Digging Deeper with Patty Luckenbach, Josh Reeves, and Masando Hiraoka

[00:00:00] The following talk was given at Mile Hi Church in Lakewood, Colorado. Please visit our website at MileHiChurch.org Thank you Tom Litch and our Mile Hi Band, and wherever you're breathing tonight, we just begin by inviting you just to take a deep breath wherever you are.

[00:00:19] Honor your presence on your body, honor your spirit, and let's take another deep breath acknowledging all of us together here tonight in this service, our Mile Hi community. As we center for this spiritual sacrament of Wednesday evening service to come together

[00:00:34] tonight and so grateful to be here with Dr. Patty who we get to hear a message from tonight and Reverend Masando, so good to see you my friend and share this space with you

[00:00:46] and speaking of breathing, I think for so many of us, it can be a little challenging right now to keep up with our spiritual practices, you know, to find peace in the midst of so much going on

[00:00:58] around us and just thought I'd ask each of you tonight, you know, what rituals are you going to during this time that are helping you that may help people watching at home?

[00:01:09] Well, I would like to share one last night I was fortunate to be on a zoom call with a great chaman from Peru who I loved dearly and he was talking about the power

[00:01:20] of the sun and so I suggested to the people on the call and suggesting to all of us that perhaps we set me for seven days, we find our way outside, whether it's the backyard or if you need to stand at your window where the sun comes in

[00:01:38] and open your heart through breathing to the rays of the sun. And just how that be kind of a set rituals where you're walking, you're taking in the breath of nature and you're tuned to the great sourcefulness of sun. I think that's a great ritual. I love that.

[00:01:59] You know, it's such an important thing to remember that, you know, although there's a lot of health concerns around us that nature is a pretty safe place, that the outside world is a lovely place to connect with and be in and find our own hearts and, yeah, totally.

[00:02:15] You know, I probably could use a little more ritual I'm going to be honest but what I know that I'm doing much more right now is just taking moments to come back to whatever

[00:02:27] I happen to be doing and that to me is at the heart of mindfulness practice. It's, you know, it sometimes can look like sitting on a cushion I have, like, my meditation cushion that I utilize for just sitting meditation.

[00:02:43] But what I notice is like, though, you just time throughout the day where my mind is everywhere. Where I'm thinking about what's going on in the world. I'm thinking about work. I'm thinking about when these to get done, I think about what haven't gone done yet.

[00:02:55] And I just need to come back to this moment. So, like, we have a lot of dishes. I don't know if anybody else else more dishes these days. But like, we have more dishes than I've ever had in my whole life.

[00:03:09] And so, I just like utilize that time just to like come back to being really present. Like, just being really present with every single dish I'm washing. And it brings me into a place where I am just present with what is.

[00:03:24] And I can begin to feel my inner life again, right? So, I probably need the more discipline practice to be honest. I probably do a formal meditation practice probably like two or three times a week. But I notice like, I need more than that these days.

[00:03:39] I need throughout the day times where I'm just coming back and that can be during a walk outside. But it can be doing normal stuff like vacuuming and cleaning stuff that I'm just doing way more of these days.

[00:03:49] It's a great tool for your wife Rebecca to say there's some opportunities for mindfulness and the kitchen for you. Yeah, exactly. Like, the covered thing I think maybe 50% less than normal. But of leaving those cupboards open.

[00:04:06] But yeah, it's, I'm finding that for what, you know, for because everything that's going on. I need just these moments where I'm just checking in and just coming back, getting present, lying my breath just to ground me again.

[00:04:20] So for me, it's a little less formal but just so needed just to to to present, to be in the moment, to breathe again and that usually helps tremendously.

[00:04:31] And I know you both of you have other human creatures in the house and at least at times for creatures and, you know, any words for, I find it because I don't know, in my house, sometimes feels like we're all living together, but we're separated by infinity,

[00:04:45] sometimes too, because we're all going through the different things that we're doing. And so anything about things that we can do as a family or as couples that can help ground us,

[00:04:53] something that you know, I, for example, left to do when we do sit down to eat is, you know, just to go around and say something that we admire about the person on our left or just something that we were grateful for today.

[00:05:05] And I find, you know, even if we're smurking or wanting to eat, there's something that helps us find some oneness when we do that. Right. Well, one thing that my husband and I look,

[00:05:16] we've been doing it at night. I always read something inspirational before I go to bed, but I found that I needed something to make me laugh. So we tune in to, on our iPad, something really funny and we just laugh.

