Lift up your faces,
you have a piercing need
for this bright morning
dawning for you.
~ Maya Angelou
Yesterday’s Yellow Brick Road contained the foundation for today’s: Today 49% of the people will be disappointed. That assumes 51% will be relieved or glad.
While elections have winners and losers, we do not have to be one or the other.
I begin this day with gratitude. Before I get out of bed, I give thanks. I fill my mind and heart with hope for the coming day and for my future.
Making a habit of practicing gratitude upon awakening helps me create positivity and hope. Even in the most dire circumstances, I resolve to be hopeful. I look beyond outer circumstances and trust indwelling Spirit to inspire me to find good in the midst of all situations.
I give myself plentiful reminders that I have reasons for hope. I can make lists of all that I have now as well as things I hope for in the future. Maybe I can enjoy walks outdoors or time spent with optimistic friends. There are always reasons to be hopeful when I stay focused on gratitude.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.—Psalm 33:22
I purposely have not tuned in to any returns yet. I chose to write the post for today before I have any news.
In the 1970’s John and I took Parent Effectiveness Training. P.E.T. was developed by Thomas Gordon. Problem solving was a key component of the program and I still remember clearly one of the teaching stories. A man and woman were arguing, each stating, “I need the car tomorrow.” Well, they only had one car!
The process was to tease out of the seeming impasse the actual need.
He needed to get to his office downtown.
She needed to get to the mall to buy a winter coat for their son while it was on sale, one day only.
Once the needs were stated without the distortion of “It has to be my way,” myriad solutions emerged. He could call a co-worker for a ride; he could take public transportation; she could drop him off. She could ask a friend for a ride; she could take public transportation; she could have someone pick the coat up for her.
Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg said this is “One of the most important works I have come across in any field, Core Transformation should be adopted as the principal therapy by every therapist in the country, understood and practiced by everyone in the helping and legal professions, as well as parents and teachers. I stand in awe at the simplicity, clarity and directness of a work of such magnitude, and will do all I can to promote it.”
The key was to recognize limitations are truly doorways. One state, often called
“Inner Peace,” “Joy,” “Love,” or “Oneness.”
“Oneness and Being,” the goal of most psycho-spiritual approaches, is no longer a mysterious ideal.
As the results of this election unfold, rather than offer condolences or congratulations to losers or winners, lets experience core transformation.
Deep Spring Center
Thought for Today
“Somebody was talking today about feeling weary of practice. Is there no end to it? There is an end to it. You will find full realization of your true being, full liberation from the cycle of birth and death. All beings will. But meanwhile, consider this. You’re in the situation of somebody with tall weeds growing in their back yard. If you don’t attend to the weeds with some regularity, they’ll take over not only your yard but your neighbor’s yard because the heads will go to seed and fly off in every direction. So here you are doing a wonderful practice of attending to the weeds. Eventually all of this prickly, thorny stuff will dissolve. Truly it will. ”
The vote is precious.
It is almost sacred.
It is the most powerful
non-violent tool
we have in a democracy.
~ John Lewis
Today is election day 2020. From my journal entry this morning:
Dear Holy Spirit,
Last evening while John was showering I picked up his phone to take photos for him of his PT care plan from his online chart. A text message popped up. John was urging another to vote, saying, “We might be able to turn this thing around for Trump if enough people turn out to vote.” His next message was saying that he plans to vote in person today.
When I told John I wished he would have voted by absentee ballot, his response was, “It’s as safe as shopping.”
We have had friends shopping for us since we got home from Florida on April 6, using Instacart until they could manage the risks of shopping themselves. They have done this for our safety as John is considered high risk with diabetes and having been on steroid therapy for polymyalgia this past year.
I put the question into the search engine: ‘How safe is in-person voting?’
I saw those exact same words John had used! “The risk of voting in person is comparable to the risk of going to the grocery store.” Of course… The article went on to say any amount of risk may be too great for those who fall into the high-risk category — or live with someone who does. “That includes older adults, individuals with diabetes, and those with cancer or compromised immune systems are are at greater risk of severe complications from COVID-19.”
