lara simmons

"The ego is trying to teach you how to gain the whole world and lose your soul...you do not want the world. The only thing of value in it is whatever part of it you look upon with love." --From A Course in Miracles Our family has discovered the board game RISK lately and we have enjoyed playing it together, for the most part.... With two boys close in age board games can be a RISKy proposition. There is always the dynamic of one vs. one. Even when you add my husband or I to the mix, the boys are almost always playing against each other. For this reason when we first started playing I felt the need to give a lecture on good sportsmanship . It lasted a few minutes longer than it needed to, well past the point of fidgeting and eye-rolling, but I felt it was important to make the point and our first game went well, with only a few minor infractions. The next day my older son had some homework to do so my younger son and I decided to play a game mano-a-mano and that...

"You have to learn how to turn the tables on the ego. The only way to forgive what is within is to forgive what seems to be without." -- Gary Renard , The Disappearance of the Universe We are approaching the two-week mark in this forgiveness experiment and I don't know about you, but my Ego is starting to fight back. Ever since the guilt bomb that was dropped on me last weekend I have noticed that I am more susceptible to being triggered. I have been getting hooked by emails and by comments and, of course, by my own thoughts, all week. Yesterday, while in the pool swimming laps, I finally realized what was happening:  I have been engaging my Ego with all of this forgiveness work and my Ego is starting to fight back.  The Ego relies on the Mind to provide the fuel for its fire. When we quiet the mind with yoga, meditation, writing, forgiveness work or other practices, our Ego quiets down as well. For awhile. But eventually the Ego starts to fight back a...

"It’s not impermanence per se, or even knowing we’re going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness. Another word for that is freedom—freedom from struggling against the fundamental ambiguity of being human." --Pema Chodron When I started to write this post it was never a question of WHO I was going to quote, it had to be Pema. If Wacky Sunday were an official holiday, Pema Chodron would be its Patron Saint. So what is Wacky Sunday, you ask? It's a day in which ev...

"The Ego needs 100% participation, if you use conscious awareness you can break the Ego's grip." -- David Pond , speaking at East West Bookshop We have heard a lot of talk about "the one percent," the wealthiest of the wealthy who often pay no taxes and enjoy privileges many of us don't even know to dream of. Friday night I heard about another one percent, a one percent that interests me a lot more, and that may even help some of us deal with the wealthy one percent, or at least our reactions to them. This one percent is one percent consciousness, which, according to astrologer and metaphysical counselor David Pond, is all it takes to break the Ego's grip. Think about it, in those moments where we are overcome by emotions of the Ego - greed, pride, lust, anger, despair, etc. - if we can just hang onto one percent of our consciousness, one percent of our positive thoughts, one percent of our connection to our Source, one percent of our presence - we...

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."  --Douglas Adams For years I have had this idea in my head about MY LIFE - what it would look like, what I would be doing and mostly, that I would finally be IN CHARGE and things would be going according to MY PLAN. You'll be glad to know I am starting to get over that. The deeper I go into this spiritual life, the more I realize that true joy , true peace , true happiness come not from making a plan and sticking to it, but from going with what shows up. Having no plan, or only a very vague idea of a plan, then letting The Universe do the rest is where the magic lies. For instance, you might say, "I'd like to go to the beach this weekend," and The Universe will take that request and start to move. Maybe your friend with a beach house will call you and say, "I'm going to the beach this weekend, would you like to come?" Or maybe not. Maybe i...