Letting Go of Timing

Everything happens in its own time, on time, and in time.

My Mama Used To Say: “God’s Time is a Good Time.”  Your timing may not be the right time. Your timing may not fit into the grander plan.  The sacred plan for your life.   Let go of thinking it has to happen when and how your mind is telling you is the “right” time.

Whatever happens; “good” or “bad”; happens based on the flow of life.  Life flows, ebbs or wanes, just like the ocean.  Things come and go.  People come and go. People who come, people who go,  all come and go in their own time.  Things that come, things that go, all come and go in its own time.  Beliefs, Dreams, Hopes, Fears, come and go…you know this, because you’ve experienced all of these things coming and going.

Just release the need and suffering of thinking that this experience of life that you have been given has to happen how you think it should.  If you are not aligned with who you really are, with what you should be doing, where you should be, who you should be with, then don’t expect the universe to put things in place the way you THINK that it should. It won’t.  It can’t.  It’s always trying to get you to wake up and live consciously and get aligned with your true nature.  In order to get aligned you have to do the inner work — the hard stuff — to get in alignment with YOUR flow of life.  Not anyone elses, but your own.  Once you are in that flow then everything starts to make sense.  You realize not to stress on the timing of things, you relax and are grateful because you recognize that NOW is a good time.

Enjoy what is happening right now. Enjoy who is in your life right now.  Enjoy the places that you go right now.  Enjoy the house that you are living in right now.  Enjoy the job that you have right now.  Enjoy the hopes of the job you want, right now, not when you actually get it, but right now. Enjoy the car that you are driving right now.  Enjoy the shift that you are working on right now. Enjoy the person you are married to right now.  Enjoy your children at the age they are right now. Enjoy the new product that you found.  Enjoy the new store that you found. Enjoy the new website you stumbled on. Enjoy the new person that you met.  Enjoy your life.

Just enjoy your life…because your life is happening, right NOW…as Mama Use to Say…

Just Quit Needing Others To Validate You and The Stuff You're Doing

Okay, so  you want others to know what we you are doing.

When you get the question:  “Hey, what have you been up to?”

You want them to support you.

You want them to be a part of what you’re doing.

You want their opinions.

You want their suggestions.

You want their ideas.

You want them involved.

They can be involved, they can give you their ideas, suggestions, and opinions, BUT you don’t need them to validate you or validate what you are doing.  Why?  Because sometimes it doesn’t matter if they think it makes any sense; if it’s gonna work; if it’s a good use of your time; if it’s the right degree for you to get; if it’s the next job that you should take; or the next town that you should move to; or even the next person that you should marry — sometimes — you just know!

It might be just every now and again that this happens, but once you are in alignment with life, love, God, The Source, (call it what you want), things start to change at a rapid pace.  You begin to realize that “that” something inside of you, already knows.  It just knows.  It’s always known and finally you’re listening to that source of information.

In the Flow

It’s like a little window opens in you mind, or your heart, or somewhere and you just know.

You can’t explain it.

You don’t understand it.

It makes no sense, even to you.

You do start to wonder exactly where everything is coming from.

Where the decisions are coming from.

Where the creatively is coming from.

Where the courage is coming from.

Where the words are coming from.

All you can do is flow with the process that is unfolding through you.  All you can do is go with it.  You do something one day and the next day look back at what you created or wrote and wonder…who did that?  I didn’t do that.  I really didn’t do that.

It can bring you to tears when you’re in that flow – at peak performance – in the groove.

You can now easily recognize others that are in that same flow.

When you connect with them and talk with them it’s almost as though there is a direct connection or recognition.

It’s like you’re with yourself.

It’s not competition, it’s cooperation.

It’s not judgment, it’s filling in the empty spaces.

It’s a smile, it’s a look, it’s a feeling, it’s an energy.

Those on the same wave-length are aware of each other.

It seems somehow that once you let go and allow this energy to flow that more doors and windows seem to open.

That more things come to you that you’ve been looking for, sometimes for years.

