Author: Peter Mis

The Transformative Power of Getting Stoned on the Beach

 “Your divinity and magnificence are already there. Always have been. You just have to decide to see it.”

Some people go to the beach hoping to find sun, sand, and water.

I find metaphors.

On my desk beside me is a collection of small stones I’ve gathered on my many visits to the beach. Each stone shaped differently than the other, no two exactly the same. What has always amazed me about these stones is not so much their individual shape, but rather how each one was shaped in the first place.

The stones next to me were not created in the exact shapes that now define them. Their current shape is a result of external forces which altered their original form. Over time crashing waves and churning oceans have transformed these stones into what they are today. The evolution is slow, subtle, imperceptible. But the constant and unrelenting force of the ocean creates an erosive environment that eventually will reshape even the hardest of all stones.

Recently I began to see something deeper, something more meaningful in this collection of stones. The story of their transformation Continue reading “The Transformative Power of Getting Stoned on the Beach” →

Life Lessons from the Number 643

“…A united self moving forward towards fulfilling our own unique divine promise…”

There were many things I learned in school that at the time made no practical sense to me. You know, the “am I ever going to use this in real life?” question. Several decades later I can confirm that for the most part time has not made what I considered then to be impractical anymore practical.

As a dad with school-aged kids I actively get involved in their studies. I like to be aware of what they’re working on. I like to be there to help out if they get a little stuck. Dad 101…here for the kids. A more secretive motivation is to see if ol’ dad still remembers the stuff, especially when it comes to math. My math skills back in the day weren’t that good to begin with, and the newer methods of Continue reading “Life Lessons from the Number 643” →

Go Feng Shui Yourself

Rearranging the “furniture” in your mind.

I have a love/hate relationship with painting. I love looking at the myriad of individual paint sample cards. I love the feeling each shade evokes. I love the possibilities. I love how the room will look and feel when the project is completed. Unfortunately, the paint doesn’t get on the walls by itself. That would be the hate part.

Standing in Home Depot’s paint department in front of 100’s of little color samples that offers millions of possible color combinations can be a wee bit overwhelming. For me, perhaps the most difficult part about repainting a room is deciding exactly how I want the room to feel. Cozy? Whimsical? Peaceful? Tranquil? Fun? Color can make any four walls feel exactly how you want them to feel.

We all spend a great deal of time coloring the environment we live in. From the colors in the rooms we dwell in, the furniture in those spaces, the music we listen to, the books we read, the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the friends we keep, we surround Continue reading “Go Feng Shui Yourself” →

The Importance of Being Selfish

Trust me, you want me to be selfish.

And I want you to be selfish, too.

Being selfish doesn’t seem like a good idea. Especially if building community and relationships is important to you. After all, being selfish is about being self-centered. It’s about the “me” and not the “we”. The focus on individual accomplishment and development can’t possibly be beneficial to the collective good of our society.

I disagree.

Continue reading “The Importance of Being Selfish” →

Throwing Stones At God

Surrender has nothing to do with a white flag.

There is a place I get to every now and again. It’s not a place you just happen to go by, it’s much more of a destination. An on-purpose kind of a trip. This place has become a rather spiritual place for me, a church without walls, a place where I ask life’s deeper questions and hope to hear the answers contained within the voices of the crashing waves in front of me.

This beach is anything but pretty. Not very popular, actually. It will never be confused with the elegant beaches found nearby on Cape Cod, nor will it be placed in the same class as Horseneck Beach which sits just on the other side of Gooseberry Island. It feels Continue reading “Throwing Stones At God” →

Life Lessons from Peanut Butter and Jelly

Culinary soul mates?

One of my many duties as a father of three school aged kids is that of the official sandwich maker. Most every morning I can be found standing over slices of bread, mindlessly configuring slices of ham, turkey, or olive loaf with American cheese and yellow mustard. Or if Dad didn’t get to the supermarket to pick up some deli meat, there’s always Plan B, also known as Peanut Butter and Jelly.

I guess I could have kept track of exactly how many sandwiches I’ve made in my role as official sandwich maker, but the morning usually never affords me the time to sit down and update a spreadsheet. But I wish I had a dollar for every sandwich I’ve made over the years.

PROFOUND A recent Plan B morning, it was time to make some PB & J’s. As I was about to unite the individual slices of wheat bread, one coated with a layer of peanut butter and the other coated with a layer of jelly, I stopped for a moment as I surprisingly realized something rather profound:

Peanut Butter doesn’t need Jelly. Continue reading “Life Lessons from Peanut Butter and Jelly” →

The Joy of Just Not Knowing

“Life isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you deal with it makes all the difference.”  – Virginia Satir

Uncertainty. The problem with uncertainty is that it’s, well, so uncertain. We all strive to avoid uncertainty. In a sea of constant change, we all want to know where the life boats are.

It wasn’t too long ago that life was something you could sort of plan. There was an expectation of stability and predictability as you transitioned from one phase of your life into another. The steps were well worn and well defined; graduation led to the job which led to the marriage which led to the house which led to the children which eventually led to the retirement and the pension from the job which you never left. As predictable and as certain a path as a train on a track.

I was raise in this environment. My Dad worked in the same factory his Dad worked in. The two of them gave their entire working lives to one company, 77 years between the both of them. Why? Because they could. The process, the path, just worked.

HOLES IN THE DREAMBOAT I guess the world has changed a little bit. Certainty, the cornerstone of how life used to be, is long gone. The now-vacant lot where Continue reading “The Joy of Just Not Knowing” →

Love, Rain and the Cactus Heart

It’s not every day that a cactus teaches you about love…

So, I finally made it to California. It was a promise I made to the world via my high school yearbook, that California was in my future. That’s what it said under the picture of the long-haired, seventeen year old soon-to-be high school graduate.

It just took me 29 years to get there.

I don’t remember exactly why I wanted to go to California. I think it was because I had a crush on a girl who had plans to go to Continue reading “Love, Rain and the Cactus Heart” →

So, What Will You Bring Into The Next Moment?

The Next Moment can redefine us.

Or go obliviously unnoticed. 

It’s all up to us.

So here we stand on the edge of a new moment. Moments, if defined as seconds, happen 86,400 times per day. We move from one moment to the next almost seamlessly, as one moment morphs into the next, and then the next. The busy pace of life today causes us to misplace entire days, let alone notice a single individual moment.

Transitioning between the moments is done without much thought or reflection. As we blindly enter the Next Moment, we bring with us the contents of the previous moment, which contained the contents of the moment prior to that one. Each moment is a clean Continue reading “So, What Will You Bring Into The Next Moment?” →

This Will Make You Think…#26

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

—  Carl Jung

So, what are you searching for, and where do you expect to find it?  All too often the expectation is that what we seek is “over there” somewhere. Isn’t that how we’ve been conditioned to think? When was the last time you were told that what you are seeking can be found within you?

Jung challenges us to look within, to connect with the contents of our hearts. To awaken to the truths within ourselves. To go beyond looking outside and dreaming about what could be by looking inside and rediscovering and reconnecting to what we were created to become.

Awaken to your real self. Expect to find the answers from within. That’s the only place you’ll ever find them.

It’s a great day to be you!