Wayne C. Allen - Living Life in Growing Orbits

Living Life in

Growing Orbits

Wayne C. Allen

2015

2015 Wayne C. Allen

Wayne C. Allen

Title: Living Life in Growing Orbits

ISBN 978-0-9877192-7-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

The Phoenix Centre Press

Kitchener, On N2K3T6

www.phoenixcentrepress.com

~ * ~ * ~

T HE TITLE OF THIS BOOK is taken from a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke

I Live My Life

I live my life in growing orbits,

which move out over the things of the world.

Perhaps I can never achieve the last,

but that will be my attempt.

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,

and I have been circling for a thousand years,

and I still dont know if I am a falcon, or a storm, or a great song.

~ * ~ * ~

T HIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to Darbella MacNaughton, my life partner, friend, lover, teacher she listens to me, shakes her head, laughs, and keeps signing on for another year.

Also, to my mom and dad, Erma and Chuck Allen. May they rest in peace, as I certainly gave them no rest while they were living.

W AYNE C. ALLEN IS THE webs Simple Zen Guy.

Wayne was born in Buffalo, New York in January of 1951.

His interest in psychology led him to Elmhurst Illinois, where he completed a B. A. in (1973).

He immigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1975.

Wayne received a Masters in Pastoral Counselling (M.Th.) in 1983, from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. Wayne retired in 2013, after 31 years as a psychotherapist. He is the author of several books, all counselling / Zen related.

Waynes approach to writing, life, and living comes from his love of Zen. His emphasis is on living in the now, and taking full responsibility for how everything goes. His books are written in easy to understand language, and his insights are fresh and to the point. Wayne emphasizes wholeness, peace, and clarity of thought.

You can read more at Waynes publishing site, The Phoenix Centre Press.

(http://www.phoenixcentrepress.com)

In his spare time hes a painter and photographer.

Wayne and Darbella are now travelling the world, teaching, learning, and enjoying retirement.

Introduction to the 2015 Edition

I guess you could say that the book in your hands is the result of our endless moments in Costa Rica. As youll see from the other Introductions, this is the third revision of this project.

2015 was a banner year for sales for the last revision of Living Life in Growing Orbits , and thats interesting, because this book has only been available from http://www.phoenixcentrepress.com, our publishing website.

That was solely due to my decision to format the book for a full, 8.5 x 11 page, making it awkward to publish as a paperback and impossible, (due to the old, table format) to publish as an ebook.

Anyway, I was sitting at the rancho, talking about my books with a new friend, and began to idly wonder what this book would be like with a regular format6 x 9to match the rest of our books.

And then I thought that some rewrites might make the content clearer.

In other words, I came up with a project , as sitting around watching the breeze move the water in the pool apparently wasnt enough for me.

I like this book, so Im even hoping this will be a fun edit!

Introduction to the 2008 Edition

W hile I was writing my 2005 book This Endless Moment , a couple of my editors made requests for exercises, so they could experiment with what I was writing about.

I resisted for a bitthen I gave in, and included a group of exercises in This Endless Moment , as well as creating a small, downloadable handout with another 20 projects.

I think I resisted because Id written Living Life in Growing Orbits in 1998, and its nothing but exercises. Then I realized that it had never been polished and really needed work.

So, in 2008, I decided to have another look at Living Life in Growing Orbits .

Readers who followed through with the exercises reported that they got what I continually talk about. The only real problem I could detect was that the layout was a bit odd, and some of the writing needed punching up, or clarification.

So, I did a re-write and redesign of the book. While the book is still quite close to its 1998 parent version, there are subtle changes to the language and presentation.

I hope you will like the revision, and will gain much from following along, day-by-day, for the next year.

Introduction

W holeness is an ephemeral thing. For most people, it seems to be an unreachable goal, something best discussed as a philosophical concept as opposed to an achievable reality. Given the continuing effort that moving toward wholeness entails, most people choose to settle for average. And the world suffers because of this choice.