Sunday, December 6, 2020

A Fable For Our Time

The fire in the hearth cast a soft glow across the darkened room. Wind hurled against door and pane as, in a voice older than night, she began her tale. 

Once upon a timein a land far, far away and as near as your own heart, there lived a people who had lost their way. They had become enamored of things that did not serve them or aid in realizing the promise of their birth. Precious time was given to pursuits that did not feed souls. They called things important that were inconsequential. And those exceptional minds, capable of creating beauty and ingenious designs, forged discord instead. 

Something had to be done, for they now careened all too closely to a precipice that could very well claim them. The Guardians, for all folk have them, watched and debated among themselves the level of intervention possible. There are, you see, clear rules as to the intercession allowed, for along with elegant brains, the people had been gifted the ability to choose, to determine for themselves how to proceed in any given situation. 

 

This, as with all gifts, was sacred and could not be overruled. The statutes were quite clear on this point, allowing for soft incursions only. And so, prophets and teachers had been sent, and ream upon ream of sacred writings amassed. The people were indeed moved by the messages of the Wise Ones, but most forgot or never let the words root deeply into the soil of their being. And purest wisdom not deeply anchored and well~tended, swirls away with the first rising wind.

 

So it came to pass that another Council of Guardians was called, though those words are but a poor attempt to convey such a meeting in that time out of time, in a place that lies beyond our understanding of locale. Let us simply accept that such a meeting occurred. We are not, of course, privy to what transpired, nor would we be able to grasp the meaning of such words as were spoken there.

 

Still, we know this much. The gravity of the situation led the Guardians to find a new way to step forward in loving support of these endearing, but oh so young, souls. Free will could not be taken away, it is true. But they could devise an enchantment that would offer respite from all the busyness, allowing this bevy of souls the chance to choose with greater clarity. 

 

And so the Guardians joined their considerable power into a potent incantation that cast a hush over this world, one that brought an outer stillness to encourage an inner one. In one household representative of them all, this was the result.

 

Silence fell and clocks paused in mid tick. While the woman could move freely, all activity around her ceased. Her partner sat rooted in place and their son's arm was poised in midair, action figure grasped in unmoving fingers. All was still. You might think this would be alarming, but it was not, for the magic was laced with calm. All was as a dream, sparkling with a vibrancy that soothed even as it buoyed and invigorated. And the power of this spell was such that the son saw his parents stilled, though he was not. Likewise for the woman's partner. 

 

And across the land, in hamlet, village and city alike, it was the same. This conjuring was such that no one thought of doing mischief or frittering away this dream that was no dream. Like a bee to the fragrant nectar of a blooming flower, each being's attention was lured to the unique spark that was heart and soul. All attuned to who they could be, who they already were in their innermost selves. And for the duration of the enchantment, which felt like minutes to some, months to others, they remembered.   

The old woman fell silent, though wind continued to wail and fire to crackle. As the minutes passed by, snow began falling gently upon the welcoming Earth. At last the man said, in a voice barely audible, "A fable for our time. As winter comes to the land, may it be a true one. May we be still...and remember."


Yes, as winter comes to the land, may we be still...and remember.


Leia

 

            

 

 

Sunday, November 8, 2020

Such Times As These

Nearly four years ago, Adrienne Maree Brown wrote "Things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered." And uncovered they have surely become. The foul human impulses that have been on display may be disturbing, but they have always been with us. Incivility is not new. Neither is greed or hatred. And fear, the emotion that many see as giving rise to all forms of vulgarity, has always been with us as well...and likely always will be.

Still, it does seem that on so many measures, things have gotten worse, far worse than we ever imagined. It's as though we've been given license to behave badly, and even peace~loving, gentle folk find themselves inflamed. And yet, while recognizing that what our leaders say and how they say it has enormous impact, we know we never get a free pass to behave badly. We are each responsible for our actions. 

 

In times of significant upheaval, we need to be more attentive to nurturing our spirits and offering a soulful response to the world. And we need to listen to the astute guidance of enlightened others. Like that wise and wily wizard Gandalf. 

 

At one point in Lord Of The Rings, Frodo laments the challenges that have come, saying "I wish it need not have happened in my time." Gandalf replies, "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." Sage advice, indeed.

 

So what are we to do with the time given us? The answer to that question must always be personal. Just as no one can give us permission to behave badly, no one can save us from the task of deciding for ourselves a wholesome response. Many of us, though, have used the baseness exhibited outside us to uncover and heal the hardness within our own hearts. For how can we expect the human race to heal itself sufficiently to effectively face its many challenges if we can't do the same in our own small way?

 

But I think it goes deeper than that. Since we are all interconnected, whenever any of us loves more purely and lives in greater harmony with the spiritual teachings given us, we also do our part to shift things for everyone. When, in the words of Anne Herbert, we "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty," what comes through us is healing to the whole. 

 

Albert Camus wrote, "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." A powerful statement, though I'd like to suggest a modification for our purposes here. "The only way to deal with an unloving world is to become so absolutely loving that your very existence is an act of rebellion...and of a blossoming beauty, as well." 