[00:05:31] And that laughter has been, I look forward to it every night to really laugh. I love it. Yeah, Norman Lears said when we laugh, we are one, which is a beautiful, beautiful statement.

[00:05:44] Yeah. After has this ability to, I think, be able to hold paradox, be able to hold lots of different things that are happening all at once.

[00:05:51] So I've found that it also been craving comedies, craving also like nostalgic 80s or 90s comedies that I haven't watched a long time. Like, yeah, we watch like, Wayne's World The Other Night, which is, okay, silliest movie. But I was obsessed with it as a kid.

[00:06:07] Yeah, swing. And that's been really great. You know, Rebecca and I think we know when we're feeling edgy with each other. We know when that, I love how you said that like when there's like it feels like there's infinity between us.

[00:06:23] And so we'll just, when we notice that that's happening, Rebecca's really good about being like, hey, let's check in. How are you doing right now? It sounds from what you've been telling me that there's something going on. Let's talk about that.

[00:06:39] So I think, you know, I'm an extroverted person. So I often need someone to be able to reflect things back to me. I need to be able to process my feelings with another human being.

[00:06:51] And so that rich wool of just checking in with each other has been really important and powerful.

[00:06:57] And I think, you know, most of us have probably done a good job of creating schedules for ourselves when we're at home to be able to put work away or whatever it may be.

[00:07:05] But this idea of creating these little spiritual rituals that honor mindfulness and honor gratitude that honor our love for who's around us or can even honor ourselves in a place of not loving them so much in that moment to be there because, you know,

[00:07:20] there's all this is going on, the sacred is still within us and all around us. And something that I love that you're doing right now, Reverend Masando, you've created a ritual of being of service to our community here at Mile High Church.

[00:07:33] And there's nothing like getting out of your own head and your own feels than just showing up for someone else.

[00:07:42] And so, you know, in the midst of all of the ways that we're navigating this, it's really good to remember that there are those that are, you know, have even greater needs than we do.

[00:07:55] And so yeah, we're doing this, this food drive, we did yesterday and we're going to do another day tomorrow with the Action Center. It was a really powerful experience coming here on Tuesday, we're only here for a couple hours.

[00:08:09] But people, it was really safe people were able to just drive through pop their trunks, the Action Center staff unloads the groceries and then you say goodbye.

[00:08:19] But even just like these small moments of seeing familiar faces and waving, of seeing all of the food that was provided, I guess, we had about what they estimated that we gathered about two weeks worth of food for them just on Tuesday.

[00:08:33] It's going to be so, you know, after Thursday, hopefully we'll get another two weeks or more than that. And just to feel that impact and to know that even during these really weird and crazy times, we can still be of service.

[00:08:47] And how that's a part of our spiritual path too, that there's something about getting out of our own story, out of our own heads, out of our own selves and just recognizing like, oh yeah, like I can do something for someone else right now, even if it's just a really small thing.

[00:09:02] And it goes a long way. My spirits were so, so lifted after that. So I encourage anybody that is feeling that call to participate and enroll through tomorrow and drop off some of your views.

[00:09:17] And if you can't leave the house, you can take a check and write it to the Action Center, Google or address or send it to here with us and their name and they're even matching donations.

[00:09:26] They have a donor that's matching 50% of all their cast donations right now. So your, sir, no, or even goes further. So if you can't leave the house, that's totally okay. You can make your monetary donation and that's huge and powerful too.

[00:09:41] Yeah, so, you know, nothing like forgetting ourselves in acts of service to kind of awaken that spirit and great family activity to do as well.

[00:09:50] So we're grateful for everyone that's participating in that and, you know, if you're on Facebook chat, if you've got a ritual or anything like that that you're doing share with us.

[00:09:58] And we're going to hear from Dr. Patty. We're going to have a great prayer ritual with Reverend Masondo. So thanks for tuning in and being with us.

[00:10:06] What I want to talk about tonight is digging deeper and never, ever giving up. You know, we're living in such changing times that I think it would be really fitting if we all had a little sign around our neck that we are under construction because we are in a zone right now, a transformational zone.

[00:10:33] And in that zone, what I recognize is that it's asking us to dig deeper, dig deeper into who we are as a being, who I am as human Patty, who I am as spiritual Patty.

