Class started with the question to each person:  What do I want in coming to this class?  Some responses were:  Fun, Exploration, Revelation, To become free and uninhibited in moving around others, Transformation, Creativity, Play, More movement in my life, to get un-stuck. 

The Bones

In partnership, with no intent other than to feel and trace the hardness of the bones, we took about 10 minutes for each person and simply explored the bones. 

The healing and transformational significance of this exercise has a few layers.  First, there is intelligence in the bones, very ancient intelligence.  The intelligence of forward motion, strength, integrity, and determination is in the bones.  Secondly, this intelligence can be accessed.  There is revelation and guidance in the bones.  Another aspect of the bones is the instant integrity and wholeness that is available to us.  When spaced out, confused, pulled apart, or mentally and emotionally fatigued, go to your bones.  It is a puzzle of parts that remains in tact.  Focus your attention and receive the simple connectedness of your bones. 
 

Transformational Motion

Someone brought up the motion of the worm, wiggling, and that he was drawn to this motion.  I mentioned that the motion of the worm is a motion from left to right, like a sail boat tacking across the water.  The motion left to right, left to right is how forward motion happens.  For the human being it is the same both internally and externally.  Outwardly this is obvious, left foot, right foot, walking, running, pedaling, etc.  Inwardly we move from left to right as well.  The inward motion is the motion that all human behavior is based upon.  Our learning, our transformation, healing, creativity, and productivity is founded upon this simple motion from one side to the other.  In the brain we refer to left and right side activity.  Left side being the more logical and linear, the right side being the dreamy, visionary, and intuitive side.  The two must work together.

Pain and Discomfort

We talked about pain, and not being suckered into the “location” of pain.  There is a reason for the pain or discomfort.  Focusing intently upon the site will not bring resolution.  We have to “feel” what is happening to our inner life.  What emotions, what feelings, what discouragement to forward motion is occurring?
This is one reason to use the exercises of bones and joints.  Instead of focusing on the site of discomort – go to wholeness.  Go to your body, the whole thing.  Don’t get stuck in one part.  And allow yourself to honestly express what is going on.  Talk aloud, talk to the open air, talk to someone else, write, find expression

Thank You

Thanks for coming.  I really enjoyed the class, and I appreciate your patience.  Next week will be our last Wednesday class.  I will be focusing on the entire sequence of transformation:  Bones, Joints, Direction, Balance, Space, and Adornment.     

The Blindfold

The exercises were centered on using a blindfold to enhance focus and concentration on movement.  After beginning with a review of The joints, everyone used a blindfold so that we could enjoy the feeling of not being watched and go deeply inside.  We then proceeded to pair into partners so that we could expand our movement with a partner making sure we did not run into anyone or anything in the room. 

The purpose of the blindfold is to allow a deeper focus of attention.  We can understand what to do and how to do it, but the real benefit comes with an extended focus of attention.  There is a simple sequence of focused awareness that is essential to the healing process:  There is an Awakening, a Discovery, and an Unfolding.   The healing exercises all serve this three part process. 

The Healing Process

I will always restate the five steps in the healing process: 

1.  Body Awareness:  The body is one "whole" made of many parts.  These parts can become scattered or disconnected, reflecting the state of mind or emotions.  If we understand how to thread the parts  we can "pull ourselves together" and experience a regeneration of energy.  

2.  What Do I Want?:  Body Awareness prepares us for the next step which is to tap into desire and dreams of a happy life.   Suffering and disconnection is often caused by unclear and unexpressed desire.   To become clear about what we want is essential.

3.  Creation:  Exploring what we want causes a release of creative energy.  Much of our suffering is caused by withheld expression.   We may be inspired to create something very big, or just collect seashells to arrange on the window sill.  But create we must.

4.  Partnership:  Coming together to explore and create is the foundation of partnership.  Sharing what is important, what we are discovering, and what we would like to contribute to the world is a cornerstone of the healing process. 