I was understandably disappointed.
The subject line from The Tapping Solution this morning: 49% of People will be Disappointed Today.
I had the opportunity to get a head start!
Or not….
At 9:30 pm EST Deep Spring Meditation Center will open a ZOOM meditation hall. The hall will remain available until tomorrow night so our sangha can gather. We plan to read encouraging words from the Mala Recollection: When wholesome thoughts arise, cultivate the wholesome. When unwholesome thoughts arise, abandon the unwholesome…. Tend the contents of the mind with compassion as a mindful gardener tends his garden. We will chant. We will pray. We will meditate. We will sing.
A friend shared the link to the University of Michigan’s Virtual Choir. She was most moved by the finale which was 300 people singing Enya’s “How Can I Keep from Singing?” (lyrics slightly altered to match the choir).
Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear its music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?…
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that rock I´m clinging.
Since Love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
Sound (singing, chanting, drumming, humming) has been scientifically proven to bring us back to our hearts.
Following the amazing Enya song, Melanie DeMore breaks into a wonderfully happy ‘Lead with Love.” Here are the lyrics:
You gotta put one foot in front of the other
And lead with love
Put one foot in front of the other
And lead with love
(repeat all 4 lines)
Verses (call and response):
Don’t give up hope
You’re not alone
Don’t you give up
Keep movin’ on
Lift up your eyes
Don’t you despair
Look up ahead
The path is there
I know you’re scared
And I’m scared too
But here I am
Right next to you
Words & music (c) Melanie DeMore.
(usually sung a cappella)
Melanie DeMore gets my vote!
People knowing how to move themselves up the emotional scale gets my vote. People putting one foot in front of the other gets my vote. People leading with love gets my vote.
Lift up your eyes, don’t you despair.
Look up ahead, the path is there.
How can we keep from singing?
I know you’re scared, and I’m scared too.
But here I am, right next to you.
Because humans process their subjective experience, in part, as pictures, when one says, “I just cannot see how I will get through all of this,” according to Dr. Emmett E. Miller, author of Deep Healing: The Essence of Mind/Body Medicine, we are not just hearing words, we may well be witnessing destiny.
Imagine Healing has been my central work over the past two decades. Five simple steps to Imagine Healing can make all the difference if you or someone you know is anticipating surgery, going through medical treatment, or experiencing the need for healing in any area of life. These steps include:
Relax to feel peaceful
Discover what you need to know
Create positive expectations
Organize a support group
Enlist the support of your [medical] team
I am encouraging readers of Yellow Brick Road to use this process NOW, to imagine healing beyond the physical body. Imagine healing for our country, for our world, and for all sentient beings. You are invited to post this on Facebook, share it with groups, and use it to support yourself during these chaotic times.
Identify a person, a pet, a place, or an experience which you find easy to love. Let yourself immerse yourself in that feeling. (One client used a stuffed animal!)
Step 1: Relax to feel peaceful. Go for the basics on this one and take the few minutes to follow the links to some of my favorite (vital) reminders:
PNS is BIG. You must activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Legs up the wall!
Another simple technique is to quiet yourself and imagine that you are sucking on a juicy lemon drop, bathing your tongue in saliva. If that does not work for you, fill your mouth with warm water and hold it, as you allow yourself to begin to relax.
Let me know if you want access to the A to Z of relaxation (aromatherapy to Zen) handout. Knit, paint, walk, soak… use your W.I.T. (whatever it takes).
Step 2: Discover what you need to know. Learn to “see” the tilting of truth within politics. Public record shows if there has been the erosion of environmental protection; don’t let your emotions confuse ideas with facts. The definition of politics is the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power. Tilting of truth is happening…. Notice.
Step 3: Create positive expectations. Gratefulness.org had a beautiful message today by Br. David Steindl-Rast: “Imagine a country whose citizens—maybe even its leaders—are brave, calm, and open towards each other; a country whose people realize that all human beings belong together as one family and must act accordingly; a country guided by Common Sense.”
