Bliss In These Troubled Times

There is a lot going on in our world right now. The one thing that is most likely on every one’s mind is the huge disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This catastrophe is beyond comprehension on many levels. The environmental devastation is monumental, we don’t even know the extent of it as the oil continues to gush into the ocean each day in absurd amounts. My heart cries regularly about it, as this human created nightmare wrecks havoc and chaos on the planet.

How do we stay centered in our bliss, connected to the joy and beauty of life around us, when such horrible events are happening? Maybe it’s not even something that is “over there”, maybe there is equal devastation happening in your life right now, somehow.

The last year has been a challenging one for me. This is what I learned, and shared at the conference, about staying in bliss in these troubled times:

• Bliss never leaves, We just forget that it is there.
• It is so important to reach out to others so we can be reminded of who we are.
• Feel your feelings. So many times I wanted to feel better, and I knew if I didn’t experience the grief, rage, and despair that there was no way I could truly understand the gift of bliss.
• Our thoughts are not the truth. During times of devastation it is natural for despairing and depressive thoughts to take control. However, at any time we can decide to think thoughts that bring us closer to bliss.
• Bliss is a choice. While bad things happen, they are not our life, they are just a part of it.
  

One of the ways that I deal with the Gulf disaster is to spend every morning in meditation and prayer, where I send love, healing, and light to the Gulf , and to all beings affected by it. Prayers go to the plankton, the swimmy ones, the creepy crawlies, the winged ones, and the 2 legged’s. I ask for forgiveness and accept my part in what is happening. I pray that the powers to be will awaken to more life affirming choices, stepping away from greed and the wounding of this amazing planet. I use bells, and incense, and song, whatever will carry my words on the wind to be received by the oneness that is all of us.

Choosing bliss does not mean ignoring the reality of what is going on around us. It is about choosing to not get stuck in the ugliness and wound-ology of it all. Pray, sing loud, take responsibility, and then enjoy the life that is in front of you today.

Blissful Busyness

Busy, I’m so busy, my head is spinning, yaa, yaa, yaa, I’m so busy! (Insert soundtrack from old Tommy Roe song.) Oh yes, it is a busy time! The Summer Sizzle time, when to do what you want to, and to have the fun you want to have, you must line all your little ducks up and get everything in place.

Is it possible to experience bliss when your head is spinning from details, organizing, and planning? Well, certainly. It’s possible to experience bliss anytime, you just have to choose it!!

Seriously, how can we stay grounded when we are running in many directions, with lots to do, and many other things we want to do? I suggest these 5 elements:

1) Get organized! If you are going to go camping a lot this Summer, get all your gear together in one place. Put stuff in totes so it’s easy to load and unload from the car. Buy special camping kitchen-ware etc., so it can always stay with the camping gear and there is less you have to put together each time you head out for a trip. This allows for spontaneous trips too.

2) Coordinate calendars with other family members, and make sure you mark off time for all those fun things you want to do. If you don’t make the time, the time will pass by.

3)Prioritize. What is most important for you to complete this week? What needs to happen for you to go away without worry and stress? What’s the one, or 3, things you really want to do this Summer? Make a list with 3 columns, with the headings Have To, Want To, and Hope To. In each of those columns prioritize again.

4) Remember to take down time for yourself. Get still. Be quiet. Spend 6 hours laying in a hammock. This personal rejuvenation time is important in maintaining groundedness and calm.

5) Have fun! Even if Uncle George gets sauced at the family picnic and throws Grandma in the pool, as long as everyone stays unharmed, just laugh and enjoy what will soon be precious memories. Laughter heals just about anything. Summer is so short. Play whenever you can.

My busyness has been preparing for the “Living Your Business Bliss” Womyn’s Business Conference coming up this Friday. I am the keynote speaker, and am offering some workshop sessions. It’s the first time I have had the honor of being a keynote speaker, and I am super excited! And nervous. So, it’s time for me to go play a little and burn some of that off!