5.  The Heart of a Child:  A child approaches things with wonder, exploration, and openness.  Messes are expected, mistakes are funny.  We are too often pulled away from our process of exploration by self-consciousness or fear. Our approach determines the outcome. 

Seed and Sunlight

I gave this simple example.  Sunlight is like our focused attention.  The seed is the healing and creative potential that resides in us.  The seed is awakened by the sunlight.  The seed reaches into the earth and up into the light to discover what is possible.  Then with the constant return of the light, the seed will unfold the flower and fruit.    It is the constant return of the sunlight that stirs life and bears fruit. 

Love

Mark has prostate cancer which has spread into other parts of his body.  In his healing exercises he has been asking the question:  What do I want?  He is to walk, talk aloud, and then write down what he wants.  His lists always include something about his new love.  He is separated, divorce pending, and has found a wonderful woman.  So during the course of doing his exercises the love interest moves towards the top of the list.  Love is welling up and ready to be fully expressed.  In our last meeting he told me of his full expression to her.  He told her how much he loved her and wanted to make a life with her.  She returned his sentiment and they had a love fest.  His passion is being stirred.  They talk of long term plans.  However, he has cancer and is in the midst of a struggle for life itself.  How can he make long range plans whole heartedly?  He states that in his heart he just wants to life in the here and now.

Whole Hearted

 Mark’s circumstances bring up a long standing challenge with whole hearted-ness.  As a young man he moved back home to enter the family business only to find, after a few years, that there was no real future for him the way the business was being run.  He moved on, but with a sense of disappointment and bitterness.  He found another job with good potential but found himself less than whole hearted.  He chose to spend time with his sons rather than climb the corporate ladder.  This did not go over well with the wife.  For Mark, his heart had been compromised.  His passion had been compromised by the disappointment and betrayal.  And now, his health is being compromised.  A return to whole hearted living is staring him in the face.  His love interest beckons him to make whole hearted commitment and whole hearted plans.  But he finds himself once again with the feeling of life being compromised.  How can he go whole hearted into his future?  It appears to be yet another dilemma, but it is an opportunity, the opportunity that comes with the need for healing 

Freedom

Mark is in love.  Mark wants the love to last.  In this regard he is in the same boat as anyone else, regardless of health status.  Everyone wants love and they want it to go on and on.  But … there is a catch.  And I say this very simply and directly because I have seen and experienced this phenomenon over and over.  Love requires freedom.  The two go hand in hand - everywhere.  Whether we are talking about a couple, a community, or a nation.  These two are bound forever in a dynamic of vital forces.  One requires the other for best possibilities for everyone to unfold.  Mark, as he falls in love and plans for love, is faced with rediscovering his freedom.  If he wants to keep love and keep love flowing and growing he will have to find his passion and pursue personal freedom.  Love the full presence of self. 

And herein lies the heart of his challenge, his long standing compromise.  Herein also lies the opportunity, the antidote to discouragement, disappointment, and half-hearted attempts to live a good life.  Mark needs all the vitality he can muster for healing cancer.  He needs all his fortitude, his determination, and resolve.  Yes, love will support and sustain, but the love will fade without personal passion freedom and a sense of quest.  He must find his way, his own way.  He must deliberately pursue a sense of personal direction and purpose.  And it may take some doing.  But that is what happens with everyone, regardless of health status.  Life demands the unfolding of self.  Life demands that vision, voice, direction, and determination be a working part of every existence. 

The Wonder Years

I wonder what I can do?  I wonder if I could actually go that far?  I wonder if I could make a real difference? 

During youth we are filled with possibility and wonder.  Mark went west and became passionate about the environment.  He remembers those years as years of personal strength and direction.     The passion and vision that wells up in youth is real.  The vision comes from within us, welling up naturally and creating all kinds of dreams and adventures.  A re-visiting of his youthful dreams and passion may help reignite something in his present life.  It never hurts to remember what has stirred the soul.  It is like getting a running start on the question again, the question of What do I want?  For that is still the exercise.  What do I want? 

