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A New Day

A Sunny Inauguration Morning in the Rockies

A Sunny Inauguration Morning in the Rockies

… The most dangerous words are ‘us and them’ … Madeleine Albright, former United States Secretary of State

These were among the first words I heard this morning as I turned on the TV upon rising to take in what I hoped would be the majesty of this Inauguration Day transferring power from the 45th President to the 46th.

The majesty was without a doubt present. Yet it was muted by the absence of a large, celebratory crowd and the presence of concertina wire and National Guard troops made necessary by an almost year-long pandemic and the attempted coup at the Capitol two short weeks ago. A day to celebrate – yes.

It is also a day to go within – to reflect on what democracy truly means and our responsibility, individually and collectively, to participate in creating “… a more perfect Union …” “…with liberty and justice for all.”

How will we respond to the new President’s call to unity? How will we talk with those whose views differ from ours? How will we “open our souls instead of hardening our hearts”?

The work of the soul is a deeply personal journey, work that then reflects the thoughts we think, the words we speak and the actions we take. I believe we have a President who has done the work of the soul. President Biden committed to put his soul fully into healing the divide.  What might our world look like if we all do the same?

These are the pivots. This is our souls’ work. This is our time.

Early Morning in the San Luis Valley

Early Morning in the San Luis Valley

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Breaking the Chain

A Colorado Blue Sky Afternoon - Blanca Peak in the Distance

A Colorado Blue Sky Afternoon - Blanca Peak in the Distance

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.  Martin Luther King

I’m guessing that, just as I have, you’ve spent some time (perhaps a little, perhaps a lot) reflecting on and reacting to the violence perpetrated in the U.S. Capitol on all of us (not just those who were doing our business in that sacred temple of democracy) one week ago. Although my reactions have run the gamut – rage, sadness, concern, disgust, gratitude (for those who serve and that what could have been a massacre was quelled before more were injured or killed) - I’ve aimed to maintain calm and a sense of being grounded.

The irony (or perhaps synchronicity?) that my topic last week was nonviolence (read it here) wasn’t lost on me even though last week the muse was focused on the violence in western medicine’s approach to health. The timing was a reminder that everything and everyone are a part of everything else. We are each one of the One. I am as much a part of the perpetrators as I am of the peacekeepers, of those who hate and those who love, of those who promote violence and those committed to breaking the chain of violence.

I am as much a part of those whose political views are diametrically opposed to mine as am of those with whom I agree. And, of those who believe that this life in this body is all there is as I am of those who believe that the body is but a vehicle that their soul uses to navigate and learn throughout the ages. I’m as much a part of western medicine as I am of eastern, natural, holistic approaches; of those who subscribe to so called ‘conspiracy theories’ and those who rely solely on what they hear on so called ‘mainstream media’.

Holding this as my truth along with my deep connection with nature are anchors that help me stay grounded (or return fairly quickly when I’m triggered) in what’s true for my soul. And, what’s true for our souls, indeed, all souls, is what matters in this infinite Universe where today’s events are but a blip on the endless timeline of the Universe.

It is time to break the chains of separation and competition that foment violence. It is time to discover and create new systems that nurture nonviolence. It is time to build our soul force individually and collectively. Throughout my reflections and my observations of events this week the words ‘condemn the action, not the person’ have consistently popped into my awareness. Perhaps this is one small step we can each take toward breaking the chains that bind us toward violence as we seek justice, peace and to build a world which recognizes the truth of who we are.

Winter’s Art

Winter’s Art

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War Is Not The Answer

Winter Clouds Over the Sacred Sangres

Winter Clouds Over the Sacred Sangres

The power of nonviolence is not circumstance-specific. It is as applicable to the problems that confront us now, as to problems that confronted generations in the past. It is not a medicine or a solution so much as a healing process. It is the active spiritual immune system of humanity. Marianne Williamson (The Healing of America - 1997)

The above quote popped out at me one recent morning after experiencing a deep sense of the need to shift consciousness, individually and collectively, around what we call ‘disease’. The message came through loud and clear:

War and fighting are not the paths for ending the current pandemic OR future ones. Rather than attack diseases as enemies, reach out with love and curiosity to discover what messages they hold for healing, growth, and humanity’s evolution. Just as we have the potential to cultivate peace with one another, we hold the potential to cultivate health - physically, mentally, and spiritually.

