First off, let me preface this by recognizing that anything I say, anything I write, has more to do with me and my learning than anything else. When I stop to listen to it, I tend to learn the most - then I begin to smile again. So whatever you gain from this is great, but I'm writing primarily so I can learn and grow.
All this has been prompted by a thought I had while driving home after work one evening last week.It always amazes me how some ideas/feelings seem to leap out at us and demand to be done, to be completed.It also amazes me how we can ignore them, resist them and refuse them, as I have done many times in the past.It also amazes me, that, as I have done this time, we can sometimes bow to their energy and begin to move with the flow they pull us into.Sometimes miracles happen and sometimes they don’t. Unless we let go and initiate that first kick and stroke and swim out into the stream, nothing happens.
Some years ago I purchased an album by Nilsson called "The Point!". It was a story about Oblio and his dog Arrow and their banishment from the Land of Point where everyone had pointed heads and therefore, hmm, a point. Poor Oblio was born without a point on the top of his head - so he was pointless and rejected by the other people in The Land). They were banished and their journey (Oblio and his dog Arrow), full circle back to The Land, was an adventure that ended up with Oblio discovering his point (Point Of View that is) - "...well you have a point there". The story was about discrimination and the almost insurmountable barriers it establishes between otherwise intelligent, loving people.
Now what was all that about, you might well ask. When I tried to name this Blog, I wanted to name it "The_Pointless_Forest" which was a place in the story that was the exact opposite of "The Land of Point". For me, the pointless forest was a metaphor for the state of being one has to adopt in order to begin learning something. However, and to the point, evidently someone already has that address, although I couldn’t find it. I tried many variations of Pointless … none of which worked. So “NoWayAroundIt” came to mind as an imperfect, but still useful improvisation for the same state. ---> heading off in all directions at once, leaving the known behind and .... Well, there is just no way around it. Sometimes we have to leave the comfort of what we know and what we do in order to open up new territory.
Getting back to what prompted all this in the first place was the thought that popped into my head as I was driving home. The mental prompt was 2 words. Silly Grins. [Which I also tried as a address for this log in a gazillion variations]. “Silly Grins” popped me back in time – it was 2000 and my wife and I were visiting my son who had been living with Tibetan Buddhist Monks and Nuns at a hillside retreat overlooking the town of Mandi in Northern India. He was living in a cave, practicing meditation and learning Tibetan. My son, my wife and I spent an all too brief half hour in the presence of a Monk who had spent years in Meditation sitting up – didn’t lie down – slept sitting up, meditated sitting up, everything was done sitting up (other than his “job” which was to take care of the shrine room). The man could not speak a word of English, but his heart and his loving, peaceful intent spoke volumes. His heart and his loving and his peace were expressed through his "Silly Grin". He looked stoned. But his was not a chemical high. Light seemed to radiate from him. In his presence one was transported to a state of Grace and Peace and No Worries. I am at my best in the presence of such incredible lightness of being and I search it out when wherever I am.
Silly Grins. The world needs more of them. The Dalai Lama grins, laughs, chuckles and spreads joy around him readily. Just a Simple Monk - no different from you and me. Everyone, of choice, could be like him. Few choose a lifetime like that. We enjoy our dark dramas too much.So Silly Grins became, as I felt into it, "Silly Grins and other Smiles: Ways to approach life so it remains Light!" And as a starting point to the silly grins - becoming pointless, letting go of everything we know so we can learn Something. In this case where I am heading is toward what we have Always Known. The Mystics are always reminding us: the Darkness cannot remain where there is Light. And the Light is us. ... When we are willing –and often when we are not.