Step 4: Organize a support group. Deep Spring Sangha is planning to open a ZOOM meditation hall at 9:15 pm Tuesday night. Volunteers will read and share sacred writings. People will meditate. Some will chant. Many online groups are offering support. Especially now, it is soothing to join with others who help you come home to your heart.
In the use of Imagine Healing to prepare an individual for surgery, we ask, “Who do you know wants you to have a good outcome? Who will be thinking about you, praying for you, caring about you? What supports you?” People often list family members and friends. Pets or totem animals. Looking beyond these, loved ones in spirit? Saints? Spiritual Masters? Make a mental list of these supports. Hold a rosary or another tangible item, look at a photo, listen to an audio. So much support!
These five steps were designed so you can recover more quickly and completely when you practice positive mental and emotional health.
Ask to be shown the best possible outcomes: short-term, mid-term, and long-term.
Throughout the process, call forth your capacity to be carried across the chasm: “Even though things won’t go exactly as you imagine, imagine a scene that proves to you — beyond a doubt — that things have gone so well, even better than you imagined….”
We must not wish
for the disappearance
of our troubles
but for the grace
to transform them.
~ Simone Weil
Yesterday John did not mention my blog post, so I did not share it with him. I watched the choice points for stories to arise: he doesn’t really care; he still does not value what I write and share; I won’t bring it up unless he mentions it…. on and on and on the ego drives us away from peace, if we allow it.
Last night I turned on my heated mattress pad and was heading to the shower looking forward to crawling into bed early before I realized just how early it was. If I set the manual clocks to the end of daylight savings at that moment, I would have been going to bed at 6:45 pm!
Ugh…
So, I came into the office and surfed for something enlightening, settling on a talk by Barbara Marx Hubbard, an American futurist, author and public speaker. In Awakening the New Species in You, Barbara opened shared how she recognized her life purpose as — “I am helping the noosphere to get its collective eyes.”
Barbara’s vocation was/is to be a communicator and teacher about the history of this planet, the current events, and our opportunity for conscious evolution.
(According to the World Wide Fund for Nature’s 2020 Living Planet Report, wildlife populations have declined by 68% since 1970 as a result of overconsumption, population growth and intensive farming, which is further evidence that humans have unleashed a sixth mass extinction event.
~ NationalGeographic.com )
Barbara’s message prepared me for a good night’s rest and for today’s post:
“We are at a vital shift point where our own actions could lead to greater extinction, or our own actions could lead to greater evolution, or conscious evolution.”
We are at choice to help the nervous system of humanity devolve or evolve! What we do with our energies each moment makes a contribution.
“Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet We must learn ethical evolution quickly As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”
This morning, I read the transcript of Dharma Path class from Tuesday, October 27, 2020. From Barbara Brodsky and Aaron:
Let’s start at the end, what you hope to bring forth this year: To learn how to co-create with love. To co-create in your own body, mind, spirit. To co-create in the world. To do this work can only happen from less of the ego self and more of the awakened heart/mind, as I like to call it. You cannot co-create for the highest good of all beings and still be centered in the ego. It doesn’t mean there will be no ego, but there will be ways of bypassing that ego, not getting caught up in the ego’s stories.
This brings to mind The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz:
Agreement 1: Be Impeccable With Your Word.
Agreement 2: Don’t Take Anything Personally.
Agreement 3: Don’t Make Assumptions.
Agreement 4: Always Do Your Best.
These agreements are a pathway we can all walk making room for the ego, without getting caught up in the stories.
… the ego self is the outer clothing. We don’t say, “Barbara is a blue vest.” It’s just something she’s wearing today. The ego, the thoughts, the body, all of these attributes of the self are precious, but they are not your essence.
“Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet We must learn ethical evolution quickly As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”
The last section I highlighted from Tuesday’s Dharma Path class:
My dear friends, as humans you are not meant to 100% glitter. You would burn each other’s eyes out! You need to have a bit of dimness, it’s okay. You teach each other patience, compassion, generosity of spirit.
Barbara Marx Hubbard speaks well the opportunity: “If we continue to grow separately and in competition with each other we could self destruct.”
Denial and lies are
almost an intrinsic
part of an epidemic.