[00:10:48] Is there any difference in that? I don't know about you, but being at home, I've had a lot of work to do to support the church which is my heart's desire to do.

[00:10:59] But I've had times where I vast myself, who am I and it's asked me to dig just a little deeper. And I recognize when we're digging deeper, we go into our rootedness.

[00:11:14] Maybe thinking about our past and the history from the past, but even deeper than that, who am I really as a spiritual being? And when I think about the rootedness, I can't help but think about the Aspen tree.

[00:11:29] The Aspen tree is known as a plant and it's one of the biggest plants on the planet, because it has a root system that goes for miles.

[00:11:41] And I believe they say that in the state of Utah is the biggest plant and the connection of all the roots of the beautiful Aspen trees. Well, I feel that each one of us as we are digging deep, we are discovering that we are connected.

[00:12:00] And I recognize that sometimes digging deep, think about digging a big hole and I remember years ago my brother had this dog, his name was Jed, and he would go jeeping with us up in the mountains and with on picnics.

[00:12:18] And the darn dog was always somewhere out there digging a hole to the point and he was a big dog to the point where all of a sudden we wouldn't see Jed. He had dug that deep, and so that digging deep brings us into that connection connection.

[00:12:36] And I recognize that sometimes it takes us out of our comfort zone. And most of the time we as humans live in a comfort zone, we kind of live on the surface of things and we don't allow ourselves to go really deep.

[00:12:54] And when we don't allow ourselves to go deep, that can be a process really of suffering because we're just allowing ourselves to kind of go along with the way it has been.

[00:13:07] And each of us we recognize that things are changing all around us. So it's an asking us to go deep. So we are living, Greg Braidon said that we are living in such a incredible time, a time of such change and I'm just paraphrasing Greg.

[00:13:28] I remember many years ago realizing that in that time of change that we're also living in a time of great polarities.

[00:13:44] And years ago I was with a good friend from Switzerland and we were entering preparing to enter into a Native American ritual, a dance for four days where no matter what's taking place, whether it's raining or lightning or whatever or the sun shining that you dant your prayers.

[00:14:04] And a couple weeks before this he called me and he said, oh, a pity he said, I had the most unusual dream. That's what was that dream.

[00:14:13] And what he shared was he said, I was downstairs and I had a dartboard on the wall and I was standing there and in front of me was the devil and right here was Jesus and they were throwing darts at me.

[00:14:30] Like they were trying to kill me and they were laughing and they were having fun. So yes, we would you think that meant and we talked about several things and didn't really come to any one big conclusion.

[00:14:43] But a couple weeks after that when we were entering into this dance we entered when the sun was high in the sky and was beautiful. It was a good sunrise I should say, but as the day progressed there was rain.

[00:14:59] And I was sweet and hail and even some snow and there was water all around there as mud and our feet as we dance was digging into the dirt. And we danced like that all day long. I thought I was going to make my transition that day.

[00:15:18] And once we finished that dance he put his arm around me and he says, pity, I think I know the meaning of the dream. He said, we were asked to absolutely know that great extremes in our life just like the devil and Jesus, the extremes of that.

[00:15:42] And as we were experiencing the extremes that was taking place in the weather it was asking us to dive deep.

[00:15:52] It was asking us to dig deep within ourselves to recognize our purpose of the reason for the prayer, the reason for us being there and dancing and trusting that inner light that inner spirit inside of us.

[00:16:08] It was a day I'll never forget and I'll never forget that crazy dream. But for us to be able to embrace the extremes that are taking place now in our world, in our lives. It's very important.

[00:16:24] And I have a verse from the Bible I would like to read. It comes from Matthew 7 verse 24.

[00:16:33] And it's when it Jesus is parables and it goes like this. Everyone, then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his or her house upon the rock.

[00:16:52] And that the beat upon the house, but when the rain beats upon the house, that the house does not fall because it's founded on the rock.

[00:17:08] And Jesus in this parable went on to say, if we do not hear these words, we will be foolish building our house upon the sand.

[00:17:20] And the rain will fall, the floods will come and the winds blow and the floods come and the winds blow and beat against that house and it will fall. We are right now in that transformation zone.

[00:17:43] And it's asking us to trust. It's asking us to go beyond our fear. I've had people ask me about the virus and when I can really allow myself to be still, I'll say this is a virus of fear.

[00:17:58] And I recognize the physical aspects of it, but a virus of fear. Remembering when I was just a little kid speaking about fear going to the circus you think that'd be a fun thing to do.

