Anxiety and Trust

As we fully enter October with a government shut-down bringing more accusations, retaliation threats, and overall uncertainty, it is easy to take on personal and collective anxiety. By anxiety, I mean an uneasy sense of alarm about this conflict: How long it will continue? What does it mean for our future, and the future of those that truly matter to us. Anxiety, when it takes over, impacts and impairs both our physical and psychological functioning. In times like these, with escalating, seemingly rapid change, there is a compilation effect. And in a strange way, a sudden reversal of whatever change, while perhaps welcomed, can at the same time feed the feeling of chaos. Even small uncertainties can disrupt our sense of well being. We need time to process and gain perspective. Last month I wrote about the spiritual antidote to fear and hate, is love. This week, I invite you to consider the spiritual antidote to anxiety is truth.

I had another kitchen epiphany this week. It was pretty late when I started making a dinner salad; I had recently bought a big box of arugula from the grocery store, planning to use it for the entire week. When I opened it though, it was unusually wet. I've known arugula as of those long lasting greens, and even if it gets a dry, it's still quite good. I had never opened a completely wet box. The "use by" stamp gave me another 6 days. But this batch was almost soaking in water, like nothing I'd encountered before. Some of the leaves were actually looking like mush. I really did not want to give it up, but something inner was putting on the brakes. My medical training underscores the value of basic research on food safety. These days, produce reports can be inundated with lists of listeria and other bacterial food contamination, but I'd not seen anything worrisome about arugula. I was of two minds--something in me warned, "no, don’t eat it”; habit and appetite said "Yes!” Still, I decided to take a "scroll my phone vote"! When I am stumped by a recipe, or other food issue, I look at various food sites on my phone for information and perspective. I use a cross-section of sites that include the Food Safety "rule book", as well as individual personal experiences. It's a fast search, since I am looking for "just the facts, please." My arugula phone search concluded, "when in doubt, throw it out." I struggled with my resistance to letting the whole mess go into the compost, but the inner directive pulled with the counter message again, "let it go", so I did. Ultimately, it may not have mattered to the body if I ate the leaves; the real meaning was in my willingness to give it up, to follow that feeling, to make a choice.

Here's what struck me (after I had eaten something else): All day long we are bombarded by messaging of one form or another. Very few of them are urgent; yet in these times, the illusion of urgency, the echo of urgency, is there. The urgency creates anxiety. Trust becomes the antidote to anxiety, when we make a decision, when we take action, when we see we do have choices and we chose, including sometimes, choosing to trust others. The Spiritual life brings a deeper level of trust in the essential goodness of Life, including a deeper trust in our own resilience and situational flexibility, as well as subtle cues that guide us through the maze of difficult times. We shift from the powerlessness of anxiety to trusting the powers of action and choice. This is a good week to study the anxiety of collective and personal uncertainty, and your deeper capacity to move forward with inner trust. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50109/trust-56d22ce3845d0

https://www.best-poems.net/wendell-berry/sabbath-poem-i-1979.html#google_vignette

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/O/ODonohueJohn/ForaNewBegin/index.html

Self/Health Care

As September fades into October this week, it's a good time to remind us all that self-care, includes health care. This is the time of year that traditionally means more time indoors than outdoors, and more exposure to seasonal contagion, including of course flu and Covid. I use the word "traditionally', because as I have written over this year of change, natural seasonal patterns are shifting, independent of the social order, or critique of scientific study, or outright disbelief. When the weather turns colder and daylight shortens, people spend more time in closed environments, and viral contagion is more likely. In the 21st century, self-care includes taking care of our health and cultivating a new awareness of changing seasons and weather patterns. Self-care also includes the awareness of others, their well-being, because our actions have consequences for others, and for society as a whole. In turn, the overall health of society, ultimately affects us as individuals.

