Love All and Harm None

A quiet moment in the morning is sometimes all it takes to set the tone for the day.  And these days, I can’t think of anything more important.  In the entirety of my life, I have never imagined a world that could be in more chaos.  A pandemic is nothing to disregard. The divisive hate for wearing or not wearing a mask or the color of our skin is just something I never thought we’d be fighting about today.  Today!?  Really?  There are some days and in some moments that I am ashamed to be a human being.  We are one at one level – a whole called humanity.  But many of us are unable to exhibit any humanity at all these days.  Our fears put forth so much toxicity that it is just hard to be alive.  It is hard to witness it, to feel it and to imagine anyone having this directed at them.

I know that for as many short-sighted  folks lacking any form of empathy and mindfulness, exhibiting hateful words and wholly unkind actions there are scores more that care, who love and who are literally praying for peace and calm as we speak.  “Love All and Harm None” is the message at the core of my being.  But even with that sentiment, I know that I have harmed mostly unintentionally with words or thoughtless actions and for that I’m truly sorry for my behavior when I was woefully unaware as a frightened human on planet Earth.  But I’m awake now and I’m aware now of how my words can cause harm and that my energy can be felt by the collective.  So, I do what I can to keep my energy, thoughts and mindfulness pegged on High.

The “What about me” mentality that is running rampant and causing harm to many today, is a fearful cry from sleeping souls.  All who exhibit this are in the same trance.  Understand this as it just might quell your hatred or ire. Hold compassion for all even those causing harm with their words.  If they knew better, they would do better. So consider, you are witnessing scores of inner children crying out in pain on all sides.  Understand them first before you rally your troops and emit battle cries in vengeance.  Stop, consider, take a breath and ask, is this real? Is this the right action from the dictates of my soul and not my somehow long ago wounded ego striving for pole position here? I condone no form of violence towards any soul for any reason. I do not condone behavior that threatens the welfare, life and limb of others - let me be very clear.

There is a lot of wisdom to be had in quiet contemplation and reflection on life here on Earth.  There is a lot of beautiful sentiment taken in while in nature, on the shore of a stream, lake or ocean.  Peace can be had gazing up at cerulean blue cloudless skies or the night skies teaming with billions of ancient twinkling stars. There are a lot of inhabitants here on Earth doing the best they can.  Think about it…if you saw a 2 year old child screaming on the playground, would you not hold compassion for a new being here on Earth struggling to learn the rules?  There are some of us walking around this planet in adult bodies but with screaming children inside of us that flat out don’t know any better than to behave like uneducated human shadows.  They are raw and torn and succumbing to intentional divisive rhetoric.  Please understand before you retaliate. And consider, if every situation is met with an eye for an eye response, the entire population of this world will become physically as well as emotionally and spiritually blind.

So, I beg you, stop for a moment now and then when you’re feeling riled up. Stop for another moment and just breathe.  Feel your feet planted firmly on the Earth, feel what it feels like to be standing in your body.  Notice the emotion rising up from time to time and allow the emotion to be there just as it is but commit very strongly and with all of your being to take no action while emotion wells.  Just breathe.  Invite the calm back into your being and to all around you. Then, when calm, let a cooler and more rational mind take hold and respond not in retaliation but with compassion and love,  You can rise above any situation but you must want to, you must learn how to wield emotion skillfully and appropriately because if you don’t, any action taken while emotional will equate to extreme mental illness running the show and there are often very serious consequences to that kind of action.  Be the firm, loving and understanding parent to your frightened and reacting inner children.  Allow the child within you its moment to feel. Soothe frazzled and fear-filled nerves with calm mindful presence.  Breathe. Step back. Seek understanding.  It will find you if you seek it. Don’t succumb to the divisive narratives intentionally put forth to stir you up to a frothy hate for your neighbors.  Be in your right mind and deliberately so.

If it calls to you, see every human on the planet held in a space of compassionate love, healing love, prayer filled protection if-you-will.  Invite the calm and peace into your heart often because we are all one at many levels.  If you open your heart to love, understanding and compassion, it will be easier for others to do so.  If you tire of the terrible behavior you see in the world, screaming and shouting it out and pointing fingers on every platform you can won’t change a thing.  What will cause and create change is your living example of what it means to be a human, a kind and compassionate as well as wise and understanding human.  Give that to yourself first, and then those around you.  As you do, eventually they will.  It is like planting a tiny seed of a beautiful tree.  You will sow the seed but in your lifetime you may never enjoy the shade of it’s branches but you will have started something good don't you think?  You sowed the seed.  So, do your best, let go and trust the universe and your fellow humans. We will eventually right the wrongs but from the space of the heart in love and only in the absence of fear.  Be mindfully present with every breath and step you intentionally take here as you walk this Earth. You can do this.  You can restore balance, reason and a better humanity for you and yours as well as for All.  Blessings for peace, for love, for compassion, for understanding and great healing.

