photo credit: Himy­nameisEuan

“Even­tu­ally you will come to under­stand that love heals every­thing, and love is all there is.” ~ Gary Zukav

Soft music. Dimmed lights. Candle-lit.

A ser­vice of heal­ing, for all who want it. Deeply. And for what­ever heal­ing that might mean.

The time: nearly two years ago.

This was the third such ser­vice like this I had been a part of. This one, though – dif­fer­ent. Dif­fer­ent, as I would be in the role of “healer”…listening to people’s peti­tions, needs, wants, desires. And then – lift those up to a Higher Source.

Is there train­ing for this posi­tion? Does a “healer” have to know any­thing spe­cial, do any­thing spe­cial? Did I really know at all what to do?

Per­haps the train­ing had been on the job train­ing from the first two ses­sions. Two ses­sions where I was fully involved, except not in this role of “healer”.

So…I lis­tened.

…I lis­tened with my heart…

Per­haps this deeper lis­ten­ing is most impor­tant. Per­haps really hear­ing what another soul is saying…not just the spo­ken words, words from deep within. Words spo­ken with the eyes. Words spo­ken from the heart. Words spo­ken with tears, words spo­ken with a smile. Words that are real.

It was a sacred experience.

It was not about know­ing what the right things were to say or do. It was not about being some sort of expert on any of this.

It was all about being fully in that moment…listening, caring.

Being love.

And then … being open to the words that came from my soul.

Love, in action.  Love, with­out jugdge­ment.  Love, and love alone.

What a truly mov­ing expe­ri­ence. A com­plete focus on that moment, that soul, there with me. Our spir­its locked together by human touch. A gift from the Divine.

Maybe it all seems a bit “out there”. Touch-feely. It’s not like any of this offers any phys­i­cal heal­ing, any notice­able healing.

Heal­ing of the soul.

Dis­ease. Pain. Strained rela­tions. Fam­ily chal­lenges. Suf­fered friend­ships. Lost jobs. Finan­cial dif­fi­cul­ties. Death.

The stuff that seems big.

Courage. Show love. Embrace the moments. Wis­dom. Fears. Loneliness.

The stuff that’s harder to fully quan­tify.  The stuff that doesn’t have to be quantified…just heard…

Where are you at on this? Is there heal­ing that you could use?

I have done this three times, this ser­vice of heal­ing. Each time I’m moved to not only play an active role in the heal­ing process, even more than that – to be on the receiv­ing end of this heal­ing gift

To have hands placed on me. To share openly. And then to allow the heal­ing process to begin anew, through that heal­ing touch of another.

Per­haps we can all use a some heal­ing in our lives.

Wher­ever we are in our life. What­ever we are doing. Per­haps it’s some­thing very spe­cific. Or maybe some­thing more gen­eral. When we are open to going deeper within our­selves, to see­ing this big­ger need for heal­ing, always…

LOVE, in action.

Does any­thing really change? Am I really any dif­fer­ent because I’ve been “healed”? Or does this just seem like some “feel good” moment, only to be quickly for­got­ten once I’ve left this sacred place?

I can only speak from my per­sonal expe­ri­ence. And in that…I believe deeply that there truly is a heal­ing tak­ing place. I am changed. Maybe it doesn’t cure some dis­ease overnight. Or mend a bro­ken rela­tion­ship the next day. Or give me that boost of courage I need to stand up for some­thing I believe later that evening. Per­haps it’s much deeper than any of this. Per­haps that heal­ing starts at a soul level. And in that, we expe­ri­ence a deeper whole­ness with ourselves

And that, I believe, is love.

May each of you find a deep sense of peace within…and know that love is…

…love is the movement…

---

by Lance Ekum

photo credit: Jer­rychar­lotte

“I don’t care how much power, bril­liance or energy you have, if you don’t har­ness it and focus it on a spe­cific tar­get, and hold it there you’re never going to accom­plish as much as your abil­ity war­rants.” — Zig Ziglar

Focus.

It’s an inter­est­ing thing…focus is. 

At this very moment, I’m focused on writ­ing this piece here at the Jun­gle of Life.  Except…except it is easy to wan­der, to let my mind drift else­where.  And when I do this — my focus shifts.  It’s not that I’m no longer focus­ing.  Instead, it’s that I’m choos­ing to focus on some­thing else.

Per­haps the new snow on the ground out­side.  Or what I’ll have for break­fast.  Or Face­book.  Or why that car cut in front of me on the high­way ear­lier today.  Or any num­ber of things — things that may or may not really deserve my focus.