 

After reading Jamie Lombardi's essay on Camus, I believe he would approve. Lombardi tells us that "for Camus, love is the conscious choice to see the world in all its terrifying reality...not just a confrontation with the absurdity of the world (but) a refusal to be broken by it." 


And when we allow the hate out there to grow the hate in here, we are indeed participating in our own breaking. Let us instead find ways to cultivate soul within this time given us, unfolding our deepest~most selves in the process.


In Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore writes, "The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is loss of soul." Obviously, those words remain true one fifth of the way through this current century.


And we respond best to that fact by regularly engaging in behaviors and invoking sentiments that bring us into deep communion with the soul. Such as love. M. Scott Peck wrote that love is "an act of will~~namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love."


The next weeks and months will, of course, be challenging. Base impulses don't simply evaporate. We must continue to work to transform them in ourselves and to offer a wise response when we see them rise up in others. Still, we have been given a fresh start. Let us make it a start worthy of us and of all those who have lived to see such times and have risked so much to bring them our way.


Let us choose love. Even when it's hard and even when we don't know how, let us love anyway. And let us do so again and again and still yet again.


In love,


Leia


And click here for Jamie Lombardi's writing on Albert Camus.


 

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Loving The World

Just when ya think things can't possibly become more grim, we lose Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a year of so much upheaval, new worries arise. And arise. And arise again. 


When so much is uncertain, it's easy to feel lost, discombobulated, adrift. Emilio Estevez, in Along The Way: The Journey of a Father and Son, writes of how we get "thrown off our personal axis by the distractions and noise of daily life." Well, we've got noise aplenty right now...and much more. 

 

So we need like never before practices that return us to that core, ones that ground us and bring us back into harmony with that which is greater than ourselves. Whatever those practices are for each of us, this is the time to use them. Not when we have a spare minute or are particularly despairing. When faced with the current degree of uncertainty, we need that sustenance on a regular basis.

 

And the world needs it as well. While we may indeed feel calmed as we sit in meditation or spend time in nature or with sacred texts, any spiritual practice worth its salt will flow from the personal out into the world for the benefit of all. It must be so. We can certainly see evidence of the ever~expanding ripples of hate and corruption. When we're frightened or overwhelmed, it's easy to believe the lie that love is no match for all that. But it is. At the very least, it's what we have.

 

I was reminded last week of one of the core tenets of non~violence. This most challenging of spiritual disciplines asks that we not merely refrain from acts of violence. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr, it also urges us to refuse an "internal violence of spirit". Encouraging us to "let no man pull you so low as to hate him," King urges us to not contribute to "a descending spiral of destruction...the chain reaction of evil...(lest we) be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."

 

A character in Sue Monk Kidd's latest novel puts it this way, "Anger is effortless. Kindness is hard. Exert yourself." But how do we exert ourselves in this way. How do we honor Christ's teaching to love our enemies?

 

Emilio gives us a clue. We must first return to our personal axis, for it is so much harder, if not impossible, to truly love if we are lost to ourselves. So let's return to ourselves now, fully inhabiting our hearts once more. 

Begin by feeling the rhythm of your physical heart, perhaps placing a hand on your chest as you breath in the knowledge of its steady and unobtrusive background beat as you've gone about your day.

 

Expand that awareness now to include your metaphoric heart, the part of you that recognizes beauty, knows joy, loves in whatever way it loves. Its pulse also beats on, the hum that sings within each moment. Rest here for a bit, allowing your heart to be strengthened with every inbreath. Remember yourself as capable of love, as a being DESIGNED for love. Hold, in compassion, your every struggle. 

 

Bring into awareness now someone you enjoy. Let love flow from your heart to theirs. Rest with them a few moments, offering wishes of peace and compassion for their challenges.

 

And now the hard one, someone you find difficult to love. Love anyway. Extend compassion for the heartache and fear that may underlie behaviors you find disturbing. Send wishes of peace. 

 

Expand your awareness further now to include the entire planet, holding it and all its inhabitants in love. See your love creating ever~expanding ripples, bolstering and being bolstered by the goodwill of others. 

 

And as this lovingkindness meditation comes to a close, connect too to that larger Mystery that holds us all, however you conceive it to be. Marinate in that larger Love.

Another character in Kidd's novel states, "Each of us must find a way to love the world." As it is, I would add, in all its agony and exquisite beauty. Martin Luther King, Jr found his way to love. Ruth Bader Ginsburg found hers. 

 

May you, dear reader, find your way as well. And if you are fortunate enough to have found it already, may it grow ever more robust. 

 

May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be at peace. 


With much love, 


Leia


And here is a post from years ago, and yet perfect for these times, offering another way to love the world~~Praying With Our Feet.


Bringing our spirituality into the world sometimes requires us to enter the fray, doing what we can in the political arena. But so often, it all feels so big and our voice so small. What can be done? Here are some ideas...


1) Pass this on to those you know who are tempted to not vote at all...and please read it yourself, if you're wondering why you should bother~~


http://fromthezafu.blogspot.com/2020/10/open-letter-to-disaffected-voters.html


2) Here's a link to a site that lets you take a mostly prepared letter, add a sentence or two of your own, and send it to underrepresented folks across the country, precisely the ones we need to vote in this election~~


https://votefwd.org


I've decided to write at least 5 letters a day (that's only 15 minutes, once you find yer rhythm!) until the mail out date of Oct 17th. Wanna have a letter~writing virtual party? Just ask!


