What's in the gallery?
We dissolve stuck and rewrite patterns. We apply radical playfulness to life (when we feel like it!), embarking on internal adventures (credo of Safety First). We have a fake band called Solved By Cake. We build invisible sanctuaries, invent words and worlds, breathe awe and wonder.
We are not impressed by monsters. Except when we are. We explore the connections between internal territories and surrounding environment to learn what marvelously supportive delicious space feels like, and how to take exquisite care of ourselves. We transform things.* We glow wild.**
* For example: Desire, fear, worry, pain-and-trauma, boundaries, that problematic word which rhymes with flaweductivity.
** Fair warning: Self-fluency has been known to lead to extremely subversive behavior, including treasuring yourself unconditionally, unapologetically taking up space, experiencing outrageously improbable levels of self-acceptance, and general rejoicing in aliveness.
What's in the gallery?
We dissolve stuck and rewrite patterns. We apply radical playfulness to life (when we feel like it!), embarking on internal adventures (credo of Safety First). We have a fake band called Solved By Cake. We build invisible sanctuaries, invent words and worlds, breathe awe and wonder.
We are not impressed by monsters. Except when we are. We explore the connections between internal territories and surrounding environment to learn what marvelously supportive delicious space feels like, and how to take exquisite care of ourselves. We transform things.* We glow wild.**
* For example: Desire, fear, worry, pain-and-trauma, boundaries, that problematic word which rhymes with flaweductivity.
** Fair warning: Self-fluency has been known to lead to extremely subversive behavior, including treasuring yourself unconditionally, unapologetically taking up space, experiencing outrageously improbable levels of self-acceptance, and general rejoicing in aliveness.
Very Personal Ads #106: this is our wishing room
Personal ads. They’re … personal! Very.
Each week I write these VPAs to practice asking for what I want. And to get clarity on what that really is, even when asking feels conflicted.
I always get useful information about my relationship with various aspects of the ask. Join in if you like!
One hundred and six consecutive weeks of VPA-ing.
I am imagining what this space would feel like if it were an actual room, and we had done yoga here together one hundred and six times.
Or sung sea shanties together. Or read our favorite poems.
When I feel that room — which is filled with so much grace and so much belonging, I remember why I love doing this, even though sometimes I forget and totally don’t feel like it.
Very Personal Ads!
Thing 1: the further brunching of the Shiva Nata destuckification series.
Here’s what I want:
I am doing a highly unusual thing! Instead of teaching Shiva Nata at Rallies (Rally!) and retreats, I’m doing a 3 part series of live Shiva Nata classes.
At the Playground. In Portland. In August.
And a special Snack Preview class on Toozday, July 26. Which is ridiculously soon, so there is lots to do to spread the word. I expect this class to be very full, but I’d like that to happen speedily and easily.
* Brunching = “launching”. I borrowed this from Tara the Blonde Chicken because saying “launch” kind of creeps me out.
Ways this could work:
I can use the Deguiltified Chicken Board at my Kitchen Table program to help me track the various steps.
And my OOD method, which I can’t link to because I haven’t written about it yet but assume that you’ll know about it eventually.
And use my monster coloring book to destuckify any resistance that comes up.
I can tell the people at the Frolicsome Bar about the classes, and ask for help with this.
Plus there are probably a thousand other ways that I haven’t thought of.
My commitment.
To try and get better at asking for help and support, because that’s what this ask is really about.
To give you guys the link:
–> http://shivanata.com/snack-preview-pdx
To ask you guys to tell everyone you know in Portland or the general pacific northwest. I know there are a ton of people who have tried Shiva Nata or want to, and this is a great way to do it without having to come to a Rally or a training or a Week of Biggification.
Plus, my classes are outrageously fun, challenging, zany and generally marvelous. And Selma will be there. And we have a costume room!
Thing 2: Plum Duff!
Here’s what I want:
Working on another big project that needs to brunch soon.
