Category: <span>Time Management</span>

Namaste, Followers

Thank you for following  my blog, The Teacher’s Journal, for so many years.  There are other follower’s at yogini.wordpress which was where I began blogging.

Much has changed.  For me, rearranging my writing life, whether for work or pleasure, is a priority these days.

So, after research, time & procrastination I’ve set up a Substack publication which I hope to grow whichever way the wind blows.  Meanwhile, it’ll re-inspire me to write to you more.  It feels like a platform that supports writers and connects us…safely.  And, I need more connection.

So,  if you’ve enjoyed my posts and want to read more find me now on Substack

I’ve titled my publication The World is My Ashram.  It feels like a fitting title for nearly all my interests that have a spiritual component.  Please subscribe.  It’s free.  You’ll get an email when I post.  And,  I’m allowing comments.  If you are a bot…you will be blocked.

Over time I’ll be cherry-picking various posts from The Teacher’s Journal and exporting them over to Substack.

That’s the pLaN 🙂

namaste.

 

 

 

Ancient Wisdom AstroCartography Astrology Feng Shui Geometric Art Holistic Health Meditation Time Management Yoga Yoga Therapy

The name Chiron comes from the word chiros.    Astrologically, Chiron represents our essential wound and provides much information on how/when to heal from it.  The erratic orbit of the asteroid symbolizes weaving together the traditional and the alternative to create hybrid paths towards healing what hurts us.  The glyph, which looks like a key, symbolizes what becomes possible when we unlock/unblock our internal/unconscious wounds.  Additional keywords for Chiron are here.

Chiron entered Aries early this year and will remain until April, 2027 when he collapses into Taurus.   The last time Chiron was in Aries was 1970 but that was before it’s discovery, which means that, this current transit in Aries will be the first time we are experiencing it ‘consciously’.   In Aries, it’s all out front, nothing much is hidden.  Chiron here will be interesting.

Mars moves fast compared to Chiron.  Every 2 years Mars comes back to the same place.  Mars entered Aries at the end of June, 2020.  He’s getting more and more comfortable “acting out” as only Ruler Mars in Aries can.  Last week, Mars moved into a conjunction with Chiron. Every 2 years or so Mars and Chiron meet like this.  It’s no big deal, necessarily.  But, since 2012 those conjunctions have all been in Pisces.  This cycle is the first of 4 conjunctions in Aries, ruled by Mars.

I’m already exhausted.

In the early phases of a new (synodic) cycle, it’s best to observe and notice what is going on.  That’s a lot to do right there.  Noticing.  There is much that gets past our wandering minds/bodies.

The Salon for Astrological Discourse meets again Friday, July 31 at 4pm.  We’ll be discussing this cycle and it’s impact on current events.  Go here if you want to join us.

Astrology Planets and their Cycles Time Management Yoga Therapy

A long time ago I created the word timescaping….it’s a verb.  I couldn’t find it anywhere else, and I researched it, so I’m ready to take ownership of this word, now.  It describes the act of perceiving time as  cyclical & multi-dimensional, not linear, which is how a majority of us see it.  The word implies, by intention, that we can have an effect on time, just as time effects us.  We can speed it up or slow it down, almost at will.   It’s much, much harder to manage time for those that retain the linear perspective of absolute beginnings & absolute endings.   Of course, that’s silly, because many, many things do end.  Absolutely.  And yet, the invisible, energetic, impulses & sparks do live on if there’s any karma around it at all.

After decades of research, life experience, and risky experiments, I came to believe that living one’s daily life according the cycles of the Moon, (and other cycles too, taken as a ‘whole’ picture perspective), is a far superior way to organize one’s activities then adhering to just calendars & clocks,  Apple watches included

The Salon for Astrological Discourse is meeting again this week.  How to move thru “time” is our primary study.  It doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know about astrology.  There’s always something to learn.  Join us online.

Ancient Wisdom Astrology Stress Management Time Management Yoga Therapy

Click for more.

Even those who know little about astrology have probably heard of the infamous “Mercury Retrograde”.

Here’s a list of articles in the New York Times, of all places.

It’s definitely true and accurate that during the 3-weeks (9 thru out the year) this planet appears to move backward,  an illusion explained better here, things go wonky here on earth.  Astrologers, such as myself, can accurately predict when and where in one’s life this retro-active period will manifest.  If you are a therapist (one who ministers), of any kind, you can help your clients/students/peers prepare and use if for the best possible outcome.  It’s not all bad. In fact it can be a very productive time for re-do’s.  Don’t judge it, is good advice.  Yoga Therapy provides good results as it teaches us how to stay centered amidst a swirling, confusing environment.

