but the constant flow of warm hugs and kind words helped me remember who I really was—a loving and loved woman.  How they put up with my tears and lengthy sad stories I don’t know—actually I do know—they are incredibly loving people.  Even if they thought my book was horrible, which they don’t, they would have come to this event because they know how much it took for me to complete it and put it out into the world.  And they know that I hope that what I’ve learned will help someone else create a happier life.

Real Love Connects With Spirit

When I read Eckhart Tolle’s quote on love, I started searching for some articles and videos to share.  In some of these writings, he points out that our love is often ego-based, but it is real love only when the transcendent becomes a part of it.  He says, “Love becomes a source of suffering when the transcendental is missing.”  Hmm.…So I’ve gathered some articles and videos by him because I think his work is so important for us to understand.

English: Head-shot of Eckhart Tolle from direc...

I’ve also written a lot about love this year and if you missed any of these posts, I’ve listed them for you.  So, instead of doing a new post, I want to ask you to do this:  look over the links below, trust your intuition, and when you feel drawn to one, look at it.  It may be just what you need to hear today.

Love

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Remember we are all lovers.  We don’t need anyone to complete us although it is always nice to share our love.  Let the love within you fill your day.  You are Love!

© 2013 Georganne Spruce                                                                 ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

 RELATED ARTICLES on Eckhart Tolle:  Relationships: True Love and the Transcendence of Duality, Eckhart Tolle – One-Sided Love Relationship – Video, Real Love Doesn’t Make You Suffer, Eckhart on Personal Love

RELATED BLOG POSTS: Awakening to Love Ourselves, Receiving Love, Awakening to Love the World, Part I, Awakening to Love the World, Part II, Diversity, Awakening to Love the World, Part III, Cooperation, Awakening to the Healing Dance: Feel the Love

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WE ARE ALL ONE

Posted on December 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Daisy's first days 032

May your holiday be filled with peace, love, and joy!

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AWAKENING TO WHOLENESS

Posted on December 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

Dear readers, If there are inconsistencies in my blog, please excuse them.  Each time I preview it, what appears is different.  The post page keeps changing what I have put on.  such is the technical world.  Look carefully for the words with links.  They are not holding the blue color.

“I now have a view of spirituality I didn’t have before.  It’s a more integrated spirituality where wholeness is experienced throughout the entirety of our lives.  I now believe that separation of sacred and mundane is hurting our civilization more than helping.”  Dr. Amit Goswami

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Do you feel whole within or do you always feel something is missing?  If you feel whole, how did that come about?  Are you able to express it in your mundane life?

The End Is The Beginning

Today is 12-12-12.  Some identify it as the end of the Mayan calendar and the end of an era.  Some believe it’s the end of the world.  But one truth stands out above all the theories for me.  Every ending is a beginning.  We are leaving behind a life totally centered on rationality and patriarchal values.  This change is a beautiful opportunity to balance and find wholeness within ourselves and our world.

Making the SHIFT

I’ve  pointed out that we need to move from competition to cooperation, but today, I want to look at another split we need to heal and this integrated approach to spirituality is beautifully described in an article “Endless Emergent Possibilities:  Spirituality +Science =SHIFT!” by Kathy Young in the December issue of Science of Mind Magazine.

For many of the years I was a dancer, my spirituality came from the transcendence I experienced while dancing or creating dances.  I felt the same thing when I wrote poetry.  In those moments, I was (and still am) in touch with something greater than myself.  Athletes would call this being in the “zone.”  In those moments we go beyond the physical body to a place where there are no boundaries and no limitations.

Integrating Sacred and Mundane

In the article, Dr. Goswami states, “We see that anytime we have a creative feeling, we are engaging with the sacred.  It makes much more sense to abolish the separation and recognize that the sacred is the creative, and to actively invite that into every activity in everyday life.”  Artists and writers understand this although they may not necessarily label it as sacred.

Valuing the rational above all else has limited our development as human beings.  There are always times when we need to think rationally.  It allows us to organize, focus, and act.  It is a valuable trait, but it is only one aspect of mind power.  To be whole, we need to embrace the rational and emotional, the mundane and the spiritual, and the masculine and the feminine in each of us.  The Tao symbol is the perfect visual image of the balance we need to achieve, for the yin and the yang are intertwined.

