The Wisdom of Legos

The sands of time begin to tell their tale in the lines about my eyes these days.  Youth left me quite some time ago, continues to and although at times I might wince just a little, I do not fear the hands of time.  It is those very lines that are evidence of the things that I have learned and that, primarily, is that life is a precious gift, as is the body, laughter and love.
 
I walk this path alone most days but on the perimeter always and ever stand those who would guide me from beyond without a moment’s hesitation.  I’m grateful for their presence always even when I don’t always care for the wisdom they will impart nor the things I know at the level of my soul that I must ponder and act upon.  But I always know what resonates deep within my soul and through daylight I walk this world with wonder and a curiosity that never sleeps and I carry these observations into the land of dreams each night.

There I am met by love everlasting, giving, beautiful, breathing light.  Oh to leave the land of dreams sometimes seems like punishment to me.  But I know now what I came here for and it is not duty and drudgery.  I certainly didn’t come here to maintain a perfectly clean house!  Were that the case, I would have neither children nor pets that enrich my life in ways that cause me to live in a state of constant gratitude.

The parents out there might understand this concept a bit more like this:  The wisdom of Legos dictates that when we walk the halls of our homes in the darkness and happen upon an unseen pile of Legos with our exposed bare feet, it is not that our children have been reared improperly to be so thoughtless–a fact we will deal with in the morning.  No.  It is that we have children we love and care for so much that it matters not that our homes are perfectly spotless but that there is love in the home. (This was a rather painful lesson I was once taught at precisely 2 a.m. while heading to the kitchen for a glass of water).

Life is so funny sometimes when we take the lesson plan or play a bit too seriously.  The obvious lessons are so well hidden in plain sight that it can take us years to see what stands plainly within the field of our vision.  It makes me laugh even more to recall those moments I have been swept away in ranging emotions for trivial things that never truly mattered.

The light of love and truth has come so many times and I did not wish to see or maybe I did not have the where-with-all at the time to truly understand.  But having suffered for embracing my own ignorance, I decided to step out from the darkness into the blinding clarifying light of truth – open my eyes and throw my arms open wide to embrace the love that lies deep within everything in existence I can even remotely begin to comprehend.

So, back to the play I suppose it is with me.  I have apparently much more to learn and in a certain area in particular.  How do you search when you have found what you are looking for?  You search no longer but proceed with your life and let what will be – well, be.  Pretty simple huh?  There is no pain in this realization really.  You must hold love and forgiveness for self as much as anyone else and in time you relax a little more into your own skin never minding the fact you don’t look like Barbie or some famous and beautiful movie star. You begin to learn to accept yourself as you are because nothing else makes sense any more.

There is no soul who comes here without experiencing their own nightmares at least for a time.  We are so much alike even though seemingly and incredibly diverse in terms of learning and understanding our life lessons.  We are one and not.  We are here and elsewhere.  We are here holding shadows seeking dissipation in the light. We are everything and nothing at all.  I’m okay with that.  I’m really okay with that.  Blessings for great understanding in your life.  May you find the flame of love within and follow your intuition in any way needed to keep that flame ignited.

© 2012 Jaie Hart (photo/words)

The Ugly Christmas Sweater

Some thoughts to ponder...every single thing in life is a gift.  It may not always seem like a gift but it is, in fact, a gift.  The beautiful part about life is learning that you have a choice as to what you will do with the gifts that are given to you.  Take an ugly Christmas sweater for instance.  It may come to you as a gift from someone you love, someone you tolerate or someone you don't care for at all.  When the gift is presented, you may look at it and determine you do not like it and will never wear it, you may decide that you would like to return it or you may decide you do not wish to accept it at all.  You might even decide you'd like to have hurt feelings that the giver would give you something you think is ugly.  Some of the "gifts" in life we are presented with are like an ugly Christmas sweater, particularly where human relations come in.  You may accept the gifts that you are given and appreciate them, keep them if you desire or you may argue with the giver about their seeming lack of thoughtfulness in presenting you with such an ugly gift.  You  might even decide to give the gift back just like it was given to you or you may decide not to keep some gifts.  No matter what you choose, there are lessons both in the presentation and in what you ultimately decide to do with them.  Regardless, there is learning to be had in the gifts we are given.  Wisdom can be gained if we seek compassion and understanding while at the same time standing in our own light and honoring first and foremost, our authenticity.  You've all, no doubt, received the gift of the ugly Christmas sweater in some way, shape or form.  What did you decide to do with it?  Do you understand why you decided to do with it what you did with it?  Did you understand or seek to, the reason it was given?  Food for thought.  The objective is understanding and not the judgment of self for the disposition nor the giver of the gift.  Seek understanding and you will be given an even greater gift than what is presented to you.  That gift is the wisdom gained from the experience of giving, receiving or returning.  Always there is something to learn, to understand and to strive for.

Me, myself, I don't care for ugly Christmas sweaters and so will thank the giver of such gift (even if only within the privacy of my own mind).  What I decide to do next will depend on the frame that I choose to hold in a particular moment and whether or not I find myself courageous enough to stand in my own light.  Sometimes I might say thank you but no thanks.  You keep this gift but I appreciate your desire to share.

Blessings of higher love and understanding beautiful dreamers.

(c) Jaie Hart (photo, random internet find - and, to the owner of this sweater, please take no offense as I greatly appreciate the heart of creativity that went into this design - really).

