Month: August 2021

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Generating Calm for your Troubled World

The world news: Sorrow. Anxiety. Disruption. Division. Tragedy.

Sometimes the world feels out of control. Your personal world. The lives of friends or colleagues. Your country. That country. The weather. When so much happens around you, a sense of powerless arises. Even when you identify actions to take or ways to help others, the muchness of this sorrowful world can get to you.

Now is the time to come together and generate the energy of healing, compassion, and love. 

Whether you have a religious tradition or a personal practice of prayer or devotion, you know the comfort and potential when you plug into the Divine. Your body breathes more freely, your wild emotions settle, and your mind calms a bit. 

This settling opens a door within your heart where you realize there is something greater than you. 

That you are not alone. This greatness, however defined, offers refuge from the storm within which rages in response to the overwhelming news of the world. And this news is overwhelming. 

So, make sure you don’t drink out of the proverbial firehose. 

Turn off the television and take a break from the news that streams through your phone. Breathe a bit and take a walk. The world will still turn without your witness (and upset).

There is comfort in devotion, centered prayer, and sacred ritual.

Even with a heavy heart and despairing mind, the familiarity of your spiritual practice or sacred tradition ushers you into a new state. Yet it doesn’t descend like manna from heaven. It’s up to you to head in the direction of peace, healing, and clarity. 

It helps to bring attention to breath and focus strongly upon your intention to feel peace. 

The world is wild and seemingly out of control. So is your mind. This is why the strong focus is necessary. While it helps to have a daily practice to fall back on, you may easily resurrect your earlier traditions or enter a new one. Even when you’ve not prayed, attended a religious service, or meditated regularly, you can find your way into the benefits of calming the body-mind and reconnecting with the Divine. When it’s hard to do this on your own, especially when you’re unable to regulate your upset, joining with others enhances this potential. 

Group devotion is contagious.

Just like fear, hatred, and division. The good news is that you’re in charge of what you “catch.” The media thrives on creating fear. Bad news sells. Good vibes calm. Your choice. 

The higher states of love and compassion are accessed when your energy, body, and mind are regulated.

When these levels of your being are coherent, you offer a gift to your environment. You radiate peace and invite the potential to join you in the soothing energy of love. 

It’s an energy thing, first and foremost. 

When you understand that energy is your foundational architecture, you’ll pay more attention to any technique or intent that organizes your energy into a coherent state. All healing is enhanced with coherence. For you, them, and the world. Using the group as a springboard to an organized, calm energy state makes sense. You can remember this.

How did you feel at the end of that yoga class, group meditation, or beautiful religious service?

Your system remembers these events, no matter how distant they may be. I was raised Catholic and had a short stint in Catholic school for a few early years. I remember the prayers, the mass, the ritual.  Some memories are precious as they reflect a felt sense of loving connection. Some memories make me realize I had no awareness of my breath or desire to commune with the Divine. I was just racing through the prayers we were saying.

“Jesus, I’m a doggie.”

I’m not even sure what that prayer was supposed to be. “Jesus, I adore you” would make sense. Somewhere in that third grade experience, we all lost our way. It’s not like we were being smart asses when my fellow classmates would mention the doggie prayer. We hadn’t grown into that skill yet. We were just going through the motions. 

Rote prayers. Rote practice. No felt connection with the Divine. 

You can’t tame the sorrow, fear, or sense of helplessness when you’re lost in the wild mind with only rote practice for your companion.

 

And the world needs you. Calm. Coherent. Connected.

Enter your practice strongly, whatever it is, with awareness and focused intent. In order to truly support others and the world, you need to first help yourself. When you drop into that peaceful coherence on a regular basis, you are strengthening your capacity to be with the world. As you breathe, centered in your heart, you radiate caring and love in the face of great sorrow.

The world needs more radiating calm, compassion, and love.

All healing begins within. Take time away from the news, people’s challenges, and your own internal dialogue so that you may move in the direction of that great peace. Whether it passes understanding or just allows you to breathe easier, it’s worth it. I hope you give it a (strong, committed) try.

If you need a coherence boost, download my Self-Soothe Strategy on my home page.

I’ll talk you through this basic, beneficial practice until you’re empowered to use it your way. It’s so simple, yet so far reaching. I hope you add it to your repertoire of “living well” skills

I’m hosting an evening of Chanting in the Light Cathedrals tomorrow evening at Soul Sanctuary.

Inviting others to join me in my devotional practice of singing the sacred prayers of my yogic tradition. It’s selfish really. The world around me continues to bring me lives affected by deep sorrow, unexpected tragedy, and challenges to be navigated. I’m better off being a calm presence in the midst of storms – my own and others. So, I chant.

The focus tomorrow is on healing – self, others, the world. The specifics? I’ll leave that up to the Universal Harmony back beyond all things.

I look forward to joining with others in a familiar sacred practice in the pure energy of Soul Sanctuary. I know the outcome for the bodies that will sit there. Total relaxation, pure peace, inspired optimism, and a readiness to serve the world. Join us if you choose.

I hope you share my selfishness and enter your practice, whatever it is.

