“Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” ~ Ingrid Bergman

I just got back from seeing Avatar, James Cameron’s record and technologically groundbreaking film…

And I loved it, every single moment!

This is a movie for the spiritual community.  It speaks to the rights and wisdom of indigenous peoples, the power of the natural world, spiritual warriorship, the web of life that connects us all, and our ability to tap into that energetic field to both heal and grow.  It is both powerful and reverent.

One of the most important messages for me – and I promise I’m not giving anything away – is the necessity of approaching the world with beginner’s mind.

Part of the problem with being an “expert” is that often times our knowledge gets in the way of our hearing anything new; our preconceived notions blind us to seeing things as they actually are.  And worse, our attachment to being learned and skillful keeps us from being available to being taught.

I once sat for the better part of an hour watching my one year old godson remove and replace the top of a pen.  There was wonder, discovery, determination, and mastery of motor control all rolled into one.  I’m a pro with pen caps, but I never saw the process so clearly or found it as wonderous and beautiful as I did through Dash’s eyes.

A beginner’s mind – fresh, unguarded, with no ego to get in the way – is open to all the possibilities life has to offer. It can make connections and see around corners.  It thinks outside the box because it doesn’t know enough to know it’s in a box; a beginner’s mind can accomplish the impossible simply by not knowing it’s impossible.

And, really, it’s waaaaay more fun to be amazed and awed than to feel like it’s all old hat!

“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.” ~ Barbara Sher

“Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don’t have to do anything else. We don’t have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.” ~ Margaret J. Wheatley

Sometimes there aren’t any answers… no solutions or quick fixes to be had. Sometimes we just have to put our heads down and place one foot in front of the other, holding as our talisman the faint glimmering of that distant light at the end of the tunnel.

Most of us don’t like to complain; we know that we’re lucky in comparison to others. We’ve been taught that if we don’t have anything nice to say, we shouldn’t say anything at all…

How amazing is it, in these times, when someone is willing to walk beside us, holding space, and gifting us with their listening?

Listening is an underrated skill; and one that isn’t widely taught. More often than not, instead of staying fully present, we are rushing on ahead, considering what we will say in reply. Even if we are paying attention, we are perceiving through our own filter. Language is frequently inadequate in communicating feeling and meaning; words have multiple interpretations… so what we’re hearing may not in fact be what’s being said.

“To listen is to continually give up all expectation and to give our attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us, not really knowing what we will hear or what that will mean,” says Mark Nepo, “In the practice of our days, to listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.”

Active Listening is an exercise in which the speaker tells their story in manageable segments, pausing to allow the listener an opportunity to reflect back what it is that they heard. Before moving forward, the speaker must agree that the listener’s interpretation is correct.

In my own experience, knowing that I am going to be asked what I heard, keeps me singularly focused on what is being said. It also takes away the burden of having to try and “fix” the issue, or even to offer comfort or inspiration. My job is to simply be a mirror.

What is even more amazing is how deeply moving this practice can be for the speaker… to tell your truth and be fully heard AND understood is such a rarity, that people often find themselves in tears. “With the gift of listening,” reminds Catherine de Hueck Doherty, “comes the gift of healing.”

It costs us so little to listen… a little bit of time, focus, and energy. But the return on our investment is better communication, greater understanding, and deeper intimacy… who doesn’t want that?

“Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.” ~ Sue Patton Thoele

“People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.” ~ Thomas Stephen Szasz

A couple of weeks ago, as HHP’s Movie of the Month, we watched Conversations with God, the 2006 movie based on the best-selling books written (or channeled) by Neal Donald Walsh.

For the record, I don’t recommend the movie for those who haven’t read the books.  Those in our audience who were coming to the story with no background, found the movie both saccharine and aggrandizing of the author.  And personally, from an artistic perspective, while I appreciated being reminded of Walsh’s message, I just didn’t think the movie was so hot…

However, it did inspire me to go back and read Book I again.