See Through and Love Anyway

Three Libras, this song has so much meaning.  It really sets the mood for my thoughts today.  As always, I am a watcher and observer of things great and small and nothing makes me more curious than human nature.  Why you might ask?  Well, I too can be a peculiar creature sometimes and there are these themes that I have observed weaving through every single human interaction on the planet creating much discord and discontent.   How to put this so I won't get any hate mail (and those who know me would never automatically think the worst of me because what I do, I do out of a sincere love for all), but here goes...and I will try to be gentle.  So, one of the lines of the song I've included above says, "Here I go expecting just a little bit too much from the wounded and I see, see through it all see through, I see you."  I paused such a long time after typing those words not sure how I wanted to finish this thought.  However, it's a good thought - at least I think so and so I shall finish it this way:  We go through life expecting everyone to think as we do because well, we think the way we do and so, why shouldn't everyone else?  Nothing will cause you more frustration than this line of thinking in the application of understanding of others.  You see, not one soul on the face of this planet is truly like you.  No one has walked the miles in your shoes that you have, they have not suffered as you have, they have not loved as you have and they have not learned their life lessons the way that you have.  So, and I ask this gently, how on Earth can you possibly expect someone to do as you do or think as you do in any given situation?  If you want to stay sane and free from dire frustration all of the time you will ditch that concept inside of your head that says, "common courtesy dictates...blah, blah, blah."  It just doesn't work that way beautiful souls.

As you can well surmise, some folks haven't learned what you have learned and there are also those who know by far more than you know.  When you expect someone to know what you know and you become angry with them because they don't act, do or say something the way you were raised to or learned to or what have you, you are trapping yourself in a very nasty prison that will only lead you to much anxiety and disappointment in your human interactions.  So, think...the lyrics again, "Here I go expecting just a little too much from the wounded and I see, see through it all, see through, I see you."  I understand how you think and I understand your frustration.  I understand the wounds so many have suffered and how that suffering creates all these mini walls around who we really are, how that pain causes us to act, react, refuse to act, ignore, deny, transfer and project everything else but the truth on to every one and everything.

The reality is, you cannot expect a wounded soul to act as if they are perfect, whole and healed and not in some way be met with dire disappointment.  You also cannot rescue them and make them what they are not.  "So, then, what in the world can I do dear Ms. Jaie? I have to get along some how in this world, right?!!!!"  Yes, yes you do.  There is an answer to that question.  I will warn you, however, that the answer is both incredibly simple and yet may make you absolutely incredulous at the same time.  Do you want to know the answer?  Are you ready for that answer?  Are you willing to give up the frustration of trying to make everyone in the world like you? (It might make for peaceful interactions but how fun would the world really be if we shared every thought exactly the same way?)...Okay, enough with my rambling...on to the answer...Love people exactly the way they are.  If you are unable to do it up close, then do it from afar.

So many times in my own interactions I've expected very wounded souls who have a very strong penchant towards verbal abuse and other things many might judge quite harshly...and I was always disappointed and frustrated because I expected better of them.  I walked away missing an opportunity to love them just as they were and missed the opportunity also to love myself enough not to engage in their pain by owning psychological transference and projection that had nothing to do with me.  Should you decide to stand and come to terms with accepting others just as they are and learning to love yourself and them, I have a little story a friend shared on facebook, recently.  It has always been a favorite but I lacked sufficient knowledge when first I heard it to engage in any reasonable or practical application of the true meaning of it.

It's not a new story and I will sum it up this way, a man heard about the Buddha and sought him out to test him.  When the man eventually found the Buddha, he began insulting the Buddha.  After a time the Buddha asked the man, "If a gift is given but not received, who then owns the gift?"  The man responded, "The giver."  The Buddha said, "That is correct."  That ended the interaction.  Along with the earlier described concept - think - how many times do you accept such gifts?  How many times do you expect the gift giver to stop giving you what they want and instead give you what you want?  Did you know that you have the right not to accept gifts that you do not want?  Did you know you do not have to take the pain that the wounded give you?  Did you know that instead of becoming mired in the negativity and dire gravity of the whole - two wrongs don't make a right thing - you could decide not to participate.  It requires not one ounce of anger or animosity.  It requires no engagement in the drama.  It requires neither enabling nor accepting of what another is doing or saying.  It merely requires that you see in this world everything as a series of gifts.  Some of these gifts you will want and accept for the purposes of your own learning.  Others, you will not.  Rather than expecting things, people or situations to be other than what they are - try dealing with things the way they are, loving people and seeing opportunities for wisdom in surprising places.

Every single soul on this planet matters...the healthy, the whole, the wounded, the tragic...all of them matter. The rich diversity we all bring to the table in this amazing world is incredible beyond words.   If you need people around you that are more like you, then by all means - go find them.  If you need or expect people to change to be or think or do things more like you - YOU are choosing the gift of frustration and a series of tough lessons from the school of hard knocks...first row seat.  But even if you do choose that - it's okay if you don't mind it.  Continue business as usual if it doesn't bother you.  But, if it does, consider your choices, consider your expectations and then decide what you will or will not accept.  This is your life, live it, learn to find all of the love within it.  Realize that you have a choice.  All of the love in this entire, amazing and wonderful universe is yours to have and to hold.  So, have it - hold it.  What are you waiting for? :) ~Blessings of higher love dear souls!

(c) Jaie Hart (Above link and music belong to its creators - bless them for good tunes)