There are way too many moving pieces and I’m starting to feel a little overwhelmed.
So the first part of my ask is for perspective, calming, focus, reassurance, flow.
And the second part of my ask is for BIG CRAZY PROGRESS!
Ways this could work:
For the first part….
Calming techniques. Old Turkish lady yoga. Consult the book of me.
For the second part….
Lots of Shiva Nata. Use the Playground. Use your anthologies.
Actually, shivanauttery will help with the calming too. So yes.
My commitment.
To breathe, pay attention, ask questions, negotiate, re-negotiate, and consult with the (internal) collective of scientists.
To pause (paws!) more often than I think is necessary.
And to dance dance dance.
Thing 3: post-Rally consolidation time
Here’s what I want:
So last week was Rally (Rally!) and it was Rally #11 and it was absolutely amazing.
Now I need to take all this astonishing collection already-done and almost-done and half-done work, and figure out the next steps.
I also need time for emotional/energetic consolidation: to assimilate all the things I learned and experienced.
So I guess this ask is about time, order, patience and allowing things to come into their new form.
Ways this could work:
Not sure.
Probably more shivanautical flailing, obviously.
And some naps.
And some Designated Time. But when? Maybe Wednesday?
And write another Rally Revue?
My commitment.
To take things slow.
To remember that Rally always involves change and that change involves recovery time.
To do things that are sweet, slow and restful. Or to look for things that might be like that. To invoke the flow chart of spaciousness, which always makes me laugh.
Thing 4: secret gwish
Here’s what I want:
I want a slackline. I want to learn to do crazy things on a pole and on rings. I want to do ridiculous things with my body.
But in order to be able to even give some of these a try, I have about a million little anxieties, fears, worries and doubts to interact with.
The grumble thrum monster collective is very clear that NOW IS NOT THE TIME.
So instead of trying to force this, I’m just quietly planting the possibility for this gwish here.
And in the meantime, I’m not going to do anything with it. Just setting the intention that eventually I’ll find out which parts of me feel anxious and what they might be anxious about.
Ways this could work:
This is it. I’m putting it here and I don’t have to do anything else with it yet.
Though if you have bought a slackline kit and like it, I am open to receiving suggestions for brands.
My commitment.
I promise not to force things. My body gets to make all the decisions. We’ll work together.
I am making space for both the wish and for the time it will take to feel comfortable with it.
I am making space for the part of me who is seriously yearning for this and for the part of me who is dreading this. They both get to be here. And there is time to sort this all out.
Progress report on past Very Personal Ads.
Just to update you on what’s happened since last time.
I wanted to work on a very specific project at Rally, and I did!
Then I wanted progress on a new version of a thing in my business. And while I didn’t work on it directly at all, I’m actually feeling really good about it. So I think some of the Rally epiphanies have been at work here.
I also wanted RELEASE, and that was a big theme over the week. More to do there but it feels good.
The last thing I wanted was to do some writing about dread. And I didn’t. So I’m going to re-ask this and see if something else comes up.
Comment zen. Here’s what I’d love today.
Things that are welcome! Your own personal ads, small or large. Updates on past ones if you like.
Leave your gwishes! Throw things in the pot!
Things we try to keep away from: the word “manifest”, telling people how they should be asking for things, unsolicited advice.
xox
Friday Chicken #154: better than a sandbox full of aardvarks though
In which I cover the good stuff and the hard stuff in my week, trying for the non-preachy, non-annoying side of ritual and self-reflection.
And you get to join in if you feel like it.
This week was Rally week (Rally!), so things were kind of crazy and all over the place.
I am completely baffled as to how it’s already Friday and how it’s only just now Friday since this week was so full of everything under the sun.
Anyway, Friday! Hi. Let’s do this before you end because I’m pretty sure it’s already Saturday everywhere in the world but here. Of course you can leave chicken comments all week but I’m still going to press pooblish before midnight!