When I do this — when I shift my focus from what I’m doing to some­thing else — that thing I’m work­ing on loses impor­tance.  More than that, even — my drift­ing focus keeps me rooted in what has always been.

What?

Have you ever said (either aloud or silently) some­thing like “I really want to ______.” (where the blank space rep­re­sents some­thing you have said).  And then — that thought leaves you, per­haps to never be revis­ited again, or per­haps to come up days/months/years down the road — with a twinge of regret for never hav­ing acted upon it.

Why?

We can all have these great thoughts of things we want to do/try/be.  And then…it is easy to fall into the trap of doing what we’ve always done.

We let our thoughts drift…from one thing to the next.

And before we know it — another day/month/year has passed, and there we are doing what we have always done.

Today, I chal­lenge you to add some clear focus to some­thing that has mean­ing to you.  Maybe it’s some­thing you’ve dab­bled in.  Maybe it’s some­thing you have really put a lot of time and effort into already (very awe­some!).  Maybe it’s some­thing that has just kind of lin­gered around in your brain (and in your heart, especially). 

Up the focus!

And be very clear about this — it’s not about “upping the focus” in every­thing you do (there is prob­a­bly not a need to be more focused on mak­ing that daily pot of cof­fee, for instance).  This is specif­i­cally about tak­ing one aspect of you and upping your focus fac­tor in that area.

This is not about mul­ti­task­ing your way through life — this is much more about single-tasking.  And in that — focus­ing on that very thing you are doing, at that moment. 

In this case, espe­cially, though — it is about choos­ing one thing of mean­ing to you — that you will really up the focus on this year.

Some moments when you are focus­ing on this will be easy.  Some will be chal­leng­ing.  Through it all — know that your mind is a pow­er­ful force — and that you have the choice in what that amaz­ing mind of yours focuses on.  As you begin down this path of delv­ing more into some­thing of mean­ing to you — in the moments that you are in that space — be fully in that space (phys­i­cally and men­tally).  Focus.  Focus on that one par­tic­u­lar thing for the duration. 

Do this — and your life will unfold in amaz­ing and mean­ing­ful ways…

photo credit: Joel Olives

“How does one become a but­ter­fly?” she asked. “You must want to fly so much that you are will­ing to give up being a cater­pil­lar.” ~ Anonymous

Com­fort Zones

Mmmm…that big cushy sofa in your liv­ing room.  The bed you’ve had for ten years.  The same fam­ily vaca­tion spot you’ve vis­ited as long as you can remember.

There’s com­fort in these “zones”. 

The j-o-b you’ve been doing for the last ten years.  The tele­vi­sion show reruns you con­tinue to watch.  The rela­tion­ships you con­tinue to hold onto.  The …_______ {fill in the blank}.

There’s com­fort in these “zones”, too.

Let’s look at that a bit deeper.  That sofa.  You’ve had it for years.  Evenings, after a long day at work…there’s a true com­fort in plop­ping down there.  The feel, the look, the way it forms to you…is com­fort­ing.  There’s some­thing that draws you to that place, wel­com­ing you in.

It’s nice, isn’t it — how you “feel” when you plop your­self down into that sofa (or what­ever it is for you that’s a real source of com­fort and joy).

What about that job you have, though?  The one you’ve been doing for years.  Or those rela­tion­ships you con­tinue to hold onto. 

Things you do because you’ve always done them — and there’s com­fort even if there isn’t joy. 

There’s a com­fort in the know­ing that it’s (what­ever “it” is) there.  (good or bad)

And the whole thought of step­ping out of that com­fort zone…well, it feels really daunt­ing.  That, and — you know — maybe that “out­side your com­fort zone” thing you’ve been think­ing about…well, what if you look like a great big fool when you try it.  What will every­one think? 

Hmmm.…

Yoga

Per­haps it seems strange to segue into yoga from here.

Let me explain…

I’m not unlike you.  I can quickly get pretty damn used to those com­fort zones in my life.  And, well…some of them are good.  Some also hold me back, though.

Let’s go back a cou­ple of years…

The idea of try­ing yoga is some­thing that has kept appear­ing before me.  And I’m drawn to it — and to the whole mind/body con­nec­tion.  There’s this thing, though — it’s out­side of my com­fort zone.  I’ve never tried yoga — cer­tainly not pub­licly, in a class.  I don’t have any of the equip­ment.  The few peo­ple I per­son­ally know who prac­tice yoga are all female.  Whoa!  Lots of com­fort zone red flags.

And guess what?

Because I allowed myself to be lim­ited by the walls I built up around my area of com­fort, I also let the oppor­tu­nity to prac­tice yoga elude me. (can you relate?)