For me, September has been this year's healthcare catch up time--I have lined up appointments for all the basics: annual primary care visit, mammogram, eye doctor, dentist and cleaning, immunizations--if not completed, they are scheduled, since medical scheduling can mean making appointments months in advance. My list includes Covid (I joke that it seems like my millionth shot), Zoster, and Flu shots. To me, these are all part of a Spiritual check list. It was my spiritual life that pulled me into the study of medicine, and carried me through my early science courses: chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, and physics. I never saw science as separate, or in opposition to spiritual discovery and the wonder of It All, all are aspects of the Grace of Healing. Alternative medicine, ancient systems of understanding the body, Aryuvadic traditions, Chinese systems and acupuncture--all have their place, as does body and energy work, and yoga, and meditation. There are so many forms of illness and injury and so many ways of healing. But, as with varieties of religion, we humans have trouble navigating multiplicity and variation. Not every healing mode matches every malady, or public health need.

As medical knowledge evolves, researchers are developing ways that specifically tailor treatments to individual needs, with the potential to develop precise, particularized treatment possibilities for the future. For now though, in public health, collective vaccines save lives. They are our collective power of healthcare, as are health screenings and prevention. The good news is that our accumulated, world-wide knowledge of healthcare is unprecedented. However, accessing that knowledge, and making choices, has become more and more complex. The "rules" are changing; availability is changing; predicability is changing, and the cost is rising. This week I encourage you to consider a broad sense of self-care, that includes how you take care of your health, from a Spiritual perspective, to a pragmatic practice. The current upheaval in American healthcare may be unstable for awhile; all the more reason to take time to remember your Spiritual life includes your physical health and well-being. Your personal well-being, as a unique expression of life, flows from the Source of all Life. Life takes care of Life. Listen to the way of health for you. (Susan Nettleton)

A site for reliable health info: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/al

https://grateful.org/resource/the-cure-for-it-all/

https://www.readpoetry.com/met-my-younger-self-for-coffee-jennae-cecelia/

https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/04/08/the-cure-by-ginger-andrews/

Equinox of Love

On Monday, we enter the fall equinox, that time when the measure of daylight and the measure dark night achieve a momentary balance. Autumn arrives, with it's traditions of harvest, brilliantly colored foliage, and crisp air--at least, in our collective memory, even if temperatures soar. This idea of the mid-point, a balanced seasonal scale, has me reflecting on the balance of our immediate cultural emotions: love and hate. It's difficult to collectively enter into the freshness of a new season, when modern culture is split. It's even more difficult, when religious/political traditions are used to drive a further wedge between neighboring countries, or local "districts", communities, and even families. Imagine a moment, as the balance of the equinox tips, that it can only tip to a collective feeling of being loved and cherished (the receiving end), counterbalanced by a collective showering of love and acceptance (the giving end). It's a utopian fantasy, of course, given the vast variations of this world, but still, tipping the scales toward more love and less hate is possible. Your measure resides in you.

So I am offering a few thoughts on hate as fear, and love as the antidote. Hate and love, as words, are polar opposites. Yet human emotions are seldom that polarized, or even clearly defined. Some days we hate 'things' and whatever/whoever we feel are responsible (including ourselves), and the next day, or later in the same day, we can lighten up, gain perspective, or move on to something else to preoccupy our thoughts. The same shifting awareness is true for that which we love. Human emotions come and go. Sometimes, we get entrenched in the mud of repetitive negativity and pain. We may learn how to change our thinking, but our emotional nature, which includes the physical body, may lag behind. Here, the key is to consider hatred as a response to fear; we grow to hate what we fear.

Spiritually, the antidote to fear is Love. To be clear, you cannot make yourself love what you hate, nor what you fear. Suppressing hated, like suppressing fear, may aid you in the moment of overwhelming tension or anxiety, but sooner or later, suppressed emotions erupt again. Instead, you learn to accept this emotion we call Love, when and where you actually find it. Realize love when you actually do feel it. Cultivate it by your attention and acceptance; harvest it. It may have nothing whatsoever to do with the things and experiences and people and events you fear, or you outright hate. You feel what you feel. But you give the weight, the balance tip, to cherishing Love, as you actually feel it. Savor it. Rehearse it, rather than rehearsing hate and fear. Remember in this equinox metaphor, there are two forms, or movements, of love, giving Love and receiving Love. When we cannot give, we can receive. Either way, we live in Love. Ultimately, our Source is a Cosmos that delights in you, or you simply would not be here. (The same is true for your "enemies".) Ultimately, all love is Divine Love. (Susan Nettleton)

