Tag: mindfulness

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Completeness and Perfection

completeness and perfection

We all long for completeness and perfection to some extent. Every human being on the planet has also experienced occasional feelings of shame, guilt, blame, or inferiority. Such feelings are a natural part of the human condition. They are the source of many of the problems we experience with our relationships, careers, spiritual endeavors, and day-to-day living.

As human beings, we’re conditioned to disown certain parts of ourselves. We don’t like to admit our feelings of shame or guilt, because doing so might mean that we are less than perfect. But how do we define “completeness and perfection?”

Try this sometime. Ask three of your closest friends or family members what their idea of the “perfect day” is. I’m willing to bet you’ll get at least three different answers. So if you do get three different answers to the question, “Describe your perfect day,” what does “completeness and perfection” really mean?

The obvious answer to this is that the term “perfect” is defined by the individual. This means that your idea of completeness and perfection might be completely different from my own. Each of us is in charge of defining what “perfect” means to us.

The good news about this is that if “completeness and perfection” are self-defined, and if my own personal idea of what “perfect” means is causing me stress, then I am free to change it at any time. The way to do this is to realize that all of us have feelings of depression, stress, or anxiety from time to time. All of us fail to live up to our own expectations for ourselves from time to time. We all have our moments of self-doubt. When this happens, we may choose to beat ourselves up for failing to be “perfect,” or we may choose to realize that as human beings, failing to be “perfect” is a natural part of existence.

By learning to love ourselves “warts and all,” we learn the art of radical acceptance of the True Self.

The psychotherapist Carl Jung believed that all human beings contain within them the potential for all behaviors, both “good” and “bad.” According to Jung, the Persona is the mask we wear in our everyday lives. It is the face we present to others. The Persona represents who we think we are, and who we would like to be. The Shadow, on the other hand, represents all those traits we wish to suppress in ourselves. All our anger, fears, and negative emotions and behaviors are pushed down into the unconscious world of the Shadow and denied expression in the Persona.

Jung believed that the key to mental health was a process called individuation. Individuation involves striking a balance between the Shadow and the Persona. The Shadow represents the forces of chaos and darkness within an individual, and the Persona represents the forces of order and light.

While the Shadow contains all of our darker and more negative emotions, it is also the seat of creativity. To deny the existence of one’s Shadow is to deny one’s own ability to be creative. However, allowing the Shadow to rule one’s life creates a situation where the individual is ruled by the forces of chaos and darkness. Jung saw psychoanalysis as the process by which we balance light and darkness within ourselves, thus achieving individuation.

Some moral, religious, and ethical systems try to deny the existence of our darker impulses. These systems focus solely on the Persona. This is the face we present to others. The more such systems of thought and belief suppress the darker impulses in the Shadow, the more unbalanced the individual becomes. In such a case, the Shadow becomes a pressure cooker with no means to release the pressure. In extreme cases, the pressure cooker blows, leading to dysfunction and even psychosis.

Ecospirituality recognizes the need to balance Persona and Shadow. By acknowledging our darker impulses, we open the door to creating this balance, leading to individuation. Many people think that acknowledging our darker impulses means having to act on these impulses. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is one of the misconceptions people often have in their quest for completeness and perfection.

Suppose someone has done something that leads you to be angry with that person. Your first impulse might be the desire to retaliate in some way by returning anger for anger, or by hurting that individual in some way. Those who focus only on the Persona would attempt to suppress and deny this impulse, even though the desire to retaliate is a perfectly normal reaction to being angered. The angrier such a person becomes, the more he tries to suppress that anger until he reaches boiling point and reacts explosively to the situation.

In Ecospirituality, we seek to restore balance by acknowledging this impulse. Instead of swallowing our anger, we would recognize it as a darker impulse. But instead of returning anger for anger, we strive to express that anger in positive ways; perhaps by confronting the source of the anger and saying to the person, “You know, I really felt angry when you _. I don’t want to be angry with you. What can we do to resolve this situation?”

In this way, we are able to acknowledge the anger in constructive, rather than destructive, ways. The anger itself is not “bad;” it is merely a catalyst. It’s up to us to choose what to do with it. Expressing anger in positive ways is one way to achieve completeness and perfection.

When we are able to master this, we will come to the realization that completeness and perfection are self-defined, and since we’re the ones doing the defining, then we get to say when we’ve achieved it.

Share Your Thoughts on Completeness and Perfection!

What do completeness and perfection mean to you? Are you able to define the terms for yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Healthcare Death Panels: When Saving Money Became More Important Than Saving Lives

grief

Insurance companies are the real healthcare death panels. In 2020, after years of serving as a mental health professional, I made the heartbreaking decision to retire from counseling and therapy. I didn’t leave because I no longer cared for my patients or because the work had grown too difficult. I left because insurance companies were actively prioritizing profit over people—refusing to pay for life-saving medications that my patients desperately needed. The ethical weight of this reality became unbearable, as I found myself no longer preparing my patients for healing but instead preparing them for death.

This is the story of how a system that was meant to protect lives betrayed my patients, my profession, and my hope for a better future. It is also a story about why insurance death panels are driving health care professionals out of the profession.

Health Care Should Be About Saving Lives not about Death Panels

As a mental health professional, I spent years working with individuals who struggled with severe depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other life-altering mental illnesses. Many of these conditions are not just debilitating—they can be life-threatening. Effective treatment often requires a multi-pronged approach: therapy, lifestyle adjustments, and, in many cases, life-saving medications. Since I worked in a medical clinic, I also saw patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease that required medication to keep them alive. At first, I saw them because they had anxiety over how they were going to afford their medications. As the greed of the healthcare death panels grew, eventually I started seeing these people for depression because they could no longer afford their medications and they knew they were going to die.

These medications are not optional. They’re not a luxury. For many of my patients, medications such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics were the only things keeping them alive—keeping them from succumbing to the darkness of their illnesses. For my patients with diabetes or other chronic ailments, medications like insulin kept them alive.

But the insurance death panels didn’t see it that way.

