Shenandoah Star Legend

 Shenandoah, Daughter of the Stars Legend

After the Great Spirit had made the world, the morning stars came together on the shores of a quiet silver lake bordered with blue mountains, the most beautiful place they could see.

Hovering above the quiet waters and lighting the mountain tops with their robes of fire, the stars sang their songs of joy and pledged to gather here every thousand years.

One time when the stars were singing, there came a mighty crashing!! A great rock in the mountain wall tore asunder, and through the deep opening the lake waters began to pour out and rush to the sea.

As time passed, the stars looked over the earth for another place to meet. They finally agreed upon a lovely valley through which a winding river ran.

Suddenly the stars realized that this valley had been the bed of their beautiful lake, and the blue mountains around it were the same ones upon which they had cast their robes of light in ages past.

The stars were so joyous they placed the brightest jewels from their crowns in the river where they still lie and sparkle. And ever since that day, the river and its valley have been called....DAUGHTER OF THE STARS

http://www.visitshenandoah.org/About-Us/Daughter-of-the-Stars.aspx

The above old tale elevates me to see my celestial connection here in the Shenandoah.  There is an amazing mind/body insight that  I use to illuminate my spirit.  When I allow my water body to be purified by these star-filled ultra violet lights every atom of my existence becomes awakened. The transmutation of these astral lights forms a union of opposites grounding the heavens with our earth; rooting the soil with water and air charged by this extraordinary cosmic phenomenon. A numinous one-ness is born beyond concepts. Where the river meets the land or air touches the water. The mystery of this whole, where a moment becomes a trillion years. A rare synchronous and numinous events celebrate the unification of our inner and outer worlds. Rays cycle- circulating the elements of all known things, simultaneously dancing light and darkness in unimaginable ways.

Honoring the Mystery

When I honor the mystery I liberate myself to a wiser way of being.   Showing up to life’s mystical truth I become awakened.  We all share, come from and return to this mystery.   Also we all are connected by a common spirit of the mystical elements of earth, air, fire, and water.  

Both we and I are one and the same with the cosmos.  Everything is made up of some distant stardust including our flesh; bones, blood and body are comprised of the same things.

Awakening that my heart and the earth are tied together unites me.  When I see the interconnection that allows me to go beyond my suffering.  Love and understanding comes with this realization.  Such inner being is the portal to my oneness and all being.  There is a higher level of consciousness when I see the mystery of all things.  Chaos strangely organizes again into new phenomenon.  I am just a cloud passing in the sky reforming into new water vapor.

Just as a tree nourishes me I exchange with it with the air  I breathe and the oxygen it shares.  All natural cycles exchanges life sustaining properties. All things I smell, taste, touch, hear, and feel have a shared mystical connection. 

Honoring this mystery elevates my well-being, and unifies my consciousness.  Our collective heart guides us to the truth of our mutual connections.  Awakening to my common relationship with all things, comes through stillness and a profound listening. 

There is mystical exchange of love and light in this amazing universal spider's web.  Respecting this mystery gives me guidance and freedom. 

May I honor the mystery since nothing is separate

May I be still with not fully knowing, fully present

May I observe the sacred bonds all things mystical

May I know how all things exchange air, fire, water, earth forms

May I contemplate on how my body and the world act in self organizing chaos.

May I see that even things lifeless have spirit

May I behold how we share the same things

May we explore the deeper truth of the universal mystery

Legacy- Pass it on!

Being a visitor here I wish to leave behind something that speaks to the core of my heart. May I leave behind a footprint that is more like the flight of a hawk than the remains of an elephant.

Passing on better prospects is the best investment I can make. Everyday I attempt to share a kind word or a smile. Investing in some type of positive action is passing on a some form of a legacy. Thus far I have assisted numerous resource conservation programs and taught tennis to thousands of people of all walks.  Also I have helped many people and donated my time to many volunteer causes.

Service to others is the ultimate gift for me.  This form of generosity provides me with enormous benefits.   Taking the time to pause and bond with people I increase my divine connection.  Also meeting folks from where they are allows me to discover what is truly going on.

Everything in life is about relationships.  Treating resources or non living matter as sacred I find grace. This heightens my feelings of being alive.  I find happiness from all the bountiful ways I can my show thanks to this earth. From this I receive what I call "happy returns."  May I pass on the this legacy of appreciation since it is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. 

 Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.  If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.  Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day.  And you will come a last to love the whole world.  With all-embracing love. F Dostyevsky

To laugh often and much

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others: To leave the world a bit better, whether a healthy child, a garden patch or redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded- RW Emerson

The Challenge

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our disposition not our circumstances.  Martha Washington

Life is filled with bountiful challenges.  How we address or relate to this adventure provides me with a question of what my attitude is at each bend and turn.

 

As a visitor here, I can be a receiver, giver or some other role. What goes around may also come around depending upon what seeds of the future I plant.

 

The magic of my exploration is about what is my intention is.  I create my reality in many ways depending on my mindset.  If I am in a positive frame of mind things tend to be better than when I am negative.  It is not that I have to wear rose colored glasses rather I approach things as opportunities not difficulties.

First- Find a common language. Words can either connect or disconnect people to the same concept.   Many words can be easily misunderstood. What is said and how it is spoken is paramount since communication is essential to quality relationships.

Second- Concentrate on being well.  Paying attention to the wealth associate in wholesome mental states is the best cheapest investment I can make to cultivate future prosperity.  My health is my greatest asset.

Third-  ART or a form of self expression that incorporates- Appreciation, Resolve and Transform.  
 

-Appreciation is the source is true wealth and happiness.

-Resolve activates me to share my creativity.

-Transform is what happens in the artistic process.

Fourth- Listening allows me to access better my intuition.  Hearing from a place of being still and open gives me clarity and insight.

Fifth- Observe Cause and Effect Relationships.  By seeing the nature of how things work and what happens when I do one thing and what results I benefit. 

Six- Celebrate our greater unification and the big picture.  Life's greatest challenge is to remember we are not separate but connected to all things.  My greatest moments in my life are spent when a feel the whole not the sum of the parts.  I celebrate this sense of harmony and oneness with countless loving acts. 

My life is becomes richer when I a relate to its challenge to find how I can benefit instead of the opposite. Coming from an attitude filled with gratitude I see the blessings in any curses that arise.

 

Life is not matter of holding good cards, but playing  a poor hand well.  RL Stevenson

Going to the Next Level

A wise men makes more opportunities than he finds- F Bacon

To achieve my full potential I term going to the next level. This journey is all about quieting my mind and listening to my heart.

For me giving my best to the world is a gift that is return in what I call "Happy Returns." I have been involved with all aspects of recycling so naturally I refer to the three R’s for guidance.

1) Reduce my suffering by giving my best to the world so to reap its rewards.
2) Reuse my many strengths such as joy, love and enthusiasm.
3) Recycle things with purpose and fully using what is here and now.

Happy Returns is about creating an attitude of gratitude. Also it aids me to explore more creative ways to cherish people, energy and resources. To reach my full potential I must cultivate my virtue, time and or my talents. I intend get more than just the return on my investment but the return of my life investment.

As a lifelong tennis player and teacher I focus on giving "happy returns" both on and off the courts. There are many similarities to playing tennis and serving our beloved earth. One is keeping things in play. Another is to learn how to better serve. The ultimate game in my life now is living to my full potential or giving my best in all aspects of my life.

May I be fearless enough to venture to the next level to go beyond my old patterns that detains me from my higher calling.  Ignoring my negative self talk and past delusions may I attract new opportunities and be of greater service.

I visualize the stars above are melting my icy doubt into new drops of water further changing into a rainbow mist of new possibilities.  Born is attention to "excel" awakening my spirit to an inspired, life-changing, focused awakening. Beyond the mundane, dull, lethargic, mind state to "observe" how my body/mind sensations may let go of my negative unconscious energy. so to now to dazzle. My losses become transmuted into gains only when I realize their lessons as I mentally shifted from my limbic system to my frontal cortex.  I liberate my soul from much of my reptilian mental baggage. A dazzling shooting star of vibrancy comes out of my heart.

May I go to the next level of my potential. Reduce my suffering; reuse my gratitude; and recycle all that I can so to better serve.

No one’s destiny has been written. You are born with potential, not a limited destiny. Whether or not you reach the fullest potential that is available to you is a matter of choices that you make.
Gary Zukav

Unifying Spiritual Cooperation

Throughout our time here on the earth we have sought a spiritual connection. Religious people and institutions have best attempted to meet this need. However, numerous circumstances have resulted. Over  8 out of every 10 people here on earth are members of some sort of religion.

Unity, light, love, kindness, charity, prayer, meditations are common spiritual concepts.

There have been many positive and negative facets of world religions. However the ramifications of organized religions at times may diverge from spiritual teachings.