That more people call that can help you.  They help you as though they are helping themselves.  They don’t have to validate you, they just help, they just add value, they are apart of this space that just flows.

It’s a an amazing space to be in…and…when you get to that space — those who AREN’T in that space start to fall away…go away…fade away…and letting them go just seems natural — they aren’t part of the flow —- NOT YET.

Pop-Up Shop Saturday's

Being in business with a building has been an interesting experience.

Opening the shop on weekends for the past 6 months has been eye-opening.

It’s been my arts studio, a place for me to think, a place for me to un-think, a place for locals to get a cup of coffee, a counseling center, a fabulous place for the birds to find food, a place to wash my car, a place to be creative, a place to meet new people, a place to study human behavior, a place to listen to music….it’s been all these things for the last 6 months.  It has not however been a place that is self-sufficient financially.  I think I could stay here another 10 years and  no matter what I was “selling” it would not make much money.  Why?  Because it’s hard for me to figure out how retail stores make ANY real money. There is not enough margin in purchased stuff, and who wants stuff anyways?  Then for created stuff, as an artist I’ve learned over the years that no one is going to pay you as much money as a piece took you to make.  So, you have to be willing to part with it for less than it’s worth to you. So the best I think stores are doing is breaking even. There is SO much overhead cost and red-tape and taxes and on and on and on and on with a business with a building. It has definitely given me a new-found respect for those retail operations that actually make it….although retail stores are closing left and right.

So onto the real thing…the real mission…the real reason I am back in my hometown… it is to help other people get their ideas, businesses, art, crafts,  books, music OFF THE GROUND.  To do that I have to expand.  I have to find a way to open the other side of this building.  The other side is where my dad ran his barbershop for years. I want to bring back that “community  barbershop” experience for people.  I personally remember how thrilling it was to come to the barbershop and see members of the community inside talking, laughing and getting a needed service. I want this building to be the place to be on Saturdays in Hampton,VA.  I want it to be one of those places that you hear about and it’s on your list to visit.

My VISION  for The Richardson’s:

• We are the place in Hampton VA for creatives to gather, make money, start a business, and grow a business.
• People who are currently walking by the shop will find their creative centers and set up a pop-up shop to make needed money.
• Locals will be featured in national publications about getting their start at The Richardson’s.
• The Richardson’s will create and cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit in Phoebus VA.

As I sit here typing this, while at the shop, a couple just stopped their car  in the middle of Mercury Blvd  (a 45 mile per hr street) so the woman could take a picture of my chairs painted with the word LOVE.  Just a reminder to myself of what happened today.

So now…after almost 6 months being here I am finally ready to do a business plan.  I feel I now have enough of a feel for the place, the community, and the city.  Stay tuned…

 

New Year, New Venture

How many people want to start their own business?  Many do.

How many actually open their own business?  Some do.

How many succeed in small business. Few do.

After many years of creating business plans, buying business cards, “talking” about starting a business I’m finally going to open a brick and mortar business. It’s not just any building, it’s the same building that my father ran a local barber shop for 40 years. It’s like a dream come true. Walking in the building after all these years was magical for me.

As I sit here over the holiday’s I can still hear my father telling me: “If you know what you want, it’s already there.”   I know that building is it; I know that local artisan concept is it; I know that giving back to the local community is it. It’s almost like there is a pent-up need and the timing is right.  Time will tell.  No matter.  It will be a place that I want to go, a place I want to create and shop and be.  I’ll more than likely be documenting my journey on this blog as I transition to a business owner.

The Richardson’s 512 E. Mercury Blvd. Hampton, VA

Creative Space and Gift Shop

How the space looks today 12/16

What is Mental Slavery?

The below comment came in this weekend from someone who works in Ad Sales for a Magazine:

“I feel like a mental slave every day. My ancestors were slaves, fought for their freedom, and now I am letting myself get trapped into legal and socially acceptable slavery.”

Mental Slavery: What a concept. Many workers aren’t working in physically exhausting jobs, but are mentally exhausted.  Just googling mental slavery was interesting.