Insurance Companies: The REAL Death Panels

Over the years, I watched in frustration as insurance companies consistently denied coverage for essential medications. The process was infuriatingly familiar:

  1. Doctors and therapists recommend a specific treatment plan tailored to the patient’s needs.
  2. The insurance company’s death panel rejects it.
  3. Appeals are made. Hours are spent on paperwork and phone calls. Precious time that could have been better used for patient care is wasted.
  4. Patients are left in limbo, unable to afford the medications they need to survive, denied yet again by the healthcare death panels.

This wasn’t just bureaucracy—it was a death sentence. Many patients couldn’t wait weeks or months for approvals that might never come. They were living day-to-day, fighting to keep their chronic illness from consuming them. And yet, to the insurance death panels, their lives were reduced to dollar signs and cost-benefit analyses.

My Job Became Preparing Patients for Death

healthcare death panels when saving money becomes more important than saving lives

In my last few years in the profession, I began to notice a grim shift in my role as a therapist. Instead of helping patients work toward a brighter future, I found myself preparing them for an unavoidable end.

  • Patients who couldn’t get their medications began losing hope.
  • Therapy alone wasn’t enough to keep their suicidal thoughts at bay.
  • They would ask me questions like, “What happens if I don’t wake up tomorrow?” or “What do I tell my family when I’m gone?”

I tried to hold space for their pain, but it felt like shouting into the void. I could no longer offer solutions because the system had taken them away. I had to prepare my patients for the unimaginable—for the reality that their lives weren’t deemed worth saving because saving money was more important.

This was not why I became a mental health professional.

A Broken System That Costs Lives

Insurance companies are supposed to make healthcare accessible. Instead, they’ve become gatekeepers that stand between patients and their right to live healthy, fulfilling lives. While insurance executives enjoy multi-million-dollar salaries, real people are left to suffer, deteriorate, and die.

Mental illness is already stigmatized enough. Patients often have to summon immense courage just to ask for help. To then be turned away because insurance won’t cover the cost of their care—it’s cruel and inhumane.

The consequences of these decisions are real:

  • Patients left untreated face higher rates of hospitalization, incarceration, and suicide.
  • Families are shattered by preventable losses.
  • Mental health professionals are left burnt out, demoralized, and hopeless.

This isn’t just a failure of healthcare—it’s a moral failing of our society. If we judge our society by how we treat our most vulnerable members, what does this say about America?

Why I Had to Walk Away

Retiring in 2020 was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. I loved my work. I loved my patients. However, I could no longer reconcile my role within a system that failed to value human life. Every denied prescription, every preventable death, chipped away at my faith in a profession I once believed could change lives for the better.

My decision to retire was not about giving up—it was about refusing to be complicit in a system that prioritizes profit over people. I couldn’t continue to watch patients die when I knew that their lives could have been saved.

We Deserve Better

Mental health care is healthcare. Full stop. And healthcare is a human right. No one should have to beg for the medications they need to survive. No one should lose their life because an insurance company decided they weren’t worth the cost.

If we want to create real change, we need to hold insurance companies accountable. We need to advocate for reforms that put patients first—not profits. And we need to treat mental health with the same urgency and compassion that we give to physical health.

Final Thoughts on Insurance Death Panels

To those still fighting within the system—patients, families, and fellow mental health professionals—know that your work matters. Your lives matter. You are not alone in this fight.

I may have retired, but I will never stop speaking out against the injustices I witnessed. I hope that by sharing my story, we can shine a light on the system’s brokenness and inspire meaningful change because saving lives must always come before saving money.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, don’t hesitate to seek help. Resources exist, and your life is worth fighting for.

Share Your Thoughts about Insurance Death Panels!

What do you think? Have you ever been denied lifesaving medications or care by an insurance death panel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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New Hosting Service Coming Soon!

New hosting service coming soon

The Mindful Ecotherapy Center, LLC is excited to announce a significant change that will enhance the overall experience of our clients and students: we are switching to a new hosting service. This decision marks an important step toward ensuring the quality, security, and reliability of our online courses and other digital offerings. In today’s increasingly online world, the platforms we use to deliver content are as important as the content itself, and we believe this transition will benefit everyone who interacts with our services.

Why We’re Making the Change

The primary reason for switching hosting providers is to improve the quality of our clients’ online experience. As our center has grown, so has our community of users who rely on our courses and resources for professional development, personal growth, and continuing education. While our previous hosting service served us well for many years, we began to notice some challenges as our client base expanded. Some of you may have experienced difficulties logging in or difficulties downloading materials. With our new hosting service such difficulties should be a thing of the past.

Increased Demand on the Platform

Our online courses, webinars, and digital products have seen a significant rise in demand, with more students enrolling each year. This rapid growth placed increased pressure on our existing hosting infrastructure, resulting in slower load times and occasional technical glitches. As we strive to provide a smooth, stress-free learning environment, we knew we needed a more robust hosting service to keep up with the increasing demand.

Security Concerns

In the age of cyber threats, ensuring the security of our clients’ data is paramount. Although we pride ourselves on the fact that since we were founded in 2007 we’ve never had a security breach, our new hosting service will provide extra security. Our former hosting platform was secure, but we realized the need for more advanced protection as new security risks emerged. Sensitive information, such as client login details, payment data, and personal progress reports, must be protected with the latest security protocols. The new hosting service will offer enhanced encryption and additional security layers, ensuring that all transactions and personal data are as safe as possible.

Technical Support and Reliability

Reliable and efficient technical support is essential, especially when our students depend on us for timely assistance during their learning journeys. Although our previous hosting provider offered some technical support, response times were not always as fast as we would have liked. In contrast, our new hosting service has a reputation for exceptional customer support, with 24/7 availability and a team that is dedicated to resolving issues quickly. This means our clients will experience fewer disruptions and quicker resolutions if problems arise.

The Benefits of the New Hosting Service

We carefully selected our new hosting provider to offer key improvements in several areas, and we’re confident that these changes will translate to a better experience for all users of the Mindful Ecotherapy Center’s digital resources.

Improved Performance and Speed

One of the most noticeable benefits of the new hosting service will be improved performance. Faster load times and more efficient course delivery will enhance the user experience, particularly for those accessing courses on mobile devices or slower internet connections. This upgrade will ensure that all users can access our content seamlessly, whether they are downloading course materials, watching videos, or participating in live webinars.

