spiritual practice | Bonnie Barnard - Part 3

Home » Posts Tagged "spiritual practice"

Sidewalk Oracle

My friend Quinn takes a morning walk and daily photographs what she sees on her walk. She got the idea from a book entitled Sidewalk Oracle, by Robert Moss. I ordered the book this morning and will post some wisdom from it in my next blog. In the meanwhile, I am going to make up what I believe his book will say. As everything you and I see comes from our inner self and interpretation, I believe Author Moss will tell me that what I place my attention upon during my walk will be uniquely mine. I may choose on my walk to pay attention to the health of the trees and if you were to take the same walk you might be fascinated by the songs of the birds. Each of our interpretations of what draws our attention will have meaning from our unconscious mind and will be made conscious to us through our fascination. I would use more spiritual language and say that on my morning walks;...

Healing a Culture of Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination

I have been riveted to the news about my brother-citizens who have sexually harassed or assaulted women for decades and are now being held responsible for their actions. And, I have witnessed my sisters who are brave and willing to claim their rightful place as equals and valuable contributor/creators in our culture. You and I are undergoing a cultural transformation. Albeit awkward and sometimes painful; extreme emotion exists as part of the process that happens in the middle — in the goo of the chrysalis. When I was in my early thirties I was sexually harassed by a boss in the workplace. My story is a very common one. I have yet to meet a woman who hasn’t been diminished in the workplace, on a date, in their family because of their gender. Isn’t the energy of diminishment interesting? In order to be diminished there needs to be a partner energy of dominance, superiority or entitlement. This polarization is part of the dynamic of psuedo-power. And, isn’t that what is being healed here at the core? So...

How to Have the Holiday of Your Dreams

I have a confession to make. I LOVE the holidays. I mean LOVE the holidays. So much so that I celebrated the New Year with my Jewish friends in September; I hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner last week; I listened to my first Christmas music in August and I put up my bubble gum pink Christmas tree with Starbuck cup ornaments in the center of my living room picture window in mid-October. I just couldn’t and can’t wait for the season to begin. As a culture, we are given permission to celebrate and be corny during the holidays. We are subject to lights, decorations, mushy music of love, redemption, a fat man in a red suit, and opportunities to give and receive. This year, more than any year, my Soul has yearned for the holidays to arrive and to be blatantly, openly, grateful for the life I have and the people I love (Thanksgiving). I crave the celebration of birth, newness, miracles and light in the midst of what appears...

A Playful Way out of a Rut

Every morning after I journal and before I meditate I read a sacred text. This morning I pulled from my bookcase a text that is sacred in its own way. It is a thin book written in 1960 by the writer Henry Miller entitled To Paint is to Love Again. “To paint is to love again. It’s only when we look with eyes of love that we see as the painter sees. He is in a love, moreover, which is free of possessiveness. What the painter sees he is duty bound to share. Usually he makes us see and feel what ordinarily we ignore or are immune to. It’s manner of approaching what the world tells us, in effect that nothing is vile or hideous, nothing is stale, flat and unpalatable unless it be our own power of vision. To see is not merely to look. One must look-see. See into and around.” Miller wrote as his profession and when he got stuck, he’d paint. Painting, though, wasn’t just...

Spiritual Dogged Persistence “No Matter What”

This past week I watched two individuals completely devoted to making money “no matter what.” First I met with an acquaintance, Julie, who shared with me her marketing plan and funnel that she has actively worked since the beginning of the year. She spoke of people as “potential sales” and profit margins and monetized everything within our conversation. Her filter through which she saw the world was one of making money. Her schedule, commitments, conversations, and way she walked in the world reeked of exchange. She presented herself as a saleswoman, had the vocabulary of a saleswoman, and did the behaviors of a saleswoman. Within hours of meeting with Julie a friend and I attended a timeshare presentation for a new building in town. We were assigned a young presenter named Brandon who welcomed us, offered us food, and then informed us that in order for him to make his money he had to keep us in the room for 90 minutes after we finished our breakfast. The moment our...