3) If you have even $5 to spare~~and more is great!~~there are a number of very important and close races that very much need your help. These are the ones I'm supporting~~

In Colorado: Diane Mitsch Bush (against the reactionary Boebert) and Hickenlooper (against Gardner, a man who's just gotta go)


In other close and important races: Amy McGrath (against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell) and Jaime Harrison (against Lindsey Graham).

4) And finally, pray for the best possible outcome for all concerned.

See, there ARE things we can do! And I thank you for all you are and for everything you do.

Much love, 

Leia 

 

 

 

Open Letter to Disaffected Voters,

I know you're sickened by politics. I suspect you believe the two-party system is corrupt, offering no real choice. I imagine you feel your voice doesn't count and are considering not voting at all. And as someone with a strong spiritual bent, I understand the view that the political play currently on the stage is largely irrelevant and all shall be well.

That paragraph described me at many points during my voting career. But I have always voted, and usually for the Democratic presidential nominee, even if I wasn't pleased by that choice. And this is why...

 

On the night of the 1980 election, I was in Cuernavaca, Mexico having dinner with teachers and friends of the language school I was attending. When it was announced that Ronald Reagan had won, a pall fell over the table. That's not hyperbole. This was during a time of significant unrest throughout Central America. Our nation had been supporting dictatorships there, and Ronald Reagan had made clear his intent to increase that support. My dinner mates rightly knew what a Reagan presidency would mean for their part of the world.

 

At one point during the evening, one of my teachers turned to me and asked, "But you voted for Carter, didn't you?" I cannot describe the look in his eyes when I replied that I had cast an early vote for John Anderson, a third-party candidate unknown to most outside the U.S. Shame is not a common emotion for me, but shame is what I felt then. I had voted my conscience, it is true, but it was a privileged American conscience, one that didn't take fully into account the ramifications to the rest of the world. 

 

I learned then that my vote DID matter. It mattered to my dinner companions that night. And in 2016 it mattered to my fellow citizens when it helped Clinton win the popular vote by a margin of nearly 3 million. Yes, Trump was the President, but it was without the consent of the majority.  

 

COVID is teaching us that, like it or not, we are all interconnected. And the Trump Presidency has taught us that, even if the system is rigged and politicians act out of self-interest, what a President says and how he says it matters. 

 

Please vote this year and cast that vote for leaders who speak to our better angels. And please encourage everyone you know to do the same. Thank you.

 

Leia 

 

 

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Autumnal Equinox Meditation

Yee~ha! It's the Autumnal Equinox!!! Here's a short 12 minute guided meditation to bring us into autumn. Please feel free to share with others. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/…/xWVY7E8wO7tiPXByCIthJvT3l3Izv9bf1…Passcode: #FE+w2d?


Enjoy!


Leia

Sunday, September 6, 2020

The God of Presence

It’s happening again. Temperatures have begun to drop, and the sun’s path across the sky has shifted south as the Earth tips her way toward winter. And it comes none too soon for me. When I lived in Maine, the summers were always too short and the winters far too long. Not here. And particularly not this year. I’ve had it with hot~hot days and fires near and far that lend a smoky heaviness to the air.

 

This morning, though, I am not simply relieved by the change. I revel in it. The sun’s later rising allows me to rise later myself and still catch those gorgeous predawn colors, though I may not be so fortunate today given the thick clouds overhead. Yet as I crest the hill, the sky is aglow, vibrant fuchsia where it touches the Earth’s eastern edge fading quickly to a mere hint of blushing pink in the grayness above. The color lasts only a minute or two, accentuating the gift of having seen it at all. 

 

I reach the lake, and am again startled at how our drought~~and I claim that pronoun for the species at least partially responsible for it~~has altered the lake’s contours. Its perimeter has shrunk considerably. Mounds of rock, usually fully submerged, are visible mid~lake, and boulders at the southern edge are completely exposed now, their lower portions showing the sculpting of years as water pooled about or rushed by.

 

After a vigorous walk to the far limits of the lake and back, I climb down to those huge stones, and sit with my back to them on a rocky slab near the water’s edge. The only sound is the combined chorus of red~wings and swallows greeting the day. It must be a trick of the rocks behind me, for suddenly those exuberant squeaks, clicks and chirps grow louder and louder still, until I’m engulfed in sound. I give myself to it fully, suspecting it won’t last long.

 

And sure enough, like the fleeting colors of dawn, this rollicking avian hymn to the new day soon softens, though I have moved not at all and the birds are as plentiful as before. And now comes the revving of a truck engine and the bark of a dog. The human world has awakened.

 

I’ve just finished The Book Of Longings, a new novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in the time of Christ, it is a fictionalized imagining of the women whose lives intersected his. It is their story that is told. As I sit now before the evidence of Earth changes amid a disturbing political and cultural climate, one of the most powerful lines of the book comes back to me. Yaltha, elder and woman of wisdom, states quite simply, “We must let life be life.”