Here and Now

Mark needs his vitality and strength.  He needs healing.  Here and now.  The whole point of doing his exercises is to uncover hidden strength and healing.  It is all there.  Life has placed strength, vitality, and healing within him in good measure.  Now he must, with the heart of a warrior, with the heart of a child, pursue the discovery of passion.  I use warrior and child together because the heart of a child is filled with determination, hope, resolve, dreams, desire, and action.  And like the warrior’s heart it is fixed upon the victory.   A child must have satisfaction here and now.  There is no waiting around.  Life is happening right now.  Wants and needs are right now.  Fulfillment is right now.  This is not selfish.  This is reality.  Health and healing depend upon living right here, right now. 

So what about the long term plans?  Go ahead, make all the plans you want.  But be certain that they are built upon the desire that is burning in the here and now.  Find that passion, hold to it, and make it your foundation for the future.  Meet the age-old challenge of living both in the joy of the moment and living with a vision that has long term benefits for all.  Be in your freedom and allow your love for life and fellow man to well up.  They are forever connected.  Passion and vision, freedom and love, adventure and reunion, is the pulse of life.  The pulse of life is what Mark wants most.  Everything else depends upon this pulse.   

Self

Self is filled with life.  Life is filled with all the attributes we seek.  Strength, vitality, healing, love, joy, freedom, they are all there in life and in self.  We can deliberately harvest these attributes.  But like the hunters and gathers that helped shape human kind we have to go out and look, hunt, pursue, and gather up what is there. 

Dreams

We go a hunting in our dreams.  That is our nature.  We hope.  We yearn.  We desire and we envision the fulfillment of our desire.  Dreams inspire.  Dreams gather up the yearning.  Dreams are expansive and help us reach out into the far reaches of imagination.  As children we did not hesitate to dream about the wildest things.  If we wanted to fly we dreamed up a way to do it.  If we wanted to ride a fast horse and do tricks in the saddle, we just dreamed up and way to have a horse, right then and there.  There was no waiting around for the horse.  You needed to ride immediately.  It was an urgent kind of feeling that had to be satisfied.  If you were having trouble finding what you needed you went to an older person for ideas and expertise.  My mother sewed capes for flying, found brooms for riding, and even showed me a trick or two to practice.  When I was older a carpenter who worked for my father helped me make bows and arrows, darts, rubber band guns, sling shots, flying saucers, and rope swings.  Dreams are essential.

Action

Dreams call for action.  Gathering up the materials for the dream is one thing.  But we must also gather up the internal things as well.  Determination to follow through.  Confidence to step into the dream with whole hearted belief and a good measure of faith.  Strength is needed for lugging stuff around.  Stamina is a good thing to have handy because sometimes the making of the dream takes all day, or all week.  My cousin and I once built an underground house.  We dug a deep hole, covered it with old barn doors and dirt.  We dug a tunnel entrance and and stocked it with blankets, cooking gear, water, tools for the trail.  Because the house was our hideout, where we returned from a hard day of riding horses and fighting off all the bad guys in that part of Kansas. It took three days to build.

Its good training, being a kid.  You do not hesitate just because the dream is outlandish.  People generally encourage and even help out when they can to make the dream come true.  As kids we round up everything we can that will fill out the dreamscape.  We gather up what we need and go from there. 

Resolve

Go a gathering.  Walk and talk to yourself about your dreams.  Find out what you need both externally and internally to make it happen.  Seek help, find expertise.  Don’t give up.  Most of all be resolved.  Be resolved to know yourself, inside and out.  Know what you want.  Know how you want to proceed.  Know how to step into the visioning process, and know how to follow through.  It will take all your resolve.  Especially in the healing process.  The need to heal often puts everything right on the line.  No more time for procrastination.  Now more time for dreaming and doing nothing about it.  No more time for piggy-backing your way along using the ideas and methods of others.  Life simply will not stand for it.  Life demands we know ourselves.  it is our greatest joy.  Knowing another is truly a wonderful thing.  But knowing self is essential.  There is nothing like the feeling of your own vision unfolding, your own abilities rising to the occasion.  Your own contribution being made.  Gather your strength.  Gather your self.

