Dan Millman - Waking Spirals

Focus on the Future

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
― Dan Millman

I’ve given up second-guessing
and regret
they’ve always weighed me down.
I can’t change the past
now would I.
I’ll let it slide
into its own detritus
providing mulch for future growth.
Instead focusing on the now and
setting my intent on what’s to come.
With clarity I’ll move forward
and my steps will be sure.
— G A Rosenberg

Blessings, G

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Background Alien by G A Rosenberg

Colour Explosion by G A Rosenberg

Puzzled on the Journey

“The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination.”
― Dan Millman

As the King in the King and I would say, “It is a puzzlement to me.”I believe that what Don Millman says in the above quote about the journey being more enjoyable than the destination is true. I have heard enough similar things stated that I believe many at least pay lip service to this. Yet so many people seem dedicated to convincing others that they have arrived, that they have climbed the mountain and reached the pinnacle of wisdom. What’s even more astonishing to me is that this is true of many on a spiritual path, which is one that to me is never-ending. There is always more ways to grow and develop that I don’t see a destination point in sight, nor do I wish one. The journey may be difficult at times but as hard as it may be it is also joyous and rather fun.
So why then the need to convince others or ourselves that we have reached understanding, that we have become Masters of the Temple or enlightened or any of the thousands of other ways that people describe it. I hope that I will always find myself to be mainly ignorant to have as Robert Anton Wilson said “no certainties but some suspicions” about the true nature of things and there are far worse last words than Aleister Crowley’s “I am perplexed.” As I said a puzzlement. Then, my journey has barely begun.
Blessings, G

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Serpentine Love by G A Rosenberg

Dragon’s Retreat by G A Rosenberg

No Solution Needed

“The world’s a puzzle; no need to make sense out of it.” – Socrates”
― Dan Millman

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the planning of our lives that we never get around to living them. All too often, We map out how things will be. we leave no room for the spontaneous, the miraculous, the unexpected serendipitous something which whether it be a sunrise or an adventure can add shades of meaning to our lives. We don’t need to know everything. Chances are tho we learn more and more that we cannot know everything. So we may as well enjoy both the possibilities and the mystery of life. We never know when a spontaneous wrong turn can lead to a new adventure.
Blessings, G

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The End Looks Onto a New Beginning by G A Rosenberg

Indigo Coin Ripples by G A Rosenberg

A Curious Paradox

“Wake up! If you knew for certain you had a terminal illness–if you had little time left to live–you would waste precious little of it! Well, I’m telling you…you do have a terminal illness: It’s called birth. You don’t have more than a few years left. No one does! So be happy now, without reason–or you will never be at all.”
― Dan Millman

It seems to me a curious paradox. On one side the I that is me is currently living the one life that I have to live. I should live each day as if it were my last one and take death as my advisor. On the other side there is a part of me that is timeless, It is beyond ego and nothing this identified self does or will do in its perceived brief time matters as much as the action itself, one more character that this eternal self plays. From one perspective everything matters because each moment is precious. From the other, its all part of a much bigger picture. Actions now may have ripples later on but then events then may affect this one. Few people tho can be in this world and may maintain an eternal perspective without at least living their temporal life at least a little.
Being happy feels better than the alternatives. The chemicals happiness releases into the bloodstream a lot more pleasant.
Blessings, G

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Extraterrestrial on a Lonely Planet by G A Rosenberg

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Radiance by G A Rosenberg

A Generational Thing

“Every Choice eventually leads to wisdom”
— Dan Millman

One of the most difficult aspects about having teenage kids is the knowledge that they are at a point in their lives where their choices are their own and not all of them will be the ones that we would chose. At a certain point the training wheels are off and while we can help to guide, we can no longer direct. Sometimes knowing when our roles change can be difficult.
With my son I try to look back at my own teenage years. I did some amazingly screwed-up things and yet here I am. Each mistake brought me a bit closer to where I am today and gave me a bit more self-knowledge and understanding. . Some of them I had to repeat multiple times yet I like the life I have now so somehow all the ways that I learned to do it wrong have brought me to a place where I get it a bit more right everyday. I hope my son’s life will flow smoother than mine did at times and when it does I’ll celebrate and when it doesn’t I’ll be present. Our presence, our compassion and our love are the best gifts we can give to our kids. In this, I learned from the best.
Blessings, G