~~Play Big~~Laugh Hard~~Live Your Bliss~~!!

In Honor of All Womyn

March observes International Women’s Day, a time of honoring how womyn before us have paved the way in creating a life where we as womyn are respected for our divine contribution to the world around us. Started as a way to honor the movement for women’s rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women, the celebration has now evolved, in my mind, to also include the honoring of our sacred feminine, that unique and divine quality that only womyn share.

It often passes without much fanfare in the mainstream media, at least here in the US, and few womyn that I know actually choose to find a way to celebrate it, or note it’s passing. In other countries it is a National Holiday, and men are encouraged to lavish the womyn in their lives, and womyn are encouraged to have womyn only celebrations. And, unfortunately, in still other countries, womyn are beaten for celebrating this day. Over the years I have done various things to bring awareness to this important event in the small community I live in, including an open mic night, a women’s movie night, sharing circles, ritual and ceremony. This year I am participating in an event that other local womyn are putting together.

A dear friend of mine, Damaris Margaret, many years ago started the All Woman’s Review-a diverse and eclectic gathering of amazing local womyn appearing on stage and sharing personal stories, poetry, song, dance and comedy. After a many year hiatus, when Damaris sadly moved out of town, Bisbee’s Obscure Productions is now reviving the Review this year. It’s going to be a fabulous, fun, entertaining and great night, and I am going to be reading 2 pieces. One is an original, and the other is a very powerful piece that has moved me deeply. I choose to be involved in this production to honor myself, to honor all the amazing and wonderful womyn in Bisbee, to honor Damaris, and to honor the divine holy feminine power.

This is my original piece I will be sharing… I will share the other piece next week (don’t want to  ruin it for those going to the event! ).

i am a womyn..

just trying to make my way

floating thru the minefields

of rape, abortion, abandonment

abuse and addiction

trying to make my way

on the path of

re-discovering my lost spirit

of yesteryear

reclaiming the lost child

that grew to fast, to hard

a painful time

of confusing intangible love

riding the waves

of adolescent-maiden storms

shipwrecked and sharkfood

i was a womyn just trying to find my way

back then

looking for love

in all the wrong places

seeking that valid connection

without knowing what

i was looking for

only that i had not found it

yet

now, i am a womyn

making my way

transforming the mine fields

into flowers

bringing beauty in gently

thru healing

marking each day

as a miracle

i am a womyn making my way

along this wonderous

path of life

with other womyn

by my side

wounded, beautiful, recovering

healing, strong womyn

standing powerful in all

we have been

all we are

and all we will be

becoming bigger and bolder

with each new day

discovering our authentic selves

our hidden spirits

our loving hearts

holding each other’s hands

holding each other up

with these womyn

i am a womyn

getting stronger

releasing the pain

embracing the beauty

making right choices

being healthy

i am a womyn

creating my way.

~margie scott~

6/16/05

This piece was inspired by my Mentor Retreat Coach Helene VanManen, when she wrote a piece of the same name, which honors the lineage of fine womyn she comes from. Why not create your own? Take some time to sit with who you are, then write a piece to share with the world. Post it here, and I will celebrate you!

I look forward to seeing local Bisbee folks this weekend at The Central School Project for The All Woman’s Review. For everyone else, I invite you to take a moment and honor the great womyn in your life, and if you are a womyn, to spend some time celebrating your incredible greatness.

Core Fundamentals for Living Bliss

I recently became inspired to consider what core fundamentals were operating in my life these days, and if they were appropriate for these times we currently find ourselves living in. I discovered that I needed to adjust my thinking in some areas to accommodate for the changes and to make way for continued success in my life and business. I realized that I had indeed been sucked into the fear of “things to come” and that this completely took me out of the present moment, and my ability to enjoy each moment for the wondrous gifts they are.