So that you may feel the calm in the midst of the storm and reorganize your body, mind, emotions, and energy. Healing really does begin at home. And when unleashed, this powerful healing energy of love and compassion radiates outward in every interaction. May you be a source of healing and optimism for this world so in need of uplifting.

 

Peace be with you and with all.  No exceptions. 

HeartWarming

 News

Philadelphia borrows from the neighborhood barbershop to help men reintegrate into the community after prison. This out of the box idea was sparked by recognition of how the Black barbershops catered to boys and men of all ages. A place to laugh, dispense wisdom, and straighten out some issues.  The Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project mimics the intergenerational healing circle to assist men of all ages. The younger men help set up social media accounts for their elders who return the favor with hard earned advice. Creating a space to be real, vulnerable, positive, and enormously helpful to those who share the task of reentry. Kudos Philly! 

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Blessed are the Cracked and the Frail

Myths and legends across cultures reveal a shared desire among humankind to aspire to the exalted condition of the immortal Gods and Goddesses.

These myths influence aspirations of the human family. Some people extoll living in accordance with religious traditions, a committed spiritual path, or humanitarian ideals of changing the world for good. Others may seek to be the best in business, achieve great wealth, or claim mythic status in athletics or entertainment. Many simply strive to be good, do good, and feel good as they live their days.

One way or another, we’re all on the path of the Hero’s Journey.

The mythologist Joseph Campbell, who built on the work of Carl Jung, proposed that myth serves an important sociological function. Inviting people of all cultures, ages, and life circumstances to explore the human story, where they fit within it, and how things are intrinsically connected.


Epic myths, by design, evoke a sense of awe, support a religious cosmology, empower the social order, and introduce individuals to the spiritual path of enlightenment.


In our global society, myth is a universal language. 


Campbell’s work influenced George Lucas who created the successful Star Wars saga as a “myth for modern man.” As people turn away from traditional religions, mythical stories and movies embody the truths that religion had traditionally conveyed. 



People who would never enter a church love the movies.


Far from frivolous, this entertainment function serves to replace the wisdom keepers and story tellers around the fires of old. Enhanced by technological advances, people worldwide stream these myths into their homes.


The epic movies, like Lord of the Rings and the Marvel movies, offer a map of the Hero’s Journey.


Viewers, and especially diehard fans, share vicariously in the hero’s quest and experience their own subconscious cathartic transformation. The “hero within” follows the hero on the screen or the page as he/she/they make moral choices. Allowing the viewer or reader to decide, often unconsciously, that they too live in a moral and good universe.



Within all myths, we find a striving for perfection so that the human shines bright, beautiful, and powerful.


This perfection also enlists a hidden function of protection, as if such shiny magnificence would protect us from the frailty or miscalculations of our human nature.

Yet, even mythic beings make mistakes or miss the details.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson points out in his Essays (first series, 1941), Aurora asked for immortality for her lover, Tithonus, yet she forgot to mention that essential detail of “youth.” Thus, while he was granted immorality, Tithonus is perpetually old. And when Thetis sought to make Achilles invulnerable, he erred by holding his proverbial heel when dipping him in the sacred water.

Perhaps the grand intelligence behind all intention, action, and form favors some representation of vulnerability.

Or as Emerson put it, “There is a crack in everything God has made.”

This is part of the Hero’s Journey. To face the vulnerability inherent within our very nature. To fall in the face of overwhelming challenge and to require assistance from others or the unseen mystery to rise again. In every wisdom teaching and every great story, an undeniable truth emerges.

A human being is a vulnerable thing.

Worn down by life and the insecurities of a doubting mind. Housed within a body that may exude great strength and be unexpectedly brought down by its own frailty. Regardless of the aspiration to be great, shine bright, and do good, failure is inevitable along the path.

And so is the capacity to rise from the ashes.

Yet, every Hero’s Journey requires entry to the shadowy nether regions of the psyche. This human frailty is especially encountered when we are laid low by overwhelming circumstance, illness, betrayal, ignorance, or failure. Societal conditioning and a strong desire for self protection suggests seeking a rapid fix to the extreme discomfort of the wounded world of shadow.

Yet, as Rumi reminds us, “the wound is where the light enters.”

Life doesn’t wrap up the Hero’s Journey in one movie or book. Nor does Life require a wildly successful, franchised epic. It allows this journey to be lived. One day at a time. One choice at a time. One breath at a time. That is the way of the human.

To aspire to live according to the highest ideals. And to fail on a regular basis.

Perhaps here is where we need to highlight the qualities of self-compassion, understanding, and recognition that it’s okay to be frail. And it’s okay to fail. Where we exalt the need for rest and contemplation before rising too quickly to battle the inevitable challenge.

The best Hero Journey recognizes the power of trust in the larger mystery, a willingness to be led, and a wicked sense of humor.

We tend to get serious very quickly. And in honor of a desire to be transparent or authentic, we share our wound quite publicly and at length. This tendency to perseverate on our failures and get lost in worry leaves us with a small story. A story of the shadow with only a mention of the light. Imagine if we focused more heroically on the light which has the capacity to shine through the shadow.

Or as the wise cracker Groucho Marx once said, “Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.”