Enhanced Security Features

The new hosting provider is equipped with cutting-edge security protocols, including advanced firewalls, secure socket layer (SSL) encryption, and frequent security audits. These measures will safeguard client data from hacking attempts and unauthorized access. Additionally, our new provider offers secure payment gateways, adding another layer of protection for those purchasing our courses or other products.

Scalability for Future Growth

Our new hosting service is designed to scale with us as we continue to grow. Whether we add new courses, integrate new technologies like virtual classrooms, or expand our offerings, this hosting provider will allow us to do so seamlessly. This means we won’t outgrow our platform anytime soon, and we can focus on expanding the quality of our services without worrying about technical limitations.

Improved User Interface and Accessibility

The platform we’ve chosen offers a more intuitive user interface, making it easier for clients to navigate the site and access the resources they need. We’ll be improving site navigation until the first of the year, making it easier to find what you’re looking for. Whether you’re enrolling in a new course, tracking your progress, or downloading materials, the experience will be smoother and more user-friendly. Additionally, the new hosting service offers enhanced accessibility features, ensuring that our courses are easy to use for individuals with disabilities or those who rely on assistive technology.

What This Means for You

For our current students and clients, the transition to the new hosting platform will be smooth and seamless. We’ve worked closely with the new provider to ensure that no data or progress will be lost during the transition, and you will not need to re-register or recreate your accounts. You can continue accessing your courses as usual, and any changes will be communicated clearly through email and our website. There may be brief outages during low-traffic times, but these will be announced in the blog should they occur.

In terms of user experience, you can expect faster load times, better security, and improved reliability. Our goal is to make your learning journey as enjoyable and stress-free as possible, and we believe this new hosting service will help us achieve that goal.

Looking Ahead

This switch to a new hosting service is just one part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the Mindful Ecotherapy Center’s offerings. As we look ahead, we are committed to continuing our tradition of providing high-quality, accessible education and resources in the field of mindful ecotherapy. Whether you’re a returning student or new to our center, we’re confident that the improvements to our platform will enrich your learning experience.

Thank you for your continued support as we make this transition. We’re excited about the opportunities this new hosting service will provide, and we look forward to growing with you in the years to come.

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Thought Streams

thought streams

Thought streams can impact one’s ability to cross the First Threshold. Setting out on the path by Crossing the First Threshold means being open to new ways of thinking and new ways of being. One way to do this is to change your thoughts by learning to live in the present moment, with intention.

Imagine that your thought streams and feelings are like a river. The river is always flowing, ever changing. In this river of the mind, sometimes positive thoughts float to the top, and sometimes negative thoughts float to the top. If we find ourselves in a spot on the river where those negative thoughts are floating to the top, our goal isn’t to stop the river by trying to dam it up. If we try to dam up the river, the water will only continue to back up behind the dam until either the dam bursts or the water overflows.

This is what happens when people have panic attacks or “nervous breakdowns.” The water behind the dam has no place to go, and it eventually builds up until a catastrophe happens.

Trying to stop negative thought streams and feelings by damming up the river isn’t the answer, since it could lead to catastrophe. So how do we deal with such thoughts?

What if there was an alternative to trying to stop the river by building a dam across it?

Thought Streams and the River

If we find ourselves at a place on the river where those negative thought streams are flowing to the top, we can consciously decide not to drown in the river by choosing instead to get out of the river, sit on the riverbank, and watch those thoughts and feelings flow by.

When we make this choice, the river is still flowing. We haven’t tried to dam it up. We’re just not swimming in it. From our viewpoint on the banks of the river, we can watch those thoughts and feelings flow by without being carried downstream. Using our intentional powers of observing and describing our own internal states, we can acknowledge the river’s presence without being at the river’s mercy.

In our analogy of the river, the thing that makes it flow from Point A to Point B is the presence of time. The sage has said, “You can’t step twice on the same piece of water.” This is because the water is always changing from moment to moment.

If you have the opportunity, find a gently flowing river near you. This should be a river where the water isn’t flowing too rapidly, and where the water isn’t too deep. Remember, safety first! This should be a river you know well, and it’s best not to do this activity alone.

Once you have found your river, go out into it. Don’t go any deeper than your waist. It’s preferable to find a spot on the river where nature surrounds you. If in doubt, find a footbridge you can walk across instead of going into the river.

Now stand in the river and do a little deep breathing. Inhale and exhale deeply for at least three breaths. Ground and center yourself. You may wish to do a brief meditation before continuing.

Now call upon your own Supernatural Aid. You may call upon the archetypal energy of your spirit animal, or it may help to hold a talisman in your hands. When you are ready, contemplate the river.

This is a river of the mind. Upstream, your thought streams about the past spread out behind you. Downstream, the river flows into the future. To return to the past would involve wading upstream against the current. To visit the future would require swimming downstream with the tide.

Suppose you tried to wade upstream or swim downstream. Once you got to your new location, the past would still lie behind you upstream relative to where you are now. Likewise, the future would still lie downstream ahead of you.
No matter which direction you move, you will always find yourself right here, right now, in the river.

Imagine yourself turning now to face upstream, towards the past. You already know what lies behind you. There may be rocky shoals and rapids behind you. There may even be high waterfalls and boulders. But the fact that you are standing right now at this place and this time in the river means that you survived the journey. Regardless of what lies behind you on the river, you have made it this far. This means that you are a survivor! You have met the challenges on the river and have gotten to where you are today.

Now turn to face downstream. The thought streams in this part of the river are unknown to you. You haven’t ventured there yet. There is no way of knowing whether more rapids lie ahead, or whether there is smooth sailing for the rest of the journey. You might try to make educated guesses as to what the downstream journey might be, based on the parts of the river you have already traveled, but there is no way to know with any certainty whether or not those guesses are correct. Rivers can suddenly change, and if you spend all your time worrying about what lies downstream, you miss the moment in which you find yourself. Worrying too much about what might lie downstream takes energy away from enjoying the pleasant experience of the river here and now.

Even if the worst happens, and we encounter catastrophes downstream, the choice to remain in the river is still ours. We can, at any time, make the conscious choice to step outside of the river for a while to watch it flow by.
We can’t know what lies downstream, but we can prepare ourselves for it. We can’t change the river, but we can change ourselves in order to increase the likelihood of a safe journey.

