"The end is the means"

I've been receiving a number of messages lately regarding end-centered focus. The concept is summed up in the quote by Judge Thomas Troward: "The end is the means." The idea is to begin each endeavor (or day, week, month, year, decade, life) with the end in mind, and then use that goal to guide your actions. This technique is also supported by learning theory: when it comes to teaching a series of steps, you begin with the big picture in mind, then teach the last step, and reward the student, followed by teaching the preceding step, adding the last one with the reward, and so on, always reinforcing the steps with the end reward, and reinforcing the learning by keeping the freshest steps at the beginning. With this idea in mind, I suspect you could work your way backwards, and solve all your decisions before you get out of bed.

I have heard this, and I understand it, but it has taken the repeated shoulder-taps to get me to start adding it to my work list. New ways of thinking take conscious effort to implement. I believe that I, too often, operate on a rather short-term basis, and not often enough, make decisions based on longer-term desired outcomes. This is not to say that I am highly impulsive (though, I certainly can be!), just that I frequently fail to effectively prioritize my efforts, and I'm thinking that this method might be quite helpful. With this technique, I could approach each decision point with a road map in hand, and in fact, I would likely run into less decision points, having set out with said road map from the beginning.

I've never been much of a planner - oh I have plans, I just don't usually formulate them very clearly - and it sounds like this could be hindering my efficacy. I have generally preferred the go-with-the-flow approach to life with minimal planning, since my early plans all fell through, but maybe it's just because I have never developed good planning skills. Perhaps the simple practice of starting each day with a goal in mind for how I want it to end will guide my actions naturally toward that outcome. And perhaps with continued practice, I can become more skilled at setting and achieving goals! My dad said his dad said, "A failure to plan is a plan for failure." I may just now be truly seeing the merit to that.

It is often said that the most successful way to manifest your desires is to visualize them, and that seems to fit perfectly with this line of reasoning, so it sounds like there's some pretty strong forces making a pretty strong case, and that I ought to make a pretty strong effort to reciprocate. So, with that, I would like this day to end with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment - which I believe will come from the completion of my commitments, and... let's say... five items from my to-do list - coupled with a glass of wine :) Well, here's one down!

Summer love

Well, it's official: July 5th typically marks the true beginning of "Summer" in the Pacific Northwest, and the weather forecast affirms it :) So, now that the sun is really beaming and the temperature is warm and pleasant, I get to really enjoy the rewards of being alive on this Earth! To me, growing up in this climate particularly, Summer equates to playtime. This is when I get out more, socialize more, laugh more, and smile more. I have set in motion plenty of personal growth tracks, and now, I just get to ride the rides, and sing happy songs :D

On a side-note, I've gone ahead and signed up for Google AdSense, so this blog will soon begin displaying ads. I am under the impression that they will be topic-related, so hopefully they won't be too obnoxious. In fact, I hope some of you actually find them interesting, as sufficient intrigue will bestow a monetary benefit to me :) I made this choice to start branching out on my sources of income, so that I might find sustainability while my main business continues its slow and steady growth. I trust you all will support my diversification, and I suspect there's a good chance you might also appreciate the personally selected links to specific products I believe you will regard as potentially useful.

I wish you all a bright and fruitful Summer this year - GO PLAY!!

Sowing spring seeds

Spring is here. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming. It's the time of year for new beginnings, and for sowing seeds - both literally, and metaphysically. However, I have very little knowledge or skills in the area of gardening, so I find myself learning as I go with the spiritual cultivation. As it turns out, though, this Spring, I am indeed embarking on a substantial new beginning: I've started my own business. This is also something of limited experience for me, as it is my very first such undertaking. Again, I am learning as I go.

I was pleased that circumstances unfolded as they did, with the timing of this new venture coinciding with the Spring season. As I go about my duties, I am discovering that start-up is very much a planting phase. I just sow, sow, sow the seeds of business, everywhere I go. But I am also sowing seeds of me - of a better, happier, more successful, brighter, future me, and I find it thrilling!

One of the biggest challenges for me personally, has been the continual uncertainty. I am not accustomed to balancing such a degree of unknown with such a long list of responsibilities. I guess this is where growing takes place. I suspect it is in precisely these kinds of challenges that our spirits find potent fertilizers.

My ongoing job is to remember that I DO have faith in Omni and in my inevitable well-being, and to continually maintain the balance between faith and diligence - "Trust God but tie your camel," spoke the wise Rumi. I find that to be a particularly soft line in the sand. I feel like a clumsy dancer keeping inside those guideposts, but dance I must, and dance I do.

Be the light

Find your joy.

Then, protect it.

Don't allow the negative emotions of others around you to dim the light of your joy. Feel sympathy, or even empathy for their plight, but if you get bogged down in their darkness, it's much harder to regain your joy, and even more difficult to help those who suffer.