Change

Change.  It hap­pens every day.  Some­times it hap­pens around us, and there’s noth­ing we can do about it (think road con­struc­tion, the new fam­ily that moved into the neigh­bor­hood, etc).  Some­times change is pre­sented to us — and from our “com­fort zone”, we accept it (think new respon­si­bil­i­ties at work, a new time for your favorite tv show, etc). 

How about get­ting out of those com­fort zones, though?

When we actively choose to change, and to make those changes — we ARE actively step­ping out of our com­fort zones. 

Back To Yoga

Think of a time you have actively cho­sen to make a change in your life…to step out­side of that com­fort zone.  How did it go?  Even if it didn’t go as well as you had hoped, I’m sure you can still take some­thing from the expe­ri­ence (espe­cially when it’s some­thing that’s spo­ken from your heart). 

About a year ago, I chose to step out­side of that com­fort zone I had cre­ated — the one around exer­cise and what I could and could not do.  I signed up to par­tic­i­pate in a weekly yoga class.

Was it scary? 

Think of that first day going to school, or your first day on a new job (espe­cially when you don’t know any­one).  Yep, it was pretty much like that.  Thoughts going through my head:  would I look like a fool, what if I couldn’t get into some cer­tain posi­tion, would I look like a novice amongst experts, would I feel out of place, would I slow the class down…

And guess what??

They were just that — thoughts in my head!  In fact, I walked into a class (and instruc­tor) that wel­comed me.  When I didn’t “get” one of the posi­tions, help was right there.  When I couldn’t do some things (okay — there are just cer­tain posi­tions my body is not ready for yet!) I also real­ized there were oth­ers there as well. 

Today I con­tinue prac­tic­ing yoga, at the same stu­dio I began at one year ago.   The shift:  by actively choos­ing to change, this place of fear and unknow­ing has went from feel­ing like it was too far out of my com­fort zone to try — to today where it is a com­fort zone.  And this new com­fort zone — it’s one that I actively look for­ward to, much like the bed I sleep in. 

What’s It Mean To You

So, actively look at your life.  Be hon­est with your­self and see the com­fort zones you are allow­ing which limit you in some way. 

How can you change, to step away from these places and more fully into the com­fort zone of your soul?

---

by Lance Ekum

photo credit: 27147

“We our­selves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that miss­ing drop.” ~ Mother Teresa

What are you doing right now? 

Does it feel small and insignif­i­cant?  Does if feel like you are really doing (being) some­thing worth­while, worthy?

Per­haps.

Or…perhaps not.

Some­times you’re on your game, and fir­ing on all cylin­ders.  You stand tall, you plow for­ward with deter­mi­na­tion, you’re “on”.

Some­times, though — your moments are really very ordi­nary moments.  And, in those moments, you may not feel like that droplet of your being — that moment in time…that it mat­ters all that much.

Have you ever felt that way?

Just A Drop

In the ocean of this thing called life — and every­thing going on in it (just think of every thing going on, at this very moment!) — does your lit­tle drop really make a dif­fer­ence?  And, espe­cially, when it’s just an ordi­nary moment of your day?

“Indi­vid­u­ally, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” ~ Ryuno­suke Satoro

You mat­ter.

Your moments mat­ter.  Every one of them.

Every sin­gle one.

No Ordi­nary Drop

“I’ve seen a jil­lion mir­a­cles. They’re all around. Every green leaf is a mir­a­cle. Not long ago, I noticed a leaf falling. It floated down on the porch, and it was brown and kind of wrin­kled. I thought, Boy, that’s a shame. It was once beau­ti­fully green and now it’s all over and gone. Then I got to think­ing. It beau­ti­fied the world, then it fell off and will go back into the earth and fer­til­ize and grow many more green leaves. And I thought, I hope I can con­tribute like that.” ~ Jimmy Dean

Every drop that is your life — the biggest of drops that make big splashes all the way down to the small­est of drops that seem­ingly are unnoticed…they feed the ocean of you, the ocean of humanity. 

No drop is just an ordi­nary drop.  Your life is extra­or­di­nary.  Your life…is amazing. 

You are here — HERE — on earth, in human form!  How amaz­ing is that!  How breath­tak­ingly amaz­ing — that you are here, hav­ing this human experience!

Every drop that is you — every one is part of some­thing much bigger…part of this thing we call life (and more than just your life — part of the greater life of this whole cosmos!)

May the drops that are you bring mean­ing into your life…every sin­gle one of those amaz­ing and extra­or­di­nary drops…