Here and Now...What's Happening?

[ViralSpiral]

Posted by another bob (here)

Oh yum!





Weather's been foul. Olympics great!

[ulli]

Posted by another bob (here)

Posted by ulli (here)

Posted by benevolentcrow (here)
This is the truth!!!

This may be the truth, but is also the beginning of great deception and conspiracy.
What a wicked world we weave.

Maybe "wicked" is something extra we add, based on our own particular filters, to what simply is.

Whistle all you like....
forum is forum, and as such will attract language.

And "Wicked" is a lot milder a word than you would find among Youtube pages.

There is lots more that we can add.
(But I'll be brief, as we are invited out to a swamp now with our birdwatching friends)

So how about this one then?

[ViralSpiral]

Hiccups? Or doubly confused?

Posted by ulli (here)

So how about this one then?





How about:

[another bob]

Posted by ulli (here)
...we are invited out to a swamp now with our birdwatching friends)

One of our favorite hobbies, right out our window!

Then again, speaking of wicked . . .

[Flash]

As Meeradas mentioned a fews days ago that may be I would report on my silent retreat experience, here it is:

« Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking
Live in silence.

Flow down in always
Widening rings of being.”
Rumi

This above is the reason I wanted a silent retreat, me who is these last years a constant flow of chat and talking. This may be hard to take, we will see by the end of the week.

I decided to finally share my experience, or report – lol - when I read this:
“The knowing of the mystic lovers is different.
The empirical, sensory, sciences
are like a donkey loaded with books,
or like the make up woman’s makeup.
It washes off.
But if you lift the baggage rightly, it will give joy.
Don’t carry your knowledge-load for some selfish reason.”

Rumi

As you can see, I just started to read Rumi’s poems. Will see where it leads.

Silent retreat

Day 1
Woke up this morning at 5h30. The first week is within a framework with specific meditation hours, eating times, and yes, 1h00 chat (ouf, what a relief...lol). The rest is in silence.
The nature around is beautiful. I am in the Finger Lakes region north west of NY state. The place is nice, somewhat rustic and the food is good. People look nice but they do not talk
.
Trying to meditate outside this morning (I am not good at meditating), I realised how many thousands of thoughts I had per minute. Which is not a surprise.

But what ireally surprised me most is that many of those thoughts, up to half of them, were in fact funny. And then I realised that often I will focus on the not funny ones in real life, which makes my life kind of negatively biaised.

My conclusion for an instant was: OK, granted, I am crazy. But of course, that thought faded away as well, comme par enchantement, thanks to a magic wand (sarcasm towards the fading away- this is also called denial lol).

The funny thoughts:
Why do they all walk looking down as if concentrated in themselves. It is a silent retreat, not a hunchback one... (smiling)
One can look up without talking as well.
Gosh this is self centered, belly button oriented. (smiling)
I did not know we make sooooo much noise while eating. If I were a lizard, I would think that human are very gulpy, girgly with their mouth, they should hiss instead. (smiling and perplexed)
It is not because you are silent that you should not smile.(frowning)
I had never looked at feet that way, very distinguishable features. (smiling, I must be back hunghing too)
This kind of retreat is perfect for the autistic, no human interactions (I know, not politically correct for autistic people) (smiling)
I am not introvert enough. (smiling)
Gosh my back and butt hurts with too much sitting, I am getting old.(vinegar kind of smile)
Wow, I had not listened to nature that way since my childhood. Beautiful sounds, quite noisy too. (happy)
How good is it to be part of the earth, being made of her body. All she wants is for all of her creatures to strive.(happy)
Finally, they are not that nerdish. They are nice people.(ok)
Why could'nt I be so quiet at home when I was small. It was a similar environment.(perplexed)(I bet human were not silent - lol)
I want to let everything come up, sadness, stupidity, sarcasms, fun, loving thoughts, everything I hold inside. I want to make the difference between automatic thinking, feeling, their kind, those that bring joy and sadness, those that are based on reality those that aren’t . (my bet is that most probably aren’t).
Discovery: I have a better sense of humour than I thought.
Discovery: I am able to handle one day without talking.
Discovery: Living from the heart is important to me.
Discovery: Creativity will always be with me.