The hard stuff
Poor me!
There was this tiny cramped weekend between my pirate queen holiday and beginning Rally.
Not enough time to transition the transition.
Everything felt off-balance. As if I was being squeezed too tightly.
Totally ignored everything I know to be true, which was not helpful.
All the notes about preparing for Rally that I’ve listed in the Book of Me are very clear about the day before.
Rally always begins at 5pm on a Monday, and that Monday has to be all about ready-ing.
I can’t do client calls, I can’t run around and do errands, I can’t get my hair done. I have to be at the Playground meditating and writing and getting into the zone and flow for Rally. All day.
We know this. Through re-learning it the hard way a bunch of times and through having done it the way it needs to be done, and experiencing how wonderful that makes everything.
But there was a business mini-emergency and people needed me and blah blah. It threw me off my game. And then I felt even more frustrated with myself, for knowing what I needed and not giving it to myself and then only having an hour to prepare for Rallying.
And then I did the same thing again, just for fun.
The Book of Me is also very clear about what is helpful and not helpful in times of frustration.
I considered kicking the door, remembered that this is never a good idea, and then kicked the door anyway. And instantly regretted it. Fun.
Way too much going on.
Trying to do sixteen hundred things at once and they’re all great, and it’s just kind of a lot.
I want something and I can’t have it.
And so it goes.
Rally is over. Sadface mouse!
Rally was unbelievably amazing and I got so much done and everyone was so lovely, and I didn’t want it to end.
The good stuff
My tiny weekend was actually pretty fun.
I call weekends Pineapple Upside Down days to remind me of my practice of trying to make them different than my week.
And these were very upside-down days!
I wandered around town, took a trip to Powell’s, visited some new food carts and generally did things in a backwards and unexpected way. Yay!
Rally! Rally! Rally!
Rally is always amazing but somehow this Rally — Rally #11 — was especially amazing. Rally!
I got ridiculous amounts of things done, had massive shivanautical epiphanies, and enjoyed the hell out of all of it.
And the old Turkish lady yoga was floaty and beautiful and made me cry.
The rallions!
Every group that has come to a Rally has had its own unique character or personality, even though of course everyone is different. It’s hard to explain but each group has a feel. And a special-ness.
For example, the last Rally before this one (Rally #10) had kind of a silly, happy-go-lucky, giggly feel. Effervescent and exciting. It was like OH BOY ICE CREAM! Fun! Loved it.
This Rally we had a group whose collective personality was quiet, thoughtful, reflective, sweet and mellow. With a lot of crazy-smart people who were sort of quietly wise and funny in a very chilled-out way.
And I am really noticing how much I enjoyed this group and how happy I feel to have met them all.
Just to be clear! I love all the Rally groups and I find all the people who come to my events to be bright, creative, and generally lovely. Not a statement of preference — just a statement of enjoyment!
The Shiva Nata! So great! We goofed off like you would not believe.
It was a really mixed group (people who had never done Shiva Nata and people who regularly teach it), and we threw ourselves into the mad flailing with abandon while I let them pick the words to assign to the arm positions…
1st day: pink, clear, patience and rastafarian as the horizontals, and aardvark, quietly, sandbox and excitement as the verticals. Leading to sentences like “I’m in a sandbox full of rastafarians and the aardvark is pink!”
2nd day : fun, mystery, trust and clarity as the horizontals, and excitement, fear, something and something (help me out, Rallygators?) as the verticals. Leading to sentences like “I fear excitement unless I remember to trust the mystery.”
The third day we had: pink, blue, ochre and crimson as the horizontals, and green, magenta, black and orange as the verticals. Which we also used while playing with directions in space and waving scarves (of different colors).
And we used music, dancing, sounds and all sorts of other crazy and ridiculous things.
I can’t even remember the last time I’ve laughed so hard. Or that the brains were so scrambled. Epic.
