For Your Health, Pivot to Self-trust

About Ready to Burst into Bloom

Distrust of the body damages the core of us. Stephen Harrod Buhner in Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm

Sometimes when I’m reading, a few words or a sentence or two will fly off the page and land in that inside place that knows my truth. I experience resonance, sometimes a confirmation, sometimes a sense of ‘aha …’. For sure, the words capture my attention. And Muse generally chimes in that ‘this’ may be a topic for a future musing.

Such was the case yesterday when I read Buhner’s simple truth about the importance of trusting the body. The short sentence was in a sea of scientific, technical language about the role (and importance!) of serotonin in our bodies and in all of Nature. Muse suggests I assure you that we aren’t about to ‘go scientific’. We aren’t! Honestly, I’m amazed that I’ve slogged through 200 pages (so far) of science, but the ongoing journey to deepen my connection to and communication with Nature keeps me engaged, curious, and turning the pages. Unlike the science classes of my college days, the final grade is reflected in my satisfaction with life. No pressure there!]

Take a moment to dance with Buhner’s words: Distrust of the body damages the core of us.

If we don’t trust the body, we damage our very being, our core. Just as certain vitamins support the immune system, trust supports this vehicle we inhabit.

This idea landed deep, evoking heart-felt gratitude as I recognized that I listen to this physical body. I listen because I’ve learned to trust what it knows, having built that trust over years of listening, experimenting, experiencing, adjusting, and generally sustaining pretty darn good health.

Muse seems to be speaking on behalf of body, reminding me that I don’t always honor what I hear the body say. Yep. Truth! Sometimes the body says ‘rest!’. I ignore and push through. Or a craving for chocolate may override body’s warning to avoid.

Listening to this vehicle isn’t a solo journey. I seek out tools and professionals to give more voice to what my body is saying. They help with interpretation. I take and use what seems aligned with the body’s needs, letting go of that which doesn’t resonate.

For the most part allopathic medicine doesn’t resonate with this body. Chinese medicine, in particular acupuncture and Chinese herbs, does. A daily mug of Chinese herbal formula created by my Oriental Medicine Doctor after she reads my pulses and listens to what I share is one of the most nourishing practices of my day. As I reflect on how it is that I have such trust in my body, this experience rises to top.

I’m grateful to Buhner for pointing to trusting one’s body as an important element in creating, sustaining, and maintaining health. And, for opening the door to reflect on that trust. I notice that the awareness and exploration alone seem to deepen the trust I feel.

What about you? Do you listen to this vehicle that you move about life in? Do you heed its messages? Do you trust?

Spinx Moth (Hummingbird Moth) Enjoys the Blooms (thanks to my friend S.T. for catching this beauty!)

Reaching In, Reaching Out

Owl Wisdom in the Woods

Reach – (1) to stretch in order to get or touch something; (2) to arrive at a place, a decision, a goal

The Muse is back (‘Aye’, the Muse says, ‘I never left; I just hid out so you would rest.’). Although the extreme discomfort (okay, pain!) is mostly gone, the body continues to remind me that it is healing and that I need to heed my own message of a few weeks back: look for places where you can do less. The Muse in fact suggests I share that I’m in healing mode because I did just the opposite: pushed through to complete a heavy lifting task solo rather than waiting until I could ask someone to come over and help. Over-reaching. Ouch!

Having limited (and painful) mobility in my shoulder limited my reach and I discovered just how much of daily life involves reaching for things. A mug of tea, a pan and ingredients for soup, a book, the keyboard, a log for the fire, Zadie Byrd’s harness and leash, treats, a jacket, toothbrush … yep, we reach out a lot. Reaching for whatever we need in the moment. Blessed with the abundance of whatever is within our reach.

The more I reached for ‘things’, the more that discomfort reminded me to look for where I could do less (thank you Moshe Feldenkrais and my awesome instructor Jill, a coaching colleague and friend for years before my discovery that she also teaches this method of awareness through movement. Click here to learn more.

When the discomfort became especially intense, my heart opened with deep compassion for those who experience chronic pain. I thought of my cousin who, before her death last year, suffered excruciating back pain. I was experiencing just a small drip of what far too many humans experience every day. I understood how it is in a system that shuns alternative treatments with derisive comments like ‘snake oil’, a system which profits from our disease and pain, that people become opioid dependent.

