Light Archives - Page 2 of 3 -

You Open Me

By Simone Lipscomb | May 10, 2017

The Gulf has been calling me lately and so my cycling mornings have included a visit to Her as the sun rises over the sugar-white sand dunes. This morning on my journey to Her, a song came on my playlist that took me deeper into the magic of the morning.

“So sublime, this meeting, you and I. So beautiful that sparkle in your eye.” Just as I passed a freshwater canal leading to the big lake in the state park the sparkle of the Divine reflected off of the water’s surface. I stopped to take in the moment and breathe deeply with Her.

“I see you. You see me. Makes me realize how tragically rare and wonderful is this scene. I treasure this moment however long. It’s teaching me maybe I don’t need to be so strong….You open me….You open me….You open me.”

As I continued listening and humming along, my heart opened and tears came. How precious is this moment….this time in relationship with Mother Earth, the physical expression of the Divine. I broke open. The thought came, we never really know how much we love someone until they are gone from our lives. And then…we never really know how much we love this planet until it begins to die….bit by beautiful bit.

Over the boardwalk my tires thumped until I reached the beach. Metallic turquoise water and soft, pink skies reached out to me and I laughed out loud at the sacred beauty.

“I love that you are a being, magically. It’s so lonely sometimes being me. It’s what we all wish for and need. So precious this moment, to be seen….devastatingly beautiful….humanity. You open me…you open me…..you open me.”

I pushed the replay button and stood feeling the cool air kissing me as the music played. “I treasure this moment however long. It’s teaching me maybe I don’t need to be so strong.” And as I sang along, two dolphins appeared within a few feet of the shoreline. I walked my bike on the soft sand to the water’s edge and stood laughing with unbounded joy as the dolphins continued feeding a bit further offshore.

As I clapped and sang my gratitude they jumped completely out of the water three times. “You open me…you open me…you open me. Sita ram….sita ram….sita ram.”

Sita ram is a mantra that invokes the energy of the divine couple, a perfect balance of masculine and feminine energy, a balance of the left and right sides of the brain. As I stood watching the dolphins swim west, I found deep calm and balance as I opened to Mother Ocean, Mother Earth and the sacred dance we share.

You Open Me…a lovely song by Jim Beckwith performed by him and Hans Christian that helps me open to the magnificent beauty of our Ocean Planet….and the light that shines through all willing to be a channel.

Waiting for Light

By Simone Lipscomb | July 17, 2016

I was seated on my mat waiting for class to begin. Behind me I heard a voice whisper, “I love you, Simone.” That’s when I began to come out from under a cloud. I turned around and gave Caitlyn a quick hug. “Thank you,” I whispered back. Finally, breath returned as I inhaled deeply and refocused on the yoga instructor.

The past few weeks have been heavy with hate. From Orlando to Minnesota, Louisiana, Texas, Iraq, France….the killing, bombing, acts of hate built up a dark cloud that felt smothering. It didn’t help that I was bullied and learned what it felt like for hate and meanness to be directed at me during this time. I came away from the situation with more compassion and understanding for those who are hated…for any reason but perhaps something like their skin color, who they love, their religion, their gender…education level….size of bank account….species… every day I went out on my back porch and sat in the hammock swing under the shade of a grandmother oak tree and stared into a lush courtyard. How can hate be so rampant? What are we doing to ourselves, each other…the planet?

Times like these are when my choice to be single really weighs heavy on me. This is when I want a man’s strong arms to embrace me and tell me it will be okay or if it’s not, at least I have someone to share the pain and grief of a world gone psycho. When the world is imploding on itself is when I most want companionship…not to fix the insanity of the world but to help me keep from slipping into the dark hole with so many others.

Toward the end of the week I was struggling. My self-talk was getting progressively more negative and I was quickly slipping into old behaviors of self-doubt and admittedly…self-hate. I mean, everyone else is doing it….

The cloud began to lift on the way to yoga class. A rainbow appeared in the sky. Rainbows have been very prominent in my life over the past few years, especially when a message is trying to come through. Then in class my friend reminded me there is love in the world amid hate. Then this morning’s sea turtle beach patrol brought more peace.