We are strong beings, strong in many ways.  We have tremendous will power and force of intention.  We are concentrated, dedicated, and sometimes pigheaded.  We are determined and devoted.  That is our nature.   We have ways of gathering strength, each of us.  We know what we want and need.  We know how to feel good.  However, we also have a capacity for doubt.  Our strength, and concequently our health can be compromised by self-doubt.  The doubt can enter through many doors, some created in the past and some recently.  The doubt comes when we  begin to be ourselves, when we begin to express ourselves and pursue our dreams.  And when the doubt comes the only thing we can do that will help is to gather strength.  Not run from the doubt or try to figure it out.  The best thing is to gather strength and get ready for more expression, more pursuit of happiness. 

Sleep

Sleep to gather strength.  Use your intent.  Be clear.  Gather strength by resting the body.  You need your focus, your concentration, your muscles, bones, heart, lungs, logic, and creativity all need to be strong.  Your strength is your fuel for living.  Strength is right there ready to regenerate itself and assist in all things.  The strength is already there.  We can deliberately open up and let it gather.    Sleep when you need sleep.  Sleep and feel your renewal.  If you are not feeling better when you awaken from sleep, then you are most likely exhausting yourself with doubtful dreams.  If so, you must prepare yourself for sleep.  Gather your clarity, your direction, your intent and strength before sleep.  Relearn to daydream and deal with the doubt in your waking state.  Be deliberate.  Don’t be manipulated by doubt.  Don’t let your sleep be ruined and your energy robbed by preoccupation and anxiety. 

Walking and Talking

Take a walk and talk aloud to yourself about what you want.  Gather your strength of desire.  Be honest.  Ask yourself what you really want and answer yourself.  So much of our strength is in our desire.  Our strength of character is in our desire.  Strength of dedication and concentration is in desire.  Desire for what?  Only you can answer.  What does desire feel like?  Only you can say.  Even though desire is universal, it is uniquely individual.  That is why you take your walk alone and talk to yourself.  Get to know what it is you really care about, what you are passionate about.  Express your passion and your caring.  This is gathering strength.

Stretch Yourself

Physically stretch your body.  Reach up, down, left and right.  Stretch your muscles and joints.  Go somewhere, do something different.  Stretch your imagination, try something new.  Gather your confidence to enter the unknown.  Practice risk.  Be adventurous.  Gather your strength by reaching a little further inward.  Focus your attention on courage and determination.  Know yourself.  Know what you are capable of doing in this life.  How far you are able to go.  How you weather criticism and failure, mistakes, and mis-steps.  Talk to people.  Tell them who you are and what you want.  Speak.  Express yourself to others.  Introduce yourself to strangers.  Reach into the world and be present.  You gather strength in this way. 

Healing with Strength

Don’t be deceived.  Sickness is not about weakness.  Fatigue is not about having no energy.  We are strong by nature.  We are energetic by nature.  Healing is about reclaiming strength not about fighting or fixing weakness.  Do not focus too much on what is wrong.  Find out what is right about yourself and focus there.  Find out what restores your strength and focus there.   Healing is about returning.  Returning home.  Returning to what feels good.  Returning to our desire, our hopes and dreams.  Returning to our courage and adventure.  Once we return, once we have found our way home, and have begun walking that path home, we begin to heal deeply and fully.  Return to your nature.  Gather strength for living. 

Dr. Brodnax was a true pioneer.  And like most pioneers he couldn’t help himself.  He simply looked out on the unknown territory ahead of him and had to go.  He had the skills and confidence for the adventure and of course there was that unmistakable desire to see the wonders of life firsthand, to peer into the mystery and find new understanding.  He was also motivated by a life of helping people heal, and seeing that sometimes methods and techniques worked well, and sometimes they did not.  One thing that stuck out for him was that in chiropractic he learned that there was an innate intelligence in the body that could take care of all healing issues.  Why then did some folks have such a difficult time healing?  What was going on with their innate intelligence and ability to heal?

