What You Don't Own- Owns You

Does it ever seem like some unseen/ often unknown force is driving you down the path of your life and you have little to no control over it's influence? How many ways can you answer yes to that?

I think I know that there is much that is external to me that I cannot control, and have seemingly less than no influence over. I also know that Science is beginning to prove that the beat of a butterfly's wings in Brazil has an effect on events a half world away, so my inability to directly observe the effects of my conduct in any given circumstance does not eliminate either the impact of that behavior, nor my responsibility. "Mitake-Oyasin" - Everything is Related.

For the moment, however, I am writing about a landscape closer to home, namely the internal landscape. I am addressing that phenomenon of the internal drive that seems to be beyond our personal awareness, and yet we feel it pushing us into behaviors and patterns of thought or action with consequences both seemingly harmless and harmful.

How the hell does that happen?

Here is what I have found so far.

I have been saturated with ideas and input from a time prior to even being able to assign language and concepts to this input. I may have even brought some along some ideas and concepts with me when I was born, if you can relate to that whole "karma/continuum of Spirit-Energy" sort of thing.

The reactions I have observed, exhibited, and experienced with respect to all those ideas and concepts have provoked within me behaviors that at the time seemed like the best path to fulfillment of some basic hierarchy of needs stuff, like safety, acceptance, and identity.

Then, I kept repeating those behaviors. I did this for so long, and so often, that they became what I call "quasi-autonomic" - meaning they seemed like they were just always there, like breathing.

"That's just how I'm wired". "I've always been that way". Nice escape routes, but quite possibly just blatant self justification, especially if harm was involved.

Enough of this behavior piles up and it's suddenly like your life has gotten away from you and there you stand amidst the wreckage, a victim of your own sleepwalking.

Good News. Once you see this, you can own it. These "quasi-autonomic" responses are just that...quasi. They can be called out for what they are, and they can yield the floor of your Life to new behaviors that clear away the wreckage. You have to own this stuff though, or it owns you.
So start digging. Get a helper if you need it in the form of a therapist, or a spiritual mentor, or a trusted guide who has owned their own Life.  It's often hard to spot these kind of things without an outside perspective.

It may be childhood wounds, that's a common incubation point for all those "quasi-autonomic" reactions. It may be other things collected along the trail so far, however far back you think that trail may have originated.

None of that matters. All that matters is the freedom and healing that comes from owning who you are and how you got here. It's not "about" whose fault it is. It's "about" ownership, reclamation, restitution where harm has been done, and forgiveness where harm has been visited upon you.

Own Your Journey.

Then, when the Butterfly that is the authentic you beats it's wings, halfway around the world another Spirit will hear the call to healing.

Walk In Beauty.
WES
(Written on a plane flight from Denver to Austin on 5/31/13)

OWN IT

What you don't own about yourself, owns you....more to come on this topic soon

Practuality- a "Wesism"

Practuality

I have met more than a few people in my life who have a real problem with the notion of Spirituality. Some of them struggle with religious concepts and their perceptions of the "gap" they see between the teachings and the doings. Others prefer to separate their definitions of Spirituality and Religion in order to be more at ease with one or the other, or both.

Then there is that group of people who steadfastly refuse to embrace either term, in definition or in practice. What do they do when their lives run aground on the shorelines of Self? Refuting all manner of Spirituality or Religion, where do they go to expand their life's purpose beyond the pursuit of only those goals that serve to reward them personally without regard for others?

Many of them do find meaning outside the definitions of spirituality and religion. They ascribe to a path that offers no Deity or Higher Power. Yet they often find greater, or higher, purpose.  I am going to refer to this as the practice of Practuality. While it is neither religious in nature or steeped in some defined spirituality, it is a way of behaving that reflects many of the behavioral tenets of Spiritual practice, yet eschews any acknowledgement of a divinity or unifying Spiritual force. It' s sort of a "Spirituality for Non- Believers". Because of the many real and tangible benefits of their behavior, there is a profound practicality and reward to their lifestyle. So I call this Practuality. 