Indeed, I who shun much of what western medicine offers, would have popped the top had there been pain killers stronger than aspirin within my reach. Alas, acupuncture, Chinese herbs, castor oil packs, PEMF, body work, and most important of all, REST are the tools of my recovery. I wonder: how can these and other alternatives become more acceptable, available, affordable, within reach for all?

In the quiet that rest offers, I felt myself reaching in. Exploring and calling forth what I believe to be true about this physical vessel in which I navigate the planet. It is wise and knowledgeable this body is, understanding, knowing its needs, its limits and communicating that information whether I’m tuned in or not. This body knows how to heal, and it needs my cooperation to act on its knowing. I need only reach in to hear her voice reaching out to guide me.

Inspired by a story I heard during this time of rest, before rising this morning I imagined that I was feeling the warm embrace of the sun before she rose. Reaching inward to imagine the somatosensation of the sun’s rays gently warming my skin and the light bringing visual clarity to my surroundings, I felt embraced by the faith of deep knowing that I live in a friendly universe and, despite appearances and circumstances that seem contrary, all is right with the world.

As I wrote about the experience, I realized how easy it is and how privileged I am to reach in and access such wisdom when I’m warm and cozy under the covers before rising. Will I remember to reach in after my feet hit the chilly floor and when I engage with the world that often seems to want to have its way with me? What direction will I reach at my next challenging moment – in or out?

We have inner wisdom and knowing throughout our cellular structure. What if we reached in to discover the wisdom of the inner planes with as much purpose and intent as we reach out to find answers on Google or stretch our arm to reach for a healthy snack? What if we understood that all the wisdom and knowledge of our dear Gaia and, indeed, the Universe are within our reach? Indeed, what if …?

Snowy Morning in Town … First Big Flakes of the Season

Calling Forth Unity

Crestone Peak Peeking Through the Treetops

It’s time to pivot: calling forth and practicing unity, oneness, the interconnected nature of life. Time to cooperate and co-create.

This is week three of what has emerged as a theme of the weekly muse, consistent with observations and concerns about our world and with my heart’s deep longing that I live more fully into the reality of unity with each step I take and every choice I make.

Reading some new/old material from Gregge Tiffen, one of my greatest teachers, reminded me that our sojourn on this earth is not an easy ‘school’.  We are tasked with the challenge of working with/working on three levels that are often in conflict: body, mind, spirit. It was an important reminder as I seek to practice unity – inside and out – in a world that seems hell bent on division and separation.

As I sat in the quiet of daybreak this morning, it occurred to me that dark and light are not separate. Opposites, yes; but light and dark coexist, cooperate, and flow from one to the other and back. Whether in the dark of night of a new moon or in the light of a ‘Colorado blue sky’ day, the ‘woods out back’ are ‘the woods out back’. The degree of light or dark simply changes my experience of seeing the woods.

Perhaps we might consider the same of other ‘opposites’: good/evil (every time I write this word, I’m reminded it is simply ‘live’ spelled backwards); we/they; pro/con (vaccine, life, war, and the list goes on).  We are different, yes. We each have our stories that differ, sometimes widely. And we are the same: humans navigating a tough learning school at this seemingly pivotal point in time.

As I further engaged the muse, I wondered what all the aspects of the growing (and troubling to me) ‘vaccine divide’ and a recent movie, A Wrinkle in Time, have in common. Each presents the opportunity to ‘choose the path of love with conviction’. Yet each in their own way perpetuates separation: the movie with its classic ‘good vs. evil’ where one or the other must ‘win’.

The vaccine divide doesn’t look much different. Each side choosing language to vilify the other, claiming they alone are ‘right’ and the other is ‘wrong’. Neither side recognizing the truth in some aspects of the other’s story. The noise from both is deafening and the damage to families and friendships, heart wrenching (AND avoidable!). Much of the ‘information’ from both sides is fraught with assumption (at best) and both are guilty of fear mongering. Each seemingly wants to usurp my free will to choose what is right for me, my body, my mind, my spirit.

Is anyone reminded of the acrimony of the ‘choice’ vs. ‘anti-abortion/right to life’ divide? It’s enough to bring out my inner contrarian rebel and allow her to dance beyond the words of the weekly muse. I’m reminded of a favorite line from Rivera Sun’s awesome novel, The Dandelion Insurrection: When fear is used to control us, love is how we rebel.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have consistently expressed the idea that the best path forward is to build our individual immune system in whatever ways best serve the body we inhabit, as well as align with our individual, intelligent understanding of available information, and consistent with our personal spiritual beliefs. This should be front and center of public health policy and media attention. It isn’t.

