two options [3]

Change.

or

Die.

two options [2]

Who said it?

or

Is it true?

two options

Get angry. 

or

Learn something.  

winners...

Gonzaga is in the Men's Basketball National Championship Game tonight. 

Gonzaga is our local university. 

Of course, the town is going crazy. Small-ish town, small school, big time. 

I was talking to someone who had attended Gonzaga years ago and they couldn't believe how "into" it they were. They were almost sick watching games, afraid they might lose. They were wearing Gonzaga hats and shirts and they don't want to be "into it" but they can't help it. 

Sports are so weird like that. 

They reveal tribes. We love tribes. We can't help but take advantage of an opportunity to elevate ourselves by elevating our tribe above someone else's. Even if it silly, even if it is nothing, even if we don't really care, if we get a justified opportunity to be better than another tribe, we'll take and use it and love it. 

It's fun with sports. But, let it reveal what is always just below the surface. My tribe is better than yours, which means I'm better than you.

We're addicted to the feeling and we'll find it in anyway we can. Resist it. 

momentum...

There is that side of momentum that we sometimes don't like. 

The rich get richer. 
The good team, gets good recruits and then gets better and then better recruits and... 
The best-selling artist has all the resources to create more art... and have more people see it...
The successful business owner draws the crowds which draws more business which... lets her risk, and fund, the opening of another business which draws crowds, which...

We don't like it, because it seems unfair and as though they are getting our slice. More than they are supposed to. And then it keeps getting easier for them to get more... 

But, the good news of momentum is that once you get one...tiny...piece...of...work...done...

You too, have started the ball rolling. And once the ball starts rolling, you too start to pick up some energy and momentum and, sure, it's hard work, but, don't worry, momentum is on the horizon.

Instead of being jealous of it in others, start taking advantage of gravity for yourself. 

more than enough fools.

It's April Fool's Day. The day when we purposely trick people. The day we say something we know is not true in the hopes of someone believing it, for our own pleasure or gain. 

I was going to come up with something clever and amusing and then I realized that we live in April Fool's World right now. 

You are being purposely tricked today. By someone. By more than enough people. For their gain, of course. At your expense. 

So, instead, I'll just say this:

You're enough. Stop believing the tricks. 

No lie. 

the universe is a kiss.

Beautiful words from the physicist Dr. Carlos Rovelli. He goes on to say that we generally understand a universe with things - but we would be better to try and understand a universe with happenings. 

It's all a matter of perspective. A stone is a happening if you look at it over a billion years. 

You are not a thing. You are a happening. You are interacting with other happenings and other happenings are interacting with all of us. 

Of course, I can't help but be reminded of an ancient holy book who described the divine of the universe as I am... or I am happening. 

Don't just be today. Happen. 

weapons.

When we are afraid, we feel threatened.

When we feel threatened, we have an enemy.

When we have an enemy, we are justified to harm the enemy.

When we are justified to harm the enemy, we need a weapon.  

Unfortunately, many things that can bring life can also be used as weapons when in the hands of terrified and "justified" humans.

Fire. Water. Electricity. Drugs. The Bible.

the taste of water.

Imagine someone who comes to you very thirsty. They have never tasted water. They ask you "What does it taste like?" 

Would you write some books to describe it? Would you tell them to read some books? Would you tell them to memorize descriptions? Would you tell them to be careful and to separate from  people over their descriptions, that are different than yours? Would you tell them to read about people who have tasted water? Would you be afraid of describing water the wrong way? Would you describe the water differently if they were not very thirsty? Would you tell them about bad water - toxic water - that might make them sick? Would you tell them what to look for in good water and how to tell the difference between bad water and good water? Would you tell them that if they don't agree to some principles about water, and about what good water is, they might end up in an eternity filled with water and drowning forever? 

Or would you simply point them toward the nearby river and not worry about anything else?

the harder...

The harder it is to get, the more we generally appreciate it.
The more work we have to put in, the more satisfying it often is. 

Why are we always so insistent on the easy way? 
Maybe it's why we are so often disappointed? 

that's why.

At times, I wonder why we have a church. At other times, I know why. 

Today, after church, two ex-military Christians were talking to two Iraqi Muslims about life, Islam, war, and democracy. 

Later, an Iraqi and a Somali spread out prayer rugs in my house and bowed toward Mecca to say their prayers, after eating dinner with 8 Christians. 

That's why. 

It's not huge. It's not life-changing. It's not epic. But it's diverse groups of people, coming together to listen and learn, not to talk and convert and none of those specific events (and many others) would have happened without Branches yesterday.

That's why.  

they aren't watching.

An actress, I believe, once said something along these lines: 

In your 20's you're trying to impress everyone. 
In your 40's you don't care what they think anymore.
In your 70's you realize no one was ever paying any attention to you. 

I think one of the benefits of Yoga has been realizing this at a much faster pace: 

Your first couple of weeks, you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone. 
You very soon don't care what everyone else thinks of you. 
You then realize everyone is so consumed with their own practice, they're not even noticing you. 

