Patterns of Meaning in Our Lives

Leaping Forward Into Our Future

(AT A JOURNAL WORKSHOP by Ira Progoff)

"We work day by day to keep ourselves in an ongoing relationship with whatever is taking place inside ourselves."

"Let us begin to reconstruct the events and feelings that drew the day into motion."

"You will begin to recognize how your day unfolded from within yourself."

"We record the shifting phases of our moods...in order to bring ourselves into accord with the movement of our inner processes."

"We are able to see how large and varied a resource we have been carrying in the depth of ourseves."

"We are engaged in gathering honest, empirical data for use in deepening our own inner process."

"Our specific goal is to build a large enough working context so that we can develop a sense of inner timing with which to guide ourselves as we move into our future."

"We are beginning to be able to move around inside ourselves.  We have opened channels in the inner space of our lives."

"We wish to reach the point where we can feel comfortable in moving with full freedom into every crevice of our lives."

"Our whole existence becomes like good, soft soil through which we can run our fingers, enjoying the touch of it."

"Steppingstones are indicators that enable a person to recognize the deeper-than-conscious goals toward which the movement of his life is trying to take him."

"We go back into our past in order to be better able to leap forward into our future."

Platinum Bangs

"...her chiseled features veiled by a curtain of platinum bangs, as if the world were barely worth looking through her hair for."

The Path Our Life is Trying to Take

From:  AT A JOURNAL WORKSHOP by Ira Progroff

"We work day by day to keep ourselves in an ongoing relationship with whatever is taking place inside ourselves to get a larger perception of the path our life is trying to take."

"Ordinarily the mind is manacled to the body and only when it can be freed from this imprisonment may hope of a higher life dawn."

"The INTENSIVE JOURNAL sets into motion a self-balancing process."

"What is important is that you find a way of living that will validate both your inner sense of truth and the actualities of your outer experience."

"We gradually discover that our life has been going somewhere, however blind we have been to its direction and however unhelpful to it we ourselves may have been."

"When a person recognizes the nonconscious guidance that has been directing his personal life involvements, he perceives that the peaks and valleys are of equal importance."

"The essence lies not in the events of his life, but in his inner relationship to them."

"One important criterion is the progressive building of the inner movement of energy drawing the life toward wholeness."

"The lives of creative persons are strongly in motion and are full of change and energy."

"Creative persons perceive the contents of their lives not as being the major realities but merely the raw material of the process by which their artworks are brought to fruition."

"Where am I in the movement of my life?"

Heaviness and Lightness

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING:  Milan Kundera

"Is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness splendid."

"The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment."

"The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become."

"...moments as free as they are insignificant."

"There is nothing heavier than compassion."

"Necessity, weight, and value are three concepts inextricably bound; only necessity is heavy, and only what is heavy has value."

"Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress."

"She had entered a mist in which nothing could be seen."

"...vertigo, the insuperable longing to fall."

"On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth."

"Although they had a clear understanding of the logical meaning of the words they exchanged, they failed to hear the semantic hum of the river flowing through them."

"The pleasure suffusing her body called for darkness."

"If you're looking for infinity, just close your eyes."

Twilight Images: Lisbon

Protecting the Psychic Space

"The Truth Does not Always Make Sense"

Hotel Locarno Window

On the Phone On the Terrace of the Hotel Tornabuoni Beacci

Birthday Flowers

Somewhere in Monaco

Gold Cuff

Young Woman with Orchids

Young Woman in Jewelry Store

Red Hat, Red Lips

Midnight Hydrangeas

Young Woman with Dark Angel

Young Woman in a Hoodie

The Fortuny Museum - Venice

Will Playing Daddy's Violin

Nat's Scarf

Pitta with Yellow Tulips

Kapha

(Information from blog:  HeyMonicaB on Kapha:  Energy of Construction)

Kapha is the dosha responsible for lubrication and construction of the body.

Everybody loves a Kapha.  They are comfortable and happy in one place and don't like to change.

Kaphas are prone to heavy, static diseases like obesity, diabetes, and dullness of mind.

Kaphas are the peacemakes, the joyous hosts,  the listeners, the nurturers.

Their mind is steady, the attitude is positive, and their body is strong.