Poisons and Toxins

Dr. B. was convinced that the reason for the difficulties in healing had to do with an overload of poisons and toxins from our environment.  The body’s lymphatic system was designed to store toxins and leech them from the organs of the body, but we were eating, drinking, and breathing in far more poisons and toxic elements than the body was designed to handle.  He figured that if the toxins were either eliminated or neutralized in some way the body could return to taking care of its own healing in fine order.  Of course the imbalances in all the systems and organs as consequence of all these toxins had to be dealt with as well during the course of eliminating the toxins.  His knowledge and practice centered on dealing with the toxic elements, restoring balance to all systems, and removing whatever was blocking the body’s innate ability to heal.  Removing the blocks to natures healing ability will always be fundamental in the healing process, whatever the practice or technique. 

Meeting Dr. Brodnax

I met Dr. Brodnax in the summer of l980.  He had retired from his practice in Fort Scott, Kansas and moved to Grove, Oklahoma.  But he could never really retire from learning.  He had a perpetual appetite for knowledge and always had his eyes and ears tuned to new developments in the health care field.  His home office was filled with articles and books on bio-magnetics, acupuncture, shiatsu, polarity, and folk medicines.  He was truly a man on fire with learning. 

When I came along that summer I had been losing weight rapidly, not sleeping, and had allergic reactions to proteins that left me feeling like death warmed over.  I had seen physicians, had blood tests and examinations but nothing was found that seemed to help.  I was visiting my parents in Grove, and at breakfast one morning Mom suggested I visit Dr. Brodnax.  They could not explain what he did, other than he talked with the body and the body told him what was wrong and how to correct it.  I called immediately and went to see him the next day. 

Upon lying down on his table, for some reason I cannot explain, I felt totally at home.  I felt as though I was right where I needed to be and that I was about to connect with something very special.  In two weeks time I was a feeling back to my old self.  I was so impressed I wanted to learn everything I could about this body reading phenomeon. Well, he was a talker and I was listener so we hit it off wonderfully.  I went back day after day to watch him at work as he read the body and educated clients.  I took notes on everything he did.  But trying to keep up was a real chore because he worked so fast.  He was a master of the craft.  At the end of the day I would tape record our conversation - me trying to extract the details of his mastery.  Then he would invite me to join him in drinking a Dr. Pepper to top off the day.

Teaching Me to Read

Dr. B. was reluctant to have me practice without some kind of license or special degree.  He would not teach me the actual checking of the body and leg length reading until I had gone back to school and obtained an advanced degree.  So I went back to school and got a masters in educational counseling and started my own private counseling practice.

To his surprise and my disappointment the body would not talk with me, would not respond to my touch or my vocal questions.  He was stumped.  He had taught a couple of other doctors and they had no trouble.  They did not use the technique because they said it took too long.  They could not afford to spend that much time with each client.  He really wanted me to learn because I was the most interested person he knew and he wanted to pass his knowledge along before he got too old.  So, I just watched, waited, and studied. 

My Own Pioneering Adventure

I am convinced that the reason I could not Read the Body as Dr. Brodnax was instructing is because I was an adventurer myself.  Yes, I wanted to practice and start helping people heal, but even more I wanted to look deeply into the mystery and make new discovery.  In my waiting and watching I realized that even Dr. B’s methods were limited and there was more to be known.  I really did not start reading well until I started from my own point of departure using my own perspective on the healing art.  Then, I was off on my own adventure and had to hold on to my hat as I was whisked away into a whirlwind of learning. 

