The Stone Suitcase: A Time of Reflective Thanks

Greetings my gentle readers to this week’s installment  (albeit a wee bit late) of the “Be Yourself, Often” blog. That wonderful point in the week and a chance to start the week fresh and when we can sit back with the weeds in the wheat and look to the shafts reaching up the sky that we are becoming. A time to reflect on the days done and the road of days that stretch ahead and never will be exactly the same again. The time of laughter, tears, miracles in the moments and challenges and successes intertwined in the tapestry of a life.

These are days of reflective thanks. Although the US has recently completed their Thanksgiving Day and the subsequent chaos that was Black Friday and today is Cyber Monday, there is still a chance to give thanks. In fact, let us go one step backwards and forwards, all in one felled swoop and give thanks today. For indeed, isnt any day potentially Thanksgiving Day? I alluded to this back in October, but why wait?

I believe the American model is one that allows us the reflective filter between two dichotomies to ascertain the insanity of the world even clearer. Seeing some of the news clips (while recognizing the inherent bias of the media) of the DAY OF SALES and the pushing and shoving makes one ponder. Also, the Native community has a plaque in Plymouth that states Thanksgiving in the USA to be a Day of Mourning. Again, such a dichotomous outcome within a 24hr stretch and span of time. Interesting and factual, with a hint of pathology thrown in, all in one.

But although it is easy to be an armchair clinician and look at the snippets of semi-factualism, there is truth of this dichotomy everywhere, in each and every day. In fact, allow me to go one step further and identify the insanity and challenges regarding the “all about me and my deals that were made for ME” is more common place than lying back in the grass and raising our hands to the golden shafts, feeling the wonderful crisp air and looking to the hues of blue in the sky, interspersed with the white fluffiness we call clouds. And we know from past blogs indeed that a good explanation doesn’t explain everything.

So how to capture the moments. Oh, for the ability to be able to take pictures with our eyes that we can readily retrieve. But in a way, we can… those are called memories and the film that we use is lodged in our brain and there are many ways that film gets clouded and fuzzy sadly. The most common ways are not being at one with the moment. There are many clinical ways and diseases that fog the film, but if our lens is flawed and the reflective mirror doesn’t portray a crisp picture onto the film, then the picture we take with our eyes does not resonate. And the “isms” of life tend to cloud that vision…. Mainly narcissism and consumerism… a deadly combination for clear and crisp pictures when combined together. We saw the impact on Friday and in fact, see it every day.

If you want a clear and crisp picture, one needs to polish the lens and be at one with the situation to capture a clean shot that is logged away in the picture album of our mind. That produces memories that will stay long term and may be retrieved with a smile whenever one wishes. The laughter, stories, events, sights, sounds, scents and tastes are all collected on this wonderful film of the mind.

So sad that we cant collect that, isnt it? Yet we can through mindfulness, reflection and gentle exercises that allow one to be more proficient at being here in the now. Realizing that exactly what we have and possess is exactly what we are meant to be and even better that this situation is a class and chance to evolve. For really, that is our choice. To remain static, evolve or devolve.

