June 11, 2020

Today marks 2 months of intensive posting on maintaining a spiritual focus during the Covid-19 Pandemic. I began on April 11, after 1 month of lock-down here in California. Things certainly have progressed in various ways and I do affirm that we know more about the virus and it's spread than we did when the Pandemic began. Yet, there is much more that needs to be understood in terms of curtailing and ending this world crisis. We have much more to discover about preventing future pandemics as well and making decisions on how we will proceed from now--how our local communities, our country and the world will change.

I maintain that those who can hold a spiritual perspective, based on unity, oneness, and individual religious freedom, continue to have positive impact on unfolding events--in both our personal, individual lives, the lives of our immediate relationships, and the larger collective field. For now though, although I will continue to post frequently, I won't be posting daily. I plan to return to daily posts when circumstances demand it. I am currently exploring the possibility of holding an online, Sunday service through Zoom. Those of you who are on the Hillside mailing list will shortly receive a postcard through regular mail regarding this. Those of you who are on the Hillside email list will receive the email version. And I will include the postcard text on a facebook post for those who are not on either and, most likely, I will post a facebook event page when something is actually scheduled. More tomorrow... (Susan Nettleton)

June 10, 2020

As more states report spikes in new Covid-19 cases, they continue to reopen while encouraging masks and social distancing. It is clear that we plan on coping with the Pandemic for quite some time. Depending on your local community, you may have begun your own re-entry process. This is a good time to reaffirm your commitment to a deeper spiritual practice as you re-evaluate how you will be participating as society opens outward. Again, certain parts of the country and the world may have to step back into strict lock-down at times, while certain parts will move forward. We may continue to have to shift.

Even in the best of times, unless we are in a monastic environment, living from a spiritual perspective naturally involves a process of shifting from the interior world of silence and prayer to the outer world of commerce, roles, and social structures on a daily basis. Having a dedicated space for your spiritual practice actually helps you make the shift from one mode of being to another, until you are clearly planted in a spiritual perspective wherever you are, whatever is happening. It seems to me a good time to to assess the physical space where we meditate, pray, perhaps study or write, and open to creative resources within. This is the space that seeds the atmosphere of peace and healing. Ideally, it gives you a sense of the privacy of your interior life and yet holds reminders of the larger spiritual body of which you are a part. It may be a tiny corner for you and your chair or cushion, but over time, entering that space will immediately invoke the peace, spaciousness and freedom of the Transcendent.

I imagine that these months of lock-down have brought you insight and experiences that sooner or later will be reflected in your physical space. Consider the images and objects that will continue to speak to you of peace, of stillness, of silence, throughout the time of Pandemic and whatever events are yet to unfold. (Susan Nettleton)

June 9, 2020

Wellness is a cornerstone concept in preventative health. We know the current recommendations and mandates in our cities to prevent further spread of the Covid-19 virus, and those may change, as they have several times over the months of the Pandemic. This is not the time to be careless with the protection of ourselves and others as we begin to open outward. It is also a time to remember the spiritual dimension of healing and principles that are basic to wellness, health, and healing.

From hillsidesource.com

"...there is another way to approach spirituality, not as a “component of your wellness plan”, but as the very ground of health. Spirituality can be experienced as a recognition that life springs from a Unitive Source retaining its mystery, order, intelligence and creative power that surpass human knowledge and control. It is the source of “wellness” that encompasses all healing, even medical intervention. Wellness then includes the capacity of life, in all its perplexing forms, to repair, renew, and heal: Life takes care of life. To manage the complexity of society, to communicate, and for the sake of our partial piecemeal understanding of the vastness of existence, we divide the whole into the parts. ... (here, we can) explore spirituality as our capacity to heal, make-whole, and take care."  (Susan Nettleton)

“Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.”
— Chuang Tzu

Here is a place to begin:

https://hillsidesource.com/an-atomosphere-of-healing

June 8, 2020

During a time of intense emotions across the country, with so many people angry, many sorrowful, and many fearful, our innate capacity to regulate feeling states is put to the test.  Again, emotions are contagious.  The practice of meditation over time strengthens that natural regulation of the body and its ability to adjust its responses to shifting tones and changing environments.  The physical relaxation that is part of meditation, lowers our physical tension and the lowered tension signals the brain that the body is not in immediate danger or threat, so our thinking and feeling states calm down.  The meditation focus also allows a distancing from both thoughts and emotions; we find we can observe them with a different quality of awareness, an equanimity and poise, from a calm center.  That calm center may fade into the background as we  continue our day, but it is increasingly available as we remember it and return. 

