If you are hearing my voice right now,
I want to say,
Well done.
Well done for making this choice to settle down,
To go in.
Let your breath be your anchor.
Let your mind be here now.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
Wouldn't it be easier if everything was black and white?
It's either this or that,
Yes or no.
It would be so easy to live with that kind of clarity.
And yet,
What is adulting but trying to navigate and survive the gray?
We here in Minnesota have just survived the grayest January on record.
And let me tell you,
The gray gets old.
Everything is murky,
Unclear,
Heavy.
And there's that cold that sneaks inside and sets up house in your bones.
And that's what adulting can feel like living in the gray.
Living with uncertainty.
Should I?
Shouldn't I?
We have to live into both and.
I think it's the only way to survive.
And let's just be honest for a second,
Living into both and can suck.
But now that we've admitted that truth,
It might help to think about a seed in the hard and frozen ground.
That seed is in the cold,
In the dark.
Where is the hope in that?
Will things ever change or get better?
It might not seem like that's even possible.
But remember,
That seed holds life in its very center.
That seed holds a blossom that will one day burst open in the bright light.
Both can be true at the same time.
The seed is in the dark.
There can be a blossom.
It will take time,
Energy,
A rooting down to rise up,
As we say in yoga.
But inhale,
Exhale.
Living in the gray means you might not know what is coming next or what to do.
And if your life is gray,
It can be so tempting to live with a tightened fist.
But if your life is gray,
Try not to crush the blossom with a fist.
Instead hold things lightly.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Hold things lightly.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Hold things lightly.
Namaste.