 

Huge wisdom in six small words. Power is abused, tragedy strikes, living beings suffer. This was life then, and it is life now. Beauty lives as well, then and now, as do love and selfless acts of courage. These are the weft and warp of life.

 

Another powerful line in the novel comes when, after a grueling time of exile, the protagonist Ana shares that she no longer believes “in the God of rescue, only the God of presence.”


The God of Presence. I sit a bit longer…with the rocks, the brooding sky, birds who feed on gnats too tiny for me to see, and a pair of young bucks who sidle down to the lake to drink its cool water. And as tears come, I also sit with the God of Presence. I walk home with that God, experience that God as I hold my husband close, and now as I type these words. 

 

Yes, we must let life be life. And we must also heed its call to do all that our gifts and position urge us to do. And perhaps in opening to the God of Presence we will find rescue. Not that our challenges, both individual and collective, will be miraculously healed. But perhaps opening to the God of Presence will soothe, vivify, and reorient us, and offer us the courage to do all that we can for this wounded and glorious world.

 

Blessings on all that you are and all that you do, this day and every day.

 

Leia

 

 

 

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Walking Upon The Earth

Humility has never been my strong suit. Not that I’m conceited or arrogant. Those are not my particular afflictions. But I am willful. I like to affect my world, and I like the world to conform to my expectations.

This is not unusual, I know. It is why faith traditions offer specific teachings on humility. 
1 Peter 5:5 advises “Clothe yourselves in humility” and Proverbs 11:2 tells us that “with humility comes wisdom.” The Buddha taught “when respected, be mindful of humility.” And Quran 25:63 states, “And the servants of the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth humbly.” Luminaries of the secular world also honor this virtue. “I prefer an attitude of humility,” wrote Albert Einstein, and stated he felt “utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos.” 

So I get that humility is a quality to be cultivated. Yet as a privileged American raised in the latter half of the 20th Century, I hold other values that sometimes collide with my intention to defer. As I came of age, the second wave of feminism was sweeping the world. My increasing awareness that women were taught, even required, to humble themselves fueled a resolve to discover, honor and express my own views.

Self~assertion, willfulness in fact, became a trait I consciously nurtured. As I awakened to other isms~~classism, racism, ageism, heterosexism, ableism~~I knew a meek acceptance of what is was not an appropriate response. Such institutional inequities implore us to take a stand, to act boldly for the greater good. 

The religious dogma of my childhood, often used to justify the status quo, gave way as new voices began to weave through my spiritual tapestry. Christianity’s liberation theology encourages us to enact, in the most wounded places of our world, the commandment given by Jesus: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Engaged Buddhism carries a similar message.

So back now to humility. It seems a tension exists between bold action and acceptance, self~assertion and deference, and even self~love and a humble revamping of our personal flaws. Though perhaps if we look more deeply, this paradox can be resolved or at least softened. 

Acceptance of what is does not assume inaction. Asserting our views can be done while deferring to another’s right to an opposing perspective. And working with personal flaws is best done from a place of overall love for our precious and imperfect selves. In fact, substantive change is most effective when approached in the spirit of loving camaraderie.          

Maybe this is what humility in action looks like. Accepting it all, just as it is. Stepping forward in a way that seems best. Ensuring that those steps arise from a place of love…for ourselves, for others, and for the world itself.

Though humility was seldom my focus, it was always in the wings. It was there whenever I opened my heart, listened without judgment to another’s perspective, or recognized their need as equal to or greater than my own. Yet I have realized over these last few years that it is time to give humility center stage. It is time to defer to humility itself and give it the limelight. 

And that young woman who still lives inside me has discovered something astounding. She has learned there is joy in yielding, relief in surrender. The laying down of certitude and the need to prevail has its own reward.

My friend’s therapist once told her “Learn Buddhism now. You’re going to need it later.” Perhaps it’s the same with humility. Like it or not, we are all going to need it later. And if spiritual teachers are to be believed, we need it right now.

There is a sweet message in Ephesians 4:2: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” This does not mean we do nothing in the face of misconduct, or that we sacrifice our own needs. But to bear with one another in love? That is something worth striving for. Rumi put it this way: “A lover knows only humility, he has no choice.” 

May we all be lovers.

Leia



Sunday, July 5, 2020

On Hope

Hope is on my mind. As black men are murdered while pleading for their lives, I wonder about hope. As hard~won protections and the checks and balances at the heart of our Constitution are dismantled, I wonder about hope. As trees die in a seemingly endless drought, a local effect of environmental degradation, I wonder about hope. And as a virus reveals just how vulnerable our precious and miraculously complex human bodies are, I wonder about hope.

I'm not alone. Broadcast journalist Krista Tippett recently explored this topic in an article in Orion magazine. For Tippett, hope has nothing to do with idealism, optimism or wishful thinking. "It is a muscle, a practice, a choice," she writes, "to live open~eyed and wholehearted in the world as it is and not as we wish it to be."

A worthy practice indeed, to close our eyes to nothing while we engage fully from the heart. But realistically, how can we see the horror without despairing or closing our hearts given the enormity of it all? Beyond absorbing the news in digestible doses, what can we do?

