Come sit with me in the silence and let the birdsong serenade our nerve endings.
I had a wonderful conversation with a friend, Julie Jarvis from Real Things this week. Real Things make the most extraordinary meditation cushions on the planet. When I am away, meditation happens wherever I find myself. However, sometimes when my body is cranky, I dream of the little meditation corner I have created with her cushions in Toronto. We used to do many shows together. We didn’t talk product but rather the tones of 2020 and enhancing practice in the middle of this tsunami of change.
We spoke of how much is happening around us, individually and globally. Some unnerving and some exciting. The pandemic, the economic and social crisis, the protests for the reform on racism, global warming. Where does all of this leave us? One thing is that we are recognizing that no one is outside the circle. We are all in this together, the good, the bad and the ugly. When there is a mess to sort out, we need to address it together. We are beyond the days of pointing fingers, blame and shame for effectiveness.
When we're bombarded with news it's easy to listen or read and form judgements. Once upon a time we got our information from newspapers or national radio, you knew it came from journalists with credibility on the line. Of course there was always a slant in the story telling, but not like now, where sensationalism gains more clicks. Since we resort mostly to the internet for information these days and algorithm will direct us according to our prior clicks, please be careful.
There is undeniably an awakening happening. As crazy as these times are, this change feels critical and is also filled with hope. The world feels like it has united in getting stronger in what is required from us to survive, heal and grow in these uncertain times. There seems to be a universal togetherness on the importance of this change and a belief that good will come out of it. More than I have ever sensed.
I am often reminded of the importance to remember that the external change that is happening in the world is calling us to make important changes inside of us first. Like the oxygen mask on the airplane. We need to make ourselves strong in order to serve the good of all. We have to stay diligent and true to the awakening that is happening in us and not fall asleep into any comfort or buy into the loudest voices out there. This is a time to really seek understanding. The Dalai Lama always says “don’t believe what I say because I said it, seek to find out yourself.”
There was a beautiful discourse with HH yesterday when he joined the Mind and Life Conversation on resilience, compassion and science for healing. Ritchie Davidson and Thupten Jinpa are a couple of delightful teachers of mindfulness and compassion in the world of neuroscience. The Dalai Lama talks of a healthy life to be one dedicated to the well being of all people, all 7+ billion of them. This has to start in our school systems and its never too late. Most of the schools systems currently are engrossed in the physical world covering history, geography, science, math and sometimes the arts but don’t teach the critical understanding of the mind and particularly human emotions. This is where we can focus some attention and healing can begin.
Science has proven that inner peace and mental stability support the immune system. If we shift our paradigm of attachments, aversions and anger to fierce compassion and understanding, we can eliminate all the diseases of isolation associated with individualism. Mental stress is affecting more than 50% of the population currently. Is this not a call for help?
The more we realize we are one world in this walk in life, as diverse as it is, the more we will feel as a whole the benefits of every small feat achieved along the way. The greater our gratitude, the broader our courage can be. If we can be intimate with courage we can also empower the dawning of grace which will for sure summons the whisper of joy. This is not a tall order, this is in the matrix of life. Stay true to your awakening. ;-))
