In this world, it can feel as if we never have enough. As if we never are enough. Or as if the life we want is never, ever going to happen. In moments like this, we can turn dust devil. We can get caught in the twisting, restless energy and feel dry and empty inside.
It may seem hard to believe (and even harder still to practice), but we can choose our heart. We can choose what it is like in the center of our being. Every minute of every day.
You might protest, Life is hard! Life is mean! And indeed, it can be. But let me repeat. We can choose our heart.
When life happens, when we feel out of control, what if we all try something radical? What if we choose to be out of control—of what is happening outside and get very, very curious about what is happening inside?
When we do that we are choosing our heart. This is not easy. It is a lifelong practice—which means sometimes we might get it right, and sometimes we might miss, wildly. And yet, oh the difference it makes.
We can choose to be spun around and flung about by everything, big and small. Or we can practice breathing into the center of our beings, trusting that we are each and every one of us filled with a holy, radiant light.
I know which one I’d rather do. So here are a few things that might help us with this practice.
When you feel out of control of what is happening outside, intentionally root yourself into the earth. Feel your feet, your sitting bones. Imagine you are breathing into your being the spirit and energy of the green things of the world. All which is planted in the fertile dark and reaching toward the light.
When you feel out of control, surrender. Trust that you have within you a deep and wise intelligence. Quiet, center, settle, so that you can heal. Heal by knowing that nothing in you is lacking or wanting. Within you, life, spirit, and radiance are everywhere at play.
Maybe most importantly, when you feel out of control, make fear answer. Make it answer how it serves you, because chances are, it doesn’t. Chances are fear is poisoning your here and now.
When you feel out of control, stop. Get so grounded that you drop right out of the bottom of whatever dust devil is twirling you about. Sit. Center. Watch the dust devil move along its way.
This is so important, I want to say it again. Make fear answer for what it’s doing to you. When you can see what it’s really doing to you and your life, choose. Your. Heart.
Choose to be courageous and open, warm and wise.
And please, please, choose to be kind—to yourself, to the other human dust devils swirling around the barbed wire fences of life.
Step out of the dust devil. Make fear answer. Choose your heart. And live light.
If you’d like to listen to a brief meditation on this, here’s the YouTube link:
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I love this, and you always have the best words and insight on how to center and ground myself.
"Maybe most importantly, when you feel out of control, make fear answer. Make it answer how it serves you, because chances are, it doesn’t. Chances are fear is poisoning your here and now."
This resonated with me. I've been working a lot with fear and understanding its the hidden or unnoticed emotion behind my anxiety. Once I've identified this, its not necessarily easier, but it is at least clearer.
As always thanks for your wisdom
Thanks for this, Lynda : ). I'm right there with you, working on fear and trying to see how it is the emotion behind too much of what I do. Take care!