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Co-Weaving New Life

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Fotolia_53935659_Subscription_Monthly_MIt was one of those moments: the kind of moment when you are fully present and witnessing an experience, knowing that something really big is happening.  At our cabin on Johnson Lake, we have a steep grass slope that leads to the water. I was mindfully taking conscious and careful baby steps down the hill as I had hundreds of times before. One quick slip and I heard the dreadful, spine-chilling “CRACK!” and went down. I didn’t cry or laugh as I normally would with a sprained ankle or clumsy fall. I went into a hyper-alert, adrenalin-induced, emergency-medical-response mode.

Everyone else in the boat and on the patio heard the gruesome break as well. They came running. “Get some ice and ibuprofen,” I directed when my family asked what I needed and what they could do to help. “And, get those cedar planks above the washer that we grill fish on. We can use them for a splint.” The ice and ibuprofen came quickly. My cedar planks were vetoed for soft, rolled-up towels and Press and Seal plastic wrap.

The Emergency Room doctor was impressed with my family’s creative ingenuity.

After cutting off the wrap and examining my leg and ankle, he said he thought I broke my ankle. I said, “Maybe, but I know my shin bone is broken.” He touched my leg again and said, “No, I think it’s your ankle.” The ex-rays came back and we were both right. I had a spiral fracture on my left tibia and a break on both sides of my ankle.

When a fracture of the bone occurs, the body leaps into action to begin the healing process. There are three important stages in healing a fractured bone. First is the inflammatory phase, second the reparative phase, and third the remodeling phase. I think the second is particularly interesting. The reparative phase begins about two weeks after the fracture occurs. In this stage, proteins begin to consolidate into what is known as a soft callus. This soft, new bone substance eventually hardens into a hard callus as the bone “weaves together” over a six to twelve week period. The genius within the body repairs itself. I often sat with my leg elevated in a heavy, full-leg cast imagining and visualizing the bones weaving together.

I am in awe of how the Designing Intelligence of Creation continues to do its thing – assisting my body to weave new bone. How magnificent. The body has such an extraordinary and complex design. My body knows exactly what to do. I simply have to sit back, rest and allow it to do its thing.

Now, twelve weeks later, I wait for the day when I am able to take my first NEW steps forward on my leg, I am grateful for life’s genius. The lessons from this experience have been invaluable. Life gave me “a break.” It’s been a time of pause, reflection, healing, and surrender – “a weaving of the new” in so many ways. I have learned to literally partner with and trust the Designing Intelligence more completely. In doing so, I have been immersed in the creative flow of the Universe.

The same Intelligence that heals my bones also has my back and desires to co-create more fully with me. The same Intelligence that weaves new bone also holds the material of Creation together – my experiences, relationships, nature, humanity, earth and the cosmos. I am not separate from this Divine Intelligence. The Intelligence is in me and I am in it. I am not separate from the weaving. I am part of it. I am a co-weaver neatly interlaced within Creation.

As I move forward, each new step is entwined with the consciousness of this interconnected reality. The new me listens even deeper for guidance and direction as I practice attuning to the Intelligence. As I surrender to the co-creative process, I midwife and steward new projects, knowing they come through me, but not of me. I align with the highest good of Creation and trust that the expression of my individual threads is unique and an integral part of the fabric of life. The new me shares my gifts in synergistic play with others to bring forth this new, unitive consciousness and a new world. The more I honor the wisdom and power of the Designing Intelligence, the more resources and opportunities come to me – naturally… organically.

Now, I’m on the precipice of another one of those moments, knowing that something really big is about to happen.   I am preparing to leap forward, trusting the Designing Intelligence and saying, “Yes!” to what presents. The world looks very different now. It is alive and supportive and interactive. I have an intimate relationship – a sacred union – with the Designing Intelligence that has healed my bones. With gratitude, I will put my best foot forward and delight as Creation continues to create through me. There will be no more careful baby steps. For it is time to leap into full co-creation. With the assistance of my incredible intelligence partner, I am co-weaving new life.

I Am Enough And I Am Whole

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Fotolia_56696110_Subscription_Monthly_MWhen I think of the fall, I think of harvest – reaping the yield of produce that was tended to all summer in crops and gardens. It’s a time of ripened abundance when we literally enjoy the fruits of our labor – a time when we experience growth, productivity, and completion. Bushel baskets overflow as vibrant colors begin to fade and turn. Days grow shorter, and sunlight wanes minute-by-minute. Sadly, the landscape transitions to brown and barren in its pallid journey toward colder temperatures. The sense of closure begins to overwhelm many. Our productive and vibrant season appears to die and come to an end. Sometimes it feels more like loss when the lifeless signs of a winter pause replace the active flurry to gather-in.

In a contemplative space of harvest, I consider my personal growing seasons – times of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and rest. Why is it that when I’m not producing, I feel incomplete? Why is it that more satisfaction comes from the plethora of active growth and vibrant energy? Why do I discount the time of rest and judge myself so harshly?

Winter is the slowest growing season in an apple orchard, but it’s also one of the most important. Cold winters are very important for apple trees. The trees need rest to produce flowers and fruit each year. It takes about 900 to 1,000 hours below 45 degrees to prepare the trees for the next season. While the trees are resting, they are pruned. Extra wood is cut out so plenty of light can reach the leaves and fruit. This helps keep the tree healthy and prepare it for an abundant harvest of nutritious, tasty apples with good color.

Maybe I am like an apple tree, complete and whole in all of my forms and all of my creative seasons. There is purpose and intention to the cycles of my life. Sometimes I’m quiet and germinating. At other times, I’m in full production. When I embrace the intention of rest and go within, I can grow into my highest potential. Actually, I can become so much more than I can even imagine.