The darling dog boy awakened me at 3.15am. My alarm was set for 4.30 so going back to sleep wasn’t an option. I quickly jotted down a couple of dreams, fed the critters and then headed to the beach. It was far too early to begin walking the patrol section but the need to connect with the Gulf was great.

In yesterday’s meditation I saw, in my mind’s eye, a man holding my hands and then placing them on the white sand of the beach and then standing beside me as I knelt in surrender. When I arrived over 45 minutes before sunrise the beach was far too dark to see turtle tracks or nests I had to check. So I stood and then knelt and placed my hands on the sand and surrendered.

Waiting for light…what a perfectly timed teaching to receive. How agonizing it is to wait for change….of self, others, the world…in those dark moments before the light returns fear can grasp the strongest mind and heart.

The street light in the distance was brilliant as I stood in near complete darkness at the water’s edge. One light can illuminate such a large area. And the sun…well, that can illuminate massive areas of our Ocean planet. Like the beach this morning….every small bit of light increased my range of sight. Yesterday’s mediation reminded me to focus on light and love every time doubts, fears and grief surfaced.

As the light grew, moment-by-moment, peace returned to my mind and heart. As I began walking, a chant arose. Peace to you, brothers and sisters, peace to you. Love to you, brothers and sisters, love to you. Joy to you, brothers and sisters, joy to you. To every gull, tern, ghost crab, great blue heron, dolphin, shark, human…Peace to you.

At one point I looked out over the Gulf and saw a very high blow from a cetacean…too big for a dolphin. Who then? I glanced behind me and there was a cloud forming a big okay symbol, like a hand. That brought a smile. And then the large rainbow as I neared home brought even more peace.

During this time where hate is being exposed, where the insanity of darkness seems to fuel hate, it’s important to let nature heal our hearts and minds. And it’s a time to join together in harmony and love and build upon peace by living it with those ready and willing to be in that space with us.

I See the Light in You

By Simone Lipscomb | July 11, 2015

The mind is a powerful tool. Many times we forget how our thoughts, especially thoughts charged with emotion, can affect our lives and the lives of others. If we pause and simply monitor our thoughts we might be surprised at how much negativity we put out into the world.

Usually it’s subtle. It’s not the angry rants that lie just beneath the surface, sending out energy that is harmful. Those are relatively easy to see. It’s those very subtle thoughts that lie in the shadows, avoiding conscious attention yet almost imperceivably going out into the world to cause harm.

During the Gulf Oil Spill I discovered that I had very serious hatred of BP and Halliburton. As I walked the miles of oil-coated beaches, my eyes and nose burning from crude oil chemicals and dispersant, I seethed in anger and rage. Finally, I stopped and realized how harmful this was to my own well-being and realized the energy I was putting out into the world was incredibly harmful and offered no solution to the problem.

So one day in meditation, I imagined a huge table. Executives from BP and Halliburton were seated around it and I saw myself there with them. I looked each person in the eye and said, “You are my brother” or “You are my sister.” I saw that they were human, capable of mistakes. It brought much-needed peace to me.

As I monitor my thoughts, I seek those subtle, sneaky bits of messages that tend to repeat in my mind and especially look for those charged with emotion. It’s amazing what can be found lurking in the shadows of our minds. Oddly enough, we might discover that our emotionally-charged, negative thoughts about others help to create the situation in which we feel wounded.

Given this realization, what can we do?

The great hurdle is realizing our own role in creating the situation. One way to promote healing is to offer the simple practice of seeing light in others.

For example, as I worked out on the elliptical trainer today I listened to meditative music and imagined myself telling someone from my past what I admired about them. I reflected to them their beauty. Thirty minutes was spent directing positive energy toward this person. It felt as if a window was being washed, so the person could be seen clearly.

Hours later, asI sat to do my daily mediation, I had in my hand a fossilized whale ear bone this person had given me. As I went to stand up I put pressure on the stone and it broke. How can I fossilized bone that turned to stone break? It felt like a significant and great mystery was being shown. Perhaps things we think are hardened like stone need to break open so the wounds can heal.

