Emblazoned (The Inner Ocean #4)

by Dean Solon


i rise. i come up for air.
i hear no evil, i see no evil, i am no evil.
there is no problem, You have said.
there is no problem, You are saying now.
i feel the sea breeze,
i taste the salty air,
and i am as always i have been:
free.
free again
of the ties that bind.

all shortcomings,
just the imagination---
my imagination---your imagination---
running wild.

emblazoned in my memory
is the notion---
a deepest of memories---
that we human beings are noble,
blessed with divine gifts,
destined for goodness.

i awaken from a long dreaming
and as if awake
i state sincerely, oh so sincerely,
i shall not sleep again
---and saying this,
i laugh, as i will laugh
until the end of time.

The Benefits of Awe

by Jen Perry, MS.Ed. MA, LPC

Awe has long been lauded by philosophers and spiritual teachers for its self-transcendent qualities that can reduce negative thinking and self-occupation.  Research on awe by psychologists has been increasing exponentially over the last 20 years.  A study at Berkeley found the benefits similar to healthy changes in diet and exercise, including a lowered risk of Type 2 Diabetes, clinical depression, heart disease, and arthritis. Research published in the journal Psychological Science found that awe leads to feelings of more available time, reduces impatience, and increases pro-social behaviors and life satisfaction. Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania interviewed astronauts after viewing Earth from space, and they  report "an expanded sense of perspective on their lives, an increased sense of connection to others, and a renewed sense of purpose." For those of us not venturing into space, research suggests that similar effects can be evoked by watching awesome videos. 

I hope that I have inspired you to try cultivating awe as a process and practice to help you live life to its most awesome-filled fullest. 

Jen Perry, MSEd, MA, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Mindfulness Teacher and Peaceful Parenting Coach. Her passion is helping Highly Sensitive People thrive in life, love, and parenting. She has been in the field for twenty years and is devoted to studying the human psyche or soul and is often in awe in her studies of human compassion, strength, resilience, and consciousness. In addition to seeing clients individually, she offers mindfulness classes and self-compassion groups via video. Learn more about Jen and her practice at www.HeartfulnessConsulting.com [insert link to: https://heartfulnessconsulting.com] 

Cultivating The Process of Awe

by Jen Perry, MA, MSEd, LPC

One of the best ways I’ve found to cultivate awe in my life is to bow to the Great Mystery of All. That’s what I started calling it when my kids were little. Instead of giving them answers to their countless questions, I frequently would ask them what they thought or felt about something first. I encouraged them to wonder. As I joined them in the energy of this delicious wondering (why is the sky blue? Do turtles like chocolate ice cream? What’s the highest number anyone has counted to?) I found it so much more enjoyable than knowing a bunch of applicable facts. And the truth is, anytime we study things at a high level, we are left with more questions than answers. It’s the process of wondering that leaves us open to awe, creativity, and discovery.

Bringing a fresh perspective can bring out the process of awe in even the most ordinary things ~ the flowers in your yard, your family member's faces, every night's sky. It is this perspective that I invite into each meeting with each client in my practice. It keeps our work fresh and often, surprising and spontaneous. I encourage clients to meet themselves and their experiences with the process of awe and reverence, and in doing so, magic can happen. Creativity in problem-solving and working through limiting beliefs, while still hard work, becomes joyful. Wondering about problematic behavior and how it may be adaptive (either now or in the past) becomes an exercise in being curious and appreciative of who we are and why we do what we do. Therapy then becomes a process of getting to know yourself better and deepening in love with who you are as you grow instead of a painful endeavor of fixing what was never broken in the first place.

In addition to seeking out awe-inspiring peak experiences, it is possible to live a more awe-filled life. Nurturing curiosity by learning to question (or at least identify) your underlying assumptions about yourself, others, and the world allows a spaciousness that is fertile ground for awe. Allow yourself to wonder actively about everything as an exercise. And lastly, noticing beauty in the ordinary. 

Quiz on Awe

Take this quiz by researcher Paul Piff to see how much awe is a process in your life:

Ask yourself these questions. Score each item from 1 to 5. If your total reaches 30, then you must be pretty enchanted by the world.

I often feel awe.

I see beauty all around me.

I feel wonder almost every day.

I often look for patterns in the objects around me.

I have many opportunities to see the beauty of nature.

I seek our experiences that challenge my understanding of the world.

Source: Paul Piff, clipped from Psychology Today Magazine, and hung on my bulletin board for the last few years.  

