When I do a personal reading for someone I look at the cycles of time that influence the present year they are in, and the cards that govern the cycles within that year. Sometimes people call for a reading when they are facing a challenge in their life. Those challenges always show up in their cards. The challenges however, always have a purpose, and the rub is that we don't always see it that way. In times of challenge we usually have only one question, "When will it be over?".
When I'm asked that question, and I do hear it a lot, I stop and think for a moment before I answer. Franz Kafka said, "The meaning of life is that it stops." As usual for him and other men born on July 3 - to the point with absolute insight.
This morning when I was cooking my oatmeal, I stood patiently at the stove and watched the brilliant alchemical process that was going on before my eyes. I watched from start to finish. I don't usually do that. Most of the time I multi-task as my oats are going through their transformation into oatmeal. This morning was different. Partly because I'm traveling and staying at a friend's house in Los Angeles, and I'm not in my "usual" ritualistic breakfast routine.
As I stood there staring into the pot, I watch in awe as the magic of the elements transformed each other to re-purpose the raw oats I had put into a pot of water and placed on the fire.
The fire heating the water, the water coming to a boil, the oats swirling around from the energy being created by the heat, and the transformation of the oats resulting from the combination of all of this together. From oats to oatmeal. Wallah!
As I observed this alchemical ritual that I had put into motion, I thought about time. I wondered how much of my life goes on while I'm "multi-taksing", busily getting things done. My mind quickly referred to the cards, as it most always does, and I thought about the 52-day cycle that I am in right now and the cards that are governing that cycle. Then I thought about my year, which just began on my birthday in April, and I thought about the cards that are prominently placed as profound influences for my year. Then I heard myself think, "I want to take advantage of each moment that I have. I don't want to miss a thing."
Hearing the spoken conviction in my head of course lead me back to hearing all the voices I have heard saying, "When will this be over?" My first response, at least in my head, when I hear that question is, "When we die." What I actually do is look at the purpose of those influences so that an enlightening moment can present itself for the sake of understanding, which shifts the relationship and the experience for the person I'm talking with via new insight and direction.
When we live from a place of trying to get to where (we think) we're going, we miss where we are. The majority of people driving in LA will confirm this if you observe them. Most are barely present with where they are. Their heads lunged forward, their energy pushing the car in front of them, daring pedestrians to cross the street and remain alive or physically intact, and already at the meeting, or wherever it is that they're going, preparing what they will do. This is not living.
As I see it, when we were born, we were given a Life Account - like a bank account. It's contents: TIME. Imagine a bank account full of time; time replacing money. The difference with the Life Account is that we cannot put more time in like we do money in our bank. So, when we spend our time, it's gone. Where did it go? Do we know? That's what I was thinking about when I was watching the oats become my oatmeal this morning.
How we use the time we are given determines the return we get, like an interest rate, which translates as quality in living. A moment does not return. Though time is not linear, it behaves as such. Our perception is not our own if we are not present with it in the moment. When we are not present with our perception in the moment, we belong to the past or the future; a past that we cannot change, and a future that is being fabricated by our imaginations. What if... we didn't do that? To be continued...
When I'm asked that question, and I do hear it a lot, I stop and think for a moment before I answer. Franz Kafka said, "The meaning of life is that it stops." As usual for him and other men born on July 3 - to the point with absolute insight.
This morning when I was cooking my oatmeal, I stood patiently at the stove and watched the brilliant alchemical process that was going on before my eyes. I watched from start to finish. I don't usually do that. Most of the time I multi-task as my oats are going through their transformation into oatmeal. This morning was different. Partly because I'm traveling and staying at a friend's house in Los Angeles, and I'm not in my "usual" ritualistic breakfast routine.
As I stood there staring into the pot, I watch in awe as the magic of the elements transformed each other to re-purpose the raw oats I had put into a pot of water and placed on the fire.
The fire heating the water, the water coming to a boil, the oats swirling around from the energy being created by the heat, and the transformation of the oats resulting from the combination of all of this together. From oats to oatmeal. Wallah!
As I observed this alchemical ritual that I had put into motion, I thought about time. I wondered how much of my life goes on while I'm "multi-taksing", busily getting things done. My mind quickly referred to the cards, as it most always does, and I thought about the 52-day cycle that I am in right now and the cards that are governing that cycle. Then I thought about my year, which just began on my birthday in April, and I thought about the cards that are prominently placed as profound influences for my year. Then I heard myself think, "I want to take advantage of each moment that I have. I don't want to miss a thing."
Hearing the spoken conviction in my head of course lead me back to hearing all the voices I have heard saying, "When will this be over?" My first response, at least in my head, when I hear that question is, "When we die." What I actually do is look at the purpose of those influences so that an enlightening moment can present itself for the sake of understanding, which shifts the relationship and the experience for the person I'm talking with via new insight and direction.
When we live from a place of trying to get to where (we think) we're going, we miss where we are. The majority of people driving in LA will confirm this if you observe them. Most are barely present with where they are. Their heads lunged forward, their energy pushing the car in front of them, daring pedestrians to cross the street and remain alive or physically intact, and already at the meeting, or wherever it is that they're going, preparing what they will do. This is not living.
As I see it, when we were born, we were given a Life Account - like a bank account. It's contents: TIME. Imagine a bank account full of time; time replacing money. The difference with the Life Account is that we cannot put more time in like we do money in our bank. So, when we spend our time, it's gone. Where did it go? Do we know? That's what I was thinking about when I was watching the oats become my oatmeal this morning.
How we use the time we are given determines the return we get, like an interest rate, which translates as quality in living. A moment does not return. Though time is not linear, it behaves as such. Our perception is not our own if we are not present with it in the moment. When we are not present with our perception in the moment, we belong to the past or the future; a past that we cannot change, and a future that is being fabricated by our imaginations. What if... we didn't do that? To be continued...
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