Where is the love and care that providing such information widely would demonstrate? Why does it seem increasingly more difficult (and sometimes lonely) to follow this path? Where is our humanity in this great divide?

Why is it that those who offer information about this path must be cautious about how they speak about covid, natural health, etc. lest a ‘bot’ label their words ‘misinformation’ or worse yet, prohibit others from seeing it? How is such censorship any different than burning books – indeed entire libraries throughout history – to suppress views that challenge our own?

My aim is to not add to the babble of the divide, what a friend calls part of the ‘debris field’ of these times. Rather it is to shine light in the darkness, to rebel with love, sharing that which I find helpful in navigating the choices of this time with solid information, with love, and with care.

Neither I, nor the muse, nor anyone outside of you knows what choices are best for you. But each can offer information, insight, perhaps even inspiration to take the best care of you that’s possible and to be a part of bridging and healing the divide, not furthering it: to call forth unity from within and promote unity in our world. Toward that end, I found this recent video informative and rebellious in a most loving, caring, and unifying way: Strange Virus …

Whatever your choices, may this and other information in your field support you in unifying body, mind, and spirit and calling forth that unity in our fractured world.

Day Fades in the Sangres as the Sun Sets in the West

Making Choices Without Choosing Sides

Sunflower ‘Volunteer’

So, while I really appreciate your support, I'm asking you not to take sides. Charles Eisenstein

Yesterday’s email with its subject line ‘Peace: Important plea to readers’ marked the second time over three or four days in which individuals whose work and lives typically align with my values used the clear, direct language: “don’t take sides”.

The first, a recorded message mostly addressing earth changes and their impact, inspired me to think about the difference between making choices and choosing sides. Eisenstein’s email confirmed my hunch that the Wednesday muse would explore just that. The topic seems a logical (although logic is rarely my primary aim!) extension to last week’s muse that suggested:

It’s time to pivot: calling forth and practicing unity, oneness, the interconnected nature of life. Time to cooperate and co-create.

As I suggested last week, more and more it seems that the world wants us to choose sides rather than simply making choices that are best for each of us based on what we know, what we have yet to know/learn, and what we sense. Sadly in the collective many have taken the bait.

Sharing a point of view that differs from others is seen by some as divisive rather than collaborative. Or, in Eisenstein’s case, when the point of view he expressed was attacked, many of his supporters took up the banner to defend, attacking the attackers. His email yesterday was an impassioned plea to his readers to “abstain from that pattern… Respectfully disagree with their views if you feel so moved, but don’t make it about the personalities.”

Eisenstein’s plea reminded me of a kinder, gentler time when then presidential candidate John McCain challenged a questioner at a town hall who labelled Barrack Obama an “Arab”. “No he isn’t …” McCain said urging his supporters to stop hurling abuse against his rival for president and saying that he admired and respected Obama. Such a move is a powerful choice. If a side is chosen by such an act, it is the side of love, of harmony, of peace, of something bigger than the campaign for president.

All this combined with a deep concern about the toll our divisions are taking on each of us individually, all of us collectively, and on our home, Gaia, Mother Earth stirred my pot of curiosity to wonder just how I might make choices without contributing to the divisiveness. Or worse, being a part of the source. That led me to begin exploring the distinction ‘choosing sides and making choices’.

Distinguishing choosing sides and making choices is, at least in part, a matter of perception and of intention.  What do I aim to accomplish when I choose sides? What is my intention when I make a particular choice? All too often in our ‘on demand’ culture, we leap over considering our motivation. We need to make our point or join the chorus of the herd (but not heard) and move on to the next thing.

Not only that, it’s also far easier to attack, for example, the fossil fuel industry and blame ‘it’ for environmental crises, than it is to look in the mirror of our own habits and consider our role and what we might change in our individual choices. It seems that for the mainstream media, it’s easier to blame the unvaccinated (or another country, or ….) for the pandemic rather than look at the bigger picture of nature/viruses/the planet and recognize the interconnectedness of ALL things and then to make choices aligned with creating health for all.

Blame is the game of the world of division. Responsibility and respect are the badges of honor in a world moving toward restoring unity and connection to our awareness.

May we take time and make the necessary effort that enables us to make responsible and respectful choices for ourselves, for one another, and for our planet home. May I. If a side must be chosen, let us choose the side of power with not power over.

