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Happy Equinox! What a beautiful time of year it is here in Ashland. The trees are budding, daffodils are smiling, and everything is green, green, green!

I went for a walk last night, as the sun was setting, to enjoy the beauty of spring and the moist, fragrant air. And I received an unexpected and wonderful blessing! As I walked in Lithia Park, right near the playground, I heard the lovely cooing of an owl. Hoo-hooo, Coo-hooo, hoo-hoooo, so gentle, soft and soothing. My son immediately pointed out where the owl was. Hidden in an oak tree, which grows intertwined with a redwood, the small owl sat in its perch, it’s speckled feathers blending in with the color and texture of the tree. “It’s soo cute!” I marveled.

I adored the owl. I stood mesmerized, in love. I had such awe and adoration for this exquisite little creature. I imagined the owl was staring back at me, enjoying the deep meditative silence in our loving gaze. Most likely the owl was looking far past me to the setting sun, simply singing to the coming Spring and the dusk beauty. Either way, we had a nice connection, very tangible peace.

Eventually, heart overflowing with gratitude, I said goodbye to the owl and moved on down the path. The song of the creek was more crisp and playful than ever before. I was even more aware of and in unison with the breathing of life in the forest…the leaves, birds, rocks, soil and clouds, the air itself…We were alive with bubbly, gleeful spring energy. My breath deepened as I received the life force of the spring air, and my being expanded and showered Life with exhilerating appreciation for this Joyful Presence.

The gifts of this evening continued! I meandered through the Japanese gardens, (where I love to giggle with the faeries). Then I come upon the field of Sycamore trees (8×8 to be exact!). And there, frolicking and prancing about, were over a dozen deer! Oh! How amazing! So many deer simply playing together! They dashed about, hiding behind trees, chasing one another, jumping and running back and forth. The energy was pure Play! I just wanted to hug and kiss these deer, they were so yummy! And they were not at all concerned with my “intrusion”. I walked slowly through the playful scene, bursting with joy and laughter, thrilled to be witnessing such merriment.

Sure, it is mating season ..right? So, maybe they’re out there strutting their stuff, showing off their sexy agility, attracting their buff buck. Or maybe they were simply enjoying the lusciousness of spring and the aliveness of all growing things waking up from winter slumber. Either way, they were certainly demonstrating what spring calls forth from us: an unabashed desire to get out, frolic, play, breathe, jump, dance, and celebrate Life with each other!

I smile with gratitude for the gifts of Spring and the Beauty I witnessed on that walk through the park. The Owl reminded me to sing, not for any particular reason, just to sing for the enjoyment of song, and the celebration of Life and Beauty. And the Deer, of course, reminded me to Play: express the dance of Spring in all its gleeful enthusiasm. Nature reminds us to live by allowing Life to move through our breath, voice and bodies. The aliveness of Spring calls you to Awaken…come Alive….Celebrate in Joy!!!

I live in Ashland, OR, a town where the word ‘awakening’ can be heard in spiritual circles daily. Many spiritual concepts, like ‘awakening’ or ‘waking up’ are tossed around spiritual communities, like Ashland, so often that we may overlook what they really mean to us, or to the person we are speaking with.

As you may have noticed, I speak of ‘awakening’ or ‘waking from the dream of separation’ often. It’s one of my favorite subjects really. Living in a town with such a high concentration of spiritually focused people, it’s become quickly apparent that we do not always give the same meaning to the spiritual concepts we toss around. So, today I thought I’d share more about the meaning I give to the word ‘awakening’.

I relate ‘awakening’ to the great advice Jesus gave humanity to be “in the world but not of the world.” For me, waking up/awakening is both recognizing the untrue nature of the reality we perceive through our senses, and living in it fully, with complete presence, passion and power. When we awaken to our true identity and reality, that of absolute oneness that cannot even be put into words or bodies, we do not try to get rid of or run away from the experience of being in the earthly/physical dream reality of bodies, emotions, perception and separation. Indeed, to resist the experience of the physical, no matter how painful, slow or monotonous, would be to give it power, and to deny the truth of who we are.

Heaven does not resist hell; it simply knows the truth, and quickly laughs at untruth.

