I’ve sat with outrage, despair, wonder, and confusion this week.
So many people, including myself, have felt the shifting of a foundation of goodness, respect, equity, safety, and hope with the recent shootings and supreme court decisions about gun control and Roe vs. Wade.
It’s been helpful to talk. To express freely whatever position is held.
I am grateful for those who witness me. And eager to enter these conversations to witness others and learn what breaks their hearts, fires up their desire to act, and leads competent people to feel so helpless. To explore the questions that bubble up. To allow rage, tears, and the desire to dive under the covers to be honored.
So many tragedies are flooding our shared world and affecting the ecosystem in which the human family lives.
I recognized something essential this week.
I couldn’t keep quiet. I didn’t want to process this on my own. I had that in common with many, many people. Seeking balance within, I felt the call to hear others and witness their pain and thinking. So I reached out to my daughter, to my friends, and opened to my clients.
I learned I didn’t have any answers. And recognized I was in no position to offer any.
I researched the status of women at the time the US Constitution was written. While not surprising, it made my head and heart hurt. I though about how far we’ve come and wondered what direction we were headed.
It’s my birthday today. I’m 63.
I was in 8th grade when Title IX was enacted. I never had any question that I could go to college as a female. Nor did my daughter. I was 13 when Roe vs. Wade was passed. Too busy navigating my early teen insecurities to consider that anyone would restrict my decisions about my body or health. Now, I look to the young women I know who face restrictions that were never a part of my adult life.
Lacking solutions today, I want to keep my heart wide open, no matter what. That much I know.
Yet, something more emerged over the past days. A strong desire to listen to someone who was wise and awake. To hear a different prospective than the human mind’s railing about what side was right and who was not only wrong, but evil.
Life has a way of answering my questions if I let them be.
A fitting title for a creative talk from a wise, awake man. Reading poetry from other wise, awake men.
I received succor in that. Wise men, in tune with their feminine wisdom, providing a higher understanding of how to be in a world that sucks so much and holds so much beauty.
An understanding that helped me explore the questions asked by those around me. Exploring how to live in the world and keep your heart open. A way to be spiritually focused without losing touch with your humanity. Guidance for action that was balanced, coming from a perspective that there was harmony to the implicate and explicate order of the universe. And our experience within it.
I discovered the wisdom of Ram Dass after he passed.
I’ve learned so much from the documentaries about his life and the talks I have watched. A richness packed into a few minutes or hours that left me more willing to live in this beautiful, horrible world with a heart that stays open.
Plus, I like how he talks like a calm, happy hippie. Words like “far out, cool, and groovy” bring me back to my high school days.
He has taught me about courage, how to sit with pain and grief, experience hope within despair, and to face death consciously. He has shown me what a heart wide open looks like in a person who is clearly human. So much more to discover I’m sure.
Today, I think it’s best you hear from some Wise, awake dudes.
Better than from my tiny mind that is swirling under the influence of a world rocked by madness. Buffeted about by the winds of grief, outrage, wonder, and trust. Today, I find myself at a loss for words and a strong, strong desire to listen.
My heart wants to stay open. So that’s my position about gun control, abortion, war, ecological destruction, personal tragedy, miracles, and grace.
A wide open heart. No matter what side of any argument you find yourself on. You’ll find the link to Ram Dass’ talk in the HeartWarming News below.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
Ram Dass’ talk led me to a creative, cool resource: the After Skool channel on youtube. I found some of my favorite teachers there. Listening to their voices while the concepts were illustrated artfully. It’s a visual delight. The intent of this channel is to empower individuals to shift their inner world with artistic presentations of profound thinkers. The idea that the world changes when your internal world changes is not new. It IS empowering and shared by mystics, physicists, and medicine men and women. Here’s the link for How to Keep your Heart Open in Hell by Ram Dass. Next up for me? Allan Watts. He probably says groovy too.
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.