Gentle Rain from My Ceiling

The leak in my ceiling is like a gentle waterfall and as the hours go by, the paint bubbles to release some more.  It’s almost like this place is filled with pent up emotion bubbling out and ready to fall.  I’m home now waiting for the contractor to arrive.  He’ll pull down the dry wall and the water will fall whichever way it wants to.  It won’t have to find the seam from the last repair to try to worm it’s way out and about from behind the dry wall.  So many metaphors spool up and race to reach my finger tips.  I think I’ll just acknowledge them and flow more gently with the vibe of the day.

Things go wrong sometimes at the worst possible time.  You can stress and worry about these things or you can just take things as they come, do what you can do and well, just breathe.  I never in my life would have thought a leak coming through my ceiling would bring me peace.  Really, I’ve already done everything I could possibly do and now I wait.  I wait for help and assistance and listen to the tink, tink, tink as the water drips from the ceiling onto the cookie sheets I have strategically placed around my living room floor.

The floor is now getting wet and all I can do is shield the electronics I’m not able to move at this time.  I’d take out the only semblance of norm we’ve been able to somewhat restore since the leak became apparent.  I did take the opportunity to rearrange the furniture while everything was torn up.  I’m trying to change up the energy a bit.  Preliminarily, I’m happy but it needs some fine tuning.  I’m also using the opportunity to throw away the clutter, get rid of a couple more big pieces of furniture that just no longer suit me.  All the money I spent for this piece 10 years ago feeling like I was somebody because I could spend $900 on a beautiful desk.  It was one of the first really nice things I bought for myself.  I’m now going to give it away.  I no longer need things of monetary value to feel okay. I find it easy to let go of things these days and become so much more curious now to wander through my motivations then.

I’m so much happier, I think - letting go.  I’m simplifying my life as much as I can.  I’m down grading, releasing, breathing more comfortably and making plans to get rid of some more.  So much have I physically carried with me for all of these years.  Honestly, I’m going to empty my garage without opening the boxes.  I’ll donate what I recall as usable, recycle what I can and then just enjoy the space with no need to fill it.  I suddenly feel so grown up, content and happy.  Life isn’t about attaining material things as much as we think it is.  At some point you realize you didn’t really even want half of the stuff you bought for a quick fix of ego-joy.  It pales greatly in comparison to acceptance of self, love of what is, as it is and just being.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as sentimental as the day is long and have small trinkets from family and my partner all around the house that make me smile.  It isn’t the things that matter but the sentiment behind them.  If I lost them all tomorrow, I’d carry the memory of the sentiments and just count myself blessed.  I glance up at the ceiling and see yet another bulge in the paint as big as the palm of my hand.  At any moment, it is going to break and more water will be tumbling down.  I’ve prepared - another cookie sheet is at the ready to catch the mini deluge.  I don’t know why I’m calm right now but I like it.  My home is chaotic at the moment with everything being removed from the room where the water is gently coming down.  I’m not feeling chaotic.  If that bulge gets much bigger, I may opt for a pot…hmmm.  Not necessary, I now hear dual tink, tink, tinks as the water is now making it through the other leaking spot in the ceiling. Only another hour to go until help arrives and we’ll hopefully have the leak found this time, staging for repairs of the source and after-math of it and then repairing the ceiling and drying the floors.  Who knows how long it will take.  But I’ve got the day off today to manage it and the frame of mind to handle it.  I guess that is just good enough.

Water is an amazing substance, I must say.  I wholly admire its tenacity to move and flow.  I might appreciate it more where it falling from the sky instead of my ceiling but, well, this is what I’ve got to contend with today.  So, I’m off to it.  Whatever you face in your day, whatever inconvenience or frustration you encounter, just do what you can do.  Make sure you take some time to breathe, step back and view the situation as if it were on a TV screen.  Let it be as it is, let you be as you are and know that you are up to the task and if not, ask for help and be grateful when it arrives.  Blessings of great peace, calm and understanding for your journey.

© 2016 Jaie Hart