I just read a post from Celia Finn (Starchild Global) where she quotes the reactions felt by a young woman in Chile, to being in the center of the earthquake there. The woman describes the great love that she felt for Mother Earth along with the great power that she felt rise up inside herself to meet the intensity that was being displayed. How the woman felt the absolute connection. (God bless her and all of our brothers and sisters who have been in the eye of the storm of recent earth changes.)
I was struck by this connection to Mother Gaia that was felt. We are all being called to remember that she is a sentient being and that we are all connected to her heart. We are being called to help her move through this birthing process with as much grace and ease as possible.
How do we do that? We take responsibility for moving through our own earthquakes with courage, integrity, and compassion. Heaps of compassion!
All of us are getting hefty doses of our "stuff" coming up to be released. All the places where we are stuck, all the dark corners where we swept our garbage under the rug instead of disposing of it. Now we are being given the opportunity to do a real spring cleaning!!
Last summer it was about material stuff as we felt inspired to clear out our closets and garages, to get rid of all that we were no longer using. We wanted to feel lighter physically. For me it was truly emptying my apartment by giving away most of my possessions and leaving with what fit in the trunk of my car. It was such a relief at that time to let go of "things".
Throughout the winter months as I traveled around the USA and Canada, allowing each day to take me where it would, I was given opportunities to revisit old places and relationships and gather back the pieces of my soul that had been left behind. I was also given opportunities to sleep on Mother Earth's ground. For weeks prior to leaving on my "drive-about" (I'm a Yank and as I told my Aussie friends, we don't do walk-abouts in the USA, we take our cars!) I had been craving the experience of sleeping in the woods. I needed to sleep on the ground. Mother Earth guided me to different mountain tops, ocean sides, creeksides. I felt so happy on my thin pad and sleeping bag, me who previously needed a thick mattress under me to sleep well. I was connecting to her heart, her dear mother's heart that gives and gives.
She is releasing and we have been working to release, release, release. We think that we are done with an issue only to have the next layer revealed. Over and over we are seeing through our old patterns and addictive behaviors. We can feel our brains being rewired. A trigger comes in...our mind wants to take the old comfortable synapse route (he says this, I respond with this) but we have to STOP. I visualize a stop sign in my brain. I have to hold up and chose a new route. It feels uncomfortable as I have never been this way before. Will I get lost? Will I lose something along the way? No and yes! I will not get lost, I will discover a new pathway that is delightful. I will wonder how I waited so long to try this route! And yes, I will lose the old patterning that kept me small. I will lose that track of the story that played on and on with its dismal sound.
Ok, where was I? Taking care of our own fault lines before they explode, letting go of negativity, worry, fear, judgement, control.....all of it. We want a peaceful earth. We are only beginning to understand that means that we have to be at peace with ourselves. Mother Gaia can't do it for us, President Obama can't create it without us. Each one of us has to do our part. It is not enough to do the "good deeds" out in the world and ignore our inner world of strife and conflict. We must do it individually and together. As each one of us heals some part of ourselves, we heal the planet. It really is so simple. As we hold onto the war inside, we contribute to the war in the world. We need to stop.
I had a couple of beautiful examples of the changes that are happening.
My friend had called and asked me if I wanted to play hokey with her for the day as she did not want to go to work. I gently reminded her that she had just taken a day off on Friday and this was now Monday morning. She acknowledged that and decided that she would go to work and deal with what was bothering her about work. Well, she did not go to work, she took the day off. She told me about it a couple of days later. She realized that she had fallen back into an old pattern of avoidance and lying to deal with an unpleasant situation. Recognizing this, instead of repeating another old pattern of feeling tremendous guilt and shame, she spoke to herself, to her dear little girl who felt overwhelmed and unappreciated. She consoled her, told her that it was ok, that she loved her. She did not judge her actions. She allowed her behavior to bring her needed clarity: Oh.. I am unhappy at my job. What is it that I would like to change? From this inquiry, she could move to a new place. The old shame and beating herself up would just drop her further down the well.
So, she gathered the courage to speak to the boss and express her unhappiness. She knew that it could go either way. She might get what she asked for or she might gain the knowledge that it was indeed time to look for a new job. She realized that both options were better than where she was now. She was able to see that either result would be positive, enabling her to grow and get out of the stuck stage.
My friend called today with joy in her voice as she recounted how the boss had agreed to all the changes that she desired so that the job would allow her to grow. She received validation for her contributions and now was excited about work once again.
I was so proud of the way that she moved through this.
Old patterns will come up, we will follow the worn routes but we can catch ourselves and gently guide ourselves to a new route, a new path, a new way of being.
Another example was told to me by a friend who recently had her eight year relationship end. Her former partner told her that he had a lot of anger and needed to express it. She agreed to listen. He asked her to not take it personally though of course it was presented in a personal way. He had been afraid of his anger all of his life and so during their time together, he had been irritable and withdrawn rather than displaying anger. So, she listened with a calm heart and held space for him with love. When she felt a trigger, she breathed into it and let it go. Afterwards, her partner was so grateful for the strength and compassion that her silent listening had shown. He felt so much freer and they were able to laugh together. He was able to see how so much of what he was angry about was not true and was able to release it.
This is what we can do for one another. We can hold space, realize that it is not personal, it is simply energy that needs to be moved. Mother Earth is doing the same thing. We can hold her in love in our hearts and know that it is not personal. It is energy moving to make way for the new.
Let us hold Mother Earth in our hearts as well as our dear selves and walk through this time with ease and grace.
