Howard McQueen's Blog (436)

 Howard McQueen

It seems a very difficult thing,

this just noticing the mind

so possessively intertwined  

with our fearful, dark,

often hostile memories.

It may very well be,

that if you patiently wait and see,

what you will really encounter,

is no more than your covered over,

scared little boy or girl,

who, at the…

“Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

Living we try – dying we must”.

Digging the soil with trowel in hand

Humbles and beckons me,

As only death can.

I am honored to perform this basic task.

I do not need distractive thoughts,

anxiety, philosophy or dread.

It is a simple and pure action to undertake.

I am grateful – saddened and awed by this friend’s passing.

His gentle kindness has filled my…

Redistributable Under Creative Commons License (CCBY)

Notice: all former postings stored on Asheville Sangha that carry the (C) traditional Copyright notice are now converted to the CCBY license.

Originally posted / Version 1.0  October 21, 2012; Fernandina Beach, FL

Howard McQueen

All to often

I feel that

life

is

overwhelming me,

that my…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Come to a full stop.

Bring your awareness and attention to your inner states of balance and harmony.

And, be honest with yourself.

What disturbances and conflicts are exacerbating your inner balance and harmony?

Once you identify these invasive thoughts and uncover their beliefs,

 recognize that they are your guests.

Perhaps they have extended their stay?

It’s a huge house you…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Everything made of love

 and everything made of fear

 is alive,

 incubated and harbored in the human mind.

Ours is a journey of discernment,

 of recognizing where love has gone astray

 and escaped in the forms of anger,

 distrust, sadness, depression  …

Ours is both an inward journey,

 As well as an outward journey.

We may try to cloister ourselves from the external…

© 2012 Howard McQueen 

All the inner voices,

calling out for attention;

some of them advocating for discord.

And yet,

quietly,

patiently,

there is also a soft voice calling forth from a simple wholeness.

It is not the loudest.

It lacks the drama carried by the other voices.

And, yes, even when you clearly hear it,

you still sometimes clam up into a forced silence,

denying yourself your own…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

We are each on a journey,

 a journey into opportunities to uncover our courage,

 to encourage ourselves and others

 to look beyond and feel beyond the lenses of what we fear.

A journey to notice that when we contract in fear,

 we close like a beautiful flower

 and we deny ourselves of receiving life sustaining love

 and of giving life sustaining love.

A journey to notice that our…

Writing from Dunedin, Florida, while in the midst of packing

VISITATIONS

© 2012 Howard McQueen

I allowed myself to become attached to this house we made an offer on.

   The deal fell through because our house in Chattanooga did not sell.

   Sadness and disappointment came for a visit.

 A week later our Chattanooga house sold

   and we put an offer in on a small, modest house in Fernandina Beach

   and the seller…

This posting from Don Miguel Ruiz's entire archive of daily inspirational emails.

"There is no other medicine but unconditional love.  

Not:  I love…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

To be heard, calls for someone else to listen.

To be felt, calls for someone else to be open to feeling.

To be understood, calls for someone else to invoke a response that conveys caring, compassion and, we might include - wisdom.

These qualities of communication are conveyed verbally, through body language and, surprisingly, through the inclusion of silence.

When my partner communicates to me something of…

 (C) 2012 Howard McQueen

Are you willing to let in all the light

 and all the darkness,

 without forming judgment.

Are you willing to be present with all our separation

 and all our inter-connection,

 without forming judgment.

Then welcome, friend, to the field of enlightenment.

(C) 2012 Howard McQueen

I don't know about you,

but my own attempts at letting go

often leave claw marks

in what I finally release.

I have this tendency to hold on so

to that which repeatedly signals me

that it is well past my time to let go.

I find myself to be the author of this inner struggle,

this inner conflict

not wanting to recognize the ever-present

shift in all things…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

We come face-to-face with suffering,

in order to earn the choice to relinquish our control.

What we encounter is life’s ongoing invitation

for us to release control

and trust in it’s flow.

Do we choose to let life open us to the gifts of growth,

possibilities we can only begin to fathom?

Or, do we postpone, till

our expectations for some very specific outcome

are not met,

and…

Inspired by a breakfast meeting with Dan Emmons at Margeurite's Cafe; Dunedin, Florida

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Not escape from,

or eradicate,

or divorce ourselves from.

To co-exist with

the fear,

the urge to control,

the need to confine through defining;

to encourage the subtle to emerge

and achieve expression - to be birthed into this world.

To co-operate with

rather than resist

the…

Inspired by a breakfast meeting with Dan Emmons at Margeurite's Cafe; Dunedin, Florida

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Not escape from,

or eradicate,

or divorce ourselves from.

To co-exist with

the fear,

the urge to control,

the need to confine through defining;

to encourage the subtle to emerge

and achieve expression - to be birthed into this world.

To co-operate with

rather than resist

the…

© 2012 Howard McQueen  

 

Today I am making an agreement and a vow:  

 

I release myself, in perpetuity,

from any further involvement in my own,

as well as other’s blame-shame games.

 

Blame-shame games 

are loose-loose, 

full of subterfuge, 

failures to bring 

into illumination 

the lurking pain, 

fear and confusion 

underpinning our…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

 

This veil between me and everything 

 I understand to be of my own construction.

 

Understandably, I relied upon others 

 to make sense out of all this everything I experienced.

As a result, during my youth and thereafter, 

 I manufactured a myriad of:

 

  - strategies  of avoidance

  - strategies of accumulation 

  - strategies of conformity

   …

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Well before confidence,

well before courage,

the well-spring of faith is fed.

The journey of my life,

 when well-lived

 is an exploration in discovering and removing

 my inner obstructions blocking this spring.

In my journey my faith will waver:

  I will become afraid and numbed down.

  I will become overheated with anger.

  I will experience the delusional…

© 2012 Howard McQueen 

Dearly Beloved,

  you take my breath away

  and you fill my lungs,

  again and again,

  all without an iota of effort needed from me.

All that seems needed from me is to remember:

  When I invite in and worship fear, separation and exclusion,

    I am diminished.

  When I invite in and worship love, connection and inclusion,

    I am one with you,

   …