The Yoga of Thanks

In this Issue

• Giving Thanks
• A Thought for Your Practice
• Spiritgeek's Spiritual Calendar
• Quotations

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Giving Thanks

November is here and I am told that outside of Southern California they are having this thing called "weather." Interesting, I may have to check it out sometime...

One of the great things about starting a newsletter is that for the first year, one can pretty much say anything since one doesn't have to worry about what was written last year, gratitude given... Of course I still have to write something and I really do want it to be current, so I guess this is a great time to discuss thanks and gratitude.

I find in my own life that I can so easily forget to give thanks for what I have, they are with me every day and after a surprisingly short time they go from blessings to "just ares." It is a good idea to bring them out of the background and celebrate them for what they truly are, blessings.

Here's a short list of some of my blessings:

• My friends, the ones who help keep me sane.
• My health and its continuation.
• My awakenings, though not always loved at the moment, always turn out to be best in the end.
• My cats, they actually put up with me EVERY day, all they ask is that I feed and clean the box regularly, petting is sometimes optional and sometimes not.

If you have content you would like to pass along or to submit your own content, a question or comment on this newsletter, please send it to: editorial@spiritgeek.com or go to the online version of the Zeitgeist Newsletter.

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A Thought for Your Practice

When life gets to me, I am always SO glad when I get to that moment when enough sanity returns so that I can change the focus of my day and giving thanks for the blessings (and sometimes not so blessings) can be an amazing weapon on my way to recovery.

Changing the focus of a moment is one of the easiest tools to have in your arsenal to make a happier and more enjoyable existence. I feel really stupid when I first start, but sometimes when I am in a bad mood, I force myself to laugh at nothing, unless something presents itself, it is contagious to the emotional state, laugh and you become happy (kind of explains "Laughing Yoga").

Your emotions are the gauge by which your Spirit will often tell you if what you are creating is actually in harmony with your intent and or wishes. If your state falters from happy and fluffy, you might want to rethink what you are creating.

So here's a couple of little homework assignments:

Don't worry about what your emotional state is at every moment, but when it dawns on you that you are less than happy, take a look at it and see what is bothering you and then look even deeper to see what the real cause is. In my experience, the obvious cause is often just a symptom of the deeper issue...

If you are suffering from extremely negative emotional states or if you have the time to really analyze yourself, create a "Mood Diary." Take a notepad around with you (OK, it's a bit old school, Tweet it if you wish) and note what your state is and what you are doing and/or thinking. At the end of the day, look over what you have noted and start to see the patterns of your days. It is worth taking the moment to moment snapshots through the day, we forget SO MUCH by the end of the day, we decide it is unimportant, but at the time it was extremely important. Try it...

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Spiritgeek's Spiritual Calendar

I know that the calendar that we have on the wall starts in January, most likely based upon the Solar Year of the Sun's apparent beginnings of return as it starts it's rising in the sky towards Spring and Summer.

I sometimes think the calendar year should start on November 1^st, since Halloween is actually about Death, why not start the year on the first day of the rebirth and the American holiday of Thanksgiving would be such an awesome start of the year. Imagine if we all spent the first month of the year preparing for the "Feast of Giving Thanks" and then the following month, December, would be about the birth of the deity within each and every one of us, what a nice idea.

What would be accomplished in our lives if we were to seriously spend a month preparing to give thanks (I have noticed several stores skipping it completely and replacing the Halloween decorations with Christmas ones).

There is an old expression that "the road to Hell is paved in good intentions" but I sometimes wonder if the road to Heaven is just paved in intention itself. We have to be willing to stand up and actually take action, otherwise inertia, or the lack thereof leads us to our grave as tired "old" people.

It is through intention that we determine what we see and how we relate to it. When things go bad, search for the "gold lining," that will start you on your way to an improved vision. So my intention is to wish you a Happy New Year on this month of the Feast of Giving Thanks.

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Quotations

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

H.U. Westermayer

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

Jean Baptiste Massieu

The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.