Symbolic Mercury (The Messenger) governs most things that require mental energy.  Thinking, writing, reading, speaking, listening and all the tools to do those things:  pens, pencils, sticks, computers, television….  Post Offices, Information Services, Libraries….all Mercurial places experience unexpected disruptions  during this time.  Yesterday, I was standing at a cash register with a human attending it when the card reader started spitting my card out with a nasty buzzing sound.  The human said, “It’s been doing that all day!”.  She’d never seen that happen before.  She wasn’t having a ‘good’ day.   We took a breath together, and I finally got out of the store.  Mercury retrograde shows up everywhere….if/when you know how/where to look.  Studying astrology trains the mind in ways that are really helpful.  It is believed by many that studying astrology prevents mental illness.  Mental illness and all kinds of mental states can also be investigated thru the placement of Mercury, natal & by transit.

Mercury is in Pisces for this first retrograde period in 2020.   Hah!!  Forget about study and logic with that placement.  Pisces is a poet, not an analyst. But, that doesn’t make Pisces wrong…..or right.  Their mental pathways towards decisions, choices, and impulses are different from the other zodiac signs.  Pisces represents the sum total of everything learned from all the other zodiac signs.  Pisces represents the “all”,  the collective unconscious, and it does so non-verbally thru spiritual experiences as well as addictive behaviors and other means of operation. Mercury here can be challenging for those who have no regard for intuition, psychic phenomena, spiritual practices, or artistic pursuits.  Institutions such as: prisons, hospitals, campuses, monasteries, ashrams, etc.  may also have a rough time with this retrograde period.   As for me I plan to work on some older, left behind watercolor paintings as well as my collection of creative non-fiction pieces.

As a college student I did a research project on intuition.  Where it comes from.  How to develop it.  Astrology guided me in understanding how intuition played a part in my life.  Yoga taught me how to recognize intuition from busy-mind thinking.  Meditation helps me find still-mind.

May this retrograde period bring peace and ease of mind.

Om shanti, shanti, shantihi.

 

Astrology Meditation Time Management

rwbdoodleifc Last Saturday I logged onto a webinar offered by Kepler College of Astrological Arts & Sciences.  A panel of five mundane astrologers discussed politics, race relations, the economy, and other various hot topics.

They posted the charts they used online which made it quite easy to  follow the discussions. It was fascinating to see the variety of techniques and charts they used.  As always, the astrology of current events leads one to a much more comprehensive understanding of what is going on at any given time.  Astrology reveals the nuances and hidden subtleties that are often overlooked by the current herd-mind*  (*I refer you to the brilliant Jeffrey Wolf Green, one of my earliest teachers.)

Astrology, is a language of symbols, which creates a much broader, wider, context by which to understand & discuss events.  Dane Rudyar, another one of my most inspirational teachers,  writes, “…astrology is always symbolical when properly understood. All depends on what is meant by symbol. Algebra is also purely symbolical, and yet algebra and higher mathematics have made possible modern science and the age of machines. Astrology is fundamentally the algebra of life.” (AP p.18)

Anyway, each panelist mentioned the August 24, 2016 conjunction of Mars & Saturn in 10 Sag. as a notable upcoming transit.  They all agreed  that regardless of who gets elected,  the USA is in for a difficult time ahead.  The transits to the chart of the USA are nothing less than transformational.  That’s the bad news.   And, that’s the good news too.  (I published the chart of the USA in my previous post)

After the webinar I was inspired to spend some time on my own studying the algebra of this upcoming cycle and even before I write any commentary I want to go on record with the following dates which mark the more stressful moments.  Please allow a 2-3 day orb…..

  • Aug 24 2016
  • Nov 9 2016
  • Jan 19 2017*
  • Mar 27 2017
  • May 29 2017*
  • July 30 2017
  • Oct 11 2017*
  • Jan 5 2018
  • Apr 2 2018*

What’s important is to think of this time period, 8/24/2016 – 4/2/2018 as one complete cycle of Mars/Saturn.  The dates represent  ‘hot’ spots. And those dates with an * are hotter than the others.  More on this later.  An important detail to note is that right now, these weeks leading up to Aug 24, are the balsamic (closing) phase of the current cycle which is coming to completion.  That cycles was birthed in Aug of 2014 at 17 Scorpio.  Masters and teachers alike have always asked us to move towards our conscious connection to spirit during balsamic times.  Solitude, contemplation, prayer, meditation, those are the preferred activities during the balsamic phase of any cycle.   If the Mars/Saturn cycle represents (among other things) our evolving/devolving/revolving relationship with: authority, police, military, power, the law, rules, aggression, violence, malevolence, and that sort of thing, we have much to process and heal from before Aug 24, 2016 otherwise,  whatever is unresolved gets dragged into the new making it not-so-new at all and complicating any efforts to really start anew.

