The world of sorrow has a tendency to rush into your awareness.
Bombarding your precious heart with news of violence, injustice, scarcity, and fearful stories about the “other” or the stability of “your” future. Shaking your sense of safety and robbing you of peace.
It’s not your fault if you shake, shudder, and fall down.
The media is designed to weaken your foundational awareness that you are lovable and capable. That it is safe to listen to your own wise voice, even if you have to search for it. The world holds so much noise, all the time, that it has you listening outward instead of inward.
Allowing a tiny breeze of news to knock over your redwood nature.
So your heart shrinks a few sizes as you hunker into the shadowy thoughts about how you aren’t enough or there isn’t enough time, money, kindness, or goodness. Or your ferocious heart breaks open as anger rages through your body and grief cries rivers down your face. Because people hurt each other so cruelly and unjustly.
As if they’ve forgotten they are part of the same family even through they look different.
Or live differently. Shit. It’s enough to make you want to head back to bed or stick your head in a fantasy world. But, here’s the thing with toppled redwoods. They make space for the light to shine in and a new breeze to whisper of some other story.
Just when you’re ready to despair about the state of the world and drown your intelligence on Instagram, you spot a reel with a puppy riding on a rooster’s back.
Calmly regal as if he is the regent of the peace parade. Allowing a belly laugh so loud that tears fall out of your eyes and water your stingy heart. You easily imagine how the world would be in a lot better shape if that puppy rooster duo would make the rounds of every war zone, nursing home, inner city, and traffic jam.
Well, why wouldn’t the wisdom of a joyful heart and beauty of unlikely friends cloak itself in every medium?
The world of wonder has a tendency to rush into your awareness.
Seek and you shall find. Everything is available for discovery. Yet, remember this. Don’t spend too much time seeking those posts of wisdom or laugh out loud reels ‘cause the din of the world’s idea of news or entertainment can drown out what is most important.
To go within and restore your bruised, broken heart.
Allowing your body to rest and your mind to reorient to your own priorities for living. Not those offered by a well meaning or nefarious world of influence and influencers. Shifting your focus away from your own mind stories that drown you in despair or discomfort to the small, shining treasures of the moment. It is here that you remember something essential.
You, like the world, are filled with good intentions, wonder, and a medicinal dose of kindness.
Recognizing this allows the heart to open and the lungs to breathe. Inviting you to reflect upon those inner values and visions which guide your actions in the outer world. Ah, yes. Here lies your own truth, sturdy in the assault of any fake news or sudden storm.
This is the path inward to the wise heart which knows when to open and when to close.
This inner guide, sturdy as a redwood, seeded and nurtured by your source, knows when to retreat, repair, and regenerate. And when to open, share loving kindness, and sturdy peace no matter what the world is offering.
There are two approaches to this natural opening and closing of the heart. One Wise. One Reckless.
The surprising thing about the heart is that, like the puppy and rooster, it gets along with this disturbing world of wonders. Within you lies the intelligence to witness the balance and goodness in all things bright and dark. The peaceful, sturdy heart witnesses without judgment and waits for the inner whisper which guides inspired action.
There is a time to pop on the rooster’s back and head out for a look see. A time to topple and rest, receiving help as it arrives. And a time to act with an open, compassionate heart, clear in the privilege of being a part of this human dance. Messy that it may be.
I’m a big fan of the sturdy redwood version of your heart system.
I know there are many ways in to that great peace which influences your mind, body, energy, and response to your inner and outer worlds. My absolute favorite way to soothe my heart open involves the practices from Heart Assisted Therapy.
If you haven’t downloaded my Self Soothe Strategy Playbook and Guided Meditation, I wonder why.
That’s available with some other goodies on my Free Resources page.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
Here’s a simple heart opening practice. Whenever you feel a contraction of your heart, mood, or thinking, take a breath. And another. And another. Take 3 breaths. If possible, pause while you do this. If you’re driving, you can breathe deeply. If you are in a meeting, or running one, you can pause and breathe. Invite those around you to do the same. You’re not trying to change anything. You are breathing consciously 3 times. Then look around and spot 3 things that represent beauty, appreciation, and creativity. You can do this as you present, drive, and discuss any topic. If your face is in a screen, take a brief break. Finish with 3 breaths and with each one, name your discovery. Beauty. Appreciation. Creativity. Practice this for calming the body-mind and opening the heart.
Learn the one essential skill that allows you to face any challenge with confidence, sturdiness, and inner calm.
More than a technique. It’s a game changer.
Life is stressful. Always.
If you pause for a moment, you’ll see there is always something stressful happening. It might be mild, like when you’re running a bit late for an appointment. Or significant, like dealing with a major loss or facing a radical change in your life. If there’s a weather disaster, a country in disarray, or a threat to your livelihood, the stress meter goes way up.
One cool Spring morning, I stepped on the treadmill at the gym looking forward to walking a few miles. Recovering from an injury, I had to walk at a moderate pace so I had brought my copy of What Is Enlightenment? magazine to explore. I always found something to inspire me within this publication focused upon consciousness, culture, and cosmos.
Stress is a natural experience in life. It’s often viewed as a doorway to disruption of wellbeing, peace of mind, and a clear navigational path in a challenging situation.
I’m a bit of a news hound these days. As one who hasn’t watched a newscast in years, I’m surprising myself. Ordinarily, I wait for the news to come to me. And it does. When something is important for me to know or respond to, I hear about it. Kind friends, clients, my husband, or a random stranger share a soundbite which cues me to look into a situation further. I’ve been very comfortable with this level of engagement for years now.
In the midst of our country’s woes, I’ve got Lucinda Williams singing in my head.
“You can’t rule me
you wanna go and tell me what’s good for me
you wanna tell me what I’m payin’ for
Well, the game is fixed, it’s plain to see
I ain’t playin’ no more”
I drove through a hail storm today. It began gently, offering a musical accompaniment to my journey. Intensifying, the hail noisily demanded my attention.