Letting yourself get trapped:  The first step to getting unstuck is to admit that you are stuck and feel like a slave. You can then do something about it.

Legal and Socially Acceptable Slavery: It is called the labor “market” after all. The only way around this is to create something of value, live frugally and not HAVE to participate in the labor market, or to be able do it on your own terms.

Fighting for your freedom:  You can break the cycle of mental slavery.  Admit it. Accept it. Take Action. Let Go. Let Come. 

The more I analyze the comments that are coming in the more I know that an awakening is happening worldwide.  People are waking up.  No longer buying into allowing the rich to get richer while they labor and suffer with little reward.  

 

 

 

 

Share the Wealth With Basic Income

With a basic income those who want to “Just Quit” could.

Monthly Income

With this income you could pay off your debt and start saving to have six months of expenses so you could move on from a job making you mentally and physically ill. Yes, it’s political (because it’s about who gets the money), but it’s practical (give the money to the people). The more I study it the more it makes sense.

At The Bottom

This is an image that I CAN NOT get out of my head. It haunting to me. Haunting. It’s all those people at the bottom “working for all” yet NOT benefiting from their labor. Just falling down, and beat down.

Flatten Wages and Technology – Shifting Economics

It has dawned on me after five years of blogging about Just Quitting and three years of survey results that the REASONS that people are feeling the way they are is because: globalization has flattened wages (that’s not going to change back to the way it was) and technology is displacing workers (that’s only going to get worse).

There isn’t much incentive to work to live anymore.  People can’t go on…they don’t want to. There are huge structural shifts happening in the work world and people are feeling the shift. Basic Income makes sense. It’s a way out of this mess. The wealth has to be shared. Many of my tweets and posts will be referencing the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Basic Income.

I am going to record and show what it feels like for Humans At The Beginning of An Economic Worldwide Shift.  

 

The Web Of Life - You Have to Let Go to Understand It

The Circular Spider Web

The above is a picture of a circular spider web that was created outside my kitchen window.  This picture does not do this creation the justice that it deserves. It is TRULY a work of art. A very intricate web, just like the web of life.

How the web of life worked in my “letting go to let come” life today

Reconnecting the Past to the Present

Emailing back a friend that I hadn’t talk to in over 10 years…and I can’t remember exactly why it has been so long…but kind of like the above web, we had ventured away from the center of the web and had to find our way back…updating people who are a part of our past on what matters – friends & family.

Input to Theory U Survey

Completing a survey email link from Otto Scharmer to help select the title for his next book about Theory U.  Using the world-wide-web and network of folks who understand and believe in Theory U to help come up with the best book title and subtitle that will resonate with those who want and need to read his next book – what matters – community.

Madrid

Emailing back a reader of one of the posts on this site who works in Madrid in a job they know they need to resign from.  Taking the time to look up exactly where Madrid was online and just quickly scanned some of the information about it.

For some reason I wanted to turn on the television.  I can’t remember the last time I actually watched TV and had no idea really why I felt the need to turn it on. The only channel that is worth watching to me is CREATE TV.  So, I just turned on the TV and went and sat down at the craft table to start working on a piece.

Inside of 30 minutes  I heard this travel show come on called  “Smart Travels” and they started talking about going to Madrid – Goya Art Galleries, the night life, Hotel Ritz, Royal Tapestry Factory, Retiro Park and From Madrid to Heaven being a slogan you’ll hear when you go there.   What are the chances of that just happening?

Letting Go to Let Come

These things are not coincidences,  it’s called synchronicity…the web…

Just being where you’re suppose to be.

Being in Alignment.

Being in Sync.

Doing what matters.

Doing what you’re suppose to be doing – even if it makes no sense to you at the time.

Just let things happen.

Let come what needs to happen.

It will make sense when you look back and see all the connections of the web.

Every single day confirms, that letting go and just going with the flow,

is so much better than holding on to the past

or how you THINK things are supposed to go.

Let Come what the web of life wants to weave into your life.  

It’s not only in my life or your life that this web weaves, but in all living sentient beings.  

Look at the intricate web of life and know that everything is connected.  

