Mark Nepo's Blog, page 28

Two from Katarinaslav

They may never have heard the other's name.

Ten years apart, the older combing her pigtails

out, the younger just learning how to braid them.

Maybe the younger saw the older laughing in the hay.

But both, as innocents, steamed their way to America

where there were more people than cows and more

streets than fields; where everyone spoke in strange,

quick clips. Both dreaming in their brick tenements

of the goat's milk they were given just before dawn.

Both wondering where their goats were. Both missing

the quiet blue. How they learned about pavement and

phones. How they married. How they rolled English in

their mouths like little stones. How they never knew

that the other had children. How their children had

children who had no accent. All the while, the goats

sleeping in the back of their Russian dreams. And how

you, grandchild of the younger, should make your way

to Albany University, to sit in a class with me, grand-

child of the older. Even then, we never knew. And how

twenty years later, we should re-find each other. Until

a hundred years from that village, in a moment of

missing my grandma so, I speak of Katarinaslav, and

you are stopped. And oceans from the warm goat's

milk their fathers pressed to their sleepy lips, you tell

me that your grandmother also had strong hands and

a powerful heart. That she also spent her last days in a

Brooklyn hospital. Could they have landed in the same

brick village near the end? Perhaps they had the same

nurse dab water on their swollen lips, which they

thought was warm milk. Perhaps they are now re-

lieved of the journey. And speak Russian and shake

their heads at how our love has finally brought them

together in a soft mirror of that Russian plain. It

took a hundred years but perhaps they sip goat's

milk on the other side. Perhaps they eat

sponge cake in heaven.

Facing the Con Artist: How to Transform Your Reactivity into Creativity, with MICHELE McHALL

This teleclass is on Mondays September 12th, 19th, and 26th and October 3rd from 5:00-6:15 PST.

This four-week teleclass is for new students of the Soul's Dream or seasoned students who need a tune-up around their Con Artist. The Con Artist is the negative voice inside our heads that generates reactivity and limitation. Reactivity drains our energy, wastes precious time, and encourages the repetition of the same old negative story about ourselves and our lives. Whether your area of reactivity is judgment, overwhelm, procrastination, avoidance, not good enough, perfectionism, or another pattern of trying to control your reality, you are masking your true self. Class size is limited so in this four weeks you'll receive personal support from Michele in creating a new story that helps you move past the Con Artist and expand into the experience and expression of your true self.

COST: $150.00

*Manual for class is $35.00

Register for the class and purchase the manual at www.wholeiq.com.

Michele McHall video: Working Together Can Be More Like Jazz!

In this clip, Michele talks about how her work with teams and groups in awakening their Spirit, Heart, Mind, and Body intelligences, or Whole IQ, leads to greater creativity and collaboration.

Michele McHall video: Four Cornerstones of Being a Life Artist

The Finitudes

It's taken almost sixty years but I've stopped

figuring out what people want. Now I'm working

on not being afraid of not giving people what they

want. I'm trying to absorb light which from a person

feels like truth. Trying to let light pass through which

when it happens feels like love. Then I stumble on

Heidegger's notion of dwelling with care in the being

that underlies everything. Feel myself saying yes. Only

to discover he supported Hitler and enforced Aryan

law as Rector of the University of Freiburg. A telegram

to Hitler. And three Sieg Heils at the end of his inaugural

address. Now my not being shaped by what people want

seems trivial. Or is it the DNA of conscience? Hannah

Arendt, his student and lover, was a Jew. She testified

on his behalf after the war. How are we to hold such

contradictions? Somewhere seeds are breaking ground

and somewhere flesh is burning. This is hard enough

to take in. Yet how does this happen in the same

person without their soul exploding? We've all been

taught to take what we need and leave the rest. Why

not drink from Heidegger's being and push the rest

of his plate away? But the pushed-away parts evolve

too. I'm trying to absorb what we've done to each

other throughout history, trying to eat all of what

I see and scrub one thing back to the beginning.

All That You Can Do

It seems one can't look at the news without reeling from the shock of a fresh atrocity. The tragedy in Norway staggers the imagination. In Texas a man kills five people and himself at a skate party. In my hometown a man kills his children, their mother, and himself.

In the wake of such news, at first it seems almost trivial to put together a few words for this weekly blog. What can one say? Isn't this a moment in which silence better serves us?

