It was on a little walk through my neighborhood the other day that I happened to see David standing contemplatively in his backyard. I stopped to say 'Hi' and inquired as to what he was up to and his reply sparked my mind churning over the implications of his simple response.
David's reply to my question was this; "I'm contemplating my compost heap.."
To which, I replied; " Well isn't that a wonderful metaphor for life.."
Now before I go too much further with this train of thought I'd like to take a moment to cover what a compost heap is for those of you, like myself, that aren't the gardening type. Wikipedia describes compost as: Compost (
/ˈkɒmpɒst/ or /ˈkɒmpoʊst/) is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. Now that we have that out of the way, I'll continue.
The epiphany that hit me upon hearing David's response to my query was how it related to people and their habit of holding onto so much old trash that would be better left to rot and used as fertilizer for the future rather than as, pardon my use of the vernacular, a train of shit dragged behind weighing down and slowing forward progress.
What are we as individuals hanging onto from our past that is weighing us down and keeping us from moving smoothly into the future? What should we let go of and free ourselves from? Is it a memory? A habit? A belief? A person? A place?
Is it an ideal or desire for the future that we are hanging onto so tightly we are completely retarding, or in some cases stopping all together, forward movement because things aren't 'happening' as we believe they should.
Let me give you my ideal of how we should treat our personal experiences in life and I think you'll have a better idea for where I'm going with this diatribe.
I believe that life is made up of this moment, the now that we live in that is connected together by each new moment, creating an experience of continuity. We have memory and desire so we have created the "Past" and the "Future", which are just creations meant to give us smooth linear movement from now to now to now and so on. And, if we lived our lives without this convenient little invention of continuity we won't have the baggage from out past to carry or the worry about our futures to slow us down.
Simply stated; we remember what has happened and us those experiences to create an identity from. We actually believe that what has happened in our past makes us who we are and in far, far, far too many cases we get stuck in those past experiences or memories and never really move forward out of them.
Yes I do agree, to an extent, that our memories make us who we are today. But, and this is a big But, all too many of us recreate our past in our present and believe that that is who we are. Instead of having our experiences, learning from them and using them as fertilizer to grow our future from. We drag around decaying garbage that was only meant to have a life of from a few seconds to a few minutes and like Dr. Frankenstein we keep resurrecting the dead to live again in our present. Which is akin to craziest of crazy, never mind the awful stench from all that dead matter being reused.
Here is the point of all this: You must live in the moment and then be willing to allow each moment to pass by without attaching to any particular moment no matter how wonderful or awful it is. Be grateful for each new moment and what it brings because each new moment is a gift. That is why it is called, 'The Present'. When you can cultivate this skill, or more correctly re-cultivate this skill from childhood, you will move effortlessly from moment to moment with no attachments. Attachments, judgments and expectations all create suffering. If you desire to rid yourself of suffering then make efforts to release these three things and all that goes with them.
Now, I know, what I am proposing falls under the category of 'easier said than done'. But, that is only as a result of our past training and can be remedied by retraining ourselves to stay present in the moment and accept what is in each moment for the gift that it is. There is no such thing as bad or good. There is only an opinion created by what we are attached to from our past that becomes a filter of perspective that everything we experience must go through. This colors each new experience into our version of it instead of what it really is.
Ever notice how differently people seem to think about events they experience? If ten people were present for an event and you asked each one about the event you would get ten different stories. If you waited awhile and asked those ten people again you would get different versions of the first ten stories you received. This is because nothing that happens actually means anything at all and if we had no attachments, judgments or expectations we would not have a perspective to color our reality.
However, as human beings we have attachments, judgments and expectations sown into our DNA. Ingrained into our very psyche in a system of measurement that we use to create our world of experience into one of our specific creation. Nothing means anything until we give it meaning. The meanings we give all depend on our previous conditioning, current mood and desires for the future.
So, how is it that I propose we fight against our very nature as humans and move forward fertilizing our present garden for our future harvest with our past compost. Well, to take a page from the good old twelve step programs; Acceptance is the first step.
Accept the fact that you are a human being trained with all these traits and that fighting against anything only creates more of what you are fighting against. Acceptance is the only path to freedom. And, to go a step further; Acceptance and integration is the path to mastery of the human condition and the door to enlightenment.
Each moment we experience has within it all that we have created from our past and everything we need to create the future we want. Yet, we have been taught to believe in our powerlessness and victim-hood. We have been trained from birth to forego critical thinking and brow beaten into acceptance of a "Higher Authority". This treatment has left us unaware of our potential and with a feeling of being tossed around by a stormy sea with no rudder to steer by. This of course is as much a lie as all that fodder fed to us by the so called "Higher Authority" of Government, Religion and Money.
By realizing the lies of our past, the truth of our present and potential of our future we can change everything in a single moment and choose consciously to from that moment forward what we wish to create. Our power is in the present moment to choose what we wish to send out into the universe as a signal for what we want to receive.
