hallow een

what's hollow
what's holy?
what's hallow?

hallow: to make or set apart as holy


the eve of a holy day
a dark night

the goodness of life

the light
and coming and going
of breath
and joy

what am I
saying?

i don't know:

what is holy to you?

what is holy to me?

if I'm not awake.
this sort of nonsense is holy:
1. How is the Chris image doing?
2. Is the baby Chris getting his wants and demands?
that's what's holy.

And
then,
as always,
the choice,
the choice:

To Wake

And
if I'm awake:
you are holy,
all of life,
including the one named Chris,
all that is holy

Earth, heavens, dirt,
people,
all the people,
even me.

And the one named Chris,
he's just an agent
a help
a drop of sweetness
in an ocean
of ???????


love, bliss, peace,
joy,
learning

la, la

lots of learning
and love
and awaking:

let that be
hallowed
tonight
and any old
night

Parties, parties, parties: what part do we wake up to?

Parties , parties, parties:
People like ‘em, some to give ‘em, most to “get“ 'em

Parties, parties:
a few people do
a lot of work

some people love
to come
and be wild

some to come and be quiet

and this can happen:

to come,
feel free,
enjoy others

and still remember
our breathing
and the sensing of our feet as
we touch the ground,
our spines
and arms
as we dance and move

to lose ourselves is
one thing

to stay "with" ourselves
another

both

good
in a way

fun and unimportant

i making a stool
to hold a harmonium
for Sukhawat
Marlie's Indian vocal music teacher

I took an old chicken feeder



undid it



made a stool








had Suhkawat put the last
two screws
in




found it didn't balance




decided to do another one





did




didn't like the first one,
took it apart




and am not(Freudian slip, supposed to say: "now") making
another,

pieces of the old one
and set up
to make two more
one for me,
one for Sukhawat



and this is all fun
and great chance to be present
or be in a froth to "get it done"


and sometimes it works out
and sometimes not

this is fun
this in unimportant


sort of like life
really
though you aren't supposed to say that


and yet
something is important
just not the things
that everyone
gets caught in


and what's left?
what doesn't catch us?

what leaves us free?


ah, good question,
eh?

the importance of not knowing

the importance of not knowing

if you really could know
what was coming
next:
that might
feel secure
and might make life
really dull

this moment
we experience

the next we discover

the past
we explain
talk about
make a story about
create a fuss drama lie myth agenda
around

and it's over
the past
is gone

and to even try to get
it back

like trying to say hi to someone
tomorrow

no place to stand
no under standing
shifty
and not safe

the only serenity:
this stand
this under us,
gravity pulls us somehow
can we feel it,
now

the fun of messing up

the fun of messing up:


what i consider messing up
now

is to be grumpy
ever
about
What Is.

and so,
this morning,
grumpy because of
a racket with a leaf blower
thing

and whose business is it
what some sweet guy
does with his time
and energy?

his.

and for me
to grump out
about it
is to make a mess

and the fun is this:
realizing
that
I'm insane when I do that
laughing at myself

and then
going about a much brighter,
happier
day

if you aren't happy this breath

if you aren't happy this breath

take another
with a little more
awareness of how
amazing

being in gravity
and being
able
to be aware
of breathing

is

Why are people unhappy?

Why are people unhappy?

Well, there's pain and starvation:
neither of which are any fun.

Beyond that, though,
most people in this culture
are unhappy
because they want "my" happiness
rather
than
happiness.

"My" happiness
is something for
"me"
that I can go out and
"get"

Two problems with that
and I won't go into either one.

Puzzle it out on your own.

The other
happiness
isn't
gotten,
and really is a by product:

of what?

Ah:
various things.

I don't feel like going into that either.

Hint:
it's a by product of
something beyond
words.

Impermanence and Bliss

Impermanence and Bliss:

Here we go again:

Supposedly the Buddha,
said something along the lines of:
"Life is suffering"

la, la

one could quite sweet do the
Byron Katie work on that

to wit:

Judge Your Neighbor/ Reality/ Have a concept-thought.
Write it down.
Ask four questions.
Turn it around.


The 4 Q's???
1. Is it true?
2. Can I absolutely know it's true?
3. How do I react when I believe/ attach to it being true?
4. Who or what would I be without the story/ thought/ concept?

And the turn around.

Is it true
that
"Life is suffering"

Ans: I don't know. Sometimes I suffer. Sometimes I don't.
But "life????"
I don't know, the state of newness, a nice state.