Related: getting so much done. But SO MUCH done.
Thanks to all the Shiva Nata, I came up with the best metaphor mouse thing ever (will tell you later).
And got piles of things done.
And generally astonished myself. Rally is the best.
On the last day, Tim said something like, “I got more done in the hour and a half between Shiva Nata and lunch today than in the past three months put together” and I thought YEAH.
Because that’s basically what happened for me too. It was intense.
Presents. I love presents.
Claire sent a bunch of marvelous monster stuff from Australia. Thank you!
We got books, socks, and a very mysterious drawing. All gorgeous and wonderful.
Thank you!
Shiva Nata classes in August!
Even though I pretty much never teach live classes outside of retreats and Rally, I will be teaching THREE Shiva Nata classes in August.
It’s a series. A destuckification series. Tuesday, August 16, 23 and 30, from 5:30 — 7:00 pm.
At the Playground, of course. It will be intensely fun, challenging, hilarious, and completely insane. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
And there is a live Snack Preview class coming up VERY SOON:
Toozday, July 26.
If you’re anywhere near Portland, you should definitely definitely come.
Here is the link: http://shivanata.com/snack-preview-pdx
And … playing live at the meme beach house it’s the Fake Band of the Week!
My brother and I have this thing where we come up with ridiculous band names and then say in this really pretentious, knowing tone, “Oh, well, you know, it’s just one guy.”
This week’s eclectic band is local to Oregon. They’re loud, brassy and highly entertaining.
What’s Their Petunia Budget?
Yes. That’s what they’re called. It’s confusing. But you know what’s really confusing? It’s actually just one guy.
And an ANNOUNCEMENT!
The early brunch pricing period for the September Shiva Nata Academy of Hilarity & Play ends today.
Read the page and see if speaks to you. We’re going to have an outrageously good time together.
Will I see you there? I hope so. That would be beautiful. All levels, body types, personalities welcome.
And even though it officially ends tonight at midnight, my tech guy isn’t around so the prices probably won’t go up until Sunday when he wakes up. You might catch a break!
That’s it for me …
And of course you can join in my Friday ritual right here in the comments if you feel like it.
Yes? Anything hard and/or good happen in your week?
And, as always, have a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come. Shabbat shalom.
p.s. It’s okay if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — you can join in whenever (or not) and it’s no big deal.
Today I saw
I’ve been doing this thing at the Frolicsome Bar.
The Frolicsome Bar is what I call our Facebook page because saying Facebook page depresses me so much that I forget that I actually like to hang out there.
It’s kind of a ritual and kind of a game and kind of a chicken and a bunch of other things all at the same time.
Today I saw…
A perfect place to build a fort. A 70-ish woman lifting huge weights like a total badass. Giant triangles of watermelon (yum).
It’s deceptively simple. Just some things that I happened to see. Not a big deal.
But something about the act of naming them and writing them down turns it into a noticing practice.
Today I saw…
A tiny old woman under an umbrella that was A GIANT SUNFLOWER UMBRELLA.
Two kids playing in their yard brandishing plastic baseball bats that were almost as big as they were — one said: “I am a troll with a club! And I only strike once!”
And a rastafarian aardvark who was really just one guy.*
* Not really an aardvark. During today’s Shiva Nata classes at Rally we invented silly words for the positions, which kept resulting in phrases like “If the sandbox is clear, the aardvark is a rastafarian” (7:2 flipping to 5:4 in Level 2).
So I had the line “the rastafarian is an aardvark!” (4:5) in my head and then I was walking down the street and there was this guy sitting almost in front of the Playground, dreads and a giant hat, and I almost said it out loud.
It’s a communal practice.
It builds togetherness, in tiny, weird, sweet, unexpected way.
Read any of the comments (here or here, for example), and you will love all of our people.
You can feel what our loosely formed community is like. So so great!