Religion has given us an image of the sacred that is controlled by rules and the idea that we must transcend this earthly plane to become spiritual.  But when we find the spiritual wholeness at our centers, it is not limited by man’s definitions of what we should be.  Our mundane and sacred aspects become One and we experience a beautiful freedom that opens the mind.  As the mind opens more, we can accommodate new ideas and new visions.

Education Must Include Creativity

One of the worst things we have done in our society is to remove creative classes from our schools.  Art develops spatial awareness.  Music develops mathematical awareness.  Dance develops spatial and kinesthetic awareness.  Being involved with theater productions develops so many talents, I can’t list them all—all the above and psychological understanding of character, empathy, and how to take different elements and integrate them into a whole.

It’s no surprise that our most amazing business people are the most creative ones.  What if we started encouraging creativity in all areas of life and rewarded those who came up with new ideas?

Living Enlightenment On Earth

This morning I read an article that describes so perfectly what I am saying and what Dr. Goswami is suggesting about integrating the sacred and mundane.  On the Biltmore Estate, they are growing canola plants.  They will be harvested and the oil will be sold to local restaurants.  The left-over leaves will be fed to cattle.  After the restaurants use the oil, it will be recycled into biodiesel fuel to run the machinery on the farm.  Brilliant!

If we encourage and allow people to become the naturally creative beings they are, we can truly save the world because that creativity can take us to that realm where all the answers reside.  We don’t need to transcend this earthly plane to achieve enlightenment.  We just need to learn to live enlightened lives right here, right now and change our world so that we are all whole, healthy, and respect all life.  Bringing the sacred and the mundane together can heal all our lives.

© 2012 Georganne Spruce                                                             ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Online Interview with Georganne: Dames of Dialogue

Related Articles:  What is Quantum Activism? With Dr. Amit Goswami, Scientific Proof of the Existence of God,  The Divine Feminine and Sacred Sexuality

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AWAKENING TO COMMUNITY

Posted on November 28, 2012 | Leave a comment
Writer's Stop

Writer’s Stop (Photo credit: Stephh922)

“Some people think they are in community, but they are only in proximity.  True community requires commitment and openness.  It is a willingness to extend yourself to encounter and know the other.”  David Spangler

Are you part of a community, personally or professionally?  What does it offer you that you value?

My blog post today is a bit different.  Recently, Brad Swift, a member of my writing community, tagged me for a blog tour, The Next Big Thing—my very first!  The way it works is that a writer answers questions about her/his next book (or one recently published), tags five other writers and passes it on.  The next week those writers do the same thing, so it’s a great way for writers to connect with a larger audience.

I love this idea because it’s about community.  As I’ve often written, one of the major world shifts we need to make is from competition to community.  That’s why I’m grateful to be living in a town where writers are a community and the writers I’ve tagged below are a part of that.  We’re here to support and help each other so that we are all successful.  It’s a great way to live, so check out these special people at the bottom of my answers.

What is the title of your latest book?  Awakening to the Dance:  A  Journey to Wholeness which I published in June 2012.  

Where did the idea come from for the book?  I never planned to write a memoir, but ten years ago when I was out of work and had reached a point with a novel that I couldn’t get past, a woman suggested to me that I’d lived an interesting life in an interesting time and should write about it.  Desperately needing a new project, I began reading my journals from the 1960’s to the present.  As I began writing, the process of exploring my past was spiritually transforming and became part of the story.

What genre does your book fall under?  It’s a memoir.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  I’d love for Kiera Knightley to play me.  Kevin Costner would be perfect for Neal.  Judy Dench would be perfect for my mother.  Of course the book spans about 40 years, but I’ll let the director solve that problem.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness is the inspirational story of a woman’s search for her true identity apart from society’s expectations, her commitment to following her passions of dance and writing, her desire to find a soul mate, and the gift she receives by integrating spirituality into her life.

