Some Choose Meditation... I Choose to Shower

In meditation, they say you are supposed to “quiet the mind” in order to gain a connection with a higher consciousness. Quiet the mind? What does that mean? How does that feel? How can I shut up the everlasting voice inside me that keeps yapping away to stop at Target on the way home, do the laundry tonight, ooooh and catch that recorded episode of “Too Cute! Kittens” before it gets deleted from the DVR?

I may not be able to fully quiet my mind just yet… but I have found a wonderfully happy place in my very own home: the shower.

As I turn the faucet to scalding, and let the sticky-hot steam roll into the room, the complicated ritual begins. Everything has an order when it comes to shower time. Take off makeup, shampoo, condition and tie hair up in a knot while I shave, loofah, and scrub the heck outta my face. All of this happens on auto-pilot however, my mind is elsewhere. The nagging thoughts melt away and meditation or not, my mind opens up to infinity. I hover in a trance like state, my body separate, like a machine going through the motions. This must be that higher consciousness I keep hearing about! Yes, boyfriend, this is why I take so dang long. (Sorry fellow Greenies!! Guilty... I know.)

Some of my best ideas come in the shower. From my killer tofu stir fry recipe, to how to save the US Economy, to the most introspective moments looking deep into my muddled psyche… I cover it all.  Last night’s topic: 2012

Dun Dun Duuuuunn!!

Spawned by a History Channel special that morning, my thoughts drift to the impending doom of humanity with visions of fire and brimstone, the four horsemen of the apocalypse sweep over the landscape casting a dark cloud of horror and despair. No, not really… my visions of 2012 encompass something entirely different. By now it’s common knowledge that the Mayans, the Hopi Indians, ancient Hindus scriptures, and many other cultures have all come to a conclusion that the world as we know it will undergo a great and possibly cataclysmic shift in the upcoming year. Take a look at recent human history and it seems like the darkest times have been falling upon us for centuries now. With everything in life, there is a cycle. The earth is no different, as evidenced by the hot and cold cycles over eons. (Don’t get me started on Global Warming! I’ll get to our current state in an entirely different post). Our planet makes one full rotation around its axis every 24 hours, we cycle around the Sun precisely once every 365 days. Humanity is no different.  Before every sunrise there must be night. We as a species and collective consciousness are approaching the final minutes of our darkest hour, and before it can get better it probably will get juuuust a bit worse.

As a society we are entirely focused on the world around us. We see the countless wars in the Middle East and the unending violence and famine in Africa  and we can’t help but hop on one of the myriad of social networking sites around put in our 2 cents for all to hear. But maybe that’s what’s wrong with us. We are living as voyeurs, focusing on what’s out there when perhaps we should be looking within. Many have already noticed that social networking is not very social at all. Sure, we talk to hundreds of people a day, but we do so in the isolation of our cubicles and homes. To truly become “social”, a collective mind and a collective soul with those around us, we must first look within ourselves. Wait…  this sounds familiar you say? Why you are one smart cookie! We’re right back where we started, in the shower accessing that higher consciousness.  Maybe if Mr. Gadaffi took a long hot shower and tuned into his higher frequencies he wouldn’t be blaming those pesky rebels for his problems and realize he’s just a douchey, evil dude. Or maybe not.

But anyways, when those planets align on December 21^st 2012 and we experience a massive solar flare, or fall into a black hole, or whatever… my hope, my vision, is for those living on this lonely planet is to take a long hard look within, and maybe, since Twitter and Facebook will be down cuz you know, the world is ending… we can all go take a shower and come out with a new social and spiritual connectivity, ready to usher in a new age of enlightenment.

Epigenetics, and Destiny

I stumbled across this great article on the emerging field of Epigenetics, and thought it made a great follow up to yesterday's ramblings on destiny. This takes a close look into how environmental factors can directly affect our DNA, both during our lifetime and before conception... a microscopic look at evolution occuring right before our eyes!

Goodbye, Genetic Blueprint


Thanks to Slate for this wonderfully insightful piece!

Go Your Own Way

Destiny. What is it?

Do we create our own path in life? Or has it already been created for us?

It is a question humans have grappled with since the moment our primate brains evolved into powerful machines of higher learning. The most minute decisions in life can change the course of our own personal history. From the restaurant we choose to dine in, to misplacing our car keys while we're trying to rush to work, to the exact moment that fly buzzes in your ear and you turn to see the face of a person who may change your life forever.

Are these seemingly random events in life the result of chaos and our own free will? Or are they events that have been encoded into our internal compass, meant to guide us on a path in life that will take us to our ultimate destination. I believe it's both. Those surprising moments of de ja vu we all have serve as a personal reminder of a point we are meant to meet; of an goal accomplished or the beginning of an intense journey. All roads lead to Rome.

Destiny and Destination. It's no coincidence these two words share the same root.

Our lives may feel boring, mundane, repetitive... but what so many of us fail to see that in the monotony of our day-to-day is that a story is unfolding. And every turn, every glance, every failure and every success is part of our story, unravelling.... rolling out like a red carpet before our feet and carving a path, ultimately turning us into the person we are meant to be and uniting with the people who will inspire us.

In order to reach our full humanly potential however, we must become attuned to recognizing when these moments occur, seizing the right opportunities and rejecting those that lead us astray. It's a simple principle in life, but one that we are terrible at practicing. Fear rules our decisions. Whether it be fear of deviating from our routine, therefore keeping us in a place where we feel "comfortable"... or fear of a missed opportunity, making us grab for every straw hoping that it will be the right one that leads us to that place we so crave, yet cannot identify. All we know is that it exists, and we will know when we feel it.

But... do we really know? Will we ever know?

All we can do is play it out, one remarkable moment at a time.

Are you dating a cat?

'nuff said.

My Edge of Glory

What is it that holds us back from accomplishing our dreams? 

I've only recently begun to discover what my personal road blocks are. While some are out of my control, most have been created entirely by me and they can be undone by my own actions as well. So why is it that myself and so many of us have such a "fear" of success?

I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg that is my own psyche, but in recent introspective moments I've realized that I'm afraid of 

1) failure (duh!)

2) attention (surprisingly enough)

3) the repercussions and possible notoriety as a result of said failure because everyone is paying attention

So why is this entry titled "My Edge of Glory"?

Because that's where I am. I am at the edge of my own glory, as Mama Monster @ladygaga so wisely puts it. Many of us are, only a few actually take that leap off the edge to reach our full monsterly potential. Gaga did, and that is why she's the Mama :).