~ Nicholas A. Christakis
On the heels of the previously expressed idea that John and Debra (and you and yours!) truly are the macrocosm and microcosm, soon after my blog was posted yesterday morning I saw a post John made Tuesday on Facebook: The Dems and the media are so corrupt. Vote Red and encourage your friends to vote Red.
I grabbed my journal and wrote: “I feel the tension in my body.”
As I sat with that tension, I could see my listening to the Rabbi’s talk and choosing to include it in my blog. I had not acknowledged the Rabbi’s admonition but I knew he had one, and I included the link to his talk.
When John and I walked later in the morning, I told him I could see where my choice — my action — was spinning the karmic wheel. I asked him if he had realized how he could have agreed with the sentiment of the post he was commenting on, but without adding to the poisonous political climate plaguing our nation by singling out the “Dems” and liberal media as liars, and going even further by telling others how to vote. He said he had not been able to see that at the time.
As we walked on together, we articulated more skillful ways of commenting. For example, “I saw the interview. I’m praying for all the lying to end.” As we explored further we also saw opportunity to speak a more wise world into being, “We all need to work together and support ourselves. The fighting is such a waste of energy and resources.”
Deep Spring Center
Thought for Today
All of you, as you come through this series of human lifetimes, are going to find yourselves as teachers of compassion in the universe. So don’t minimize what you are doing. It’s not about you. It’s not even about your country or your world. It’s about love and the transformation of everything through love. And you are at the heart of this. There are so many beings that appreciate the efforts that you make and support those efforts. ~ Aaron
John and I grew up in a world of double standards nobody questioned and few even recognized. In 1966 when he and I conceived Stacey and got married, he was allowed to finish high school. I was banned. It took both of us to get pregnant, but only one of us was held accountable….
Often the most subtle of distortions have the most toxic ripple effects.
This post’s opening quote is by Nicholas A. Christakis. He says, “Everywhere you see the spread of germs, for the last few thousand years, you see right behind it the spread of lies.” You can listen to a 47-Minute NPR interview with Christakis about his book Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live. Warning: It is not easy to hear the possible impact.
Christakis says the coronavirus has come at a time when we are very vulnerable because of the polarization. He encourages us to let the science do it’s job. Either masks help or they don’t. He says, “Let’s get the science straight first.”
The things that frighten us just want to be held.
~ Mark Nepo
Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening.
In 1987 he discovered a lump on the back of his head that was eventually diagnosed as a rare form of lymphoma.
He is now a two-time cancer survivor.
The interview closes on an encouraging word:
We are a remarkable species…
We have so many wonderful qualities, we humans.
These include the capacity for love, the capacity for friendship; that we cooperate with each other; that we make sacrifices even to benefit strangers.
You do not have to be an expert in the stars to recognize that a lot of heavy emotions are being triggered right now. If you are curious, however, you might appreciate at least some awareness of what the planets are doing.
Want to know how close Mars really is? This photo was taken by my friend, Rich, in Colorado.
Been experiencing mini (many) temper tantrums and meltdowns? Narayana Montúfar, senior astrologer for SunSigns.com says, “The truth is that it will take tons of self-care and anger management to deal with the impulsivity and fire coming from this retrograde. It’s also helpful to know that when facing obstacles, the more we push, the harder things will become.”
This all brings to mind The Story of Two Wolves. The teaching story (Cherokee?) is about a grandfather who tells his grandson there is a fight between two wolves going on inside him. “One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
Grandfather continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
With wide-eyed wonder the boy pleads to know, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”
“The one you feed,” replied Grandfather.
As I was preparing for meditation this morning, I listened to “Wrestling and Dreaming: Engaging Discussions on Judaism | Episode 16: A Good Name.” Rabbi Dobrusin reflects on the coming election from the perspective of a traditional Jewish text.
It is possible to use many sacred texts to say different things or come to different conclusions, says Rabbi Dibrusin. However, this is not the case with sacred texts related to character. The Jewish text refers to “the crown of a good name” as the most valuable of all achievements one can possess. Your crown of a good name is “earned through your actions — the way you conduct yourself in the world, the way you speak about others, the way you respect others.”