Can I absolutely know that this thought
is true?

No.

How do I react when I attach to the
thought that
"Life is suffering"?

sad, worried, stingy, blaming, feeling sorry,
looking for the grungy lining,
cynical, resigned, gloomy

Who would I be without the
story that
"Life is suffering"

Watching my own life:
when am I suffering,
and where is the thought behind that suffering,
is that necessary.
when am I not suffering,
what is the action/ attention/ organization
behind my
happiness.

Turn around:
Sometimes life is suffering,
and sometimes not.

And impermanence:
this seems to be what is.

And the sweet way of Byron Katie,
or Katie as we call her,
taking on the 100% winning bet
when she goes for loving
What Is.

My relationship is ending.
That's What Is.
That's impermanence.
Can I love that?

Yes.

Wow:how can that be?

Not only easy,
but extremely pleasurably, like, you know, bliss,
coming to this
from a place of joy, clarity
and understanding how big love
really is.

Best to you,
this is right there for you
to find, too.

Love

when is the best time
to love
the person you live with?

a) when they are being so wonderful
and adorable you just feel thrilled
to be sharing a life with them

b) when they are busy and distracted
and hardly know you exist

c) when they know you exist and have
this interesting idea
that you are a big pain in the ....

d) when they are busy and distracted
and think you are a big
pain in the ....

e) none of the above

f) all of the above


You know the answer,
and the question helps us remember:
if it's marketing,
we love 'em when they "put out"

if it's love
we love 'em
when they are alive
(or dead)

ciao
Chris

are we awake now?

You know,
like in the sweet little moment

and if we aren't,
can we slip slide stroll hop
on back

without wasting the usual time
of "shoulda" been
there all along
without wondering wandering:
where were we when we
got lost "over there"

just coming on back

easily

this is why Gurdjieff work
with it's underlying brilliance
is often so boring:

endless sermons on man is asleep
and
okay
then what:

wake up
for the joy of being awake

or for the sake
of the Earth we are wrecking

or for the freedom
of living with others
in something that could
be called
Love
if it needed to
be
called
anything

la,
la,

have an awake
reading
of this:

if you wish

7 Essentials of Happiness

7 Essentials of Happiness

With Chris Elms
Private and group lessons

Short Version:

1. Awakened Movement

2. Awakened Work & Play

3. Awakened Communication

4. Awakened Loving
a/ Share your toys
b/ Forgive
c/ Be present

5. Being in and with Nature

6. Healthy eating and living

7. Sense of humor



Longer Version:

1. Awakened Movement
a/ Slowing and noticing
b/ Variation and discovering
c/ Easing, enjoying, and healing
d/ Being present


2. Awakened Work & Play
a/ Know what's really important
b/ Listening
c/ Slowing down and noticing
d/ Being true to yourself



3. Awakened Communication
a/ Listening
b/ Silence
c/ Honesty
d/ Slowing down and noticing



4. Awakened Loving
a/ Sharing your toys
b/ Forgiving
c/ Listening
d/ The Work of Byron Katie



5. Being in and with Nature
a/ Outdoors every day
b/ Grow your own food
c/ Know gardens, trees, sky, waters
d/ Sensing our bodies as small nature



6. Healthy eating and living
a/ Real foods, organic, lots of raw
b/ Grow your own, and local, seasonal foods
c/ Sleep easily, happily
d/ Ongoing Learning



7. Sense of humor


Private, Group, Family , or
Corporate Seminars


Specialties:
Anti-aging and ease in body
Anti-aging and ease in mind
Anti-aging and ease in emotions

Loving your life, your losses, your talents,
your shortcomings, your possibilities:
and the miracles just start to flow

If you go slow
enough
to hear, smell, feel, know,
love, exult
them

Can robots be equal?

one of the weird and wonderful things
about being human
is that in a certain way
we have only
three choices:

high functioning robot

low functioning robot

awake


in our awake state
we are right here,
now

another person
is a wonder to us,
like a flower,
a redwood tree,
a sunset
perfect
just as they are

awake people
can love,
can see others as amazing
don't get into who is
better, gooder
all that
nonsense

asleep people,
the high and low
robot times in
our life:
we can't love,
we can want
demand,
crave
worry

worship others
look down
on them

can't be equal,
so well always live in stress:
who is better than me,
who is less

ah, the worn out feeling
of trying to live a lie

and then,
at any moment we can wake
up out of that
and
love
again

---

today at the Brain Plasticity Blog
a fun movement lesson for strengthening
our real core:
the lower back,
which holds up upright
and propels us as we walk and run,
and allows our hands and arms to be free
when we sit and want to type
or play the piano
or draw a beautiful picture of
a rose or a redwood tree

love is

love is

staying up late
to be with someone you
like
love
want to be with

tomorrow
you will be tired

tonight you
will be
with them

that's
all

when things go wrong

when things go wrong...