We enter a phase where we will "see-saw" between this calm spiritual awareness and our reactive and shared emotions.  There are times when the calm within us is the rock around which all the waves of emotions crash--we can be a strength and a solace for others.  At other times--and perhaps in those moments it really is in our best interests to so be--we are wholly human, giving way to the depth of emotion of humanity, and we must look to a Higher Power to bring us to peace.   This is its own form of "giving way".   And we find ourselves lifted and stronger.

 (Susan Nettleton)

June 7, 2020

For this Sunday, I pause from the tumultuous week and encourage you to spend part of your day in the silence of nature, even if it is only through images or words.  Here are two powerful descriptions from Annie Dillard’s 1982 book Teaching a Stone to Talk:  Expeditions and Encounters.  (Susan Nettleton)

“The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega, it is God's brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blinded note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to "World." Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.”

and for her silence in nature click this link.

June 6, 2020

Over these weeks of lockdown, I have written in various ways about attention, focus, attitude and affirmation, as well as our time in meditative silence.  These are all aspects of consciousness and contribute to our own well-being.  They are ways that we influence the "atmosphere" of the environment and relationships around us.  We respond to life and life responds to us.  That is the "dance of life", that still implies a veil of separation.  It is only a veil, not a wall--a veil that  allows for the magnificence of creation--infinite forms within the One Source. 

You as an individual, and you in shared agreement with others, do have influence in the collective "atmosphere".  That "atmosphere", in turn, impacts those immediately around you, and from there outwardly, to an expanding circumference.  Interestingly, it has parallels with contagion and the way that disease is spread from one individual to other individuals, who in turn, spread it further exponentially.   While there is research that points to "emotional contagion" (in fear, panic, depression, pessimism and optimism), this idea of "atmospheric" tone is more than just emotions.  A positive atmosphere built on spiritual consciousness is more than just an upbeat feeling tone, or hope.  It has added to it spiritual recognition and consistent action that is integrated with both expectation and experience.  Even though we have yet been able to measure it in a lab (although there is research making the attempt), there is a solidity to spiritual consciousness. 

Consider the classic quote by Confucius:

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nations.
When there is order in the nations, there will peace in the world.”

(Susan Nettleton)

June 5, 2020

Yesterday was a celebration in this household. For the last two weeks we have been nurturing a "butterfly farm". This is a small kit designed for children to learn about and assist in the hatching of butterflies. The project began with 5 caterpillars in a cup with food and air holes. We could watch them eat and move a bit, keeping the room warm, yet out of sunlight, careful to keep things clean and not introduce any bacteria. When they were ready, the caterpillars began their ascent to the top of the cup and spinning strands of silk, they attached themselves to a disk at the top, hanging upside down in a J shape. This initiated the process of their body transforming into a chrysalis. It required 'leaving them be' in stillness. The cup could not be disturbed. With our boisterous house, this was the most difficult but crucial step, doing nothing! After 24 hours, they were very gently cleaned of their webbing, and moved to the top of a small netted tent, still hanging on the disk. Only one caterpillar had failed to climb, a source of great concern, but following the instructions, we gently lay it on a paper towel on the floor of the tent next to the tent wall. We waited some more. For the next week, it seemed nothing was happening. We began to doubt-- especially the one that had failed to climb, as it lay motionless on the floor day after day.

But yesterday, there was movement. On the floor of the tent, a new creature seemed to be emerging, but then stopped. The strangeness, the movement, and then utter stillness, convinced us it was not going to make it. But amazingly it did. What appeared to us as the weakest, the injured one without a chance, opened it's wings and we cheered! We sang happy birthday and repeated the song three more times during the day as 4 out of 5 butterflies emerged. This morning, number 5 hatched. Like yesterday's arrivals, its wings, as they dried, revealed the colorful pattern of the painted lady butterfly.

