Happy Fall to Everyone!
I have always enjoyed Fall. I love the cooler weather and seeing the beauty of seasons changing before my eyes. I hope to become more graceful about shifting my rhythm to match what the season tries to prepare us for—the need to slow down, prepare for rest and greater introspection so we are ready for the new growth that each year invites us into.
As we enter our 7th month of living in a COVID world, it has touched us all in profound and too often painful ways. In this country, we are seeing the constant reflection of pain and dis-ease that has been embedded here for generations—our difficulty with prioritizing human dignity and care.
We are deep into another election season and there is so much to absorb and so many sources trying to get our attention and shape our opinions, our minds. Know that however this election turns out, we are living in a time of revelation and powerful choice.
What world do we want to live in? What do we want for ourselves and for others? What will we need to change in order to live out the values we say we believe in? The issues we are facing are bigger than any one person can resolve…AND also, step into the power of who you are and what you have to bring to this moment. Don’t underestimate yourselves!
When the pandemic began, I cautioned you all the think carefully about what you watch, what you read, and what you listen to. That is no less true now. Be alert. Practice presence. Learn the power of unplugging. Pay attention to your emotional state and make wise, self-connected choices about how you are going to move through this time.
This IS life. We are in it; we have been the whole time. This is not a statement about “the new normal”. It is a realization that Life is Always happening, even when what is going on isn’t what we’d like it to be.
So how do you Want to experience and express your life?
Resources:
Ways to manage stress
Understanding trauma
Coping with Trauma
by Jon Allen
My Grandmother’s Hands
by Resmaa Menakem
Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-based Stress and Trauma
by Gail Parker
The Body Keeps the Score
by Bessel van der Kolk
Re-envisioning Financial Abundance [*Happening Thursday, October 15th!]
Waking up from unconscious “re-acting”
(This is a series of videos from Eckhart Tolle about his description of “the pain body”, an unconscious habitual, emotional, patterned reaction to particular situations building upon past painful experiences. This pattern becomes so habitual that we create an unconscious attachment and identification with it, and we confuse it for “just how I am”, as if we have no choice. We create a “self” out of this pattern that is filled with pain—hence “pain body”. During this time of forced quiet and stillness, we have likely been presented with many opportunities to become aware of others’ pain-bodies and how this reaction negatively impacts you. For some of us, we may have become aware of our own pain-bodies. This is a gift because becoming aware, listening to the message it has for us, allows us to eventually dissolve this energy so we can respond with intention, flexibility, and responsible choice.)
Eckhart Tolle—the duck with the human mind
Break the Shell, y’all!
And, finally…let’s experience the magic of our connectedness
(I happened upon this video at the start of the pandemic. Since then it has become a literal worldwide phenomenon. If you do a YouTube search now for “Jerusalema”, you will find dozens of videos by youth, elders, teachers, soldiers, medical professionals, airline attendants, even nuns. We really are all connected. And I don’t just mean through the internet. How did THIS song, THIS dance so captivate the hearts of so many people from all walks of life? Enjoy and dance along!)