Wednesday, November 24, 2010

A Thanks-Giving Meditation by Dean Solon

are you experiencing joy in this life? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing joy in this life," then certainly there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving....and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing joy in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving, because joy is never more than a moment away.

are you experiencing love in this life? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing love in this life," then surely there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving....and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing love in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving, because love is never more than a moment away.

are you experiencing peace in this life? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing peace in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving....and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing peace in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving, because peace is never more than a moment away.

are you experiencing compassion in this life? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing compassion in this life," then there is great good fortune reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving....and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing compassion in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving, because compassion is never more than a moment away.

are you experiencing equanimity in this life? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing equanimity in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving....and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing equanimity in this life," then there is reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving, because equanimity is never more than a moment away.

are you experiencing bliss in this life? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing bliss in this life," then there is good reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving....and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing bliss in this life," then there is good reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving, because bliss is never more than a moment away.

are you experiencing enlightenment in THIS lifetime? if you are answering "yes, i am experiencing enlightenment in this lifetime," then there is every good reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving.
and if you are answering "no, i am not experiencing enlightenment in this lifetime," then there is every good reason to be feeling gratitude and thanks-giving...because enlightenment is never more than a moment away.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What If? by Dean Solon

what if each of us is a project in the making---one of billions, and billions, of projects in the making---of God...and-or of a big bang unfolding of energy and mass and light and possibility and potentiality manifesting, and crawling ashore and breathing and becoming and being
all of this?

what if the moment of nothing exploding into someThing was a shard of Mastery and Mystery touching everything and every one, including you and including me:
one astonishing wake-up Call
to be more than nothing...
to be someThing?

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

In Balance

      I recently visited a local suburban elementary school and was profoundly moved by the feedback teachers were providing to the administration regarding their jobs and feeling pressure to expand their roles. The visit inspired me to explore the issue of balance and how many are experiencing a lack of balance in their personal and professional lives.
     So how does one create balance for themselves in their everyday lives and what does it mean to be “in” or “out” of balance. During the last year in particular as I met with schools systems, individual clients, families and couples, all conveyed similar sentiments - lacking focus and feeling desperate. So what is happening to everyone? Many of my clients report experiencing chronic stress and not being able to focus, blaming the economy, uncertainty about their future and projecting or prognosticating negative outcomes. Being “out of balance” is also a way of saying that someone could be “out of alignment” which by definition could mean that they are not able to focus or be present, lacking patience, confidence, an energy of hopefulness or just not being “themselves.”
   During a recent session with one of my teenage clients a question was posed regarding being "in alignment.” My client responded by saying "everyone is in alignment because they are where they are." I was captivated by this response as it was so simple but also so true. Let's look more closely at this response. Why must we create such angst and confusion, falling into deep bouts of anxiety, depressed and negative thoughts when we can simply catch ourselves and ask a simple question of "what is so wrong with our lives right now or in this very moment?" Our minds are racing saying things like "I don't have enough time, how am I going to complete everything I need to do, how am I going to possibly pay for this bill, he or she or "they" need me and I can't do or be there for them."
    One problem is that we choose to define balance in our ability to complete tasks or being able to "get everything done." The reality is that everything never really gets done. There are merely just things or tasks that we all need to do on an everyday basis and tend to get caught in a viscous pattern of self-doubt and fear. Finding a balance is merely an illusion that we create in our minds, somehow convincing ourselves that we are going to be o.k. or that if and when these various tasks are completed somehow equates to us being or feeling "well". So to reference the teenager who so eloquently and succinctly stated "we are where we are" really is a valuable statement.  I love taking life lessons from our children and the youth in this world.  They constantly remind us that balance always exists we just have to not convince ourselves otherwise. 

Jeffrey Katowitz, LMFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist providing individual, couples, family counseling, and parent coordinating. Specialties include adolescent development, separation, divorce, adoption, and blended families. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Jeffrey at 215-307-0055 or email him at jpkatowitz@verizon.net.  Read more on our blog [Insert link to: http://resiliency.blogspot.com/2010/10/families-and-divorce.html]

The Whole Shebang - by Dean Solon

during the night i am understanding a friend's retreating from the world.  this world where each is a jewel, each a gem glittering in a sea of gems...is a world of sorrow and suffering, an experiencing that is nearly too much to be living with.


with this understanding i awaken from sleep a couple of hours later, feeling-experiencing near-despair...in a reality where no one lives for more than a short time, where so many are without needed food, water, shelter, freedom, justice, safety, peace.

to be alert to, to be sensitive to, a world where so many are crying for help, a world so many are living with despair, is nearly too much to bear.  thus there arises an inclination to be retreating, and an attempting not to be hearing the cries and feeling the despair.

thus there arises a wishing to be separate from a world of sorrow and suffering, which comes with an attendant consequence of being separate from a world of gems glittering in a sea of gems.



to be truly awake, to be truly alive, is to be living with all of it, with all of this---

the sorrow and the suffering,

the peace and the love and the mercy.