Old Juniper Greets the Sun

Pivot to a New Health Story

Glorious Crestone Peak

I don’t believe that humanity can vaccinate our way to health. Nature will not allow it. …

Health is the state of natural harmony producing optimum performance. Gregge Tiffen

The Sangres are glorious this morning. Fog and low hanging clouds drifting about change the scene moment to moment. Springtime’s clean, cool, crisp air after yesterday’s record-breaking snow and rain. Sun’s rays come, then disappear. Zadie Byrd is perky yet patient as I stop to take a photograph. Mind begins to clear. Heart and soul take in the beauty as nourishment.

Love. This is it.

With some encouragement, my earlier heaviness lifts. At the same time, I invite curiosity about what messages that heaviness, even a touch of angst, might be carrying to remain.  What the heck woke me from a peaceful sleep before dawn?  What drew me to open the computer before opening my journal and picking up my pen?

I felt as if something had happened overnight or was happening in the moment. And I felt a need to know. Nothing caught my attention as I quickly scanned the headlines, not that there isn’t an abundance of jarring events being reported. ‘Close the computer. Open the journal. Be quiet. Listen. It’s blog day after all.’ That wasn’t my inner voice speaking. It was my rational mind. I wasn’t able to do so and allowed my attention to drift through the subject lines of my inbox.

One, caught my eye – ‘Covid Vaccine Update’ via _____ (a political organization whose views mostly align with mine). What!? Why was a political organization sending a vaccine update? Like so many updates and news flashes from groups these days, it was a request for a contribution to their campaign to encourage everyone to get vaccinated for Covid. While they certainly aren’t the first to jump on the vaccine bandwagon, they are the first to ask for financial help to fuel their campaign.

Somehow that crossed a line for me. Anger flashed. How dare they! Now, ‘close the computer …’  I did. I opened my journal a penned a bit about my disappointment with humanity and my grappling with knowing who and what to trust in this seemingly post-fact world. I was also bristling about the push to vaccinate, the subtle and not so subtle pressures that I personally feel as someone whose body (and soul) has so far guided me to decline. Why is it that this very personal health choice has been dragged into the political arena? Who benefits from the further division this creates?

Unlike some, I don’t believe that I have a moral obligation to receive the vaccine in order to protect others and ‘stop the pandemic’. I have reservations about the ‘science’ that is being reported. And questions about science and results we aren’t being told. Where, for example, is the science, the education about the impact of the food we eat to be found in mainstream reporting? What about air quality? Water quality? The list goes on.

Most of all, I don’t believe that humanity can vaccinate our way to health. Nature will not allow it. Health by vaccine isn’t true health. It is merely the absence of certain symptoms that cause distress, and yes, even death.

For me the moral issue is to take a stand for a new health story. One that pivots from the disease avoidance and management approaches of current systems to creating a culture of health, as Gregge Tiffen suggests: natural harmony producing optimum performance for all. Creating a Culture of Health requires new stories across many sectors – agriculture, environment, infrastructure, social/economic justice and more.

First though creating a culture of health requires us to look beyond current definitions and practices to dream what natural harmony producing optimum performance for all may look link. There are people and organizations doing just that. Find them. Support them. Join them.

Blanca - Glorious as well!

War Is Not The Answer

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

Strengthening Immunity

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

A Formula for Ending the Pandemic

Cottonwood Creek - A Feast for the Senses

There was a forest fire in the mountains. Birds and beasts fled as fast as they could. Among them there was a little bird that thought she would try to put the fire out. She dipped her wings in the river, then flew over the fire again and again, sprinkling drops of water. The other birds laughed at her and said it would only exhaust her and come to nothing, but she continued anyway. That was all one small bird could do. A heavenly deity felt sympathy for the little bird and sent a great rain that put out the fire. —Anonymous [Daily Inspirational post for 15 April 2020 from Pace e Bene Campaign Nonviolence - https://paceebene.org/campaign-nonviolence]

One morning earlier this week, I woke thinking about what I (and WE) can do to end the current pandemic. A list emerged which I shared with a few friends, and I was gratified for the positive responses. I wasn’t thinking about my ideas being a blog post, yet when I read the quote above this morning, my thinking shifted in a flash. We each need to be the little bird with the faith that what we do WILL make a difference. Indeed, as I’ve written about in various previous posts, EVERYthing we do (and think and speak) matters!

Like me, you're probably already doing much of what I've come up with in my 'formula'. And, I’m sure you have practices and ingredients to add (Please share what you’re doing!).  

