Pandemic reflections

I love the following inquiry questions offered by Lissa Rankin and Tosha Silver:

1. What have you lost this year that you can’t ever get back? [Acknowledge any grief that arises and allow yourself to feel the loss.]
2. What did you lose that you feel excited to get back?
3. What did you lose that you don’t ever want to get back?
4. What has been the unexpected blessing?
5. What is possible now that wasn’t possible a year ago?
6. What has changed in you over the past year?
7. What can you do to create a better tomorrow?

You can listen to a two-hour recording of Lissa Rankin and Tosha Silver’s conversation together reflecting on the answers to these questions here.

Created for joy

I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.

My mind is too busy.
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life.

I was created to smile
To Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up.

O’ Sacred One
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.

~Hafiz

Dancing in a hurricane

“You can dance in a hurricane
But only if you’re standing in the eye” – The Eye, Brandi Carlisle

Life’s big decisions

Psychological research presents some unsurprising wisdom about how to make big decisions without regret: focus on people, don’t miss opportunities, and stay true to yourself.

This is an interesting graph ranking life’s biggest decisions. An interactive version of the graph can be found here, and you can read the entire article here. And you can take part in Dr. Camilleri’s 60 min survey on this topic here. And you can explore all of the results of the survey here.

Are you in the flow?

You can read this interesting article in the NYT about how feeling blah during the pandemic is natural. And what can you do about it? Find something that brings you into the flow.

“A concept called “flow” may be an antidote to languishing. Flow is that elusive state of absorption in a meaningful challenge or a momentary bond, where your sense of time, place and self melts away. During the early days of the pandemic, the best predictor of well-being wasn’t optimism or mindfulness — it was flow. People who became more immersed in their projects managed to avoid languishing and maintained their prepandemic happiness.”

This probably explains why I am actually doing a-okay right now. I am feeling engaged at work – I have a lot of new projects that have my attention and that I am in the middle of birthing / creating. Thankfully!

On Grief

“I have learned that Grief is a force of energy that cannot be controlled or predicted. It comes and goes on its own schedule. Grief does not obey your plans, or your wishes. Grief will do whatever it wants to you, whenever it wants to. In that regard, Grief has a lot in common with Love.” – Elizabeth Gilbert

Holding space

A couple of meaningful quotes about holding space….

“You can hold space for someone without becoming the container.” – Sabriya M. Simon

“Holding space is conscious awareness, care, a patient womb between us that holds all possibilities for new life to emerge.” – Pixie Lighthorse

An aging face

Justine Bateman writes about her own unaltered 55-year-old face:

“You’re looking at f***ing determination and truth and creativity. You’re looking at loss and sorrow and the effort for a deeper perspective. You’re looking at satisfaction and happiness. You’re looking at a manifestation of a connection so deep and rooted that it’s more real than I am. You’re looking at my face.”

– Justine Bateman, Face: One Square Feet of Skin

You can read a Time magazine article about her book here.

Rage, a poem

My son wrote this poem when he was 11 years old, a few months after he broke his femur.

Rage, as in the red devil
Happens when you snap your leg or lose a hockey game.
Loud as a gun shot at a deer.
Rage

Saying “yes” for the wrong reasons

This is a good one from Kate Northrup:

New moon in Aries

Some reflections from Attune to the Moon:

“The Aries New Moon last year was.. the very beginning of the Pandemic, people had hormones and chemicals surging through their system that they had never felt before. Jana had emphasized that even though the powers that be at that point were saying two weeks, it would be at least 18 months before we would get out of this mess. We’re about a year into this and things are changing. Let’s take a look through the lens of astrology.

Last year, the Aries New Moon was conjunct Chiron asking us to make like a yogi in a cave and face our wounds to meet this pandemic. This year, the Aries New Moon is conjunct the Asteroid Eris, asking us to become a Sacred Activist Warrior. The ruler of Aries, Mars, is out of bounds. This makes Mars a little more wild and out of control. At the time of the New Moon, Venus is square Pluto. This makes for a battle between individuality and governmental control. As we venture into this solar lap in this new world, you can stand up and choose to re-create and take ownership of your life. With all this Cardinal (initiation) energy, what you focus your attention and energy on is of the utmost importance. Let us gather and meet this energy with your warrior activated and take this bull by the horns to create a life worth livin’.”

***

“

This Aries New Moon shouts: NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

There’s a beautiful staying power to all that is being initiated now.

Earlier in the day, the moon visits Chiron, helping you to stand in your Warrior Self.

Then she visits Mercury granting you freedom to travel between worlds of thought & memory. The she passes by Ceres to remind you that the world is abundant & you can have it, but it takes hard work.

On the other side of the Sun is Eris, Mars’ sister & beside Eris is Venus. Eris is the feminine force in the Art of War. She’s a Mama Bear: Fierce & protective. Gives no fucks, takes no shit.

Eris is in a two year square with Pluto, the rebirther. Some astrologers say this is the driving force behind the global discord & chaos. Eris is inspired by the joy of freedom & will overthrow everything in the way of that freedom. Squaring Pluto means the super powers, gov’t & systems that are trying to control.

Pluto is square Venus. This could feel like you’re being punished, denied pleasure, or one of those, when it rains it pours kind of a situation. This could show up as power struggles. This could be a culling forth of obsessive thinking or behaviors, co-dependancies or negative thought loops with the illusion that it’s always going to be that way. BUT IT’S NOT. This is a cycle.

A massive purge, a cleansing, a continuation of this ego death. As an opening square, you can liken this to a teenager rebelling in order to step into their authority.

Has anyone been wondering how the F you got into this mess? Having a hard time recognizing your life? Wondering if you’re in a simulation? Or if any of this is even real?

This is one more HUGE opportunity to face your transforming consciousness & this shapeshifting reality.

Let go. Witness it as it is.

Then you can find yourself in all of this chaos & center yourself & dial into your unique Soul Message.

Because, it’s time to take a stand.

This isn’t following the crowd.

Get grounded
Think critically
Feel for truth

This is the time to stand for the world you want to create.

New Beginnings.

What are you initiating?”

Seasons of practice

I like this idea of seasons of practice: order, disorder and reorder.

This is described by Richard Rohr, and Christina Sell wrote a blog post about this idea with respect to her relationship with yoga.

I feel like my life is transitioning from a period of order to disorder, and it’s reassuring to know that a period of reorder will follow the period of disorder.

Where are you in your life / your practice?

Love your bodies

Jennifer Weiner’s advice to her daughters:

“Love your bodies for what they can do. Remember that you’ve climbed mountains, swum across ponds, collected bucketsful of clams, balanced on bicycles and paddleboards, and danced around in your bedrooms with complete abandon. Remember how great it feels to solve a tough math problem, or cook something delicious, or fall into a really great book, and how none of that has anything to do with your appearance.” – p 402, Hungry Heart, Jennifer Weiner

Women aging with grace and courage

‘Women have another option. They can aspire to be wise, not merely nice; to be competent, not merely helpful; to be strong, not merely graceful; to be ambitious for themselves, not merely for themselves in relation to men and children. They can let themselves age naturally and without embarrassment, actively protesting and disobeying the conventions that stem from this society’s double standard about aging. Instead of being girls, girls as long as possible, who then age humiliatingly into middle-aged women, they can become women much earlier – and remain active adults, enjoying the long, erotic career of which women are capable, far longer. Women should allow their faces to show the lives they have lived. Women should tell the truth.”

• Susan Sontag – The Double Standard of Aging (1972)

Paint night

I attended a virtual paint night with Kevin Peeace, an indigenous artist in SK.