In a few days we will release them outdoors, but for now we celebrate the mystery, beauty and resilience of life that can transform...is transforming... unseen. (Susan Nettleton)

June 4, 2020

As the protest crowds begin to settle and the curfews past, many businesses and public places slowly begin the process of re-opening.  Underneath renewed activity though, there is a feeling of waiting, especially for those in public health are watching the Covid-19 data and for those who must structure and monitor re-opening regulations.   This weekend (and extending into Monday)  will mark the 14 days from Memorial Weekend, which is the standard CDC quarantine for those who have been exposed to Covid-19.  Memorial Weekend was the time period when social distancing regulations broke apart in many recreational areas across the country.  Some people self-isolated following that weekend, most did not.  It will take another week plus a few days following this weekend to mark the quarantine period for the massive protests that have been taking place, where large groups of people--some with masks and some without--walked shoulder to shoulder through the streets.  Approximately 97% of the people who get infected and develop symptoms do so within 11 to 12 days, and around 99%  within 14 days. But even those who have no symptoms 2 weeks later are potential carriers who can infect someone else.  Regulations will likely shift in areas if cases begin to suddenly climb.  There are several factors that could have mitigated risks:  activities that were in open air, maintaining hand washing,  a seasonal shift in weather and temperature, a low rate of infection in the population, factors that have yet to be discovered--we just don't know yet.  Hence the need to wait.  So if you are feeling uncertain about your own plans to move past lockdown, it maybe you are in waiting mode too.

You may be reflecting the uncertainty and watchfulness of the community planners.

It's not waiting for the perfect moment, it is waiting for the right moment.  A right moment doesn't mean a problem free path, nor one with a guaranteed outcome.   For community planners it means the right data.  For the individual, it means that you feel ready, that you are willing to wait (you are not stubbornly and forcefully pushing ahead), but the door is opening and it is seems time to at least take a few steps in the right direction.  In the Taoist Book of Changes (I Ching), the idea of "Waiting" is linked to Nourishment.  This is not a time of idleness, rather it is a time of preparation that includes fortifying yourself with food and good cheer.  Nourish yourself with the inspiring ideas of others, think, read.  Meditate.  Pray. Rest and replenish.  "Fate comes when it will, and thus you are ready."

June 3, 2020

Last night as I reflected on the last few days of protests, violent factions, early curfews and lock-downed cities, I had a revelation, followed by a flood of optimism.

As we have been collectively digesting this sudden turn of events, there has been a pervasive sense of a society "on the brink". The final straw of George Floyd's death that ignited the eruption of outrage and racial tension seemingly could only bring more instability, fear, pain, and conflict to the American people already on overload, struggling to find our way back to "normal" or "new normal". The focus of the Pandemic and the rapidly spreading, deadly virus seemed swept away by the tidal wave of demands for racial equality and justice and escalating news of violence, vandalism and looting. The underlying, yet overwhelming, reaction has been: how can we possibly manage all this chaos?-- as if this were somehow a separate event.

The human mind divides and separates; we think of life events in categories and components. It is one of the ways we have learned to examine life and acquire knowledge, to systematize and organize society. By doing so through science and institutions, we gain some measure of control over the wildness of life. But in so doing, we lose fundamental perspective on the unity of life. The spiritual life transcends division. It is one process. One movement. The protests are not separate from the Pandemic. Yes, racial injustice has deep roots in the human psyche and in American history. Yet, the Civil Rights Movement has deep roots in spirituality, in a devoted affirmation that freedom, justice, and dignity belong to every human being and achieving it can only be through right action. Affirming these values for one group, while dis-avowing them for others, tears the fabric of life's support for all. [At this time in history, we also face the realization that we must begin to include not just all of humanity, but all forms of life in the fabric of care and respect.]

An event as disastrous as the Covid-19. Global Pandemic both exposes and exploits social failure and vulnerabilities. We discover that we have yet to repair the fabric.

We collectively return to the oneness of life, through returning as individuals. Racial divide keeps us from the Wholeness of Life, keeps us from the Source of spiritual healing. What is so complex for human civilization and it's structures and institutions, is not that hard for the human heart.

I was powerfully impacted by the threads of reconciliation that have occurred over these tumultuous days--the courage of those in the most damaged neighborhoods to brave the streets offering help and protection to one another, the clarity of those beginning clean-up and repair, the intelligence and heart of those on seemingly opposite sides who could kneel together and pray, the peaceful vigils held in quiet. These give evidence to the One Movement of Life that heals. I am left with the unexpected assurance that spiritual healing in process. (Susan Nettleton)

June 2, 2020

For a little respite from the news and a contemplation on the Japanese art of Kintsugi, I invite you to follow the link below to Jack Correu's blog (Musings from the Little Shack of Insight) and his May post, "Kintsugi Time at the Little Shack".  In Kintsugi art, the focus is the beauty and value of imperfection.  It reminds us that all forms of life are ultimately transient--all the more reason to respect and celebrate them, as we learn to both let go and repair.  Woven through this story is the reminder of another significant principle of resiliency for the 2020 Pandemic:  the value of a friend.         (Susan Nettleton)

Here's the link:

https://hillsidesource.com/kintsugi-time-at-the-little-shack

June 1, 2020

Today many wake up to the news of more upheaval in the city riots along with the concern of the new spread of Covid 19 through mass gatherings.  As you go about your day, whether you are out in the community or sheltering in place, I encourage you to stay with prayers and thoughts of Peace, for your self first and those of your circle, and in your own way, expand.  In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.,  "set a mood of peace."

