feet

our feet are as far from our heads as we can get

many a person, perhaps even you, has realized that
being in our heads
think think think

is a way that often avoids life, love and connection

( yeah, yeah, there are problems
to be solved

good
when they are there to be solved
think

and then....

what about the rest of the time)

so
here's a game for today


put your attention as full
time
as possible

on sensing both feet

while you read this
while you do the next thing
while you talk
while you think

and especially
when you are interacting with your partner

in your half hour of love and sex before dinner

in the talking
in the ten minute naked makeout
in sex that is two way
in sex that is one way

in all of these
attempt

with joy and humor
and
intent

to have attention
on three places:

your feet
your heart
your breathing

if sex is involved,
then my all means enjoy your genitals
and mouths
and tongues

oh, yeah:

and look into each other's eyes
in all the activities
except the one way sex


ha, what a nice
assignment

but
don't forget

dive in
feet first

Waking up, F,,, ing, Happiness, Positivity Resonance, part one

Sex is good

Misused
almost always

and sex
is
good


it's good for touch
it's goof for giving and getting at the same time

it's good for shutting down the mind,
usually


it's good for realizing
that we aren't alone,
usually

it's good for
giving

for giving

forgiving

and it's a mess


it creates a pleasure that is rare
because almost all the rest of life
is lived
out of
the present

out of
love
with the moment

out of sensing
and
touching
and
paying attention
and
connecting


so,
that's the wake the f..... up

how can we
sense full time

touch a lot with all the boundary stuff
and still:

everyone is dying for hugs and even hand holding

paying attention:

positive attention

how many people
can we be around

and like
and let them know

verbally
and
non verbally

that we like them

( I know this sad, sad community,
supposedly into improving love,
that is obsessed with fear
and with giving "adjustments" to each
other

alas,

they give themselves so much extra work,

even though they have a non drug drug
to alleviate the pain
they are constantly encouraging)


no,
f..... to wake up

like this:

have good sex

then have a great talk

about the simple joys of life

what you like

in that moment

not what you liked in the sex

that is over

what you like
now


this now

....

really
this one

if you are in a room with another person,
go tell them something you like
about them
and that you like about being alive

and that you like about yourself


.....
see July, http://sunmagazine.org,
it's not online yet, but subscribe,
you won't regret it,
and the interview this month is amazing.
on "positivity resonance"

which is the best food for health and happiness

it's love
in little chunks

as often as possible,

you'll see,
read it, this interview,
then read it again,

i'll be blogging about it for a couple of weeks


and,
get the print edition , too

no ads
beautiful black and white photos

really

go for it

now

Complaining as "love making"

Complaining as "love making"

That's a trick title

and not really
it's not really a trick,
because without alchemy,
life is prison,
is hell:

the old way of complaining 
is hell
is prison
and never turns into Love making, except make up sex,
which isn't love,
it's froth

but,here,
let's discover some magic

( why else be in a relationship?)

we just need to turn the world on its head

and

that's what we always need to do

if we are to be 

awake

and 

happy

and

effective

and what other kind of life would you want to lead?

so:

you got a complaint

we have this ongoing series:

Love and Sex before dinner
 which has
10 minutes of some sort of touch connection
and 18 minutes of back and forth communication,
3  non interrupted minutes per turn, 3 turns each

so,
you have a complaint,
and it's your turn to talk....

ta da

you have three minutes to tell it to your sweetheart

here's some pointers:

be present and remember:

this is the person you love

remember:

what you think they are doing wrong,

you are too

so

try to say how you do it, too

when you say how they do it
( you don't listen, I don't listen; you get angry, I get angry at your getting angry; you take me for granted, I take you for granted..... search, it doesn't have to be an equal amount)

remember , three:

beneath all complaints is a desire

which means,
beneath all complaints could be a request

suggestion
(just in case you want to "make" love)
make the request

so:

I feel so punk when you are too busy for me

Ah, I love you

Ah, there are times when I get too busy for you

Ah, I'd like to make sure we spend more time together..
Can we talk later about some extra times we can spend together?