do the work:

who would we be
without the story?

usually excited
to figure out:
what is really going on?
how did this happen?
what would happen different if
we tried this,
or this,
or that?
how can i use this
to learn something
really amazing?

this is a nice place
to be

because then:
things go well,
sweet
thing don't go well,
great

time

is time real?

Not very,
and then
we can "manage" our time,
which doesn't exist,

and then again,
we have to be places
"on time,"
and "take time"
to get to the places, "on time."

and still:
if it is real,
there is
something realer

cool

I can't be tired, and happy at the same time: Is that True?

I can't be tired and happy at the same time.


That's a belief that's biting my ass today.

Let's run it through the Work: (see thework.com, if you wish)

Judge Reality
Write it Down
Ask four questions
Turn it around:


Judge Write:
I can't be tired and happy at the same time.

4 Q

1. Is it true
that
I can't be tired and happy at the same time?

I don't know.

2. Can I absolutely know
that
I can't be tired and happy at the same time?

No.

3. What is my reaction and how do I live
if I attach
attach
attach
to the belief/ story/ idea/ thought/ concept
that
I can't be tired and happy at the same time?

Tired and wiped
Tired and defeated
Tired and trapped: "can't do anything:
Tired and cheated: can't be happy
Tired and tired of life and myself
Annoyed at myself and others
And
so on

4. Who or what would I be
without the story
that
I can't be tired and happy at the same time?

Tired and curious: what's happening now
and
what's it like to observe, live, enjoy
this now
in a
"tired" way

Not trapped in a story

Back to living, i.e. experiencing

Turn around:
I can be tired and happy at the same time

Another possibility

Good.

Exulting the Changing Seasons

Exulting the Changing Seasons

today is cool in the morning
it was cold last night
warm to almost hot yesterday

ah, fall,
falling open into our lives

change
of leaves
of temperature
of our lives
if you are me,
and the sweetie
and I are going to travel apart

so sad.
no,
joking,
so sweet.

is fall sad,
or an awakening
into newness

each day is that:
sad because yesterday
is totally, irrevocably gone

or a sweet blast of now:
new to each moment
we are awake to the moment

good

What would It Take?

What Would it Take


to be
happy
all the time

and part of that happiness
was
wishing and contributing
to the happiness of others

and part of it
would be
staying happy
when we have failed
and others want to stay
unhappy


Interesting
if nothing else.

Moshe Feldenkrais, George Gurdjieff, rascals

sometimes
human beings
decide:

to hell with what
other people
want me to be
think I "should be"
demand I "should be"

they create their own
lives
set out ways of helping
others
toward freedom

and sometimes succeed

To various extents
both Moshe and George
did this:

Over at the Brain Plasticity, Wake Up Feldenkrais
blog,
I have a bit of my sweet weird wild adventure
in the Gurdjieff learning.

Maybe it will interest you.
Maybe not.

Hitler, Happy, Lower scale: friendly vs. dog training

this is two ways we
can relate:

happy to see
another and friendly
toward them and their life


dog training,
full of control remarks,
wanting to change, shift, fix,
or get others to do what we want


one makes life kind of
nice

one doesn't

Hitler Person, or Happy Person

Hitler Person, or Happy Person

It's our gosh darn
choice

Now, of course,
either to watch, see, be annoyed at
feel oppressed by the Hitler person in
others

Or
Look within:
where is the Hitler
person in me

ah, this is
indeed
Humbling,
and the
freeing
and then
a bit of bittersweet
hilarity

to find
it in ourselves


Judge your Hitlers
Write it down
Ask 4 questions
Turn it around

and so on

love,
and

I'm discovering
I'm a dynamite relationships
coach

'cause I'm coming from
clarity:

either love is unconditional
or it's
nonsense

ciao
chris

Love Is

bee on salvia, falltime business that makes sense of life

Love is

kind of hard:
have to die to old
habits
of wanting the "other guy"
to shape up


Love is

Kind of Easy:
just going quiet
and seeing what's out
there
without a story,
we can't help but love
whatever it is