What you think and do impacts everyone and everything else.  

Just be aware and conscious of that…

and smile no matter what is going in your life right now…

just smile because you have the opportunity to be a part of the web of life.

Two Hours - Three Things

Last Tuesday I was able to go to the Meditation Sangha that I haven’t been able to go to for months because of work obligations.

In about a two-hour span I learned three things about letting go:

1. Let Go of Timing – Everything Happens In Its Own Time & Space

The Sangha starts at 7:00 p.m.  I got there at 6:45 p.m. so I wouldn’t feel rushed.  When I got to the parking lot there were about 10 cars there.  Usually there are about 4-5 people who come and go to the Sangha as I recalled. There was a “free” yoga class going on when I got to the meeting room.  Some of those people stayed for meditation and new people came after yoga was over.

It ended up being about 13 people in class.  Those who I remembered from when I’d come last  (about a year ago) welcomed me back.  I mentioned how the Sangha had grown and Darla, the creator of the group, told me that it started out with three (3) regulars and it has taken 10 years to grow to 10 regulars who come on a weekly basis.  I found that truly amazing.  The length of time it takes for something to grow and be sustainable.

That helped me learn to let go of the panic I was beginning to feel about no one registering for The Black Folder Project Workshop.  I just let go of thinking it had to be an immediate hit and was instantly alright with letting happen how I always knew I wanted things to go with the Project – organic – just let those who need to come – come. It might take 10 years for me to get 10 people in a workshop…who knows…but that is okay…so that was my first lesson in letting go.

2. TONGLEN

I didn’t remember Darla giving instructions for meditating or techniques that one could use while meditating.   Darla usually just recapped the process of how things would go for the hour:

She’d light incense, a candle, read a passage from a book, we’d do 20 minute sitting meditation, then 10 minute walking meditation (which she explained the how and why of that),15 minutes back to sitting and then you could stay for 30 minutes longer for the optional reading and discussing an ongoing book the Sangha was reading.

This time though she mentioned something I’d never heard of  called Tonglen.  It turns out that it’s an EASIER way for me to practice compassion or Metta Meditation.  I had been doing Metta Meditation for some time,  but it can be laborious going through all the steps and different people who are in your life.

Tonglen is easier because you can just use one person.  You breathe in the pain they are probably feeling or you think they are feeling and breathe out relief for that pain.

Tonglen is about taking and sending or Letting Go to Let Come!

It was as though this practice connected some dots for me.

The pain that you see that’s  all around you is the same pain that is inside of yourself.  It is inside of others as well, so it teaches you to learn to embrace it and “feel” it in your body.  Breathe into it.  Identify it if you can, but sometimes you can’t even identify the pain.  It allows you to embrace both pain and joy which in really a more mature way of  thinking about co-creating our future.

Pain and Pleasure – Two Sides of The Same Coin

The example that brings this home to me is an example of a battery.   You have the positive and the negative charge or the battery can not work.  You have to have both.  So, you can’t just want joy and bliss all the time in your life because that is not realistic.  You have to embrace both the painful feelings/experiences and the joyful feelings/experiences and just allow them to happen.  Don’t fight against the painful things.  The key is how you react to everything that makes the difference of if you will continue to grow and mature.

The Breath and The Pause

The more I meditate and research letting go to let come the more I keep coming back to the breath.  Somehow you can not escape the breath.  Breathing in and breathing out is the easy part, it happens naturally, but it’s in the pause between the “out” breath and the next “in” breath that you find the answers, but you have to recognize that.

Breathing “out” is like letting go, then you have the pause (or the tunnel as I call it) and then the letting come  – or the next “in” breath.

The letting come is right after the pause or the silence which is ever-present.  Call it what you want – God, Universal Mind, The Source –  I just call it the ever-present silence that underlies everything — back into which it comes and goes –it’s always there.  You just have to trust that pause.  You have to trust that everything will be okay during and after the pause.  You can’t get to the “in” breath or letting come unless you go through that pause/tunnel/eye of the needle/presence/God.