For those of you who have been living under a rock the past 2000 years, let me know enlighten you about the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction is one of three laws of the universe, which states: That which is like unto itself is drawn. Or, for the Layperson, That which you put out you get back. Whatever vibration, or signal, you put out draws back to you it's match. Which is why, if we always do what we've always done, we will always get what we always gotten. Another way to put it is this; we are transmitters drawing to us what we transmit out.
So, if we are broadcasting out into the universe negativity we get back negativity. If we broadcast out into the universe positivity we get back positivity. What you put out you get back. Period! The End!
Therefore, if we have been trained that we are powerless victims of the outer world that can do nothing to change it, that is the signal we put out and that is the experience that we draw to us. As you learn this fact, change your mindset, reprogram your brain and move forward into the future you will experience the truth of what I've written here. And, as you begin to consciously utilize the law of attraction in your life you will become aware of what you have been dragging with you from your past and recreating over and over again in your present.
That is why you've dated the same person in five different bodies. That is why you have had so many similar experiences in your life that you have created a belief system to support those experiences. Then one day you will realize that it was actually the other way around; you created your belief system which broadcast out that signal and brought you validation of your beliefs in every imaginable way. This is because your beliefs are a vibration that you broadcast out and that draws matching vibrations back to you. Believing is seeing!!
The awareness of these truths is what caused me to have such an epiphany when my friend made such an innocuous comment as, "Contemplating my compost heap..".
I spent a lot of time "Contemplating my compost heap" as it were and coming to the realization that who I believe I am or was is merely a reflection of things or opinions I am hanging onto and calling them Jason. I am, you are, we are, everyone is new in this moment. We are all things and no-thing. There are some characteristics that we have chosen for a time to create the illusion of separation such as this body in which we now reside. Therefore, I can free myself to become the person that is most appropriate for me to be in each passing moment. I no longer need to be the shy wall flower when this moment calls for me to be the fearless dancer or singer. I no longer need to doubt my ability due to a lack of experience or a fear of the unknown. I can fearlessly move forward with a passion for life and learning that will create the most amazing new experiences. This is all made possible by my willingness to compost all the old useless information from my past and use it to fertilize my present and future.
By releasing the old in favor of the now you have effectively freed yourself from the prison of the persona you once thought was the "Reality" of you. You can be, do or have whatever you wish to create in your life. However, the only way to accomplish this is to release what was in favor for what you desire.
If you want things in your life to change, you must change things in your life...
Clean out your closets, cupboards, drawers, shelves, bags, bogs, marshes, forests, deserts, graveyards and anyplace else you've stored your past. Throw it in the compost heap and turn it over occasionally to create the fertile ground for your conscious creation of your now.
When you contemplate your compost heap what will you find...?
David's reply to my question was this; "I'm contemplating my compost heap.."
To which, I replied; " Well isn't that a wonderful metaphor for life.."
Now before I go too much further with this train of thought I'd like to take a moment to cover what a compost heap is for those of you, like myself, that aren't the gardening type. Wikipedia describes compost as: Compost (
/ˈkɒmpɒst/ or /ˈkɒmpoʊst/) is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. Now that we have that out of the way, I'll continue.The epiphany that hit me upon hearing David's response to my query was how it related to people and their habit of holding onto so much old trash that would be better left to rot and used as fertilizer for the future rather than as, pardon my use of the vernacular, a train of shit dragged behind weighing down and slowing forward progress.
What are we as individuals hanging onto from our past that is weighing us down and keeping us from moving smoothly into the future? What should we let go of and free ourselves from? Is it a memory? A habit? A belief? A person? A place?
Is it an ideal or desire for the future that we are hanging onto so tightly we are completely retarding, or in some cases stopping all together, forward movement because things aren't 'happening' as we believe they should.
Let me give you my ideal of how we should treat our personal experiences in life and I think you'll have a better idea for where I'm going with this diatribe.
I believe that life is made up of this moment, the now that we live in that is connected together by each new moment, creating an experience of continuity. We have memory and desire so we have created the "Past" and the "Future", which are just creations meant to give us smooth linear movement from now to now to now and so on. And, if we lived our lives without this convenient little invention of continuity we won't have the baggage from out past to carry or the worry about our futures to slow us down.
Simply stated; we remember what has happened and us those experiences to create an identity from. We actually believe that what has happened in our past makes us who we are and in far, far, far too many cases we get stuck in those past experiences or memories and never really move forward out of them.
Yes I do agree, to an extent, that our memories make us who we are today. But, and this is a big But, all too many of us recreate our past in our present and believe that that is who we are. Instead of having our experiences, learning from them and using them as fertilizer to grow our future from. We drag around decaying garbage that was only meant to have a life of from a few seconds to a few minutes and like Dr. Frankenstein we keep resurrecting the dead to live again in our present. Which is akin to craziest of crazy, never mind the awful stench from all that dead matter being reused.