I often remind myself, friends and clients that ‘what you resist, persists.’ What you feed grows, what you give your attention to manifests. Awakening is about waking into life, not trying to get out of it in search of something better, more heavenly. Its about bringing heaven to earth, seeing it’s already here and always has been. Heaven, our true reality, is not somewhere out there that we have to escape or ascend to. It’s right here, inside of us, all around us. (For everything we see around us is inside us!). And we bring it into our experience by accepting what our experience is with great amusement and unconditional love, recognizing what is a reflection of the truth of heaven, and what is a projection of the thought of separation.

This is awakening: bringing the awareness of truth/what is real, into our experience every moment, and allowing that experience to be what it is. When you’re asleep at night, dreaming while your body lays there in bed, you see and experience all kinds of things–fun, scary, painful, happy, sad, confusing. But when you wake up in that dream, you’re aware that where you really are is safe in bed, untouched by anything your experiencing in the dream. And so, when you wake up in the dream, you know “hey, this is just a dream, so it’s no big deal if I fall of this building, or show up to school naked or meet a scary monster”. You don’t try to fight the dream or run away from it. For, in order to wake up from the dream, you have to bring the truth of who you are into that dream. Bring your bright, joyful, all-giving and forgiving Self into the insanity of your experience and show it what’s real: show it love.

Love is unconditional, infinite, ever-present and unchanging. Love is presence. Love is whole, complete, One.

Waking into life means bringing this Love, this presence, into your life, your every moment experience. This means surrendering to and allowing what is, rather than trying to change, fix, get rid of or solve it.

And, “when you want only love, you will see nothing else.” “Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added to you.” There is no need to put so much effort into manifesting all of the things we would like to have in our experience. We can choose to have all that is fulfilling in our lives simply by choosing God. When we seek first the “kingdom”, the truth of our Being, our true reality of oneness, all “these things”, the desires of our heart, our given us. The desires of our heart manifest in our experience as a natural result of our choosing God, choosing truth.

This is the journey of waking into life. Our experiences do not always match what we want or would choose to have in our life. It’s a journey of becoming aware, and choosing again. When “all of these things” do not seem to be showing up for us, it is apparent that there is a choice, somewhere in our (unconscious) mind, against God, against truth, against That Which IS. And so, we choose again, choose Love, choose God, seek first the kingdom, the oneness that we are. And let the experience be, forgive the experience, allow it, laugh at its absurdity and its beauty. Wake into the life we have always had, and somehow, in an instant, forgot.

And now we are remembering.

(Note: this is the outline for a book I’m writing. Stay tuned for more, I’m filling it in, fleshing it out…Thank you for reading!)

I love to laugh. It’s not something I try to do. It just happens: laughter pours from my heart. And, unless someone asks me “what are you laughing about?”, or “what’s so funny?”, I usually don’t stop to ask myself these questions. There’s nothing to laugh at, literally. Laughter is. It’s truly an expression of the realization that only God is, and everything else that appears to be is just an absolutely laughable and absurd illusion. : )

This past weekend, I had the delightful opportunity to attend a Laughter Yoga leader training in Las Vegas. What a Joy! To laugh and laugh for no reason at all was the entire purpose of this training. How validating that was for me! Yes! my heart responded, there are more happy, laughing-for-no-reason hearts in the world, of course! Excellent!

Laughter really is the perfect exercise. As an aerobic activity that stimulates the heart and lungs while massaging other internal organs, it’s an excellent exercise for those who of us who don’t enjoy jogging or going to the gym. (They say 1 minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes of jogging or rowing!) Of course, the benefits of laughter go far beyond the physical. When we laugh, we let go…of everything. You can’t hold on the fear, grief, pain, anger…you can’t hold on to anything. In fact, when you really laugh, and keep laughing, you can’t even think. Ha Ha Ha!! It totally clears the mind.

Laughter is an excellent prescription then for any ailment, whether it seems to be of the body or of the mind. Since we know our thoughts create what we see and experience in this world, what better way to experience joy, then to laugh?! Why wait to be happy about something to laugh? Let laughter be the cause, not the effect. And then, aaaaahhhhh….. nothing but a smile of peace and recognition.

My favorite poet, Hafiz, knew the secret of laughter. “What is this love and laughter budding in our hearts? ” he says, “It is the glorious sound of a soul waking up!”

Let’s wake up now, shall we!