What I am Learning These Days
- It is okay not to be okay. These are rough times. The uncertainty present moving forward in the seemingly never ending season of Covid, the spread of misinformation, the deep need for racial healing, divisions in the country, climate change and more. This is a whole lot on the macro level which impacts the mezzo and the micro. Titrating my awareness of these current situations allows me to to temper my rage into what lies beneath it, sorrow, this deep sadness, that I trace back to love. Love for humanity, the planet, the Blessed Cosmos.
- It is also okay to be okay in these rough times. It is okay to enjoy my family, the bubbling laughter of my grandkids as we play, racing, and dancing with my disco ball spinning colors around creating a magical space to twirl, jump and express . It is okay to love the bark on the trees, the winter grass swaying in the wind in my back and front yards, Christmas Lights, the sky at dawn and dusk, to seek comfort in the solid, grounded presence of my husband in a two decades plus relationship. It is okay to find solace, comfort and joy even in the midst of turmoil.
- My tender heart is my super power. Even when it feels as if the world is swallowing me whole from feeling all the things, I am grateful for the ability to feel and care for others beyond myself. Overwhelm in my body, which feels both like tightness and spinning out of my skin, turns toward spaciousness in my heart and connection in my body, my hands, my feet. This does not happen automatically. Yoga. Meditation. Writing. Learning from others much wiser than me supports this transition from overwhelm to gratitude.
- Drawing inward more to reflect, digest and here, I am slower to respond. It is my nature and perhaps due to both a trauma history and a tendency towards emotionality rather than rationality to be reactive. Instead, I am learning to notice activation in my body without the need to react but to identify the emotion, locate it in my body and invite curiosity and deeper inquiry here.
- Walking amongst trees changes everything. So does real conversation, tea, spontaneous dancing, a good book, reading poetry aloud, singing and grounded silence.
- So, be gentle with yourselves these days. Here is a blessing for you. May you wrap yourself in the wisdom of these words by Jan Richardson.
Blessing in the Chaos
To all that is chaotic
in you,
let there come silence.Let there be
a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim
on you,
that have made their
home in you,that go with you
even to the
holy places
but will not
let you rest,
will not let you
hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.Let what distracts you
cease.
Let what divides you
cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you
in its cage.Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath
the chaos,
where you find
the peace
you did not think
possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.—Jan Richardson