Now....

this half hour before dinner, Love and Sex before dinner

is

the MINIMUM

to have sweetness

how can you get more out of it?

do it more

but only for the love and fun

of it

and the joy of waking up as a partnership in enlightenment

Awake in talk, in touch, in makeout, in ...., all of you

slow down
connect deeply
wake up
discover love

awake you don't have to rush

you talk
and then your partner talks

the goal
be present while you talk
be present while you listen

then
ten minutes of sex

ten minutes in which
not to hurry
not to have any climax

just to get touching
and the juices flowing

make out:
naked

lots of touch

cock sucking,
slow,
no effort to climax

guy: relax,
let it be overwhelming
don't help
relax

woman:
go slow
sense it all

don't try to get any werhe


clitoris stroking

sit so you can see easily
lubricate
go slowly
stay on the clitoris

don't try to get her off

woman:
don't mov
don't help

just feel
just sense

both of you:
stay in the moment

ten minutes of touch

twenty minutes of talk

walk up

love without waking will always turn
to a mess

( messes aren't bad,
but this half hour is for waking up,
not making more of messes

plenty of them in life)

slow
slower
slowly

sense your body
sense your relationship to gravity
follow your body

wake up
good

Forgiveness

Forgiveness, before after and during dinner eat this food and you will have eternal life

I'm having a delightful interaction with an occasionally cranky person
whom I adore

who is in the throes of
"Can I forgive?"

in that old awful way,
as if forgiveness is wearing a hair shirt,
or swallowing toxic waste
or at the very least
sitting through a bad movie for hours and hours

ah,
and this sweet person was once a heavy duty Christian
and these poor folks
for reasons that are both sad and delightful
have often the hardest time forgiving

( and I did hear this in a church, by a straight ahead
boring believer:
"Not forgiving is like swallowing rat poison
and
hoping the other person will die."

Which is s beginning of the higher level of
forgiving,

but not the end)

And you,
gentle reader,
are
A. going to have to forgive me
for jumping around and packing
so many angles and concepts into a short
poem/ ramble / essay

B. Wake up
and really feel and think your way through
this,
since it's is perhaps the number one source
of human suffering,
this holding on to our woundedness

,,,,,,, Okay
forgiveness

let's just make this the starter ramble and posit three levels



One:
the forgiveness of the righteous,
the believers
the goody goodies

this is on the
holding one's nose
and saying
"Well, you are stinky,
but I will hold my nose,
and so-called forgive you for being
so stinky
because I am so much better than you
and it's so good for my image of
being so much better than you
to say the words,
'I forgive you,'
all the while letting you know
that I am vastly superior to you,
you bad, bad stinky inferior sinner whom I so graciously,
forgive,
so I can look good to myself, and those around me, and get
points in pretend heaven."


Two:
The sliding it off, half ass "acceptance."

Me here Chris Elms could go on some fun
rants about all this
"It's all good,"
Buddhist-ish
"acceptance"

which is better than the stinky cheese clothes pin nose
model,

but is
like
a disconnected feeling,
an

I'm indifferent,

I'm separate

I'm not going to let it get to me.


This has some of the very very true
selfish enlightenment of the above rat poison model

which knows,
sometimes with blinding clarity,
that

when you fight what is already over,
hell,
once you think it through,
you know you're always going to lose

so chill
accept

let it go,  man,
it's all good

(bleeek---- my comment)

and three:
third level forgiveness,

not just giving the other person a break,
though that's a superb start,
but giving them a delighted break
a congratulatory break

really?

delight?

really

this is crazy, this level,
and strange,
because we are so used to being slaves
that freedom feels creepy weird

but this is level three:

thanks and thankfulness
and gratitude for whatever "wrong"
was bestowed on you
by another segment of God

ah, God,
well, hell,
heaven

let's play with God as a burst apart being
and we are all pieces of Her, trying to get
back together,
and whatever "sin"
someone gifted you with,
was a piece of God, trying,
in however an awful, ignorant, or half assed way,
to reconnect with God
as you

So,
it's like this:
in this forgiveness,
you would have paid the bad, bad person
to do whatever they did

why?

you figure it out,
you wouldn't believe me if I told you

and you shouldn't believe me

it's your experience that is
A. your life
B. your nourishment for enlightenment


stay in this experience
and feel your heart's way through this
new world:
forgiveness as delight and you would have paid the
other person to
do
their bad bad "sin"

really,
this is some heavy lifting for the heart

and without it,
sadly,
life is misery

cheers,
chris

....
you do want to be enlightened, don't you?

