Consciousness

"There appears to be a law that when creatures

have reached the level of consciousness,

as men have, they must become conscious of creation;

they must learn how they fit into it

and what it needs are and what it requires of them,

or else pay a terrible penalty: 

the spirit of creation will go out of them,

and they will become destructive; 

the very earth will depart from them

and go where they cannot follow."

Wendell Berry in his essay A Native Hill

Dwight Sims' pictures 
of the damp sand in
the Santa Fe River bed

School 's Out

Curved bill Thrashers nesting in cholla

The pandemic has us all sheltering in place. Students at all levels are not physically coming to school and schoolwork at home is done at home. 

During sheltering in place let us not lose sight of the real, looming, pervasive crisis that has been set aside and seems all but forgotten during this pandemic: climate crisis. 

Shasta patiently waiting on a lush spot of clover
with her very favorite ball
for us to finish our breakfast.
She knows soon we will
go for our morning walk.

Each morning after breakfast we walk with Shasta. Soon after the closing of the schools here in Santa Fe, NM, a teacher posted her message on the East side of the bridge over which we walk to get to the path along the Santa Fe River. 

Sangre de Cristo Mountains
in the background
above the bridge

Each morning I read the teacher's message which I find ever so impactful. So I  would like to share her message with each and every one of you.

The bottom line reads
"action, not hope, now"

To discharge all the emotions that this powerful message brings up, may we

April 07, 2020

Glorious Spring time  sunset from our backyard.

Today is World Health Day. I would like to share my morning reading from Earth Prayers from Around the World with each and every one of you. 

House made of dawn.

House made of evening light.

House made of the dark cloud.

House made of male rain.

House made of dark mist.

House made of female rain.

House made of pollen.

House made of grasshoppers.

Dark cloud is at the door.

The trail out of it is dark cloud.

The zigzag lightning stands high upon it.

An offering I make.

Restore my feet for me.

Restore my legs for me.

Restore my body for me.

Restore my mind for me.

Restore my voice for me.

This very day take out your spell for me.

Happily I recover.

Happily my interior becomes cool.

Happily I go forth.

My interior feeling cool, may I walk.

No longer sore, may I walk.

Impervious to paint, may I walk.

With lively feelings may I walk.

As it used to be long ago, may I walk.

Happily may I walk.

Happily, with abundance dark clouds, may I walk.

Happily, with abundance showers, may I walk.

Happily, with abundance plants, may I walk.

Happily, on a trail of pollen, may I walk.

Happily may I walk.

Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.

May it be beautiful before me.

May it be beautiful behind me.

May it be beautiful below me.

May it be beautiful above me.

May it be beautiful all around me.

In beauty it is finished.

In beauty it is finished.

              NAVAJO CHANT

As we focus on our well BEing and the health of our planet, may we frequently

Perfection

May we each BE  perfection relaxed as Shasta lying on our couch.

This morning while sitting the thought for a post about "perfection" came to me. Later as I was checking my emails, I discovered Tania Carriere had already written one beautifully. With her permission here is her blog post on pandemic perfection. For more on Tania and her work please click on www.advivumjourneys.ca/.

I woke up this morning with a sense of dread. I was greeted by the voice in my head saying “I don’t think I you’re doing this right”.

This feeling followed me around yesterday too.

I remember coaching my clients just a few weeks ago…
“everything is going to change, what we do and how we do it is going to shift. Be prepared to let “the way it is” go and accept that we are going to create a new normal”.

-and then the world shifted -

And I said “no problem world, I got this!”
I’m good at change, I’ve mastered resilience, optimism and the art of finding a silver lining.

I am prepared to let it all go, to embrace a new normal, to be resilient and use this change as a pivot point for a brave new way!

I got busy and made a list, “things to do in this time at home”:
re-kindle romance with my hubby of 18 years
commit to my daily meditation practice
cook yummy, healthy meals, from scratch, with no leftovers
read, read, read - only for pleasure - I deserve it!
run twice a day on the treadmill (even though I have NEVER run before). This is THAT time to get fit and lean!

Nice list right?
Seems like me; optimistic, resilient, productive.
Because I don’t want to get to the other side of the pandemic and discover that I have wasted this opportunity, right?

And because I am a best-life coach, I should be able to do this - no sweat.

Except I am sweating.
It is frikkin’ exhausting!

I’m staring at the folder in which I’ve downloaded 16 free mediation apps, knowing I will never open them, feeling overwhelmed and hearing the criticism of the “shoulds” mounting as a chorus in my head.

I realize that the one thing that I didn’t let go of was perfection.

In times of stress, our old coping patterns have a way of springing back into action. Mine is to respond full steam ahead while getting things done right. So I ramped up my writing, my delivery to clients, my virtual-social gatherings. I got busy with good intentions.

Apparently at some point I said to myself “If there is a pandemic, then I will do pandemic well!”
Which is a crazy objective seeing as this is my first pandemic and I have no prior experience.

I hear this “pandemic perfection” in my conversations with clients as they manage the anxiety of not being as productive at work, as wise as parents, as present with friends. Heck - they’re even beating themselves up for under walking and over walking the dog.

And I confess, I ate Cheesies for breakfast this morning. I did so while hiding from my husband. Which is the opposite of both re-introducing romance AND eating lovely home cooked meals from scratch.

But in all of this worry about how it should be done, we are forgetting that this is a time that asks us to create a new normal. We don’t have a baseline for this, there is no “standard” to live up to. And no, we shouldn’t be holding up the old measures as guideposts for our days.

Letting it go means I can say I don’t know what a Sunday is supposed to look like while I am in the third week of social distancing. Is there any reason why I can’t watch a movie at breakfast? Do we really have to eat lunch at noon? If it takes twice as long to write a blog while holding the cat, can’t that be ok?

A part of my new normal is holding myself compassionately and discovering who I need to be, how I need to exist, in this strange new life.

Perhaps the best I can do for myself is to feel my way through the day.

No beating myself up.
No “insisting”.
No trying to do it all like it was done before.

I am replacing perfection with a sense of discovery; the “way it should be” with an inquiry, “how is it now, in the new normal?”

The pressure to do it perfectly can be replaced with the acceptance of what is and the tuning into the voice that wants to guide me. My list can be prompted by my needs as they emerge, because I cannot predict who I will be in this unrehearsed time.

I am inviting myself to sit with self-compassion, gentleness and love. I am throwing out the list. They are a part of the old way.

Part of the new way I am creating is to gift myself tenderness, flow and permission. I’m just going to accept that we are all making this up as we go along.

I’m deleting the apps.
I think I’ll meditate on Cheesies

My husband is upstairs watching a movie with morning coffee, I think I’ll join him.

~Tania

And as we are gentle with ourselves and each other at this time of sheltering in place, may we