I first read Conversations with God almost ten years ago.  While I had read lots of books about alternative spirituality, this was the first book that brought me, a self-proclaimed atheist at the time, face to face with the concept of an all-knowing, all-powerful God that made me think “Yes!  Now THAT’S a God I can get behind!”

Like every other book I’ve ever re read, there were things that jumped out at me this time that had no impact the first time ‘round.  Like this passage:

“… God gave you free choice, to do with life as you will. … This is the grand illusion in which you have engaged: that God cares one way or another what you do. … Do you care what your children do when you send them out to play?  Is it a matter of consequence to you whether they play tag, or hide & seek, or pretend?  No, it is not, because you know they are perfectly safe. …

Of course, you will always hope that they do not hurt themselves.  And if they do, you will be right there to help them, heal them, allow them to feel safe again, to be happy again, to go and play another day.”

OOH, one of my favorite words, “Choice”!

What I love most about this description is the comparison of this plane of existence to a playground.  If we take this at face value, then everything we do here is… essentially… a very elaborate game of… House.

Did you play House as a kid?

I did, endlessly.

Today, I’m the President of the United States; yesterday, I was Princesss Leia; tomorrow, we’re going to be pirates – and I’m the captain!  Whatever the circumstances, whoever I chose to be, I climbed into their skin and their life and played it to the hilt.  And, if anything came up that I didn’t like (like when my mother’s best friend pointed out that being President and a single mother would be an awful lot of work) I changed the rules to suit my needs.

SO… if we’re living on the Universal Playground, and we get to pick and choose at will what games and what people we’ll play, and we have the option to change the rules as we go, and tomorrow, if we decide we don’t like who we are today, we can choose to be someone different, without repercussions from any angry parent…

WHY DON’T WE???

Why don’t we choose what we want to be today, and be that with all our being?  Isn’t this what the experts tell us is the key to manifesting our perfect lives?  Choose what we want and then act as if it already is… in other words, play House with our desires!

We have the option to approach our lives playfully, joyfully, fearlessly, to welcome the exploration of our Selves, to embrace or reject experiences without doubting our inherent worthiness, to co-create our most fulfilling existence…

Why would we choose otherwise?

Now…. who wants to PLAY??!! 🙂

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” ~ Golda Meir

“Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.” ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

I recently helped a friend with his “Philosophy of Teaching,” which apparently is something that you need if you’re applying for college and university jobs. The point is to concisely communicate the personal truths, which shape your educational methodologies. This is, as you might guess, harder than you’d think.

But of course, me being me, I got to thinking about what I would write… what are the fundamental beliefs that are the core of my work as a healer?

(Before I start, I should state that these are my personal beliefs and not those of Holistic Health Practice… not that I think I’m going to say anything that anyone would object to, but you know – better safe than sorry!)

I believe that each and every person has direct access to wisdom; the answers are all within you. Your path is your own. I can walk beside you; I can mirror things back to you. I can even point out things you may be too close to see… but, unlike a river guide, I can’t guarantee where the rapids will be or even where the pretty places to pull off and have lunch are… only you can determine that.

I believe that we carry our unfinished business in our bodies, which leads to pain and illness. Living in a culture that believes “there’s no point in crying over spilt milk” may account for the ever-growing number of chronic pain sufferers in our country. (I DON’T believe it’s anyone’s fault if they get sick – and I personally would stop seeing any healer who suggested they were!)

I believe that our daily choices create our lives, and that if we don’t like how things are going, we can make the choice to change.

I believe that, in living life, there are no real mistakes, only opportunities for growth. They say that Thomas Alva Edison failed 1,999 times to make a working light bulb; HE said it was a 2,000 step process.

I believe that we are spiritual creatures here to have a human experience. For me, that means that being embodied is critical to our purpose. Not to enjoy and appreciate having a body is to deny our reason for being.

I believe that hugs heal, laughter cures, and speaking the truth alleviates pain.

I believe that caretakers need to be care taken, and that it is an enormous honor when the person who everyone leans on, allows themselves to lean on me.

I believe that each and every one of us has a purpose, a reason for being here. I believe that each of those reasons is necessary and therefore, no one is any more important than anyone else. There may be big cogs and small springs in the machine, but the whole grinds to a halt if any pieces are missing.