[00:18:11] But I remember when the trap peas artists would climb that ladder up to the very top of their little platform and they would begin to swing out my head with drop.

[00:18:27] Because for me, I was fearful that they were going to fall. I was fearful when that empty trap peas swinging came their way that perhaps they were not able to grip onto it.

[00:18:44] And I was always glad when their act was over. But I think right now, to never give up and dig deeper into who we are as a spiritual being, is trusting that that new bar that swing is coming my way and perhaps it even has my name on it.

[00:19:03] And it's asking me to reach forth and to grip onto that and swing to that other side. So life is like that. It will ask us to move in so many different directions and recognize that fear, fears and interesting peace.

[00:19:24] You know, some people say that fear is false evidence, appearing real or fear could stand for to be able to free and exit from any affair.

[00:19:40] To be able to move from it instead of embracing it, maybe that's part of the digging deep to be able to go deeper deeper within ourselves to be able to save fear.

[00:19:52] Here I am. And I believe it was Eckhart Toley that stated that fear was a thought form, a thought form that is projected, as projected outside of ourselves.

[00:20:07] So what if in digging to be able to stand upon the rock, the stand upon that rock of spiritual knowing us, that each one of us, we are so anchored in that riddeness of spirit and it is eternal.

[00:20:25] It's with us forever, not just in life time but throughout all life times. It's eternal and to begin to trust that more and more and more. So Jesus would probably say that digging is about finding the kingdom of heaven within the kingdom of heaven within.

[00:20:47] And maybe this time, and I read the first one to say that perhaps it's bringing heaven to earth, perhaps it's bringing a whole different atmosphere about being kind and that everyone is equal.

[00:21:03] Perhaps that's not happening right this moment, but then again it is because when we accept that inside of ourselves there's something magical that takes place. The storms can come. We can be waiting in the mud, but never forget to dance your prayers, never forget that.

[00:21:27] So know that we are the house, we are the house and that when we are built on sand it shifts and I believe so many times in our human experiences. Not our spiritual realizations, but our human experiences we shift back and forth.

[00:21:51] I want to please, I don't want to please, I like you, I don't like you, we shift back and forth and trying to be someone.

[00:22:00] I would suggest that when we feel that we're getting into that great air transitional zone out of the comfort zone of trying to please, what helps us to get out of that is to breathe and be in the moment.

[00:22:19] To take a deep breath, the simple is that right where we are and say to ourselves I'm bringing myself back into the presence. I'm no longer out there with those thought forms of fear or doubt or upset.

[00:22:40] I'm bringing myself back to the presence that there's eternal aspect within each one of us. And I know I sound like a preacher man preaching about heaven on earth and the kingdom is within, but you know what? That is a living truth.

[00:23:00] So how can each one of us tonight take this into the rest of this week into the beautiful weekend, the sons have been so beautiful outside.

[00:23:10] How can we take this and just be aware of our thinking and real ourselves back into the kingdom which is within each one of us?

[00:23:22] So we must never give up. Never give up because life is always going to give us that trap, peace, swing coming towards us and it's always going to be asking us to reach, to dig deeper and to never give up.

[00:23:42] So I want to give you just three points that you can work with and they're so simple. When you're bringing yourself and with breath back into your heart space, remembering your presence, I'm in this present moment.

[00:23:59] I'm no longer out there thinking to do this or my fear or whatever back into the moment. The first one is the dig with courage. To dig with incredible courage and as we're digging with courage when I was putting this talk together, I had digging with courage.

[00:24:22] I couldn't help but think about some of the old miners. My great grandpa came to Colorado from Sweden and he was a miner down around Castlerock.

[00:24:32] I have an old picture and they all had their helmets on with that light on it. It must have been cold and dark as they dug in those mines, but they relied on that light was on their helmet.

[00:24:46] But dig deep in the courage because the light is right here within our hearts. So the next one is the build on love, because building on love is our spiritual life.

[00:25:01] It is that harmonious love that has never left. Someone said to me earlier today, oh it was so nice today. I was outside walking and I could almost hear the grass as sing and the plants.

[00:25:15] So there is that harmonic love that has always been and always will be. So to be able to tune to that with that open heart of breath.

[00:25:28] So we have courage and then we have build on love and then we have build on gratitude. Look for the good and to praise it. That always brings us back the standing on the rock. It brings us back to that inner knowingness of who we really are.