[Flash]

On a more serious topic:
During the hour of chatting, the agnoism or something like this came up. It is when somebody had an impediment and does not know about it. For example, someone is blind. You ask the person to pick up a pen for example, and she will find an excuse for which she should not pick it up like “i don’t need to write” instead of seeing s he is blind. This is a problem with the neurology in the brain.
I was wondering if the human race was not suffering of this at large when it comes to function within the soul and higher self parameters. Instead of being an impediment we do not perceive, it is a gift we do not perceive. We do not see who we are and what we are able of.
Another point that came up from that day was dream or vision of the future (more a dream): why don’t we all stop to talk and don’t we find ways to communicate directly, through telepathy. May be that telepathy is not base on language but on picture and we can’t develop it because we are caught in the language parameters, the language paradigms.
Have been meditating for 2 hours and ½. Starting to get better, I did not see the time passing too much. I also found the place where the “retreat initiated” sit and it is much better and comfortable.
The day is over, second day without talking tomorrow.

“There are thousands of wines
That can take over your minds.

Don’t think all ecstasies
Are the same!

Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.

Drink from the presence of saints,
Not from those other jars.

Every object, every being,
Is a jar full of delight.

Be a connoisseur,
And taste with caution.

Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,

The ones unadulterated with fear,
Or some urgency about “what’s needed”.”

Rumi

[astrid]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BzrI15uw92k

apologies to those that take such things seriously,

but i just couldn't resist

[Lisab]

Posted by benevolentcrow (here)
This is the truth!!!

And when they point a toy gun at you, give 'em all your money and all your sweets!

[Swan]

Hi All

Back in chilly Scandinavia.

@ Ulli, train trip and wedding fine! Glad Ernesto calmed down.

@ Jenci and Wakytweaky; I really enjoy your interaction.

@ Belle; what a challenge. Heartfelt energy sent your way.

@ 1inMany; loved reading about your angel wings and orbs

[ulli]

Flash
I was writing a reply to your two posts last night but fell asleep before I pressed Send.
Woke up and found the page had expired and my message was lost....
So you see, I silenced myself. Must have been a subconscious act of solidarity.

Swan...glad trip went well....your presence on that train was the protective shield, obviously,
seeing that you and yours are connected via invisible strings to the greater web of the Village system in the sky.

[benevolentcrow]

Posted by Lisab (here)

Posted by benevolentcrow (here)
This is the truth!!!

And when they point a toy gun at you, give 'em all your money and all your sweets!

This billboard struck a cord with me and made me laugh only because of my two year old grand daughter. If you pay attention and you should at all times when with a child of that age you listen and interact with them. Not creating monsters here! Just showing loving undivided attention. Geeez!

[ulli]

Posted by benevolentcrow (here)

Posted by Lisab (here)

Posted by benevolentcrow (here)
This is the truth!!!

And when they point a toy gun at you, give 'em all your money and all your sweets!

This billboard struck a cord with me and made me laugh only because of my two year old grand daughter. If you pay attention and you should at all times when with a child of that age you listen and interact with them. Not creating monsters here! Just showing loving undivided attention. Geeez!

In my case it was a joke, in fact it the joke was on me.
My two-year-old and my three-year-old grandsons have been putting me into that position for a few weeks now,
and with each moment I'm aware of future scenarios being created in the now.

No matter how hard I try, some of it is bound to create fall-out of some magnitude.
Even in jokes there is deception....especially in jokes...
it's the name of the game....
as the Monty Python Olympics demonstrated.

[benevolentcrow]

Purchased a 10 tray food dehydrator at a tag sale for a $1.75. Score! We have tons of apples for dehydrating also pears and yellow plums. Dried fruit and fruit leather are in my future.

Garden is doing well, can't wait for fresh onions and green beans, potatoes, tomatoes. and greens. Got a late start having only been here almost a year now and due to the crazy wet, cool weather here in the NW.

We will have a harvest!