“World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Pandemic is still with us.  We have learn a great deal through hard human experience and through a dedicated scientific and medical community.   As we continue to find our way,  as individual, we can do our best to "be voices of reason, sanity and understanding".  It can be difficult when emotions run high and you have your personal fears and struggles.  Yet, understanding yourself as a unique individual who is part of the whole is the core of your spiritual resources.  We can move forward in a mood of peace.  (Susan Nettleton)

For more reflection on Peace from Larry Morris follow the links

https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thoughts/2018/5/25/peace-anchor

https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thoughts/2018/5/25/peace-envelope

May 31, 2020

My the intent this morning was to post further inspiration for a still deeper spiritual peace. But the day began with all three children of the household rushing in with their mom to crowd around my computer and watch the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket arrive at the International Space Station. Live feed from the International Space Station, along with the camera shots of earth below, always bring a sense of awe and wonder. It is an icon for humanity's ability to work together with a shared vision, to discover and fulfill new possibilities for our world. Even though the children didn't really understand, they were carried away with excitement, grabbing everything they could reach, sending things crashing to the floor. This was followed by a wild romp in another room and then back to the baby corral as I settled again to post on peace. Soon after though, I heard a blast of crying, at first with tones of outrage and then continued with the angst of hurt feelings as one sister wrestled a teething biscuit away from the other. I had to laugh at the irony of constant interruption while trying to offer you inspiration on peace. But spiritual peace is not a noiseless state, or a life-less state, that always conforms to our ordering of life. Deep peace at our inmost center is that space of assurance that all is well, even when life is chaotic. What kept running through my mind was this Gaelic blessing:

Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the gentle night to you
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you...

And from St. Theresa of Avila (Spanish Nun, Mystic and Writer, 1515-1582)

Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee;
All thing pass; God never changes.
Patience attains
All that it strives for.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing:
God alone suffices."

Peace, Susan Nettleton

May 30, 2020

Today, Life is calling you to Peace. Every day calls you to Peace, but a day of news of increasing violence is a day calling for increasing Peace. It may not seem like the inner peace of individuals outside a storm of aggressive frenzy bears any relationship to resolving so many complex mixtures of conflicts, anger and hate, but spiritually Life is a whole. Your personal resiliency and health calls for Peace as well. Your spiritual life responds to prayers for Peace, for yourself, your personal field of relationships, your community, country, and world. Peace be with you. (Susan Nettleton)

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings Peace." Buddha
"Blessed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God." Jesus

For more thoughts and a meditation on Peace from hillsidesource.com and Larry Morris, follow the links below:

https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thou…/…/invitation-to-peace
https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thoug…/…/19/peace-discovery

May 29, 2020

When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, it left hundreds of square miles of Washington forest, once green and lush, buried under heavy gray ash. The landscape was instantly barren. In 1982, Congress created the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Scientists and visitors alike were able to observe both the devastating destruction and over time, the phenomenal recovery of plants and animals, without man's interference.

When a Benedictine Sister, Sr. Mary, visited the site, she described buried cars and trees still sticking up at angles like spilled toothpicks. It was like walking on the moon. At the time, authorities were saying it was possible nothing would ever grow there again. She climbed as high as she could and looked around at the vast nothingness. When she turned to leave, she looked down, and there, in the ash, was one single purple flower. She was overcome with it’s transcendent beauty punctuated with one thought: "Here is life. It cannot be stopped or destroyed, even with the power of a volcano.”

In some areas, the destruction meant no going back to anything resembling it's previous state as land masses were dramatically reformed. Other areas thrived, grew lush and increased with new plant forms, forests, insects and animals. Michael Casey's 2015 CBS interview with U.S. Forest Service ecologist Charlie Crisafulli, quoted the ecologist's conclusion that "... life is enormously competent and well practiced at re-insinuating itself into disturbed areas. Our expectation should be that life is incredibly tenacious."