Today I saw…
Today I saw: not very much because I have been mostly sequestered inside, but let’s see… I saw a lady doing tai chi, a red tricycle parked in a bike rack and a very crispy grilled cheese sandwich. What about you?
Read the comments because that’s where everyone else’s noticings and discoveries get to play too. It reads like poetry.
Pure creative flow with all the noticings connecting and overlapping, speaking to each other and reflecting each other.
Reading these collective noticings has become its own ritual. It takes me beyond the noticing into this gathering. It’s a place of connection.
And, like with the fountain or the pot, there’s so much power in that moment of acknowledging the noticing.
You start to feel the qualities that infuse our community:
[+Creativity] [+Joy] [+Delight] [+Trust] [+Receptivity] [+Intelligence] [+Hilarity] [+Wonder] [+Flow] [+Play] [+Support] [+Belonging] [+Welcoming] [+Strength] [+Courage] [+Sovereignty] [+Silliness] [+Beauty] [+Surprise] [+Love]
Today I saw…
Today! Today I saw: a stripey cat wearing a green collar (I stopped for a scritching), a gigantic flamboyant yellow rose (stopped for a sniffing) and a hello kitty tattoo behind a girl’s ear. What about you?
It’s not just mindfulness. It’s that combination of mindful and silly, aware and light-hearted.
Some of people’s noticings are poignant, some hilarious, some joy-filled, some sad. They’re all beautifully expressed. It’s a perfect form, in a way.
I feel a rush of happy when it’s time to drop the things I have seen into the bar so we can all share fragments and color from our day.
Today I saw…
A new day, new things. Today I saw: an old and very large tortoise named Herman, a parasol with a skull and crossbones on it, and a cat in hiding. Also I met a 71 year old man who has been going to the same dance class for 31 years (with the same teacher!).
There is something so grounding and reassuring (for me, at least) about ritual. It says: COME IN! It says: STILL HERE!
It’s solid and comforting. It creates spaciousness and containment at the same time. It is a place to play and still have structure and form.
Today I saw…
Things I saw today: a baby swan, six very skinny waitresses, a wet happy dog leaving wet happy dog prints behind him. What about you?
I felt nervous and awkward when I started this daily practice of noticing-out-loud.
Especially since everyone else’s noticings seemed (according to the Grumble Thrum Monster Collective) to be much more entertaining and generally more awesome than mine.
But then I realized that of course all noticings are special, because it’s the act of noticing, naming and appreciating that creates the frame and the experience.
Like seeing a beautiful photograph of something you might normally miss.
Being part of a group of noticers just points out how much is there to be seen, heard, perceived, appreciated.
I don’t know yet what I will see today.
But I will find things, overhear things and trip over things that catch my attention.
They will remind me that beauty is everywhere, that grief and loss are a natural part of change, that surprises hide in plain sight and there’s always a good sign. Or at least an entertaining one.
It would be lovely if you feel like playing with me, whether here or at the Frolicsome Bar. Or both.
I’d love to know what you’ve seen/heard/perceived/encountered. Or how this tiny practice has done good things for you. Or what appeals to you about it.
As always, we make this a safe space by not giving each other advice or telling each other how to be or feel. We make room.
Today I will see all sorts of crazy and delightful things.
What about you? What have you seen today?
Tralalala tralalala checklists checklists tralala
Alright. A month ago I was at Rally (Rally!) and had a bunch of shivanautical insights related to checklists.
Namely that I need them. Badly. Oh, so very, very badly! But also that I don’t like them very much.
Here’s what I wrote about checklists while doing some stone skipping:
Why checklists are so very useful.
- They are a map.
- They tell you what to do and where to go and when.
- They create forms and shapes to hold things for you.
- They let you not hold so much crap in your head.
- They make spaciousness. See also: the flow chart of spaciousness.
- They bring in new patterns and order.
- They allow you to biggify because there aren’t so many limitations on growth — i.e. the limitations based on holding everything in your head (again).