Everyone is a Healer

I think that my own story with Dr. B. pointed out that we all have our own adventure and our own learning that must be embraced.  Not just practitioners, but everyone has the potential to heal themselves and help others.  I also believe that nature urges and even pushes us towards this realization, and so many times it is our own illness and discomfort that does the pushing.  In my practice I am focused on this very belief:  that everyone has and can utilize their healing ability.  Furthermore I think that this is nature’s intention and has been all along.  So even if you get great results from one method or technique of healing, you will probably not continue to get those same results time after time, no matter how faithful you are in your compliance.  Nature has designed us to be learners, adventurers, inventors, and free thinkers.  We have to honor this aspect of ourselves in the healing process as well.  The pioneer spirit needs exercising.  Nature insists. 

Thank you Dr. Brodnax

Dr. B. was a true pioneer, venturing into unknown territory with the heart of a child.  He never flinched from a challenge.  Whatever the condition, no matter how severe or exotic, he met the challenge head on and worked tirelessly to understand the problem and how to correct it.  He did not let convention or opinion get in his way.  His connection was with life.  Life was having a conversation with him, telling him secrets, letting him peek into the mystery.  He worked until his death, around age 92.

Thank you Dr. B. for being a devoted student and serving others so well.  You set a precedent for excellence rooted in the joy of learning and the sharing of knowledge, which in my opinion is the foundation for the healing art.  Hats off to a great man.

Reading the Body can bring you toe to toe with the core challenges that keep you stuck in a cycle of illness, pain, or depression.  Everyone reacts a little differently to this prospect.  You may be absolutely ready and willing to address these core challenges and jump right into the healing process, or you may be a bit overwhelmed by the information and need to go slowly.  Most important is to respect yourself and your intuition.  You will know if it is the right time and if you are ready to take action. 

On average a person will have 5 to 10 sessions.  This gives you time to complete your exercises, gain deeper understanding, and return each week ready to contribute your own insights to the readings.  Your body will not only be helping you heal, but also teaching you to heal.   

Learning to Heal

The intent of the entire process is to empower the individual with their own tools and inner resources for restoring wholeness.  The world we are living in can be super stressful.  Breakdowns, meltdowns, illness, and the like are simply going to happen.  What’s important is that we learn how to keep ourselves and our families in tact, learn how to restore and regenerate well-being.  Then we can reach out with our learning and help others. 

The Pulse of Healing

I have mentioned the importance of understanding and exercise throughout my writing.  Having a good understanding of what needs to be done, and then exercising our inner resources maintains the living pulse of the healing process.  What is the pulse like?  It is a simple two-step dance of recognizing both our dreams an our courage to take action.  It is the feeling of both giving and receiving the love we crave.  It is the enjoyment of self-expression and creativity, both alone and with others.  These are the big pulses of life, and healing is about finding and enjoying them to the fullest.  They are just as important as the pulse of the heart, because they are the pulse of our being, our nature.  To be alive with the pulse of possibility, the pulse of vision and creativity, brings the body vitality and wholeness.  And truly, nothing feels better than finding your own pulse; your own unique dance of life.   

A teaching presentation, entitled The Power to Heal, is scheduled at The St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress St., Portland, Maine, on April 30th, 2008 at 7:00 pm and will last approximately one hour.  The presentation is in the theater and will include music, movement, and casual lecture with visual aids, plus a time for question and comment.  All are welcome, admission is free. 

Learning the Basics:

• How Illness Takes Hold in the Body
• How Illness is Transformed
• The Dynamic of Dreams and Action
• Intent and Partnership:  A Lifelong Journey
• The Healing Exercises:  Demonstration and Participation
• Listening to Your Body
•  

Zen Boogie Classes

If you are interested in attending a Zen Boogie Class please send name and email address.  A summer class is forming. We will learn the Healing Exercises and have a lot of fun dancing and expressing ourselves. 