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King, Jr.

for poetry: https://poets.org/poem/autumn-8

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/A/AngelouMaya/TouchedbyanA/index.html

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/B/BahuSultan/IknewGodwell/index.html

Restorative Calm

Maybe it was the full lunar, Blood Moon eclipse, Sept 7-8, or maybe the series of asteroids that NASA announced were zipping by Earth: QC5 and GE on September 8, and the closer QV9's (1,250,000 miles) flyby on September 10, 2025, or maybe it was the impending September 11 anniversary, or all three, but this past week has been arduous, indeed explosive. World conflict brought bombings, drone attacks, deadly protests, and in the U.S., the unveiling of shocking files, pictures, stories, and deadly political battles. Yet, this past week of threat and tragedy still holds the way to deeper spiritual realization, for those who seek it. I have been searching, inwardly, for the word or practice that can move us, from this volatile time, to restorative calm. This is the phrase for us this week: Restorative Calm.

Not all restoration is calm. The rebuilding of homes and neighborhoods, after the January fires here in L.A. County, was far from calm. Further upheaval was necessary in the rebuilding process—inspections, soil and air testing, debris removal with unrelenting trucks carting hazardous materials, planning meetings, insurance settlements, business workshops, etc. Calm expands as we learn to accept some degree of upheaval in a restorative process.

During the recent extreme heat here, I had a near empty refrigerator, so I placed an online order the night before, and scheduled my "pick up" for early morning. I could have everything safely in the freezer/refrigerator, before the temperature became unbearable. That morning, daylight streamed in the windows and I was unaware that the power was off, until the coffee pot didn't work. I started checking lights, but nothing was working, except my cellphone. I was not calm. At least, I had not opened the refrigerator or freezer, so what was in there was still alright, if I kept it closed. I knew, with the extreme heat, overuse of cooling can trigger neighborhood outages; no cooling can be deadly. I fretted about the outage, searched my phone, and discovered the outage was actually planned as a kind of safety-check inspection. It was expected to end approximately at the time I was scheduled to pick up groceries. That gave me hope, but I cannot say I was calm yet. Instead my mind was working on plans B, C, and D alternatives to storing some kind of food supply, as I watched the clock. Amazingly, at precisely the scheduled time, the power came back on. And stayed on. I jumped in the car, picked up the food, returned, and filled the refrigerator--grateful, and finally, calm.

Through out this mini-drama, myself as "watcher", watched my own process of anxiety, mingled with doubt (in the electric company website), along with a subtle dark shadow of fear of changing times, and yet, there remained a deeper spiritual trust that things would resolve well. The watcher was calm; the impatient, doubting one was not.

Today, and the week ahead, I encourage you to find spaces and time for calming yourself, and calming that bit of the World that is Your world--your space, your place, along with those you care for. This is a calm that allows you to rebuild, or restructure, or renew your way of being in these times. Restorative to me, implies healing. You may not think that you are the one that needs healing, but you are the access point; the main access you have for restoring calm around you. Peace and calm, begin with you. (Susan Nettleton)

For Poetry: https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/poetry/poems/inisfree.html https://boomerecocrusader.com/stillness-a-poem-to-restore-calm/ http://bibles.wikidot.com/sample-mitchell

Pause

The last few days I've been contemplating the power of the pause. The idea was triggered by a family 1st grader who has mastered the frustration of interruption. When annoyed by being interrupted in a project, she will hold up a hand that clearly signals "stop", as she firmly orders "Pause", until she is ready to divert attention from her task. It is a quite polished command. The charm of it initiated my contemplation on our human capacity to pause. While pausing is a form of stopping, it's power comes from it's temporary nature. We suspend action temporarily. That suspension can be a moment, or a much longer stretch of time; it can be restful, reflective, or disruptive. It can be calculated for a deliberate effect (creating a silence that invites the speculation of others, a moment of suspense), or it may signal our hesitancy and uncertainty.

We can pause by physically stopping activity and/or movement, and we can pause mentally, internally cutting off a stream of thought, letting our thoughts "rest" or fall silent. Pausing emotionally is a bit more difficult, requiring more practice, because our emotional states involve both physical and mental quieting. We can pause to "take in", as in letting ourselves be suspended in time, immersed in music, or absorbed in a sunset view, when the beauty of the moment suspends worry, or anger, or even physical pain. Or we can pause to "let go" to silence and the stillness of meditation.

