This week I was reminded of Logion 2 from the Gospel of Thomas as well as the ongoing wisdom invitation to expand our awareness and awaken. Logion 2: Yeshua says... If you are searching, you must not stop until you find. When you find, however, you will become troubled. Your confusion will give way to wonder. In wonder you will reign over all things. Your sovereignty will be your rest. This is definitely one of my favorite logia and it has been so helpful for me in putting words to my experience of shifting paradigms in the spiritual life. When I first heard Cynthia’s encouragement to develop a stomach for ‘free fall’ during paradigm shifts back in 2012, it settled my nervous system in such a way that deep truth does. It has served as a tether for me to learn to trust and relax into that place rather than my previous go to that 'something must be wrong' and I need to be afraid. It seems that we are in a collective free-fall right now, in an awakening of sorts, and our work is to be both in it and outside of it as midwives and Sherpas. The wisdom path shows us that the cost of this awakening is everything. When we choose to participate in our own awakening and collective awakening, allowing paradigms to shift, it rarely goes smoothly. Not to mention life is so often complicated and does not always give us (as individual egos and as a collective ego) what our programs for happiness would prefer - power/control, safety/security, and affection/esteem. We all have different ways we react rather than respond to this reality whether seething with irritation or bursting out in anger (fight), avoiding or running away in fear (flight), sitting there collapsing and unresponsive (freeze), or avoiding conflict and appeasing (fawn) - just to name a few. Learning how to expand our awareness and developing the ability to be strong and clear inside... with clarity, strength, equanimity, and balance... is so important to be able to return to in the midst of our lives. That is what this wisdom work is about, strengthening our nervous systems to be able to avoid getting caught up in the ways of the world while showing up differently in the midst much like this quote by Cynthia. “Gradually you learn that if you can find a place inside you that positivity refuses to get rushed panicked or frenetic that it will fill out again and you can actually expand your tempo and your range of things you are holding in the now without a bit of frenzy.” This week I encourage you to continue to cultivate a connection to that strong and clear place inside. Whenever you get caught up in an afflictive emotion because your programs for happiness have been thwarted, return to that strong clear place. With love, Heather
A Couple of Readings from this week's pauses: “I believe that the world was created and approved by love. That it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love.” — Wendell Berry “The awareness that the universe is dynamic gives to the individual the quiet assurance that wherever [she] may be located [she] is in immediate candidacy for the strength that comes from a boundless vitality. This fact makes for a universal kinship among all living things. The blessings of self-consciousness makes possible a deliberate relatedness out of which arise all of the joyous overtones of human relations. To understand another human being even dimly is to bring to a point of focus an Infinite Resource. The Psalmist states it by insisting that ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” — Howard Thurman “Lost” Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.” — David Wagoner “Jewel of Non-Judgment” “No jewel is more radiant and clear than a mind free from judgments. Here is the space where we can truly meet. And no "practice" is more full of grace than simply dropping judgment. Yet this effortless non-doing requires great courage. Because the moment we drop the judge, we are assailed by ten thousand voices from our conditioning, our politics, our education, shouting, "How dare you! This is irresponsible! You must choose sides! You must condemn the opposition! How can the world survive without your judgments?" Yes, the moment after you drop judgment, a tidal wave of inner voices judges YOU. Be courageous. Drop them too! When we drop the voices of our judgment, we drop the voices that judge us, and we drop them not one at a time, but all at once. Let an exhalation of surrender sweep these voices away like scattered petals, dry leaves. Then breathe in the breath of emptiness, sparkling with Shakti, vibrating with the pure power of silence. Hollow and transparent, blaming no one, we are present, eyes open to a luminous world, created just now. The ocean of the heart overflows through these eyes. Few words are needed. We meet. And we respond to a world that actually IS, instead of responding to our mental judgments about it. This is real response-ability. When Jesus said, "judge not, lest ye be judged," he was not warning us, but inviting us into the spaciousness of love, a realm beyond karma. Judge-not is the gateway to the miraculous. Judge-not is immediate spontaneous communion in Christ-Consciousness.” — Alfred K LaMotte “A scientifically controlled study conducted by German researchers at the University of Kassel has shown that while the chest area of an average person emits only 20 photons of light per second, someone who meditates on their heart center and sends love and light to others emits an amazing 100,000 photons per second. That is 5000 times more than the average human being. Numerous studies have also shown that when these photons are infused with a loving and healing intent, their frequency and vibration increases to the point where they can literally change matter, heal disease, and transform negative events. Ten minutes of meditating on compassion, on kindness for others, and you will see its effects all day. That’s the way to maintain a calm and joyous mind.” — Dalai Lama, “The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World”
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