We don’t know what life will bring,
so it is what we bring to life that matters.
~ Patricia Campbell Carlson
(Gratefulness.org)
We live in a time when science is validating
what humans have known throughout the ages:
that compassion is not a luxury;
it is a necessity for our well-being,
resilience,
and survival.
~ Roshi Joan Halifax
This morning I saw a headline “How Next Door Neighbors With Different Political Views Have Stayed Friends.” The photo shows a driveway with a Biden sign on one side and a Trump sign on the other. By each of the political signs was a sign of compassion.
Handmade yard signs with arrows, reading ‘We (Heart) Them,’ stand alongside opposing political signs in the Mitchell and Gates front yards in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
Last evening my dharma buddy said John and I are the macrocosm and microcosm. Macrocosm and microcosm refers to a realization that a part reflects the whole and vice versa. Think about a wave in the ocean.
The Mitchell and Gates households are also the macrocosm and microcosm.
I received an email of cartoons about President Trump this morning. A wave of nausea arose as I saw the depth of unkindness of the content. In Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott writes, “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”
You may have heard that same sentiment expressed about anger: anger is like eating the poison and expecting the rat to die.
We can add: lack of compassion is like eating rat poison and expecting the rat to die.
If you wonder how you can allow compassion to arise, especially in those times and circumstances where it is clear we do not see things the same way, search Quotes Disagreement. Here are a few helpful hints:
Bertrand Russell:
“Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.”
Friedrich Nietzsche:
“He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of dispute.”
Criss Jami:
“Together, we form a necessary paradox; not a senseless contradiction.”
Jonathan Swift:
“That was excellently observed’, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.”
These are not new concepts. However, all that is happening in the collective calls forth a need to live these values humanity holds in common, even when we have very different opinions: Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-3 (KJV)
I just posted a link to a very timely article titled, “No Time For Self-Care? Try These Snack-Size Habits,” on the Imagine Healing Facebook page. For those who do not have access to Facebook, trust me (or follow the link to scan the list of great suggestions for yourself) this is doable. Take a nap. Breathe slowly. Watch a favorite movie. Take a bath. Write in a journal. Exercise. Sing.
Self-care — like compassion, is not a luxury….
And a lovely reminder at the close of the article: You don’t have to do everything, but doing something small each day can and will have a cumulative effect on your capacity to deal with “the new normal,” “tremendous uncertainty,” and “unprecedented times.”
Deep Spring Center
Thought for Today
We do not state with an initial ego intention, ‘I’m going to save the world,’ but rather we start with the loving intention to see how we can dance with others and with the Earth and with spirit to co-create deeper peace and well-being for all sentient beings. We invite ourselves to be open and listen, to be guided, rather than having the ego dictate, ‘No, it should be this way.’ When you do this you find there truly are no limitations.
We need the comfort
and solace
of each other’s
presence!
~ Joan Borysenko
You must cherish one another.
You must work —
we all must work —
to make this world
worthy of its children.
~ Pablo Casals
Is this opening quotation, as it is written, true? Less and less I am concerned with being a doer, as more and more I am aware of the importance of how I am being. Listening to Rupert Spira speak about there being no doer, however, I also recognize the stages of learning we are experiencing around all of this. Spira says the belief and feeling “I am a person” is the same belief and feeling of “I am a doer.”
In mindfulness, this thought “I am a person” could be seen as operating from ego.
New Years Eve 2000 — twenty years ago — our meditation focus was a powerful writing titled “The Recovering Hero Proclamation.” Here is the last stanza:
I allow things to unfold naturally, and I trust the flow.
I joyfully accept and experience my humanity.
I need nothing.
All already is.
Blessed be.
~Aaliyah LivingWell
aka Gina Dawn Gavaris
GeneratingLove@aol.com
www.GeneratingSolutions.org
It is important to realize that this does not mean all action ceases. As Spira says, “No…. Cars continue to be driven, meals continue to be cooked, inquiring into the nature of experience continues to be undertaken.” Everything continues, but it doesn’t imply that there’s a doer.