[00:25:47] Gratitude is a memory that's always found in our hearts. So the simplicity it's easy to remember, dig with courage, build with love and build with gratitude. And so the world many times says give up, give in. Well we say to stand up and to stand upon that rock.

[00:26:16] I want to conclude by reading something that when the monks were here at myelite church many months ago. It was a glorious experience having them. I bought this little journal book from them and on the covers of poem and I want to share this in closing.

[00:26:35] Never give up. No matter what is going on, never give up. Develop the heart. Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind instead of the heart. Be compassionate. Not just to your friends, but to everyone. Be compassionate. Work for peace.

[00:27:03] In your heart and in the world, work for peace. And I say again, never give up. No matter what is happening, no matter what is going on around you, never give up. Written by the Dolly Lomb.

[00:27:22] So let us continue to dig deep and build our house upon that rock. Let's just take a moment to take a breath like Dr. Patty talked about. And just drop below that surface level of experience. As we take another breath, we find ourselves digging a little bit deeper.

[00:27:53] And finding that in the face of fear in the face of all that may be stirring inside us and around us as we set a limb as we allow the courage that naturally shows up in the face of fear when we drop in.

[00:28:21] When we remember the presence when we just come back to this sacred breath of life, we find at the center of our being right at this throne of our heart, the strength. This rootedness.

[00:28:47] The sense that everything we are is so deeply connected to something greater than ourselves yet the most personal feeling and energy that we could ever experience. We take a breath.

[00:29:06] And find ourselves rooted in this foundation that allows fear that allows anxiety that allows anything that may be stirring within us and around us to be.

[00:29:20] And we can be at the center of it all and find a strength and find a sense of courage and find that connection. And so we feel into that not as a thought that is nice to think about, not as a platitude but as a reality for ourselves.

[00:29:42] So as we dip below the surface of our awareness and we come to this place. Let us connect with that strength. And know that as we connect with that strength, we can also send this strength out to anybody that may be needing it right now.

[00:30:02] So if there is someone in your life that may be feeling like they want to give up and invite you to speak their name and speak it from that place of strength within them. Seeing that same strength that you're feeling now.

[00:30:21] Feeling that for them as well and knowing that that same strength, that same foundation, that same rootedness, that same kingdom within within them.

[00:30:33] So if I do to speak their name, I invite you to bring their, they're being into your awareness and see that strength being developed and strengthened within them.

[00:30:48] And from that place too, we bring to mind any relationships that we may be wanting to cultivate any relationships that may be feeling like they are built on sand. We speak a word of truth knowing that at the center of that in this we find love.

[00:31:16] And so we know that from this strength that we're building love. So all of our relationships during this time, we just allow that that love to be the trueest truths to be the greatest presence and to lead us and to lead us in our relationship.

[00:31:31] So if there are folks out there right now who you know maybe struggling in their relationships or who you want to develop a deeper relationship with just just bring them into your mind now and and speak their name and know that there is.

[00:31:44] Is power and speaking their name. And from this place too, we can bring in this this feeling of gratitude like Dr. Patty talked about that there's nothing else that can really come when when we've discovered this place within gratitude is the natural abundance of the heart that flows when we come back into this remembrance of the presence and so if there is anyone who.

[00:32:19] Who in your life you know maybe struggling financially who may be experiencing fear or anxiety. In this area, I invite you to to bring that feeling of gratitude and send that out into into their field of awareness.

[00:32:40] Knowing too for them that there is a strength and an abundance and a prosperity within their life as well.

[00:32:54] So we know that as we pray for another we are praying for ourselves and so we feel the ways that we have been transformed in this moment by this prayer.

[00:33:05] By feeling the connection to all of these other human beings knowing that even if we are living alone, we are never alone even if we are socially distancing.

[00:33:15] We are closer than we've ever been and so we lean into that we dig deep enough to where we find that connection and allow that to be the guide in every aspect of our life that we come back to that in every single moment how good it is to come into that remembrance.

[00:33:37] So I give thanks for all of the ways in which we are digging deeper together. I give thanks for all of the ways we are waking up to that divine presence and I give thanks for this love and this life itself.

[00:33:51] With that we let it be and we let it be so. And so it is. Thank you for listening to the Mylhycheur to podcast. This podcast is made possible by the generous contributions from listeners like you.

[00:34:07] If you'd like to make a donation please visit us at Mylhycheur.org.