Life is like a river. When we learn to go with the flow, we decrease our chances of running aground.
Now cultivate an open and accepting attitude towards everything you are experiencing. What do you see? What do you hear? Can you feel the river’s currents with your body? Are there pleasant aromas on the breeze? Enjoy the experience of being in the river right here, and right now.

When you feel at peace with your surroundings, take a mental snapshot of all you have experienced here in the river. Mentally record the river in as much detail as possible. When you have done so, you may recall and retrieve this experience the next time you are feeling stressed out.

When you are ready, leave the river and sit on the riverbank while thinking over these questions:

  1. Once you were grounded and centered, did you find yourself thinking about what lies upstream or what lies downstream, or neither?
  2. Once you were grounded and centered, did you find your mind wandering to your mental “to do” list of daily activities, or did your thought streams subside?
  3. What was it about the river that made this experience different than your day-to-day life?
  4. Is there a way to carry this experience with you into your day-to-day life?
  5. How might this experience help you to see things in new ways that will lead you to your True Self?
  6. How might this teaching metaphor help you to cross the first threshold on your own Call to Adventure?

Though Streams and the First Threshold

thought streams

So, here we are, in the middle of the river. On one riverbank is the life we are leaving behind. On that other, unknown shore is the new life we’re moving towards. Crossing this river of the mind is consciously making the spiritual quest that is the Way of the Coyote the first and foremost quest in our lives. Rather than making pleasures of the flesh and accumulating material goods our goal and ambition in life is seeking a higher calling.

Seeking True Self doesn’t mean that we’re leaving our loved ones behind. It’s just the opposite. The more we are able to live according to our own true nature, the more we are able to help others. This is because when we are able to be the person we were born to be, we set aside the obligations that others have placed on us against our will. When we learn to do this, we learn to act for others because it is what we have chosen to do for ourselves, and not out of a sense of guilt, or shame, or self-blaming. This frees us to fully act for others of our own free will and to set aside resentments.

As we cross the river into the realm of the shaman, it’s not that we are leaving the material world behind either. We are instead learning a new way of seeing and being in the world. That way of seeing shows us that there is more to life than the trinkets and baubles of material possessions and status symbols. It is the path of true wealth that leads to love, connection, and ecospirituality.

This phase of the quest that is the Way of the Coyote involves emptying your cup. In order to be reborn as a seer, one must leave behind the former life. This means setting aside a life of pursuing material wealth just for the sake of owning things and instead seeking a life that makes room for nature and the spirit.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the idea that material things are the key to happiness, and a certain amount of material goods are necessary to survive. But if that is the sole motivation for life, our lives become meaningless and empty. The vision seeker instead searches for, and finds, things of spiritual significance. These spiritual things guide and enhance the quest. It is the path of true success and personal power.

Crossing the First Threshold, or crossing the river, involves announcing to the world and to yourself that the old ways have passed away. From this moment on, now and forever, a new journey begins. By announcing your intent to yourself and to others, you hold yourself accountable to staying on the path until the journey’s end. It is an acknowledgement that things will never again be as they were before.

Are you ready?

Share Your Thoughts!

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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The First Threshold

the first threshold Coyote call of the coyote

The time had come for Coyote to cross the First Threshold. Since the fire had gone out sometime before dawn, Coyote had begun to get cold again, so he leaped up and set out on his journey. Following the directions White Buffalo Woman had given him, he ran north towards the mountains.

Coyote ran all day and most of the night, stopping to rest only when he was too exhausted to go on. After three days he had journeyed further than he had ever been before. He came to the river that marked the boundary of the tribal lands of his people. The snow was thick on the ground here in the north, but the river had not yet frozen, and he could not cross. So Coyote ran up and down the river bank looking for a way to get to the other side. The more he ran the more frantic he became. He could not find a shallow spot or a place with rocks that he could cross.

As he ran up and down the riverbank, Sister Beaver sat on a log by the river watching him. Amused at his antics, she called out, “Are you trying to cross the river?”

“Yes! I must get to the other side!” shouted Coyote, “Do you know of a way?”

Sister Beaver was wary of Coyote. He had played pranks on many members of her family, and in the spirit of vengeance, she was eager to do the same to him. So she said to him, “Continue on downstream and you will eventually come to a huge beaver dam. It’s old, and a bit rickety, but I’m sure one as agile as you could cross it with no problem!”

“Thank you very much!” shouted Coyote as he ran down the river bank searching for the dam.

Sister Beaver knew that the dam was too old and rotten to support Coyote’s weight for his river crossing, but she was out for revenge for his many tricks at the expense of her and her family. Anxious to see what happened next, Sister Beaver swam downstream silently, out of sight. When she arrived at the rickety old dam ahead of Coyote, she climbed out of the river and hid behind a tree to watch.

Coyote eventually arrived at the dam and began to make his way across, stepping gingerly on the rotting twigs that made up the dam. Things were going well, but about halfway across he stepped on a twig that gave way, plunging him into the icy water. The water was so cold that it took his breath away when he fell in. Gasping, he grabbed for a twig to keep from being swept downstream by the swift current. He managed to fight his way back to the shore. Shivering, he climbed onto the river bank, shook the icy water off his coat, and began again. Meanwhile, Sister Beaver stood behind her tree laughing at him.

Once again Coyote made his way about halfway across the dam, and once again he stepped on a twig that snapped beneath his paws. Once again he plunged into the icy river, and once again he barely managed to rescue himself before he drowned. All the while Sister Beaver gleefully watched his predicament, trying hard not to laugh out loud. She tried to giggle quietly while hiding and watching, but Coyote’s keen ears heard her snickering. Quick-witted Coyote soon deduced what must be going on here. Needing to cross the river, but not wanting to spend the day plunging again and again into its freezing depths, Coyote quickly formulated a plan.

As he stepped onto the dam for his third attempt, he said aloud, “I just can’t seem to find the right path across the river! If I do not succeed this time, I’m surely doomed, for Sister Cougar is hot on my heels, and she appears to be so hungry that even my scrawny carcass might look like a meal to her!”

