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.
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.
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!
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.
In September, I’m returning to the Temples of Humankind in Damanhur, Italy. It feels like an understatement to claim that this is a place of power, mystery, and majesty. Yet, I’ve found this to be true for myself and those I’ve met who’ve traveled within the extraordinary to the Temples and the community of Damanhur.
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.