As I reflected on that message and as Williamson’s words suggest, nonviolence holds the potential to address the myriad of 'ills' that individual humans and humanity collectively suffer: poverty, racial discrimination, hate, conflict, injustice, inequality, etc. etc.

We need to stop. To listen with mind, heart, and gut. We need to hear ourselves, our bodies and we need to respond to their pleadings to create health not simply fight off disease when it occurs or vaccinate ourselves against it. The body has vast capabilities to heal and to stay healthy IF we will create an environment within which it can do its job. Clean water; nourishing organic foods; exercise; reducing stress and fear; and maintaining a positive outlook on life can do wonders to create the magic of health in our bodies. This is the foundation of a nonviolent approach to health.

We need to listen to one another.  We need to listen to those with whom we agree and, especially, to those whose views are contrary to our own. We need to hear one another from the heart, not just the head. We need to seek not victory as the paradigms of war and competition promote, but unity. We need to more deeply understand that we are all connected, indeed that everything is connected; and to develop new systems and approaches to thriving lives on our planet. This, for me, is the nature of nonviolence that both Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King suggested in their words and in their deeds.

Perhaps now as a new year begins is a time to commit or to re-commit to learning, practicing, and engaging nonviolence in ALL aspects of life. The 24th ‘Season for Nonviolence’ beginning on January 30th and ending on April 4th offers one approach to such engagement.

Established in 1998 by Arun Gandhi to honor his grandfather and Dr. King, the ‘season’ begins on the anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination and continues for 64 days, ending on the anniversary of the MLK’s assassination. Now convened each year by the Association for Global New Thought (AGNT), this year’s theme is ’64 days, 64 ways’.

I haven’t yet chosen my path for expanding my commitment to and practice of nonviolence, so I invite you to join me in learning more here and finding a path that fits your schedule, your style, and the personal commitment you wish to make to our individual and collective evolution.

Ending Note: As I complete this post, peaceful protest in the nation’s capital seems to be giving way to violence. May the power of peace and love prevail.

New Year Sunset

New Year Sunset

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Adios 2020!

Even Cottonwood Creek is smiling as the promise of a new year edges closer.

Even Cottonwood Creek is smiling as the promise of a new year edges closer.

As I begin to update what has become my annual ‘Auld Lang Syne’ final post of the year, the online countdown clock indicated that it’s 1 day, 10 hours, 14 minutes, 37 seconds until the new year is rung in here in the Colorado Rockies. But, hey, who’s counting?

Almost everyone is waiting with bated breath to bid adieu to the tumultuous year 2020 will be remembered for around the globe. We want to turn the page. We long to dive deeply into the fresh start that began with the Solstice promise of our personal newness and culminates as we replace our 2020 calendars with new pages of promise and possibility that the coming year has the potential to bring forth.

It is, as always, up to us – individually and collectively – to bring potential to fruition. As sure as the light is returning day by day, we will have opportunities to do just that in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

While the first year of this second decade of the 21st century held much tragedy and darkness, it also shined lights of love and in dark corners needing our attention and care.  May we each be a part of shining the light of love in all the days ahead.

As I reflect on saying ‘Goodbye’ and refrain from saying ‘good riddance’, my year end reflections first written at the end of 2016 seem as apropos today as they did four years ago.

 “Give up the last year. Get rid of all those things of the mundane world. Make room for the awareness of a whole new spiritual understanding that will carry you throughout the next year.” Gregge Tiffen (The Winter Solstice: Giving To Yourself, December 2007)

“… and when you have the willingness to accept who you are, you become aware of an internal flame that burns with a fire that is unquenchable. It’s your acceptance that dispels fears and inadequacies.”  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Sacred Passageways, December 2011)

As the calendar year winds to a close, we tend to look back on its joys, its sorrows, what we accomplished, where we may have fallen short. Hopefully our review list includes acknowledging all that we discovered about ourselves and learned from the opportunities and events that life presented.

As 2020 ends, many will breathe a sigh of relief that it is finally over along with a breath of hope for better days in the year ahead.  The world we live in is chaotic and uncertain. It is. Those who put attention on the world forgetting that it is the world we live IN, NOT the world we are OF may look ahead with dread.

That need not be. Within each of us is a seed of understanding who we truly are. Nurturing that seed grows our faith in our capacity to be resilient in the face of the world’s chaos.

This seed of faith is within us all. It is not faith in anything outside of us. Rather it is faith in who we are, each as an individual, integral part of an intelligent Universe. It is a reminder that life is so much more than we experience and observe in our daily routines.