Was your book self-published or represented by an agency?  I published the ebook through  Kindle and Pubit and the paperback through Create Space.  It’s available on all three and on Amazon.com.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?  I took almost ten years to write the book.  I was teaching full-time, and I have no idea how long it took to complete the first draft.  I probably spent at least two years just picking and choosing the most important stories.  Then I had to pare those down and focus the story more on the main theme.  I did extensive rewriting for several years because the book was originally too long.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Every story is unique, but my guess is that any memoir written by a woman who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s would have similar themes.  It’s not about abuse or alcohol and drug addictions as many memoirs are. Of course, part of it could be called a “dance memoir” but even that part focuses on how dance increased my mind/body connection and contributed to my spiritual awareness that we are all One.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  I realized that I had used many practices, such as meditation, affirmations, chakra balancing, and releasing my fear, that dramatically changed my life for the better.  When I was younger, I had no idea it was possible to live mostly free from fear, so I wanted to inspire others so that they could create the lives they desire and be free from fear.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?  During the 1960s and 1970s when I was a modern dancer, the entire art world was experimental, breaking all the old rules and supporting authentic expression.  It was a fascinating time.

In everyday life, men and women were struggling with the male and female stereotypes that no longer served us.

The book also has a strong love theme. I write about several major relationships with men all of whom were very powerful forces in my life.  In one way or another, each helped me grow and explore the nature of love.  But loving oneself and spiritual love are also themes that run throughout my story.

Please take a look at these fascinating writer friends:

Debra Lloyd, Trey Carland, John Waterman ,Celia Miles

What does your community mean to you?  Please comment.

 ©2012 Georganne Spruce                                                                         ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

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AWAKENING TO YOUR HEROISM

Posted on October 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

“Insights from myths, dreams, and intuitions, from glimpses of an invisible reality, and from perennial human wisdom provide us with hints and guesses about the meaning of life and what we are here for. Prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action are the means through which we grow and find meaning.”   Jean Shinoda Bolen

Recently I prepared a presentation on “Are You the Hero or Heroine in Your Own Life.”  I’d been thinking about the hero’s journey as presented in Joseph Campbell’s work, and in many ways I could relate to this archetypal male journey.  I chose not to live a traditional woman’s life in many ways and went out into the world, primarily to become a dancer and follow my passion.

The Heroine’s Journey to Wholeness

But with so many years of living behind me now, I realize that the pattern of my journey was different, and a friend recommended I read A Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock.  I don’t know how I could have missed this book, but it was amazing.  As I read it, I felt I was reading about my own life and particularly my journey as I presented it in my memoir Awakening to the Dance: A Journey to Wholeness.  On the cover of Murdock’s book, it is described as “a woman’s quest for wholeness.”  Well, no wonder I could relate to it.

We Are All Heroes and Heroines In Our Own Lives

The concept that I emphasized in my presentation was the idea that we are all heroes or heroines in our own lives.  In both the male and female journey, we go out into the world at some point and experience a series of trials in trying to achieve our goal.  Both the trials and achievement of the goal (or boon) test us in many ways.  Even when we achieve our goal, we have to face the disconcerting feeling deep inside that makes us ask, “Now what do I do?

Male and Female Journeys Are Different

In Campbell’s masculine journey, the hero must take what he has learned or gained back into the normal world, integrate it into life and share it with the world.  It may be spiritual wisdom, a new technological discovery, or simply a new understanding of some issue in his life.

In Murdock’s description of the feminine journey, the heroine, who may have had to subdue some of her feminine traits, develops her masculine attributes in order to achieve her goal in the world.  This causes the mother/daughter split, which may not be an actual split with her mother but with herself.  She must reconnect her feminine side, heal the masculine within that is also out of balance, and integrate both aspects within.  And to be balanced, she must learn to take care of herself as well as care for others, an aspect of life that challenges many women.

Beyond the Goal Is Integration and Sharing

This ability to learn from life and share what we learn with others is, to me, the key and most important aspect of the journey.  Through our trials we learn valuable lessons.  We expand our lives and our spirits when we share what we have learned and that contributes to the sense of community we so much need to create and grow.

I do believe we are all heroes and heroines when we feel called in some way and follow that call.  Whether or not we meet society’s standard of success is not what is important.  It is what we do with what we learned on the journey that matters.  Does it uplift us or the people around us?  Does it make us more whole?  Even if we have not achieved what we hoped, can we see that our attempt was heroic?

Dealing With “Failure”

After I left my university job in Nebraska because I could not live with the extreme cold, I looked for another full-time university position for several years without finding one.  As each year passed, I felt more and more like a failure although I had limited the places I was willing to live, thereby limiting the possibilities.

