Fall Weekends

Fall weekends

It’s a strange feeling today. It’s been extraordinarily beautiful up here in New England, one of those soft, gorgeous early fall weekends. The weather is perfect, with the leaves just beginning to change and the air smells like apples and Concord grapes ripening in the sun. 

It’s in stark contrast to so many other parts of the world where there is chaos, fear and havoc. 

I am trying to sit with the duality of this. My own life is awesome and gets better every day. I have leveled up my spiritual practice to the point where I feel such a level of peace and love, almost all the time.

And yet the world continues on it’s crazy way, careening out of control like a roller coaster tilting on two wheels. All day in my energy medicine practice, as I am seeing clients, I hear the reality of people’s pain and the strength and resiliency of people never ceases to humble and astound me.

It feels like the world is cracking apart, so many people that I know are right up against painful change and transitions; divorces, deaths, serious illness and problems in the family abound. Every time we turn on the news we are faced with another disaster of epic proportions.

Everything is in breakdown mode.

My friend the astrologer refuses to get out of bed. Psychics and sensitives all across our country are rattled by the eclipse, solar flares and the basic crazy energy of the world. Empaths are in hiding, since they are super tuned into the pain and suffering of the world. And the preppers are prepping their heads off, bless their hearts. (I’ll be moving in with one of them, just you wait…)

I understand why there are Internet memes asking if this is the end of the world, it does seem like the end of the world as we know it.

And yet, I can’t really fall into despair. I know in those cracked and opened places are where great healing and transformation happens. Breakdowns precede breakthroughs. Perhaps in this case its epic breakdowns precede epic breakthroughs.

All the places that are broken, shut down, and blocked are opening and that is always painful. There is a greater cosmic cycle that we are caught in, which I find comfort in.

(Does it help to not take it just personally to know that? I told a client that the other day- “It’s not just you honey, it’s the whole world!” “Oh, goodie…” she said.)

The world, and those of us that live in it, goes through a continual cycle of building things up, sustaining them and then breaking them down. This is the cosmic growth cycle and none of us can avoid it.

Oak trees grow from acorns, spread their branches high and then die and decay so that other little oak trees might live. It is the way of things.

And our lives, cultures and civilizations do the same. Empires rise and fall and I often wonder if this is how the Romans felt at the fall of Rome. I am certainly not underestimating how painful and scary it is to live through this era of decay and decomposition.

I think it depends on how resilient you are and how open to change.

The Chinese character for CRISIS is both change and opportunity. What opportunities can we see while the old and outmoded and unsustainable structures fall down around our ears, like it or not?

Once the stuck and stagnant energy starts moving, miracles can happen. And they are happening.

I see it on the news with people helping people regardless of differences, which might otherwise divide. My son said to me the other day, “I don’t think you care if the person pulling you off the roof of your flooded house is white, gay, black, illegal or trans. Or all of the above…”

I see it in my clients everyday as they courageously open to what is and allow the transformations to happen with as much grace as they can muster.

And I can pray and hope for this kind of healing as a nation too.

Perhaps we have shifted our priorities away from hating the differences and more towards helping each other.

Perhaps we will take another, closer look at how we have impacted our planet and what the consequences of that are. (Since its now in our face in way we can’t deny…)

Perhaps we can take a step back from hating, blaming, complaining and finger pointing and come back to problem solving, caring, and talking. And compromising.

There is always hope and a chance to change things for the better.

In the meantime, my prayers and love go out to all those in harms way in Florida and those still recovering in Texas. And to all others all across the world who stories are not being told 24/7 on CNN.

Let’s remember to pray and when we have a chance to choose the light.

Children

A Sign