- They save lives. Surgeons and pilots use them to be more efficient, work smarter and avoid catastrophe.
- They allow for growth in all directions.
- They are adaptable.
- They give you the structure/form/container/that lets you have freedom and play!
- They are queenly. Yay, sovereignty.
- Things can still happen if/when I’m not there to do them.
- They allow for important things to be transmitted to groups of people.
- They create room for rest.
Why I resist making/using checklists, even when I know I need them:
The name. Bleh.
Any other negative associations?
Ahahahaha. Yes. Like these:
[+ grown-ups] [+boring] [+predictable] [+should] [+inowanna iguana!] [+resistance] [+Bargal-esque]
Ah. Okay. Bargal was this company I worked for in Israel where everything had to be filed in triplicate.
And I think the whole checklist thing has morphed into a symbol of exactly that kind of depressing, time-consuming, stick-up-the-ass system-for-its-own-sake which I associate with that incredibly straight job.
So yes. Definitely resistance!
What I want from this new kind of checklist:
Qualities of:
[+navigation]
[+freedom]
[+play]
[+possibility]
[+advantage]
[+speed]
[+agility]
[+flexibility]
[+guidance]
[+ adaptability]
[+treasure]
Check baby check baby 1234.
Alright. So what am I going to call this new kind of checklist?
Is it an index?
A listing? Like listing to port! Tee hee!
Treasure inventory?
Treasure registry. Treasuregistry. No good.
A treasure checklist. A treasure chest list. A chest list. CHECKERS.
I’m calling it checkers. For now. Where’s my Checkers?
So that was a month ago.
I came up with CHECKERS for each part of leading Rally.
And then didn’t print any of them out.
Last night I was running the Rally orientation, and it came time to explain the fine art of Schmurphling. Which is a thing that I invented. For Rally. It’s awesome. You should come to Rally and schmurphle with us some time.
And I was all, oh tralala this is not a problem. I explained all the different and varied Rules of Schmurphling and it was fine.
We schmurphled. These particular Rallions seem to be exceptionally accomplished schmurphlers and we were getting into some pretty advanced schmurphling, dare I say.
Then we finished and I realized I’d forgotten to mention the SECOND MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF SCHMURPHLING, which is that if you don’t feel like being the schmurphler you can call Silent Retreat!
But I forgot because I didn’t have my CHECKERS.
“And that’s why you always have a checklist…”
In my head, I’m imagining J. Walter Weatherman saying that, of course.
Things I am reminding myself of right now:
What Cairene would say: systems are always in motion. You add, you subtract, you make changes. You look at what is working. And then what you can mess with.
What Hiro would say: go to the essence. Look at what a checklist gives you (support, containment, permission) and fill up on those qualities first.
What I would say: It’s all practice. You play. You ask questions. You experiment. You move the pieces around. You remember the fractal flowers. You dance on it.
Each piece is useful.
Every understanding — about why checklists are powerful, why I resist them, what I need to change in order to make them work for me — is useful.
And there’s time.
Everything moves and changes.
At the next Rally (#12!), I’ll have a slightly different system.
And I’ll learn something new that will help make it better. Something about what isn’t working. Something about what might help.
I’ll establish a new hypothesis, invent a new metaphor, wear a new costume.
At the very least, it will be interesting.
Play with me?
No advice please, but stories of your own flawed systems are welcome.
So is humming TRALALA with me, making up silly names for checklists or talking about any of this stuff.
Love to the commenter mice, the Beloved Lurkers and everyone who reads!
Very Personal Ads #105: mean-me is not going anywhere, I’m glad to say
Personal ads. They’re … personal! Very.
Each week I write these VPAs to practice asking for what I want. And to get clarity on what that really is, even when asking feels conflicted.
I always get useful information about my relationship with various aspects of the ask. Join in if you like!
Thing 1: my Rally project!