Spiritually, our capacity to Pause is an aspect of our intuitive nature. In these shifting, unsettled times, we learn to lean on the inner directive, the guidance that is both a natural flow from this Life, this World we belong to, and the larger Transcendent Field I call God. We can Pause, in inner listening, for direction. We can Pause in silence, whatever form our religion or meditation path. Those Pauses may be brief, but powerful--simply stopping, and turning to That. Other times, there may be a restlessness, perhaps an invitation to a Pause in the routine and rhythm of your set order. New doors open unexpectedly. It's not always so clear where we are headed, and what we should do differently, if anything at all. The power of Pause is useful here. Those who are impulsive, might benefit through Pausing before acting. Those who are bound by strict routine, yet pulled to the unfamiliar, might benefit by a Pause in the fixed order of repetition. Pause can be a window of experimentation. The beauty of Pause is that it is flexible--suspending ideas, temporarily shifting action, and evaluating what unfolds.

Regardless of the social order's pressure of constant urgency, not all things are urgent. Spiritually, there remains stillness, peace, and the saintly, "leisureliness of eternity." Consider this week that you have time to Pause, reconsider, listen, absorb, discover the way for you, now. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry:

https://www.nickleforce.com/poetry/2017/7/12/pause-now

https://morethanmindful.com/wp-content/uploads/Between-Going-and-Staying.pdf

https://public-domain-poetry.com/susanna-moodie/pause-26450

Labor Day

Monday, September begins with the federal holiday, Labor Day, marking the "unofficial" end of summer. The holiday, established in 1894, has an interesting history, formed during a time of rapid industrialization and urbanization. The speed of industrialization required an increasing demand for workers, who faced harsh conditions, low pay, and little concern for their health and environmental risks. Over time though, workers formed trade unions and developed the power of collective bargaining. Collectively, they established basic rights, negotiated increased pay, and improved safety conditions. And Labor Day became a day to highlight workers and their ongoing contribution to the country's achievements and wealth. While there is much to consider about respect and recognition of workers in 2025, (massive layoff's, firing of government workers, dissolution of jobs, deportation of thousands of migrant workers), as well as the escalating promotion of, and investment in, Artificial Intelligence, (with uncertain consequences for workers), this Labor Day, I invite you to personally reflect on labor as Love.

We are all workers, everyone of us works in one way or another. We expend energy--we may work for our personal well-being and comfort; we may work for our survival, we may labor at a task for our own pleasure and interests. In this context, labor is not limited to a job. Neither is it necessarily "work as worship", which is the idea of uniting our work in the world with our spiritual practice. Rather, I am inviting you to experiment with the discovery of Love at the root of work.

My thoughts go back to 40 years ago, to one of the first meditation classes I taught. I remember there were 17 people in that class, there to learn introductory meditation. During one of the meetings, a woman spoke of her frustration with her life and her "housewife" role. She particularly resented time she spent dusting her home as a meaningless use of time. In contrast, she imagined my life as a psychiatrist, teaching a meditation class, as something important and inspiring. I had to admit, I didn't dust much--not that the house didn't need it, but there was no time. I worked, I was a wife and mom, I cooked, did laundry, cleaned what I could, when I could. I talked about Meditation as my center, out of which, all other tasks arise. I encouraged her to consider dusting as a way to practice meditation; let dusting be a meditation, through intent, focus, and discovery. Today, I would tell her to try naming her dusting, Love. If it is only duty, or a sense or responsibility, "the shoulds, musts, oughts and have to's" as my teacher used to say, there is nothing life sustaining there.