As you ring in 2021,  I invite you to join me in nourishing your seed of faith in each of the 365  days ahead and to remember how important your presence is at this moment on the planet.

Perhaps this prayer, one of my favorites of Gregge Tiffen’s writing, will support you to deepen your faith in you and in understanding just how important you are in the Universal scheme of things. 

Let me never forget how important I am to the Universal Picture. Without me there would be a blank space where there should be color.

 Let me understand that the challenges of life are just that and not battles. I am not out there to win or to loose, only to develop my skills as an on-going student in an omnipotent school.

Let me understand that the difference between people is one of the wondrous realities of an infinite Universe. Giving those differences space to be is far more important than comparing them to my set of beliefs.

Let me be proud of what I do. To whatever my hand touches, let me remind myself that it was my effort that added to the result. Perfection is not my goal. Creativity is.

 Let me remind myself that most of what I take seriously about myself also qualifies for a good laugh. Let me remember to be kind to myself. Loving companions are one of life’s treats, but they are not responsible for my care. Self-kindness can heal almost any hurt.

 Let me take responsibility as a gift and not a burden. Within that effort is the grandest sense of accomplishment I could achieve.

 Let me be patient with life. Nature does not produce the flower before the roots have taken hold. If I recognize that the place I am in is the right place at the right time, it will always be the right place at the right time. Gregge Tiffen (The Significance of Beginning, January 2007)

A Colorado Blue Sky Day with Snowy Peaks - How Winter is meant to be!

A Colorado Blue Sky Day with Snowy Peaks - How Winter is meant to be!


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Merry Christmas to ALL ...

Our Stockings are Hung on the Stair Rail with Care …

Our Stockings are Hung on the Stair Rail with Care …

The gift you give yourself is to be open and to make space for acceptance. Gregge Tiffen (The Winter Solstice: Giving To Yourself, December, 2007)

 I don’t recall how I felt on the blog morning before Christmas four years ago when the poem below emerged as the pen hit paper. It may have been something like how I feel this morning: light as the sun hits the trees in the woods on a cold morning; empty of words and full of inner sweetness; desiring to wish you a jolly season amidst so much that lacks joy; and wishing you a bundle of fun in whatever form you desire.  Merry Christmas to ALL …

 ‘Twas blog day before Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza and more

And, all through the house

I’m the only one stirring

There best be no mouse.

 

Luke is asleeping

And right at my feet.

What is today’s message?

Let’s be short and sweet!

 

It came without clatter

Of hooves on the roof

A friendly reminder

That needs no proof.

 

Amidst the hustle and bustle

You may find yourself in

Take time for yourself

Time to go within.

 

For in the season of giving

We often forget

The importance of receiving

But, please do not fret.

 

A few minutes at most

With a hot cup of tea

Will serve to remind you

About receptivity.

 

For giver and gift

Need YOU to receive

That is the cycle

So, please do believe.

 

Take this reminder

Wherever you go

With a twinkle in your eyes

Like the Santa you know.

… and to ALL Many Good Nights!

… and to ALL Many Good Nights!

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Blessed Solstice 2020

Sunset on the Labyrinth in the Woods Out Back

Sunset on the Labyrinth in the Woods Out Back

Winter Solstice is the time when you give up what you have and accept what is being born as the new power within you, the new awareness within you and the new person within you. (Gregge Tiffen, December 2019 newsletter)

All of heaven and all of earth coordinate at the Winter Solstice. Gregge Tiffen (Winter Solstice: The Christmas Story)

I’ve been feeling the energy of the Solstice for several days. Monday’s New Moon felt especially powerful here in the snowy woods, almost as if it were the Solstice day.  I was called to walk the labyrinth in the early morning cold and again as the sun began to set across the valley. I’m walking it daily and taking long slow walks with Zadie Byrd in the afternoons. Mild weather of a week ago has given way to winter weather. Eight plus inches of snow over the weekend and another inch overnight Monday. The beauty and the quiet that snow brings are tonic for the tumultuous frenzy that the world seems to be spinning in. Grateful! I am THAT!

Winter Solstice is a time of natural transformation, newness that comes forth with or without our awareness. It is the time when our receptivity is heightened in consciousness. Is it any wonder that with fewer hours of daylight, we are drawn inside into our homes and into ourselves at this time of year?