what if waking up were the game

we get lost,
don't we,
often / usually
in relationship?

at first it's mutual play

and then,
since we never learned to fill ourselves with
inner attention

we demand/ crave/ get addicted
to attention from this wonderful person
we start out loving

and then end up trying  to maneuver this wonderful other person to
"meet our needs"

ahhh.
if you ever think that one,
"getting my needs met"
love is long gone

how
to
get
it
 back?

wake up

pay attention
to you

to the other

simple

( well,
simple to say,
and the work of enlightenment to do.


however the reward is high...
real love)

talk as awakening practice

talk
real talk
intimate,
slow,
listening
taking turns,
being present
trying to be present
this kind of talk,
daily,
daily
every day, get it,

this talk,
 has this amazing possibility:

you can be a new you
this day,
each day as you speak and
attempt to stay present with your partner

and it has this amazing possibility, too

your partner can be a new her or him
this day,
each day,
as they speak and listen and
attempt to stay present

even if you two are just yaking about your day
if present,
you can notice,
and then say:

oh, as I'm talking about my boss, I realize
that I'm saying the same phrases I always say
and that I'm tightening my upper stomach and lower chest

and,
( pause to go in..
with 3 minutes to talk,
you don't have to rush it out
for fear/ realization that the other person
is going to jump in and squelch the silence)

A pause to go in...

ah, I'm definitely feeling defensive and angry at my boss

and now I look out
into the world in the present
and see you looking at me
and see you breathing
and then I remember my breathing
and I remember how much I love you
and now this is a whole different talking
than
just complaining about work
the way that
the robot in me

wants to do

...

ta da

so we can be new

we always can

and what if this were part of the love game
the relationship contract?

each day
before dinner

talk that tries to be present
touch that tries to be present

doesn't that sound like a nice present
to ourselves?

to you and your sweetie?

you and your sweetie,
with whom you are usually to busy to
connect
even though

and we all know this

connecting in
the present
and
in
love ( which may well be the same thing)

is what
life
is
all
about?



cheers,
chris

How to Talk in your daily back and forth, or one way anyway

Some of us know
and honor

many of us know
and forget...

FRIENDSHIP TAKES TIME

it's like a garden
it has to be tended

maybe once a week can keep a friendship going
anything less is.....

a reassurance
a high grade acquaintance
a mutual memory nudge

who knows

and in a relationship
if you live together
each day
is a time to talk

each day

and the game we are setting up
is mutual tak
equal time time
talk that is about what love requires:

attention
listening

and even, a freedom an opening
to exploring saying
what we aren't sure we
are able to say

or aren't sure
we even had to say

love is exploring

in touch

and in
talk

and this blog needs to be short
and that's fine

it has some pointers to help you
if you want
in the game of talking for three minutes

here's my suggestion:
for the first couple of weeks,
don't talk about "problems"

talk about:
one:
your ideas
two:
what you are aware of in the present
( sensations,
my thigh on the chair, my fingers on the keyboard, my shirt against my neck, my breathing in and out.


impressions:
I see the screen and the words appearing
I see the wall behind the computer
I see out the window, peripherally to my right
I hear the air conditioner
I hear the cars going by

being present
seems kinda boring

don't sweat it
it's such a nice vacation from being smart
and worrying
and the whole effort of not being present

and three:
what you like in life
what you enjoy

With a partner two and three can double up:
I see your eyes and really enjoy them

I see your breathing and feel my breathing and remember how much I like you

ps,
and a BIG ps:
don't use the three minutes to rag on, complain about, or otherwise trash the other

what you like right

and no back handed compliments:

I really like those rare rare moments when you aren't a jerk
NO.

I enjoy your smile

and
then
all the other things you like:

share your presence
share your gratitude

and if there's thoughts and incidents you want to talk
about,
go for it

but these three are the basis:

what you are pondering as meaningful in your life right now
what you are aware of in the present
what you like about being alive

and you each have 3 3 minute turns in this world of being honest
and deep
with your partner

who,
it seems to me,
is likely to become a better and
better
and
better

friend

good