Can Faith Prove the Cycles of the Universe? Oh, and Shine so People Need to Squint, ok?

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Yesterday, I was talking with an amazing friend of mine who is also a jewelry maker/marine biologist. I know, right? She is fantastically & totally awesome! We were enjoying our chatting (as most women are prone to do when they haven't seen each other in way too long).  It didn't take long for those big-all-encompasing-life questions to come struttin' in...

At one point we were throwing the idea of faith around. How do we gain it? Where do we find it? Why do we have it, and what do we put it in? 

Well, this morning as I jolted awake at 5:30, I rolled around thinking "why? 5:30, brain... really?" and then sighed as I gazed out the window and I heard a birds wings. As it flew closer and closer to my window, the sea gull decided to turn his path higher, and not crash my early morning party.

Looking out the window, I thought I had never seen anything else so still ever. Had the seagull not flown by, I would have thought someone had placed a phony picture in front of my window. (It's probably this still every morning, but it's amazing to a girl who usually isn't up at that hour.) Only three little leaves even dared to wiggle at the tippy top of the tree.  As I sat there watching the incredible stillness, I thought of something.

Ah, ha! 

There is not a thing in this world that is not a cycle. This is why we can have faith. 

This thought went down like this in my mind: 

• We all die. Ok, yes, but herein lies the initial questions of faith.
• It's all a cycle-----this is the way to have faith, huh? 
• Yes, your day to day is a cycle. 
• The sun cycles
• Our bodies cycle
• Our sleep
• Eating
• In general all bodily functions cycle
• Water
• Plants, animals, chemicals, all of it! 
• Earth; as in the dirt itself-cycles
• Babies are born and we get old
• Mountains are built & slowly destroyed
• Weather moves
• Circuits move cyclically
• The Earth turns & perhaps this is what creates all the cycles-the earth turning and the sun shining.

It is a grand cyclical orchestra! There isn't anything that doesn't connect its end in someway to its beginning. This is one way to trust in your own self. I think of it this way as part of my understanding of life. 

Doubts and questions are always there though, right? 

But how do we know? How can we know for sure?

For me, it is all about the unknown. 

We can learn and read and do math (sort of, in my case...). We can imitate and grow our skills so we come to master one particular thing. But, there are just somethings that we know at a different level. This level is separate from our thinking mind.

It's those inklings in our hearts and bellies. Goose bumps that tell us something seemingly beyond our normal scope of knowledge. This is not our mind but our spirit telling us something. The mind learns and the spirit knows. 

And, It is not just my spiritual mind going all woo-woo crazy here, think about it; 

"I THINK THEREFORE I AM."

I know it's not, say, I poop therefore I am... no, that is quite clearly unromantic about the cycles of life. BUT, the fact that when we are born we are given a body, a mind, and a spirit, is part of the miracle.

We are quite balanced beings. We don't all just run around with no love and no one else in mind, we're not all ego maniacs after all and there is a reason! Our spirit! Our heart!

 When we have finished our time here, all of these things must also move on. The cycles again, see? Our body follows much the same cycle as many other things of flesh and bone; but what about the mind, and spirit?

 I don't really think they can decompose.

Well, if I had to say one or another thing happened, I would guess that our spirits recycle! I love the three R's so why not use a environmental reference; let's say that maybe the issue of our soul is more in the second R category: REUSE! 

If the whole of our world functions on cycles, which means that "nothing is ever created or destroyed", just altered and changed, then indeed our spirit must work in a similar way. All that energy must manifest into something, as energy must go somewhere or transfer to another thing somehow. In fact, it might seem kind of scientific. 

Rebirth, might be on the right track to define it, but I don't think it necessarily matters what we call it. The fact that we all have innate knowledge in our being means that we are living not just with minds, but spirit. And that spirit, like all other things on this planet must cycle. And in this I have faith.

Even when we don't understand, we must come to trust and put faith into our spirit just because we are alive... This has been something I have believed for a long time and haven't been able to articulate. Being able to put it into terms my brain can understand kinda makes the ego say, "alright, alright, I give... a little." (We do need our ego, we just don't need it to rule us.)

Ah, ha! But, the beauty of all of it? We have the mind power to connect the dots; the spirit guides us and the mind provides us with a world of freedom if we choose to allow the ego to fade away more and more. Give way to the subconscious as a guide for our true selves!! Wooohooo!!!

Ok, ok, enough of that for 6:10am! 

Long story short, you are loved, so be loved, and love back, because were all on the cycle and while physicality is rather stuck in this cyclical pattern, our mind and our spirit are full of infinite potential, in all infinite direction! Woohoo! Talk about starting the day right!  Welcome to your faith. Believe what you believe, deep in your heart. That is your truth. <3 ahhhhh.

 

My truth is finding the beauty that resides in every heart I meet.

 The suns rays are making their way onto my pillow now, and I hope that today, you shine so radiantly that people might need to squint a little to get near you. In the good kind of way.


Yeah, you're that sparkly.