In the meantime, I found several studios or colleges where I could teach one or two classes of dance.  It was scary to be self-employed, but it pushed me to learn about publicity and tax issues and to expand the range of what I taught.  I became more creative, teaching a class to help people learn how to see and learn movement and another class created to help musicians develop more body awareness.  I took a part-time job at an art school to create a financial base.

Most of all, I learned I could survive without “a job,” and that tremendously increased my self-confidence.  I learned to take care of myself in a way I never had before. Instead of feeling like a failure, I eventually began to feel like the heroine in my own life because I did something I didn’t know I could do.  Like the hero, I answered a call, overcame the challenges, and became more whole and confident as a result.  In doing so, I was able to share my passion with others and hopefully inspire them.

Every person’s journey is unique.  What seems like a simple task to me may be a huge accomplishment to you.  Every time I see someone without legs competing in a race, I am in awe.  In fact, I am also in awe of most parents.  Helping form another human being is complex, messy, and beautiful.  That much I’ve learned just from teaching.  I certainly think my mother was a hero, for my brother had polio and I had a heart murmur most of my childhood.  Just keeping us alive and growing toward health was an amazing achievement.

So, make a list.  What are all the heroic things you have done and are doing in your life?  What about all the things you’ve done that you didn’t think you could do, but because you had to do them, you did?  And if you can’t find anything you think is heroic, go deeper and give yourself more credit for the things you have done.

© 2012 Georganne Spruce                                                     ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  Urgent message to Mother (Earth) – Jean Shinoda Bolen  (video), The Hero, Heroine and Writer’s Journey,  Meet Maureen Murdock

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AWAKENING TO SPREAD GRATITUDE

Posted on October 3, 2012 | 1 Comment

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”  William Arthur Ward

What are you grateful for this week?  Have you expressed your gratitude to those who have been generous to you?

Accepting Transformation

It is fall again and the sound of acorns falling from the oaks onto my roof is an on-going percussive song.  There are plenty this year, and the squirrels will become so fat they’ll look like the little stuffed animals at the nature store.  The dogwoods and maples are already turning hot pink, red and yellow, foreshadowing the blaze of color that will blanket the mountains in a few weeks.

This is my favorite time of year.  The air cools to the perfect temperature for hiking and art walks.  I begin turning inward preparing for the transformation into winter.  Much is changing in my life and I am so grateful.  The “Releasing Your Fear” workshops that I do are expanding and I now have two more scheduled.  I have posted more information on my workshops page.

Receiving Gratitude Is A Gift

I had a booth at a networking fair last weekend at Crystal Visions and had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people who are light workers and artists.  They raffled off one of my books, and the woman who received it emailed me to say how grateful she was.  She knew receiving it was in Divine Order and she looked forward to what she would learn from it.

Grateful—that is the word that comes to mind today.  I am so grateful that I am at last doing the work I really want to do and that my gifts are helping others.  After spending years working to release my fears and through that process freeing myself to believe what I have to teach will help people, I am now able to facilitate this growth in others.  As I hear the individual stories of the way this work is benefitting those who attend the workshops, I am reminded about why this is so important.  It can remarkably change our individual lives, but it can do more than that.

Releasing Our Fear to Empower Others

It is impossible to ignore the political crisis in this country.  The real crisis is not really the economy.  It is the inability of our leaders to work together because they are afraid that they will give the other side an advantage.  It is their fear of losing their power that undermines their ability to solve the country’s problems in wise and equitable ways.  Because this fear is so dominant in their minds, it blocks their ability to think clearly and act in the best interest of all.

So, the energy we put out into the world can change this.  The more we can release our fears, the more we can experience love and joy and think clearly to find reasonable solutions to our problems.  We need to look around us and support what is good and working well and the people who are making that happen.  Tell them how much you appreciate them.

The Power of Gratitude to Uplift

Among the many things for which I am grateful this week is a letter I received from someone I’ve known for years and who is aware of my workshops, writing and the other work I do within the community of which we are both a part.  Although we have always respected each other, I had no idea that he appreciated the way I think, that he thought my comments in a particular setting were “rich and fertile.”   What a wonderful gift this letter was!

So I encourage you to do what my friend did.  For whom are you grateful?  Write that letter and lay it out in clear language.  Let someone in your life know what you value about them today.  It could transform their life.  It will certainly transform their day.