Love is

kind of hard,
we love our stories so much
and if we "try" to get rid
of our stories,
and fail,
we can get mad at the idea of the effort
or the other person that we have the story
about:
if they would just love us more/ shape up,
then we could love

Love is

Kind of kind
Kin, as root of kind,
real kin,
we are one kind of kin,
not family squabble bullshit


Love is

kind of hard,
we are so busy,
and other people won't get
with the program
and who has time to
like, let alone love, others,
who don't realize how wonderful we
are


Love is

Kind of easy:
when we come to the moment
or let nature bring us to the moment
or moving with awareness bring us to the moment
or going quiet bring us to the moment

slowing down,
the problems rush away,
and we are just left
with nothing,

the nothing of Who We Are
(caps)
Love

What would Wake Up Yoga be Like?

Ah, la, life is so good.

Wake up Yoga would be about using the
silly/ wonderful/ interesting/ curious/ artificial/ brilliant/ idiotic
poses
postures
shapes

of yoga,

to wake up to:

1. Now

2. The miracle of being in a human body

3. The constancies of life on Earth:

Breathing

Gravity

4. The constancies and challenges of the Human Form:

Two legs

High center of gravity

Designed as a column with rotation the simplest action

Place of seeing/ hearing/ smelling high up

Place of balance and strength far down from this place

Power in the middle, small delicate muscles at the edges

5. The miracle of the Human Possibility:

Awareness ( the now again, and more: awareness of our habit, and
awareness of other variations)

Slowing Down to Learn

Learning as its own joy

Joy when we quiet the rest of the nonsense down

Learning quicker and more pleasant when we don't "try hard"

6. Making the impossible possible
The possible easy
The easy elegant


Something like that:

And more about going inside and finding who and how
you are
and
DISCOVERING POSSIBILITIES

rather than the tired old monkey see
highly skilled monkey do
and monkey try to imitate highly skilled monkey

Like this:

Lie on your back.
Feel the sweetness of the floor.
Raise one leg to standing, i.e. foot flat on floor, knee toward sky.
Press into the foot standing and rotate that hip
Keep the other hip on the floor
Push out your belly.
Come back to flat.
Go back and forth, and LEARN

Try breathing in on the hip rotation/ belly out
Try breathing out on the hip rotation/ belly out
Notice the two changes in your spine:rotation and arching
Notice even more: which vertebrae are doing what
Notice: is your neck free
Notice : is your jaw and breathing free
Notice: are your finger soft and free
Notice: which way would your spine like to side bend along the floor
Notice: the way your foot presses into the floor
Notice: the force of your foot against gravity and that moving through your whole spine
Notice: how much fun, delight and learning it is, to Notice

40 days: what a difference going inside makes

40 days ago, I started this idea of
108 days
of writing wonderful
gleanings of wisdom and usefulness
I've picked up over my 63 years.

Then Marlie decided, day 3,
we needed to come to an end as a couple.

Then we decided to do this with
love, learning, and sanity.

So the 108 days, became an amazing opportunity
to track and trace
the discoveries
and uncover-ies necessary to
make an undoing a beautiful, kind and loving
and learning experience.

40 days ago the 108 days started.
37 of them have involved putting fears, worries, angers,
blames, all that shit,
into the mill of the Work of Byron Katie.

With, to me,
sweet and amazing results.

Seems too good to be true
if you are deeply committed,
or brainwashed, to
believe that endings have to be awful.

And still, even though it almost seems impossible:
this is turning out to be one of the best things
ever to occur in my life.



So,
40 days, and the proof seems to be:
Change is possible.

And over at 108 Days: Unwinding with Love and Learning,
I talk about this 40 days in a slightly different way
and do
the Work
on the commonly held belief, by me, too often,
that: People Can't Change.

Check it out, if you want.

Mindful gardening, mindful moving, mindful living

Mindful gardening, mindful moving, mindful living

What's the secret
to all three?

Slow down.

Don't think
about "What's next?"

Don't judge:
good, bad.

Sense yourself now.

Perhaps the five lines:
two legs, two arms, spine.

Perhaps the breathing.

Perhaps:
what am I seeing, now.
What am I hearing now.

What is the feel and shape
of my movement, moving, being,
living,
now?

Good.

---

And The Work
continues over at 108 Days, Undoing with Love and Learning.

today's story:
I'm a big fat failure without a forever
relationship with Marlie>
Is that true?

