A Time to Remember What Values Guide Us

I was impressed with Obama's State of the Union speech; it skillfully wove together so many important points, and helped build back some of the hope I had had in him originally. I, like others, have been disillusioned in his lack of follow-through on so many issues, wondering if he did not have the character or leadership ability, after all, that I had seen in him. Time will tell, but my heart filled up and overflowed again. I was impacted in the exact opposite way by the Republicans' amazing lack of respect for Obama as the President of our country, and in their desire to tear him down in any and every way they can. They don't seem to have a concern for the country as a whole, but only for their own issues, refusing to stand unless they felt a point benefited big business. Any point that addressed real people's needs, they ignored. We so much need to recenter into the original values of our country, and into a philosophy that is based on spiritual roots.

Tonight I happened to finally watch Emilio Estevez' film, Bobby, and Kennedy's speech, edited into the aftermath of his assassination was quite moving—the very sort of inspiring, recentering, core-truth words we all need to hear again. I am reproducing part of it here for you; the bold is my emphasis, generated by watching the hateful divisions in politics in our country.

"Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily — whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence — whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded. . . .

Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. . . .Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them. Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter. This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.

. . .When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered. We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.

Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence. We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.

Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution. But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can. Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. . . ."

http://www.rfkmemorial.org/lifevision/onthemindlessmenaceofviolence

Penney's 2010 Letter, Part 2

What's Likely in 2010?

A New Way of Learning and Knowing
Yes, I breathed a sigh of relief at the end of 2009, but it didn't last long! The wave regathered strength and from day one of 2010, it has been cresting. Life seems like a grainy photograph suddenly filling in with megapixels; there is more data surfacing in this "higher resolution" than I ever thought I needed or could process. And yet, I know we are adapting to knowing this way, just as we have easily moved to high definition television and super-speedy internet connections.

In 2010, we will need to shift to a soft way of knowing where we encompass more of what's in each present moment with less hard focus on linear-ambitious learning, memorization, and proof-before-action. It doesn't mean we won't develop specific skills that require practice, but that we will focus, then dissolve, focus and dissolve, allowing the Flow to show us what we need to know, moment by moment, according to our soul's deep growth and expansion motives. "Trying" to know will block understanding. Asking to know, and allowing insight in the same moment, will empower wisdom. Taking a moment to feel whether an idea matches your home frequency will give you a finely tuned radar about lies and inappropriate action.

Thoughts into Form and Form into Energy in a Twinkling
2010 will be marked by an even greater acceleration of energy than we felt last year. That means life will occur in an ever-expanding present moment, and that means everything becomes more instantaneous. The time it used to take for a thought to make it into a finished outcome, and for a completion to be eclipsed by boredom and dissolution, will seem like a distant memory. If you hang on to the idea that it takes a long time to heal, or to materialize a new phase of your life, or to move beyond a situation that's limiting you—you'll just cause needless backfiring of your life's process of unfolding. What's most natural now is for your clearly formulated ideas to drop into reality without delay, provided you can clear the old yes, buts and shoulds that don't pertain to your life anymore.

This is equally true for things, people, and situations that don't match your rising vibration. What used to take forever to end, will now be gone in a snap, and sometimes shockingly so. We must not think something is wrong with us when this happens; it's just the accelerating nature of the world. To help the right thoughts flow through us, in and out of reality, we must forge a positive, trusting, conscious relationship with our Inner Perceiver, the part of our awareness that notices things and makes life real and meaningful to us. We must ask, Why am I noticing this right now? And, What am I trying to tell myself? What do I know about this already? What action do I feel like taking now? By trusting our noticings, what wants to materialize can quickly do so.

There Is an Increase in Popcorn-like Tragedies
Some people are predicting global catastrophe as we zero in on 2012. I don't see that as I look from today's viewpoint. I see a number of localized tragedies and upheavals, occurring more closely together in time, like popcorn starting to pop. First a few kernels explode, then more and more at a time. Until now, global tragedies seemed to space themselves out a bit, and we were able to recover from them. But starting with the upheaval in Haiti, we will experience more similar situations throughout 2010. Greater numbers of people around the planet will die, from upheavals, disease, and suicide. The United States will be unable to uphold its role as rescuer and refuge for the needy. Global assistance and collaboration will be necessary. Illegal immigration and refugee migration will become a HUGE issue.

