It’s been awhile since I blogged.  My last post was in May!  Incredible how a few days away from writing can stretch into months.

In the intervening months, life has happened.  Children have married. Grandchildren have arrived. I traveled for the first time in Europe. I’ve taken lots of training. I reopened my practice of psychotherapy in Parkersburg, WV and have been very busy seeing clients.

And it also seems that during the last six months I’ve pursued a number of promising career options that have come to dead ends.

What exactly does the creative person DO when her walk through the maze of life starts to feel less like an adventure and more like an experience of being lost?

For awhile, feeling a little anxious and frustrated, I just kept trying new pathways.  Result? More dead ends.

So for now, I’m doing what, in my heart, I KNOW is always really best to DO when wisdom has become hard to hear. Stay still. Listen with deeper attention. Turn to the place of “no thought.”

So far, the only whisper I’ve heard is “write.” So here I am. 

“No thought” is really such a wonderful experience. Put the clutch in. Disengage the thinking gears. Stay in neutral. Idle.  Inevitably what I experience is presence....a sweet awareness of the now, the moment I’m in. And always, a sensation of love and wonder, seasoned with gratitude.

Trouble is, my brain tends to want to slip into gear and sometimes, before I know it, I’m back in overdrive....analyzing and worrying rather than listening and creating.

All I know to do when brain autopilot occurs is to re-engage neutral once more.

Why bother?  Because the relaxed, calm feeling of being in “no thought” is SO much gentler and nicer than the tight tension of over-thinking… and, in the end, so much more productive.

I find blogging is a great way to put my thoughts in order.

I love that neutral gear. I just spent 10 days with 5 grandchildren while their parents (my duaghter and her husband) went to Hawaii. My husband was there to help, but I found myself getting more and more tense as I tried to meet their needs and do everything the way they would have done it.
After the second day of home-schooling, running the youngest to speech therapy, feeding them the food they like, and finally getting them all into bed, I said to my husband, “I am not doing well. I don’t get it. I love these kids.”
Very gently he said, “Can I give you a suggestion?” I said, “Please do.” “Why don’t you just relax? We’re not going to do everything exactly the way they would and for one week that really isn’t going to matter all that much. We just need to love them and take care of them.”
I took his advice, relaxed my mind and let wisdom flow. I had a wonderful rest of the week and so did they. I was no longer exhausted every night and had some energy left over to play games with them and have a tea party with home-made cookies.

Hi Doris --

What a wonderful reminder about the power of relaxing and being in the moment! I imagine it is far more likely that your grandchildren will remember “tea and cookies with grandma” than “life as usual.” What a gift you are to them!

I had a wonderful conversation about consciousness with Elsie Spittle that seems to have had quite an impact.  I find myself being more aware of “no thought neutral” and able to notice more when inspiration arrives.  Life is more peaceful in that zone!

Thank you for taking the time to comment!  I invite you to be a guest blogger any time!

warmly, Linda

I like that - “no thought neutral”! I would like to live there more and hear more often and more profoundly wisdom’s voice instead of my own old messages. Perhaps reminding myself it is there, and that it is possible to live there more often, will increase my awareness of it. We truly are awesome in our ability to connect to the Divine Oneness of life, and in that to be set free of our own non-helpful modes of thinking. How powerful we become then to create LOVE in the world. I got more hugs after I relaxed.

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