Just as he expected, he heard a rustling from behind the tree where Sister Beaver was hiding. He knew what she was thinking; that if scrawny Brother Coyote would make a good meal for Sister Cougar, how much finer a meal would Sister Beaver’s plump, well-fed body make!

Sister Beaver hesitated for only a moment before bounding out from behind her tree and onto the dam. Leaping from twig to branch, she made it all the way to the other side of the river. Coyote watched where she stepped, and careful to place his paws only where Sister Beaver had stepped, he followed her path across, making it safely to the other side without falling in again.

Crossing the First Threshold

“In the universe, there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link.”

-Carlos Castaneda

For every journey, there is a first step. For those of us who seek the path of the Vision Seeker on the Way of the Coyote, the Crossing of the First Threshold is that first step to a wider world. The significance of that first step is that it indicates a commitment to the journey. The reluctance and refusal are over, and the intention of the seeker has been set. Once your intention has been determined, and you announce your intention to the Universe, there is no turning back. Crossing the First Threshold means that we can never return to the way things were before, because our world has changed.

In our story of the Way of the Coyote, Coyote has learned that if he sits still long enough, the fire goes out. This coldness before dawn is a reminder that spiritual practice is a daily practice. If we don’t tend the fire daily the fire grows cold. So Crossing the First Threshold is an acknowledgement that we are accepting a new way of seeing and being in the world. With that new way of being comes a new responsibility of living intentionally.

As we talked about in an earlier session, the Hua Hu Ching, by Lao Tzu, says this about living intentionally,
“Those who want to know the truth of the universe should practice the four cardinal virtues. The first is reverence for all of life. This manifests as unconditional love and respect for oneself and all other beings. The second is natural sincerity. This manifests as honesty, simplicity, and faithfulness. The third is gentleness, which manifests as kindness, consideration for others, and sensitivity to spiritual truth. The fourth is supportiveness. This manifests as service to others without expectation of reward.”

As you set forth on the Way of the Coyote, make it a daily habit to intentionally practice these four virtues. Do so and see how your interactions with others, self, and nature improve. When you commit to living a life of intention, you will have crossed the first threshold.

Share Your Thoughts on the First Threshold!

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Doing Mode to Being Mode

from doing mode to being mode

Moving from doing mode to being mode is how mindfulness helps you to deal with stress. When problems arise, they cause stress. When we experience stress the natural tendency is to try to do something about it. The problem with this is that if you could do something about the stress you would have already done so, and you would no longer be stressed.

By moving from doing mode to being mode, we are able to just accept what we feel, without feeling obligated to do anything about it. Stress is a natural feeling and a natural response to problems. To expect not to feel stress from time to time is not a realistic expectation, and telling yourself not to stress out is stressful in itself. Think of it this way: Suppose I expect the weather to be sunny all the time. I complain whenever it rains, and my mood becomes irritable because of the cloudy weather. If I have such an expectation, I’ve set myself up to be disappointed, because rain is a natural part of the weather. So by grumbling every time it rains, I’m complaining about something that’s a perfectly natural part of existence.

Now suppose I complain every time I stress out. Stress is also a perfectly normal part of existence, so expecting never to be stressed out is unrealistic.

The more I tell myself not to stress out, the more stressed out I become. Instead, if I learn to welcome the stress and simply allow myself to be with it until it passes it no longer has a hold on me. Note also that telling myself not to stress out is doing something, and not just being with the stress.

If I notice stressful events with the goal of “trying to relax” or “trying to calm down,” trying is doing, and not being. My goal is to be and not to do.

In being mode, we recognize that when we have strong feelings we don’t have to do anything about them. So if we find ourselves having thoughts of refusing the Call to Adventure, such thoughts are just thoughts. However, if we find ourselves wanting to act on those thoughts by refusing the call, we are engaging in doing mode. One way to escape the Refusal of the Call is to merely shift from doing mode to being mode.

The first step to leaving doing mode is to become aware of the ways in which we engage in it.

Think about how you slip into Doing Mode throughout your day. Doing Mode involves solving problems, figuring things out, and participating in day-to-day activities. Right now, make a mental list of a few of the ways you engage in Doing Mode.

We sometimes create unrealistic expectations for ourselves by assuming that stressful or depressing thoughts and feelings are somehow not “natural.” In fact, just the opposite is true. It is perfectly natural to have stressful or depressing thoughts and feelings from time to time.

Try this sometime: Ask everyone you know if they’ve never in their entire lives had a depressing or stressful thought. I’m willing to bet that you won’t be able to find anyone who would say that they’ve never been depressed or anxious. That’s because, like cloudy days, stressful and depressing feelings are a natural part of being alive.

If we can accept that we don’t have to do anything to fix cloudy days, we can accept that we don’t have to do anything to fix negative thoughts and feelings as well. Sometimes our attempts to fix such thought cycles could be the very thing that makes them worse. Here’s an example of how this process works:

Suppose I am prone to panic attacks. One day I find myself feeling anxious. I can tell by the way my thoughts are racing and by the way my body feels that my anxiety is rising. I know from previous experience that rising anxiety has led to panic attacks in the past. As I realize this, my anxiety increases even more because I’m afraid that I’m about to have yet another panic attack. So I try to do something to stop it by forcing myself to calm down. But “trying to calm down” is doing mode. The harder I try to calm down, the more I stress out about the fact that I can’t calm down. The more I stress out about the fact that I can’t seem to calm down, the more my anxiety rises, because I’m trying to do something to fix it, and what I’m doing isn’t working. The more I fail at fixing it, the more I stress out and try even harder to fix it. This cycle builds and builds until I have another full-blown panic attack.

What if, when I felt my anxiety rising, I was able to say, “Oh, that’s another panic attack that’s about to happen. I’ve had them before. Yes, they’re unpleasant, but I’ve managed to survive them. No need to try to do anything to stop it.”
In this case, I’m not trying to do anything. I’m not trying to stop the attack. I’ve consciously chosen to sit with it and be in the moment with the natural experience, paying attention to and describing the sensations to myself. Because I’m not engaging in doing mode by trying to fix something, I’m not adding to the anxiety. I’m just allowing things to happen in their own time, while I observe with my senses. From this perspective, even if I do have another panic attack, I’m being still with it and observing it rather than interacting with it. I know from previous experience that it won’t kill me, however unpleasant the experience might be. I’m engaging my internal observer to be with the experience without having to do anything about it.