[Lisab]

Some snippets from my little boys end of term school report - Rudy is a polite and friendly member of the class who always demonstrates a kind and thoughtful manner. he is sensitive to the feelings of other children in the class and is aware of the similarities and differences between him and others. I'm not with his dad and sometimes spend a certain amount of my time deprogramming after the weekends. There are no toy guns in this house, altho 'he has tried to shoot me with a carrot in the past!
People around the forum know my views on gun control. As soon as I hit submit I thought 'sh!t'. Sorry for any offence. It was a really crap joke x

[Jenci]

Hi Waky, good to hear from you.

No-one is getting anything wrong. Everyone is doing exactly what they need to be doing. 20 years of doing the 'wrong' thing was exactly right for you and exactly what was needed to bring you to this point to have the courage to move towards these feelings......it's clever how this works

Posted by Wakytweaky (here)

I see that I'm going in and out of surrendering to to these feelings all day long for the past days. Pretty intense at times... I am finally getting to the point that the emotions and feelings that come to surface are experienced fully, like it is supposed to, but I suppressed this for soooooo long... like turning the volume down from 10 till 2.

You're not alone in realising that your feeling of emotions has been turned right down to a level 2. I would say this applies to most people. People tend to 'think' their emotions (pay attention to the story attached to the feelings) rather than 'feel' the emotions directly (pay attention to the feeling/sensation in the body).

Once you realise this, you can see how much you have either supressed or resisted feelings and you can get to the point of allowing these feelings, in the body, to be fully expressed with no resisting or grasping and no paying attention to the story the mind tells about them.

It's not easy. It takes some courage and because it is the last thing you want to do. It's easy to see why you have surpressed feelings all your life.

With practice, you will find it easier to be aware of a feeling when it arises and to allow it to rise as it needs to. Do this for some time and you will notice a shift; instead of your natural desire to resist a feeling you will find the opposite in that it will be far to painful to resist.

This awakening process has its own momentum way beyond the 'little self' which thinks it is in control. Once it gets too painful to resist a feeling, you will just learn to get out of the way and let what needs to happen, happen.


"It's one thing to wake up when you are driving and realise you have been asleep.......it's another thing when you realise you are not even in the driving seat." ~ Adyashanti


Jeanette

[benevolentcrow]

Posted by Lisab (here)
Some snippets from my little boys end of term school report - Rudy is a polite and friendly member of the class who always demonstrates a kind and thoughtful manner. he is sensitive to the feelings of other children in the class and is aware of the similarities and differences between him and others. I'm not with his dad and sometimes spend a certain amount of my time deprogramming after the weekends. There are no toy guns in this house, altho 'he has tried to shoot me with a carrot in the past!
People around the forum know my views on gun control. As soon as I hit submit I thought 'sh!t'. Sorry for any offence. It was a really crap joke x

All is well

[Jenci]

Posted by Flash (here)
Discovery: I have a better sense of humour than I thought.
Discovery: I am able to handle one day without talking.
Discovery: Living from the heart is important to me.
Discovery: Creativity will always be with me.

I've enjoyed reading about your retreat, Flash and look forward to the next day's installment.

I shall be quiet now

Jeanette

[ulli]

Posted by Lisab (here)
Some snippets from my little boys end of term school report - Rudy is a polite and friendly member of the class who always demonstrates a kind and thoughtful manner. he is sensitive to the feelings of other children in the class and is aware of the similarities and differences between him and others. I'm not with his dad and sometimes spend a certain amount of my time deprogramming after the weekends. There are no toy guns in this house, altho 'he has tried to shoot me with a carrot in the past!
People around the forum know my views on gun control. As soon as I hit submit I thought 'sh!t'. Sorry for any offence. It was a really crap joke x

I think it was obvious to most of the Villagers that you meant it as a joke. It certainly came across as such at my end; just like benevolentscrow's billboard it made me LOL.

[Eram]

Posted by Jenci (here)
Hi Waky, good to hear from you.

