BACK TO THE CENTRE

What a hugely important time we are in!!! And one look at my animated face and my mittful of coloured pens and you will see how over the moon I am right now. Ok, first of all, we are all celebrating Earth Day in a way we may never have before. We may be bowled over by the changes our enforced home-stays are having on the environment. Clear skies over LA and Beijing, wolves and antelopes running through city streets, visible fish in Venetian canals…it’s all pretty astonishing. Hopefully, we’ll come out of this pandemic with a much clearer vision for our beloved earth…a commitment to nourish and sustain her for years to come.

We’re also celebrating Culture Day. I may be inventing that, but I’ll tell you why it’s critical right now. Both the Earth and Culture are experiencing a huge Restoration.

And of course that puts in mind of an old Irish Myth. Did you know that was coming? You know me too well.

The myth tells the story of what happens in a village after a disaster…a flood, or an earthquake, a tornado or …let’s say…a pandemic. All the pieces, both physical and cultural, explode and are scattered far and wide to the edges of the village. It always seems to be a village in these Irish Myths, but it could be a city or a town or….a person. The story tells how the villagers tremble in shock and eventually they pick themselves up and notice a few things are missing…like a roof or their well-being. They make their way to the edges of town and pick through the devestation, finding bits and pieces of their former life. And they carry these things back to the centre of the village. They begin the long and painful process of repairing broken houses, mending shattered wagons, burying their dead and giving solace to their neighbours. As in the Japanese practice of Kintsugi, they fill in the cracks with gold to show how much more valuable than something brand new, a restored object can be. Those golden cracks are reminders of lessons hard won and new strength from coming through the other side. Right now, we are experiencing such an explosion. Our lives feel unrecognizable …we can’t do any of the things that may have defined our lives before. We can’t even get a proper haircut..and for some that is a tragedy of major proportions. We have to begin the process of restoration. 

The earth is taking care of its own restoration without our interference it seems. But we need to focus on our Cultural Restoration. And we don’t want to just put things back the way they were. So many wise ones are saying this now…We don’t want to go back to normal…Normal was the problem. So what do we do? We travel to the edges of our village and we bring back what was lost ….and we do that from a wiser, deeper, more conscious perspective. Let me give you a few examples. 

If you’re an older villager, you need to bring your Eldership, your blessing, back to the centre. If you’re a boomer, you may need to step into Service, bringing all your talents, your entrepreneurial spirit into entities that nourish everyone, not just in homage to the bottom line. Youth can bring their energy and brilliance into creating innovative ways for all of us to live…in vital new designs. Marriage needs to transform into wholeness…instead of two half-people adding up to one, we need two whole people to come together, mutually supporting each other. Businesses can transform into entities of generosity and prosperity. 

These are the miracles of transformation that are possible when our old familiar way of life implodes. I am not for one minute saying there aren’t real and tragic losses to endure…there are. But we can breathe, take care of each other and  we can bring back a new life to the centre…together. 

There are things that can help us and you can bet your boots i’m going to tell you what those things are. 

1. Stories. There are so many beautiful stories out there that tell of courage and character and untold misery and ways along paths we may not have ever considered. Find one or two that resonate with you and read them more than once. You might even read them to your family. There are depths to these stories…they’ve lasted for generations …there must be a reason for that. Perhaps they hold secrets that stand the test of time. They help bring us back to our centre. There are Wisdom Stories available on my website…one of them may be just what you need right now.
2. Stillness. We need to be still so we can hear our own wisdom. There’s a lot of excess noise out there right now. Nothing like the unknown to bring out the theorists. We are desperate for some kind of explanation, but sometimes we just have to accept the mystery and go inside and  listen to what is best for each one of us. Join me every weekday morning at 7.31 PT on Instagram for a Hut Practice….15 minutes of stillness to start your day. We need embodied, engaged spirituality if we want to live a meaningful life.
3. Mentors. It’s so important to have someone you trust to give you guidance or just be a sounding board when you need to rant or express your frustration or confusion. Find someone who has taken their own Hero/Heroine’s journey…someone who has come back to the centre and knows what that journey is like. He or she may have taken a very different journey, not the one you’re taking, but they will understand what you’re up against and can ‘companion’ you through the hard parts and celebrate the triumphs along side of you. I can offer you mentorship, but it doesn’t have to be me. There are lots of people out there who have travelled this road…you just need to find the right one for you.

Remember my friends, although this seems like totally unfamiliar territory, our good old Earth has gone through this before…there have been Cycles of destruction and rebirth….many of them. So let’s hold each other’s hand…virtually of course…and we will find a way to restore ourselves and come back to the centre with new and vital energy and a clearer vision for our future.