Week 104 - Sitting in the Power

Water Wheel of Life

The air is changing. I can feel it.

As we move from Summer into Autumn the Earth feels like a heavily laden water wheel slowly moving as the sun rises and sets.

My wife and I often talk about the troubled times of the 1850’s. I am reminded of the chaotic world we live in now is not new.

My awareness of it continues to rise as I see more and more the hypocrisies of human nature. The hurt and harm humanity does to all sentient beings including the earth itself. The hurt and harm we do to ourselves.

How else can we change except by experiencing the hell from within? Humanity easily turns its eyes away from pain, until we feel it ourselves.

As we move into the end of the year, I continue to commit to the following:

1.     Be true to myself by checking within asking ‘what do I need?’  I count in this world and so do you

2.     Treat all of life with the respect I want for myself and pay attention when I don’t

3.     No shaming of anyone including myself

4.     Use my voice when I see wrongdoing, even if it is silently writing a letter, email or post

5.     Honor my child within and listen to their wisdom of past experience

6.     Remember everyone is scared, even the bad guys

7.     Purging the pain helps me be more present. Feel emotions within safe parameters

8.     Rise up to a bird’s eye view. Changing a POV helps see all sides. We gain a wider understanding beyond what the ego is saying

9.     Live from the inside out, not the outside in

10.Be steady with others struggling by being present with yourself, not the advice-giver of what they should do. Breathe. We try to fix others when we feel their pain. They just want to be heard and seen

11.Find best moments in every hour of every day

12.Dwell in a trusted community. Become your own best friend and you will find others around you.

13.Never forget the World of the Unseen. They are present and listening. Just ask for help and unblock the expectations that keep the outcomes limited.

14.Practice change because it is going to happen anyway

15.Look for the innocence in baby animals and know that is the level of love you give yourself

By living each day with awareness, we live a fuller life with the joy and pain. In the words of Parker Palmer:

 “One of the hardest things we must do sometimes is to be present to another person’s pain without trying to ‘fix’ it, to simply stand respectfully at the edge of that person’s mystery and misery. Standing there, we feel useless and powerless, which is exactly how a depressed person feels – and our unconscious need….is to reassure ourselves that we are not like the sad soul before us.” Giving advice sets me free. Not you.” Let your Life Speak