This is not about making yourself love something you do not love. It certainly is not about forcing yourself to do things you hate doing. Rather, it is about the possible discovery that underneath what you name as labor, as work, as duty or responsibility, or even necessity, may in actuality be driven by Love. Why not start with the assumption that Love brings the task. Love unfolds the work. Love fulfills. If Love seems far, far from a task or responsibility, take a deeper look, or move on to another experiment in labor. May this week lift your labors in a discovery of Love. (Susan Nettleton)

For Poetry: https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/04/25/gift-by-czeslaw-milosz/

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use

https://poets.org/poem/work-4

Charred Sutra

This final Sunday in August, 2025, hopefully brings an end to the extreme heat in Los Angeles, County. I've been exchanging thermometer readings with friends along the Pacific coast, from Portland to San Diego. The heat has been difficult, but we've adapted. Here in L.A. County there has been quick responses to erupting fires, and welcomed evening cool-downs. The Public service announcements remind us: "Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay informed." Staying cool can be a reminder that navigating heat, traffic, and other people involves patience and care for others; staying hydrated, includes being aware that water is necessary for your cognitive functioning and awareness of what is happening around you and others. Staying informed, is more than the weather report--we live in complex times, high heat is a call to simplify your movements for the day. It means adapting your day to our shifting environment. To me, "informed" also means following the inner directive and a spiritual perspective. While the West Coast is in a heat wave, the East Coast faces flooding, brooding storms, and the need for similar vigilance.

This week, someone sent me a brief story of the "Charred Sutra." Sutras are ancient and medieval Indian texts revered in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. These condensed "truths" open to deeper interpretation and meaning. I don't know the original source; there are many stories of Sutras lost, or partially burned in fires. In this tale, it was dawn when a novice monk found the sutra fragment; the rest had burned in the night's fire. As he lifted the burnt page, ashes fell everywhere. "Master," he pleaded, "how do I save this wisdom?" The master blew at the fragment, watching it as it scattered and dissolved in the garden. "Now," he said, "read it in the cucumbers growing through the soot."

This struck me as an ancient tale of living teachings in the midst of changing times--of fires, floods, and seasons, of Nature's return, and what we consider sacred. After January's destructive Eaton fire, we were warned not eat anything from the backyard garden for a year, except for the thick-rind citrus fruits. Chemical analysis had shown the ash contained potentially harmful chemicals, and it would be safer to wait for next year's crop. The charred sutra tale felt particularly significant in 2025, a time of changing climate. We can't eat the cucumbers this year, but they will return.

As I mulled over the story, I met layers of meaning. Is an ancient sutra as wondrous as a living garden bringing forth food? Well, it depends. I considered the times when I am seeking some spiritual understanding or guidance. I might flip through my books--that could include the Bible, or other religious texts, or poetry, and an idea, an answers, a spark, grabs me. Sacred Sutras are sparks of ancient wisdom and insight that can ignite us thousands of years later. But they also, like all religious teachings, can crystalize, become rote and empty ritual, and even blind us from seeing what Life offers us now. There is another kind of ancient wisdom in every garden. And not only the way of cultivation--the way of food, clothing, shelter, companionship, and creativity can be found in contemplating the living, natural world. Read it all, "in the cucumbers [in the whole of Nature's story], growing through the soot." Consider this week, that Life is urging You to adapt. Life is urging You, to recover awareness and sensitivity of this Natural world as it shifts. Yes, it is a collective task, but we begin with ourselves. (Susan Nettleton)

for poetry: https://spiritoftrees.org/poetry/woods

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RilkeRainerM/Silentfriend/index.html

https://intrinsicheart.com/the-seven-of-pentacles/

Silence

"Listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world." —Jack Kerouac

Today, I invite you to return to silence.  You may have a lively social day ahead, or you may feel the need to hover around the latest shifting news, or a long "to-do" list, but regardless, of whatever commitments, consider some time for silence; if not today, then during the week ahead.  Recently, someone wrote to thank me for the Hillside Source website's recording of my 2018 talk on The Harvest , including "harvesting silence".  The email triggered my own need to return to this particular spiritual practice. Today, I offer it to you.  

My early encounters with spiritual silence came through my exposure to meditation; silence is often an aspect of meditation.  Over the years, I learned many "techniques"--not all are silent. Meditation is more of a quieting, a quieting that includes the body's relaxation, the breath softening in slow rhythm. As emotions and thoughts settle, the focus can suddenly "shift gears" into a infinite, nameless field.  Mantra's, or prayer, or images, can be part of the stream of awareness.  Stillness and silence can be a kind of background for contemplation, or alternatively, the stillness, the silence, simply take over.  To me, every meditation is different, is movement, is "live" and unpredictable.  