Connected by a Thread

We all share the same thread of life.  We all share the same resources of life, and we all share the same Healing Intelligence.  When reading by proxy the practitioner works on the client through another person’s body.  This is possible because we all share the same Healing Intelligence.  Actually, every living thing shares the same Healing Intelligence and that is why it is possible to proxy animals through their owners, or horses through the rider.  Proxy is ideal for those living at a distance or for parents to learn about their children’s health.  There must always be a high degree of integrity and intent.  Consent is of course absolutely necessary, and the practitioner needs to have good contact and communication with the person whose body is being read. 

From a Distance

Distance is not an issue.  Wherever you are in the world a proxy is possible.  I always ask a client to gather up as much information about themselves and the history of their symptoms before we have an extended interview over the phone or by email.  The information from the reading comes from three sources:  1.  The Client.  2.  The Practitioner.  3.  Healing Intelligence.  The best readings are those wherein the client is interested and wanting to participate fully. 

Good Results

In my experience I have noted that some of the best results happen through proxy.  Perhaps this is because the client senses their need to reach out, open up, and help out as much as possible.  Willingness to take responsibility for your own healing is so very important.  The connection with Healing Intelligence becomes stronger as you rely upon yourself and make yourself fully available to opportunities of partnership. 

Everyday

As I write about healing, union, freedom, God, and other lofty and semi-sacred topics, I realize that I tend to regard them as everyday experiences.  How can the experience of God be an everyday experience?  Isn’t freedom, union, and healing the kind of experiences that only come after a lifetime of study and dedication?    For myself, I never wanted the pursuit of life’s wonder and mystery to be one long pursuit.  I always figured that if I knew the right place to dig I could find the treasure.

Digging for Treasure

As a young child a favorite activity was digging for buried treasure.  My friends and I would choose a spot that seemed hidden away, behind the woodpile, outback, somewhere on the borders of our known world, but where the earth was soft enough for digging.  Did we find treasure?  Everytime.  Even though we began with dreams of pirate treasure or the very last most important thing in the world, we soon gave over to the adventure of the dig. 

At first we were digging to get to the bottom where the treasure would be, but later realized there was no bottom.  So we began examining every shovel full of dirt, sifting and sorting every little tidbit, keeping a keen eye for that one special something.  We set aside rocks, decomposing locust shells, bottle-caps, rusty nails, grub worms, snake skins, and bits of broken glass,which brought that hint of danger that every real adventure requires.  Our conversation would eventually turn to the subject of China and how far and how long we would have to dig to get there.  Meanwhile, our collection of treasure would be growing into a substantial reality; a collection we would gather up in our dirty hands and pockets and take to our mothers(this was the 50’s).  And there on the back porch (we were ousted from the kitchen) we would recount the grand adventure of finding the place to dig, how many shovels full of dirt, almost seeing China, how exhausted we were, but still alive, and bringing home the long lost knowledge of what lay just beneath the surface of our world. 

Finding God

The purpose of digging is finding.  As children we simply accepted what was there.  Of course we did have to look closely and sift through the dirt, and we did have to use a shovel and take time to clean things off -  so we could really see what was there. 

So where is God hiding?  How and where do I dig?  What am I looking for?  Where is the shovel?

Timeless Tool

We have one tool with which to dig and that is our ability to focus our attention.  We have one place to dig, and that is within our own body and being.  Children become happy and excited when they are focused, exploring and making discovery.  Focus brings appreciation, wonder, and a unique feeling of well-being.  Our awareness, our focus of attention, itself unfolds and reveals hidden wonders.  There are feelings and insights that appear magically, right out of nowhere, just from being focused.  Every one experiences this simple phenomenon.  So here is the secret unveiled.  God, life, and all the wonderful gifts of happiness, union, freedom, and healing are to be found with the tool of your own focused awareness, in that patch of ground right in your own backyard.  That is just the simple truth.  

Find Your Focus

Ask yourself what you want.  Pay attention to that nagging little feeling that insists on finding buried treasure.  Follow the thread of your own wanting.  It may lead you to the borders of your known world, where that hidden treasure, the very last most important thing in the world is buried.  Dig there.