Spirituality
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The Only Way
Can we save our country and our world?
First we have to understand what’s going on, and why; how long these mindsets and values have been festering under the surface and how much of it we have inside us. Knowledge is power. We need to know how we are being controlled, who is doing the controlling, and take a long hard look at all of the ways in which we have been indoctrinated.
Next we need to study and learn who our real enemies are; what is the origin and extent of their power over us, how they maintain it, and what are it’s limits. Then we can act by doing what we can to live outside of those limits. There is no solution on the large scale. We can’t eradicate all evil, we can’t create utopia. That false hope might be partly what got us here.
If we are motivated by saving the world or even our country we’ll probably fail. But we can save ourselves and the nice lady at the bus stop and the man we pass on the street corner every day; the coworker we don’t really talk to, the neighbor we’ve lived next to for years; if we can see their humanity and share in it together.
“The light in me sees and honors the light in you.” I need you and you need me. Today we choose interdependence. We can save ourselves by carving out a community of reliance on relationships, not money, not “the system”. We choose joy by sharing resources and being present in the simple pleasures of life, not chasing the American Dream.
We’ll have to give up a lot to live outside the cage they’ve put us in, but it’s the only way.
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Credit to my dear friend Phillipe Kenny for inspiring this piece with his wise words on finding hope and moving forward.
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Be Present for Joy
Joy isn’t always in the present. But it isn’t anywhere else, either.
Joy doesn’t live in the past, or the future. This little millisecond sliding through time, splitting the future from the past is all we have. Trying to fight that kills any possibility of joy.
I say this in the middle of extremely dark and terrifying times. It’s because of those very times that I say this.
I would love to be in another timeline as much as the next person, but we need to stay present and try not to dissociate or long for the past or mentally speed ahead to a better future.
I am not advocating for toxic positivity. Injustice is infuriating and rightly so. Grief and rage are warranted and needed. But we can’t live on rage alone. Without any joy, we die.
During these dangerous and evil days, finding joy in the present often requires zooming way in, up close and looking at our day under a microscope. Zoom in on the building blocks of life that are easily missed. Zoom in to feel the warm sun on your face. Zoom in to enjoy the dew drops on a blade of grass. Zoom in to relish the tickle of curly toddler hair against your neck, their little heartbeat against your chest. Zoom in to the buzz of crickets on a still night. Zoom in to a loved one’s laugh. Zoom in to meditate on the smell of muffins in the oven or the takeout on your counter. Breathe.
Anxieties are high. My own is through the roof. But I try my best not to let it take any more from me than is necessary. So I ground myself and try to focus on what I can control and what I love and not give up my joy voluntarily.
There will be moment where joy is impossible or inappropriate, but don’t let them take over more than their rightful space.
What can you find in your microscope today that could bring you a little joy?
Sometimes joy is all we have.
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No Facades, No Apologies
I’m not finding myself, but finding my worth
I’m not lost, only trained to be invisible
It takes courage to be who you really are
Just you and nothing and nobody else
Unveiled for the world to see
No facades, no apologies
I’m learning to love myself again – or maybe for the very first time
I’m rewiring my brain to believe I am good – not disgusting or evil or broken
I can trust myself – and they were wrong
I was created with inherent glory and nothing, no one, can strip that away
That’s what it means to be made in the image of God
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Sunrise and Sunset
God may have made day and night,
but God also made sunrise and sunset
color splashed in amber light
painted skies so we won’t forget
There are more than two ways of being
God may have made day and night,
but God also made sunset and sunrise
bluebird skies, dawn growing bright
pastel rainbows dazzling before with our eyes
There are more than two ways of being
God may have made night and day
but some nights are starry, crystal clear
and some nights are moonless, foggy gray
dewy or frosty, changing with the year
There are more than two ways of being
God may have made night and day
but some days simmer, air thick and still
others frigid, lung-biting, a frozen display
some days are blustery, others tranquil
There are more than two ways of beingGod may have made woman and man
but why can’t people be more unique
than we experience night and day can
what we like, who we love, how we thinkThere are more than two ways of being
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That Scandalous Day
Celebrating that scandalous day flesh became divine and eternal permeated temporal. The day the sacred rested with the shunned.
Leveling hierarchies by going first to the lowly. Breaking down the separation between body and soul. Unifying flesh and spirit. Thwarting plans of the powerful. Blurring the lines between miraculous and ordinary.
Destroying shame to show us that our bodies are good, good enough for God themself. Coming close enough to us, to teach us how to recognize the divine in each other.