What To Do About Violence?
“ANOTHER violent attack, this time in Manchester!??!!!” I hope the person sitting across from me devouring his breakfast croissant couldn’t hear my barely disguised “WTF Holy Spirit!!???!!!!” as I read the news on my phone. I was glad I had time to sit there and take it in. I had the time for the shock, the horror, the disbelief and the never-ending “WHY????!!!” to surface one after another until I felt like I was going to throw up. I asked 20 versions of “What can we DO about this terrible violence??” Somehow “fighting...
Read More12. Day 24: 10 Things I Learned At Spiritual Writers Conference
I am home safe and sound (my bag is still MIA; thankfully I had my computer and notes with me so am just trusting my favorite jeans and pj’s etc will show up eventually). It will take awhile to fully digest all I learned from the Writer’s Conference. You know the feeling of standing there with a thimble in front of a fire hose trying to get what you think you need. I ended up just letting the firehose drench, nourish, cool and get me thoroughly wet. I realize “I” am the seed that was being watered, I didn’t need to capture or hold the water in a container,...
Read More10. Day 31: A Beautiful Fear
The biggest shift I have had in this month of extending love to the fear of fear itself is finding that I m no longer afraid of fear. This does not mean that I don’t ever feel a feeling of fear (or annoyance, doubt or guilt) but that I can recognize the feel, taste and texture so much more quickly and can acknowledge it for what it is. Namely, a call to pause, ASK for guidance, help, perspective and extend love to all I am feeling or the circumstance in front of me. In lessening my fear of fear, fear is exposed as just another energy, emotion, tightening of some kind or specific,...
Read More10. Day 30: Like Butter In A Dish
Judgment is fear. Fear is judgment. Judgment says “This cannot be as is.” Fear says “This should not be as is.” Judgement and fear are saying the same thing: NO. No to what is, no to what was, no to what should or shouldn’t be. No to how I am feeling, No to how you are feeling. No, no, no, No, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo. It is the energy signature of stop, off, close, hide, flee. What if, instead, we just noticed the fear or judgment (same energy, different clothes)? What if we just noticed we were experiencing fear or had entered into judgment? Nothing...
Read More10. Day 29: First I Judge
My desire to judge a situation as hurtful-therefore-I-must-fix-this was revealed yesterday. I am seeing today, that the first thing that happens is that I judge a thing as hurtful to someone. I could just stop at “first I judge”, the “what I judge” is much like the “of” as in what am I afraid “of”. It is the fear itself all over again. Judgement is fear. Full stop. I could make a case for “because I am aware of this hurt I am supposed to do something about it”. The thing that eludes me is the fact that I am skipping over all...
Read More10. Day 28: “I Could Fix This”
Recently three separate people from completely different backgrounds have shared some version of a story of a rift in their organization, family or political party. I sense both the feelings of powerlessness and of stubborn refusal to budge from a particular perspective. This feeling of divided-ness, rift or outright civil war is something we can all relate to in some way. Just fill in the blank with your own personal story of betrayal, unfairness or misunderstanding. What I noticed was a sneaky form of judgment that crept into my awareness. In all these cases recently shared I am not...
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