During those early years of meditation, I attended and led retreats that usually included a meaningful day of silence.  But the full force of what I term spiritual Silence opened 15 years later with my early encounters with U.G. Krishnamurti, and extended to 17 years, often spent in deep silence.  We sat in silent chairs next to a crackling fire places.  We sat in silence in parked cars in parking lots, waiting for others as they ran the day's errands.  There were silent drives through eerie forests with crystal ice branches and piled soft snow in stunning stillness; silent drives on spring-time roads, lined with vibrant flowers, bursting with color and sunlight; miles and miles of drives through empty desert silence, the mental chat stream of thought finally giving way.  

Even though it was difficult to leave each visit, in retrospect, I see that it was necessary.  Each return home brought a new appreciation of silence in general, and a deepening need to enter it, and hold it.  But I rarely had the time. Then silence opened the door--and I discovered it everywhere, and most available in things around me. By things, I mean the inanimate world.  Listening to the silence of things, brought an atmosphere of silence.  Moments of silence accumulate.  Each time of turning to the immediate silence of a thing, or a room of things, even if overlaid with "noise", brings a connection to the silence at the core.  The practice of silence then, is a giving way to stillness and the absence of not just sound, but the absence of separation. Silence extends to the natural world, including the problematic world of people.  You can find that silence anywhere. Take the time this week to listen beyond your world of thought.   (Susan Nettleton)

Listen, my child, to the silence.
 An undulating silence,
 a silence
 that turns valleys and echoes slippery, 
bends foreheads
 toward the ground.

—Federico García Lorca

for poetry:  https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/H/HsuanChuehof/22Ihaveent/index.html                                                                                                                                                      https://predmore.blogspot.com/2021/05/poem-r-w-thomas-but-silence-in-mind.html                    https://sacredpoetryproject.com/silent-friend-of-many-distances-feel/

Beauty

This is a good week to re-discover Beauty! Despite the turmoil of the world and whatever weather conditions you maybe facing, Beauty remains an ever present aspect of Life. As individuals, we have our differing and unique ways of nurturing ourselves. One of them is our awareness of Beauty in its varying forms. Neuroscience and psychology tell us that perception of beauty involves the interconnection of our senses (including color perception) and our emotions, thought, and culture. We respond in different degrees to scent, texture, shape, hue and intensity, tenor and pitch. Some people find beauty in symmetry; some in asymmetry. Sometimes Beauty arises from complexity, sometimes from simplicity, partially based on our cognitive preference! I like the definition giving in the Free Dictionary: The quality present in a person or thing that gives intense aesthetic pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind or the senses. I would include "the happenings" as well. Happenings are events that bring pleasure/satisfaction to the mind or senses. and (I also add) our hearts. Ultimately, our perception of Beauty belongs to the Spiritual Realm. What is Beautiful to your heart?

A friend of mine recently wrote me that she had been seized with a sudden and intense need to de-clutter her house, to set the house and herself free of the unwanted past, the excess, and the unnecessary. This sudden onset of need propelled her into a whirlwind of release, and then, after car loads of dispersion, the pressure receded again. Layers of 'too much' were gone, and rediscovered Beauty reigned again. The process of release doesn't have to be total to be healing. The idea here is release and rediscovery uncover the Beautiful.

That rediscovery, or renewed awareness, can surface in different ways. When my grandchildren ask me, "What is your favorite color?", I usually answer yellow. They are now old enough to protest that I never wear anything yellow. True! I own very little of anything that is yellow. "Ah", I explain, "yellow is the color of the sun, and that yellow, shines as the dawn, and gives us daylight, so that we can experience the Beauty all around us." "That yellow gives the right tone of beauty to oranges, peaches, apricots and tangerines in the yard, and summer dresses, and swimsuits and beach shirts, whatever their color."