Practitioners of real Practuality exhibit many of these traits: Compassion, kindness, tolerance, charity, service to others, empathy, curiosity, pragmatic skepticism, and persistence. All of these things can also be found amongst the practicing spiritualist or religious devotee. There is so much common ground it seems insane that we witness the levels of intolerance that often seem to arise among these groups. Yet this intolerance occurs and often escalates to the level of emotional and even physical hostility. The beauty of the shared intent, which is to help this world become a little safer and healthier place, is obscured by the passion committed to the perceived source of the inspiration of that intent. A misguided and unnecessary need to defend a position often arises from this passion; a passion which could be so much better spent in service to the behavioral ideals that need to be lived to the betterment of all. 

Carl Jung observed that at some point in every human's life there begins a search for true meaning. This meaning is almost always found in the expansion of one's personal focus onto an awareness and relationship with a greater world than one's own personal agenda of acquisition, comfort, and companionship. It is an essential ingredient in what is fundamentally Maturity. To arrive at this point of "growing up" is to confront the process by which this awareness is to be recognized, deepened, and manifested. 

If that process entails a specific doctrine called a Religion, and no harm is done to others in its practice while many are helped, it is a blessing to all. Should a person be called to a connection with a Higher Power, outside the conscription of established religious order, and call that their Spirituality, may that journey be a gift to the traveler and all whom they cross paths with along the way. If our individual wandering through the human sojourn looks into the heavens and sees only the blackness of whirling atoms, yet embraces the very tangible benefits of compassion and service to a community greater than themselves, let us all celebrate the profoundly sensible nature of their Practuality.

Perhaps then the net result of these actions will be to embrace the intent of healing. Healing ourselves, healing our communities, and healing this grand little biological experiment called Earth along with it's inhabitants.  

In the end, nothing could be more Practical.

Wes Hamil 4/26/13 written while flying to Reno, NV

The GiveAway- originally posted on the Gratitude and Trust Blogsite

The GiveAway

There is a Native American teaching that reflects trust and gratitude in a pronounced yet simple way. It is called The GiveAway. I came to learn about this teaching when I stumbled by divine accident into this particular path to Spirit over 20 years ago, and began my journey from apprentice to Sundancer with a Shoshone-Bannock Elder many years later. This path to Spirit is often referred to as Walking the Red Road.

The teaching of the GiveAway is as simple as the name implies. Each of us has a gift that is inherent within us that is meant to be shared with others. The act of giving that gift away will change our lives in ways both subtle and profound. Finding that gift requires Trust, and Giving that gift inspires Gratitude as we see our lives fill with meaning, a sense of belonging, and an inner contentment that transcends whatever circumstances we may find ourselves confronting at any point in our lives.

I am have a specific example of the GiveAway to share. In the process of recovery from addiction that I have lived now for over two decades, I was taught I had to "give it away to keep it". This meant that I needed to take whatever I had accumulated in the experience of living sober- and hopefully sane- and pass it along to anyone expressing  a sincere desire to live free of their addictions as well. As I began to do this I not only became more secure in my experience of recovery, but I began to grow a true sense of usefulness derived from participating in the recovery and healing of others. This simple act of giving what I had been given formed the basis of a Spiritual design for living.

This design soon began to extend far beyond the confines of the recovery world. It is critical that it must, because the world of spiritual healing and growth has to be more than "Situational Spirituality", it has to be practical and meaningful in all areas of life to be truly useful.

Simply put, the underlying shift in my relationship to the world around me became this: Instead of "what's in it FOR me?", my life became focused on "what's in it FROM me?"

