Original Play as a Sacred Practice - Awaken the Spirit of Play Within

"Play is when you don't know you are different from another."

                              Fred Donaldson

Over the months of creating Matrix Magic Playbook, I realized that one of the most fundamental,  transformational aspects of  playing with the book would be to engage with it in the spirit of play. Play opens our hearts, connects us with our true self and the greater whole.  The spirit of play is alive, but we have forgotten how to engage it.

I remember how, as a child, I spent hours in nature, running barefoot, climbing trees, digging in the dirt.  The outdoors was my best playmate.  This playmate didn't judge, it was always there for me, it made me feel safe, and with it I could share all my secrets and cry all my tears. Play in nature connected me to myself and to something greater. It was truly my greatest and best childhood friend and ally.

Somewhere along the way, I forgot how to play.  I became lost in the concrete jungle and began taking myself way too seriously.  Play gave way to making my way in the world according to cultural convention.  I became disconnected.

Essential to our spiritual growth and new earth manifestation is  our re-connection to play.  When we were children we didn't go out to play and plan to be transformed, uplifted, or healed.  It just happened.  Play is truly a part of our natural state and it is time we turn around, lighten up, and allow the spirit of play to awaken within us.  Let's ride on the magic carpet of  re-discovering how to play

 I would like to introduce you to Fred Donaldson.  About Fred Donaldson  and his play.

Original Play Northwest

Original Play
Playing by the Heart-Vision and Practice of Belonging

Play with Matrices #3, #5, #11, #14

Your Life is Sacred - Learn to Grieve the Loss of What is Untrue About Yourself

In order to make real spiritual progress, you must know that your life is sacred.  Not just believe it, but know it.  Knowing is a felt experience without waver.  The word "sacred" comes from the Latin sacrum, which referred to the gods or anything in their power, and to sacerdos priest; sanctum set apart.  It generally referred to a spatial concept referring to the area around a temple.  Language locks ideas into our  psyche.  The definition of "sacred" automatically separates us.  It makes "sacred" something outside ourselves.  This couldn't be further from the trust.  This is the truth. (figure that one out)

I prefer to use "sacred" and "holy" synonymously and relate them to our authentic state.  We all are sacred (special)  and holy (whole) beings in a continuous ebb and flow.  The English word "holy" dates back to the 11th century with the Old English word halig, an adjective derived from hal meaning "whole" and used to mean "uninjured, sound, healthy, entire, complete."  I am not too sure we are ever complete, but rather perhaps we are a truly beautiful work in process.  If not this, then what is the point?   To me it seems we are an ever expanding and contracting process of the Divine.

What separates us from the knowing that we all are sacred, holy beings is the ego.  We have contrived many stories about ourselves, few of which have anything to do with the truth of who we are.  We must trust our lives enough to have the courage to let go of our old stories to allow the truth to emerge.

Letting go of our stories means we will feel loss. The loss of the lies about ourselves must occur to enable our connection back to our sacred state.   When we begin to touch into our truth, the old stories melt away.  We experience this melting as a "death" of sorts and our "grief reflex" engages.

At this point, we may go into a healthy grief process, or we may feel fear and stop ourselves. In order to experience a healthy relationship with loss and letting go, we need to be able to be open to feeling our grief.  That's a difficult one for most people, yet it is an important ability to foster in our enlightening process.

Make grief your friend and ally.  Hone your ability to grieve well.  Trust not fear is what is needed to forge ahead.

Click here:

Five Stages of Grief Elizabeth Kubler Ross

Play with Matrix #32

Forgiveness is the Greatest Spiritual Practice

Forgiveness is the greatest spiritual practice.  A master forgives, a victim blames.  When we forgive, we set ourselves free.  Forgiving doesn't mean you condone violent behavior, it means that you are not being held hostage by the event, action, or person by whom you or someone else was hurt.

The ultimate mastery  is to forgive yourself.

In every event in which you have been hurt or felt hurt, there is a judgement you have made about yourself.  Find the judgement and forgive yourself.

You will free yourself from your self-imposed jail.    I promise.

Play with Matrices #10, #17, #22, #25.  Use each matrix and go through your self forgiveness.  "I forgive myself for the belief that...."

Relationship Head and Heart

"In Chinese, the word for heart and mind is the same -- Hsin.  For when the heart is open and the mind is clear they are of one substance, of one essence."

Stephen Levine

Play with Matrices #22, #41, #17

Take the "Should" Out of your Intuition

I was enjoying a steaming cup of chai and a delicious plate of chicken makani one fine winter day in downtown Santa Fe.  My friend was lamenting about all "shoulds" in her life.  She proclaimed she was going to strike the word  from her vocabulary.   I cheered her on.

Later, I began to think about how we run our lives from duty and obligation.  How many times a day does the word "should" find its way across our tongues.  "I should do this or that" we say to ourselves ad nauseam.

The word "should" dates to 1200 c.e. and is from the old English word "sceolde," past tense of sceal. (shall).  The original notion of "obligation" is preserved in today's language but the "shall" has been dropped, thus there is no wriggle room in "should."

Choices made and actions taken based upon "should" veer us off our soul path.  The old adage, "let your conscience be your guide" was exchanged for "let what you should do be your guide."  Having a conscience  is not a bad thing.  If more people had one, we would  not be living within the moral void of contemporary life.

Conscience is that little voice within that helps us navigate between right and wrong, good and bad.  While it is generally thought to be a faculty of the mind, commonly used metaphors for conscience include the "voice within," "inner light" and "intuition."  It is when we attach the word "should"  to our conscience that we relegate ourselves into the slavery of its self-persecution.

We need to move back into the right relationship between our conscience and our intuition without the "should."  The conscience is the moral boat the intuition steers.  Sailing together, these two friends form a powerful alliance towards following conscious inner guidance and authentic life destiny.

The only place to truly find your most accurate, conscious compass for movement in life is from within.  And "should" doesn't belong there.  You should think about it.  Ha Ha....Caught you.

Play with matrices #23, #17, #10

Here Comes the Sun

It's All Right!

Open your crown and let the sun shine in!

Click to listen:

Here Comes The Sun - George Harrison

Play with Matrix #24