Their skin is usually pale, their eyes big and beautiful, their teeth strong, their lashes long.

They gain weight easily.  The best thing they can do is get moving.

A light diet is best and they need to fast.

Because of their sturdiness, Kaphas tend to be the heaviest of the three doshas, including their mental energy.  They are extremely tolerant and patient.

For the image, think of the Kardashians.

PITTA: Description

(From AYURVEDA:  A LIFE OF BALANCE by Maya Tiwari)

The Pitta Personality:  The brillance of a raging fire dragon in the city of sparkling gems.

Pitta demands the lion's share and usually gets it.  Energy, ambition, and aggression are the primary qualities of Pitta.

Born of the radiating energy of the universe, Pitta transforms ideas into reality.

The Pitta types naturally enjoy absolute control over all situations.  Ram-powered for success, they are brilliant and able to focus single-mindedly on the task at hand.

Pitta types lose control with great rapidity.  Tempering the Pitta will is tantamount to controlling a raging forest fire.

Consideration for others is the main issue that Pitta types must keep foremost in mind.

It is a common mistake for Pitta types to feel that material conquests are the pinnacle of success.

They are equipped for the Hundred Years' War each day.

Physical characteristics include:  red, blond or prematurely grey hair; soft, warm, freckled skin; medium build, athletic and well-toned.

Emotional characteristics include:  intelligent, arrogant, self-centered, alert, irritable.

Vata Observed

Instead of writing about my own life as a Vata type, I want to tell you about a younger woman I observed at a bridge tournament recently.

She was so obviously a Vata type and she was also struggling, it seemed to me, to be "in the world."

Much younger than I am, blond.  But her hair was fine and thin and dry.  She was a lovely thing, and I spent most of my time at the bridge table admiring her jewelry and her striking appearance.

Her mind was so quick, it was flitting around, ahead of everybody else's.  Once her partner said, "Wait on me, partner, the game's not over yet."  She had already, in her mind, finished that hand and was like a race horse at the starting gate, chomping at the bit for the next one.

Once she left the table.  When she came back, she was breathing so hard, I thought for a minute she was going to pass out.  But she finally calmed herself.

Her three team mates went out for lunch, but she stayed behind.  I don't know if she ate, but she went outside for a while -- to smoke??  I don't know.  Smoking seems to be very calming to the Vata.

She was so intense and focused that the air was charged with electricity.

Her hands and joints seemed large in comparison to the rest of her.

She seemed to be unaware of anyone else around her.   Yet, she was lovely in her isolation.

Ayurvedic Body Types: VATA

(Based on AYURVEDA:  A LIFE OF BALANCE by Maya Tiwari)

Ayurveda, the 5000 year old Indian science of improving your life by staying in balance, has long been a favorite of mine.  The body types described according to Ayurveda gave me the first insight I have ever had about how to eat, sleep, not exercise, dress, and live so that I could be comfortable in the world.

These posts are going to be a sketchy introduction to this ancient way of being by means of introducing it to those of you who have never heard of it.

The three main body types are vata, pitta and kapha, but with all of the combinations of those three there are nine.

Vata is my own body type so I'm going to deal with it first and probably in more detail.  The Vata person is thin, fast moving, with a quick mind, and is easily unbalanced.

From now on, I am quoting from the book:

The Vata personality and psychological nature:  swift as a deer, cold as ice.

This type always appears to be on the precipice of isolation....Influenced by the air and space elements....Vata permeates the subtle body....A person evolving from the fourth chakra has a very short karmic slack....Vata types must allow their numinous nature to revel in the true spirit of universal sensuality....The most common mistake make by the Vata person is to attempt to meld into the routines created by Pitta and Kapha....The so-called norms are to be avoided by Vata types....The most vital insulation for the austere structure of Vata is fine and harmonious sound....Vata is also ruled by a heightened sense of touch....Vatas need the gentle buffering of soft, flowing clothes....Vatas need to maintain a consistent daily schedule, one that allows for reflection, napping, and nurturing the body and mind....Vata does not need intense exercise....With a nature steeped in aesthetics, Vata is the natural clothes horse.

So--next time, I will reflect on how this impacts my own life.