Enlarging our perspective is essential. Wisdom, personally and for our species as a whole, often emerges out of pain and chaos. It is seldom easily won and to achieve it we must see what is, with all masks and pretense removed. As awful as things are, as much as we might wish it otherwise, we are seeing now a reality we need to see. It doesn't make us feel good, but horror clearly seen offers the possibility of substantive change.

But there is more. To survive this task, we must see truly. And that means we must also see all that is NOT horror. "We are strange creatures," Tippett writes. "Our strangeness turns up as ugliness and betrayal and destruction, and it turns up as bravery and creativity and unfathomable dignity. I see beautiful lives, everywhere, stitching new relationships across rupture, seizing new life out of loss.” Desmond Tutu puts it this way: “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

Darkness and light. Pain and joy. Brutality and generosity. Disregard and compassion. Brokenness and resilience. Such is humankind. Always has been and likely always will be. And yet, we can lean toward the Light. In so doing, we encourage our tender hearts, and those of our companions on this Earth, to remain open and alive. We remind us all that we are more than our baser impulses. Much more.

Woodstock organizer Joel Rosenman said of the festival’s attendees, “We believed…that inside them was a loving nature, a decency, a fineness of spirit. You can forget it sometimes, but very few of us want to be other than that.” Yes, it is easy to forget, but that doesn’t make it any less true. 

And so, we remain open~eyed before the ugliness laid out before us. And we choose to live wholeheartedly in a world that is not as we wish. We don’t escape into idealism, wishful thinking, or a spirituality that minimizes earthly pain or focuses on the perfection of an afterlife at the exclusion of caring for this one. 

We seek change and healing in the here and in the now. We choose political leaders who have the best chance of serving with wisdom, enacting policies that promote justice for all, and speaking to and encouraging our better natures. In our personal lives~~in our families, our workplaces, and our communities~~we commit to growing compassion and cooperation. Seeing the darkness, still we lean into the Light.

And of course, dear friends, this also requires that we continue to search for and transform the callousness in our own hearts, so our loving natures shine out, our innate decency grows, and we become more fine of spirit.

And we hope. Not blindly or without full awareness of the challenges before us. We hope as a practice, as a choice to live open~eyed and wholehearted in the world as it is. In the words of Dickens, we "hope, hope to the last."

In love and in hope,

Leia

If you'd like to read Krista Tippett's article in Orion, please click here. It's a gem!

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Singing Our Grief

A group of Aborigines were hiking through the outback. When a Westerner walking with them commented on their periodic halts for rest, an elder gently corrected him. “We do not rest. We wait for our spirits to catch up.”

A good practice for us now in this time of wild change. First, a virus turned our lives upside down in ways we never anticipated. And now things are reopening before sufficient testing, treatment and vaccines are in place. When sudden and profound change comes with a life and death component and is steeped in so many unknowns, we humans have reactions. 

We are not machines. We are emotional beings. And many of us are struggling now. Researcher Jennifer Leiferman reports that Coloradoans are now experiencing mental health issues nine times the usual rate, with 23% showing symptoms of clinical depression. Other studies report figures as high as 50%.

Preventive medicine physician James Hamblin writes “The pandemic is a moment of historic loss” a statement that accurately identifies our reactions as natural, even healthy, grief. Too many of us grieve for those the virus has killed. Most of the rest of us are grieving the loss of our former lives…the ability to casually walk into a store, hug a friend, earn a living, or rub our faces with unwashed hands. 

Poet Meghan O’Rourke articulates well our current mental health challenges in this “moment of collective trauma… (with) multiple layers of loss…grief laced upon grief.” In a recent article in The Atlantic, she writes, “Grief needs a vessel: It needs language, it needs lamentation, it needs expression, it needs demarcation in time; it demands a pause in everyday activity.” That last line echoes sweetly the voice of the Aborigine elder quoted above. Grief needs us to wait for our spirits to catch up.

There are many things we can do to nurture ourselves during this time. We can maintain a supportive structure for our days, eat well, and limit the use of drugs, alcohol and other easy, but ultimately harmful, go~tos. Regular exercise has also repeatedly been shown to have a positive mental health effect, particularly the aerobic exercise so important for metabolizing stress hormones. And grief, as O’Rourke so beautifully reminds us, also needs to be expressed. It needs to be shared.

I recently took part in a Zoom conversation with loved ones near and very far away. One sweet soul on the call was stuck in a painful grief, unable to move forward into her next stage, caught as she was in the one that came before. Yet as she shared her pain and it was received with love, something seemed to shift. In her lyrical language, she thanked us for “opening the gate (so) my song can be heard, be sung.”

What a lovely metaphor. We each have a song uniquely ours, over time and within particular experiences. That song may contain choruses of joy or lamentation, outrage or sweetness. But it is our song and one we must sing. We don’t need to be changed or fixed or cured. We certainly don’t need our voice to be silenced. We need our song to be received by at least one other and received with love.

Another dear soul on the Zoom call stated, “Love is the medium.” Medium is defined as “the intervening substance through which a force acts or an effect is produced.” It is also defined as “the element that is the natural habitat of an organism.” Both are true in the case of us humans. 

