Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Living Love Poem

May I live my life with the intention of being a living love poem

Allow me greater light, love, and laughter and lessen my darkness, despair, and sorrow

Remind me to pause, relax and deeply listen to the heartbeat of the earth

Please Grandfather of the East empty my mind and blow new air of possibility



May my body fire become peaceful and centered so to coolly discover universal compassion

Allow me to experience life’s sorrow and then purify me to find its joy

Remember that I celebrate my gifts so I can exercise boundless affection to all

Please Southern Spirits energize me and share all that I have been blessed with


May I awaken to see that life’s water balances the negative with the positive

Allow me clarity so to observe not judge my emotions and find truth now

Remind me to break many old habits and bring forth new ways and insights

Please wise Grandmother of the West allow me to accept and discover new freedom



May I transform my dreams into action that embodies a grateful and clear message

Allow me to unwind stress and tension into creative forms of play and art

Remember to not be frightened or lonely since there are many beings assisting me

Please Northern Spirits purify and change my being so I can follow my soul


May all beings above support me and provide me with courage when I doubt

Allow the heavens above to help cool me when I feel hellish fires underneath

Remind me to cultivate sacred vision when I trust to explore what mystery emerges

Please if I feel separate return me back into the harmony interconnecting all things


May my sacred heart and earth celebrate that they are one and the same

Allow me refuge by connecting with the ground when my head insanely spins out

Remember to see how everything is related together into one shared universal spider web

Please give me courage to overcome my fear and be a living love poem!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Paying Attention to My Heart’s Intention

I transform when I set an intention to pay attention expanding my heart’s capacity. Exercising greater compassion is a present I give myself when I remember to pay attention. By quieting my mind and allowing my heart to open I then celebrate the greater mystery with wonder. Otherwise anxiety and despair may arise in my critical and cynical mind. The mental and material can rob us of the spiritual unless we cultivate the intention of listening to our heart. Today’s pressured filled life can quickly divert me from my natural world where my mind spins off ignoring my greater body. Only when I return back in my body sensations I may arrive, here in this very moment.

Allowing my heart to explore the space between nothing and everything I find an ocean deep of compassion. This space of emptiness can allow us to accept life and death as all things arise and fall. Such a perspective brings me to trust my and our deepest nature. Simply nothing is separated and everything is interconnected.

The practice of stillness, listening and just being opens the door to arrive in the mystery of now instead of moving from the past straight into the future. All things or the source is both shapeless and silent. Chang Tzu described as, “It is not a thing itself.”

This transformation transcends me to a higher self. Lao Tzu described this, “To embrace all is to be selfless.” So when I remember my being and shift out of becoming I see that the universe act in endless circles defining time and space by this circular motion where there is no beginning or end. Serenity comes from observing this harmonic process when we surrender into such simplicity. Everything falls into place in the present. The future and the past are just clouds in the mind. Flowing with this attention of what is happening in this moment a doorway of freedom is opened from the magic of acceptance.

May we I find greater insight to creatively find how to quiet myself. Also how can I inspire the emergence of heaven and earth by forming a natural trust that all things align. If we can relax now then we may invite new possibilities and perspectives to transform or experience in this very moment.

From some sacred native indigenous teachings I pray to the seven directions to behold me with

1. Self love
2. spiritual protection
3. gratitude
4. divine guidance

May I celebrate that I;

- Listen deeper
- Forgive more
- Find what is true
- Embrace my shadow
- Exercise my greater self
- Venture being vulnerable
- Risk heartbreak
- Profoundly care
- Freely experience experience

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Deal with a Full Deck

Every April Fools Day I love to celebrate folly. 24 years ago, on April Fool’s Day, I visited my Congresswoman, Connie Morella, dressed up in a court jester costume. As Ray Cycle, a recycling action here I created, I stood on the Capitol steps at high noon and proclaimed, "You’re not dealing with a full deck when you throw out the joker out! Recycle Our Nation’s Capital."

I see the difference between a comedy and a tragedy as subtle, but significant-- we can learn from comedy rather than perpetuating a tragic fate. This is why I take refuge in our wasteful ways.


A sense of humor is essential. A process of purification is needed from our depressed, angry, anxious state of existence allowing laughter to clean. Also humor is about that nothing is what it appears. What is funny is that we are caught by our own projections, misinterpretations and desires. Such illusion, delusions and other tricks can either awaken or deceive us. When we see that we live in a house of mirrors and that both laughing and crying are the same release then we can laugh with joy in what is revealed.


Yes we are foolish beings. By appreciation this trickery then we begin to truly see. Oh the divine is so tough to find since laughter truly is primordial secret source of truth. In searching for some sense out of nonsense there is possibility to change our character is the fool!

