Blogs 2021

These words were spoken to me emphatically a few weeks ago by my longtime spiritual guide, Robert Sardello. I have been reading and practicing his teachings for over ten years, he is the best I know for some inner practices of moving from head (thinking) to heart(body resonance and inclusion of all nature, receiving, receiving.)

This now, is my many-times-a-day spiritual exercise, and I am discovering the power of actually being/feeling a part (and not a big part) of all creation! What relief! Until my mind kicks in with all the shoulds and musts and don'ts! Then the practice again, no matter what else I am doing.

Slowly (and very slowly, years) I am loosening my grip on old habits, assumed values, and must-do's...and inner space is opening for listening, receiving, and allowing. And every now and then I feel the flow - and myself in it - of large life and expanded time.

If anyone reading this would like to receive this simple practice, let me know...

Every day, as restrictions ebb and flow and now return, worry increases, reports of violence suddenly bring shock, and there is no sign of diminishing resports anywhere...instead, the world is excalating in anxiety and violence on many levels. What can we do, in our own pods, our own homes? How can we choose to not contribute to that rising tide?

We can choose to practice being in "NOW". Moment after moment. We can choose to limit our daily exposure to repetitive news every day. We can choose to go outside and allow the great earth, and the beautiful breezes and the sky to open our limited and limiting horizons. We can offer ourselves to expanding grace.

These are just a beginning to what we can do...breathe deeply every day. Expand. Expand.

It is indeed a strange time. No matter how we are able to arrange our day, get food, slow down, catch up; even if we don't watch too much of the news (really, why would we? Mostly repetition of urgency), that unsettledness is in the air. If there is anything strong and undeniable about this time, it is that - no matter how well off we are - we all share the unsettledness of the Earth herself. The weather is her message - the extremes and the unsettledness.

Some watch more tv. Some walk and read and cook. Some worry and pace, and others cannot sleep.Some meditate, or meditate more. But the one strand we all share is that we don't have any idea of how long these conditions will go on, nor what we can do to relieve the extreme anxiety, especially of the young, parents, school kids, and the elderly who have no one to care for them.

There are many other kinds of life-circumstances I could name, but we see them every day in some form or another, and we are ourselves included.

The one important - and I think this most important condition to address - is our anxiety, both personal and the anxiety of those we live with and associate with. Any help with our own anxiety, even a few moments of settling ourselves or someone else, will contribute to the settling of the world.

"As We Carry On" is the title of a song by Carolyn McDade, sung by her choirs of women in many parts of the world. The title comes to me this morning as a phrase to repeat as we we move through these days, weeks, months and what might turn out to be years. The world is changed already. We are not going back.

So each day - for me - and I invite you, dear reader - to silentsly say a few times a phrase like this: "I think. I let it be. I let go." Or another, repetitive prayer - this is the one I use:

"May we be safe. May we be contented. May we be healthy. May we live with ease. May we feel loved."

Even if we go back to the anxiety that we might not have personally, we are sharing the collective anxiety of our present world.Repeat these phrases for others as well as ourselves.

As the pandemic/quarantine days unfold, and we go out into a world of masks and fear of being too close to other people, of hysterical news reports and warnings of danger, of the contraversies about schools...and on and on...what are we being and doing in our small parts of the world?  This question invites us to stop a few times a day and consider...

One way is to place your hand on your heart whenever you think of it, and for that few seconds, feel its beating and let it bring you into the present moment. Some people then say a short phrase, like "All is well, all manner of things are well," (echoing Julian of Norwich) - which - even for those few seconds, they are. Even 2-3 times of doing that each day will diminish the heightened charge of anxiety and fear that now dominates every part of our world. And - dare I say it - turn off the news, or limit yourself to once a day  for a few minutes.

Don't think for a minute that this practice serves only you! It serves those around you, and it even contributes to the larger world in ways we cannot see but trust and know. And isn't that faith?