Love IS our natural habitat, the one in which we thrive. It is also the intervening substance through which we connect with others, heal, and grow. And Love is the medium through which we survive a pandemic more or less emotionally intact.

So we pause to allow our spirits to catch up. And in that pause, we sing the songs that are uniquely ours. And we do it all within this gorgeous, scrumptious, life~sustaining and life~enhancing medium called Love.

Be wise. Be well. Sing your heart out. And receive the songs of others with Love.

Leia

And here are some links for you, should they appeal...

The image in the upper right~hand corner of this page is of a homeless woman singing her heart out in an LA subway station. For the NBC article that includes a video, click here.

James Hamblin's article can be accessed by clicking here.

Meghan O'Rourke's article can be found here.

And if you are someone struggling with an intensity of pain that feels overwhelming or a numbness that feels deep and soul~crushing, please sing out and REACH out. May Love surround you. May Love fill you. May Love claim you...again and again and yet again! 

Sunday, May 10, 2020

The Feminine Face of God

I was soaking in a hot~hot Jacuzzi bath one morning just before dawn when my husband came into the bathroom, groggy and without hearing aides. As often happens, I began chattering at him. When he motioned that he couldn’t hear, I raised my voice and said “I love you! Did you hear that?” He smiled and nodded. I then said, “Good! That’s the most important thing. Everything else is gravy.”         

I don’t know if he heard that last part, but heard that last part. And though I know you know it already, I want to remind you, too. Love IS the most important thing. All else is embellishment. 

And what better time to celebrate love than on Mother’s Day. If you were fortunate, you have known love since before you knew anything else. Curled up safe in a womb, you had a mother who eagerly awaited your arrival, wanting nothing more than to delight in your presence. And when you finally erupted into the world, you would have been held in safe arms. As that embrace adjusted to your changing needs, you would also learn that love could be trusted as the secure, steady ground beneath life’s ups and downs. 

But what if you weren’t so fortunate? What if your mother was absent or burdened with a wounded heart, and nothing you did in all your radiant infant, toddler and childhood glory could bring her back or heal her heavy heart? If that was your experience, love likely became confused, something to be mistrusted, perhaps even feared. And for you, dear one, Mother’s Day is a strange celebration.

Whether your experience fell on one side of the continuum or somewhere in the middle, there is another type of mothering that is available to us all, always. Sacred texts refer to God in the language and dominant metaphors of the time in which they were written. God is often described as a He or Him. A Lord, but never a Lady. But there is a feminine face of God as well. The fact that we may have to search for that face beneath the images, stories and themes piled atop it does not make it any less true.

We all know that God lies beyond our comprehension and cannot easily be crammed into human notions. God is neither male nor female, mother or father. And yet many of the attributes we ascribe to God lean toward our conception of the feminine. God as comforter. God as merciful. God as refuge. God as gracious. And yes, God as Love. 

No matter our experience of earthly mothering, we can consciously open to these qualities. In fact, let’s do so now. And this short meditation can work for those who understand God primarily as Energy or, with a bit of finagling, for those who find the idea of any sort of God foreign to their natures.
Begin by positioning your body so it feels relaxed and supported. Become aware of life~giving breath as it enters and leaves your body. Pause in your reading of these words to follow this cycle of respiration for a few rounds. 
Now imagine your breath moving directly into and out of your heart, that place most often associated with love. Feel or pretend you feel your heart filling… softening…opening. 
And as this happens, imagine yourself connecting to a boundless Love, one that exists beyond the limits of your body or any sense of a separate self. Let that Love fill you. Let that Love expand you. Let that Love open you. 
And let that Love heal whatever needs healing, comfort whatever needs comforting, and be a refuge when a refuge is needed. Continue breathing in this way for as long as you’d like.
On this Mother’s Day weekend, we honor those women who have given birth, raised children, and done their very best for their families during difficult times. And since channeling Love is not the exclusive purview of either sex and doesn’t require giving birth, we also honor all who nurture in other ways, especially those caring for others at their own risk during this pandemic. 

Yet we can also honor the feminine aspect of God, that force which fills us with Love when we most need it...and thus sweeps us into a luminous stream, one that pours out freely and unceasingly into this crazy world of ours.

Love!

Leia

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Healing Meditation For Wild Times

Here's a short, simple healing meditation for these wild times we're living through. Less than 15 minutes long, downloadable, and no password needed. Please share! Click here to access.

And if you're new to this blog, scroll down the right side for more offerings.

In Love & In Light,

Leia


Monday, April 13, 2020

Love, Sweet Love!

It was the sweetest of meditations. With each breath, my heart seemed to open and fill with something pure and healing and enlivening. Something sacred. My mind, of course, continued to scurry off into various thoughts. Yet each time I brought myself back, that vibrant quality was right there, never having left despite my own meanderings.
   
And I realized again the call to bring ourselves back to a larger awareness, that greater sweetness, in the midst of a human life. And this remains so, despite the devastation wrought by the virus…and perhaps because of it. Without making light of how we each may feel ourselves threatened, there is much to be learned from this pandemic. 