What was not discussed during the webinar was how to move thru these difficult times.  That’s what I want to talk about……there’s much to discuss. It’s definitely time for another Salon for Astrological Discourse.  Stay tuned for date.

Astrology Doodles Planets and their Cycles Time Management

Here’s the chart for the Monmouth County Shore Area….Long Branch, Asbury Park, Neptune, Belmar areas.    It occurs at 10:12 am this morning.  That means that we should all take advantage of the remaining hours left of the Balsamic Phase to rid ourselves of whatever toxic waste, (ama) we have collected since the last New Moon.  Capishe?

more later……    review the posts on Balsamic/New  Beginnings & Endings.     The search bar is over there on the right….scroll down.

newmoonvirgo

Astrology Blogging lunar phases Time Management

Recently I read somewhere, that it takes 10, 000 hours of  consistent & persistent study to achieve Mastery over the subject at hand.  The author of these remarks meant it quite literally, and meant for us all to add up the hours spent in serious study, and practice.  If you are fortunate enough to attend a school of formal learning, they will do the math for you and assign you some letters  to add after your name. This may make living in this new-normal world easier, or not.  Time will tell.

The first book I was assigned to read when I began my yoga teacher training in 1998, was titled  Mastery by George Leonard, and for me, the bookworm,  it was a surprising and disappointing assignment.  I was burning to dig into ancient indian texts on how to achieve enlightenment and change my life, and stuff like that.  Mastery was small stuff.  I am grateful that my thinking has evolved since I achieved my 10,000 hours.

With Saturn in Virgo residing in my third house, natally, I’ve always been quite picky about  subject matters regarding intelligence, mental health, communications, education, and siblings.  You will find me quite firm in my opinions regardless of how quickly said opinions change.  And, change again.  Mutable signs are like that.

Then there are the ten thousand sorrows and ten thousand joys that the Asian Buddhists write of.   Why 10,000?  Why not 11, 001?

I had a major spiritual awakening during a vedic math class once.  I’ve never forgotten that moment and it has been a source of delight in my memory cells ever since.  Numbers are a deep source of symbolic information, yes?

Wikipedia informs me that there is a 10,000 year clock , conceived in 1986 and currently being built by a group of new-normal-wizkids including  Jeff Bezos , of Amazon, who donated 42 million towards this project!  It’s called The Clock of the Long Now.

How appropriate.

But why, 10,000 years?  Why not 11,001?

Other details to consider:

  • 10,000 years = 864,000 ,000 seconds
  • 14,400, 000 minutes
  • 240,000 hours
  • 1428 weeks (rounded down)

Then, sadly, of course,  there is that ever vigilant, awake & ready army of 10,000 , which has been mythologized, dramatized, and institutionalized  since 400 BC.

But the most recent incident of 10,000, the inspiration for this blog post, came in the mail from Amazon.com.  It’s my new pedometer!  It counts my steps. According to the new-normal-thinking of 2014, we need to take 10,000 steps a day if we want to lose weight, 6, 000 steps to maintain one’s fitness, etc. etc., and blah, blah, blah.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

10,000?

And, last,  just for fun : 10,000 Maniacs.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxW0CUaPWAE&w=420&h=315]

May you live for 10,000 years.  Om shanti, shanti, shantihi.

Astrology Blogging journal entry philosophy Time Management Yoga

NEW

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute:

What you can do, or dream you can, begin it:

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Only engage and the mind grows heated;

Begin and then the work will be completed.

(Goethe)

 

There are 13 lunar cycles to a calendar year of 12 months, 13 opportunities for new beginnings.

The New Phase of the Moon initiates the waxing half of the lunar cycle. Waxing means growing in light, representing formative processes. Dane Rudyhar writes that the waxing time represents the “power of instinct”. Thus, during the two-week waxing period we need to express our spontaneity and instinctive behaviors. Beginning is paramount; outcome is incidental.

At the New Moon the sky is dark. The exact time of it by direct observation is impossible. Metaphysically, the dark represents the unconscious mind, individually and collectively. It is a reflective time, a time to be open and receive clues from the Universe.

The phase begins with a gradual emergence that feels like unfinished business or something pressing to do, but,  you’re not sure what it is, it’s “dark” out. If we neglected to do our mental/emotional/spiritual housecleaning during the previous phase/cycle, it requires effort to shake off the lethargy and the hovering ghosts.

The new phase also represents the passage from nothingness to the more active part of the cycle. It is the stillness behind the motion, the state of suspension before the birth, steeped with hope, possibilities,  and significant beginnings.

It’s an interesting practice to investigate the space between endings and beginnings.  May find that both happen at the same time, and time becomes a wheel.

