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Maridel

Maridel Bowes, M.A.
www.evolvingjourney.com


In This Issue
Making our Lives Less Problematic
Second Bloom Workshop
Free Coffee Consultation


























































































Lavendar


 
When Is A Problem Not a Problem?
 
Does this question remind you of that silly riddle, "When is a door not a door?" I could jar you with an answer, but that's no fun. Let's talk.
 
When Eckhart Tolle's book "The Power of Now" first came out, I bought the cassette tapes and frequently walked the hilly surround of my home with Eckhart's voice as my companion. Sometimes I would call to my housemate as I set out, "See you later! Eckhart and I are going for a walk."
 
Across the months, many things seeped into my walking bones, and took up residence there. One of them was this simple, penetrating question. "Why make a problem out of it?" This is the query version of Eckhart's perspective that life situations arise, and either need to be dealt with through action or accepted -- that is, left alone until they can be dealt with. It is only the mind, he asserts, that needs to make a problem out of it. A problem, by the way, that starts to help itself to our energy.
 
A couple of years ago, in the midst of shifting my career focus from astrology to writing, I caught my mind at this very game. I had come to a scary financial edge, and the imagined fall from fiscal grace was steep and impending. In this state, I sat on a bench overlooking a small lake and quietly reminded myself that on this day I was okay. It was like singing a lullaby to a screaming baby at first, but by the time I headed for home, I was at peace.
 
Within hours, without leaving my home or soliciting anyone, I'd been offered $5,000 for a writing job. Once the money was in the bank and I had caught up on everything, I was astonished to see how quickly my balance had shrunk! "Oh no!" I said aloud. "It's almost half gone!" And then I laughed. My mind had already starting turning my blessed, beautiful provision into a problem!
 
In our culture, problems -- like the worry they create -- are deemed a necessary part of life on planet Earth. But what if a problem is a problem only when we say it is?
 
Making Our Lives Less Problematic  
 
1. What's the Real Problem? I've been reading about Hawaiian healing lately, and came across this quote from Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. "A problem is only a problem if we say it is, and even then it's not the problem -- how we react is the problem." Each time we react to our life situations as if they are our enemies, we create a battle. Ever notice how hard it is to be calm and creative with your sword drawn?
 
2. Problems beget Problems. Some people have nothing but problems. It's as if they breed in their basement. When you're going to meet them, you're thinking, "I wonder what the problem will be today?" Other people have one eternal problem that unwinds like a very bad, very long movie on permanent rerun. It's true:  what we focus on, we create more of ! So why not focus on something you actually want more of?
 
3. Life Situations are challenges of Soul and Spirit. I'm not minimizing the enormous challenges of our lives or of the world today. Individually and collectively, we've got some mountains to climb. But instead of getting out the "Problem" stamp, can we see these challenges as the soul-making, spirit-strengthening gauntlets that they are -- thrown down into our paths to show us how much depth, resilience, ingenuity and love we possess? And if you've ever accessed those qualities in the face of crisis, chaos or crankiness, you know that the supposed "problem" was just the shell of your newly emerging self.
 
4. Let's giggle. Half-way through the writing of this newsletter yesterday, I hit an undesirable button on my computer that ripped my work from me like one two-year-old takes the sparkly, new doll from another. I had a ... life situation. I was already behind newsletter schedule with several other things on the agenda for the day. Nothing like the Universe saying, "So, Maridel how's that unproblem thing working for you?" The irony of it all allowed me to smile, take a deep breath, and put my newly-acquired document recovery skills into practice. By the time they didn't work, I had a phone appointment, and by the time that was over, so was my mini-crisis. "Maybe that wasn't the right topic for this week," I told myself, and asked Spirit for new inspiration, accepting that it would be delivered late. Then last night, in the process of editing a resume, a document recovery template popped up on my screen. And there sat my little cyber outcast of "Crossing Paths #20 - When Is A Problem Not A Problem?" 

 
'Til we cross paths again,
Maridel
Second Bloom Workshop 

My friend and author Michelle Gamble-Risley has set the date for the first official Second Bloom workshop being hosted by the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce. www.ranchocordova.org

When: March 27 9:00 a.m.  12:00 p.m.

Where: 2729 Prospect Park Drive in Rancho Cordova in the American River Room

 
Recession-Buster Special

$19.95 - Member Rate

$29.95 - Non-Member Rate

Online registration has opened on the Chamber's website. Please sign up by

clicking here. If you have any questions on the workshop, please send an e-mail to  info@second-bloom.com

Iinvite all of your girlfriends to join us and learn how to reinvent your lives! We're also offering a special recession-buster price to open the workshop to as many women as possible. We know and understand that times are tight. We want to help you (especially now when many women need it the most) by offering these amazing rates for this one-time only. We hope you will join us!

 
Free Coffee Consultation!
 
If you have a writing project or idea, I'd love to buy you a cup of coffee (tea or cocoa) and discuss it with you. Regardless of the size of the project or where you are in the process, I'd be happy to give you my thoughts and see what I can do to help. Please feel free to contact me at Maridel@evolvingjourney.com

© 2008 Evolving Journey. All Rights Reserved. Contact Maridel Bowes at maridelbowes@gmail.com.



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