This ability to pay attention to the present moment is the essence of moving from doing mode to being mode.

One of the most basic ways to engage in Being Mode is to simply start paying attention to the sensations you experience in the world around you. One thing you can always focus on is your breath. This is because your breath is always with you. Try this now by going outside and taking a few deep breaths while noticing the sensations you’re experiencing. What did you feel in your body? Did you notice any smells in the air? Were you able to taste anything in the air as you exhaled? What does your breathing sound like? What physical sensations are you experiencing?
Leaving Doing Mode and entering Being Mode can be as simple as paying attention to what your senses are telling you in the present moment. Think about some ways you can engage all of your senses. For example, you might light a scented candle or go outside and smell the flowers.

From Doing Mode to Being Mode

Now that you have a list of activities you can engage in when feeling tempted to engage in doing mode, you can choose to be with these activities instead.

The Refusal of the Call often manifests in a temptation to return to the way things have always been. Change is difficult, and setting out on a path of personal and permanent change for the better can sometimes be the most difficult life-changing experience of all. We feel tempted to tell ourselves, “Change is too hard,” or “I’ve always been this way, why change now?” or “People won’t like me if I change.”

We’re very good at coming up with excuses because if we don’t then we have to take responsibility for our lives. That can be a scary place to be for those of us who have never done it before. When we take responsibility for our own lives we have nobody else to blame if we fail. What we sometimes forget, though, is that if we take responsibility for our own lives, then we are the only ones who can take credit for our successes.

Taking the leap of faith required to trust ourselves is a major step in answering the Call to Adventure. Sometimes it helps to have a little Supernatural Aid. We’ll talk about what this aid might look like in future posts and how it might help you to move from doing mode to being mode.

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Mindfulness and Ecospirituality

Mindfulness and Ecospirituality

Mindfulness and ecospirituality go hand-in-hand. Ecospirituality is the “what” and mindfulness is the “how.” This quote from Black Elk explains one perspective on this relationship:

“You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”

–Black Elk, Oglala Shaman (1853-1950)

For hundreds of centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution, people lived together in small tribes, whether in nomadic bands or geographically fixed in locations in villages or towns. Evolution wired our brains for nature. But with the advent of agriculture, we settled down more and more, and built cities. With cities came modernization. First, we built machines, then, with the discovery of electricity, we began to build electric machines. Thomas Edison’s invention of electric light forever robbed the night of its power to evoke mystery and terror by creating a perpetual electric twilight in our towns and cities, making more hours available to labor in the factories. The more domesticated we became, the more the wilderness retreated beyond the city limits. We ceased to mark time by the cycles of the seasons and began to keep time by the factory whistle.

Our modern, mechanized lifestyle has brought about many changes for the better. We live longer and more productive lives, but our hearts still long for the cry of nature. Our minds retreated from nature, but our bodies did not. Evolution programmed us to need nature, and our bodies and minds still respond to it.

What is the relationship between mindfulness and ecospirituality? Ecopsychology studies the relationship between mental health and the environment. This field of research views the mental health of humankind as a part of the geo-ecosystem that is the living planet we call Earth. If all life on Earth is interrelated, and human beings certainly are a type of life on Earth, then what happens to the rest of the planet affects us all. Ecopsychology recognizes that not only does the environment impact our physical health, but it also has a direct influence on our mental health. While artificial, stressful, polluted environments have the power to harm, nature has the power to heal, both physically and mentally.

From the perspective of ecopsychology, everything is connected to everything else. According to this paradigm, people don’t exist in a vacuum. They are part of the larger system of their neighborhood, of the even larger system of their particular societies, and ultimately the system of all life on Earth, circles-within-circles. Each of these systems communicates to us in different ways, and we interact with each of these systems. The individual is not only a part of a system of interacting human beings but also a part of an ecosystem. We interact with the environment, and the environment interacts with us. For those who know how to listen, the wind in the trees can sing. The view of a mountain range or a moonlit ocean can tell a story. The smell of the first flowers of spring can speak just as clearly as a loved one’s voice can. The touch of a ray of sun can be as powerful as a lover’s caress.

On the other hand, a crowded, polluted city street can communicate as well. The messages we get from our environment have an impact on us, whether or not we are consciously aware of that impact. This environmental impact changes our sense of self and our sense of well-being. If we could make a paradigm shift to a lifestyle that makes room for nature, what would that do to our sense of well-being?

Mindfulness and Ecospirituality: A Paradigm Shift

Such a change involves seeking inspiration (or spirituality) from the natural world. It is a solution-focused approach. It’s easy to go into panic mode when we realize what we’re doing to the environment, but such stress and anxiety don’t do anything to solve the problem. A solution-focused approach helps us to find positive solutions rather than getting stuck in ruminations about the negative effects we’re having on the environment. It’s easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom, but that doesn’t solve anything. What’s needed is an intentional approach that works.

Such an approach to saving the environment means a grassroots, bottom-up approach. It starts with the individual. The most effective way to change a society or a culture is mindfully, one person at a time, through ecospirituality. Ecospirituality is about spiritual connections to nature, to your own higher power if you have one, to others, and to your own sense of True Self. Nature is the catalyst for such connections, and mindfulness is the pathway.

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Answering the Call

answer the call to adventure

Like Coyote in the story from last week, a person who refuses to answer the Call to Adventure has little or no confidence in themselves. When you have received the call, you stand at a crossroads. You have a choice. You are free to choose to continue to refuse the Call to Adventure. Such a refusal means staying in the familiar, but it also means accepting the status quo. It means surrendering to life as it is without considering the possibilities of future growth.

If you find yourself stuck here but wishing to answer the Call to Adventure, the first step is to ask yourself, “If nothing changed from now on, could I live the rest of my life this way?”

If the answer to that question is, “No,” then obviously something has to change.

To begin making this change is to begin trusting yourself. Out of the billions of people on this planet, the only person who is a true expert on you is you. You already have within you everything you need to know to begin the quest. All you have to do is to learn to trust your inner wisdom.