During these days/months we need to express energy instinctively. Becoming attuned to ourselves and less focused on the external environment, unless you practice spiritual feng shui in your home. This period may also be experienced as a state of confusion, being completely in the dark about the “why” of our actions. Spontaneity and impulsive actions are okay to practice now. Like Nike said, Just Do It.

When the sun and the moon come together at the New Moon, our sense of purpose and our unconscious responses become one and the same, blending their energy. Yin and Yang are one, briefly.

It is a time to trust our unconscious and let it be our guide. The Universe will open the door now. Watch, listen, pay attention to what you attract.

If you are astrologically literate and familiar with your natal chart take notice of where the new moon falls. What house is it in and does it aspect any of your planets?

It seems logical to begin things during the time of the new moon. After all it does represent beginnings! However, because the unconscious element is so prevalent at this time take heed. The results you get from starting projects during a new moon may not always be the results you plan for. The unconscious is in control during this time. And, sometimes, most times, our unconscious is a mystery.

I recommend you use this phase to practice being in the moment, aware of sensations in the body, thoughts, emotions, and breath. Give your self some moments of long stillness and then give yourself permission to be (safely, responsibly) impulsive. Let it be okay to not have a goal, or make a new one. Watch what comes to you. Journal.

Later, after a few cycles have completed you can look back and see the significance of the events that began at this time.

Coming:  Yoga Practices for the New Moon

Astrology lunar phases Planets and their Cycles Time Management Uncategorized

Time is a horse that moves with seven rays,

with a thousand eyes, undecaying,

who projects a manifold seed.

Him the seers mount, illumined in mind.

His wheels are all the worlds.

Time moves seven wheels.

He has seven mouths, whose center is immortal and undecaying.

He anoints himself with all these worlds.  He moves as the first of the Gods.

A full vessel is set in time.

May we who live see his manifold forms.

He faces all the worlds, who, the seers say,

is time

in the supreme

void.  He gathered all the worlds together.

He encompasses all the universe.

As their father, he became their son,

apart from whom there is no other light.

A VEDIC HYMN TO TIME

(Atharva Veda XIX.23, 1-4)

Ancient Wisdom Astrology Buddhism ecstatic poetry philosophy Poetry Time Management Yoga

How we perceive the passage of time depends on how define the word time. Consider this. Scientists define time as something that is mathematical and linear, at least before quantum physics began to shake up that definition. When someone asked A. Einstein what is time, he replied, “what a clock reads.” Philosophers and spiritual seekers believe that time is subjective depending on the nature of our experience. Ram Dass writes, “time is the relationship between moments of consciousness”.

Biologists see time passing as a link between the rhythm of internal processes to the regular rhythms of the outside world such as mating seasons, and the cycle of growth/death of most vegetation. Corporate Executives and politicians see time as something to control as Golda Meir exclaimed, “I must govern the clock, not be governed by it. Everyone has their own way to relate to time.

Astrology views time as a cyclical experience rather than the linear view most others have.

The effects of time on the body has been well documented. Aging is easy to see. When we look closely, minute daily changes steadily progress to  larger, physical changes. Small lines become deep wrinkles. Slight aches become crippling joints. Body postures once limber and upright, become hunched, rounded, and appear to carry tremendous weight on the back. All of this becomes visible over the course of time.

Although things like poor diet, lack of exercise, substance abuse, and ignorance can contribute to this apparent deterioration, time also plays a part. Our awareness of time passing becomes translated into the body. If we believe that we are supposed to age , deteriorate, and get sick as we get older, then that is exactly what will happen. In Japan, many insurance companies are paying out large sums of money to the widows of overworked business men. They call it hurry sickness or kashori and it shows up as sudden death in the workplace. Our perception of not enough time certainly adds to this modern day illness. And that’s exactly the point. It’s our perception of time that holds the key to releasing the stress we feel. Sometimes time goes very slowly, as if one minute or even a few seconds feels like years. Have you ever had a car accident? Perhaps spun out on the road in bad weather? The consciousness slows down and you can sometimes witness the loss of control of the car as if it were happening in slow motion. Other times, time passes very quickly. Vacations, weddings, happy occasions tend to ‘speed’ up time so that 1 week can fly by as if it were one hour.

The key to time management is to learn to recognize cycles, phases, and patterns rather than months, days and hours. To develop the ability to flow with the passing time rather than to fight the clock. There is a certain rhythm in the world that supercedes any manmade time telling device and this rhythm remains constant, stable, and secure and is not subject to the whims of man who we know makes mistakes.

Astrology consciousness Miscellaneous Planets and their Cycles Time Management Yoga Yoga Therapy