“Given the devastating events of the last couple of days, I’m checking in on you… How is your heart? Is there anything I can do to support or love up on you?”
This text from a friend saved my spirit today, just as I sat down to work on this blog post.
The tragedies are nonstop. When I learn about them I’m almost always alone. A news banner pops up on my laptop. Posts expressing grief and rage populate my social media feeds. I freeze, holding my breath.
On a bad day I spin out, keeping the feelings at bay with more scrolling and searchbar detective work.
On a good day, I back away from the apps. I phone a friend or, if I’m lucky, a friend has already called or texted me first.
It can be awkward to reach out in times like these – without answers, without magic words to make it better, without knowing what you’ll say next. If you’ve been practicing mindfulness, you know not to let the avoidance of discomfort run your life and keep you small. You know how to slow down and make time for what really matters, to reach for the relationships that lead to true happiness and freedom, even when the world seems hell bent on transactional business as usual.
The world is extremely heavy, today and every day. If you’re grieving, raging, scared or numb, know this: your heart is working as it should. It is too much. We’re not meant to hold it all alone.
Small gestures of radical friendship – a call, a text – are mindfulness practices too. They remind us that love is still here, that our humanity is still alive, and that these things are worth protecting and fighting for.
Discussion
Good householder Kate, may she let my person to forward some good food once shared by Ven. Ajahn Chah:
Children, Bullets
A gun shoots its children — its bullets — outward. We shoot ours inward, into our heart. When they’re good, we’re shot in the heart. When they’re bad, we’re shot in the heart. They’re an affair of kamma, our children. There are good ones, there are bad ones, but both the good and bad are our children all the same.
When they’re born, look at us: The worse off they are, the more we love them. If one of them comes down with polio and gets crippled, that’s the one we love the most. When we leave the house we tell the older ones, “Look after your little sister. Look after this one” — because we love her. When we’re about to die we tell them, “Look after her. Look after my child.” She’s not strong, so you love her even more.
Consciousness and Spiritual Awakening
You are what is.
You create what you see and experience.
You create the world with your thoughts
You create all your heroes and villains.
You are your (the) Source.
Be non-attached to all your creations and the outcomes of your involvement.
Be with your own divinity. The divine is not outside you.
Align yourself with all that is — good and bad.
Accept your now, and there’s no need for the 6-Step Path, meditation, or any other practice.
All separation is illusion…All is one.
There are no levels of spiritual awareness, and no stages of enlightenment. There is only here and now.
When what is and what should be align, there is peace.
There’s only one dream and one dreamer.
Only that which does not change is real…that is the one who constantly witnesses your world
Who is it who wants enlightenment?
There is only one divine being, one God, one consciousness, and you are it.
Consciousness has only two thoughts — I am, and unconditional love. All else is thought.
There’s nothing to grasp and no one to grasp it.
The only obstacle to your spiritual awakening is you. When you decide you’re ready, it will happen.