The path of ecospirituality involves following the Way of the Coyote. It is a spiritual journey…a hero’s journey with many signposts and crossings. Each one of these crossings represents a phase along the way to becoming a seeker and a seer of visions. When you have arrived at the end of this journey you will have discovered a new way of being in the world. The first crossing is to answer the Call to Adventure.

At this first crossing, we have to forge our will to commit to the path. When a vision seeker sets out on the path such a decision requires a firm and resolute will. The life of a shaman is not to be approached with an attitude of “I guess so,” or “I’ll do it when I have the time,” or “this looks like fun if nothing else is going on.” Such a path requires a complete commitment to the quest. Once you cross the threshold there is no turning back.

The journey of the vision seeker is one of lifetime dedication. If you’re saying to yourself, “I don’t have the time or the energy,” what you’re really saying is, “It’s not a priority for me.” If it’s not a priority, then you’re not going to put forth your best efforts, so it’s probably not the right path…or the right choice…for you at this time in your life. If that is the case, it’s better to set aside the path and return to it with a firm resolve when you are ready to commit to doing the work.

In many indigenous traditions throughout the world, the path of the shaman begins with a rebirthing ceremony in which the initiate is given a new spiritual name. This renaming signifies a person’s birth to the spirit world. The naming ceremony is the vision seeker’s announcement to the world that he or she has taken up the quest. Such a commitment is a death to the former way of being, and rebirth as a seer and a seeker of visions.

This rebirth depends upon conquering your own fears. Conquering fear doesn’t mean never being afraid. It means rising to meet the challenges of the Way of the Coyote in spite of the fear. It is the first landmark in the decision to become the person you were meant to be by embracing your True Self.

Answer the Call

As you contemplate answering your Call to Adventure, do any fears rise up in your spirit? If so, what is the nature of these fears? If you feel ready and unafraid to begin the journey, then think about what things might stand in your way in the future and use those things instead to answer the questions that follow.

  • What are your greatest fears?
  • How might you conquer these fears?
  • How might you forge your will so that you may take up the path of the vision seeker with a firm and steadfast commitment?
  • What Supernatural Aid might you require to help you succeed?
  • How might you strengthen your resolve to commit to the journey?
  • Which thoughts, feelings, and habits will you have to sacrifice to be reborn into the life of a seer/shaman?
  • What is your reason for seeking the path that leads to ecospirituality?

Over the coming week, contemplate your answers to these questions to determine if you’re ready to answer the Call of the Coyote.

What do you think? What would help you to answer the call to adventure? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Refusal of the Call

The Call

The Refusal of the Call happens when the pain of changing is greater than the pain of staying the same.

The People went in search of Coyote to ask him to go on a quest to find a new place for the People. Chief Buffalo sent Brother Eagle and Sister Cougar to find him.

They came upon Coyote playing in a field of fallen leaves and told him that Chief Buffalo had summoned him, so Coyote followed them back to Chief Buffalo’s lodge. When Coyote approached, Chief Buffalo greeted him politely.
Brother Coyote said in return, “Why have you summoned me here on this fine but chilly day, Grandfather Buffalo?”
Chief Buffalo spoke, “I have asked you here to request that you go on a quest for the People.”

“A quest?” Brother Coyote asked skeptically.

“Yes, a quest,” said Sister Cougar, “The days and nights are getting colder, and nobody can say whether they will ever grow warmer again. The People are afraid that the warmth of the Sun might never return, so we are asking you to go on a journey to find a new place for the Tribe to live.”

Brother Coyote loved to play tricks, but now he felt they were playing a trick on him. He felt the disbelief rising in his heart, and said, “You wish me to go on a quest? Are you mocking me? Surely this must be some jest! Brother Eagle, I do not have your keen eyes and ability to fly high in the sky, so I could not escape danger, nor could I see it coming ahead of time. Sister Cougar, I am no great hunter like you. If I were to go on such a journey, I would surely starve!”

Why not send Sister Doe, who can sniff out predators and run away quickly? Or send Brother Bear, who has great strength, so he could fight an enemy should one overtake him?

“Sister Doe is much too timid for such a journey,” said Chief Buffalo.

“And Brother Bear is sleeping and has been for many weeks. Nobody knows if he shall ever wake again.”

But Brother Coyote was not convinced. One by one he named all of the creatures of the People; but one by one Chief Buffalo gave him reasons why they could not go. He explained that if Brother Coyote could not go, it could be nobody else.

“I am not a warrior!” cried Coyote, “I am not a hero! I spend my days running through the forest, playing and joking with the People! I am not clever enough, or strong enough, or fast enough, or smart enough for such a journey! I cannot go!”

Chief Buffalo, Brother Eagle, and Sister Cougar looked upon Brother Coyote with sadness. They thought about pointing out all the ways that he was wrong about what he had said. They thought about listing all the strengths that Brother Coyote could bring to their quest, such as his ability to track, hide, and deceive a predator on the trail. But they had been down this road with Coyote too many times before. They knew that it would only lead to more arguments and more hurt feelings if they tried to talk him out of his decision. So instead they walked away with pity in their hearts.

As Chief Buffalo turned to leave, he said to Coyote, “I am disappointed in you. I thought you would be happy to help out the People, who have been victims of many of your cruel jests. I would think that you would like to make amends for your pranks. I can see now that I was wrong.”

And with that, Chief Buffalo walked away.

Of all the things Coyote had heard from the People this afternoon, the words of Chief Buffalo stung him the most. He had always admired and respected his Grandfather Buffalo, and it hurt Coyote deeply to see him so disappointed. But Coyote did not see what others could see in him. In his own eyes, he was just a trickster and a fool, incapable of great deeds.

With a sad and heavy heart, he walked away from the Chief’s lodge to return to his own den.
 


Answering the Call: A Change of Context

Change is scary. The comforting thing about the familiar is its familiarity; we know what to expect. This can even be true if the familiar situation is grim. Quite often we’ll stay stuck in a bad situation because the fear of the unknown can be worse than the current (known) situation. Such a sentiment is often expressed in the phrase, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.”

