Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
In the name of the one most compassionate,
Most merciful,
Most kind,
This is Mark Silver with Heart of Business.
Welcome to remembrance.
And I am going to lead us in a remembrance when you're kind of sick and out of it.
And there seem to be a lot coming at you anyway,
Meaning life didn't slow down just because you don't feel well.
Nothing like method acting is there.
Right?
So with the change of seasons,
It's not unusual to get sick,
At least a little bit.
And I don't know if this is true,
But for you,
If it resonates.
But if you're feeling out of it in any way,
Not feeling well,
I'm going to encourage you to just let yourself feel that.
I'm just forgetting about the remembrance and forgetting about everything else,
Just noticing that your body has an effect on your feeling state.
Our entire Western culture is built upon the mechanical model.
And so if the body doesn't work,
So what do you mean it doesn't work?
It has to keep working.
You have to keep going.
And whether you work in a job or whether you're self-employed,
It can be quite brutal on our ability to rest.
Often we need much more rest to recover than we think,
And much more rest to avoid getting sick than we think.
And so what if it was just okay to get sick?
What if it wasn't a disaster?
What if it was okay for your body to really have this going on with it?
Being sick is a classical example of having a state that you don't want.
And so much of our energy can get used up trying to avoid or fight the reality that,
Yeah,
Even if it's just a little bit,
Right?
For me,
My nose is a little clogged up.
I have just a little bit of rawness in the back of my throat,
Much better than yesterday.
Yesterday I was out flat.
And I feel a little spacey.
I just don't feel like I'm that sharp.
But I can also feel my reaching for that,
Quote unquote,
Sharpness,
Trying to reach to,
God,
I just wish I could be different.
And when I just take a nice gentle breath,
It's like,
Yeah,
I'm a little spacey at the moment.
It's so curious because I notice that immediately my nose actually opens up a little bit,
What felt like a solid wall.
That relaxation into it.
And I can actually breathe a little easier.
Could it be that our attempts to not get sick are actually keeping us sicker and exacerbating our symptoms?
Oh.
Excuse me.
And then very carefully,
Very gently turning to the remembrance,
Not as a way to get away from your illness,
Not as a way to get rid of how you feel.
But just is love available even here?
What is available even here?
Eine und bung.
What if there actually was space to be sick?
Sometimes we have demands coming at us and it's really hard to make the choice to not do.
And sometimes,
Especially with if you have children,
You can't stop.
What if the illness was allowed to take up the space that it's taking?
What if it was allowed to affect you in the way that it's affecting you?
What if it was supposed to be that way?
The challenge with the way most illnesses come on for us is that they're usually at the end of a lot of pushing,
Where we're trying to get somewhere,
Get something done anyway.
We may feel like we've already used up all of our slack.
We may feel as if we've let a number of things that are important to us already slide because we were pushing,
Trying to get something done,
Trying to be productive,
Trying to get somewhere.
It doesn't feel responsible to just stop and let things continue to slide.
What if the illness and how you're feeling are allowed to take up the space that they take up?
What if you could feel how you're feeling?
Just continue to call the name of the Divine through the open doorway of your heart,
Just letting there be so much space,
Noticing that there's so much space.
What if you could lay down the burden of trying to be what you aren't?
Just continue to call the name of the Divine through the open doorway of your heart,
Just letting there be so much space,
Noticing that there's so much space.
I wonder how much of our illnesses are self-imposed,
And how much are simply the body making itself stronger,
Simply stretching and using its capacity,
Its immune system.
And remembering that as you're calling the name of the Divine through the open doorway of your heart,
That it is not a technique,
It's not something that you're just doing,
It's a relationship,
It's a calling out.
Allah,
Allah,
Allah.
Allah,
Allah,
Allah.
And just noticing,
If there's any authentic gratitude or appreciation for anything that you've experienced while in remembrance right now,
That you let yourself express that to the Divine and to your own body.
And if you want to continue with remembrance,
You may.
And if you're ready to re-enter the world,
Remember that the remembrance is available in any moment.
And I look forward to the next time our paths cross.
Bismillah.