Doing more with less and being at one with the moment and the senses, perhaps in a way that is counter to the “norm” will titillate the senses and sharpen the hues of the picture. Sort of like being a healing child again. And to be that, touch that, smell that and embrace that is to be yourself, often.

~~~ Rev. Dr. Joel Lamoure    November 2012

The Stone Suitcase: Balancing the Load

Greetings my gentle readers to this week’s installment of the “Be Yourself, Often” blog and the second installment of “The Stone Suitcase”. That wonderful point in the week when we can mindfully reflect on what we are becoming. A time to reflect on the choices that present themselves.

This week, building on the theory of remembrance, we will look at the approach of how to carry the load of our stone suitcases. It may be a temptation to jettison the baggage, for after all, are we not designed to be free spirited and free of will and thought and actions? To do so would mean that we are constantly as a babe and recall nothing and have no animosities, etc.

But there are certain things that we have evolved across. When we are young, we lament that we wish we were older and somewhere along the line, often in the 30’s we aspire for the opposite.  Why is that? There are the suitcases that we carry that encase the race and culture and history that we are and were.

Eckhart Tolle calls the negative component “The Pain-Body”, which I agree with. These are suitcases that are often not needed, carried as a martyr and drug out for all to see when in reality, most of it is sheer baggage and worthy of jettison, much less paraded in public display. The saddest part about that pain body is that individuals may not even recognize they are carrying it, or even worse use these exceptionally one-sided stories for pity and perceived victimization.  These are experiences of degeneration. There are some pain bodies though that may be useful to remember in the sense where the human entity itself is at some degree of risk, to allow us preventing it from happening again.

On the converse is what I would call the “Healing-Body” and these are aspects and suitcases that we have picked up through learnings across the days and years (and in fact ages!) that allow tips and tools to help and learn and heal. This may be similar to developing and advancing neuroplasticity and in fact healing along the line that we see in a younger individual. Their skin is good and their mind absorbs all of the learnings. This is a time of generation of positives and learnings. We develop language, skills, mediation, play and social interaction. All of these latter skills are becoming sadly more archaic with all the advents of Internet addiction and social media addiction, such as I wrote of the beginning of this year in the Canadian Journal of CME.

So… what to keep and what to jettison? Along and balanced with the suitcases are friends and advisers, mentors and healers, teachers and fellow students, family and loved ones that can help you sort through the positives and negatives. These wise sages DO have some wonderful positive stone suitcases that they have acquired over the years and in the spirit of education, which is a two way format of delivering information I believe, are able to help you help you. That being that they impart their wisdom and enable the carrier of the suitcases to open their minds beyond the tangible horizons they thought was possible. That may include Eastern medicines, Reiki, spirituality, different cultures, religions, languages, thoughts and ideas.

THIS is why we lament to be older when we are young. For that chance and responsibility and the learnings that the elders carry. The elders have imparted these to us and we ideally will advance these objectives through education and social discourse through a positive, mentoring modeling.

The Stone Suitcase Part 1-Remembrance

Greetings my gentle readers to this week’s installment of the “Be Yourself, Often” blog. That wonderful point in the week when we can sit back with the weeds in the wheat and look to the shafts reaching up the sky that we are becoming. A time to reflect on the moments that were and was and never will be again. The time of laughter, tears, miracles in the moments and challenges and successes intertwined in the tapestry of a life.

The next few weeks I will be writing and then presenting installments on my weekly Tuesday 9pm EST radio show, Prescribing Spiritual H.O.P.E. on the topic of “The Stone Suitcase”. The show may be found on Spreaker through WULC at http://www.spreaker.com/show/tuesday_prescribing_spiritual_hope

This week we will address the topic of Remembrance, being still Veterans Day/ Remembrance Day in North America.  History is doomed to repeat itself if we do not learn from it and the stone suitcases we carry with us are the memories of the atrocities carried out on humanity and the lives lost to protect our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  These include the right to be able to engage in free speech, lawful assembly and advance scientific knowledge in a way that optimizes care and delivery, respecting the rights and autonomy of the person, without risk of attack secondary to race, creed, sexual persuasion or health status. This is my first year working with Forces and also my first year advancing medical ethics in education as the Canadian Section Chief with UNESCO.

These are the miracles in the moment to have and carry that right and behooves us to uphold these values. Do we advance humanity or have a tale to tell of our own living Hell? That is choice. BUT-that we can actually make a stand and state when someone is being attacked bullied or made to feel less than they are.  We are all a product of our past and present and feel moments of grief and loss with the happiness and positivity. I have had several discussions of recent, interspersed with death that reminds me of the validity of this statement.  That we are able to love and feel loved, laugh and cry reminds us that we are human. To suppress that is something I do not believe (and have taken great ribbing over the years that I don’t have Kleenex in my office). That is because we are to feel that humanity.

Ways and methods to deaden that humanity that thrives within us is through intensive imbibing in commercialism, being the victim of bullying and spending too much time living someone else’s dream. This is a time for self-expression and the way to start and capture that objective is to appreciate the small miracles in life. The colour of the grass, clouds in the sky and only then can we be shafts of wheat that rise above the choking weeds of the drudgery of life and allow us to fly. And to have flight means that we are more likely through actions to carry that forward and help someone else fly by sharing the miracles.

For to give those miracles away through education is to allow the person to appreciate their own Freedoms and know what hold them back. We must never forget our stone suitcases, but rather learn from them. Lest we forget, for if you forget, you will not be yourself, often.

                                    ~~~ Rev. Dr. Joel Lamoure    Remembrance Day 2012