Resilience as a property in the material world, enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity. In economics, we can look at resilience as the act of rebounding. Human resilience is conceived as our ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune. Spiritual resilience can be seen as the way in which our spiritual life moves and directs us to give way to life and awaken to new understanding of ourselves within the Oneness, the Whole of it all. These are all images of resilience to fuel our own leap forward. You, too, are a part of nature's tenacity. (Susan Nettleton)

May 28, 2020

To go a bit deeper into contemplating the impact of the Pandemic on you at this juncture, with  so many different views and stages of re-entry, I am posting a quote from a series of Sunday talks I gave in 2017 on "Changing life".

"[We are] walking this line between the collective experience of change, which you are a part of, and the uniqueness of individuality. When we are talking about individuals, we recognize that some personalities are more pro-change than others.   Some people are more fluid and adaptable, some people are highly mercurial--they change not just day to day but within the course of a day--they can be a whirlwind, entering to revolutionize the day, if not the world! Some people hold a stable sense of themselves and life around them, not rigid, but stable, reflective, slow to introduce change in their lives, slow to react to change.  Others are more than stabilizing individuals; they rigidly, even aggressively resist change.  When you put these personalities in the whole mix of life with an overview effect, you get a feel for the roles of those different energies in this collective process of reworking of consciousness. 

On the other hand, when you are interacting with a specific individual, you can interpret that personality as petty and undermining, obstructionist, or another as helpful strength, creative inventiveness, or another as hurtful pushiness, or as agitated and exhausting. These are some of the dynamics of interacting with attitudes toward change.  

Of course, many people are a mix and are agreeable to change in some situations and highly resistant in others. At different points in life, some feel stagnant in a way that grows into a global thought that everything is stagnant. They push to change friends and partners, jobs and careers, where they live, where they go, what they look like...the unmet longing for change in one area may spread to dissatisfaction in every area of life.  Unfortunately, that dissatisfaction and frustration can harden into a basic sour sense of life and pessimism about change. 

Others have found a space of security and comfort, having arranged life in a way they enjoy, but they can never quite let go to it because they brace against the possibility of change.  There are some that deny the changing realities of life, out of fear; and some who are so insulated within themselves that they really don’t notice that life is changing around and in them.

And there are those that have found a spiritual focus, made peace with the movements of life, but focus on a non-changing transcendent that actually enables them to shift and allow life to just unfold.  This is not the same thing as being self-withdrawn from life, but rather, being plugged into a larger scope of life. "

So a next step in facing 'a changing life',  is to understand yourself enough to know your own temperament toward change.

And I add for today's thought, as we ponder how we will personally handle re-entry, consider this quote by Howard Thurman (Minister/Author 1899-1981).  To me, his words apply today to both the concrete level of social distancing and the broader issue of what value-driven energy will underwrite our lives.  (Susan Nettleton)

“There are two questions that we have to ask ourselves. The 1st is " Where am I going?" and the 2nd is "Who will go with me?"  If you ever get these questions in the wrong order, you are in trouble.” Howard Thurman

May 27, 2020

Panic and fear of our future is not helpful.   Realistically,  the future is, by it's very nature, uncertain.   There have been times of social instability, and there have been stable times with little cultural change, giving the future the air of certainty.  Through cognitive therapy techniques, one learns to "fact check"  distorted thinking, including negative expectations for the future.  The fact is the future has always been uncertain.  When you find yourself conjuring up images of a bleak or disastrous future, stop.  Remind yourself, "you don't know what the future holds."  Given that you do not know, and no one else does either with absolute certainty, why assume the worst? 

This is a time to begin sorting through options, sifting through impressions, envisioning our individual movement forward. We can choose a re-affirmation of  positive expectations for ourselves. We can recover meaning--perhaps find new meaning--as we face the dance between individual change and collective change and even at an unseen level, cosmic change, all of which you are.  (Susan Nettleton)

May 26, 2020

Across the country some states are cautiously preparing for reopening; others have moved quickly. Warnings escalate, but, society is moving at different speeds, in different ways, toward "re-entry". It will take time--at least two weeks--to evaluate the contagion consequences of any lifting of restrictions. Some places who have moved too quickly will take steps back. We also have warnings that we are likely to see the resurgence of Covid 19 in the fall. All of this makes it very difficult to personally plan for the months ahead.

As society mobilizes, mental health professionals point out the psychological trauma caused by the Pandemic. Life as we knew it suddenly stopped. For many in lockdown, it's a time marked by feeling disoriented as routines, work, finances and relationships are disrupted. Just organizing a day is a challenge, let alone organizing a life after lockdown! Despite our wishful thoughts, life for most people will not just go back to the way it was. It is not a simple matter of accepting loss and moving forward with the new, because the new has no definition as yet; the process is not at all over.

