It can be hard.
And there's no denying that right now is a tumultuous time in the world where much is destabilizing,
If it hasn't already.
The inquiry here is how might your current struggles secretly be future gifts?
What is hiding in the challenges for you?
The struggle of reluctance to be uncomfortable in us humans and yet as we grow discomfort is required in the process of gaining new skills,
Learning and growing from when we learn to tie our shoes,
Learn our ABCs,
Reading,
Writing,
Communicating with our mouths.
And now we can do it so effortlessly and eloquently.
But we're tested at new levels as a collective now,
Sometimes in ways that are deeply stress-evoking and scary.
That said,
We're okay.
The fact that if we are here in this moment,
Then we already have everything we need,
The proof we exist,
We're alive.
Everything has been provided to support your life in this moment.
Enough water,
Air,
Food,
Nutrients,
Your heart beats effortlessly without you having to do anything.
Your metabolism digests,
Your whole digestive system works to transform food into energy,
Feeding your cells,
Supporting every function and synthesis in your body.
Powerful alchemy is responsible for your physical existence and you need to do nothing consciously to make that happen.
These pathogens and potential invaders make contact with the insides of your body and your body's natural systems to address and remove these intruders happen without you being aware of them,
But they happen so often you would be astounded how powerful your immune system actually is.
And each breath carrying the supply of oxygen that moves through the lungs into the blood flow pumped by the heart to each and every cell in your body via your intricate intravenous system,
Veins and arteries and teeny tiny capillaries.
Working with them,
In them,
Oxygen that makes its way to ancient bacteria packing your cells symbiotically working with the human to allow the human to be a human and move,
Creating what's known as ATP,
The power that gives us energy.
That's the conversion from each breath,
But we don't need to know any of that.
We just intuitively breathe and our body is powered,
Refreshed,
Restored,
Renewed,
Relaxed.
While it is easy to fall into fear,
Particularly if you plug into news outlets or social media or talk to other people or even are around other people that plug into these fear networks,
And inevitably you'll come into contact with both.
But this is a clear example of the negativity bias of our natural tendency passed down by our ancestors to search for what could hurt us and protect ourselves from that which aided our ancestors in surviving,
Avoiding lions and saber-toothed tigers,
Maybe even woolly mammoths.
But today the dangers are more in our minds.
Certainly there are dangers,
But the amount of energy we spend looking for them and mentally planning to avoid potential danger,
Thinking of ways to pad ourselves financially or otherwise to avoid calamity.
These efforts that take so much energy in the vein of fear weaken us.
That energy vibration or signature is not anywhere near that which we can touch when we simply take a deep breath and feel it,
When we trust that everything is already okay,
When we know that everything will continue to be okay and there will be challenges along the way as well.
And that's part of the process.
And that's not bad,
That's actually good.
That is developing us,
That is growing us into stronger,
More capable beings.
And we are powerful beings,
So powerful that the creation that we engage in,
The sustaining of life that happens within us often happens completely subconsciously.
We're so powerful that we create by default and we create wellness and support life without trying.
So the mind can be noisy and the mind can search for negativity.
The mind can loop in fear,
Create stress and anxiety.
But this is more like clouds and storm systems moving through a vast space of clear sky.
And we are more like that clear sky than any clouds,
Clouding the light that shines through.
We are able to tap into the spaciousness,
The silence,
The peace that is innately born into us that is before and after all storms,
That is here now and forevermore.
It is absolutely possible to surrender attachment to passing thoughts,
To simply allow them to exist,
To show up and disappear in their own time,
But to not identify as much,
To notice them,
But then also notice the space around them and to notice what's noticing in you.
To taste while touching peace,
To touch peace and feel it in every cell in your body.
To know that all is well,
To know that you are well and you are safe.
And despite how crazy and scary the world might seem at times,
It's also like a temporary storm,
Passing clouds and we default to looking at these clouds because we're afraid,
Afraid to get wet,
To be blown around,
To be hurt,
To be killed.
And we miss all the blue sky around the clouds and all the sunshine above the clouds and all the space around the clouds when we are fixated on the clouds themselves.
But they are temporary.
We are not.
We see clearly when we widen our view and also realize that we are the viewers.
We are what sees.
We are the peace and the calm before,
During and after the storms.
So please know that it's okay to be scared.
It's okay to be stressed.
It's okay to get lost in thought and anxiety and this too shall pass and you will prevail and life will prevail.
And while there always will be on the physical plane comings and goings of tremendous challenges,
These are gifts.
These are opportunities to learn and grow.
Without gravity we would have no muscles like we do now.
Resistance and challenge strengthens us and also grounds us.
And we wouldn't be able to lift others up if gravity didn't exist either.
Not the way we do.
It's a beautiful opportunity and it unfolds from this present moment,
This life,
In all of its messiness,
In its richness and complexity,
In its challenges,
In its opportunities to learn and grow.
We are blessed and we are supported and guided by our own inner guidance system.
From the space of the heart at any given moment we can have clear direction from our intuition.
The heart can be like a compass pointing us in the right direction at any given moment.
It might be very easy,
It is very easy to be lost in loops in the mind that get us nowhere.
But the mind often is the conditioned mind,
The mind that is simply proof of past,
Repetitive but not fresh.
The heart is something very different.
It is clear.
While the mind thinks,
The heart knows.
And so,
When you don't have an answer and you've been working on a question or many questions in your mind,
You might bring your attention to the space of your heart.
You might even put a hand over that space and ask,
What do I do in this moment?
Very simple question that can lead to very simple responses which don't need to be Olympic feats.
They might simply be,
Stand up,
Stop thinking,
Put down your phone,
Take a walk,
Call this person,
Take a deep breath,
Go outside,
Get away from the computer and the emails,
Take a nap,
Be of service.
Everything we need is here now.
Proof we are here now.
And all the resources,
No matter who we are,
What our physical condition,
Where we are in the world,
What country we were born into,
We have what we need in this moment.
Proof is we are.
So please just take a moment to feel your breath.
Feel it moving through your body.
Notice the simplicity and ease of your moving breath.
Notice the peace.
Notice the qualities of relaxation,
Nourishment.
If you like to,
You might deepen your breath,
Breathing through your nose if you can,
If you're not congested.
Breathing into a softening chest and even softer belly so that both naturally inflate and deflate with the breath.
Feeling every sensation surrounding the beautiful breath.
Deepening awareness of the sensations of the breath.
Feeling how okay everything is in this moment with each breath,
With this one and this one.
Breathing with three deeper breaths,
Paying even more attention to the sensations of them.
Breathing slowly.
