Stepping beyond the Canvas

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Stepping beyond the canvas is about seeing Life as something far greater than our conditioned lives and making appropriate shifts to align ourselves with a higher power…one of Love. We were taught happiness comes from going to school, establishing a career and living the American Dream by purchasing our own home. While achieving all of this something still remains missing. What is this void we all yearn to fill? It is the void of Truth. The void of Truth is the empty feeling we have when we continually seek more of something that gives us a false sense of goodness.

We get a house, a couple of cars and maybe some nice little toys.  We are happy for a moment, but continue to battle bouts of depression, anger, fear and sadness. Something is still missing.

The void is our lack of belonging, happiness or self-actualization of being On Purpose. We must learn to accept happiness no matter the circumstance, seeing the silver-linings in every cloud. Finding a sense of belonging, even when we do not…that is the struggle. Continually trying to fit in, with a delusion that our happiness is found there. The secret is…we all belong and our happiness comes with a mere choice. When we arrive at a level of pure happiness, we arrive at the level of Love. At this level…All Things are Possible.

“Never look up to the people who have the painted-perfect lives, because try as they might, can never see beyond the canvas.” Moira Hallsom

It is possible to have it all:  the big house, loving family, more money than we know what to do with, but meaningless without finding happiness. People try to buy happiness, but  walking in flesh focuses on meeting the lower of Maslows Hierarchy of needs…physical pleasures. While walking in Spirit, our focus elevates to higher needs of self-actualization…find Happiness, enjoying all that life has to offer. Once established, we can co-create the life we want.

What matter is seeing beyond the delusion, without taking necessary steps towards our happiness?~Ani Po

Dare to Step Into the Canvas today, living the life meant to…taking an active role in creation. You are a co-creator of this beautiful place…you are the master of your Canvas.

Stepping into the Canvas we admire the beauty God has painted, accepting it for what it is while co-creating a painting to our desires. Stepping Beyond the Canvas shedding light to painted pictures and their imperfections, then applying a higher power of Love. When we see the canvas for what it truly is we accept it as imperfectly perfect, enjoying the beauty that life has to offer. Focus on our own Canvas, Painting that which we most desire.

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Learning to Fly

Ever wonder what it would be like to fly?  Do you ever just sit and watch Geese fly overhead? There is much wisdom learned from these feathered friends. For one they unite no matter what. No judgment, no excuses…just unity. Next they look to share space with other geese, allowing them to lead the way or drift behind. Milton Olson does a nice job explaining these lessons…

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As each bird flaps its’ wings, it creates an “uplift” for the bird following.  By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71 % greater flying range than if the bird flew alone.

Lesson:  People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the “lifting power” of the bird immediately in front.

 

Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks, and sharing leadership  with people, as with geese, we are interdependent on each other. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson: When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch up with the flock.

 

Lesson: By learning from the example of our winged guides, all of us can feel empowered to feel the strength of others moving alongside you, as their presence lends power to your wings during this journey across the sky of life. When buffeted by unexpected gusts, we can choose to find refuge in the loving shelter of co-workers, friends, family and the Holy One. We may even marvel as an otherwise difficult day passes by like a swift wind, as a kindred spirit charts a way for us through the clouds and rain ahead. If your wings begin to ache on your journey, look around for somebody else to fly at the front for a while. All of us move faster when we move together. Let your ego drop earthwards as we all soar ever higher.

When I asked my son what geese meant to him, this is what he said, ”I think of poop, green and white poop. Everywhere, having to watch my step when I am at the park.” Such wise words from our children. Lesson from my son: Step with Care.

As we learn to co-create in the Canvas of Life, we begin lifting others up while lifting ourselves to greater heights. Higher and higher we fly, only to soar like the mighty Eagle. Who we soar with is left to the self, but ‘Step with Care’ as my son states, for there will be those who try to keep us grounded. Stay with the geese…soaring and soaring to greater heights.

Stepping into the Canvas ”with Care.” As my son reminds us, we all benefit from his wisdom. When we are mindful of our actions fully in the moment, we instinctively react like that of our Brother and Sister geese. We instinctively work together, share together and extend collaboration in every aspect of our lives. As we collaborate…we become One.

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Laughter is the Best Medicine

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We all have moments of wanting to escape to somewhere else, in hopes of finding tranquility, but lose the battle in finding peace. Some however have found peace even during difficult times. How does one deal with their own stress? How does one deflect the misery of another?

