living in the present - Waking Spirals

What I Choose To Be; What I Choose to Become

“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
~ Carl Jung

The past is gone,
its footprints fade as the present
ebbs and flows along my life’s ocean.
With it goes the past hurts and triumphs
its losses and joys as well
The only use they have for me now
is as lessons that need not be learned again
It is what I encompass now that matters
and where I will take it.
Those who live in the past
reliving their glories
or remaining victim to their pain
are stagnant swamps
I would rather be the mighty ocean
flowing proudly into the future
living each day and then washing it away
with its sediment used to build anew
— G A Rosenberg

Blessings, G

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Cosmic Spider Lwa by G A Rosenberg

Protected by G A Rosenberg

What Makes Us Present…

“Opportunities? They are all around us … There is power lying latent everywhere waiting for the observant eye to discover it.”
–Orison Swett Marden

There are so many moments in each day that I find empowering. Anything that can make me laugh or smile or lift me out of whatever has entrapped my thoughts and brings me into the present moment. It could be the way a bird is flying through the air. It could be children playing or animals living up to their nature. It could be the attractive way that someone walks by me or a particularly beautiful pair of eyes. I see the light hitting the side of a building or hear waves rushing against the sand. I love those sublime moments and I realize for everyone I see that there are a thousand others that I miss because I am caught up in anywhere or anytime other than where I am. Anything that makes me present empowers me. I am grateful.
Blessings, G

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Storm God in the Night Forest by G A Rosenberg

Following the Trail to the Diamond Within 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

Quote of the Day – May 2 2012

“If you live in a past dream, you don’t enjoy what is happening right now because you will always wish it to be different than it is. There is no time to miss anyone or anything because you are alive. Not enjoying what is happening right now is living in the past and being only half alive. This leads to self pity, suffering and tears.”
― Miguel Ruiz

There are points in our life that stick out, usually ones with strong emotion either strong pain or strong bliss. Either one of them can be traps. We relive when someone hurt us or sometimes even worse when we hurt someone else when we could have avoided it or possibly a sublime moment with someone loved that can never be repeated. Notice I don’t say it can’t be surpassed, merely that it can’t be repeated. We relive those memories (funny how they lose fidelity with repetition a lot like old cassette tapes) over and over either trying to find the sense, what we did right or what we did wrong. Somewhere along the way we find ourselves forgetting to live.
I remember breaking up with someone whose company I really enjoyed. We had a great time together. We could talk for hours and enjoyed many of the same things. Even the sex was good. That person could not live up to the intensity of a relationship I had before that was an exercise in self-destruction that had left me wounded. I hadn’t yet given myself permission to move on. Luckily I’ve since grown up quite a bit. Still tho, I work at living in the present. To be honest, I kind of prefer it this way.
Blessings, G

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Deserted Highway by G A Rosenberg

Fractal Net by G A Rosenberg