3. Ask Yourself Why First – Then Do Something You’ve Never Done Just for the Experience

I had never ever stayed for the readings after the meditation period, so I questioned myself as to why.  Several things came up: 1 I don’t feel like reading after meditating, 2.  I don’t feel like pulling out my reading glasses, 3.  I really don’t want to talk and get people to “really” know me unless I want to, nor do I want to “really” know what’s inside of  others unless I want to.  I just wanted to meditate and leave.  After I asked those questions of myself and heard the answers, I just let all of that go and decided that I would stay and see what it was about – why not – just have the experience.

Actually no one had to read.  Darla had brought her laptop and the book was online, yet most had a copy of the book and silently read along. So I didn’t have to read or have my reading glasses.  After the reading from a book by Pema Chodron people went around and started talking about what was important to them from the reading.

I had already decided that I would just listen and observe, unless someone asked me to say something.  MOST everyone was talking about letting go of something…letting go of control, letting go of not paying attention, letting go of stress, ect…

I don’t think I’ll need to stay for the reading next time, but I was glad I did on that day. I let go of whatever was holding me back from staying and just having that experience.  You can not KNOW until you experience it.  You can imagine, you can wonder, someone can tell you about it, but you can’t really KNOW…so now I KNOW.  The lesson is to get beyond just downloading what you think something is about and HAVE EXPERIENCES.  Life is about experiences…so…experience it!

 

Just Quit Struggling - The Struggle is Over!

Life is Not a Struggle!

Aren’t You Tired of Struggling?  I AM!

• Struggling to make ends meet. (What on earth does that even mean any more?)
• Struggling to make relationships “work”.
• Struggling to find your path or mission in life.
• Struggling to still have goals when you’ve watched them come and go.
• Struggling to see a bright ending when everything looks bleak.
• Struggling to still be in control when everything seems out of control.
• Struggling to keep up with the news.
• Struggling to keep up with technology.
• Struggling to keep up with family and friends.
• Struggling to stay on your job.
• Struggling to keep your house maintenance up.
• Struggling to keep your cars working.
• Struggling to keep your marriage from falling apart.
• Struggling to keep your kids on the straight and narrow.
• Struggling to keep people out of your business.
• Struggling to pay your bills.
• Struggling to stay healthy.
• Struggling to buy your medications.
• Struggling to buy groceries.
• Struggling to lose weight.
• Struggling to keep the weight off.
• Struggling to find love.
• Struggling to find yourself.
• Struggling to keep it all together.

The only Real Struggle is Seeing it All as a Struggle.

Just Let Go of Seeing Life as a Struggle.

Just Live.  Just Love.  Just Be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Quit Trying to "Act Normal"

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. ~Lao Tzu~

How many of us look at other people (the neighbor across the street, the co-worker, or the family member) and think they might be doing better than us, or that they are smarter than us, or they look better than us?

How many try to be someone that they are not? How many try to “fit in”…but “fit into” what? Trying to fit into some preconceived mold just doesn’t work.

You have to figure out exactly who you are, why you are, and what you are here to be.

 

What is normal? 

Who gets to say what is normal?

Have you ever been around people who are not normal?

The “type” of people who other people consider emotionally or physically “challenged.”

“Challenged” is the politically correct term, but we all know what we call them in our minds.   Just be honest. They are not normal to us.

But of course they are normal because they are themselves, and that makes them as normal as possible.

Most of these challenged people are more normal than those who think they are normal.

Most people who are “challenged” emotionally or socially get to say what is on their minds.

They don’t have to worry about what others think. They just say what’s on their minds, and sometimes the most profound things come out.

Those who we consider physically challenged typically have a better appreciation for themselves and others.  The blind see things that the sighted will never see, and the deaf hear more than the hearing.

The next time you try to “act” normal just realize that no one is “normal”.

Just Realize You Are Here To Be Yourself

…but…Who ARE you?

Are you in touch with your emotions  (Energy in Motion) and your feelings?  (You are not your emotions or feelings but you need to be able to get in touch with them to help you get pass them and find your core self)