Mindful gardening, mindful living

Mindful gardening, mindful living

This is what I want,
this is what I'll ask
for,
seek to create,
move toward in my life:

Mindful gardening,
Mindful living

And to live:
is to move:
mindful moving

to live
is to love:
mindful loving

to live
is to learn:
mindful learning

to live
is to pray:
mindful praying

Enough

Other People's "Concern"

sometimes,
in the doldrums,
we really like
other people's
"concern"

especially of the sort:
"How are you doing?"

And you answer.
And they listen.

And don't "help."
And don't tell you "it will get better."
And don't argue you out of how
you feel.

Often,
though:
other people's concern
is an excuse to dive deeper
into "Feeling Bad,"
and their agreement to listen
seems to warrant our feeling badly,
and we end up feeling worse,
after their concern.

Gurdjieff, with a penchant for rather
severe automobile accidents,
used to forbid people to visit him
in his sick room
(he wasn't fond of hospitals).

He discovered their "sympathy"
and "worry" and "concern"
made it harder for him to heal.


Think of it this way:
Enlightenment is Loving what is,
and when we are healing,
we can be loving that healing.

The temptation to fall back into self pity
is great,
and other people often push that way.

So:
Marlie and I,
can be cruising along just fine,
enjoying the undoing,
and then other people
think it's a big tragedy,
and I go back that mode:
ohmygod, I'm/ we're doing something
wrong.

Here I need, help, and it’s right here, with
The good old question:
Is it true?
that
"I'm/ we're doing something wrong?"

Don’t think so.
Others might disagree.
Their business, their sweet, their own, business.

good

Staying Here, Now

When I'm somewhere else
that will be my new
Here

At each moment
along the way:
I'll be
Here

Each moment
will be my
Now

It's tricky
and
simple

All at the same
time

Ah, time:
that old trickster:

the seasons change:
that's real

three o'clock
isn't real

"Next month"
is that real?

As an idea,
yes.
As an experience:
not yet.

Actually: never.

A big question:
What is real.

---

My son said
the blog entries
were too long.

Good.
I can listen


Ciao
Chris

Why am I leaving?

Why leaving?

To see
Arcata
Hawaii
Mexico
Austin
Missouri

Who knows what else?

Do discover who I
am
out of my rut.

Do be of use to people
around the
country,
world.

Do learn how to better
be of
use.

To see life
in various
other
shapes
forms
and modes.

To create something new.

To meet new people.

To advance my work.

To be of service.

To sharpen
my life
in the present.

To sweeten
my love of
What Is

For the sake
of Coming to a
New Place

Buddha Prayer

sent by a friend:

My Morning Meditation

May I be well.

May I be safe and protected.

May I find joy in simple pleasures.

May I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be free from fear and danger.

May I be able to protect my happiness.

May I be released from all suffering.

May I take care of myself happily.

May I be peaceful and at ease…just as I am.

May I be free from troubles of body and mind.

May I be happy…right now…just as I am…nothing different.

May I abide in freedom…
…freedom from anger and greed…both mine and that of others.
…freedom from hostility and ill will, both mine and that of others.
…freedom from anxiety and hurtfulness, both mine and that of others.

And may I not be parted from all the good fortune I have already attained.

Liking what "it" doesn't like

Gurdjieff has this very fine
idea
(actually quite a few,
but one good idea can
change
a life,
and this is one of those,
"can change a life"
ideas)

Here it is:
" Like what it doesn't like."

What's "it"?

Our conditioned,
robot,
habitual response,

usual instant but
not intuitively instant,
rather reactive and low level
and over and over and over
and over and over and over
again
instant

That's all.


Went to SonoMa Ashram today
for a long "Puja,"
special fall program:
long,
long,
lots of chanting we do,
lots of praying Babaji does
on and on

My "it" thought of
church boredom
when young,

my "it" body didn't want
to be trapped

my,
this is new, interesting,
what a big and amazing world
me
loved it,
and loved saying, "there, there,
little fellow,"
to my
"it."


...
Who is Gurdjieff?
Awakened rascal,
lived a while back:
2 books fun:
Boyhood with Gurdjieff, by Fritz Peters
and
Meetings with Remarkable Men, by G.I. Gurdjieff

---

Today at 108 days:Undoing with Love
...
I don't know yet.
Check in later.

Okay: here's a related one
to the
"troubles" as my sister thinks,
"endings are bad"

and the "opening"
as I realize,
when living clear and without the story:

My Mom Should be Nicer: Is that True?