I found this note in my journal: I forgive myself for believing it is my job to be the hero in any situation or save anyone else from having the experience they are creating.
Wow.
Those familiar with the SCS/NLP materials recognize fully we are moving off the Drama Triangle and experiencing life from the transrational perspective.
If we are able to drive, cook, and inquire into the nature of things without identifying ourselves as a doer, notice how much more can be done through the expanded awareness.
Recently a friend who hosts two of the Florida Zoom groups I participate in sent a message saying she has reached her stress limit and is going off the grid. We are still able to use her Zoom account, but she is not meeting with us.
William Wordsworth’s opening line in, “The World Is Too Much With Us”: The world is too much with us; late and soon.
Spira invites us to imagine a pink elephant under the chair. Both the statement, “There is something for the pink elephant under the chair to do,” and the statement, “There is nothing for the pink elephant under the chair to do,” are equally absurd.
There are times I find myself wondering which way to turn. Rather than feeling stressed or pressured into making quick decisions, I know these instances are perfect opportunities to calm myself and check my internal compass for divine direction.
The source guidance I receive allows me to perceive possible paths and shows me the way if I veer off course. All I need to do is become quiet and feel aware of my connection with God by pausing, breathing deeply, releasing, and relaxing into my intuitive knowing.
From this place, I instinctively know which way to turn and what to do. In faith, I follow the guidance of my inner wisdom and know everything I will need for the journey ahead is already mine.
Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.—Psalm 37:24
Of course we do things. Until the mind jumps in after the activity and claims, “I did this, I did that” there is only a sense of the raw experience. A baby probably does not draw from the mother’s breast and think, “I just ate.” The nourishment and the nurturing and the satiating of hunger are the raw experience. No commentary is necessary.
There are seasons in a marriage.
I’ve heard a therapist say,
“Every marriage has cause for divorce.”
Not every day.
But there are those days.
~ Deborah Berecz,
Conflict as Catalyst™ Newsletter October 2020
In an email exchange last evening my dear friend who had asked me about any preference for a Presidential candidate wrote,
Your response to my question was most intriguing. You changed your answer from the person to their traits. Yes, I agreed with everything you wrote about the essences of both men, how those essences connect to us, and your wish that whomever wins would live and lead from those traits and from that true essence. To quote the lyrics from a song, “What a wonderful world that would be.” If only….
John sings a song titled “Some Day When Things Are Good” by Merle Haggard.
Someday when things are good
I’m gonna leave you
I can’t seem to go
When things are bad
For the past 7 months, I have done yoga daily. Kathy Zerler and I started our daily practice the morning after Michigan was mandated to “stay safe at home.” Kathy has inched her way into technology, and since late April we have been recording daily practices using the Zoom platform and sharing those on YouTube. (Just search: Kathy Zerler Youtube.)
Today, Kathy is starting back teaching in person restorative yoga classes at the YMCA. Eight foot squares have been taped on the gym floor, everyone is required to wear a mask, temperatures will be checked upon entry, and a list of all participants generated for contact tracing, if the need should arise for that. It would be dishonest to say I don’t have concern as the COVID-19 numbers are spiking.
This morning Kathy opened our Zoom practice with a reading from The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane: A Novel, by Lisa See. It is a powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance. Kathy started class by reading a section about the virtues of drinking tea.
“Always remember If you don’t love tea,
you can’t make good tea.”
(pg. 191)
I was telling John yesterday morning that it was about 50 years ago when I did a term paper on this shift away from valuing character traits (Honest Abe). I well remember the research — some related to the “God is Dead” movement that occurred when the United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. From that horror, for the first time in history, we perceived that humans really could destroy life on earth.
That jarring awareness of what humans did to humans in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused a shift of our collective psyche from a longer-term view to preferring shorter-term relief, ushering in the devastating era of “the end justifies the means” living. We collectively became short-sighted and pleasure-seeking. Hence fast-food and drive-through banking, and a divorce rate in the US of 40 to 50 percent. The divorce rate for subsequent marriages is even higher.