Spiritgeek

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Masks and Transitions

In this Issue

• Fall and Halloween
• A Thought for Your Practice
• Death: a New Perspective
• Quotations

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Fall and Halloween

October is now upon us and the seasons are beginning to show there change, yes, even here in Southern California where they say we have no seasons the trees are beginning to change, well not the evergreens and palms, but the rest.

Halloween was always my favorite holiday, even more than Christmas, though at the time I don't even think I had a clue as to why. As I have gotten older and seen the happenings of life and the lessons that I have carried along, I think a lot of my love for Halloween had to do with the costumes and the ability to do the one thing I couldn't the rest of the year, be someone or something else.

As adults, we try to have the courage to be honestly ourselves, but it is often easier to be what those around us expect. It is only natural that we want to fit-in, we want acceptance and friendship.

If you have content you would like to pass along or to submit your own content, a question or comment on this newsletter, please send it to: editorial@spiritgeek.com or go to the online version of the Zeitgeist Newsletter.

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A Thought for Your Practice

As a child, my favorite thing about October was the brisk winds and All Hallow's Eve, aka Halloween. Brought up the way I was there was always the slight idea that it was the Devil's night and Witches and Goblins were just naughty enough to get away with this one time of the year.

On this night of magic and mayhem, one could be anything they wanted. I remember the year I was dressed as my hero at the time Lt. Cmdr. Spock. My mother and I spent time finding the right shirt and pants and finally gave up on the ears but used a Sharpie to make the eye-brows (to bad they turned green almost immediately). I think this was about 3^rd or 4^th grade so we are talking about 8 or 9 years of age.

I always admired the fact that Spock attempted to fit in, controlling his emotions and living by logic at home and trying to fit in with the "illogical" humans in Star Fleet, at the end of the day, he was always true to who and what he was.

Happiness in many situations seems fleeting because we have spent so much time becoming what others expect or what we think they want that we have nearly forgotten who we really are. When we live in this prison of expectations, there is no way to avoid becoming upset when that clashes with the truth of ourselves.

So here's a couple of little homework assignments:

Whenever you find yourself wearing a mask to fit in, ask yourself if this is what you really are and if the answer is no, become aware that the stress of the situation is a choice you have made.

Except for Halloween and the occasional costume party, masks are not part of out selves and should be discarded. In many cases, this can require tremendous courage to stand up for truth. Some call it radical truth, I call it peace (at least in the long run) as that is what you will eventually gain.

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Death: a New Perspective

When people think of Halloween, the theme of death tends to come up, between skeletons and ghosts, vampires and zombies, the night has many shades (bad pun intended). Many occultists believe that the veil between this world and the next is particularly thin on this night.

When we think of death, we often view it as an ending when those of us who believe in souls could easily view it as a beginning just as easily. In Eastern Philosophy, death is viewed as a simple transition for the soul, a change of physical clothing for the most part.

We mourn the passing of our friends but I tend to rejoice in their graduation from their current class of lessons to their next curriculum. As a friend of mine used to say, funerals of for the living, the dead have enough sense not to be there.

When I do Tarot readings for the friends and clients that ask, the 13^th card of the Major Arcana usually brings fear to the person I read for as it is labeled Death and usually has a picture of the Grim Reaper on it. This card has never meant a physical death to the person I am reading for, but a situational death or transition in their lives and/or situations.

For anything new to occur, something old must pass to the wayside. Without Death the universe would end up being the junk closet of Life and its by-products.

As the Buddha said, "Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." So live wisely and feel free to drop your fear of death. To those who know Truth, Death is nothing to worry about.

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Quotations

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

James Arthur Baldwin

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

Mark Twain

The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.

Cesare Pavese

...if Death is the end, then life is pointless. But if Death is truly just a transition from one state to another and life continues in new bodies, places and/or forms, then there is a chance for justice in the universe after all. Not only would that allow for a truly gracious God, but the likelihood of validation for freedom of choice after all.

Spiritgeek

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