Yet, this is the time we live. It is a time to affirm and attend to our resilience. It is a time to reflect on what we have discovered through the shock of the Pandemic and months of lockdown--how and what do we now chose to do differently, because of this time. What now seems important to us, important enough to commit to as we consider our lives from this point forward? Look at not just the big commitments of life, but also the smaller things that we are discovering that contribute to our contentment and personal sense of well being. Begin with the building blocks of these as the very early stages of emerging new life.

Spiritually, we trust the positive stirrings within us, the pieces of insight we have had, the inner pull to open to the prospect of renewed life through changing times. Life is resilient and therefore, so are we. (Susan Nettleton)

May 25, 2020

Memorial Day has become a day of cross currents.  This is strikingly true in this year of Pandemic.This is America's official day of both honor and grief for the military personnel who have died while serving in the armed forces.   It holds within it's history, the grateful awe of self-sacrifice and the sad tragedy of war.   As perhaps a collective defense against these intense, and really ancient emotions, American culture has produced a counter holiday of summer celebration.  Each year brings its own variation of the choppy waves of demands and desires.  We want the freedom to revel outdoors in a three day holiday weekend in spring as it just hints of summer, we want to recognize heroes--our heroes--and draw courage from them, we want peace but we want to blame, we want to remember and we want to forget.  And so in the face of new, unimaginable losses from a devastating Pandemic, we are left with more conflict and division on Memorial Day.

My intent is to spotlight the undercurrents of the day and the past weekend to simply encourage you in the traditional moment of silence.  The moment of silence has evolved in our culture as our baby steps in acknowledging personal reflection.  It is used in memorials and in times of communal support to give each individual the space, the freedom, to turn within their own minds and heart--to feel, to remember, and to express silently, as thought or prayer, the focus of the time.   It can be a powerful public practice.  While leaders and speakers can inspire and direct through speeches as part of the program of community events, the silence allows everyone's contribution.  That silent space affirms the significance of the individual within the whole--as a point of relationship, as a contributor to collective memory, and as a witness to life.

This is not the same as your daily meditation practice.  It is the moment dedicated to offering your silence in the collective with recognition of our diverse meanings and values and varying frameworks of thought, riding all the choppy waves.  We have our personal memories and meaning and visions of the future.  We are witnesses.  We add our inner voice. (Susan Nettleton)

May 24, 2020

For this Sunday morning post, I direct you to a poem by W. S. Mervin (1927-1919). 

A poem that voices the discovery that comes in letting go.

Follow the link:  https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/M/MerwinWS/JustNow/index.html

Follow the link: https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/…/Merwi…/JustNow/index.html

May 23, 2020

Today I encourage you to try an experiment in surrender and non-resistance.   Keep your experiment simple and try not to contaminate it with memories of similar experiments that failed to bring the outcome you wanted.  Let this be a fresh experiment.  Pick just one day to not resist any of the day's unfolding.  Give up any struggles with others, with objects, with yourself, including any news and information on the Pandemic that you may hear.  Trust that this day you can relax.  If there's something unexpected that you need to take action on, you will know what to do.  Relax.

Give up your complaints.  Give up automatic, judgmental interpretations.  Assume neutrality, if not an outright positive reaction.  Assume there is a thread of a larger reality, that you trust, that is woven through this particular day.  This day you have chosen to let that thread lead you and that means getting out of the way.  Do what you need to do as part of the daily business of life, but relax into the day with a sense that for just this one time period you do not have to have things work your way.  If it stays on your mind, you can voice a complaint or pronounce your judgment another day.  This day, you can risk letting it go.

Non-resistance and surrender are not just about action but reaction, not just about doing or not doing, but about attitude and thoughts as well.  Resistance does though impact the body, as it will automatically brace and tense to defend against what the mind and emotions resist. So the body is one of your cues or measures of how much you are struggling against the flow of life.

Take the time to let your muscles relax and a moment to breathe slowly and deeply as needed.

Even in meditation, it is a time to be led.  Your inner life is as it needs to be right now. Even in sleep, you are being led.  Life's intelligent, automatic release and renewal is taking place in sleep and does not need to be managed by you. 

In the words of inventor Buckminster Fuller. "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." 

Perhaps with your experiment in spiritual non-resistance, a new model for your life will emerge.  (Susan Nettleton)