In the spring, when temperatures begin to warm, buds appear on the branches of an apple tree and leaves begin to emerge. Beautiful, fragrant apple blossoms bloom into their full grandeur, and the tree is a spectacular sight. The sweet spring version of an apple tree is whole and complete in and of itself. Festivals bring people together to celebrate the trees in full bloom. Florists use apple blossoms in creative designs and the branches have inspired many artists. Apple blossoms are a Chinese symbol for beauty and immortality. The apple blossom encourages action, motion, courage, and passion. If I were an apple blossom, I would arguably be complete and whole and enough.

The beautiful, fragrant blossoms are only one function and stage of the apple tree. When pollinated by insects, the next miracle of life begins and an apple grows in place of the fading blossom.  As the blossoms die and fall away, the tree is filled with apples and the growing season starts over. Plush green leaves warm the landscape as apples grow and turn a variety of hues. Soon the leaves turn into magnificent fall colors and the apples ripen. Once again, it’s time for harvest. Apples can be used to eat, cook with, make beverages, and so much more. The apple, as a fruit, is complete and whole and the fruit produces seeds, which are complete and whole.

With all of this abundant life, we mustn’t dismiss the simple elegance and genius of Nature’s plan. Winter is necessary. Rest is essential. Pause is imperative. And, the bare winter tree is complete and whole in itself.

William Arthur Ward said, “Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.” It is time we see ourselves with this same faith and magnificent potential.  This year, as I fall forward into the quiet space of rest, renewal, and regeneration, I will honor this season with gratitude and reverence. When I’m not “producing,” I will experience myself in all of my wholeness. I will cherish the time of rest and remember my precious birthright to blossom, grow, and flourish. I will not only harvest and celebrate the fruits of my labor, but also mindfully gather the seeds of potentiality and hold sacred my ability to plant them.

Life is perfect. The cycles and seasons are purposeful. As an expression of this Divine Creation, I will allow my true essence to emerge in all of its glorious and splendid forms. I am enough and I am whole.

The Art of Living A Co-Creative Life

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Fotolia_45148506_Subscription_XXLHave you heard the new buzzword “co-create?”   You may have heard people mindlessly using it interchangeably with collaborate or cooperate.  In business, it is used as a shared marketing strategy.  However, the term has a more powerful, generative meaning that can change your life.  The art of co-creation is a transformative, integrative, and spiritual way of being in the world.  Imagine being in the flow with Divine Intelligence and moving through life with ease and joy.  It’s possible.  You are part of a greater whole and fully supported by the Universe.  It is time to wake up, live consciously, and fully express the magnificent, divine blueprint that resides deep within each one of us.

So what is a co-creator and how do you live a co-creative life?  Barbara Marx Hubbard defines a co-creator as “one who is experiencing the creative intention of the universe incarnating as their own intention, expressing that intention as an essential self in creative work, and joining with others doing the same; one who co-creates with spirit, with others, and with nature.”  In the Co-Creator’s Handbook, Carolyn Anderson and Katharine Roske say a co-creator is “one who surrenders and aligns his will with the intention of Creation, the universal mind, the designing intelligence, Spirit; one who shares his gifts and actualizes his dreams in synergistic play with other co-creators to bring forth a new world.”

To understand the art of living a co-creative life in the simplest form, let’s break it down into three simple steps:  align, connect, and embody.

1.  ALIGN WITH SOURCE AND YOUR SOUL’S PURPOSE

When we are practicing mindfulness and conscious choice, it is easy to be present to this powerful alignment – with every thought, word and deed – and, in every moment.  The first step is to awaken from the illusion of separation.  We are not separate from our Source (God, Creator, Universal Mind, Divine Intelligence, or whatever term you may use for higher power) and we are not separate from each other, or our beautiful planet.  We are one living organism – a whole system – and as we remember this truth, we yearn to align with the bigger picture.  The divine intelligence that pulses through creation, pulses through us.  Seeing ourselves as an integral part of creation, we find our place, our guidance, and our purpose.  Align with your co-creative partner (Source), and renew a commitment to your soul’s purpose.  You will experience a deeper, more meaningful, sacred life. 

2.  CONNECT WITH HEART AND HUMANITY

Once you align with Source and your soul’s purpose, it is easy to find resonance with others on their divine right paths.  Begin by learning how to create heart resonance and connection with yourself, first.  Close your eyes and breathe into your heart space.  Connect with the expansive essence that comes from the powerful electromagnetic field of your heart.  Make this a daily practice.  It’s easy.  Stop several times a day, take a few deep breaths, and reconnect with your heart.   When you experience the magnitude of heart resonance, begin consciously connecting with others in that resonant field.  Connect heart-to-heart in all your relationships, communications, and gatherings.  Use the connection to discover shared purpose and shared vision.  When we are in alignment with Source and our soul’s purpose, and connected with other like-hearted individuals, we begin the powerful journey of co-creating a new world reality.

3.  EMBODY CO-CREATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS

The third step in living a co-creative life is the embodiment of these principles.  It’s one thing to “think about” alignment and connection.  It’s another to embody and integrate the consciousness into a transformative way of being.  Embodiment is a sacred opportunity to fuse your higher and lower self, body and soul, psyche and soma.  Embodying co-creative consciousness creates an integrated inner space with the external world and moves us one step closer to Heaven on Earth.  Begin with the practice of generosity.  Actively give your aligned and connected self in service of the greater good.  Give back to the Whole – it creates more wholeness.   YOU, your gifts, and your soul’s purpose, matter.  You are part of the divine plan, so embody this new consciousness and put it into action – in thought, word, and deed.

The art of living a co-creative life is simple when we remember these three simple steps – align, connect and embody.  As Anderson and Roske prescribe, let’s share our gifts and actualize our dreams in synergistic play with one another.  In doing so, we will bring forth a new co-creative world.

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