Shortages of Food and Water Begin
Tied to the proliferating local upheavals, there will be a need to shift food and water supplies around the world. Then, we will begin to experience the first real effects of global warming, as droughts occur and spread in areas where agriculture has flourished—another reason food and water supplies will need to be transported from one region of the globe to another. Water will become more valuable than oil. Farms fail, and farmers move to areas where the climate is more temperate and conducive to growing food. New farming methods arise. The hidden benefit in all this is cross-cultural communication, collaboration, and a way past warlike behaviors.

We Simplify without Feeling Deprivation
When I asked my inner guidance about this coming year, here's what I received: "Simplify your life, dissolve false needs, strengthen your body. Simplify your diet and eat less. Drink good water. Be ready for periods where you will do without and yet not suffer in any way. Consciously receive energy and trust it to nurture you in every way. Visualize breathing pure oxygen. Energy will direct your attention, your self-expression. You will not call it "hard times." Be aware of: Who really needs what? Help the Flow move where it's needed. Experience the fullness of what you already have.

The Imaginal Realm Becomes SO Real!
At the same time that we are simplifying and releasing false needs, we are also learning to enter our imagination, or the Imaginal Realm, which is a living workshop space that cocreates realities with us. We must reactivate our imagining and creative ability and practice entering the realities we want to play in and experience. As we flesh out a positive imagined reality, and it takes on sensory qualities, our body can recognize it and it will materialize—quickly. It may seem ironic that we are to let go of false needs, like fancy makeup, clothes, electronic gizmos, gourmet food items, or luxury SUVs, for example, while at the same time engaging our imagination to create new realities that might be as colorful and grand as can be. . . But this is part of a sorting process where we are remembering the importance and even the peacefulness of what's basic, while also learning that we are entitled to create any reality we can dream up. We don't need much, and we have every potential in our personal field, and we can have a complex reality if we want. We're finding that own dreams of a better reality must include a positive scenario for others as well.

We Take Action for What Needs to Happen for the Good of All
We've been opening to experience a more complex reality composed of many kinds of people simultaneously, from the innovative and privileged to the damaged and downtrodden. We've been examining—even if we haven't been aware of it on the surface—what "right action" in today's world might look like for us. We can no longer help by sacrificing ourselves. We must act from joyful service where all our actions are win-win-win, not just self-serving or other-serving. We see through those who act from greed and power-hoarding. We see how they cleverly try to slant other people's perception through misdirection so they can maintain an illusion of control and security. We don't respect "power over others" anymore. We realize we cannot sit still in ignorance, head in the sand, waiting for a better time and for others to fix things for us while hatred tries for domination. We each must act authentically.

2010 feels like it brings very critical issues to a head and asks us to move forward with the Flow of a greater harmony, rather than staying loyal to a cramped, contracted reality that feeds the ego-mind. This year we must choose who we really are, and show the world who we really are. If you are too distracted by text messages, negativity, and the overstimulating external world in general, you may need to cultivate the habit of regular periods of silence. You may need to connect to your inner world this year as never before, while also finding spirit and core meaning in the ordinary world.

Let's bless each other!

Sleeplessness or Wakefulness?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/sleep-challenge-2010-how_b_415923.html

I found this piece, written by Alison Rose Levy, and it makes me think. Don't 'cha love it when something can do that? Here's a bit of what she says:

"Biochemically, psychologically, and spiritually, each one of us has to make our own peace with sleep. But why the epidemic of sleeplessness? Is unrest merely your or my personal problem? Or is it a pervasive societal symptom? Is there something about our world that keeps us up at night?

In the world as it is now, there is too much to do every single hour and every single day to save the planet, to care for those suffering, not to mention peddle hard just to stay in place. Has the fact that I've given a donation, checked off my to-do list, made a few hearts happier or wiser, laughed with a loved one, shared my craft, gotten exercise, or survived another day really made a difference?

Beyond the numbers of my blog comments, twitter followers, or investment holdings, who am I? Do my hundreds of Facebook friends know the real me? And does my individual awareness matter all that much when an earth in tumult can wipe out a country in a minute? How can I sleep when so many don't know that we are all connected? How can I sleep when I don't always act as though we are all connected? How can I sleep until everyone's awake?"

I have for several years experienced sleep — what do we call it? — disorders, malfunctions, problems? I prefer to think of my sleeplessness as a sort of arrhythmia, a symptom of the increasing energy frequency in my body and the planet. I am often buzzing inside when I peel away the distractions of television, mystery novels, email, and telephone. When I first feel this buzz, or hum, it can feel disturbing, as though something's "wrong." How quickly the mind jumps to that label! Eventually I stopped telling myself it was wrong to be awake at 3am, and reframed it to be: "I am trying to show myself something about life by being alert at this extremely quiet time. What am I aware of in this moment?" And I'd let things spontaneously surface. I'd get up, meditate, or just walk around in the dark, feeling the silence.