Earlier, I found myself, in a semi-lucid, semi-dreaming state, considering this problem of getting bummed out when someone around me is down, and my desire to not be so affected. I found that in my mind's eye, I was watching my spirit wrap my joyful heart in a sort of wicker-looking casing, which was semi-permeable in that it allowed light to pass in and out, but would block negativity from entering. How wonderful! :)

This also comes on the heels of a recently revived, dissatisfied awareness of my occasional hip-shot negative reactions to other people's mistakes (mainly while driving...). I have a tendency to curse people who seem oblivious, and what I find would be my preference is to develop a new habit of just shouting blessings. To the person who is slowing down through a green light, presumably because they are unsure of whether to turn or proceed: instead of, "What the eff?! Can we make this light while it's green?! Go!!", I should like to respond, "Omni! Give this driver clarity!", or even just the quick version, "Clarity!" I want to spend more energy praying for people than criticizing them.

I believe that the more we shine our lights, the more light we will have in our lives. When others around us are not the joyful, clever beings we wish them to be, let's all just pray for them to be so, support them as best we can, and carry on with maintaining our own joy and growth.

Happy day! :)

Love is in the air, it's all around

One of my favorite pastimes is listening to music. I often find it a very useful emotive tool. Something I've discovered along the way is the joy of making a slight mental shift when listening to love songs, so as to interpret them as being sung to me by Omni, or, in some cases, being sung to Omni by myself.

Some of my favorites for this are:

John Hiatt - Have a Little Faith in Me - (Omni - to - me)
Kelly Clarkson - Thankful - (me - to - Omni)
The Black Keys - Everlasting Light - (Omni - to - me)
Norah Jones - Come Away with Me - (Omni - to - me)

Check them out; give it a try! (Please excuse the crude YouTube videos...) If ever you are lonely, you can use this trick to turn love songs from painful influences into positive and heart-warming audio hugs :)

Omni is love. Omni is you. You are Omni. You are love. Love is you. Be love!

On this day of romantic celebration, I hope that everyone feels loved, and that everyone is giving love.

Happy Valentine's Day! :) <3

Responsibility and power

I subscribe to an e-newsletter, of sorts, titled "Notes from the Universe." Today's message included a line that took me by surprise: "With great responsibility, ... comes great power." At first, I thought, Yeah, yeah... like in Spiderman. But wait - the line in that movie was, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Huh... Both are equally true, but the difference is poignant.

This new perspective alerts us to the truth that the more we take on, the more we have at our disposal. The more things we enfold into our own purview, concern, and obligation, the more resources we have access to by virtue of authority. By taking responsibility of greater and greater aspects of our own lives, for example, we acquire greater and greater sovereignty over our own lives. When we go further, and accept increased responsibility in other areas of life - say, work, politics, society... - we find we are endowed with increased ability, confidence, and efficacy.

Alternatively, the less responsibility we bear, the more power we give away to others. If we are not responsible for our emotions, they will run us. If we are not responsible for our choices, someone else will make them for us. If we are not responsible for our own well-being, another will claim dominance over our lives. If we are not responsible for our work, our jobs will forever be subservient to those who are. If we are not responsible for the state of our State, we will find ourselves the subjects of despotism. If we are not responsible for the conditions of our surrounding communities, we will not find rewarding places within them.

There really is no facet of our lives for which we should not take full responsibility. Even in those incidents which occur involving forces beyond our control, we can still hold ourselves accountable for the roles we play, for the attitudes we choose, and for our responses to the events. Additionally, it is equally important that we learn to distinguish between which forces are beyond our control, and which are entirely ours to command. While we're at it, we would all do well to run regular checks on our thought processes for areas where we unwittingly forfeit power, by placing blame on others, claiming victimization by others, or demanding unearned benefits under the pretense of entitlement. When we attribute power to others, it is always at the expense of our own, despite any appearances to the contrary. Take responsibility wherever you find it, and you will have all the power you will ever need.

Return of the light

In a few minutes (in my time zone), the shortest day will officially begin: Winter Solstice. Tomorrow morning will be the latest sunrise of the year, and in the afternoon, the sun will set at its earliest (or something approximating that, anyway). BUT - after tomorrow, each successive sunrise will be a little earlier, and each successive sunset will be a little later. Thus, the days will begin to lengthen. This brings me great joy.

Although I know that Winter still lies ahead - and that it's not generally a happy time in the good ol' Pacific Northwest - I am able to take solace in knowing that the darkness will be reaching its maximum, and that the light will be returning, more and more each day. In the meantime, I will do as the fishermen did when they were unable to sail, and mend my nets - so to speak...

This morning, I noticed that a mark in the bracelet I recently made for myself resembles a rune which is quite appropriate to the bracelet, as well as the timing of the discovery. It is "Nauthiz." It essentially means need, but also encompasses restraint, innovation, and the power of will to overcome distress. I needed a new bracelet, so I made one.

As for the timing, it was a pleasant reminder, as I have drawn this rune before, in another time of restraint. This time, however, I am feeling a sense of restraint imposed by inhospitable weather. This rune instructs one to exercise patience, perhaps even to embrace the current restrictions by utilizing the opportunity to "mend your nets," or in other words, to do some shadow work.

Nauthiz is also characterized by "major self-initiated change." I find Winter a perfect time to go inward, and do some internal house cleaning. After the Autumn of discarding unneeded beliefs, I can now search the shadows of my consciousness and pull out those things I have tried to hide. When I dust them off, shed some light on them, and polish them up, I will find that the aspects of myself which I sought to hide are truly some of my greatest assets. This is the essence of shadow work, but it is a difficult and complex task.

Fortunately, the light is returning to my world, and I shall open up my whole being to it :)