So, if you're still trying to impress everyone, keep going. 
If you don't care what they think anymore, keep going. 
And if you've realized, they aren't watching you, congratulations.

You can actually focus on the right thing now. 

the big lesson.

There is a bigger lesson in what happened today in our country regarding Obamacare, beyond politics. No matter your political preference, the lesson is for all of us. 

It's very easy to complain. It's even easier to complain when you don't have any chance of your complaints mattering. (Republicans voted 60 times to repeal Obamacare when Obama was President.) 

It's very difficult to heal, to fix, to produce, to create... pick your word. (Republicans didn't vote once to repeal Obamacare when they had power - and now according to their speaker they are moving on.) 

Again, take the politics out. 

Stop complaining. That a good start for most of us. And we can just end there. 

Start spending time healing, fixing, producing, creating. If you don't think you have the power to make a change, complaining is still worthless, instead, work on a fix so you know what to do with the power when you get it, or maybe realize, you don't really want that power anyway. 

critical people.

One of the best ways to deal with a critic - and by critic, I'm not referring to someone you trust, who has criticism - is to simply ask a single question back:

Are you okay?

Chances are, they aren't. The critic has usually found something in you, that momentarily helps to assuage whatever is not okay with themselves. 

equal. equal.

To continue... we're all addicted to hierarchy and the hit it gives. Just look around. 

Throw out "feminism" and watch the blood boil. Throw out "black lives matter" and someone will respond with "so do ______ lives." Throw out "immigrant rights" and see what happens. 

We resist this equality. We struggle so much with the idea that we all belong, we all have worth and value, equally, that when someone hi-lights a group, we immediately raise that group above our own group and rile up the same ego that was so satisfied moments earlier - when that group was down. 

Start believing they don't want to matter more than you. They only want to matter as much as you.

only the bottom.

Most of us have someone to look up toward - more successful, more wealthy, more beautiful - and someone to look down toward - less successful, less wealthy, less beautiful. We can choose to do either, although neither are beneficial.

We're all equal. 

But since most of us do have someone to look down to, and feed our ego, we'll take the pain of hierarchy, the pain of knowing there are some who are "better than us" as long as we have the option to also look down and feel better. 

It's only those on the bottom who have no incentive for hierarchy or elitism of any kind and thus don't crave it for ego. They only despise it for the damage it does. They are not addicted to it. 

Blessed are those on the bottom, Jesus said, for they will inherit the kingdom of God. They will begin to see the world as egalitarian as it is supposed to be. 

I don't say this to assuage our ego that it's okay there are those on the bottom. It's not. 

I say this to convict us all to stop playing a game where there is a bottom and a top and to give up the ego boost in order to find actual life and to be with those who are finding it more than we are.   

365.

365 days ago I started blogging again. I was going to look at my stats, find the "most read" post, you know... 

Instead, though, I resisted  (I haven't looked at stats in a long time and I don't on a regular basis) because that's not what this has ever been about. 

Instead, I reflected. 

I've had to consciously observe, coherently create, and write 365 things that I would not have had to do if I didn't have this blog. What a success. Whether a million people read it or not, I have become better at consciously observing, coherently creating, and writing, through good posts and bad posts, through spelling errors and new words, and through being consistent. That is all I could have hoped for. 

So, thank you for reading when you do, commenting when you do, forwarding when you do and helping me get better. I hope you're encouraged to keep getting better too, in whatever you do. Or start something today!

Here's to another 365!

toxic energy.

There is a certain person that comes to yoga and... well... really stands out. There's lots of energy around her. She stands when everyone sits. She rarely does the correct pose (different than not doing the pose correctly - like me), she tends to not flow with the rest of the class. She waves her hands a lot and falls very dramatically.

I'm not a pro. At all. Not even close. I'm as beginner as they get. But we're not talking about how well she does something. We're talking about an energy that she brings. 

I'm not saying she's a toxic person, but I am saying her energy is. For me. If I'm trying to balance, and she's near me, I always fall faster. If I'm just trying to be silent and calm, it's more difficult. She makes it harder to focus and stay present. 

So I move away and I try not to look at her. I go to the other side of the room. 

This is life in many ways. There are people that just throw you off. People that don't let you get the balance right. People that make it hard to just be still. Good people. Amazing people. But the energy is toxic when it blends with yours. So, get to the other side of the room and don't even look their way. 

You can always say hi, later, you can always give them a smile, but only after you've done what you need to do. 

two gods.

At some point, "religious" people need to decide if they want to worship mystery and love or if they want to worship certainty and rules. 

Is it that simple? Maybe. 

both choices suck.

I don't know how many times I hear this. It's constant. I get the idea behind it... there isn't a clear-cut amazing choice that is perfect. 

That's true. I don't like those situations either. 

But, "sucks" is a relative word that doesn't mean a whole lot on its own. 

Burnt broccoli sucks. 
Nuclear waste also sucks. 

Compared to nuclear waste, burnt broccoli is actually pretty amazing.
In fact, I would eat the broccoli and it might even benefit me a little, even though it "sucks". 

I'm all for "the best". But when "the best" isn't available, can we stop settling for nuclear waste?