Here’s what I want:
I have this very insistent idea for a project that I want to work on at Rally (Rally!), which starts tomorrow. Yay! Rally!
But of course Rally always has its own magic, and more often than not the project that wants to be rallied is not the one you thought it was.
So I want to be receptive to this taking many possible forms, and I’d also like to plant some seeds about how much I care about this particular piece of project.
Ways this could work:
I am doing it right now.
The rest I’ll give to Shiva Nata and Rally (Rally!) and let it unfold.
My commitment.
To remember the fractal flowers. To find tiny signs. To love this project and let it know that it is loved, whether it wants to meet me now or later.
Thing 2: progress on a thing!
Here’s what I want:
I’m working on this new version? incarnation? re-imagining? of an old thing we used to do.
And it’s fun! And also kind of driving me crazy.
I guess it’s time to figure out what that’s about.
Ways this could work:
Let’s see.
Maybe slightly future me has some insights. I can do some stone skipping too.
And of course I can flail on it.
My commitment.
What if all the rules I’ve made up about why this can’t happen now are wrong? What if they’re monster rules?
I’m going to pay attention, build some safe rooms and do a little gentle poking about at the edges.
Thing 3: RELEASE
Here’s what I want:
This is the quality I’ve been working with over the past few days, and I’m ready to go a bit deeper.
Safety first, of course. As always. And with sovereignty. But that’s what I’m working on.
Ways this could work:
I’m putting it here.
I’m going to ask smart, loving, curious questions and keep messing around with it.
Release from blame. Release from old rules, ideas, ways of being. Releasing internal restrictions and external projections.
And releasing the need to do things in the old, familiar-but-not-working-anymore way.
I’m also going to use the Things I Saw Today ritual that I’ve been doing at the Frolicsome Bar as a way of bringing more attention to different parts of my day.
My commitment.
To notice — without thinking that the thing I currently happen to be noticing defines who I am.
To lovingly notice. If I can. And to give myself time if I can’t.
Thing 4: to write about dread
Here’s what I want:
So. I have all these things to say about dread.
It’s time to write some of them down.
Ways this could work:
At Rally?
At a cafe?
I don’t know.
My commitment.
To do lots of Shiva Nata until all the pieces come together.
To not put a deadline on this. Some things need to percolate, and my job here is not to force it but to discover what’s there.
Small snort from monsters and a request that I be a bit more bitchy because they miss mean-me.
Progress report on past Very Personal Ads.
Just to update you on what’s happened since last time.
Okay. I wanted systems help, and it showed up in a very different form than what I was expecting. So now I need more systems help, but it’s not what I thought.
This is going to require some flexibility. I’m hoping that this work I’m doing with RELEASE will help.
Then I wanted a holiday before Rally started. And I got it! Three whole days of it! Thank you, VPAs.
I was working on a practice of releasing judgment, and it was absolutely fascinating.
Some parts were very easy for me: “Huh, I just made a judgment and it’s not necessarily true, helpful or relevant, so I’m going to separate from it.”
Some parts were not easy at all. Apparently I really do think that ordering hot chocolate in a bar is an Unforgivable Sin, as it turned out.
Anyway, most of my harshest judgments are aesthetic and/or alcohol-related, and it was fairly entertaining noticing some of the patterns at play there. I’m definitely keeping some of them — no point in releasing all of it… 🙂
I was a bartender for five years and some habits just don’t die. Also I’m pretty sure that even the Dalai Lama makes fun of people who make unacceptable drink orders. Okay, he doesn’t. But he just beamed at me anyway.
And I wanted two weeks of Shiva Nata posts and I’ve written two — most recently this one about how you are never done.
Comment zen. Here’s what I’d love today.
Things that are welcome! Your own personal ads, small or large. Updates on past ones if you like.
Leave your gwishes! Throw things in the pot!
Things we try to keep away from: the word “manifest”, telling people how they should be asking for things, unsolicited advice.
xox