Seeing the light in others is not always easy. In the relentless assaults on Mother Earth and all Her creatures it is especially difficult to find light in the perpetrators. Yet if we can’t imagine there is light in the darkest heart, how can we ever have hope?

To those whom we love the most, we must forgive ourselves when we project negative opinions to them and be a mirror that shines the bright light of their highest self to them. And we must have the courage to see the light within ourselves, which is perhaps the most difficult task of all.

I Stopped Trying to Save the World Today

By Simone Lipscomb | July 1, 2014

Solstice. Sunrise. Sunset. Moon. Stars. Inky blackness in a space vacuum pierced by pinpoints of light.

Cosmic glue. Love. Source. Spirit. Animation of matter through particles of light.

Heart and mind open, light sparkles through eyes and aura.

Light, mist of Love manifested in physical. Light and love, same expression of the Mystery, the Unnamable.

Defining It lessens It and contorts It into our image.

Light came from Dreamland with me this day–a flower opening, a single ray of light from the sun…smile of a friend after a belly laugh slurped from the same straw.

Today I stopped trying to save the world. Now there is only laughter and beauty. Outrageous laughter. Delicious beauty.

Stopped pushing, began allowing. Profound peace is at home within me. And now….everything is possible.

Light of the Soul

By Simone Lipscomb | January 31, 2014

Seeing the light of a person’s soul is one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever known. He had a wide open heart and unbounded love shining forth for me and I had an open heart and mind to receive it. To know love as given through an open heart can be rare, but it need not be.

While it wasn’t a forever relationship for me, the love generated from it lives on strongly in my heart. And I continue to be grateful.

As humans we have moments of allowing our light to shine and other moments when fear takes over and creates a cloak around the light. It can be scary to be open if others are changing around us. When life events create change, the temptation is to withdraw and not risk being open, not risk being vulnerable. That’s when all our filters kick in and we see the world through our wounds instead of with the eyes of spirit. Every person alive has most likely experienced this.

Last week a three hour lunch with a friend produced pages of notes as we bounced ideas off of each other about how to make a difference, how to be a positive force. One of us chewed food while the other spoke…all the while the chewer listened and allowed inspiration to come forth. Then we switched roles. Both of us have experienced frustration in our life’s path and the direction we feel guided. What came from that meeting was the simple idea of allowing love to move through us and open the way. An answer for all?

I find that when I become fearful, I get tense. As I tense my body, my thoughts follow and I feel smaller. And then…love is struggling to shine through the tiny cracks of space left open in my heart. But when I relax my body, my mind relaxes and then my heart opens and there is room for love. Or maybe the mind is first…or maybe the heart. But somehow the mind, body and spirit all work together to create an expansive and open heart. Or one that is shut down. The choice is ours.

As I have worked to move forward in life, I have struggled to understand why my heart keeps returning to that relationship. After months of no contact, my heart still feels the love. Clarity arrived as I finally realized that seeing the light of his soul changed my life for the better. Knowing the light of another’s heart was profound and I’ll not settle for anything less in relationship. But I also understand that maintaing that kind of openness takes a lot of work. And it begins with me. To find others whose hearts are open requires that mine be open. And it requires that I am willing to be vulnerable.

Each of us has the capacity to allow our light to shine. We have choice. When we live more open to love, love becomes the reality, the expectation…the way of being. As we are grounded in love, determined to stay open, we must be disciplined for it is easy to close down, to hide. But love is what will sustain us..not our fears or our anger. Love generates both urgency and patience. As we intend to live love, love changes our reality.

I have tried anger and frustration and impatience. I have tried to force change…but none of that ever works. Only through softening…and opening…and embracing light and love has my life shifted, has my vision cleared.

Love has known me. Light of another’s soul has touched me. That isn’t something I want to forget…ever. This is how we are designed to live.

May we collectively shed the cloaks of anger, hatred, frustration, hurt…. the past….and be willing to show the light of the soul to all.