Unseen Arms

Unseen arms: 

every once in a while my morning yoga aligns for the near perfect expression of vrksasana, as if gravity itself cooperated with my body and allowed for this experience. Tree pose is my bellwether posture, it's often a measure of trust  and my willingness to surrender to the present moment's grace. It's sometimes a shaky experience even after decades of practice, a single thought can cause me to sway and bring my entire foundation down. But not too often anymore, it's a reliable pose most morning, steady, firmly rooted to the ground as I reach my arms skyward. 

and sometimes there's a certain grace that's given.

a slight suspension of gravity.

everything aligns.

I love those moments, being a rare gift through decades of practice - and yet I know that they're always possible, that at any moment the weight of thoughts can drop away and I'm left with what feels like an endless reach towards heaven. It's a blissful experience, calm, as if nothing can ever sway me and cause me to lose this sense of balance. Rare moments indeed. But here's the thing, a gift is most truly appreciated through the trials of learning to trust in their arrival. It's my practice that most often brings me here. Grace itself is ever present and only waits for my acknowledgement. I'm learning this, developing trust in the eternal grace of spirit and surrendering to the daily practice of remembrance. 

and my real practice is the yoga of forgiveness.

it's seeing the softest light shine through my every sway and shift of balance, being unafraid of falling from any of life's endless postures. Forgiveness is my return point, rooted in trust and a firm knowing that this is exactly where grace will meet me. 

right here,

now.

and then even if I should  fall...

especially so,

I trust in the unseen arms of grace to catch me. 

and they always do.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: On the Battlefield

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On The Battlefield

On the battlefield: 

sometimes there's still a bit of lag between situations and forgiveness, it isn't quite an instantaneous practice for me as of yet - but more often now it's a soft underflow throughout my day, always present and available, being a constant returning point that brings an immediate sense of peace. I'm reminded of the lesson that Krishna offered Arjuna on the battlefield, that we're entitled only to our actions, the choices we make within any given moment, and that whatever falls after belongs to God alone. Forgiveness is my choice, the option of purest action...

and the peace that follows is God.

it's my battlefield choice most often, and much sooner now,

finally.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more form Headless Now, please visit: Joining Liechtenstein's Army

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Joining Liechtenstein's Army

Joining Liechtenstein's army: 

sometimes even a social media meme can offer some deep insight - and an amusing one the other day informed me that Liechtenstein's last military engagement was in 1866 when 80 men were deployed to their border and upon return their unit had increased by one. Apparently they had made a new friend who accompanied them home. This is a true story, my doubts caused me to do some quick research, and indeed, on deployment during the Austro- Prussian war, the Liechtenstein's army increased by the count of one due to friendship. 

there's no reason why they couldn't happened now.

of course not in the same details, the world is much more complex and complicated now, and warfare has gained a sophistication of easy use that seems to make it a ready made solution to certain affairs. But this isn't about  geopolitical issues - it's about friendship, increasing the number of those we love by a single digit. Every war begins with the decision that we would rather destroy instead of extend love. It's a choice, with even the smaller battles that we face everyday in our personal lives being chosen in an instant of forgotten options. Every one of them. Warfare is also the abdication of personal responsibility, surrendering our goodwill to political leaders in an easy shrug for battle. 

so obviously, I have no solutions for such complex issues.

I'm not a soldier, nor politician.

but I do have a choice -

and I'm joining the, now defunct, Liechtenstein army.

I'll simply make friends. 

I'll be kind.

and leave my battlefields behind.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Nothing Unreal Exists

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Nothing Unreal Exists

Nothing unreal exists: 

and at a certain point the metaphysics of A Course in Miracles prove themselves true, what at one time felt like a workable theory to guide my practice shows itself to be of ultimate value. The introduction of the Course gives is away completely and provides the most useful tool throughout the entire book for my awakening. 

nothing real can be threatened.

nothing unreal exists.

those words have become a lifeline meditation for me, a connection to reality, pulling back from the dreaming of the world to the safety of the peace of God. They're a continuous inquiry into what is real, a gentle probe into the solidity of all my problems and every fear. And it's this practice that eventually shows the falsity of the world, that while it might still appear solid in existence, reality becomes more and more apparent as the dream begins to flickers and waver through the day. That's the value of practice, taking the metaphysics to the extreme of proof, applying and testing concepts to see if they hold true. A Course in Miracles says the world is unreal - is that true? 

nothing unreal exists.

and all that feels and appears to be threatening is there to reveal if this is so. We don't wake up from a dream by believing in the dawn. It's the actuality of the experience that proves itself as light. Nothing unreal exists is the working premise of my life, a gentle test of my every belief system, an inquiry that actually takes me from the unreal to reality. 

it's a continuous waking point,

dawn, 

a guideline through the dark. 

~

I love you, Eric 

To read more from Headless now, please visit: A Form of Prayer

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A Form of Prayer

A form of prayer: 

there's an empty screen before me, and then in an instant words are given and some meaning begins to show. Every morning starts this way for me, a writing ritual of trusting that just the right words will appear without me having to reach for them. This once was a moment of anxiety for me, every artist knows the blank intimidation of a waiting page or canvas, and I would struggle with this early morning confrontation of emptiness. There was an underlying fear that perhaps it was this morning that inspiration might finally abandon me. Most mornings now I face the screen with a complete trust that I will be given the exact words needed to fulfill the sacred purpose the page. I am here for a very specific reason, a holy obligation to share myself through words, and I have complete faith in the flow of inspiration. What I write is really and only meant to display this trust. 

it's a form of prayer.

and so the purpose is built into the very fabric of page, emptiness serving as the capacity to receive, and this early morning ritual is meant to convey that sense of trust through every aspect of my day. It's a beautiful beginning...a prayer that's always answered.

holy spirit,

thank you for these words.

amen.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Awaken

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Awaken

Awaken: 

truly, forgiveness becomes the ultimate expression of Jhana yoga, being a deep means of self inquiry that takes us directly to the heart of the matter. This is forgiveness as taught by Jesus in A Course in Miracles, an entirely different practice than what's commonly known as forgiveness. What we're asked to do is to see beyond the perception of an open wound shared between us - to the reality of the seamless expression of love. Our true identity. One Self. Realizing who we really are makes animosity impossible, no grudges nor judgement exists within an open realm of pure awareness. So forgiveness simply asks us to be aware, to rest in the comfort of who we truly are - at least for the moment of our practice. And as we forgive, stringing these eternal points of practice together for a lifetime...

we awaken.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Heart-Reach

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Heart-Reach

Heart-reach:

I'm not exactly sure when I finally got it, truly understanding that it's the entire world that needs forgiven, and that my smallest part was to simply forgive each moment as it came to me. The initial stage of my practice was to confront the big issues that haunted me, paring them down to manageable thoughts of past events that could no longer hurt me in the present. I thought of forgiveness as a tool of self-improvement, a means of setting myself free from the resents of the past. And of course it certainly is an effective means of healing and I felt considerably better for my practice. But through years of deepening study of A Course in Miracles, developing a sincere and committed wish to opening fully to its message - 

forgiveness became what I offered to the world.

by this I mean that, while yes, there's still ongoing issues to forgive, it's a much deeper and ongoing practice that touches every aspect of my life. It's not about forgiving "things' or people, not solely at least - it's more profound, I see it now as a continuous meditation on the presence of the holiest of lights that shines from within us all, animates the world, expanding my heart-reach through every small act of grace and kindness. 

forgiveness is living in that heart-reach of love.

continuously so.

and even when I forget, as I still often do....it becomes another aspect of my practice.

just one more thing to be forgiven.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Blessing the World

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