Above all, this virus speaks quite boldly of our interconnectedness. It shows in a primal, life and death sort of way, that we are indeed One. We are in this together, with the actions of folks here affecting the reality of folks there. It is also a great leveler, knowing nothing of the divisions we like to draw. Bank statements, political or religious affiliation, racial divisions…it all means not a whit to this pathogen as it moves indiscriminately from one to another. 

Yet while the pathways of its transmission need to be better understood and certainly respected, it is also essential to remember that other things travel, too. Love and kindness are also contagious, as are joy, courage and solace. And when we actively and quite consciously offer ourselves as carriers for these qualities, we reach our highest calling.

Yes, this is a scary time and we need to experience our reactions fully. The trick is to feel it all here and now, while also living from that other place, to expand out on a regular basis to feel that while living this

Light is always present, no matter how many times we’re carried elsewhere. So we open to it, now and repeatedly, in whatever way fits our personal theology. And we offer ourselves as conduit for that which is pure and healing and enlivening. That which is Sacred.

COVID is simply the name of this virus. But we could choose to see in that name a link to the Latin co, meaning “with” and vid meaning “to see”, while vida in Spanish means “life”. Looked at through this erroneous, but nevertheless helpful etymological lens, COVID calls us to see with clear vision and in a way that honors the vivifying core of life.

One of the many delights zipping around the internet is a rendition of What the World Needs Now by quarantined students of Berklee College Of Music. As solo performances from individual dwellings weave together to form a captivating whole, these young musicians and vocal artists remind us of basic truths…Physical distance need not entail emotional or spiritual separation. Creativity is our birthright. Harmony soothes. And Love is all.
                                                                                                   
In addition to all the other measures we have taken and need to take now and for the duration, what the world needs now is love, sweet love. In fact, these measures are what Love looks like as it moves out into the world. Love in action, from the One Heart that holds us all. Probiotics for our hearts and the food our spirits need. Fitting responses, indeed, to a pandemic. 

In Love & in Light,

Leia

Two things. First, click here for the video of those Berklee music students. Enjoy!

And click here for a short guided healing meditation...and be well!



Sunday, March 15, 2020

The Sun Returns!

Can you feel it, your own sweet sap rising up to greet the Spring, ready, willing and longing to be transformed into something altogether new?

The Spring Equinox occurs this Thursday, March 19th at 9:49 pm MDT. After a long period of hibernation, life will soon burst forth in ways visible and expansive. Tender shoots will grow strong. Bud will become bloom and bloom will transform into fruit, until we arrive again at harvest time. Winter will then slow us in our tracks, claiming us as its own once more.

It happens every year, life coursing through and ferrying us into an unknown future. Worked with consciously, the energies of spring~~and each season~~can nurture our own individual and quite personal unfolding.

This same progression is apparent in smaller increments of time. The phases of the moon, for example, move us from new to full and back to dark again, each aspect presenting a distinct energy that we can utilize. 

Then there are the rhythms of the day, with morning offering something that evening cannot. Though night has its own magic, for the start of something new there’s nothing as inspiring or as bolstering as the rising sun.    

No matter our theological persuasion, we are of the Earth and affected by its rhythms. Orienting ourselves to our clearest intentions at the start of any of its cycles will boost our ability to create the kind of future we want. So as the sun begins to sweep us into a time of unbridled growth, let’s pause and reflect on what we’d like to generate in the months to come. 

What calls to us? What wants to move through us and out into the world? Perhaps it’s a positive habit, a new career venture, or some other tangible change we’d like to manifest. Or the change could be an inner one, such as open~heartedness or a greater acceptance of what is. As we clarify our desired direction, we’ll also want to envision specific steps on that path, simple steps that lead naturally to ones that follow. 

But there is more. It is also helpful to anticipate the blocks that may appear on our path forward, blocks that will surely trip us up if we traipse forward naively. After all, there is nothing terribly mysterious about eating better, developing a steady spiritual practice, or engaging in random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. And yet transforming such intentions into reality, expressing them on this Earth plane, is not always easy.

The trick to making our wishes a reality lies in negotiating the barriers to them. In mythological terms, such obstacles have been referred to as The Guardian Of The Threshold, or The Guardian At The Gate Of Change, names that hold within them a metaphoric truth. Obstacles are best seen, not as enemies, but as friends, guardians who test our mettle and strengthen our resolve to actualize our potential.

So this Spring’s energy offers its assistance as we create a future of our choosing. And though we may not relish the outer or inner blocks that will rise up to challenge us, we can choose to welcome them as partners in our becoming. 

Happy manifesting! And a most delightful becoming!!!

Leia

And for more on The Guardian Of The Threshold, click here.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Steppingstones

Surrender. Wisdom traditions throughout time and across cultures have encouraged it as a spiritual practice. And humans throughout time and across cultures have found that practice challenging.

The word itself comes from the Old French surrendre. The prefix sur- means “over” while rendre means “to deliver or yield”. So in its reflexive sense, surrender means “to deliver or yield oneself over to”. 

No wonder it’s hard for us. We want to influence our world, to avoid distress while creating a satisfying, meaningful and enjoyable experience of living. Yet life continually teaches us that much lies outside our control. Yes, we can have a significant effect and no, we don’t run this show.
            
