Haiku Ellipses...Invitation...Response...

HEREANDNOWEBE let the past come here let the future come here too HERE we are made whole the past can be clearly seen...yellow for clarity, the dashes lean back in time...the future is dark and unseen...black for what is hidden, the dashes lean forward in time...the present takes from past and future AND is aware of what is manifesting/emerging/growing in this every changing moment by moment by moment...infinitely, the blue is for the light of consciousness infinite wisdom in integrating past and future with what IS arising in the present moment practice...feel into the present moment...what learnings from the past does this moment carry...what hopes for the future does this moment embody...what other qualities are arising and integrating with past and present in this moment?

WE what happened to me? i is creating with you me transformed to WE! none of us are alone as an individual "i" except in the existential sense that we have our unique individual subjective experiences, YET we often see ourselves as separate from "you" (other individuals)...the circle of life shows interconnections that increase the plausability of becoming aware of a WE (i + you)...how comforting it is to consider that WE are not alone, that we are connected...perhaps, in the quauntum realm of non local consciousness, to everyone and everything practice...put yourself in the center circle of a page...using spokes to extend out from the center, connect yourself to other circles (other people in your life), see how many we connections you can make...choose one person, and do something to enhance your connection with them today...something small that takes less than 5 minutes to do, e.g. hug, smile, kind word, text, email, card, phone call...

INTERCONNECTED interconnected colored circles and black lines coming together the circles need the black lines to connect with each other, and together, they form an interconnected web of life...we are like the circles, each seemingly separate, and the invisible black lines of love, light, energy, and information connect us together in an invisible web of cosmic consciousness consider your relationships...if love is connection, as neuroscientist Julia Mossbridge suggests, then meditating on our loving connections creates the potential to experience unconditional love...why not experience that unconditional love right now for at least one minute...

  EXPANSION inside the red zone pumping, throbbing, making love center of the heart feeling an expansion within this mandala...love growing in the heart center... practice: stare at the mandala about 1 foot from the face and think of different colors...did you get a wow, a mini psychedelic experience...try a softer gaze this time...can you feel the expansion

HOME AGAIN feeling out of place someone looks at me and smiles i am home again sitting inside a Hindu temple entryway, waiting for my son's chess tournament to start, nearly everyone looked Hindu (brown faces, women in saris and men in dhoti's) coming in for a service (the tournament was in an adjoining social hall)...i felt "out of place" until one middle-aged Hindu woman smiled directly at me...i instantly felt seen, welcomed, and "at home"  practice: make the effort to intentionally smile while looking directly at people you see in the course of your everyday life if the circumstances feel appropriate...people in your household/family/roommates, co-workers, fellow students (and teachers), strangers on the street, acquaintances, friends, relations...let go of hoping for a positive response...if the smile is returned, good, if not, also good, as they probably needed it! let us connect with one another by smiling more often, helping the other feel seen, welc...

PERSPECTIVE      finding your true home it is not 'out there' beyond you it is hidden...right HERE the yellow part of the image is my yellow-framed glasses that i'm looking out of, seeing the page below me with my hands sketching...i cannot see my own head, i am headless from this point of view, the red heart is my real home, the center of awareness, the place of right HERE these ideas are part of the "headless way"--see Richard Land's book, Celebrating Who We Are based on the works of Douglas Harding...looking out from our eyes we see the world but not our own "head"--that is, we know who we are by looking into the faces of others, similar to the looking glass self of Mead, AND there are many more implications here... practice...what does it mean to look out at the world with eyes that cannot see themselves...where do you feel your center...heart, belly, head...all three? consider a decision you need to make today from the perspective of heart (feel...

LABELS see me with labels please don't put me in the box unlabel...set me free consider the labels that form your identity, both public and private, the ones others know you by and the ones you use for yourself...family, household, neighborhood, school, work, community, organizations, culture...all parts of you, AND which of these are the real you...all...some...none? what if we peeled off the labels and looked to the real person beneath the labels, the soul or spirit of the person...what kind of world would that create? practice: make a list of labels that people use when referring to you...another list of labels that you use for yourself...which resonate the most...least...can you let go of both? what would be left...what is the essence of who you really are at the core of your being...surely not a label...what then...perhaps this "essence" is the gateway to a deeper life   

10K THINGS starting at center 1 thought leads to the next thought then...10,000 things! from the one come ten thousand things [paraphrased] says the Tao Te Ching ...the complete lines are: The Tao gave birth to One / One gave birth to Two / Two gave birth to Three / Three gave birth to the ten thousand things. practice, observe your own thoughts in a 3-10 minute meditation...see how one thought leads to another...and another...ad infinitum...for fun, take one thought and trace it backwards to discover its origin...and where did that thought come from...and that...and...where is your center, your point of origin...see if you can rest there for a time without generating more thoughts...a little peace

THE PRACTICE write the mantra then create the mandala end with a haiku every week for several years i've done the following practice: write out one page of the manta (single spaced, one word, written mindfully, over and over until it fills the page), then whatever thoughts have come to mind while writing the mantra become part of the semi-conscious background for creating a mandala or similar art form (like the one below), finally, inspired by the art, i create a haiku to language the practice, and make it more memorable. practice: create your own weekly practice that allows things from the unconscious to bubble up and find expression in some art form (e.g., art, music, dance, tai chi, yoga, cooking, gardening, flower arranging...), share your experience with at least one other person.