Here is the point of all this: You must live in the moment and then be willing to allow each moment to pass by without attaching to any particular moment no matter how wonderful or awful it is. Be grateful for each new moment and what it brings because each new moment is a gift. That is why it is called, 'The Present'. When you can cultivate this skill, or more correctly re-cultivate this skill from childhood, you will move effortlessly from moment to moment with no attachments. Attachments, judgments and expectations all create suffering. If you desire to rid yourself of suffering then make efforts to release these three things and all that goes with them.
Now, I know, what I am proposing falls under the category of 'easier said than done'. But, that is only as a result of our past training and can be remedied by retraining ourselves to stay present in the moment and accept what is in each moment for the gift that it is. There is no such thing as bad or good. There is only an opinion created by what we are attached to from our past that becomes a filter of perspective that everything we experience must go through. This colors each new experience into our version of it instead of what it really is.
Ever notice how differently people seem to think about events they experience? If ten people were present for an event and you asked each one about the event you would get ten different stories. If you waited awhile and asked those ten people again you would get different versions of the first ten stories you received. This is because nothing that happens actually means anything at all and if we had no attachments, judgments or expectations we would not have a perspective to color our reality.
However, as human beings we have attachments, judgments and expectations sown into our DNA. Ingrained into our very psyche in a system of measurement that we use to create our world of experience into one of our specific creation. Nothing means anything until we give it meaning. The meanings we give all depend on our previous conditioning, current mood and desires for the future.
So, how is it that I propose we fight against our very nature as humans and move forward fertilizing our present garden for our future harvest with our past compost. Well, to take a page from the good old twelve step programs; Acceptance is the first step.
Accept the fact that you are a human being trained with all these traits and that fighting against anything only creates more of what you are fighting against. Acceptance is the only path to freedom. And, to go a step further; Acceptance and integration is the path to mastery of the human condition and the door to enlightenment.
Each moment we experience has within it all that we have created from our past and everything we need to create the future we want. Yet, we have been taught to believe in our powerlessness and victim-hood. We have been trained from birth to forego critical thinking and brow beaten into acceptance of a "Higher Authority". This treatment has left us unaware of our potential and with a feeling of being tossed around by a stormy sea with no rudder to steer by. This of course is as much a lie as all that fodder fed to us by the so called "Higher Authority" of Government, Religion and Money.
By realizing the lies of our past, the truth of our present and potential of our future we can change everything in a single moment and choose consciously to from that moment forward what we wish to create. Our power is in the present moment to choose what we wish to send out into the universe as a signal for what we want to receive.
For those of you who have been living under a rock the past 2000 years, let me know enlighten you about the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction is one of three laws of the universe, which states: That which is like unto itself is drawn. Or, for the Layperson, That which you put out you get back. Whatever vibration, or signal, you put out draws back to you it's match. Which is why, if we always do what we've always done, we will always get what we always gotten. Another way to put it is this; we are transmitters drawing to us what we transmit out.
So, if we are broadcasting out into the universe negativity we get back negativity. If we broadcast out into the universe positivity we get back positivity. What you put out you get back. Period! The End!
Therefore, if we have been trained that we are powerless victims of the outer world that can do nothing to change it, that is the signal we put out and that is the experience that we draw to us. As you learn this fact, change your mindset, reprogram your brain and move forward into the future you will experience the truth of what I've written here. And, as you begin to consciously utilize the law of attraction in your life you will become aware of what you have been dragging with you from your past and recreating over and over again in your present.
That is why you've dated the same person in five different bodies. That is why you have had so many similar experiences in your life that you have created a belief system to support those experiences. Then one day you will realize that it was actually the other way around; you created your belief system which broadcast out that signal and brought you validation of your beliefs in every imaginable way. This is because your beliefs are a vibration that you broadcast out and that draws matching vibrations back to you. Believing is seeing!!
The awareness of these truths is what caused me to have such an epiphany when my friend made such an innocuous comment as, "Contemplating my compost heap..".
I spent a lot of time "Contemplating my compost heap" as it were and coming to the realization that who I believe I am or was is merely a reflection of things or opinions I am hanging onto and calling them Jason. I am, you are, we are, everyone is new in this moment. We are all things and no-thing. There are some characteristics that we have chosen for a time to create the illusion of separation such as this body in which we now reside. Therefore, I can free myself to become the person that is most appropriate for me to be in each passing moment. I no longer need to be the shy wall flower when this moment calls for me to be the fearless dancer or singer. I no longer need to doubt my ability due to a lack of experience or a fear of the unknown. I can fearlessly move forward with a passion for life and learning that will create the most amazing new experiences. This is all made possible by my willingness to compost all the old useless information from my past and use it to fertilize my present and future.
By releasing the old in favor of the now you have effectively freed yourself from the prison of the persona you once thought was the "Reality" of you. You can be, do or have whatever you wish to create in your life. However, the only way to accomplish this is to release what was in favor for what you desire.
If you want things in your life to change, you must change things in your life...
Clean out your closets, cupboards, drawers, shelves, bags, bogs, marshes, forests, deserts, graveyards and anyplace else you've stored your past. Throw it in the compost heap and turn it over occasionally to create the fertile ground for your conscious creation of your now.
When you contemplate your compost heap what will you find...?
