Remembering your true self.
We are told lighter skin is better,
Being a man is better,
Higher scores on this test is more worthy.
We are taught what body weight is desirable and what isn't,
Which God is the one true God,
And that money speaks.
We are taught that eating with a fork and knife is distinguished,
While eating with your hands is uncivilized.
Clothes can't be baggy,
Hair mustn't be encamped.
Words have a proper way to be enunciated,
To fit in with those in power.
We are told money is the ultimate goal.
We are programmed to chase status,
Reputation,
Focus on what letters follow your name.
That is what's important.
That is how we will be successful.
That's how we will have power.
We are trained to shun the traditions and wisdom of our ancestors,
To disown the very people that imbued us with this healing wisdom.
But what if?
What if they're wrong?
What if those truths that we have been taught belong to a broken system,
To a skewed worldview,
To a system designed to keep the power in the hands of a chosen few?
What if what we are seeking is already within us?
What if it's our birthright,
The belonging,
The unconditional acceptance,
The love,
The tenderness,
The confidence,
The love?
The love.
What if the love we are seeking has been right here all along?
What if our healing journey is actually the unlearning of the misguided beliefs ingrained in us,
Ingrained in our ancestors,
In the culture around us?
Unlearning,
Remembering and reconnecting to the wisdom that lies beneath it all.
And then there's our breath.
Close your eyes.
Soften into your body now.
Arrive here,
Not changing anything but just arriving inside.
Just noticing your body.
What you seek and desire is within you.
Feel your heart center.
Call into your heart center your experience of a moment of pure love.
Maybe it's a moment of love you felt for yourself,
For someone else,
For a pet,
For the earth,
For someone who passed,
Or for your God.
Connect to that moment of uncomplicated and tender love,
That pure unconditional love.
And let it radiate outward from your heart center to each corner and crevice of your body.
Letting it extend past your body to the space around you.
Touching those in your home.
Now radiating outwards to those in your community.
Breathing it even bigger to all those in your country.
And now sending it across the world.
Feel a sense of connectedness to the earth.
Not just where you are,
But all the way across the lands,
Waters,
And air.
See the creatures around you in their life,
Their love.
Witness the light in the life of strangers.
Recognizing their capacity for love and their deep pain.
Let your love extend to each corner and crevice of pain.
Let it alchemize into light.
What you seek is within you.
You have the wisdom,
Love,
And power to transform and heal in your thoughts,
Actions,
And intentions.
I'll end with my wish of compassion.
May you be well.
May you wish well towards others.
May you find and offer peace.
May you find ease in your suffering and offer grace to others who are suffering.
May you be loved and may you love.