The wild card is the highest card in the deck and is thrown out many times in the game. However, this discard is priceless, since laughter, love and merriment is it’s symbol is wildly free of the deck’s hierarchy. The fool is a shamanic force representing the non ordinary or the world of the psyche. Wisely mad this jester walks on the razor edge between sublime and the ridiculous. Fumbling on the high wire of reality and fantasy, The changer, the trickster, the transformer, this motley being is both sad, merry and may quite mad playing out a ludic role. Yes this ludicrous individual sheds light on both on bondage and our path to freedom.

From folly a kind of wisdom can be born from the fool and his/hers mischief. Out of our trials and tribulations some cleverness can arise from the perverse form of a clown. From laughter insight comes from this spontaneity with some form of sublime message. Shakespeare said that jesters do often prove prophets. He also said, “I had rather a fool make me merry than experience to make me sad.”

Observing a clown you are exposed to a full weather system of emotions. Much comes from simple human events without a sense of rawness embarrassing, tragic or uneasy moments. Even out of sorrow humor acts to balance grief.


You see, Ray Cycle's message is being "insightful and mindful". Today we can celebrate the fact that more people recycle then vote. However, we still need to manage the billions of tons of valuable resources that we waste every year. We deserve to conserve. Let’s have fun but not become foolish. To disregard and discard is folly. Demonstrating reverence for our land results in many happy returns. Let’s honor the process and not bury our problems. In recovery there is discovery—by giving back you feel more connected. I use poor humor to awaken such as "toot your frugal bugle with the gift of thrift, Recycle Our Nations’ Capital."

Recognizing that in face of laughing and crying are the same release. We can become free from the tragic only when we awake from the comic. It’s time we learn and laugh from a comedy, not a tragedy, of our errors. Just like Earth Day, everyday is April Fools Day if we can awaken to our human nature.

Monday, March 8, 2010

In Love

I put it to you that we are at an interesting crossroads in our history. Human conflict was first more with battling nature, and then we began to tame the elements and started fighting with each other. Today we face a global form of self destruction so evident by current events. Our individual self is interconnected and interdependent on our larger ecological self--the planet Earth. If we take care of the smaller self, we also must preserve the larger self.

However, this is just my experience; so I ask you to reflect if this is true for you as well. What have you seen in your own lifetime as to how humans relate to themselves, others and the earth? While individually we are kind, aware and wise, there appears to be a form of collective dysfunction when it comes to foreseeing and forestalling future man-made disasters that have their origins in an evidently ego-centered outlook.

When reflecting about all the things that I love, how can I divorce myself from feeling the same love for myself? The simple four letter word “love“does not separate, it connects. In love suffering and anomie is lessened, and well-being is enhanced. It transforms insight into idea into action in the grace of deep compassion.

My first insight when I was four was that I was so lucky to have food while other children were starving and dying. So quite early both gratitude and guilt became emotions I had to encompass at the same time, this “buzzing”—which we all experience—is our life force and is both nervously destructive and curiously creative.

I write out of my appreciation for the many wonders and gifts I have experienced. By constantly remembering and cultivating a grateful spirit, I foster an intention of the sacred and attention to this illuminates my world even more. This is the door of light I welcome you to open!

Like many, I have struggled to find meaning in a civilization that is so focused at times on the material. It appears at times that we are a culture denying a deeper spirit. All I have to do is deeply listen to my own heart beat. This great mystery we live is so interconnected, if only we dare to explore how we all care for all things in this world. Life’s greatest challenge is to see how I can expand this love that is myself to all things. When I am aware of how I love all creation, then I add just another drop in the pool of universal compassion.

I believe we all are trying to find the eye of this hurricane we call life—that still place in the midst of a storm. To find harmony requires inquiry into what is grace. Grace is a radical gift: by realizing greater awareness of my own concerns, I can liberate a collective unconsciousness and bring greater happiness to others. My suffering is lessened when I realize this is “our” suffering—the world beating with one heart. We can provide no greater gift in our own lifetime than contributing to reduction of anxiety, whether on an individual basis or a global basis.
Our greatest challenge today is for each person on this planet to find peace within themselves. If we wish to lessen terror, improve our environment, help others, resolve whatever plagues our human condition, we must go within and examine what is true.

What we do for future generations is a treasure we pass on to them and also give to our own soul. The challenge is to develop a positive feedback loop to celebrate our natural passion to be kind, gentle and sensitive. We will not evolve our spirit if we do not venture forth and risk vulnerability.

The simple act of lessening my own anxiety influences and creates momentum to calm others. When I pay attention to my love, I find the energy to cultivate wise action. As I become gentler with myself, I add to making this a more beloved place. In love changes our world when we free ourselves to explore the compassionate space of our higher self.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Mindful Speaking Using Insight Dialogue (ID)

Like many people, every time I speak before a group I get extremely nervous. Public speaking can be one of the most stressful activities imaginable. However, when I address an audience I practice a form of meditation. It is about cultivating tranquillity: developing a greater sense of presence when I talk transforms my speech. What better way to improve my speaking skills than to explore how to better relax and concentrate on how to best engage my audience? Careful listening to good speakers also provides me with invaluable insights as to how to improve all facets of my communication skills.

