Magic Moment.

I had a magic moment last week...a simple moment but one of the more meaningful things that has happened to me in awhile.

I continue to spend time with kids on probation from prison. These are tough kids, and are from some of the more notorious and infamous LA gangs. A young man from the Bloods is a large and intimidating black kid from Watts. He is smart, and quick, has beat up most of the kids in the facility, but very few have seen him do it. He also runs a lot of underground stuff, of which everyone is aware, but again it's hard to catch him because he is so smooth. I never had a bad relationship with him, but also hadn't been able to make a connection with him either. He watched me a lot, very distrustful, often defiant, and always aloof. One day I was talking and I saw him watching me and listening, and then while I was talking he came up closer to me then he ever had before and gently and slowly pulled a leaf out that had caught in my hair. I stayed simple and kept talking slowly and just let him do it. At that moment I knew that the connection had been made. The next day he helped me make sandwiches for the homeless, the day after that he swept and mopped the floor with a simple smile and nod when I asked him. It was a small gesture, a simple thing, pulling that leaf from my hair...but it was a magic moment for me. A small reminder that if you stay consistent, genuinely love, and allow people to unfold in their own time the truth will arise all on its own.

To Love Haters...

I've been spending time recently with kids on probation from Juvenile Hall. I learn from all the people I work with, although these young men have been some of my greatest teachers yet. They are survivors, and at a very young age have learned coping skills that the rest of us may not cultivate in an entire life time...A few days ago I was talking to a young man who was laughing and joking and telling story after story. He is ridiculously funny, and at moments has me in tears. When he was joking with me some kid came up, and just starting ragging on him, pretty hard core...and he just turned to me and started laughing. He said "You know, I love haters, seriously anyone need to have someone to hate on, pleease hate on me. I love to be of service. Everybody always have to have someone to hate on, and I always like to have three or four hating on me." And then beamed at me...

I found myself thinking about this a lot that night after I went home. How often I try to be kind, or not hurt people's feelings, or feel bad if someone is hating on me. And, I thought how this young kid, on probation from jail, had actually learned to deal with the people that hate him. Not only was he ok with them, but he actually welcomed them, and he even loved them when they hated. Enlightened? I think so...as a wise man called Jesus once said "Love your enemies." This is the highest form of unconditional love and it takes a life time of continual practice.

Thank you Kiddo.

Star Star...Teach me how to Shine Shine...

Stars shine because their gravitational force and internal pull is falling so quickly towards their own center that they emit light...this is the perfect metaphor for how to shine in the world.

Be centered, be true, be real, and you will shine...in the only way that matters...the way that makes life bigger, brighter, better, and fuller by authentically loving everything with embraced arms that comes across your path. The harder it may seem to love the more important it is to do.

Happy New Year World. Make 2011 Shine Bright!

Equality...

The need to feel better then anyone or anything else, comes from a false fear that you could somehow be less then anyone or anything else... it's not possible. We're all made from the same damn stuff so let us move on with more important matters.

Standing in Awe...

I'm not sure that life notices my presence. I see an animal, touch the leaves of a tree, gaze at the stars... and it seems to smile but continue in the same fashion of always changing and always staying the same. Forever in motion and forever at rest. The eternal now. I'm not sure that it notices me anymore then it notices itself. There is a genuine unself-consciousness to real living in the deepest sense of the word. It just is. For that reason I'm not sure that life is particularly amazed by me, and that makes me chuckle, and feel giddy...it feels good to be able to disappear, to be invisible and for awhile become a small fragment of the universe. Life may not be amazed by me, but I'm amazed by it, and that's more then enough for me.

Rules...

Give me a rule, and i'll find a way to bend it...right before I break it...

Create your own rules. The only limits on life are the ones you set for yourself.

Intimacy...Into-me-see

I've been noticing something interesting recently regarding intimate relationships...there are four different types of groups in intimate relationships. Those that treat those that are closest to them the worst, take them for granted, and abuse the stability of the relationship. Those that treat people better, and more important the closer that the relationship is. Those that treat everyone unilaterally bad or disrespectful, and those that treat everyone unilaterally good, and like they are important. I know which category I fall into, and I know why. The closer I am to someone, the more attention and respect they get from me. I like to know who someone is before I give them my time and energy, I like to see and understand their character first, and once they have proven to me that they are of quality I will do anything for them.

I have noticed a lot of people in Los Angeles that treat those closest to them horribly, and go way out of their way for strangers. This for me is a red flag, and smells of megalomania. They want to gain the affection and attention of new people all the time, but once someone has been won over already, and is a friend they have lost interest. There is also the person to treats everyone poorly, which basically reflects the lack of love they have for themselves, sad but true. And, those that treat everyone with love, respect, and kindness. This is a beautiful thing, and something that the Dalai Lama talks about. Treat everyone as if they are an old and dear friend. I am working towards this, and do it in some cases, but I'd like to do it even more...we're all one. Just love.