Unless you think this Silly Grin business is just more spiritual mumbo-jumbo only being practiced and experienced in Holy Retreats, let me tell you the story of yet another Silly Grin I experienced. I found it in a Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. My wife and I and our best friends (Gregory and Diannia) were in Laughlin after an interesting journey and another story altogether. We decided to go and gamble and make a fun evening of it. Real high rollers... not --- our limit was $20.00 each. The Casino was not going to get rich off our meager spending. At any rate, as I was frittering my 20 bucks away, I noticed a woman who looked to be in her 40's or 50's. She had quite a sweet looking disposition because she was wearing this "Silly Grin". It was unbelievable. The more I watched the more I noticed that she and the machine she was playing seemed to be an organic whole. She emanated this incredible Lightness of Being. She was not losing. Not once. She just kept racking up the dollars. She was in Bliss. My wife and I both spent our allotment and this woman was still there: "Silly Grin" and the machine she was playing was "Silly Grinning" back. She was in the zone, flowing with the machine. Being so incredibly light, she couldn't miss. She couldn't lose.
The State of The Silly Grin:
I'm sure most of us have experienced the state of the Silly Grin ... aka The Zone, aka "In the Flow". From my experience, it has happened when I least expected it but I know we can learn to let it occur naturally. It occurs easiest when we are not worried about the outcome. It occurs when neither winning nor losing occupy our minds and surprisingly both winning and losing occupy a lot of most peoples thought – most of the time. Winning and Losing are not part of Isness since they are driven by worry from the past and fear about the future and both keep us inattentive to what is going on anywhere but in our own minds. Letting go of all the Winner/Loser chatter in our minds is the first step to being in the flow. Attending completely to what is going on (paying attention) is the next step. Paying Attention is what the buddhists call Mindfulness.
So, become mindful. Pay attention to the Silly Grins, the Smiles, the Laughter that surrounds you and Your world will just naturally become lighter. There was an old Peace slogan "What if they threw a war and nobody came?" This takes a state of being. Gandhi called for it. Martin Luther King Jr. called for it. "Peaceful (or Passive) Resistance". But even resistance is a word that hangs out in the grey zones of dawn and dusk. What if one just stayed in the Light? One wouldn't need to resist anything. Just stay in the light. Just stay in the Light.
A Little Levity
So there you have it. The first ramble. The Introduction. The first grin. And now I include this, the best, the lightest blond joke I ever was sent in an email.
I urgently needed a few days off work, but I knew the Boss would not allow me to take a leave. I thought that maybe if I acted "CRAZY" then he would tell me to take a few days off. So I hung upside down on the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing?I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Boss would think I was "CRAZY" and give me a few days off. A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked "What are you doing?" I told him I was a light bulb. He said "You are clearly stressed out. Go home and recuperate for a couple of days". I jumped down and walked out of the office. When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her " ...And where do you think you're going?"
You're gonna love this.....
She said, "I'm going home too, I can't work in the dark!"
The End of This Ramble
You might have noticed that I like to ramble a lot. This is one of the things I have learned about myself and one of the things I enjoy. The free flow of thought leads to new ideas. Stifle flow and you stifle creativity itself. I don't do it enough.
And so, until next time, "Don’t work in the Dark! Ramble On, Silly Grin, Flow Free, Smile a Lot and Create Lightness around you.
Be Light and shine on everyone around you".
posted by Michael @ 3:07 PM
2 Comments:
Hi, Michael,
As you know, I love all things Internet and computer-related, so what fun it was to find you here! Your blog is "Michael in print"...funny, rambling and full of light. Not that I would have expected anything less!
Say hi to Marianne for me. I love you both...no secret there! And Give Cleo a good petting from Auntie Andrea, please.
Love,
Andrea
Hi, Michael!
Here's another blonde joke that's apropos here:
A guy was in a casino (perhaps the same one you were in...) and wanted to buy a coke; so he found a coke machine ad waited while a blonde got her coke. She kept putting in money and taking out the cans of coke. After a long while, as this kept going on, he finally asked, " Are you going to be here all night?" to which she replied, "I can't quit now - I'm winning!"
Thanks for the rambling! I've been tempted to start a blog of my own, and have done a podcast already; (I believe I sent you the link, back in June...), but need to get down to it again!
All the best!
Terry F.
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