I came to see that I was showing myself how to be awake, and peaceful about it, during a time when so much else is asleep. If I could do it at night, perhaps I could also do it during the day — wake up while I'm awake. After all, most of us who are walking around with eyes open, are also asleep to life's nuances, beauty, and love. The practice of imagining the quiet of 3am while it's 3pm and I'm at the computer, or running an errand, or speaking with a client, has helped me connect with my inner guidance. Now I drop into the moment, feel the quiet below the surface, and say: "I am trying to show myself something about life by being alert at this fairly noisy time. What am I aware of in this moment?" And just as I do in the wee hours, I allow something to spontaneously arise from the silence and spaciousness and present itself to me. I do this a lot now, all day. And guess what? I am sleeping through the night.

Penney's 2010 Letter, Part 1

A Brief Recap of 2009

Super Intense Energy!
As we left 2009, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. It was the most intense year energetically that I'd experienced since perhaps. . .1987? A tsunami-like wave of heightened energy began rolling in and through us right from the start, and it only got stronger. It broke loose old habits that were keeping us from fresh perspectives, rooted up places where we were unconscious and jaded in our worldview, and challenged us to be radically honest and real. It made some of us wildly hopeful and others wildly hateful.

We began to recognize the qualities of the "old" reality, where the egomind thinks it's in charge, where it tries to keep us guilty and critical, separate and isolated, and feeling like victims of a difficult, unfair world. We could feel where we weren't fitting with what used to work, because our frequency had increased. Old explanations, excuses, and descriptions of ourselves sounded tinny and hollow. We were antsy, wanting change but not being able to understand logically how it could happen, or what might be able to occur. We waffled back and forth between thinking we might have to be resigned to the old way, and getting high from the clear glimpses and felt sense of our inflowing destiny and the way the "new" reality was going to function. We let go of what no longer matched us and served us, gave up limiting beliefs, and worked through to the other side of many of our fears.

Resistance vs. Cooperation: Not Much of a Choice!
Wherever we didn't clear the egomind's useless soul-blocking clutter (did you notice the new reality TV show about hoarders?), we became depressed, agitated, or even violent. Wherever we resisted the higher frequency energy flowing through our body, emotions, and consciousness, we experienced implosions, snags, reactionary misunderstandings, accidents, losses, and illness.

Wherever we did practice being in the present moment, in our home frequency, and in our body in a loving way, we received the validation of synchronicities, easy materialization of what we needed, relationship problems that cleared up magically, physical problems that healed quickly, and the return of childlike joy and simple pleasures.

Sometimes we reverted to using cleverness and will power to MAKE the new reality happen and last, because unconsciously we were still believing that the old, slow, self-sacrificial, laborious way was stronger than we were. Whenever we did that, there were instantaneous repercussions from the reality around us: we had failures and rejections, seemed invisible or ogrelike to others.

Discovering a "New Normal"
2009 pushed us through our comfort zone, to see that there is a better way than our accustomed level of comfortableness, that there's a "new normal." For all its intensity and unrelentingness, 2009 ushered us into the first level of understanding of what we're going to feel like after we move through the transformation process, and what actions we must become familiar with in order to make the transformation real. 2009 was a year to develop trust in the Flow, to say Yes to evolution and mean it!!

Zap! Was Romanian election loser victim of occult?

I'm always watching for references to energy, vibration, ad frequency in the news. Here's an interesting article from AP. It begins. . .

BUCHAREST, Romania – Was a top contender for the Romanian presidency zapped out of the race by a shadowy parapsychologist enlisted by his rival?

The claim might be dismissed as preposterous in most other EU countries. But here in Romania, home of Dracula and other occult traditions, Mircea Geoana's assertion that a "negative energy attack" led to his narrow loss to re-elected President Traian Basescu has been the talk of the nation.