Focusing on being more wakeful as I talk is a process called Insight Dialogue . It teaches me to explore how to better show-up when I talk and to become more mindful as I do so. Mindful speech comes from becoming more conscious of the entire process when we talk with other people.

We can all develop more wholesome techniques that can improve our entire communications experience. For example, I gain better clarity when I pause and relax in the process of talking. Developing such calmness is balanced by a profound sense of attentiveness to what is being said or heard.

Insight Dialogue consists of exploring six basic steps: Pausing, Relaxing, Opening, Trusting Emergence, Listening Deeply, and Speaking Our Truth. I first pause and awaken before I speak. It is critical to take one’s time before we vocalize. I then allow myself to relax. This is essential in order to focus fully on the task at hand. Opening allows one to settle and find clarity as to what is presently happening.

When one trusts emergence, one is freer to perceive new possibilities. In order to increase one’s awareness, one must listen deeply to what is going on. And finally, this process allows me to speak my truth as one makes a profound heart/mind connection. In my opinion, eloquence comes from the embodiment of both compassion and insight when communicating.

Becoming more mindful as to how we use words, the manner in which we say them, experiencing the full process of Insight Dialogue enables us to excel at public speaking. It makes possible greater connection with others as improved speaking skills create more intimate encounters. By focusing our attention to specific areas of consciousness, such as our body or our feelings, we gain more clarity as to how we are relating to and connecting with the audience.

Being more in the present anchors me and is enhanced by paying regular attention to my body and feelings to increase my mindfulness in each moment. Another anchor is to be aware of my breathing whatever the present communication experience is.

When I relax I fully connect with my audience. Beginning with a pause, and relaxing sets my mind at ease and enables me to see things as they actually are in the “now”. Tension acts to distort and block my presentation. As I practice my speech with a sense of grace I become more alert. The calmer I become, the better I speak.

Insight Dialogue also involves inquiry into the nature of better communication. Choice of language is another form of meditation to practice the force of intellect and the associative power of words. Insight Dialogue works directly with language and is about transformation in speaking with a sense of the sacred.

Anytime I speak before a group I make it into an opportunity to meditate. I work on pausing, relaxing and opening to the possibility of deeply connecting to my audience. As I better listen to both my body and my feelings, I am better able to embody in words my own truth and attain a greater sense of wholeness.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Star Waltz

Our attraction is a planetary dance caused by an orbit of our hearts

Apart of this starlit waltz light reflects and refracts amidst the dark heavens

We share both karma and gravity as galactic lovers rotating and revolving

This sharing of celestial space awakens an inner spark as our souls emerge

An inner mixture of stardust sculpted into blood, bone, tissue and wave lengths

Our spirits venture in space filled with joy, sadness, tears and laughter

Our interconnected energy field emits mirth, woe and everything in between

This magnetic phenomenon opens new dimensions of possibilities and realms

Matter, sensations, emotions, thoughts and consciousness all interweaving

Exploring the frontiers of this pulsation a sense of still compassion arises

A place where awareness cultivating peace, harmony into a tranquil oneness

An organic meeting that illuminates with a divine arrival of grace

Beyond our carbon small self interconnects a bright higher spirit

This bountiful universal source balances the cycles of our birth and death

Just as the night sky is filled with endless stars and black holes

Two planets lovingly spin around together attracted by each

Twirling and obeying quantum laws merging the known with the unknown

Such a quilt of energy, atoms, light and the mystery of psychic like minds

So tiny yet enormous these celestial organisms form greater milky ways

Shimmer and sparking light beholding the dark of this infinite time-place

Separate and the same affecting our cosmic journey with a twinkle of a star

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Re: Prefix of New Possibility

For years I have worked under the name Recover Enterprise or Re. Re is a wonderful prefix transforming new life from defunct ways. I believe the secret of life is bringing a different perspective or transmuting our expressions for the better. Renew, refresh, reclaim, restore, return, recover, revitalize, rejuvenate, revive, reuse, recreate, rediscover and on and on. Such words inspire us to reexamine our process and what we wish to accomplish in our lives. Re for me means to possibility of starting anew.

For example how we address climate change has distracted us from the real issue. How we can prosper and profit from preventing pollution. Also we can see the value in minimizing our waste and the opportunities of living in a more sustainable way.

Today we live on a threshold of choice. Is as business-usual or do we have the courage to become unusual taking part in the healing of our world. Just because of our sheer numbers we face both major environmental destruction coupled massive social and economic injustices. These inequalities force us to re-examine our interconnectedness so to motivate us to exploring sustainable production and consumption for our future generations and ourselves.

Before we go forth to live more sustainable it would be wise to explore our attitudes, behavior or inner aspects of our life. I call this our software since how we are programmed has a lot to do with how we apply technology or the hardware. The prefix, re, is a sacred key to unlock things to their fullest potential or to invigorate life. Yes, in recovery we discover new opportunities when we apply the prefix re to our words.