Solstice is the birthday of the Planet. It was celebrated as such with reverence and respect in ancient times by our ancestors who lived in close harmony with the Planet’s rhythms.

Solstice is the time of completion and of new beginnings. The old cycle is done. We are presented with the opportunity to declare completion and move on with awareness of the seeds of newness planted inside. A new ‘you’ with its potential to bring wondrous change in the cycle ahead is ready. Are you willing to claim it?

In keeping with my understanding of ancient traditions, once again this year I will take time at Solstice to create a personal ‘silent night’, a time to harmonize my rhythms to those of Mother Earth. With love and gratitude I let go of everything from the year behind and acknowledge the seeds of newness inside. I invite you to create quiet time amidst the tensions of the world outside of you and the hustle and bustle of the season to do the same.

A good place to start is by harmonizing with nature. If you are blessed as I am to live in nature’s beauty, take a walk. Observe and honor the rhythms of nature, whether the slow steady growth of a tree or the daily cycles of ocean tides. This year the planets will offer quite a show as Jupiter and Saturn come together and appear as one bright star in the night sky on Solstice.  

If nature is not outside your door, then sit quietly and imagine your favorite peaceful place in nature. Feel yourself in that place and allow its rhythms to bring you the quiet peace of the season.

In that atmosphere embrace an attitude of gratefulness. Let go of everything that has come to you in the cycle ending. Empty and prepare space for the new. Let go of not only what doesn’t serve or suit you, of those things you consider ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’, but of everything: every attitude, your wants and desires, your fears, your hopes, your stories about the events of the year ending, the people in your life.

Finally, when you are ready (perhaps after only a few moments, perhaps a few hours), evoke the sound of newness with the declaration “I am new”.  Speak it boldly.  Be still and feel this newness. This is the place where heaven and earth come together in you, as you. The place where ‘heaven and nature sing’. The new you is ready to meet, greet and receive the gifts of the new cycle.  On this dark and silent night, let us sing with the angels and call forth love and light and peace. Then, in all the days ahead, let us BE the love, light, and peace that is our true nature.

May the blessings of your unique newness follow you into and throughout the year ahead!

A Protective Blanket of Fresh Snow  Cradles Grasses and Seedlings and  Mother Earth Herself

A Protective Blanket of Fresh Snow Cradles Grasses and Seedlings and Mother Earth Herself

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Living Life Beautifully

Signs of Winter on the Creek

Signs of Winter on the Creek

The pain we feel for our world is a living testimony to our interconnectedness with it. If we deny this pain, we become like blocked and atrophied neurons, deprived of life's flow and weakening the larger body in which we take being. But if we let it move through us, we affirm our belonging; our collective awareness increases. We can open to the pain of the world in confidence that it can neither shatter nor isolate us, for we are not objects that can break. We are resilient patterns within a vaster web of knowing. Joanna Macy

As I prepare to bid this current cycle adieu (none to soon in the view of most) the quote above reminded me that pain is a part of living life beautifully. Macy also reminds us of this: We are resilient patterns within a vaster web of knowing. We are part of a unified field of being, each a field within fields … but I digress.

Because we tend to collapse pain with suffering (and who among wants to suffer?), all too often we deny our pain. Yet, as Macy suggests, pain is a doorway, a portal to recognizing the beauty of our interconnectedness, the unity of all life. We need not deny pain its place in order not to suffer. We need only embrace our pain and allow it to reveal its wisdom. Tears may flow. Joy is sure to follow.

As I reflected on the questions that emerged in last week’s post (click here if you missed it), I experienced a felt sense of having walked this earth before. Recently, I’ve been drawn to explore ancient civilizations and the startling discoveries rocking the world of archeology. Such unearthings are the nature of growth and change: new discoveries guide us to understand differently what we once thought of as ‘truth’.

A part of living life beautifully is opening to whatever pain new discovery may bring. Our pain is likely to include the discomfort of letting go of treasured understandings. We cling to the old at our peril. We suffer when doing so is our choice.

Although I am optimistic about the future, I hold no illusion that a new year, a new presidential administration, a vaccine will return us to the ‘normal’ that so many long for. That ‘normal’ was and is deeply flawed. Its social, economic, and environmental injustices were and are vastly out of sync with Universal law, not to mention common decency. Change we must, individually and collectively. That for me is living life beautifully.

