In today’s fast paced, high octane, and trigger happy world,
doesn’t it feel like a politically radical challenge to hit
the pause button, and remember to hit the BAR?

Just pull up a chair, and Breathe And Relax!

May this be a mantra to live for on this Full Snow Moon.

I was talking with a coworker recently, and he admitted
that he worries about having panic attacks, and gets
nervous about focusing on his breath.

He’s probably in the normal majority of people in that way.

But what if only we take a moment to picture a turtle to slow down,
and accept the sublime invitation into the present moment?

Who would I be if I tuned into the sacredness of the
life force that lives in my body?

The showtime of the living now is all there ever really is.

And when you awaken to right now, you start to recognize
that you might as well say yes to it.

Think about how a turtle just knows the futility of
trying to push the river.

It’s kind of like the self defeating absurdity of trying to
kill your ego or make it an enemy to demonize.

Or the quackery of giving the Heisman pose to your Higher Self.
What are you afraid of saying yes to by accessing your personal divinity?

From a developmental psychology framework, we know that
the first stage of human development is trust versus mistrust.

Human beings are prewired to trust.

But of course that doesn’t happen when we don’t feel safe or
that we don’t belong to a greater community.

Of course, it is incumbent on all of us to learn how to work
with that on the inside.

And we all have to do our part to both manage ourselves,
and create a better world for all of us to coexist peacefully in.

Yeah, it may feel daunting at times, and we have a long way to go.

But if you think about a turtle dreaming about waking up, while
they are sleeping under a white, wintry blanket –
perhaps it will inspire you to ponder . . .

Do I need to come out of my shell and be more social?

Or do I need to turn inward, and be compassionately curious
about slowing down, and retreating from the world’s hurried pace?

Speaking of a slow, and low tempo, we can look forward to Big Night,
arriving sometime between the Spring Equinox in late March,
and early April.

That’s when the Frogs, and Salamanders head
for Vernal pools, and make their way across dangerous
crossroads of pavement where cars, and trucks traverse, in New England at least.

In our hustle, and bustle, we could stand to take stock
in Nature’s way, and follow a long term game plan
of Mother Nature’s creatures that have been here longer than we have.

Besides, an outgrowth of energy, and a faster pace will be budding
once we make our way to the equality of yang and yin energies
by Spring, and then increasing activity levels into the Summer Solstice in June.

They do have an innate wisdom about them, and we could stand to
pay more purposeful attention to their intelligence.

Celebrating our diversity within unity is something all
creatures can win by way of profiting off of mutual aid.

Till we tweet again peeps,

Ari