When we have a ’bad day’ three options present:

1) stay miserable, continuing to attract more anger;

2) ignore the stressors in hopes that it will pass, potentially attracting more anger;

3) walk away, centering the self in breathing. Sounds pretty easy, but for many it is not while conditioned to remain in misery…this is their reality.

Do we have to stay in our own reality of self-inflicted misery?  What about others who create misery for us? Whether it is self-inflicted or brought on by another’s actions, we can change our response. For the self-inflicted pain we have option two or three, with the preferred method being number three. Stress implemented by actions of another can be more difficult to handle, as we are often in disbelief of their thoughtless actions…Really?!

One day, an angry person, creating friction when he speaks, quickly changed the tone of our day. From happy and joyful, to painful and miserable. All staff members were affected by this mans actions and all wanted nothing to do with him. Knowing that he was hurting, while dealing with his Cancer diagnosis, something had to be done.

With a preconceived notion of ignoring the person on the next day, he came to me and apologized. In this case I chose option two and briefly ignored him, in hopes that it will pass…phew! I was thankful to have not spoken about his actions, as he came to a realization on his own…offering an apology. Next time I will be better at dealing with another person’s anger. Lesson learned! What if he had not apologized? By my ignoring him further, this would only create more tension between us. By not apologizing to me, two options then present: let it go or tell him how I felt. Thankfully he apologized and we didn’t have to cross that road.

The gentleman was ’tired’ of going through Radiation Treatments. As many patients experience fear of their last treatments and the unknown, they express fear in their own way. His was through anger.

Remaining calm and instilling peace as a common ground, I established a new reality for him. His guilt came back to haunt him. With his own self-guilt, he apologized for his behavior. Again I say…whew!

How do you handle difficult people? Is it proper to return the anger? Returning anger only creates more anger. We are not defined by our actions, but defined by how we deal with others during difficult times. These are opportunities to shine brighter than ever before!

While the Pilgrim takes things personally reacting from anger, only finding more anger. The Warrior allows others to express their emotions without absorption of anger, remaining in harmony with himself and the collective whole.~Ani Po

Stepping into the canvas identifying many colors of the rainbow, we have the ability to avoid misery brought out by a storm. Remaining calm we find ourselves instinctively wanting to dance in the rain

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Learning to Laugh

In a world of deadlines, expectations, and increased responsibilities, we find it more difficult to find humor in our daily lives. This is the story for many, not for all, daily routines with added stress. This past week the teacher became the student.

Often times the universe will throw signs our way, in hopes of us taking time to lighten up. Learning this first hand, I realize victim mentality only adds more stress of daily living. With added stress at work, my responsibilities increasing, and needs of my children being first priority, the universe sends opportunities to identify things weighing me down…I must let go of the anger and misery of others.

Not until something so innocent happened, did internal restructuring to take place. My personal inventory became clear when a close friend reminded me for three days, ”life is a playground and we are to play whenever possible.” I will admit that at first I ignored the signs, as most humans do, until a recent post brought the attention to my actions.

With a recent post to another friend, who needed prayers sent for immediate healing in his life, the humor found itself back into my life. Instead of posting ”sending healing thoughts your way,” my auto-fill replaced ’thoughts’ with ’tights.’ Nothing like sending some ”healing tights your way.” The humor became evident with other responses, ”I’ll take control top,” ”everyone needs a good pair of tights, please send me a pair,” or my favorite ”I am going to a class reunion this weekend and need a good pair of suck me ups immediately.” I hope that all found humor in it and humor found its way into their busy days, relaxing them but for a moment.

Sometimes the best medicine is learning to laugh at oneself.~Ani Po

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with work? Life? Do you ever feel hopeless and not sure of what to do? What I found worked…sending an accidental message, taking on a whole other meaning…bringing humor to our day. Dare to be spontaneous! Dare to make an accidental message and allowing it to play through.

It is crucial in our busy days to find time to laugh. Life is truly too short to do anything other and in my everyday work I am reminded of this. Being a Radiation Therapist, I witness many opportunities of growth in this area. Everyday someone is dying, but it doesn’t have to be us. We can choose to live or we can choose to fall victim to our daily lives.

Fall nine times, get up ten.” Japanese Proverb

Stepping into the Canvas today, find time to laugh. With father time keeping track of our numbered days we may not see tomorrow.  Would we rather finish our last day on a low note or would we rather finish it on a high?  Try a little laughter today…it is just what the Doctor ordered…

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