I’ve been waiting. Waiting for the perfect words, the profound inspiration, the prophetic statement. Waiting for all the plans in my head to coalesce, to form themselves into the ideal trajectory, the flawless rollout of inspiration and offerings for a New year. Waiting, waiting, waiting to reach out and say Hello, to connect with you, to humbly offer my resources for wellbeing in this New Year newsletter. (Scroll to the bottom for those resources.)
After the appalling events of sedition and insurrection that took place this Wednesday under the encouragement of our morally bankrupt 45th president, I realize there is no perfect, profound, prophetic anything that needs waiting for. Listening to the chaos unfold on my radio that day, I had to double, triple down on the internal resources of calm, clarity, and compassion that I practice daily to cultivate. My heart RAGED at the same time it weeped to hear the news… (Read the rest HERE). I felt the ancient grip of my fight/flight/freeze response engage as my heartrate increased, my body tensed. The antiquated tribalistic behavior pattern born out of natural selection, rose up in my thoughts, forming an “us and them” narrative, where “them” is always the “enemy”. And still something deep, deep in the pit of my Being could and can sense that these insane events may be precisely what is needed to expose and begin to break the grip of greed, ignorance and hatred that has had our country by it’s throat not just for the last 4 years where it’s been proudly paraded around DC, but much, much longer.
In the ancient eastern scriptures, it is spoken that there are 4 stages that the world cycles through, called the Yugas. We are said to be in the “Kali Yuga”, so named after an evil demon named kali, and is marked by “strife, discord, quarrel and contention”. I will attest that this seems accurate to our times. The scriptures detail that the next stage of the cycle, after the pain and struggle of the Kali Yuga, is called the “Satya Yuga”, meaning the age of Truth, marked by a return of the rule of goodness and morality. So, here is one philosophy.
I’ve found over the years that folks either view the world as generally benevolent or generally malevolent. Not despite, but because of the strife and suffering I’ve endured in my own lifetime, I stand on the side of benevolence. Why? Because every struggle, every “failure”, every loss, every devastation has left me stronger, wiser, and more open to life’s beauty and wonder. When I ask people about their own experience in this, they all report they have grown positively from their own suffering that at the time, seemed insurmountable.
Change, growth and transformation are uncomfortable, painful. It is their hallmark. The leading edge of growth, be it individual or that of a nation, is painful. When we are comfortable, settled into status-quo contentment, we have no impetus to grow. Transformation, the birthing of something new, just as the birth of a child, brings with it difficulty, confusion, overwhelm and the undulations of increasingly stronger labor pains. But we dig deep into our reserves of resilience, wisdom, love, resources and support to help us navigate through.
Now, more than ever, we need people who are resourced…who can maintain a steady heart and mind even amidst the most strenuous of times. Who can root themselves in kindness, compassion, integrity, understanding and clarity. A quote from great zen master Thich Nhat Hahn speaks to this:
“When the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates, if everyone panicked all would be lost. But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered, it was enough. It showed the way for everyone to survive.”
We need those who can show the way, calm and centered. We can practice to be those people.
Ill be honest. This holiday season was one of the lonelier, darker and most difficult times for me, as it was for many. Add to it the events of this Wednesday and yes, I’ve been digging deep into my reserves. I am endlessly grateful to be resourced with a decades long, spiritual practice of meditation and yoga to support me through these dark times, to keep me grounded, calm and centered as the quote above mentions. And most of all, to keep me tethered to love, to a deep trust in the benevolence of the world and the limitless potentiality of the future that we can birth together.
Time is an illusion. It is simply a human made construct. There is no place between Dec 31st, 2020 and Jan 1st, 2021 that will magically create some glorious shift in the world, out of its turmoil, and into Peace and Love. That is not the work of time alone. That is OUR work in this one precious life. We can practice to lay down the weapons of greed, hatred and ignorance that we see wielded in our world, and instead take up arms in generosity, love, and clear seeing. From this place, we make sustainable change and transformation.
The only place is Here.
The only time is Now.
The only answer is You.
Ill leave you with these words by Sikh American, Valerie Kaur, author, lawyer, activist, Revolutionary Lover.
In our tears and agony, we hold our children close and confront the truth: The future is dark.
But my faith dares me to ask:
What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?
What if our America is not dead but a country still waiting to be born? What if the story of America is one long labor?
What if all the mothers who came before us, who survived genocide and occupation, slavery and Jim Crow, racism and xenophobia and Islamophobia, political oppression and sexual assault, are standing behind us now, whispering in our ear: You are brave. What if this is our Great Contraction before we birth a new future?
Remember the wisdom of the midwife: “Breathe,” she says. Then: “Push.”
Now it is time to breathe. But soon it will be time to push; soon it will be time to fight — for those we love — Muslim father, Sikh son, trans daughter, indigenous brother, immigrant sister, white worker, the poor and forgotten, and the ones who cast their vote out of resentment and fear.
Let us make an oath to fight for the soul of America — “The land that never has been yet— And yet must be” (Langston Hughes) — with Revolutionary Love and relentless optimism. And so I pray this Sikh prayer:
Nanak Naam Chardi Kala,
Tere Bane Sarbat Da Bhalla
“In the name of the Divine within us and around us, we find everlasting optimism.
Within your will, may there be grace for all of humanity.”
In Hope and Love,
Lauri
RESOURCE YOURSELF
8-Week Mindfulness Meditation Course
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