We also meet Beauty as ongoing discovery through the world of ideas and in our sense of belonging to this Life, Like Grace, Beauty is a gift. Yes, the world struggles, all forms of life have their time of struggle. Creativity itself is often struggle, as new Beauty arises, in its' infinite forms and manifestations. Yet, Beauty is a balm; it soothes and uplifts. Take a Beauty break, away from the news, squabbles and scandals. Right where you are, is something Beautiful. It may even reveal to you, the Truth. (Susan Nettleton)

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”— that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. John Keats

for more poetry: https://www.sharonsinger.ca/poem-of-the-week/august-federico-garcia-lorca

https://www.kayebarleymeanderingsandmuses.com/2015/04/welcome-morning-by-anne-sexton.html

https://readalittlepoetry.com/2023/10/09/a-blessing-by-james-wright/

Wake Up!

Today's post is a section of this morning's Zoom talk. If you would like to be on our mailing list for future Zoom talks by Dr. Susan Nettleton, email us at: hillsideew@aol.com or the contact box of our website: hillsidesource.com

This morning I am encouraging you to Wake Up! It's August, the solar mid point of summer is August 7, on Thursday. The rhythm of summer as a season though, is often condensed by Labor Day or school schedules that initiate our awareness of Fall. I begin with this to remind us that our cultural reframing of the seasons can be a subtle disruption of the natural rhythms of Life. And that in turn impacts our awareness with a conflict between our ideas and concepts, and the way our bodies developed in response and rhythm with the natural world. One theme to consider today is "wake-up to the mid-point of summer." Yet, that too is complex; climate shifts are also creating change, in what is now called "season fragmentation", adding another piece of change to awaken to and absorb. Admittedly, the title "Wake Up", actually came to me as a need to break the spell of the political pressure of these times--the unrelenting news flashes of policies, court rulings, outrage, fear, sadness, pain, helplessness and loss--and recover a larger sense of life. Wake UP! Wake up to Nature, to healing, and to new ideas and new understanding, new and renewed goals, creativity, discovery. Wake Up as a living, spiritual being, contributing to this unfolding, wondrous life. Wake up the Good.

Waking has a range of definitions in our current culture. We can talk about Waking Up from physical sleep, the sleep/wake cycle. We can talk about being awake and alert and recognize we go through midmorning or mid-afternoon slumps, We have various factors in that--tea or coffee, food, our ability to move around, health regimens, cortisol levels...there is a rhythm of alertness, and sensory awareness. Be aware of yours. Waking up can apply to deepening awareness of physical reality and the natural world. It can also apply to society, including the idea of being "Woke". Waking up also refers to experiencing something that supersedes physical, mental-emotional, and societal self-awareness to spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness is a recognition of a connection to that beyond this physical, defined planet, felt in various ways as something transcendent, intangible-and often, a sacred source. Awakening can bring a sense of personal or collective potential to grow into more than what we seem to be, or recognition that we are already far more than we realize. Various philosophers offer humankind's creative principle, with a vision of latent human potential that has yet to express, or is currently coming into expression, that we can nurture and expand.

Spiritual awakening in Christianity is a profound shift in one's awareness of transformation in relationship to God and the mission of Christ. I love the description of 20th century Rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel used in the description of awakening in Judaism as "radical amazement". Heschel noted that as "civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines". We can consider our sense of wonder and amazement with the "advancements" and struggles of the 21st century. In Islam, awakening is a path of inner transformation and deepening of a personal connection and devotion to Allah. Ancient Hindu Upanishads' texts instruct us of 4 states: waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep, and turiya. "Waking Up", in essence, applies to all of those divisions. We commonly understand waking up from a dream or from deep-sleep, but here, spiritual awakening implies also waking up from our usual state of waking. Actually, waking and dreaming are like 2 poles of the same activity: waking is perceiving the external world, dreaming is perceiving the internal world, and dreamless sleep is closest to pure consciousness, i.e., without awareness or sensory perception--no thought, no ego or individuality. We know Turiya, the 4th state, is bliss. Turiya is the Self. Turiya is ultimate Reality. May this week bring some new awakening. (Susan Nettleton)

https://sacredpoetryproject.com/to-learn-the-scriptures-is-easy/ https://mywordinyourear.com/2019/02/07/why-i-wake-early-mary-oliver-a-tribute/ https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/R/RumiMevlanaJ/InnerWakeful/