Engaging Awe as a Transformational Process

by Jen Perry, MA, MSEd, LPC

I wrote this article in February 2020, weeks before COVID-19 would turn our worlds upside down. As I reread it now as it is about to be sent out I wonder what utility awe may have as a transformational practice during these unprecedented and scary times for so many of us. Awe and wonder are beautiful states of awareness that are born out of not-knowingness. I have found, over and over, that a willingness to let go of what we think we know and allow ourselves to not know is a tremendously healthy psychological stance towards life if we can make friends with fear and uncertainty. I invite you to consider the ways in which allowing a not-knowing with regard to these uncertain times can help steady us and allow us to be present, creative, and resilient.  

One example that comes to mind is the not knowing when things will open up again. I know that for me, surrendering to not knowing, surrendering to let’s-wait-and-see-how-this-goes has been much better for my overall well-being than expecting and hanging any certainty on any date such as April 12 and then having that date come and go. The date itself is meaningless devoid of the important factors that go into such a decision as when to reopen. I know that all of us at The Resiliency Center cannot wait to reopen our doors. We are also balancing that desire with safety. The truth is that no one knows and each day more information is revealed. As Rilke says, if we can just learn to love the questions we will live our way into the answers. 

When was the last time you felt awe? The exquisite rush of expansive delight or reverence tinged slightly with fear. Awe can be found in nature ~ witnessing a breathtaking vista, or a night sky full of stars, or encountering a wild animal. Awe can be human-made ~ seeing a famous painting or hearing live music. Awe can also be found in particular moments in life ~ holding a newborn baby, or meeting your hero. But what we could invoke awe more frequently and on purpose, is this even possible?

Awe signals us to stretch ourselves out in wonder. It beckons us to be curious. It brings us to the brink of our understanding and stands before us as an appeal to become intimate with mystery.  Awe is not only a thrilling experience in and of itself, but it also stays with us, transforms us, demands of us that we grow inside to accommodate a new perspective, and to find a home for more questions, deeper wonderings. In this way, engaging awe is as much a process as it is an event. As a process, it makes us aware of the boundaries of our hearts and minds. It asks us to be mindful that there is always MORE just outside of our awareness. It invites us to stay open to the possibilities of shifting our paradigms, opening deeper into our experiences, and understanding more. As a practice and process, awe goes beyond momentary feelings and experiences and can be transformational. If you want to experience strong growth in your life, it makes sense to learn to cultivate awe.

The Inner Ocean #3

by Dean Solon

here it comes:
the sound of rolling thunder.
the deep sound---the quiet---
of thunder roaring to me, rolling through me.
is much like the roaring and rolling thunder of the ocean,
the ocean across the street,
the ocean in me.
the inner ocean.

OM...the Lion's Roar of the Cosmos,
around me, moving through me.
the Lion's Roar of all Creation
inside me and all around me.
the Unease
(the shadow, the portal)
allowing and making space for Intuition,
giving way to Clarity.

i entangling with IT,
immersing with IT and in IT.

a Stillpoint.

the Stillpoint.

The Inner Ocean #2

by Dean Solon

"Those who look out to sea become the sea,
and they can't speak about that. On the beach
there's desire singing and rage-ranting,
the elaborate language-dance of personality,
but in the waves and underneath there's no volition,
no hypocrisy, just love forming and unfolding."   (Rumi)


i wonder about everything
i wander around everything

i am in awe of everything.
the wildness in me refuses to submit to anything.
yet i do submit, i do surrender,
because i am a devoted one.
nothing needs to change to my liking...
because i am moved by everything.

i walk the worlds, learning, discerning.
i walk this world, in Astonishment.
no wishes are granted to me,
because i wish for nothing...
nothing besides this one:
that we cease destruction, cease obliteration,
cease the excuse of being triggered as an explanation
for projecting hatred and violence onto the world around us.
.
i

The Meeting

by Dean Solon

 
sitting...with an intention of an integrating understanding...

to be living with the grief, which may include the revulsion,
of living here on the earth with the activity and the phenomena,
the wildness and craziness,
the harsh and harrowing experience it can be
AND
to be living with the embracing of being here on the earth-plane,
with the richness of being alive in human form,
with the peace and the love and the mercy that comes to me
and that i may bring to the world of form and manifestation.  

i may be filled with sadness and sorrow, and righteous anger,
i may be filled with joy and bliss, and ecstatic vision.

i am to be accepting and surrendering,
finding the experience of feeling safe
in a world of impermanence and change and chaos
that is "not safe".

the greeting and welcoming of the orgasmic inner world
AND
the organic outer world,
the meeting of wonder and whirlwind, of grace and gravity.