Archive for January, 2010

Ubuntu

Seeds XII, 5

Seed: Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a word from Ghana with a humanistic bent. Its literal translation is “I am because you are.” Ever thought of life that way?

The banker teller is because you are. The grocery checker is because you are. You are because of the bank teller and the grocery checker.

Traditional Christian thought supports this idea. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. A good guide for choosing behavior. But there’s a deeper metaphysics here. Truth is, you cannot do unto others any better than you can do unto yourself.

We all need and want the same things, my friend. Food, warmth, shelter, meaningful work, love. Cars that go if we have cars. And the occasional chocolate. (Had to add that.)

I am because you are. You are because I am. May I always behave as though I am you.

Be passion,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at susan@susancorso.com.

For spiritual nourishment, please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs Seeds for Sanctuary, God’s Dictionary,

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post

and

join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter: @PeaceCorso.

Jigsaw Puzzle Wisdom

Did your family do jigsaw puzzles over the holidays? Mine didn’t, but a lot of people I know did. So Santa brought us a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas, and did we have fun. The thing is … Christmas is long past, and I’ve gotten used to the Zen of having a puzzle in process.

You know that at this point, I’m in a serious process of reclamation of my body. I’ve been ill for a long time—decades—and now I’ve figured out how not to be ill, but I’ve got some serious spiritual work to do before I get there.

Enter the jigsaw puzzle.

At the moment, I’m doing one of flags of the world. They’re beautiful. I find the meditative process very easy when my conscious brain is busy. I’ve been breathing in pink light. Reciting the Prayer of St. Francis. Even praying my own rewrite of The Pattern Prayer. Doing a jigsaw is a meditation for me. It also taught me some lessons:

You remember how to do a jigsaw puzzle, right?

First, you sort the edge pieces out of the mass of the entire puzzle.

Isn’t that how you approach a problem as well? Give it parameters. At least to start. They might grow, but at least you start with a feeling of control however minimal.

Then, you put together the perimeter. That’s the space in which you’re going to solve the problem.

Then you sort a second time. In this case, I looked for all the pieces with words on them. (Each flag has the name of its country in this puzzle.) In problem-solving, you start with what you can name, no?

Then I sorted the names I’d found by continent. For a problem, sort the issues into categories. You might discover a pattern.

Then I started to compare the picture on the box with the names I had so I could place the names in their proper places in the puzzle. Isn’t that part of problem-solving? Moving things around till you understand them in a new way?

Then I sorted again—for the pieces I’d missed, and there were plenty of them! And problems work the same way. You sort, and then you sort deeper.

Interestingly, as I did that, I realized that the continents each had a different background color: I saw pattern! And voila! The puzzle is going much faster (although that’s not the goal.)

Anyway, consider a jigsaw puzzle if you’re trying to work out something that tangled up in your brain. It works for me.

More Traffic Light Wisdom

Readers of this blog will know that I use the image of a traffic light as a way to discern guidance sometimes. The three lights represent my head, my heart and my gut. The usual suggestion is that until all three lights are green, don’t go. Or, put positively, when all three turn green, go!

Last week, I had to go have some blood tests and I needed to be fasting, so I was out in morning rush hour traffic. It was congested enough that I got caught by red light after red light so I had some time to contemplate the traffic lights.

A traditional traffic light has three differently colored lights that are illuminated to indicate a driver’s course of action, right?

The top is the red light or head.

The middle is the yellow light or heart.

The bottom is the green light or gut.

Aha!

Let’s extrapolate …

When guidance comes from your head, STOP.

When guidance comes from your heart, BE CAUTIOUS.

When guidance comes from your gut, GO.

Get still. See where in your body the message is coming from.

Head messages can be confusing, flip-flopping, second-guessing.

Heart messages, purer than those from the head, can be misleading; feelings change.

Body messages are indubitably clear.

The reason for this is simple. Bodies can’t lie. Hearts can mislead us. Heads are all over the map at times.

Listen for your gut response and go with that.