Then I remember the healing power of meditation, and I sit with it so. I cannot take away the hurt of untold millions just by wishing it. I can be present, feeling some of the pain, and rising when I can to the lure of understanding, revelation, and transformation. With millions of others, I am witnessing and praying, abiding, and sending as much good intention as I possibly can into the world.

What else can one do? Tap into the grief that slowly moves like molten emotion deep inside. I am one with the blade of grass, the fly I release through the screen in the bathroom window, and the young man blown to pieces by an insane, random act of violence. I am the killer and the dead. I feel the rage of the survivor and I hear the cry for vengeance welling up inside me. I also hear my fellows the dead, who in an instant move far beyond the desire for vengeance.

What can one do? Be present. Be the healing power of equanimity and love. My activist-friend Jeff Golden's sign-off on radio and TV is "Thanks for doing all that you can do." That's it, really. Do that much. Just so.

Feeling Thorough

I love how I feel after swimming. I feel for the moment that I'm no longer catching up, that inner time and outer time are moving at the same speed and my breath is what connects them. The way I describe this sensation is to say I feel thorough. The word thorough means complete in all respects. When I feel thorough, it is an indication that my life is in sync, however briefly, with life itself. Not surprisingly, I think and see with added clarity during these moods of completeness. Whether it is exercise that flushes out the circulatory system, or meditation that flushes out the clogged up thought system, or honest conversation that flushes out the buildup that aggregates in the heart, it is this sensation of thoroughness we're after. It's what dance and song and pure music do for our vitality; they flush out numbness and enervation. These are all powerful ways to clear our pipes.

It's interesting to note that being thorough means investing extraordinary care, tending to every aspect. Now we can see a developmental ethic. It we want to feel thorough, we have to be thorough. If we want to feel complete, we have to risk extraordinary care and invest in every aspect that is before us. In this way, being thorough is the doorway to feeling thorough. It seems rather obvious but, just as it necessary to open our eyes in order to see, it is necessary to care in order to feel complete.

Die Before You Die

I had the good fortune this week to attend a benefit lunch and auction for the Jean Houston Foundation, which supports Social Artistry around the world.

After a superb meal prepared and served by the staff at Blue Greek, a restaurant I recommend to anyone who visits Ashland, Oregon, the highlight of the day was Jean's forty-minute talk about ancient Greece.

Jean Houston is a time traveler, a psychic, celestial guide to the past and the world next to this one. With Jean as our leader and storyteller, we let go of our anxieties and obstacles and journeyed through 1,500 years of Greek history. The point? It was no pleasure cruise, though the going was delightful and delicious in every way.

Jean, as she does better than anyone, was calling us to action, to arms if you will. She charged us to wake up to and develop our highest selves, and to be active in the world. She calls this Social Artistry, and practitioners are active in places like Nepal, Zambia, and Oakland, California, supporting women, children at risk, and underserved communities that need help.

Everywhere you turn, there is work that needs to be done if we're to survive on this planet. Embrace social artistry. Find out what you can do and do it. This life is precious. Don't leave anything on the table. Plumb the depths of your being and emerge confident and capable. Your models, colleagues, and allies are all around you.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Poet Jane Hirshfield has available a Kindle Single called "The Heart of Haiku" for only 99 cents. It's wonderful listening to one of our most beloved poets guide us through the magical world of Haiku. Treat yourself to a listen and see why this has quickly become Number One in Poetry at Amazon.com.

Upstream

When it is we who do

the stepping, it is hard

to see the steps. But

look where you are.

Years ago, the one

you've carried since birth

was waiting inside for you.

I remember the day

you lifted your face

from its stream.

This very day you

are bringing what

you carried through

the fire into the world.

Even more, you have

become the cup that

holds your soul.

And lifting your face

from the stream of all

you carry is what we

call living your gift.

You fit your gift.

Your gift fits you. It

doesn't matter if you have

everything in place. Slow

and live this day. You

have earned this view.

An interview with Michele McHall

Michele was interviewed by relationship activist, expert, and coach Maryanne Comaroto, on Tuesday, July 12th. Visit www.maryannelive.com and click on Listen Live in the Radio Shows section on the left-hand side to listen to the recording.

The show will encore on Tuesday, July 19th, at 10 pm PST, and will be archived under Michele McHall on www.maryannelive.com forever.