A Buzz in the Air

Treehouse is preparing for President Obama’s upcoming Inauguration! We’ve got a life sized cardboard cut out of the President elect in the Community Center. People of all ages are having their photos taken with it. Pictures of happy smiling people are showing up on bulletin boards.

I heard someone say the words “Inauguration Ball” (as in, “Let’s have our own Inauguration Ball.”). There’s talk of hooking up Kerry’s laptop to the big screen TV so we can be plugged in to this historic occasion all day long. People are asking how to spell hors d’oeuvres… There is a definite buzz in the air!

While I was in the Library making signs to announce the celebration, a beloved elder came in and handed me a piece of paper with a smile on her face. “I’m feeling good today!” she said. “President Obama has the country’s well-being in mind. He wants the best for all of us and I know he will be working hard to help this country find the path that we looking for.”

“Well, with that kind of support the country is definitely going to spiral up!” I replied. “Here’s to President Obama’s success and millions of lives well lived!” Then I opened the paper and read her approach to a life well lived:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Indra’s Net

Recently I read an article titled, “The Gift – Living a Life of Purpose and Meaning by Stephen Cope. He’s the Director of Kripalu’s Institute for Extraordinary Living. The premise of the article is “Each of us is born with a unique gift – and a sacred duty to fulfill its promise.” It asks us to consider living as a “soul awake in this lifetime”.

In his article, Cope refers to Indra’s Net. I first heard about Indra’s Net when I was in college. It inspired me to really pay attention to what Cope refers to as what life looks like “when a human being functions on all cylinders – body, mind, and spirit.” Ultimately, the Indra’s Net theory led me to become a foster parent, adoptive parent, social entrepreneur, and full time child advocate.

Cope writes about what it would mean for us to consider one of the central archetypes of the yoga tradition – the fully alive human being. He says,

“There is a lot of yogic lore about the process of living fully – and there is one piece of lore that I find very helpful. Yogis believed that every human being is born with a special gift. This gift, for each of us, is like the doorway to a fulfilled life. It is the doorway to our own particular path, our vocation, our calling – our sacred duty. Yogis called this vocation our dharma. All of life is seen as an opportunity to realize and manifest this unique calling – this unique dharma.

Early yogis had a beautiful way of thinking about the importance of the gift. For these yogis, the whole world was seen as a vast net woven together in space and time – not unlike our notion of the quantum field. This was called Indra’s Net, and at the intersection of each warp strand and woof strand of this net is a jewel. This jewel represents an individual human soul. And it is that soul’s duty – sacred calling – to hold together its particular part of the web by being its own unique jewel-like self. In this way, the whole universe holds together as one great interlocking field. But it only hangs together if each one of us plays our particular role, enacts our unique dharma. It only works if each one of us is completely and authentically ourselves. It only works if each one of us is completely who we were born to be.

I like this image a lot. It honors each individual soul’s idiosyncratic gift and relates it to the thriving of the whole. And it underscores… the idea that not only do we each have a gift but we each have a profound responsibility to that gift. Our task, says the great Jungian psychologist Carol Pearson, is to take ownership of our gift, and to trust that its full manifestation is precisely what the world most needs from us.”

Holding together my little corner of the warp and woof of space and time in Indra’s Net gives me great joy. Why wouldn’t it? It’s full of fabulous kids, adults who think out of the box, and exciting new possibilities…

New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year! Got that paper and pen handy? Ready to begin improving your life and the world?

Recently I read an article titled, “What is on Your Not To Do List for 2009?” One person wrote, “ I’m not going to go on another diet, climb Mt. Everest, learn Mandarin, make my bed every day, learn how to iron properly, or line my kitchen drawers. I will however, overlook my husband’s inability to fold towels, take my dogs to the beach more often, and be less judgmental.”

I love that list! It feels so authentic and manageable. It made me laugh. I am not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I prefer a daily practice to a yearly one. But I could get into making this list because its Irreverent, reality based, and laced with humor. Something we could all use more of.

I began making my Not To Do List and am thoroughly enjoying myself. My family is involved in the process and we are all getting a kick out of defining what it is we do want by first identifying what it is we will not invest time and energy in.

Imagine what a great year this could be… Here’s to 2009! May we all grow, prosper, and find joy, connection, and peace in our relationships, our families, and our communities. May Treehouse and Sibling Connections flourish and find all of the fiscal support they need in order to benefit the lives of those they serve. And may each child whose life has been impacted by a foster care experience be surrounded by goodness and grace.