I believe when you find where you are meant to be, what you are wired for, then you feel joyful and fulfilled… I’m a healer because I’m meant to be – and the pleasure I experience when I participate in someone else’s shift tells me I’m home.

“Beliefs are choices. No one has authority over your personal beliefs. Your beliefs are in jeopardy only when you don’t know what they are.” ~Jay Allison

“The philosopher believes that the value of his philosophy lies in the whole, in the building: posterity discovers it in the bricks with which he built and which are then often used again for better building: in the fact, that is to say, that building can be destroyed and nonetheless possess value as material.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” ~ Samuel Smiles

I have a thing about drum music – always have.  Which is kind of funny because I’ve never had a really good conscious understanding of rhythm.  Even funnier given that I spent my sophomore year in the percussion section of the band.

What can I say – I liked drummers… 😉

In my first semester of grad school, I had the option of taking a class entitled, “Drum Time, Dream Time, Drama Time.”  OOH, three favorites all wrapped up in one course.  I couldn’t wait.

Class was held in a space called “The Cave,” a windowless meditation space that had been used for a variety of ceremonies over the school’s history.  The silence in the room was audible, and the air was thick with good vibes…

Awesome

There were 9 of us in class; the first day, the teacher Bruce stood us in a horseshoe behind the tall djembe drums.  He taught us our first rhythm, and we were off.  Week after week, we added to our drumming vocabulary; the patterns becoming more and more complicated.  Bruce would divide us into groups and we’d have to maintain our own rhythm amidst all the others, while his snare drum soared above them all.

I loved it… and I was completely frustrated.

Every week, Bruce would gently remind me (again) that I needed to keep my eyes open.  “Feet grounded,” he’d say in response to my unconscious tapping.

He explained that in the Afro-Cuban tradition, religious ceremonies often included both drummers and dancers.

“It is the drummer’s job to stay grounded, so that the dancer can dance the space between and make contact with the spirit world.  The drummer provides the tether so the dancer can find their way back to this plane.”

“Eyes Open, Tara!”

Somewhere around week 5, Bruce was once again waxing poetic about the job of the drummer when he caught me shaking my head.

“What’s going on?” he asked me.

“I get what you’re saying, “ I answered, guiltily.  I wasn’t even aware that I had been disagreeing – talk about the body giving you away!  “It’s just that I don’t feel grounded when I’m drumming.  My entire head feels like it’s full of helium.”

“Ok,” he said, “come out here.”  He pulled me into the center of the circle.  “Now, all I want you to do is follow the helium… close your eyes, and let yourself go.”

And he signaled the class to begin the day’s rhythm again.

I stood, surrounded by drum music, and I surrendered myself to it, following the lightness in my head.  My body began to move, hips swaying, feet tapping.

And then the snare began its song, and I lost all control over my physicality.  I couldn’t NOT dance.

There was a part of me, the observer, who in the midst of all this was able to note that I had no power to stop.  It even pointed out that this whole event was an awful lot like that scene from Wayne’s World where Garth sees the beautiful woman and, with Foxy Lady playing in his head, loses control over his pelvis, shaking and gyrating in his attraction for her.

Part of me giggled, while the rest of me danced… the drum held me captive, while at the same time it liberated me. I had been given permission to let go, and I actually felt the lines that had been binding me release.  Just like a hot air balloon that’s lost its ballast, I shot skyward.  I can’t explain it any other way than to say that I danced myself off the planet.

It was my first taste of real freedom, and gave me a clue as to my spiritual identity.  Classes or not, training or no, in the spirit world, I am a Dancer.

It took me three days to touch down again, though I never did regain the same sense of being super glued to the ground.  Today, my grounded ness is a choice born out of a love for being embodied rather than a defensive measure aimed at keeping me safe.

And Dancing is still my fail-safe method for connecting to the All-That-Is.  It is a solace and a gift.

All it took was admitting what I wasn’t.

“Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route.” ~ Charles Caleb Colton