This change requires Trust. A Trust in the divine abundance of Creation that in the Giving Away of my talents, my compassion, my hope, my authenticity, I will find my needs met and my heart filled. This runs contrary to the constant drumbeat around us all to acquire, possess and control. Yet as I practice the GiveAway of whatever I have to offer to the moment, or the day, or the project- whatever the outcome- I experience the Gratitude that comes with the freedom of release from the chronic worry of "getting my share". This has been replaced with the inner contentment of knowing I have contributed something to the day, and I find invariably that my material as well as my emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs are met.

I have found that people are drawn to those who have a sincere desire to be useful and contribute. In this usefulness, this giving away of the resources of Spirit that I have been given, so much opportunity for fulfillment appears.

So, what will be your "give-away"? It can be simple, there is no mandate as to the scale of the giving. You can start with a kind word, an act of patience, a favor for a friend or a stranger.  As you walk down the road of the GiveAway, you will find your life filling with meaning and a freedom that you will not only come to trust, you will also be so grateful to be experiencing as you connect to the world around you and see your usefulness and value reflected in the moments you contribute to. As you practice your GiveAway, you  will find those things that are most sacred to you rising within your Spirit to be expressed, and live in the true purpose of what you came to this Life with to share.

There is another teaching from the Red Road I will leave you with. It is taught that when we find ourselves in perfect balance between our emotions and our intellect, between our physical and spiritual selves, we are at that moment in a place of Beauty. With that teaching in mind, my GiveAway to you is the following blessing:

As you live your GiveAway, in Trust and in Gratitude, may you always Walk In Beauty.


Wes Hamil is an entrepreneur who has founded numerous companies, a musician whose work appears on disc and in feature films and an author whose book "White Man Red Road" can be found on iBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many other e-tailers in both text only and multi-media format.

 

Wesdom- The Pun's on me....

There is a friend of mine who will occasionally call me up and ask for what he calls "Wesdom". I think this is hilarious because anyone who knows me knows I am not fond of the trend towards the countless  self appointed "gurus" springing up for all manner of life situations, and have long felt that sacred cows make the best barbeque. 

This is not to minimize many gifted folks in the world who have sincere desire to be useful to those in need. Those people certainly deserve a shot at making a living also. I think it's usually pretty easy to separate those types of people from the relentlessly self aggrandizing hucksters who traffic in self-help and spirituality with the intent of serving themselves before serving others. I have known more than a few truly devoted humans who live in Love and Service, and they will likely die in obscurity with the soul comfort of knowing they truly put back in at least as much if not more than they took out, and were helpful along the way. Occasionally a few of the genuine article end up on a movie or television screen and even on a local bookstore shelf. I have known a few of those also. All I'm saying is most of us know BS when we see it or hear it, so we need to trust that.

"Wesdom" is like a sharp stick in my side to steer clear of my own BS as much as possible when I am being asked to be helpful. If there is any value in what I have to offer it would have to derive from my own journey through broken"ness", which qualifies me as no expert on anything other than my own story, and even then there may be some "gaps". Being Authentic seems like a reasonable if occasionally difficult standard to strive for in this endeavor.

I have a sincere desire to be useful in an appropriate fashion. That's pretty vague, and purposefully so. I need a little wriggle room so I can be helpful in a variety of situations. Sometimes the best help I can offer is to say "I am clueless, you better find someone else to help on that one". Other times I can be a veritable  fountain of "Wesdom". 

So welcome to this blog. If you find Wisdom on here it might be a typo. It's most likely Wesdom. However, there just might be some cool moments. We will find out together. It's kinda like finding that great place to eat on a road trip and then telling all your friends about it. Of course, it helps the metaphor if your amigos are headed down similar roads or at least in same relative direction, but let's not get too picky. It's a blog site....not the Dead Sea Scrolls...or Rand McNally for that matter.

In the meantime, have a good day/night/moment/"pick your interval of time measurement". We will shake the Spiritual Couch Cushions and see what loose change we find. Lots of love to everybody and as always...

Walk In Beauty.

Walk In Beauty....if you are not sure what that means, check back here and I will go into greater detail in future posts. Until then, use your imagination........