Squirrelopulence

To own nothing, but to have everything is true opulence.

This totally describes the life of a little squirrel!

Have you ever witnessed the ease with which squirrels live? Everything they do is play! Whether they are burying nuts, frolicking in the grass, or chasing each other in the tree tops... it's all bliss. They want for nothing!

The buddha said that craving is the source of suffering... Byron Katie has said that whatever you have IS what you want... you just might not have realized this yet! This is where our squirrel relations are such great teachers. Everything is a gift. This moment is totally FULL of everything you need... and if you don't believe it, look around! The ground is holding you. The chair you are sitting in is supporting you. You are being breathed! And you did nothing for all of this! WOW!

I feed the little squirrels at the trail almost every day and have been doing this for many years. Squirrels will eat until they are full and then if you give them another nut, they will bury it. They are not burying it for themselves! They don't consider it "their nut"... they are burying it for the whole squirrel community! Whoever sniffs it out gets it! And everyone has enough.

Squirrels don't worry about anything. They are part of nature and nature provides everything!

Most humans have lost their connection to nature and have bought into the belief in scarcity! We worry so much about having enough money to do this or that and completely miss the abundance that we do have! Can we just be grateful for this day? for this air? for this life?

"This place where you are right now,

God circled on a map for you."

~ Hafiz

Easy is Right, Right is Easy

One of the things I really appreciate about the Great Freedom Teachings of Candice O'Denver is the repeated direction to "Just rest for a moment!" . For many of us who have been on a spiritual path of seeking for many years, these words are like the sweetest music we could possibly hear! Human beings are so used to changing, fixing, replacing, and running away from aspects of ourselves or our circumstances. And this response has only brought more unease and more war to our planet. So, to be told to relax and to let everything be as it is, is not what we are used to! There are many free downloads on www.greatfreedom.org and all of them are amazingly simple and phenomenally profound. After finishing the basic four-day training with two excellent trainers from Balanced View, I can say that it is such a relief to be a part of this lovely movement working for peace on the planet. Listen to Netti Raysz, a trainer for Great Freedom as she talks about "Complete Comfort"

http://www.greatfreedom.org/Downloads/Free%20cc%20audio%20downloads/GFTeachers/RSS%20Netti/03_03_11%20Netti%20-%20Complete%20Comfort.mp3

"Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already

present in open relaxation and letting go. Don't strain yourself ~ there is nothing to do or undo. Whatever arises momentarily in the body-mind has no real importance at all, has little reality whatsoever. Why identify with it and become attached to it, passing judgement upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply let the entire game happen on its own, springing up and falling back like waves ~ without changing or manipulating anything ~ and notice how everything vanishes and reappears magically again and again, time without end. Only our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it. It's like a vivid rainbow which you pursue without ever catching, or a dog chasing its own tail.

Althought peace and happiness do not exist as an actual thing or place, it is always available and accompanies you every instant. Don't believe in the reality of good and bad experiences;

they are like today's ephemeral weather, like rainbows in the sky. Wanting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain. As soon as you open and relax this tight fist of grasping, infinite space is here ~ open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of the spaciousness, this freedom and natural ease. Don't search any further. Don't go into the tangled jungle looking for the great awakened elephant who is already resting quietly at home in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,

Nothing to force,

Nothing to want, and

Nothing missing.

Emaho! Marvelous!

Everything happens by itself.

the words of Lama Gendun Rinpoche

found on:

http://livinginpeace-thenaturalstate.com/

(see issue # 20)