My belief is that, if we take action with strong purpose and intention, we WILL extinguish this Covid-19 ‘fire’.  Science tells us this is so. Your heart knows this truth just as the little bird knew.

Yep, it's a big job. And, each and EVERYone of us has a role to play. 

Do these with strong purpose and intention …

1.      STAY HOME!

2.      IF you must go out - cover your face, wear gloves, and use sanitizer frequently. Think of the postal, grocery and other essential workers as your most endeared family member or friend who you would never put in harm's way.  Do only what you absolutely MUST do. Go Home -- sanitize what you bring in, wash the clothes you were wearing, take a relaxing hot bath or shower. Rest.

3.      BOOST your IMMUNE SYSTEM! This is where our true power is! (a) be curious and find a regimen that feels right for you (mine; Vitamins C & D, Zinc, Magnesium + a healthy diet that includes some comfort foods - yes, chocolate - and lots of veggies); (b)get outdoors -- soak up some rays and move your body ... find beauty wherever you are! (c) maintain a positive attitude -- fear, stress and negativity work against the immune system. If you feel down in the dumps, fearful, or stressed be curious about the source; work with it, read something inspiring or to help you understand and move through it. Get help from a coach, a counselor, or a friend. (A few of many resources: Brene Brown's work -  https://brenebrown.com/;  Dr. Gerald Jampolsky's Love is Letting Go of Fear; recent articles on fear from my colleague & friend Kathy Wilson -  http://www.warrior-priestess.com/Newsletters/#archives)

4.      Embrace the pandemic event as an opportunity to learn, stretch, grow and to create life anew. Be inspired by stories of how the earth is responding, e.g. canals in Venice, pollution reduction in China, India, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-earth-pollution-noise/609316/)

5.      Stay informed without excessive exposure to news. What do YOU need to know in order to make wise choices for you?

6.      Ban drama, complaining and judgement of others from your environment (the ‘judgement’ thing? THAT is my biggest challenge!). Note: This does not mean denial or avoiding important conversations and decisions.

7.      Discipline your thoughts, words, and deeds. As my friend, author Rivera Sun (www.riverasun.com)  says "Be Kind. Be Connected. Be Unafraid." Our thoughts, words, and actions live forever as energy in the Universe. What are you contributing?

8.      Keep a gratitude journal. What are you grateful for today?  Share your gratitude.

9.      Laugh! At feline and canine videos, at silly posts, and, heck, even at yourself.

10.   If you've completed all these and still need entertainment - watch your favorite sports reruns, an inspiring movie; read an uplifting book; discover a new inspiring podcast (check out Sounds True's resiliency tools -  https://product.soundstrue.com/resilience-in-challenging-times/); love on your pet(s), Zoom chat with a friend. Find joy!

BONUS! Become an activist! Find a cause that you care about and become an active participant in creating a more beautiful world, one that cares for the earth and offers true economic and social ‘liberty and justice’ FOR ALL.  

We CAN do this! Humanity and our Dear Mother Earth are counting on it.

Onward and upward (with wings)!

REST! Gentle, easy rest.

Spring! Awaken, Think Deeply, Pivot

Yield and step into the flow of nature.

Life seems to fail us because we do not make new space for ourselves. … life is a continuum of things being ‘broke’. Unless you are willing to take a new stance, walk a new path, find a new answer, develop a new character, build a new body, express in new terms, and see through new eyes, everything will remain the same. … Nature moves down two pathways. One assures equal balance on the planet. The other leads to a natural development and advancement of all living things.  Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime! Flow with the Power of Nature – March, 2007)

Spring! The earth spins and the season of new growth begins here in the northern hemisphere. Half of the globe is springing into newness and light. The other half ‘falling’ into the season of harvest with the darkness of winter just beyond.

But no matter the season, life has changed drastically for all of us. We have the power to decide how that change will emerge. As nature moves down her two pathways, balance and advancement, will we step into her flow, listen deeply to her voice, reflect on her cries, and pivot to create new ways to live on our precious planet?  Or, will we simply pause, rest, entertain ourselves in the hope that life will soon return to ‘normal’? Which will I choose?

Do we have the courage to challenge the thinking of scientific materialism that has taken us further and further from nature, our mother? Do I?

Are we willing to be honest with ourselves about the destruction we each cause in our daily participation in a culture that values science and the material world over spirit, not understanding that the two are not separate? Am I?