"The Evil Witch defeated Geoana," wrote the daily Evenimentul Zilei in a recent commentary typical of the buzz. "Romanian politicians really believe that magic forces can make you president or can destroy you. . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_romania_paranormal_politics_3

Buzz-buzz

I reported for jury duty this morning, along with 200 other good citizens—a real cross-section of humanity jammed in a room shoulder-to-shoulder, no empty seats. It was pouring rain outside, and we were dry and getting warmer and warmer from the gathering body heat, so it was hard to complain. It was interesting to watch people, though, and imagine them as third graders, sitting in neat rows, handing their forms to the person on the aisle. They were just as fidgety and restless as third graders, impatient because they couldn't talk loudly on their cell phones, so they were texting like mad, and talking rampantly. I didn't see one person who was actually being still. We sat for 4 hours, waiting. I practiced dropping below the surface commotion, alternating with a sort of amazement at the chaotic nature of the group, which seemed so symbolic of what's happening in the world right now.

The rain was quiet.

It made me think of a bumper sticker I saw recently: "Honk if you love Jesus. Send a text message if you want to meet Him personally."

January 20 Intuitive Way eNewsletter is Out!

My first newsletter of the year has a link to my "Letter About 2010" which includes a recap of 2009; what happened energetically, and in the progression of our awareness.

Access the Jan 20 newsletter.

Access the newsletter archives.

Download the 2010 Letter.

Sign up for the newsletter (and also for my mailing list).


Art (Clear-Eyed Mirror) by Enrique Celaya

Good Vibrations

These came in the email today, part of those cute-funny quotes from kids . . . anyone who's a Frequency fan will appreciate them.

What is a vibration?

There are good vibrations and bad vibrations.
Good vibrations were discovered in the 1960s.

And:
What is the highest frequency noise that a human can register?

Mariah Carey.

A Rilke Quote

Rainer Maria Rilke, letter to Merlin (Baladine Klossowska), translated in 1951 by Violet MacDonald:

"It is we who are true awakeners of our monsters, to which we are not hostile enough to become their conquerors; for in a certain sense we are at one with them; it is they, the monsters, that hold the surplus of strength which is indispensable to those that must surpass themselves."

The Passing of George Leonard

My friend, Pam Kramer, President of ITPI (Integral Transformative Practice International), sent this, which you may be interested in. George Leonard was a great contributor to the consciousness movement and to transformation in general. I had the privilege of seeing him at a pre-Christmas gathering here in Marin County, and am very grateful for that.

George Leonard, 1923 - 2010

As many of you may already know, ITPI co-founder and human potential pioneer George Leonard passed away early January 6th, with his wife, Annie, at his side. George had a profound effect on all of us through his vision, writing, teaching, and friendship. We celebrate him by carrying forward his extraordinary creation of ITPI through our practice, relationships, and service in the world.

We would like to share some highlights from George’s remarkable life, drawn from the article that appeared in the Marin Independent Journal. A past president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, he was the author of numerous books, essays and articles on human possibility and social change, and coined the term "human potential movement" in his book The Transformation.

A former senior editor of Look magazine, George won 11 national awards for education writing during his stint at the national publication, from 1953 to 1970. He helped Look win the first National Magazine Award in 1968 for his reporting on the civil rights movement. Called a "legendary editor and writer" by Psychology Today, George was one of the first journalists to recognize the youth movement that flowered in California in the 1960s, producing a special Look issue titled Youth of the Sixties: The Explosive Generation. Published in 1962, five years before San Francisco's Summer of Love, it foretold the social and political idealism and upheaval that was to come.

A president emeritus of Esalen Institute, he and Esalen founder Michael Murphy, a friend for 45 years, co-authored The Life We Are Given, chronicling a two-year experimental class in Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), which they created to realize the potential of body, mind, heart, and soul. ITP groups are now active in the United States and abroad.

A fifth-degree black belt in aikido, George co-founded Aikido of Tamalpais and wrote the The Ultimate Athlete in 1975, which helped shape the fitness boom. He also developed Leonard Energy Training, an aikido-inspired practice that teaches alternatives to dealing with everyday pressures and stress. The LET Manual, which includes numerous LET exercises, was published in 2008. American health magazine has called him "the poet philosopher
of American health in its broadest sense." During World War II, he served as a fighter pilot in the Southwest Pacific Theater and as an analytical intelligence officer during the Korean War. He moved to Marin County in 1980.

"He was one of America's great social observers, not only for his breadth, but for his depth. He was a prophetic journalist, a true warrior in the paradigm wars, a visionary philosopher and, finally, a creator of transformative practices, bringing it down to earth. You could say he was a Renaissance man."
—Michael Murphy

A Minfulness Re-mind-er

The place: Washington, DC, Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. A man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2000 people went through the station, most on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace, stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried on.

4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw the money in the hat without stopping, and continued to walk.

6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected $32.

1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised:

In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made, how many other things are we missing?