BEING BEST

How often have we heard these words, directly spoken or indirectly heard in movies, read in books, sung in songs? We are urged to compete, with others, with ourselves, with nature, but to be the best in any of many senses, from an Olympic athlete to a loyal friend. All worthy goals.

We may have been told to get the best grades, swim the fastest race, be the nicest person, to be better than someone, or everyone, or just to better ourselves. Excellence is defined in many ways, but we all want to excel, it is natural and part of us as human beings.

Recently a question floated through. How often do we think of being best as something out there? as opposed to in here? or to put it another way: Do we look around and select something that is already defined and work to be best at it? or do we take the time to go inside and ask what are we best suited for in life? Where will we naturally excel? What gifts to we bring to the world?


This may seem like a slight distinction, and like many things in life we may be working with both sides of this question at the same time; but are we living our life to be the best version of us? or are we living it to achieve the positive regard of others? Take a moment to settle into the question, the answer is for you, not for me. There is no wrong answer, just information and choices.

Do we ask what does the world expect us to be, or want us to be? or do we ask who am I? It is usually easier to answer the former question, but surely it is ultimately more satisfying to take the time to pursue the latter.

No one can be better at being you than you are. When you find your heart and it's bliss they will lead you to what you can uniquely offer to the world. You, at least, will be satisfied, but I expect "the world" will notice as well.

© 7/08

LET NATURE FEED YOUR SOUL

I recently spent several wonderful days in the mountains of northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Leaving schedules and cell phone behind, I moved into a space more of being than of doing.

I found myself wanting to simply sit on a high rock overlooking a green valley, or by the stream rushing through the valley. Feeling into the earth, the water, the sky at night full of stars. Letting nature's rhythms flow through me, opening to them intentionally. Staring at the flames of the fire, or feeling the energy and grace of the horses in the pasture, relaxing into a beingness that is full of life and movement.

Nature blends its doing and being. She is coherent and flowing in a way that I don't often feel in my daily human life.

I let my mind go, floating away like the clouds, releasing the things that need to be done, that I shouldn't forget, that hover like mosquitos that refuse to let me relax. I find a new mind, soaring like a redtail, riding the flows of wind and water, opening awareness to the trees, plants, and animals. There goes a yellow swallowtail, or three, playfully dancing through the sunlight.

I feel this mind in my being, feeding it with the breath of awareness. Coming back to my essential self, the soul that remembers it is connected, and that in that connection it knows without having to figure and think. It drinks in the experience of the natural world, flowing and expanding with joy and gratitude.

Today I am back in Boulder, but I am not quite the same. I have brought home with me some of the web of life from the mountains, and permission to breath into it and remember. My mind is not so busy yet, my beingness is still palpable, the natural rhythm is here also, underneath in the still and quite, even in the city. I can carry it with me, nourishing it through out the day, through giving it space, or taking a walk outdoors.

Find a tree blowing in the wind, or a flowing stream, animals in pasture, birds or butterflies, or the clouds up high. Allow your being to feel the natural rhythms that it remembers when you let it. Know that your soul is being fed just being with them and intending the resonance. Nothing more required.

Rejoice in your own natural being.

© 6/08