My heart, indeed my whole being, aches for those who are facing health challenges, loss of the physical presence of loved ones, economic hardship, discrimination and other social injustices. I feel my connectedness with them, and I wonder what role I can play in bringing light to the darkness, healing to the pain. What do I need to change in me to be part of the healing, the growth, the love standing ready to be revealed?

And, my. heart, indeed my whole being, aches for our planet and the vast abuses our ‘normal’ has cast upon her. I know that my heart beats with Mother Earth. What do I need to change in me to be part of the healing, the growth, the love standing ready to be revealed?

Living life beautifully is living life aligned with our true nature, a nature that knows nothing of the ills that plague our culture. Finding our unique alignment is the key to unlocking a path to a world that works for all.

Still in Flow

Still in Flow

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Digging Deep

Morning Fog Over Blanca Peak

Morning Fog Over Blanca Peak

In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity. Albert Einstein

The sun will come up tomorrow … This song from Annie popped into my head this morning immediately following the fortunately fleeting and rather silly thought: Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. (Perhaps there’s something about movies I need to pay attention to …)

I don’t, of course, want to ‘stop the world’ and ‘get off’ despite this time of turmoil and angst. For that angst and turmoil is ripe with opportunities to learn and to grow, to dig deep inside, into your core to discover more of who you are and who you are uniquely designed to be.

Being ripe with opportunity is the nature of crisis. Our task is to choose to feast on the ripe fruit of what is at hand and discover points of learning, points of pivot. Crisis demands adaptability: a willingness to change. Do what you must to navigate, to survive, to thrive. In no way does embracing opportunity minimize or, as some might suggest, deny hardship or despair: the very issues of survival that are faced each day across the globe. Opportunity invites us to embrace challenges as our teachers. As surely as those who stand before us to share what they know, life’s events have within them the potential for learning knowledge that becomes wisdom. That wisdom we carry forward in our BEing FOREVER.

The knowledge that becomes wisdom does not cease to exist when this physical body takes its last breath. That wisdom lives on in consciousness, that part of our BEing that is infinite.

As surely as this is true, then we must have within us and available to us, the knowledge and wisdom of our past. Pause, let that sink in. Each of us know more than we are aware that we know.

We, you and me and all who are walking this earth, were made for this time. Perhaps we have faced crises, turmoil, or upheaval akin to today’s life conditions.

As I reflected on this idea, I began to wonder and ask: what about today’s world feels familiar? What do I KNOW that will support me in navigating this time? What pivots do I need to make to honor and align with my wisdom?

What about you? In the deep quiet of introspection, meditation, dreamtime, or walking in nature I invite you to join me in beginning to ask and discover:

·        What inklings of familiarity do I have about this time?

·        What does my heart KNOW that will guide me?

·        What hunches have I ignored that I need to pay attention to?

·        What pivots do I need to make for the sake of my learning, growing, and Being all of who I came here to be?

Notice what arises as you simply take the bold step into curiosity. Let’s see what this wild and crazy life has to offer as we wind down the current cycle and prepare to usher in a new one that will dawn very soon.

The Sun is definitely shining on the Ziggurat this beautiful morn!

The Sun is definitely shining on the Ziggurat this beautiful morn!

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My Thanksgiving Prayer - 2020

Beautiful Snow Sangres

Beautiful Snow Sangres

The power of giving thanks gives life its vitality! The power of giving thanks comes through your awareness that you are always in a position to receive all the elements the Universe has to offer. Everything is available to you.  Gregge Tiffen (The Power of Giving Thanks, November, 2007)

 I’m thankful for the muse that visits at least weekly with some message that seems to want to be expressed. My weekly practice for over seven years now is one of the highlights of my week, in part because I rarely know what’s going to show up, until the words hit the page. It’s also been my practice to rest the muse on occasion and revisit/reprise a prior post. And, so it is this Thanksgiving (here in the U.S.) eve, as I reflect with a grateful heart on all this year has offered.

 While it is good to have a special day to give thanks, the irony of Thanksgiving’s origins in this country deserves a pause for thoughtful consideration. As you give thanks, I’ll leave that consideration to your heart and soul. I’m grateful that as a society we are beginning to acknowledge, understand, and hopefully, move beyond the dark choices that haunt our past.

 Despite the disgust and sadness I feel for the atrocities we force upon one another and on our dear planet, I’m grateful for this life and for the opportunities to learn and grow that are ever present.  Despite the irony of the holiday’s origins, I celebrate, grateful for my conviction that, despite history and the current chaos and cruelty worldwide, justice and light will prevail.

