August 27th, 2012
I recently came across an article by Sharon Salzberg in Tricycle Magazine on meditation. It was the perfect reminder of the ups and downs and how sustaining our meditation practice is often a meditation practice in and of itself!
In the article, How to Sustain Your Meditation Practice, Sharon Salzberg writes:
I used to feel, very early in my practice, that mindfulness was awaiting me somewhere out there; that it was going to take a lot of effort and determination, but somehow, someday, after a great deal of struggle, I was going to claim my moment of mindfulness— sort of like planting a flag at the top of a mountain.
My view of the matter was enlarged and my understanding transformed when I realized that mindfulness wasn’t inaccessible or remote; it was always right there with me. The moment I remembered it—the moment I noticed that I was forgetting to practice it—there it was! My mindfulness didn’t need to get better, or be as good as somebody else’s. It was already perfect. So is yours. But that truth is easily forgotten in the midst of our busy lives and complicated relationships. One reason we practice is to recall that truth, so that we can remember to be mindful more and more often throughout the day, and remember more naturally. Regular practice makes mindfulness a part of us.
Meditation is never one thing; you’ll experience moments of peace, moments of sadness, moments of joy, moments of anger, moments of sleepiness. The terrain changes constantly, but we tend to solidify it around the negative: “This painful experience is going to last the rest of my life.” The tendency to fixate on the negative is something we can approach mindfully; we can notice it, name it, observe it, test it, and dispel it, using the skills we learn in practice.
Find a practice that works for you. It may mean trying different methods and seeing what you like and adapting it. The important thing is to keep the practice going. See your meditation practice like the greeting of a newborn baby – exciting, new, embracing, and with so much love and kindness. Greet yourself and your thoughts with kindness. You deserve it. We all do.
Here is a sample of a guided meditation: Meditation on the Lotus Flower.
Photo taken by Mary Anne Flanagan
Posted in Meditation | 2 Comments »
August 20th, 2012
I didn’t set out to change the world. Most people I speak with don’t either. I set out to change an intense emotion – grief. It was important to me and over the years, I have found it’s important to others as well. 
People want to do important work. Work that has meaning. Work that brings joy. Work that matters.
I bring the best of who I am to my work and that is enough – I am enough. And what I have learned is bringing my best inspires others to bring their best too.
There will always be nay sayers (I have my fair share of those too). The gift is knowing what you offer and finding people who are open and ready to receive.
Changing the world is too big. Changing ourselves is about finding our growing edge and expanding from there.
If it’s not important, why bother?
If it doesn’t bring you joy, move on.
Posted in Happiness | Toning the Om
August 17th, 2012
Receive…
Receive the light…
Share the light…
How will you share your light today?
Photo taken by Mary Anne Flanagan
Posted in Gratitude | Toning the Om
August 8th, 2012
Peace is every inhale.
Peace is every exhale.
Peace is every breath.
Peace is every inhale.
Peace is every exhale.
Peace is every breath.
Inhale peace. Exhale peace.
{Photo taken by Mary Anne Flanagan}
Posted in Meditation | Toning the Om
August 2nd, 2012
After a lot of hard work, you have been made the leader of your team or your organization. And now, as a leader, you are anxious to start performing.
First, there is a level of excitement and then the pressure is on – to not only lead, but to lead well. What lessons have you learned along the way to get here? What leaders inspired you?
At those moments there’s a natural tendency to immediately start forging ahead – after all, you are all up to speed on the organization/team, vision, plan, and now, the strategies and tactics that will be needed to move forward.
And that tendency can easily lead to believing the thought, “Since I know the way and I can just push forward, my teammates will just follow me, and they’ll figure it out.”
There is however another voice as well. It’s the voice that says, “Wait, slow down. Is everyone on team in alignment to what is happening?”
When that voice speaks, the best response is to lead by listening.
People and organizations cannot move forward without being heard. The phrase lead by listening is very important – its representative of the one thing a leader has to do before they push forward.
Alignment – of vision, of plan, of strategy, of tactics, of metrics, roles and responsibilities – all of it can only happen if we listen first.
And it is not just listening to your immediate reports – the listening has to go all the way down the line, to every employee.
Listening is not a leadership assumption, as the impatient parts of our brain may love to think. It doesn’t happen without effort.
A leader must take the time to make this happen, the old-fashioned way – person by person, meeting by meeting, and conversation by conversation.
A good leader listens first before becoming a teacher who prepares his or her students, and then a coach, making sure everyone is ready to move forward.
Listening is a culture that may feel new, but it is critical for visioning and taking action. What’s happening now and where do you want to go are questions leaders need to ask and listen for answers. What is the company mantra that people are saying?
Serve your organization and team by asking key questions. Serve yourself by listening to the answers.
They are ready for you to lead.
And now, so are you, as you have listened to those around you. You are really ready to move forward.
Don’t succumb to that pressure to race ahead and get a lot of tasks completed before you take time to listen.
That way, you’ll never have to look behind you as you climb upward and bring others with you.
Lead well by listening!
Mary Anne
Tags: Ask, Inspiration, Leadership, Listening, Organizational Coaching, Visioning
Posted in Coaching | Toning the Om
July 31st, 2012
{Photo taken by Mary Anne Flanagan}
Posted in Learning | Toning the Om
July 26th, 2012
I have been reading a lot of David Whyte’s poetry as I prepare for my upcoming retreat in Hawaii, The Wild Cosmic Heart. I have been reading about what arouses, awakens, opens, shifts, transforms, and lifts the heart. What would it take to listen to our wild, cosmic heart? As Whyte wrote, “Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you.”
In his book, Crossing the Unknown Sea, there is a poem that speaks to becoming more visible, to risking everything to becoming alive.
There is a lovely root to the word humiliation – from the latin word humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in effect returning to the ground of our being.
Shedding the carapace we have been building so assiduously on the surface, we must by definition give up exactly what we thought was necessary to protect us from further harm. The outlaw is the radical, the one close to the roots of existence. The one who refuses to forget their humanity and in remembering, helps everyone else remember too.
To die inside, is to rob our outside life of any sense of arrival from that interior. Our work is to make ourselves visible in the world. This is the soul’s individual journey, and the soul would much rather fail at its own life than succeed at someone else’s.
If you want to explore your untamed heart and risk becoming more alive, then join me in Hawaii November 4-10, 2012 where we will explore the vast sea of our hearts.
Tags: Adventures, David Whyte, Hawaii, Spiritual Stories
Posted in Fun | Toning the Om
July 24th, 2012
“Enough
These few words are enough, if not these words, this breath…
If not this breath, this sitting
This opening to the life we have refused
again and again until now. Until now.
In this moment of epiphany
This opening to the life we have refused
again and again
until NOW”
{By David Whyte}
What opening have you refused? Are you ready to open to your life?
Now is the time to open to life, again, and again, and again.
{Photo taken by Mary Anne Flanagan}
Posted in Learning | Toning the Om
July 20th, 2012
“Meditation is just the practice of sitting with what actually is until we learn how not to ignore what actually is.” ~Brad Warner
Mantra: I sit on Mother Earth and see that Mother Earth takes amazing care of me.
Posted in Meditation | Toning the Om
July 19th, 2012
What’s your growing in the garden of your heart? 
What garden are you watering?
What flower inside will you share today?
We are growing love in every seed you plant.
Mantra: I water the garden of my heart.
Posted in Meditation | Toning the Om
I recently came across an article by Sharon Salzberg in Tricycle Magazine on meditation. It was the perfect reminder of the ups and downs and how sustaining our meditation practice is often a meditation practice in and of itself!