Peace, 

      Erin of GrundyLüks*

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Checking in: Why Does Sparkly Nail Polish Feel & Look Even Better After Crying??

This is a post from another blog of mine. I wanted to share this revelation with you all here... and give the "then what happened" an answer with my next post, because so much has fallen away, and so many seeds have taken root! 

-----Begin Post From July 16th, 2013----- 

No, it't not because tears in your eyes make the sparkles look all kaleidoscope-ish... it is surprisingly moving.

Ok, I think I've got this, I think...

I feign anger. It is clearly false & just a shell of what I'm truly feeling. I hold on to that empty shell so hard that my mouth won't open to speak and my neck is starting to twitch. Ok enough.

Finally I say something. And slowly, the oozy feelings start to leak through my "tough" exterior. 

I don't believe I am an artist. I don't think I will succeed at being a small business. I am scared to let people down by moving to another country (possibly) for grad school. WHAT IF I FAIL? I don't know how to do this. Shouldn't I be saving the planet by making major developments in environmental sustainability? and my favorite:

Can't I just don't know the future???

Hm.. well... Unfortunately, most of us who are blessed to be part of the homo -sapien genus, haven't quite gotten to perfecting our talent for knowing the future. (Probably due to our pesky To-Do lists.) And although I do believe in feeling what is right; in our hearts we get a sense of what might happen, we know when something is looming around the corner, I think there is something to be said about jumping into the next step.

We just can't know what the UNKNOWN holds for us. And that is one of the most beautiful elements of this life we get to live. The brevity, and the simplicity.  We feel like we need to add so much to complicate it all! And yet... and yet... it truly is as simple as being in this moment-right here-right now-all of yourself-all of your beautiful self.

Ahh... ok. Breathing is back. 

So, I spent a good 45 mins-at least-going further and further down my inner spiral stairs, deepening my introspection, and come to find out, the dream that I AM  so clear about on the surface, is the big scary thing hiding down there afraid to come out, full throttle!  (It was a good thing we were on a 5 hour road trip to visit family.)

Lets back track for a moment:

It's hard growing up. (uh, duh?) But I think it gets harder when you are finally, for real, becoming an adult (adult readers forgive my innocence and naïvety, I know, I know I just don't know but this is what I got.) I think that it's more subtle what you loose during this time, going from young adult to-ADULT. Of course we don't just loose more and more, we are gaining all the time! But being in this moment this is what I feel. 

 I feel less unique, less imaginative, less into the funky and completely different. This is probably more aptly called a refining of taste process. Ok, I like this. I like refining. But changing is hard. It's hard becoming something more! I like this feeling; the experience, the excitement, the emergence. It's just different. It's the UNKNOWN. AHHH!! RUN! Ok, just kidding. But that is our natural instinct, right? Fight or flight? And we see change as something which may threaten what we have already invested in, in our oh so precious lives. But this is not what makes our hearts skip a beat, or our eyes shine with happiness. Running away isn't what we truly want! 

And getting back to the Sparkly nail polish bit at the beginning:

For some strange stroke luck, living in this 21st century moment means that 

Nail Junkie Glitter
+
Lagoon Blue
=
Happiness. 

Haha! I know, right?!? Nuts. 

Ok, let me explain. 

 I used to paint my nails all sorts of wacky colors. I would create patterns and paint my friends nails with them too. Spending my free time perfecting all those funky techniques. Clearly going through my "struggling to find my voice through my nail lacquer" adolescence phase. And my favorite thing in the world at that time? Yup, SPARKLES! 

Side Story to emphasize: Once, in preschool, I fought over ONE sequin. You know those tiny plastic sparkle things with a tiny hole in the middle? Yup. IT WAS A GONNA BE MINE BABEH! Uh.. any way... I like sparkles.. love might be an appropriate word. I even talked my Nana into buying me Dorothy style red glitter covered slippers instead of patent leather. I know, right? 10 X more practical! (and a million times more glitzy!)

And, jumping back to now: 

I no longer wear those amazing red sparkle covered shoes, but I have been on the hunt for a deep blue nail polish; CVS selections failing me, and Walgreen's just not making the cut. And then, today, while grabbing some kombucha (perhaps a post on this-kombucha-later), I thought I would give a quick check for the ideal blue. And LO AND BEHOLD! Lagoon by Gabriel. (AND the best part: not tested on animals!)

Magic has shone it's sparkly spirit... 

Combining this with Sinful Colors "Nail Junkie" makes my inner tween jump with glee, around and around, spinning hand in hand with my less-fearful artist self! 

What a weekend! Working through some fears and  finding the perfect blue nail polish to guide my inner creative & unique self out further onto the surface!! Deep breath in and out.  

Sparkle on. :)

Here is to living our bliss, wearing sparkles on our nails, and living our true unique self-made lives without FEAR. Or maybe just living with fear well. 

Here is to loving ourselves. 

Is there a special something you've been thinking of lately that would make you jump with excitement just because? Some thing that would make your inner girlie happy? Something pink? Something blue? Something fun & new? It is always fun to share! :)

-Erin