Honoring spiritual views have an important social, economic and moral role. At the same time due to the misuse of power by many religious instructions many conscious individuals may tend to mistrust or doubts these institutions.

What are the common spiritual beliefs that most humans can agree upon. Are there such a thing? Would this benefit us to share a more unified worldview? If we can agree on some basic principles would this help develop a world community?

Develop some type of basic moral consensus could maybe help best direct the nearly 7 billion people here today. Divergent worldviews, and polarized positions are not just costly but threaten collaboration to address our very future.

A strong set of common interests is paramount to plant seeds of hope for the next few generations. Population growth, climate change, war, global poverty, disease, food shortages are just a few of enormous challenges facing us.

Religion plays a pivotal role in addressing not just our evolution, however, very survival if you check with recent scientific information. Simple natural resource use and consumer growth are not ecologically viable.

Greater spiritual guidance to find purpose and happiness in a material world quickly spiraling out of control is vital. Existential despair and increased self destructive behavior needs to be better addressed from establish a more ethical cosmos.

Without enlightening teachings personal insights to transform one to higher levels of potential will not be developed. Religion has helped many find their way in dark times. Rituals help to people to awaken to the sacredness of all things. Promoting common spiritual themes could influence many to open their hearts and access a new dimension of their souls.

Faith based measures offer new community possibilities toward creating new enterprises to address societal challenges. However past religious history is filled with injustice, violence, ignorance and others that are contrary to their basic beliefs.

Religions engage people throughout this planet with a sense of meaning and are important. They help shape worldviews and what people's place and purpose. Besides creating strong social networks, these institutions have economic and cultural resources to influence people. Advocating for civil rights is just one example. The American revolutions were greatly assisted by our churches.

Two-thirds of today's populations are Hindus, Christians or Islamic. Upwards of 80 percent of us are religious and this social capital has extensive communications, information and community outreach. Over one-third of today's volunteers come from faith based organizations providing invaluable public services.

Presently western culture has been too successful in creating individualism.  We have created much separateness and a form of disconnection. We are losing our ability to socialize and create greater community.  One possibility to expand our social network is coops.  There are some 1000 rural electric coops, 3000 housing coops and 1000 pre-school cooperatives.  Some 6800 credit unions serve today have nearly 100 million members.  People coming together to resolve their problems form coops.  Coops act as socio-economic enterprises to help people's need for improved goods and services.  

Developing a common spiritual language does not mean a complete agreement on all terms. However, the agreeing on what we share in. What do we care for? What has common value for us all? Air, water, land, energy or whatever resources we use. Do not we also revere?

As our future shows limitations so will our need to be ingenious in how we all share the same things. From this experience we may learn how we similarity will benefit us all in better communicating our spiritual similarities rather than our differences.   Being kind, generous, tolerant, accepting, forgiving are virtues that unite not divide us as human beings.  Finding what we agree on and how we can better live together are in all our interest.

Managing Best With Less

Focusing on using less I best expand my possible options.  A simpler life style translates for me into a richer life.  It is the old KISS acronym, "Keep It Simple Sweetheart."  Such ingenuity increases my creative spirit. When I focus on less rather than more I best manage.

Advancing my well being happens when I micro manage best taking care of both me and a my higher sense of self.  Micro manage is simply me attending decisions and actions within my circle of influence.  Taking care of my personal matters allows me to best focus on what requires my most immediate attention. Then whatever larger issues I address I do so with greater skill.

When I try to macro-manage or what I call "save the world" I spin out of control of being of greater service. Global warming, poverty and other injustices outside my control I can address by being the change on a micro level. 

I prosper when I pay attention how I can benefit and be of service directly to what I can.   I fulfill my basic needs this also allows me to help others in getting some of their needs met.  However, doing this requires care and a wise understanding of consequences of my actions. Leading by example demonstrating by deeds not words I give and get my best. 

 “How can I love all things in this world with such profound compassion and empathy while have a small sense of loathing about myself?”   I create such separation increasing my suffering.  Lessening my resistance around any pain will allow me to champion greater effectiveness.

Over the years  my inner critical voice has put me in much turmoil.  This unkind voice makes me feel inadequate, and damaged with such a fearful other thoughts.  Today I am careful how I relate to my thinking or how I identify with my mind.   My thoughts do not define me, however, may confine me depending on my present attitude whether I see the world as a blessing or a curse.

Simply my freedom is tied to how I can make the best choices.  Such decision require discerning how things will play out and what path gives me the greatest benefit. Managing best with less liberates me to my highest potential.