Happy Easter, Happy Passover, but mostly I wish you happiness for happiness.
This week for me as probably for you too, were objective days, positive and outright joyful and also challenging days where manoeuvring the times brought great discomfort that required a more serious practice. It has been fascinating to watch the waves. It’s almost becoming a pattern where if I have a challenging day, I feel pretty certain the next day will be easier. If I have an internal sunshine day, I can almost prepare myself for a tougher day to come. All part of becoming comfortable with the uncertainty we are all living in and remembering that we are not our emotions.
Being in a foreign country, I find myself overdosing in articles of how the pandemic is moving and behaving across the globe. Being in India in particular, I find myself also in beautiful spiritual deepening practices. Somewhere between the two there is a semblance of balance, kinda.
During a global requirement to stay indoors, you can get almost anything you want or need online. There are many fantastic mindfulness and meditation teachers online now to help anchor us back to ourselves. Our true selves, which is a place of love, not a place of fear. Many of these programs are free. I was listening a few days ago to Michael Singer being interviewed during these times. Michael Singer wrote Unteathered Soul and The Surrender Project. He talked about remembering that times of crisis is the most powerful time to dive deeper internally.
He says we always live in two worlds, the inner world and the outer world. We have no control over the outer world but we don’t have to let it enter our inner world. With practice we can deepen our place in our inner world to be less affected by external forces. It’s actually our responsibility. Not only for our benefit but to be more useful to others and challenging situations. If we allow fear to take over, we make bad choices and make ourselves sick. That is not good for anyone.
Connect with a bigger picture of reality that has been stable for thousands of years. This glorious planet still circulates around the Sun at the same pace. Nature will display a billion variances of magnificence. We are not separate. We too are nature. Everything that is happening today will pass, everything. Give thanks to what you cherish.
Tough times are when we do the best work. Let’s use these times to become better people. Do what we were born to do. As we anchor to our natural inner home that knows joy and gratitude so intimately, we have the make up to spread compassion in the world to people who are suffering. Mother Theresa said “May my heart break open so much, the whole world falls in.”
The most powerful way to be that strong is to surrender to trust. Change the lens from subject to witness. We are not the waves but the sea that holds them.
Here are some of my favourite talks and meditations that both inspired and gave me strength this week. I hope they bear fruit for you as well.
With a smile, a bow and tremendous love for us all on this shared journey,
Gisele
I had some requests for shipping time for some of Mindful Necessities products. Everything varies these days depending on availability of supplies. We will send out a message with an estimated ship time when orders come in. If they are completely not possible, we’ll mark them sold out.
Here are some malas of courage and balance to draw from in difficult times that are finished and ready to ship. Visit mindfulnecessities.com/malas
