Rediscovering Sacredness

Marlee shares a realization she had recently around sacredness and what it would mean if we opened our hearts to more and expanded our views of what is sacred. Marlee also offers some new perspectives and a needed reminder of the sacredness in each of us!

Transcript

Welcome to the Shifting with Marlee podcast.

I'm Marlee.

Thank you for joining me wherever you are.

All that I ask of you,

The listener,

Is to have an open mind and an open heart.

And in return,

I offer you myself.

Today I want to talk about sacredness,

What sacred means,

What do we hold as sacred,

And how we can redefine and expand our views of sacredness.

Because I had this realization recently that kind of stopped me in my tracks,

That if we expand what we view as sacred,

Individually and collectively,

So much would shift.

So much would be different,

Both internally and externally.

So I want to start this conversation today and dive into this and share with you what's been coming through,

And perhaps by the end of this episode today,

We will have a new perspective and an expanded heart.

First,

What does sacred mean?

It has a lot of religious connotations,

But in essence,

It means something that is highly valued and important.

Something that deserves veneration and worship and respect and awe.

Something that is regarded with reverence.

Part of the realization I had was that as a society,

What we collectively hold as sacred is too narrow and too limited,

And also in some ways skewed,

Meaning our priorities are off.

And if we could shift and expand what we hold in our hearts as sacred,

Perhaps things would be better.

Perhaps this world would be a little kinder and more loving to people and the planet.

Let me explain.

Let's first talk about what our society currently deems as sacred.

What our society in the Western world,

And us as individuals in that society by extension,

Who have been conditioned by society,

Holds as sacred is money.

And more important than money,

Profit,

Growth and expansion,

Materialism,

Objects like our phones and our cars,

Possessions,

Following the status quo,

Go to school,

Go to college,

Get a job.

By extension,

We hold working in a job sacred.

No matter what that job is or how we feel or if we're happy.

We hold doing as sacred.

We hold being busy as sacred.

We hold celebrities as sacred.

We hold logic as sacred.

We hold status as sacred.

But here's what I realized.

Having these priorities and holding these things as sacred is the root cause of so much of the suffering in the world.

And it's not working for us or the planet.

We're walking around disconnected,

Burnt out,

Overwhelmed,

Unhappy,

Going to war with each other and ourselves and harming the earth in the process.

The way we've been living requires this level of apathy,

Uncaring and disregard that is unsustainable.

So I ask the question,

What would happen if we shift our priorities and shift what we hold as sacred?

Can we open our hearts to more and expand our perception and welcome in more sacredness into our lives?

What if we held happiness as sacred?

What if we held laughter and play as sacred?

What if we held creativity as sacred?

What if we held wisdom as sacred?

What if we held the earth and nature as sacred?

What if we held life as sacred?

What if we held our bodies as sacred?

What if we held rest as sacred?

I hope you see my point here.

It's a shifting of priorities.

It's opening our hearts to more reverence,

Wonder and awe.

It's a mindset shift.

Imagine if everyone had this expanded level of reverence,

Respect,

Awareness and mindfulness.

Just imagine,

Everything would be different.

Here's what I know to be true.

Everything alive on this earth is sacred.

This moment is sacred.

Each breath is sacred.

The sunlight on your skin and the wind kissing your face is sacred.

The water we drink is sacred.

The food we eat is sacred.

Nature is sacred.

The trees are sacred.

The flowers are sacred.

The plants are sacred.

Your body is sacred.

Your energy is sacred.

Your focus and attention is sacred.

Your time is sacred.

Really hear me when I say,

You are sacred.

Children are sacred.

I am sacred.

Your neighbor is sacred.

The random person walking down the street is sacred.

The unhoused person you pass sitting on the sidewalk is sacred.

Every human being is sacred.

Ram Dass said it best,

Treat everyone you meet like God in drag.

We've forgotten our sacredness.

We've forgotten how sacred the earth is.

We've forgotten how sacred everything that comes from the earth is.

If you truly believed in everything I'm saying,

How would you be different?

Would you show up differently,

Move differently in the world?

How would your life be different if you remembered your sacredness and the sacredness of all things?

What would it look like to bring more sacredness into your life and into your day?

I think this perspective helps us live with more presence,

Care,

And mindfulness.

I also think this perspective helps us shed a bit of ego and hierarchy and that mindset of better than,

That this is better than that,

Or this person is better than that person.

And I think more than anything,

This perspective helps us invite in more gratitude.

Because for example,

If the water I'm drinking is sacred,

Then I am more thankful for every drop and I am drinking the sacred water with more presence and mindfulness.

It also helps us shift into the mindset of,

I get to do this.

I get to drink the sacred water from the earth.

Wow,

How special.

I get to witness and observe these beautiful sacred trees swaying in the wind.

Wow,

How magnificent and beautiful.

I get to eat this delicious sacred food from the earth that I prepared with my hands.

Wow,

How lucky am I?

I get to drink this sacred coffee.

How amazing.

I get to interact with this other sacred human being.

How special.

We get to be alive on this sacred earth.

Wow,

Lucky us.

The whole world would be different if we all moved through life with that level of gratitude and reverence.

It's like seeing the world with new eyes.

And I don't mean to be serious here.

I don't mean sacredness as a serious thing.

We certainly don't need more seriousness in this world.

But instead,

I think it makes the mundane magical.

It makes life more magical.

It makes life more loving.

It makes life more fun.

I think this perspective helps us open our hearts to the world in a new way and open our hearts to ourselves and shed all the layers and density and walls we've built up.

If you remember that you are sacred and divine,

Would you be less critical and judgmental towards yourself and perhaps more loving?

If you remember that the random person you pass on the street is also sacred and divine,

Would you be less judgmental of them?

Would you be kinder and more gracious?

If you treated your time on this earth as sacred and therefore each moment as sacred,

Would you perhaps stop worrying so much about the small stuff and day-to-day annoyances and instead perhaps greet each moment as a gift and with wonder and awe and gratitude and also excitement?

Children are so good at this.

Let's return to that childlike wonder.

All of this to say,

We are each magical,

Divine,

Badass,

Sacred beings of love with immense power,

Potential,

And possibility.

And it's time to start acting like it.