Reflections About Peeing in Puddles

Greetings my gentle readers to another installment of the “Be Yourself, Often Blog”. A time when we can step back and reflect on the wonderful collection of memories that may have been captured in our net of dreams, or missed by our incessant driven dependency on being busy. This is a point where if we are brave enough, that we can have the fortitude to sing the praises of the moments that were or wonder how we missed the miracles that happened.

It is an interesting reflection that the mesh of the filter that allows us to see the moment is not static, but fluid depending on what we are doing, how busy we are or our degree of interest or passion attached to the subject and event at hand. Truly is we stop and think, there is so much that tends to escape us, isnt there? We may catch the larger items in front of us, such as a big win, but even that is so dependent on our perspectives?

There are many things that in the course of business that happens… appointments get missed and special moments with family that only come around once may be omitted or lost. At that point, one may be left with a feeling of loss and doing an internal reflection of the checks and balances and address the value systems they have. That almost assigns a value to seeing, doing or missing an event and the remuneration attached. Is it really worth it? Even more important, what is the feeling of the other side? Is the absenteeism noticed? Of course. Will a payment or gift cover it? Of course not. Even worse in our busy world where we are all connect is the presenteeism that occurs in dynamics of family and social interactions.

So many other things get lost or waylaid in the day and yet get lost beyond the larger events like birthdays and anniversaries?  These are the small miracles in the moment that demonstrate that we totally and truly exist in a state where there is a Heaven on Earth. And it is our natural state of being, not that of the large mesh where everything goes through the sieve and we miss these miracles of the moments.

Why might that be? Perhaps we sacrifice ourselves and our health at the altar of the great demi-God, consumerism and capitalism. However, no matter what the –ism, they cannot replace the colour of the sky or the smile of a loved one. It is a very, very heavy price to pay.

It is unknown what we collect, have or will walk away with at the end of days, besides death. When that day comes, we cannot predict or know… which offers some reflection that we should live each moment intensely and if they were our last. Does it TRULY matter what others think of how you dress, how you play or why or how you express yourself? Is it not a gift that we are able to express ourselves in a way that places our fingerprint on the moment that we and others remember? That signature style that is our unique claim to life? Who gave someone else the right to bully, invade our privacy, integrate themselves into what and who we are? All I know is that I feel sorry for those lost souls, as their life is so shallow and their puddle so dry that they must live vicariously or try to piss in someone else puddle and pollute the moment with their toxicity.

I would rather appreciate the depth and breadth of the puddle, embrace it and be a kid, loving the mindfulness of the moment. First one needs to realize that life is too busy and chaotic. But after that, one is empowered to step back, embrace and live and love. Basically, to be yourself, often.

                        ~~~ Rev. Dr. Joel Lamoure    November 2012

Reflections About Peeing in Puddles

Greetings my gentle readers to another installment of the “Be Yourself, Often Blog”. A time when we can step back and reflect on the wonderful collection of memories that may have been captured in our net of dreams, or missed by our incessant driven dependency on being busy. This is a point where if we are brave enough, that we can have the fortitude to sing the praises of the moments that were or wonder how we missed the miracles that happened.

It is an interesting reflection that the mesh of the filter that allows us to see the moment is not static, but fluid depending on what we are doing, how busy we are or our degree of interest or passion attached to the subject and event at hand. Truly is we stop and think, there is so much that tends to escape us, isnt there? We may catch the larger items in front of us, such as a big win, but even that is so dependent on our perspectives?

There are many things that in the course of business that happens… appointments get missed and special moments with family that only come around once may be omitted or lost. At that point, one may be left with a feeling of loss and doing an internal reflection of the checks and balances and address the value systems they have. That almost assigns a value to seeing, doing or missing an event and the remuneration attached. Is it really worth it? Even more important, what is the feeling of the other side? Is the absenteeism noticed? Of course. Will a payment or gift cover it? Of course not. Even worse in our busy world where we are all connect is the presenteeism that occurs in dynamics of family and social interactions.

So many other things get lost or waylaid in the day and yet get lost beyond the larger events like birthdays and anniversaries?  These are the small miracles in the moment that demonstrate that we totally and truly exist in a state where there is a Heaven on Earth. And it is our natural state of being, not that of the large mesh where everything goes through the sieve and we miss these miracles of the moments.

Why might that be? Perhaps we sacrifice ourselves and our health at the altar of the great demi-God, consumerism and capitalism. However, no matter what the –ism, they cannot replace the colour of the sky or the smile of a loved one. It is a very, very heavy price to pay.

It is unknown what we collect, have or will walk away with at the end of days, besides death. When that day comes, we cannot predict or know… which offers some reflection that we should live each moment intensely and if they were our last. Does it TRULY matter what others think of how you dress, how you play or why or how you express yourself? Is it not a gift that we are able to express ourselves in a way that places our fingerprint on the moment that we and others remember? That signature style that is our unique claim to life? Who gave someone else the right to bully, invade our privacy, integrate themselves into what and who we are? All I know is that I feel sorry for those lost souls, as their life is so shallow and their puddle so dry that they must live vicariously or try to piss in someone else puddle and pollute the moment with their toxicity.

I would rather appreciate the depth and breadth of the puddle, embrace it and be a kid, loving the mindfulness of the moment. First one needs to realize that life is too busy and chaotic. But after that, one is empowered to step back, embrace and live and love. Basically, to be yourself, often.

                        ~~~ Rev. Dr. Joel Lamoure    November 2012