Peace be with you and with all.  No exceptions. 

HeartWarming

 News

Tolkien, author of The Hobbit, was fascinated by the influential power of myth. He intended to create Lord of the Rings trilogy as a myth for the English people to update the Arthurian legend. Yet, myth is a universal phenomenon and thus transcends culture to speak to the heart of every human. Tolkien also expounded on the influence of discovery of plot and meaning in a story. How this allows one to discover a plot and meaning in the cosmos. And in the creator of the cosmos. The ultimate knower of meaning because “He” is the ultimate meaning.

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Brain Stilling: One Minute Magic

What are you trying to accomplish today?

Take a breath. Just asking the question tends to rev you up somedays, doesn’t it? The revving up comes either from the anxiety of not knowing the answer or the length of the “to-doing” intended for your day. Or perhaps from being in the midst of a challenging time in your life where getting anything accomplished is the furthest thing from your mind.

Now is a good time to practice the art of Brain Stilling.

This is not “brainstorming.” You already have enough storm activity in your thinking. Stilling the mind, to whatever degree is possible in any moment, has plenty of benefit for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. You know this at the core of your being. And there is plenty of research and your direct experience to confirm the benefit of stilling.

When you get revved up, for tiny or huge reasons, stress chemicals flood through your body.

Your heart beats faster, muscles clench, skin feels hot or sweats, and thoughts race. Before you curse this stress response, reflect for a moment on how useful it was when a predator appeared unexpectedly in your cave and threatened to eat your food and your family.

Back then, your stress chemicals were the greatest thing since sliced bread …. or perhaps fire.

In the 21st century, this glorious response system fires up at the many perceived and real threats you face. And you do face them. Living in a complex society, life became complicated. The mind became busy in response. That’s why it is so helpful to take a breath and put things in perspective.


Compare the perceived and smaller stressors to a predator attacking your cave while you reach for your little spear.

Many mind made dramas and annoyances aren’t so bad. Most stressors you face can be managed well by your inner resources. If you can access them. Your stress response system was designed to be flexible and empower you to rise to meet the challenges in your life. It was meant to serve you beyond the simple fight or flight response by supporting skill development.

My Self Soothe Strategy Playbook has more to add about how to work in concert with this intelligent response system. Download it here.

Scientists have estimated that you receive 2 million bits of information through your sensory channels each second.

Every single second. They suggest that approximately 134 bits of this information is actually processed on the conscious level. The remaining information gets stored at the subconscious level. Beneath the tip of the iceberg.

All of this data is ignored as it doesn’t match the “programming” of your brain’s search engine.

This “Google” function of your brain is mostly unconscious and works in coordination with the search engine “rules” which were learned (conditioned) as you grew. These rules guide your focus and influence perception and response to your reality. Becoming aware of your unconscious programming – those rules that guide your search engine and allow the 134 bits of information into your awareness – will help you tweak the rules that govern your living.

Brain Stilling also shifts stress chemicals to feel good chemicals that increase comfort, peace, and enjoyment.

Meditators know this experience. When you quiet the outer noise, those unconscious “rules” bubble up to the surface for your review. Once seen, you have the possibility for transformation. The benefit of stilling the mind and nervous system is enhanced when this practice is integrated in your waking moments.

Choosing a minute of stillness multiple times throughout the day has great benefit.

It just feels good to sit still. To stop moving, put down the phone, and step away from the tasks of living. Choosing a beautiful, natural environment encourages this practice. It doesn’t have to be complicated. I often stand in my driveway before leaving for work. Brainstilling: One Minute at a Time.Or sit on my deck and watch the trees dance. I sit in the dark at the end of the day or spend a minute in a parking lot before entering a store.

These minutes of stilling add up to a quieter mind and a calmer nervous system.

Brain stilling and becoming quiet is a dedicated practice. It is so simple that it requires reminders for most people, including me. While there is a benefit of a once a day stilling practice, you’ll get a more sustained effect when you build in minutes (or more) of stillness throughout your day.

It goes without saying that stilling involves silence.

The mind doesn’t quiet, nor does the body, when you’re yapping away. Create some mini space where you won’t be disturbed. Keep your eyes open. Just notice how your body is breathing you. And where your eyes wander. Thoughts will come and go. No need to manage them or prod them with your tiny spear.

Stilling is simple: Breathe in life. Sit still and be quiet. Enjoy the peace.

A silent, stilling practice will enhance your mental awareness and support health within your body, mind, and emotions. It opens a way into exploration of your inner nature and the spiritual path that beckons. In this complex, contentious society, simplicity is useful. Allowing your discovery of what’s below the billion bits of data flowing through the mind.

Discovering that stillness is your essential nature.

 

Peace be with you and with all.  No exceptions. 

HeartWarming

 News

Stilling the mind allows for creativity to flourish. And good things emerge. Like Fugees Academy which began as a soccer team for refugee boys. Eventually the team expanded to tutoring, a summer camp, and then a small school. Recognizing that refugees are at a disadvantage in our school systems, especially for those age 14 or older, this creative school seeks to empower creativity, individuality, and academic success. Transformation emerges from the quiet, creative mind.