No-one is getting anything wrong. Everyone is doing exactly what they need to be doing. 20 years of doing the 'wrong' thing was exactly right for you and exactly what was needed to bring you to this point to have the courage to move towards these feelings......it's clever how this works

Posted by Wakytweaky (here)

I see that I'm going in and out of surrendering to to these feelings all day long for the past days. Pretty intense at times... I am finally getting to the point that the emotions and feelings that come to surface are experienced fully, like it is supposed to, but I suppressed this for soooooo long... like turning the volume down from 10 till 2.

You're not alone in realising that your feeling of emotions has been turned right down to a level 2. I would say this applies to most people. People tend to 'think' their emotions (pay attention to the story attached to the feelings) rather than 'feel' the emotions directly (pay attention to the feeling/sensation in the body).

Once you realise this, you can see how much you have either supressed or resisted feelings and you can get to the point of allowing these feelings, in the body, to be fully expressed with no resisting or grasping and no paying attention to the story the mind tells about them.

It's not easy. It takes some courage and because it is the last thing you want to do. It's easy to see why you have surpressed feelings all your life.

With practice, you will find it easier to be aware of a feeling when it arises and to allow it to rise as it needs to. Do this for some time and you will notice a shift; instead of your natural desire to resist a feeling you will find the opposite in that it will be far to painful to resist.

This awakening process has its own momentum way beyond the 'little self' which thinks it is in control. Once it gets too painful to resist a feeling, you will just learn to get out of the way and let what needs to happen, happen.


"It's one thing to wake up when you are driving and realise you have been asleep.......it's another thing when you realise you are not even in the driving seat." ~ Adyashanti


Jeanette

At the moment I am totally going up and down in this spectrum of allowing emotions to rise and suppress them like I used to.
When I allow them to rise and experience them fully, it comes along with a different sensation to my breathing, like I breath something that prickles a teany weany bit in the lungs... is this something that other people can relate to? I mean... there are other things as well, as the abdomen being less constricted and the feeling of more space around me, but that breathing thing is a bit odd to me.

just to set the record straight:

No-one is getting anything wrong. Everyone is doing exactly what they need to be doing. 20 years of doing the 'wrong' thing was exactly right for you and exactly what was needed to bring you to this point to have the courage to move towards these feelings......it's clever how this works

I did it like it is supposed to for 20 years and then changed it because I read Eckhart Tolle and being unaware that I already was watching myself the right way, I changed it for a more detached way of watching. Now I'm back to the way I did it before, but without judging it, clinging to it or trying to wrestle it away for me like I used to do for that 20 years.



@ Flash... so nice to hear about your adventures.

@ Lisab... nice to see you posting again.

edit to add:

Hey Swan... happy coming home!

[1inMany]

Good Now

Today, I think I have turned a corner. After saltines for 6 days, I ate a taco! Woohooooooooo! Last night, hubby made ice cream shakes for everyone, and the gesture was so sweet and he was having so much fun...I couldn't bear to tell him no. So, a couple of drinks and, um, down the sink it went. Tonight, maybe I will be able to really have one We shall see, but I intend to be able to eat without my digestive system giving me any negative input on this. That's just the symptom, of course, but a huge wave came this morning and blew away some of the fog that was so heavy. I'm so, so grateful to be able to breathe. I'm not out of the woods yet, more processing apparently. I think I was having more difficulty than I realized, because even with a big part of the weight lifted, I really don't feel like me yet...

I will be able to return home, finally...I hope first thing in the morning. Em is outfitted for school, well except for cowboy boots :/ Never shopped for those before. M is started, but a ways to go there. The girls have had to wear uniforms to school for as long as I can remember, so all this self expression is killing me. What wonderful independent thinkers we are raising here. Next time I know to make the trip alone, come for a day, and go home quickly lol.

p.s. Thank you for sharing your journey, Flash, I'm loving it! And Swan, I'm so glad you made it back Waky-I have not had breathing tingles, but I've had some pretty bizarre physical sensations...lots of pricklies every where else. I just hope your stomach et al doesn't decide to make itself known...my hope for you is that the pricklies stay in your lungs

Much Love to our Village,


i believe