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Opening of the Way by G A Rosenberg

Star Weave by G A Rosenberg

Hard Won Lessons

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
― Dan Millman

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is surrender to life and be vulnerable. I have tried in many areas to control the flow of my life, second guessing my every word and action and worrying about the result only to end up totally tied up in knots. I believed that doing this would make me a better partner and father only to find that it puts unimagined strains on relationships. Little by little I am learning to let go and trust a bit more. Letting my son make and learn from his mistakes (as long as they are not endangering the life of himself and others) strengthens our relationship the more that I can do it. This extends to my relationship with my partner and my relationship with my life as well.
The less I resist in my life, the more flows through. Its amazing how much my constant questioning and over-thinking of things has impeded my quest to be more authentic. I have spent so much time trying to figure out what i want that i have stopped living it. When I give that up and let myself be and shut down the endless yammering of thoughts for awhile, I find my life a much happier place to occupy.
Blessings, G

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Facing Shadow by G A Rosenberg

Interference 2 by G A Rosenberg

Like Water

“Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is… The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds. ”
― Dan Millman

When I first heard the concept that suffering is optional and that it shows resistance to life as it is, I immediately began to protest.
“Sure try telling that to people who are homeless and have nothing. Tell that to someone who is out of work and doesn’t know how to feed their families!”
Then I met people who’s lives seemed so much harder than my own and yet they had a joy that I don’t think I could match on my best days. I met people with death sentences from cancer hanging over their head who wanted nothing more than to tell jokes and misbehave. I learned that it was possible to hurt but not suffer.
It was then that I understood what Bruce Lee meant when he said “Be Like Water.”
Blessings, G

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Cloud Watchers VI by G A Rosenberg

Indigo Glass by G A Rosenberg

Opening to the Moment

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
― Dan Millman

When is the last time you stopped and let yourself be in the moment? Letting the sounds, scents and colours of wherever you are pass through you and around you, totally open to the present without concern of doing or what was to come but simply being in the moment. I find quotes like Millman’s above a good reminder to just stop open and let myself be vulnerable. I can do it but never often enough or long enough. All too soon thoughts of what I will be doing next intrude or what I did earlier, the present making way for other periods. What would it be like if for twice a day, I opened myself to now?
Blessings, G

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Tending the Garden by G A Rosenberg

Rowing on an Impressionistic Evening by G A Rosenberg

Exploring in Familiar Places

“All of life is a foreign country.”
― Jack Kerouac

What is the first thing you do when you enter a country for the first time? I find that
whenever I travel to someplace new, I first acclimate myself. I look around and see what is different from what I have experienced before and what is similar. I love experiencing things for the first time and delight in people watching. What can I learn here and now that I have never known? How can I expand my knowledge? Each place ends up marking me in a new way.
When is the last time you looked around at your present environment as if it were a new country to explore? How much do we take for granted in our everyday lives that could if looked at with no expectations, reveal new things about life and the world around us? Life is never static and much happens around us every day. As Dan Millman’s teacher Socrates says in “Way of the Peaceful Warrior”, “There is never ‘nothing going on’.”
I would like to challenge everyone reading this to wake up tomorrow and experience something familiar as if you are seeing it for the first time.
Blessings, G

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On His Mind by G A Rosenberg

Scarlet Dream by G A Rosenberg

Opening Moves

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
― Dan Millman

Open my heart enough to bleed
Open my eyes enough to cry
Open my arms enough to hug and be hugged
Open my mouth enough to laugh
or speak of my pain and joy
Putting up a front is easy
Building a wall
to say nothing of the words in which I’m armoured
Words of comfort and joy
Words that speak of a serenity
I have yet to find
and an equanimity that eludes me
I will speak of my pain
and own it
It was my gift to myself to grow
I am no one’s victim
just a being searching for a way in
Or perhaps a way out.

— GAR

Blessings, G </h4?

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Broken Castles by G A Rosenberg

Convergence Pattern by G A Rosenberg