The familiar, however uncomfortable it may be, is at least familiar. We often choose to stay in a familiar, yet miserable, situation rather than to fly off to ills we know not of. When faced with the possibility of change in such a situation, an element of the unknown must be dealt with. We don’t know what to expect. What if, by acting, we make things worse? What can we expect to happen if we leave the familiar for unknown, unexplored territory? Sure, things might get better, but they might get worse too. When we let our fears of the unknown overwhelm us, it is easy to, like Coyote, refuse the Call to Adventure. It’s simply easier to stay in misery than to set sail on uncharted waters.

I was once traveling to a workshop on shamanism. This particular seminar was being held in a hidden-away corner of the Southern Appalachians. This was before the days of GPS, and I was having difficulty finding my way, so I stopped at a little country store to ask for directions. When I told the clerk where I was going, he jokingly replied, “You can’t get there from here. You have to go someplace else and start over.”

Of course, he was being facetious, but his answer was a great metaphor for the journey into the world of shamanism. If you plan to journey to the Otherworld which is the realm of the shaman, you can’t get there from here. This is one of the reasons for the death and rebirth experience so common to shamanistic paths throughout the world. The shaman must die to his old way of living and being in the world and be reborn into the life of the shaman. Sometimes the rites required to complete this task may seem odd or downright silly to modern eyes. Celtic shamans were required to stand on one foot like a crane, with one eye covered, while seeking visions or pronouncing prophecies. Some Native Americans stood for days with pebbles between their toes to keep them awake while seeking visions. Some shamans painted their naked bodies, lay down in boats at sea, ate special foods, slept wrapped in a buffalo hide, or engaged in drumming, singing, chanting, and a variety of other behaviors all designed to put the shaman’s consciousness in touch with the Otherworld.

So it’s pretty obvious that some of the rites, rituals, and tools of shamanism will feel weird at first. That’s okay. If they didn’t feel strange, you’d already be doing them. Given time you will become accustomed to these new ways of being and new ways of doing as part of your spiritual practice. If you cannot get past the unfamiliarity with drumming and chanting, wearing a feathered cloak, or performing rites, then you “can’t get there from here.” In such a case, you are not ready to enter the Belly of the Whale, and you are still in the Refusal of the Call. Answering the Call of the Coyote means setting forth with purpose, with determination, and with will. There’s no, “I guess so” on the Path of the Coyote. If you are not certain that you are ready, then you are in Refusal of the Call and are not ready for ecospirituality.

The way out of this Refusal of the Call is to trust the process. Trust your own instinct, and trust your own Supernatural Aid. Trust in your connections to others, to nature, and to self. Meditate on what your inner voice may be trying to tell you. The way to know if you are ready to take the call is to know with certainty that it can be no other way.

When you achieve this sense of certainty, you will be ready to die to your old way of being and to be reborn as a follower of the Way of the Coyote.

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Creating Your Reality

creating your reality

Creating your reality is a process that happens on a day-to-day basis. We all create our own reality through our assumptions and our perceptions. Our assumptions about life influence our perceptions. Taken as a whole, all our perceptions add up to our own version of reality.

If your assumption is that the world is flat, how would that influence your daily perceptions and your daily reality? What if your assumption is that the world is round? Each of these choices comes with perceptions about the way the world works. If you assume the world is flat, how would you feel about sailing in a ship to the ends of the earth? If you assume that the world is round, would you feel the same way? What reality would you create for yourself in each of the scenarios above?

You create your reality through your assumptions and perceptions. To illustrate how this process works, consider for a moment that you have an assumption that “Everybody is out to get me.”

If your assumption is, “Everybody is out to get me,” then that assumption is going to set your perception filter in a certain way. With this assumption, your perception filter is set so that you only notice instances of behavior that confirm your assumption. If your perception filter has been set by the assumption that “Everybody is out to get me,” then you’re only going to notice when people act in a way that confirms your assumption, and you will ignore any behavior to the contrary.

If this is how your perception filter is set, then you are going to ignore it when people act in such a way that they demonstrate that they are not out to get you. Not only that but when people act in such a way, you’re going to take it as evidence that they are out to get you because you’ll think that the only reason they’re being nice is that they’re trying to get something from you.

Now this assumption and this perception will work together to create your reality for you. Here’s how it works: If you assume that “Everybody is out to get me,” and your perception filter is set only to see examples that confirm your assumption, how are you likely to treat people who aren’t out to get you? If I’m a person who’s not out to get you, and I’m doing nice things for you because I like you and want to be your friend, yet every time I do something nice for you, you treat me as if I’m up to something, how long do you think I’ll stay around?

If you treat everyone as if they’re out to get you, even when they’re not, you will eventually drive away anyone who’s not out to get you. At that point, the only people who are still in your life are people who are out to get you. So by choosing your assumptions and your perceptions about the way the world works, and by acting upon those assumptions and perceptions, you create a reality based on those assumptions and perceptions.

Let’s look at another example. If you are seeking to follow the path of ecospirituality, you are seeking to walk the path of an ecospiritual shaman. To walk in the path of a shaman is to interact on a regular basis with the Otherworld. Therefore to be a shaman, you have to have some concept of the Otherworld. It can be a real place, or it can be a psychological place, but it is a necessary place for shamanism to exist and work its magic. So if you seek to walk the path of the shaman, but your first assumption is, “The Otherworld does not exist,” then you are going to set your perception filter to only notice things that confirm your assumption that the Otherworld does not exist. As you continue to ignore all evidence for the existence of the Otherworld, it will retreat further and further away from you, until, for you, it does not exist.

On the other hand, if you assume the Otherworld does exist, even if it’s just the collection of archetypes that Jung called the ‘collective unconscious,’ then your perception filter is set to look for evidence that confirms this assumption. The more evidence you find to support this assumption, the more you make the Otherworld real in your own mind.

When considering the Otherworld, don’t forget that just because something is happening in your own mind, that doesn’t mean it’s not real. The Otherworld might be a real place, or it might just be a place of psychological processes lying between the conscious and subconscious worlds. In either case, if you experience the Otherworld, then it has become real for you.

I prefer to focus on the utility of these experiences instead of whether or not they’re happening in a “real” place. The more I use my assumptions and perceptions to create my own reality, the more real the Otherworld becomes for me.

In the coming weeks we’ll be exploring the concept of creating your own reality by visiting the Otherworld of the collective unconscious.