the flower of consciousness

A while back I did this post of Eckhart Tolle quotes.  The other day, David sent me a link to an Eckhart video on YouTube and I've been watching some of the other videos of Tolle that are available there.  I can't remember which video it was now, but in one of them he says something like a failed story is the flower of consciousness.  I think we too often get wrapped up in not failing or in doing what we think is expected of us.  If something happens to us that we would categorize as a failure, the temptation is to view it as something negative instead of something that can lead us to greater consciousness.

Some might view being gay as a failure or not being able to successfully become straight a failure.  I was certainly in that camp at one point in my life.  It feels so much better though, to extract myself from that narrative, to not feel like I need to be identified by it or classify it as a struggle but to let it be and to listen to it and see what greater self awareness it can bring about who I am and who I can be.

Like I said, I can't remember which video had the flower of consciousness quote, so here's another video I like that kind of explores the same thing: not getting wrapped up in the content or the drama in our lives or letting it define who we are, but to extract ourselves from it in order to achieve a higher level of consciousness.



Also, I've been going to a personal trainer.  He does Cirque du Soleil style hand balancing.  Here's a video of him:



He hasn't taught me how to do any of that yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.  When he does, I'll be happy to perform at your birthday parties, work functions and bar mitvah's.