While there are a lot of things out there to be concerned about, and it is important to stay informed, we do not need to let any of it determine how we show up each day, nor do we need to let any of it ruin our individual bliss. We can lose material possessions, jobs and bank rolls, even relationships, but we don’t have to lose our spirit, our passion, our compassion, our connections with others or our spiritual path.
Knowing the core fundamentals that keep us inspired, hopeful, on track and present to each moment are touchstones to which we can return.

Take a moment to jot down 3-4 items, small catch phrases or affirmations, that provide a foundation for you. You may find, as I did, that you will re-access certain ideas or ways of being so that you can navigate more easily-this is the idea! Allow for these fundamental elements to flow forth from your authentic center-there are no should’s or have to’s here, only a desire to be more connected to the essence of your “Living Bliss”, whatever that is for you.

Here are my 4 core fundamentals that I am currently working with:

* Live with passion and joy
* Trust the process
* Be authentic
* Put yourself out there

What are some of your core fundamentals that can keep you happy and a float these days? I would love to hear what’s working for you.

The Key To Sustainability-Common Interest

Sustainability. What does it mean? What does it look like? More than just a buzzword, sustainability can be a way of life, a moral obligation, a lifestyle, and even a spiritual practice. Often sustainability is thought of in terms of the environment and what we can be doing to reduce our human impact of it.

But, what does it mean in terms of our personal lives, and within the realm of relationships? How does one practice or integrate sustainability, both from an environmental perspective as well as from a more personal one, into their life?

These questions, and more, were the topic of a recent Cafe Conversation that I host every month. These engaging and provocative Cafe’s provide members of the community the opportunity to come together and share conversations about the deeper, more meaningful topics often not covered in social situations. I have to tell you that this topic was one of the most interesting and energetic ones we have had in our 3 yrs running! This tells me that it is an important one, and one that lots of us need to be having often.

We are in interesting times. The inevitability of Peak Oil looms before us. Global Climate Change is undeniable. The current economic situation has everyone looking at ways to simplify, reduce, save, recycle and whatever else can be done to stretch the dollar just a little bit more. If we are to transition into these times with any semblance of grace, it is absolutely imperative that we have these conversations. We should have been having them years ago, and some of us were. Now it is no longer a luxury.

Sustainability can be defined as the capability to endure as a system to maintain diversity. This is easy to understand in terms of the environment-we need diverse eco-systems to maintain an eclectic array of plant, insect and animal life. What about the sustainability of our own personal and internal ecology?

At the Cafe we decided that individual (my) sustainability, which could also be considered well being, supports the sustainability of the whole. By putting our personal sustainability (evolution?) 1st over the relationship, the family, the community we positively effect those things in regards to their sustainability and growth. (The old put your air mask on first theory.) The connection of personal sustainability and environmental sustainability can not be ignored.

All of this is great, in and of itself. But what holds it all together? We don’t live in a vacuum, so what happens when you have 60 billion people, plus all the other species, trying to survive on this one fantastic planet? The key to true sustainability, we decided at the Cafe, whether you are talking about this whole planet, or the relationship between two people, or even with yourself, is a point of interest that is commonly shared. The point of interest feeds the commitment to sustainability. All the hard work, or all the love in the world doesn’t make a sustainable relationship. Everyone must have the desire, that common point of interest, to see it manifested, to sustain the attention and intention towards the end result of true sustainability.

To tie it all together, the final ingrediante required is a healthy dose of respect. It’s hard to maintain the desire for sustainability on our planet if you don’t respect Mother Earth.  Likewise, if you don’t respect yourself, chances are you’re not going to make choices that sustain health, vitality, and other life affirming adjectives, for yourself, or the relationships you are in. This brings up the assumption that sustainability is always a positive thing. Is it possible for negative things to be sustained like ideas, beliefs and thoughts?

Of course it is. It’s probably just not very sustainable.

(Lots of gratitude to the Cafe Conversation participants for their contribution to this blogpost!)

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