 Several years back, sitting quietly by the fire on a cold morning, I began to write in my journal. The words that came surprised me and took me to an unexpected place: gratitude for being me.  As I ease into Thanksgiving Day, I remember all that I’m grateful for and my words then inspire my prayer of thanks for 2020

 I’m grateful for the challenges and changes this year, 2020 has trust upon me personally and on all of us as a community of humans. I’m grateful for my friends and friends of my cousin who surrounded me with love and support in the wake of her sudden, unexpected death. I’m grateful that she entrusted me with the sacred task of handling the affairs she left behind and rewarded me for doing so.

 I’m grateful for how I live my life, the choices I make, the insight and curiosity I experience, my love of quiet and of nature’s beauty. I’m grateful that I take reasonably good care of myself. I’m grateful that I take time to ease into the day and enjoy the morning quiet. I’m grateful for introspection and for how I see the world unfolding perfectly in this human experiment despite events that are horrific beyond my understanding. I’m grateful for this years events which continue to challenge me to hold this light.

I’m grateful for Zadie Byrd carrying the torch of being my canine companion. Her sweet presence in my life is a constant blessing.

I’m grateful for all the beings who are holding light in the midst of darkness.

 I’m grateful for how I’ve faced the challenges in my life, even those where in hindsight I saw a different way for me to be. Each offered a gift and I did my best to accept it.

 This year I’m especially grateful that I enjoy my own company as well as the company of others. Both are so very important, yet we humans so very often shun being alone for fear of being lonely, forgetting that in our aloneness we hear Your voice and feel Your presence.

Thank You for always being with me/in me. Thank YOU for allowing and guiding me to be me. I feel so close You, God, in these quiet moments and I am so very grateful.

When we give thanks for being who we are, we tap into the vitality of life. Wherever this week finds you, may you feel a depth of gratitude that goes deeper and further than any you have felt in your past. May this special Thanksgiving prayer from Gregge Tiffen contribute to transporting you to that place.

Sunset on the Labyrinth

Sunset on the Labyrinth

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Strengthening Immunity

Morning Clouds over the Sangres

Morning Clouds over the Sangres

Every act of kindness on your part is a boost to your own immune system. Marianne Williamson

There are oh so many ways to strengthen our individual immune systems. It occurs to me that when we do so individually, we are contributing to strengthening the whole.

Whether through acts of kindness as suggested above, nutrition, exercise, or other means attending to your immune system is critical. Curiously, most media outlets do not add this to the list of ‘must do’s’. Rather they keep us in the drama of wearing masks, distancing, washing our hands, and, oh yes, when a vaccine will be available to erase this pandemic.

I’m not knocking any of these approaches, although I personally won’t be lined up for a vaccination when the time comes (that’s a muse for another day). Rather I notice that I experience deep disappointment that more attention to the importance of a strong immune system is front and center to our approach to Covid-19 and indeed to most illness.

A poem that made the rounds early in the pandemic when lockdowns and ‘stay at home’ orders first debuted greeting me upon rising this morning:

And the people stayed home -- by Kitty O'Meara
And the people stayed home.
And read books, and listened, and rested,
and exercised, and made art, and played games,
and learned new ways of being, and were still.
And listened more deeply.
Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows.
And the people began to think differently. And the people healed.
And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways,
the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed,
and the people joined together again,
they grieved their losses, and made new choices,
and dreamed new images,
and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully,
as they had been healed.
  

It struck me that the poet has a strong pulse on the need to act in ways that support our immune systems, individually and collectively.

We need deep strength in these days. Not just to navigate to the other side of this pandemic, but to sustain ourselves and one another in creating the world, our worlds, anew. For the old world is crumbling. How we attend to its demise, how we hospice what no longer serves will in large part determine what emerges in a new world – the world that will be inhabited by our children, our grandchildren and beyond.

May we strengthen ourselves so that we are up for the tasks ahead. May we live fully into the words of activist, writer, friend Rivera Sun: Be kind. Be connected. Be unafraid.

PS – So often we think of the immune system as only a physical internal system. My colleague and friend, Kathy Wilson, expands this view in a recent post, a list of tools to support the immune system, developed over many months as she addressed her own compromised immune system (http://www.warrior-priestess.com/Newsletters/coach-newsletter11-15-20.html).

Sunset Moon

Sunset Moon

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