BIO APPROACH #3

I notice repeatedly “that something” that never changes, it is constant, has always been present, when I remember to stop and be. Certain moments come to mind, like being 14 years old, standing still in bare feet in the presence of a Summer evening, silent, aware, open, feeling the sky, smelling the sun warmed trees, and so absolutely content. Or when 11, sitting with my sister as she cried for her friend, noticing an intimate presence in and around me as gentle words came, being in the calm... now....the calm... now...the calm.


Memory (thoughts, images & feelings) tells of years of stories of chaos, depression, anxiety, heartbreak, misunderstanding, misery, struggle, hopelessness, comparison, derision, dread, jealousy and despair. Like a spiraling revolving door... yet the Grace of inner evolution always revealing over time more of this: calmness, beingness, gratitude, willingness, happiness, innocence and surprise.


I ask myself Byron Katie’s question: “Who am I without my story?”  and the veils continue to dissolve. The mind becomes less rabid in it’s self criticism or fear for the future and I often see “they are just thoughts, sometimes with feelings, joy or frustration, it’s like weather passing.”


I like to ask myself other questions from the Work:  How do I react and how do I live my life when I believe a stressful belief? And who would I be if I could never think this thought...ever again? What would my daily life look like without it? How much lighter might I be?


When my thoughts appear dark & confusing... I can take out paper and pen and make a list of the thoughts that are scaring, angering, saddening, or numbing me... I do the Work on the stressful thought that is hurting:  This invites “the inner shift”.


I like that the initials for “Inner Shift” are “IS”. 

Is is is and is, the inner shift is always now...here.

Have you noticed the immediacy of your inner shifts?

Your new sense of presence?


We forget, we remember, forget, remember, story, no story, like the weather coming, going, changing swirling around the still ever-present Being...and ever-present awareness.

  

BIO APPROACH #467C!!!!

My Loves? Meditating...just sitting, letting it be.  Doing the Work, photography, painting, writing, traveling, being with my friends, being alone. Being with my beloved. I love to travel through both stunning & ordinary landscapes with my Canon 6D, framing shots, distances, finding the color and form...just so...timing...CLICK!

What else? Eating fresh foods- wow, I am so glad my mother brought me up on a farm with fresh fruits and vegetables! (and comfort foods too!) Yes, enjoying spring water, mangos, spinach & peas and fresh corn and wild blueberries!!! My body loves vibrant fresh food. And lucky me, I always liked exercise, to move my body -  exercise is medicine & meditation inducing :they support sanity. Writing? Friends say I should write a book.  I’m open to write more... and now living in Seattle since 2003. 


So what’s your bio look like? As I write this, I welcome YOU as my phantom reader.

I can’t see you, don’t know who you are, what brought you to my website, YOU who have read all the way to this WORD! ...Thank you for being here.

Perhaps like some of you, I did many trainings, courses, sessions, retreats, satsangs. I met all these amazing people .. who kept showing me how to  be here and inquire...

I received so much help, kindness and love. And some good wake-up-pay-attention hits !! Light Beings showing up at the right time...



Beginning in 1981 I have given trainings, sessions and groups in Europe, USA and Canada. I have an amazing personal path because I see it that way! And there is no path, I can find that too. Perhaps I have a gift of reaching people, joining them where they are, and walking with them through those thorny ragged secret landscapes. Sharing simple principles. This is what others did for me. I continue to discover, and deepen new  ways of making “The Inner Shift”. Now is always a beginning.



I’m a “Paul” and that’s a “sky” this person is “old” and that one’s a “Russian”.



Who told me this?




                                                                Do I believe everything people told me is true?


                    Thank you for participating in my evolving bio / blog 

                    You can reach me at: theinnershift@me.com


                                                                                      

"True meditation has no direction or goal. True meditation appears in consciousness spontaneously when awareness is not being manipulated or controlled. When you first start to meditate, you notice attention is often being held captive by focus on some object: on thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions, memories, sounds, etc. In true meditation all objects (thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, etc.) are left to their natural functioning. In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. As you gently relax into awareness, into listening, the mind's compulsive contraction around objects will fade. Silence of being will come more clearly into consciousness as a welcoming to rest and abide. An attitude of open receptivity, free of any goal or anticipation, will facilitate the presence of silence and stillness to be revealed as your natural condition."

                                                - Adyashanti




 

BIO APPROACH #1

My Bio as Inquiry...Is biography my story of what I think happened to me?... Is any of my story about my self really “true”? Or is it actually just a collection of thoughts in my mind and images in my memory? Maybe my Bio is simply everything I am in this moment, who I am... today...now. So who am I right now? I like these questions! It helps me stay flexible and not take any of my past as if it defines me today,  or  that it’s interpretation is etched in stone.


BIO APPROACH #2

I see my path as many lifetimes within this one, a stream of elements and influences including university, karate, meditation, methods, masters, teachers, lovers & friends... all contributing to my “inner shift”, each of these becoming my evolving inner & outer family , showing up... and then receding, all life long. Some remained, some have fallen away. I see in retrospect I gratefully received something authentic from each, they made an imprint, became a learning, a SHIFT, and indivisibly a part of me. And none of this defines who I really am or my true nature, it is my story of who I think am.


The story of my past includes sixteen years as a disciple of the Indian mystic Osho, seven years in Okinawan karate, five years in university (Summa Cum Laude), ten years participating in a therapeutic community in Holland, 14 years in 12 Step program, currently continuing 12 years doing the Work of Byron Katie. There were other trainings: Tantra, becoming a Reiki Master, Certified in Energy Healing, Tibetan Pulsing Healing, Life Coaching. A life of seeking, striving and finding... A lifelong lightening of the burden. I laugh!! Throughout the journey I always ended finding NOTHING really...”all much ado about NOTHING”. In Buddhist terms: Impermanence vs that which abides.





                        “Biography” - facts & flavors