With these dual realities, it’s tricky to know when to act and when to allow. One thing many of us invariably learn, though, is that we can act much more effectively and with greater love when we first surrender to what is. We don’t have to like it, but unexamined resistance is apt to lead to acting out without thought, without wisdom, and without compassion. And that will likely make things worse, rather than better.
            
Meditation teacher Sally Kempton writes that surrender is not giving up or giving in. It might, in fact, require us to enter the fray as “a surrendered activist”, doing our best while letting go of attachment to the outcome. “Surrender,” Kempton tells us, “is a way of unclenching your psychic and physical muscles”, thus allowing us to move forward in a fresh way.
            
Unclenching, opening to Grace, relinquishing attempts to force a particular outcome, and turning an issue over to God or the Mystery or Life itself, are all steppingstones to surrender.
            
I often place a phrase or a single word at my meditation area as a reminder of qualities or perspectives I wish to nurture. Several months back, I wrote on lavender paper with a rose marker the word Surrender, and placed it there. Several weeks later, upon seeing this reminder yet another time, I suddenly noticed the letters I actually wrote were 
S-u-r-r-e-d-e-r. 

Yep, I left out the “n”, a misspelling that likely speaks to my personal challenge with the issue. I admit I am not great at surrender, but I am its student. Whether running late in the morning, engaged in a conflict, or hearing the news of the day, I am learning to pause, to accept what is, and only then choose a possible next step.
            
I’ve also been working with the etymology of another word. Relax comes from the Latin relaxare. The prefix re- means “back” and laxare means “make loose”. We could say then that relax means “a return to looseness”.
            
So I practice becoming loose again whenever I clench my psychic or physical muscles. And I practice yielding myself over to. Another way to put it is that I actively practice putting the ‘n’ back in surrender, where it belongs. 

Surrenderingly yours,

Leia

And here's a link to Sally's article, an oldie but a goody, from the Yoga Journal~~ https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/get-carried-away

And here's a link to my friend Val's blog about welcoming whatever comes, which is another steppingstone to surrender. She also includes an audio guided meditation~~
https://myspiritualmusings.com/a-welcoming-prayer/

And a special invitation to all you women out there...Pausing At The Balance Point, A Spring Equinox Women's Retreat will be held next month at Pueblo Mountain Park in Beulah, CO. We'd love to have you join us! You can find all the details at the Special Events section of my website here~~
http://www.in-awe.net/Special_Events_%26_More.html




Sunday, January 19, 2020

Opening To Love's Presence

So tell me this…How can it possibly be 2020? I remember in my younger days feeling incredulous at how old I would be at the turn of the century. And now, faster than you can say “What the heck?!!”, the year 2000 rapidly recedes in the rearview mirror.
            
On New Year’s Day, I exclaimed to a friend “It’s 2020 and we’re still here!” With a joyful smile that also radiated compassion for the human condition, she expanded my words by adding, “And still trying to be what we’re supposed to be.”
            
Still trying to be what we’re supposed to be. Those words have stayed with me these past few days. Faith traditions across the globe offer similar teachings about what we’re “supposed to be”. Using language and metaphors that resonate with the culture of their followers, they tell us we are here to be love. A Course In Miracles puts it this way: “Teach only love, for that is what you are.” It also encourages us to commit to “removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.” 
            
This morning, I walked the lake at dawn. Yet despite the breathtaking beauty surrounding me, I was snagged by fear at the hardness of heart so apparent in the world today. Hopelessness pressed down on me, thankfully not with its full weight, but with a heaviness that contrasted starkly with the magnificent scene spread out before me.
            
Suddenly my eye was drawn to the flight of a raven as she rode the strong winds gusting off the mountains and surging up from the valley floor. She, too, seemed challenged to keep her balance. Or perhaps she was just having fun, finding joy in negotiating flight amid the intensity buffeting her. Whatever the case, she called out her wise counsel. 
            
“Rise up!” she cawed. “Rise high enough to perceive the elegant pattern created as light and dark intermingle. Refuse hate’s lie. Remember Love is all. Learn that here and you will know it anywhere.” 
            
Early next week, we will be gathering for Dances of Universal Peace led by Sára Rain. The word "dance" is a bit misleading in this context, for this will not be a foot~stomping, gyrating, raucous event. With chants from various spiritual traditions paired with simple, unhurried movements, these Dances are moving meditations, ones that remind us of who we are and bring us into a fuller awareness of Love’s presence.

There are many ways to open to Love. That's because it is everywhere, sometimes right there for all to see and sometimes hidden behind an outward appearance that seems anything but loving. Whichever is your experience this day, I wish you well seeing with penetrating raven~eyes and finding joy negotiating flight amid the intensity that blows.

In Love,

Leia  
           
Dances of Universal Peace will be held...
In La Veta, Monday, January 20th at 4:00, The Yoga Studio on Main Street
In Pueblo, Tuesday, January 21st at 4:00, Open Studio Yoga, 120 Colorado Ave
Everyone is invited! By donation, $10~$20 suggested. All proceeds will go to Sára in appreciation of her generosity in taking two days out of her life to travel many miles to lead us in this beautiful practice.

Email me to learn more, or simply show up, by yourself or with a friend. Join us as we open to Love’s presence as it sweeps us all into a new decade.