Kathy read, “Just the physical process we experience when we drink tea — our search for huigan — causes us to turn inward and reflect as the liquor coats our tongues, shimmers down our throats, and then rises again as fragrance.”
Huigan is the pleasant aftertaste of tea, literally meaning “Returning Sweet.”
Humanity is at a turning point. We can see the bigger picture. We can co-create the world we dream….
Kathy continued reading, “Buddhists grant tea the highest spiritual qualities, ranking it among the four ways to concentrate the mind, along with walking, feeding fish, and sitting quietly….Together, these three disciplines have taught us to look upward to see the state of the heavens and downward to observe the natural arrangement of the earth. But whatever you believe or however you view life, the quality and goodness of a tea are for the mouth to decide.”
Ah, those days: days leading up to the election, days as we navigate a global pandemic. Days that cause us to turn inward and reflect. Perfect days to drink tea!
This short video is from Remembering Wholeness, October 25, 2020. Aaron, channeled by Barbara Brodsky:
If you are unable to view the video, here is the transcript:
To know that we’re co-creating this — all of us — not just us, but the people who might wish a different person to be elected. But, not holding who will win so much as the world we really want to envision: a world of love, of respect, of support for all beings.
May the candidate that can best help that to happen win this election. That, rather than, “I want my candidate to win.”
The one who can best support a healthy environment, an end to the pandemic, financial well-being, adequate food and home, respect, lovingkindness….
May the candidate who can best support this win this election. And then may that support flow from all of us to create the world we envision. Thank you.
~ Aaron, channeled by Barbara Brodsky at Remembering Wholeness, October 25, 2020
I slept and I dreamed that
life is all joy.
I woke and I saw that
life is all service.
I served and I saw that
service is joy.
~ Kahlil Gibran
Today’s blog was inspired by last evening’s question from a dear friend who is also a faithful reader of Yellow Brick Road. “Related to your pre-election posts, do you mind my asking whom, if you have a preference, do you prefer would win?” I was tempted to cut and paste the section from my journal in Pondering Becoming a Pundit before recognizing the much larger opportunity her question presents.
A sister on the Dharma path is Jewish. She is deeply steeped in Mussar, a spiritual practice that focuses on character traits like truthfulness, generosity, patience, and humility in an effort to help people overcome inner obstacles. At about the same time “Whom do you prefer would win?” was being asked, my friend was sharing with me a practice one rabbi suggested for navigating these times, specifically related to Covid, but for sure inclusive of the election:
1. Develop a relationship with the one above.
2. Pray — using formal prayers or just when you want to communicate.
3. Look for signs of divine intervention.
I have continued to binge watch Rupert Spira on non-duality so I can let go, relax, fall backwards, and sink into, “There is nothing we can say with the mind.”
I spent some time looking up formal prayers in other traditions (similar to the Lord’s Prayer in Christianity). Here are two that really speak to me:
Lakota Prayer
Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my Sacred Space
and love beyond my fear,
and thus Walk in Balance
with the passing of each glorious Sun.
– Found on: http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/quotes-nativeamerican.htm
Judaism Shema Prayer (in English)
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
The most honest answer I can give about whom I would prefer to win is this:
I prefer love to win.
I prefer wisdom to win.
I prefer kindness to win.
I prefer truthfulness to win.
I prefer generosity to win.
I prefer patience to win.
I prefer humility to win.
I prefer service to all beings and harm to none to win.
These traits are the essence of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They are the essence of you and me. They are the essence of every candidate who runs for any office. I prefer whomever wins the 2020 Presidential election to live and lead from these traits and from their true essence.
Hinduism The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita
The unreal has no existence. The Real never ceases to be (never ceases to exist). Men possessed of the knowledge of Truth full know both these.
Meditation for the Day
Constantly claim God’s strength. Once convinced of the right of a course of action, once reasonably sure of God’s guidance, claim that strength now. You can claim all the strength you need to meet any situation. You can claim a new supply when your own supply is exhausted. You have a right to claim it and you should use your right.
~ Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life
Comments are closed 
You must be logged in to post a comment.