© 2012 Georganne Spruce                                                     ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

  Related articles:   Managing Your Fears – Eckhart Tolle Video

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AWAKENING TO SEE OURSELVES HONESTLY

Posted on September 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”  Pema Chödrön 

Do you know who you really are?  Do you like who you really are?  Are you willing to take responsibility and look honestly at the changes you need to make?

Self-analysis is a difficult process.  When we look closely at ourselves we want to see the positive: the good we do, our loving qualities, and our accomplishments.  That, of course, is the easy part.  When we start to look at our less than sterling qualities, we usually experience anxiety and may shut down before we even have the courage to open the door.

We Must Look At Ourselves Honestly in Order to Grow

It isn’t very helpful to beat up on ourselves for all the mistakes we’ve made and all the things we don’t like about ourselves, but if we are to grow and become more the person we want to be, we must find the courage to look honestly at ourselves.  Doing this with gentleness, as Pema Chödrön suggests, is the most effective way.

The moment when we are forced to look at ourselves honestly may very well be the most important moment of our lives.  If we are unable to be honest with ourselves, we will not be able to be honest with others because there will always be something we need to hide.   If we are willing to look at the dark and unpleasant side of who we are, then we have opened a door to changing and healing.

It Takes Courage to Make Changes

It takes courage to walk through that door.  Our greatest fear is that, if we change, the people we care about in our lives may stop loving us.  But if we are hiding who we really are, those people can’t love who we truly are; they can only love who we pretend to be.  The idea that we are being loved for who we are is a sham.

Many people in our culture take drugs to hide the pain of not living honestly.  Drugs mask our anxiety or depression and give us the illusion that we are all right.  I once had a friend who was always in conflict with her family; they had very different values.  She took medication for depression and would periodically stop taking it, but she would soon become depressed.  Having spent time being depressed myself, I shared with her the things I did to combat it.  My diet was healthy, balanced, low in sugar and alcohol, and I ate at regular intervals to keep the blood sugar balanced.  I also exercised every day.  I meditated frequently and monitored my negative thinking, reframing thoughts that did not need to be negative ones into positive thoughts to lift my vibration.  Was my friend willing to try any of this?  No? She thought the spiritual stuff was silly, and she tried to eat healthy, but…  In fact, I saw virtually no evidence that she was willing to do anything to change her life.

Love All of Who You Are

The truth is that all the negative aspects of ourselves that we stuff down and hide away cause anxiety, disease and fear.  How can we ever really feel good about ourselves if there are parts of us we must always hide?  Religion has taught many people that they are worthless unless they follow certain rules or that loving oneself is selfish, but in Christianity, the great teacher was Jesus who said, “Love others as you love yourself.”  So, how can we love others if we cannot love ourselves?  If we cannot forgive ourselves our shortcomings, how can we forgive others theirs?

Nurture the Child Within

Healthy parents love their children even when they misbehave.  They encourage their children to tell them the truth, and those children learn that there may be consequences when they admit they’ve behaved badly, but they will still be loved if they tell the truth.  We need to accept ourselves in the same way and tell ourselves the truth.  We cannot grow emotionally unless we are willing to take full responsibility for who we are.  We must nurture that wounded child within who is so afraid no one will love it if they learn who she/he really is.

Change Can Bring a New and Better Life

What I know for sure is that life changes.  As we change and grow, life adapts.  Sometimes, the greatest heartbreak turns out to be the most profound lesson we could ever learn.  Then that lesson leads us in a new direction where we are able to find new friends and a new life that support who we really are.  It is even possible that some of the people who love us now may still love us through the changes.

Steve Marboli said, “There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a person being themselves.  Imagine going through your day being unapologetically you.”

What are you willing to do today to become more of who you truly are?

© 2012 Georganne Spruce                                                ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

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AWAKENING TO OUR GENIUS

Posted on September 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

“Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.”  Buckminster Fuller

How many times have you been told your brilliant idea was foolish?  How often are your child’s creative ideas disregarded at school?  How often is an innovative idea ignored by those in power?

Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I attended a play last week about Buckminster Fuller, the genius who created many structures based on the geodesic dome.  He was a man with fascinating ideas, including the idea that humanity would someday use renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, and the idea that we have the technology to feed all people on the planet.  Does this sound familiar?  He was a man dedicated to discovering what one individual could do to help humanity.  He died in 1983.

Genuises Follow Their Passion

I’ve always been drawn to Fuller although I don’t understand many of his theories, but like many geniuses he lived out his passion without succumbing to the pressures of being “normal.”  He also taught at Black Mountain College, near where I live, where the innovative choreographer Merce Cunningham spent some summers.  They both had a passion related to the use of space.

Monet, the Impressionist painter, was full of passion like Fuller.  Nothing could stop him.  Despite poverty, war, and the lost of his wife, his soulmate, he continued to paint, even in the bitter cold of winter, no matter how many times his paintings were rejected.  And because of that we now can experience the joy of viewing his paintings where light and shadow play in ways no painter before him had ever captured.

Monet Impression Soleil Levant

Monet Impression Soleil Levant (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

Following Your Passion Leads to New Insights

So what really constitutes genius?  Fuller also said, “I’m not a genius.  I’m just a tremendous bundle of experience.”  There’s no doubt that experience makes it possible for us to understand and create more because we develop more skills.  But I think what constitutes a genius is one who has a vision and follows it relentlessly.  That passion to discover and understand pushes us beyond the normal limits of human curiosity, and it is there, beyond reality, that we discover what no one has seen before.

After seeing Fuller’s story, I was left with this thought.  How many of the young geniuses in our schools are we losing?  Does anyone notice the quiet kid doodling in the back of the room when we celebrate athleticism and extraversion above all else?

Do We Encourage the Geniuses in Our Schools?

For several years, I taught gifted high school students in the New Orleans Public Schools.  These students had IQ’s of 130 and above.  I also taught in a small town in New Mexico and in other school systems there.  I substituted in North Carolina schools as well.  What I observed in these schools in contrast to what I saw in the private schools where I had taught in my early teaching years was shocking.

The students in the public schools did not see themselves as being capable of meeting any but the lowest standards.  They often had difficulty getting into college or technical schools because, despite their intelligence, they didn’t believe they were capable of much or simply lacked basic skills.  In some instances, they were so bored that they made little effort, or they hid their intelligence in order to fit in with their peers.  And no teacher dared challenge the status quo because they were afraid of being fired by administrators who wanted to keep everything within the safety of “the box.”

We Need to Love Intelligence

Fuller believed that all children were born brilliant, but that education and society destroyed their creativity.  I’m afraid I tend to agree.  We are obsessed with conformity and were particularly obsessed with it in the 1950s when I was growing up.  I was told many times that the creative things I wanted to do were inappropriate for me.  I was supposed to get married and have kids, not have a career, not design dresses or become a doctor.

Although I hope we are past the sexist attitudes of an earlier time, I feel that extremely intelligent and “nerdy” kids are facing a huge challenge.  They are often the ones who are bullied.  They are often ignored or their unusual ideas are laughed at.  They are often not socially at ease.  But they are also the ones like Steve Wozniak who may create the technology we need to save the planet.

We are facing a critical point in our development as a human race.  We need everyone’s creative ideas to solve the problems that face us, and our educational system and attitudes need to change to respect those with innovative and unusual ideas.  The development of new technology that will allow us to save the planet and feed the hungry requires two things:  creative thinking and technical skill.  Learning these skills should be the priority in our schools, not learning how to give the right answers on standardized tests.

Spiritually Healing Ourselves Will Heal the Planet

So, what does this all have to do with spirituality?  Everything.  Unless we can be who we truly are, develop and experience the talents we bring to this earth, and share our talents with humanity, we cannot truly be whole.  Fuller was often ignored during his life and suffered many setbacks, but he always stayed true to who he was.

If we are to experience wholeness, we must not only heal the limitations in ourselves, but also heal what is wrong with our society.  We must learn to respect the diversity in each other, not just ethnically, but mentally as well.  Because, if we can learn to accept more diversity and new ideas, we may discover the geniuses who will save our world.

© 2012 Georganne Spruce                                     ZQT4PQ5ZN7F5

Related Articles:  Happy Birthday, Buckminster Fuller, Interview with Buckminster Fuller (video), (PLEASE READ THIS - Are We Failing Our Geniuses?

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