It feels like so much is always pulling and tugging at the fabric which makes us – trying desperately to tear a hole in our beautifully woven soul so as to completely unravel us. Each untethered thread feels so vulnerable to emotional exposure – it almost wants to be pulled. It is all we can do to hold fast to the integrity of the shroud of who we are and love the frayed edges that add to that timeless beauty.
My guiding principles around holding myself in my own integrity have been coming back into peace. It is my deep knowing that first knowing, then finding, then cultivating peace in the body is paramount for self healing and also planetary healing of Mama Gaia. The part that begins to take me out of peace is any narrative that creates division. If there is a social media post that hints at a fractured human who is posting something that wants to create anger or hatred, then this clearly is pulling me out of peace. If there is a post of honor or respect, regardless of if I agree or not – but if it is done in honor and respect – this is creating unity and peace. Peace has to win out for me – because I deeply honor peace as the foundation for our healing.
Cultivating Peace
It can be so challenging to establish that baseline of what is peace? Peace has a dynamic. It’s not just quiet…it can have elements of an energetic flow where one aspect overtakes another – like swallowing food and digesting it. It can seem harsh- we are chewing on the food and macerating it – tearing it to pieces – but the food is then breaking down and assimilating in our body. There is a sense of equilibrium that comes to pass. ..A peace. So it’s not static. But there is a sense of unity to it, a sense that we are a whole.
Coming into peace takes work! It takes a steadiness, an ability to hold calm within a storm. Sometimes we can watch how a tree reacts to the wind. I remember in college at UCSC – I had a writing assignment for a class with Frank Andrews. He was a chemistry professor, but he was teaching a class that was very Buddhist in nature. I can’t remember what the course was called. It was super intimate and we had to really be willing to be vulnerable with the classmates. We even were invited to his house for a potluck at one point, I think. In any case, he had us free write about something we witnessed in nature. I had a favorite tree that was by the coast on West Cliff Drive – a gorgeously tall and very large very old cypress. Many folks in Santa Cruz would know this tree. I witnessed the tree getting hammed one day by the wind coming off the coast. And I was saying something about how the tree felt tired and hammered by the relentless wind or something to that effect. And Frank Andrews suggested – what if the tree feels invigorated and more full of life? That was a big paradigm shift.
What if we are not brutalized by our experiences but ultimately carved into our perfect beingness of who we are by them? If we can take that perspective, then we can hold unity around the entire dynamic. The wind will come, the wind will go. Who are we before, during and after the wind? Are we anchored and bending with the wind and feeling the flow of it all? Can we do that or are we caught up with fighting the wind, trying to force our branches to hold fast to straight up and down, thus snapping.
Creating Beauty in the World – The New Earth – The Peaceful Place We Want to Be…
Peace is not passive. Peace can be assertive and can be expressive. In studying Self-Governance with John Butruccio through The American State Nationals as the Coordinator on Wyoming, We took into our practice removing from our interactions the three C’s – Complaining, Criticizing and Condemning as well as the three R’s – Resentment, Resistance and Revenge. This does take self reflection. So when we plan to post something on social media – are we participating in any of these? Can we start to post going forward by removing these from our posts? I challenge all for 30 days?
Reflecting – A Peaceful State – Are we in Peace?
Start with reflecting on if you are noticing that your post is embodying the three C’s or three R’s… why do you feel compelled to post? how can you transform that energy. I think many people post things that fall into these categories because they are feeling helpless and feel themselves to be in a state of victimhood. But this energy does not build the beautiful earth realm that we know exists. Can we start to see the fumes, the toxicity, the mental emotional pollution that fumes from the posts? They literally wreak! They are creating horrible earth pollution right now.
So I offer you this, during these very tumultuous times. Begin with a curiosity around what is peace? How do you hold peace within you? Can you hold peace? Begin with these inquiries. If you cannot hold peace, then begin the reflection as to why. There is something that exists there as to why peace has not been available to you. What is it? This reflection takes great humility and the willingness to open and be vulnerable even if just with yourself.
When you cultivate this practice of peace in the body…your create the nourishing soil for healing. For many of us, unbeknownst to us, there is a lot of warring going on in our bodies…whether that’s with foods that we are reactive to (some that we conscious of, others that we aren’t conscious of), emotional warring – very subtle energies, mental warring – fighting with ourself around things again that we are either conscious of or not – and all of this can lead or is coupled with a spiritual warring. The body has to align to safety. Peace cultivates safety. Safety is foundational for healing.
Truly, peace is so simple. We have the power at each and every breath to choose peace. Choose unity. Choose healing. Anchor in Self-governance. Feel peace blooming in your body. Smell the fragrance of your own peace flowers. Let’s get crackin! We’ve got a beautiful earth simply waiting for us to wake up and find peace. May peace be with you. May my peace be your peace. Blessings to all.