Might we examine the life we call ‘normal’ knowing (even complaining about) the stresses that it creates in our bodies, our relationships, and all of life? Might I?

Our children who haven’t yet lost their connection to nature are asking and, rightfully, demanding. From Greta Thunberg, to the Sunrise Movement (www.sunrisemovement.org), to your own children and grandchildren as voiced by this young person’s question to ‘mom’ over breakfast posted by a colleague yesterday on Facebook:

Mom, we’re doing our part and staying home from school, not seeing our friends, not going outside. We are doing this even though Coronavirus won’t kill us. We’re doing this to help the adults and the older people to live longer and healthier lives. So, when this is all over, will they repay us by making changes to save the environment? So that we will be able to live longer, healthier lives when we are their age?
Because, you know, that seems fair to me.

How will we respond? How will I?

Will we simply hit the ‘play’ button when this pause is over and scramble to return to life as it was or as close to that as we can make it? Or will we use this time to think deeply and pivot to creating a culture and systems that recognize and use both spirit and science/material things, that honor the ways of nature and acknowledges that we will not control her?  Will we boldly demand a culture and systems that respect ALL life?

As I watch the snow fall in the woods out my window my heart knows that these are questions. And, as history has shown us time after time, a ‘war’ on the problem is not the answer.

Use this time wisely. Rest. Take extraordinary care of yourself and those you love. Hold those whose choices you loath in light and love for they too are on a journey of learning just as each of us. Muster the courage and willingness to think deeply and honestly about your life. Build upon that courage to pivot to walk through life anew.    

The calendar says ‘Spring’. Mother Nature says ‘not yet’.

Three Legs of the Stool of Life

Warm, spring weather gives way to snow …

Freedom awaits on the other side of self-awareness and self-love. (Rev. Jane Beach - Science of Mind Magazine, Daily Guide for April 5, 2019)

These words caught my attention one morning last week as I read the SOM Daily Guide, part of my morning ritual.  They’ve stayed with me, aligned as they are with my beliefs and understanding about their importance to living a good life. Yet, despite that alignment, I sensed something to be missing. A solid stool needs three legs.

I hadn’t given the idea much thought until this morning as I began to put attention on this week’s post. What’s been my focus this week? What’s had my attention? The answer came quickly: self-care and rest.

 As I generally do on blog day, I opened one of Gregge Tiffen’s booklets to see what would catch my attention as a starting point. I opened it to the last page.

The spiritual purpose of sleep is to refurbish in order for you to create. … Life responds to you! (Gregge Tiffen - The Language of a Mystic: Application – April, 2009)

Hmm, I thought as I turned to the preceding page.

Ask your body what it needs in terms of stamina and maintenance. (Gregge Tiffen - The Language of a Mystic: Application – April, 2009)

Although I knew this post would flow from what I’d read, I didn’t sense the direction. I felt empty and tired so I set aside my journal, curled up and dozed in and out of awareness and with a sense of going deep within.

When I woke a short while later, I gulped. Self-honesty was the missing ingredient that I’d sensed. For some time I’ve ignored the awareness that my body will be healthier and happier if I eliminate sugar from my diet.

Honesty has become a premium in our time. Self-honesty has become like a lode of uranium. To the person who is willing to dig for it and carry it to the surface, the life rewards are abundant. (Gregge Tiffen - The Journey Continues: The Legacy for Generations – November, 2010)

I want a strong, healthy body, and I love chocolate.  The internal conversation around sugar is the same I experienced more than three decades ago when I (finally) quit smoking: I want to stop, but … I want to be healthy, but …. I discovered that the truth was I only desired to ‘want to stop’.

I needed to shift: from ‘wanting to want to stop’ to truly desiring to do so. Making that shift gave me the clarity to prioritize my health and to honor the request of my precious (and at that time precocious) young step-son who clearly saw the hypocrisy of smoking while saying and doing other things to be healthy.

In hindsight, I see how the three legs of self-awareness, self-love, and self-honesty were at play in coming to that choice. From that awareness and the dose of self-honesty that fell in my lap this morning, can I summon the self-love to fuel my will and honor what my body so clearly needs? Will I stop the game I’ll stop when _____ (this batch of cookies is eaten, this chocolate bar is gone)? Will I leap from ‘wanting to want to stop’ to ‘truly desiring  eliminating sugar’?

What are you ‘wanting to want to’ do or to stop? Are you ready to join me in making the leap?

Interesting shapes naturally mark this trail in the woods.