Hello again, from my home to yours. My heart remains with you as we find our collective footing, possibly feeling antsy and facing hard choices about health . . . and well-being.
And, once again, I reflect upon the simple and profound reality – no matter what the circumstances or situation we are in, our response is where the real juice is. I am not saying, by any stretch of the imagination, that what we are facing is not hard or challenging.
But suffering is optional.
We have so much more choice regarding our response to life than we believe we do.
What better time to remind yourself of your goodness, your essential nobility, your freedom and beauty?
What if you were to enjoy your life . . . right now.
Enjoying our life seems so simple and yet seems to evade and beguile us. It is as if we live under a spell and believe we do not have choice in the matter. Believing that external circumstances hold power over us and dictate how we feel and how we behave.
But we do have a choice. It seems that the very denying ourselves that capacity of joy amounts to an ocean of troubles.
Yes, even in the trenches we are living in, we have the capacity to be fully alive, happy to be alive. More often than not being vulnerable, being on our knees, opens the door to that realization. Vulnerability can be a softening agent. And here we are, all around the globe, looking into the mirror and, if we are willing, seeing our tender selves.
I think back to before the world shifted on its axis in response to the pandemic and I remember the hundreds of interactions and going-about-our-business-as-usual we took for granted.
Can’t this be a good clarifying moment – how much were we available to truly enjoy, relish and savor all those interactions and moments. It is so easy to get lost and distracted and not take in the full measure of our moment to moment life, as it is happening. What are the moments now and how can we become more present to them, more alive to our beating heart?
We long for the aliveness that comes with being energized and engaged, fully engaged in the here and now; we come alive when we listen to our deepest selves and move in tune with and in concert with our heart.
Being awake to our life, fully absorbed and present is our birth right –inherently enjoying, cherishing our life, no matter the circumstances, is “factory-loaded”.
We are designed to be relaxed, at ease and in a state of flow. We all know this instinctively; watch how your mind and body constrict, get tight, go small when you are fighting something or resisting something that just happened . . . or something that happened a long time ago or might happen in some other-than-now time.
And watch and feel your body and mind expand in the open spaciousness of gratitude, openness, love, and creativity. Notice how you feel when you have “lost” yourself in some movement or happening, conversation or activity. Taste the ease and forgetfulness of anything other than that moment.
In the Canadian sport, curling, the sweeper skates in front of the players, sweeping the ice of debris and melting a thin layer of the ice, under the heat of the broom. The sweeper is setting up a smooth run for the stone, to travel further and straighter along the path, by removing obstacles.
Clearing the cobwebs in our psyche and body has the same effect – clears the way for a revelation of our essential nature, for the pure expression of our hearts. For pure laughter and play, sorrow and aches.
It is the debris of our mental constructs, our conditioned beliefs and training that blocks the view of our natural state . . . the running commentary in our minds that insist upon complaining, judging and self-pitying. Repeating a mantra, convincingly: there is something wrong and we cannot afford to rest.
We all know the voice; in one way or another it sounds like this: “I am not good enough, or even more debilitating, I am not good. I don’t deserve to be happy or peaceful; I need to stay vigilant and keep myself safe, I need to become something other than I am.”
That is not who we are. Make space, room, to see through these deceptions, for real. Ask questions . . . poke holes . . . reflect deeply . . . get clear, kind and constructive feedback . . . get distance from the mind chatter . . . open your hands and let the sand drop away . . .
It can be helpful to know when something needs to be processed and when you can simply let go of the illusion. Some conditioning can be very sticky, some deeply embedded beliefs need tender attention and care, and some illusions might need to be seen through again, and maybe even again.
When all psychological work is held in the context and spirit of revealing your true nature, remembering . . . sweetly remembering you are here as life itself, the sweeping away of the debris is powerfully liberating. As our very own sweepers we can sharpen our powers of discernment for what is real and what is not, and deepen into our devotion for freedom and release from psychological conditioning.
See within your heart you really are meant to fully enjoy your life.
Why not lift our glass and toast each other for being alive . . . now!