“Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light.”
–Eckhart Tolle
“In the end, bless the darkness, hold the light, because the two aren’t divisible.”
–S. Kelley Harrell
Now more than ever, our resiliency needs to show up in our everyday humanity.
We all have the capacity for resiliency.
Resiliency doesn’t come from having a charmed life, not having to deal with stress, nor facing obstacles that get in our way or living in a bubble.
Rather, it’s something that we cultivate, like building energy for better strength and conditioning.
In much the same way as the Taoist idea of Investing In Loss, imagine the darkness you face is like a ghost that you are playing with rather than fighting.
Just as an example, you might lose a game 99 times out of a hundred.
But if you lose 99 times and you are paying mindful attention about your partners moves, you can learn their tricks, and spring the trap to win the 100th game. Your mindset of losing shifted, like the saying, “if you had fun, then you won.”
That’s Investing In Loss in a nutshell.
Because you remained open, let go of perfectionism, and learned that it’s the process that matters along the way.
As you are shadow boxing in front of a mirror, imagine yourself awakening to shades of your hidden self.
Perhaps blind spots will be revealed when you allow the light to come in, and shine brightly on your soul.
Just as an example, do you remember learning how to ride a bike or how to swim?
Some of us never did learn how to do either for different reasons.
But most of us who did learn how to ride, and swim know that novel learning curves didn’t come without falling off our bikes or getting water up our nose.
Somehow, most of us made it through learning a sometimes painful new skill without losing a limb from the bike accident or drowning in the water.
And most of us got back on the bike, and back in the water without developing PTSD from falling or sinking.
So how do we allow ourselves to be mindful of the present moment in everyday life?
I remember an old High School teacher who recommended a book called The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, during my Senior year. I didn’t read the entire book till after I graduated from college. But I remained intrigued, and never stopped looking forward to reading it
In fact, the Peaceful Warrior message resonated so much that I read some more of Dan’s books after that, and then watched the film adaptation many years later, after it came out in 2006.
Check out the short video below that reinforces his mindful approach to life’s everyday moments:
May all beings be free from suffering, awaken to Inner Peace, and open up to the realm of Cosmic Consciousness,
We began as mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early spring when we slightly recall being green again.
–Rumi
A Full Snow Moon on February 1st sheds moonshine on the birth of February, followed by the Imbolc aka Groundhog Day on February 2nd. Energetically, spring starts now because the seeds underground are starting to think about waking up from their winter slumber.
Whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not, the arrival of the Vernal Equinox on March 20th marks the official onset of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. The equinoxes reflect the Nature’s balance of day and night; which reveals homeostasis of yin&yang/light&dark/masculine&feminine energies.
When I think of honoring the Imbolc tradition of the approximate halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, I think of the shamanic energy medicine of Groundhog as an animal spirit guide.
How many of us would benefit from waking up to an elevated state of consciousness that Groundhog awakens as a metaphor for reincarnation?
There are evolving souls in the spiritual community, who have shared that they have an attachment to a desire to not incarnate anymore, and would prefer to stay in the spirit realm after their experience in this lifetime ends.
While I respect a person’s sovereign right towards self-determination, there is wisdom in the old saying, be careful what you wish for. In order to really trust the Universe, you have to do the shadow work. The voices of trauma can be exhausting at times.
Groundhog energy medicine awakens death without dying as a real perceptible reality during the gift and many blessings of this lifetime. In this experience, we are reminded of the cyclical death and rebirth aspect of life. In every breath we take, a part of us dies, while another part of us is reborn.
Besides, science has confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we have trillions of cells living within our bodies that change like tastebuds over time. From that perspective, we really aren’t the same person we once were, nor will be in the future. Might as well learn to illuminate every cell in our bodies and learn to make them smile. There’s God(ess) in that.
For you gamers out there, playing video games is akin to the shamanic death without dying experience. You get to hit the reset button, start over, get a new life, and explore different levels. The program is already there and reveals itself when the time is ripe. Beyond that, it’s up to you how to play the game. Freewill within the program’s matrix. Once you know the program, you can transcend it.
Knowing our true identities as mostly luminous, formless beings of light can be the torch that carries you toward the perceptible reality that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes, we have find the eyes to see that the sun is still there, it’s just hiding behind dark clouds. More importantly, there is light within, no matter how consumed with darkness we might feel.
Just as an example, the classic American film Groundhog Day captures the sentiment of moving beyond the egoic realm of egocentric manipulation to waking up to the realm of Oneness or Unity Consciousness. Remember that Groundhog Day, like Halloween, derives from ancient traditions honored by our ancestors. I first saw this movie in High School and thought it was hilarious. Little did I know that I would end up going to college in the Pittsburgh area of Western Pennsylvania, where the film takes place, and later realize the profound spiritual depth of this movie that stands the test of time.
And then in the next clip below, we have an open hearted and high minded spiritually oriented conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Eckart Tolle to further capture the sentiment. I remember when I first picked up Eckhart’s new book at the time, The Power of Now. This was back in my social work graduate school days in Miami in the late 90s. The trauma of my mother’s suicide was still a fresh deep soul wound, and I was craving finding deeper spiritual meaning in my life to deal with the loss so that I could move forward. Upon reading the this book, I was struck by how his own suffering transformed into a radical spiritual awakening. I was inspired back Zen, and continue to be right Tao.
Flash forward to March, 2009, when Oprah brought to life the first free online planetary book club that explored this spiritual teacher’s next book, A New Earth. Both of my grandmothers died earlier that Winter. I felt triggered by their deaths, my energy field was gravely depleted, and l really looked forward to their live weekly webinar sessions. It was a light at the end of the tunnel for me at that time. I had already been working for several years as a day treatment social worker, in the same Public School community that I worked in over the past couple of decades. I still don’t know how I got out of bed to go to work in the morning during that time. Because we had meaningful connection, a concerned School Nurse I worked with at that time could see auras, and commented that she could see how weak my energy field was. Between Winter’s dirge, and my own grieving process, the time was ripe again for some more transformational inner work.
Switching horses, we will officially enter into the Year of the Fire Horse on February 17th. Fire Horse’s energy reflects greater movement, decision, freedom and courage so that we can effectively gallop into unknown frontiers.
Perfect timing for much transformation on this year’s pathways ahead. But transformation isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Growing pains are part of the process, and we do need to get off of our cushions and live our lives. May the Chi of the Fire Horse heat up our saddles, and get us off our bums, so to speak.
Speaking of blazing saddles, the Eclipse Season further fuels the flames of transformation with a Solar Eclipse on the Chinese New Year, and then a Lunar Eclipse on March 3rd. Many of you are already feeling these energies before the first eclipse takes place.
Of course, the aftershocks of the Spring Eclipse season will carry on through College Basketball’s March Madness, the Ides of March, Vernal Equinox, and into the Aries time of year. The season of Aries the Ram starts around the onset of baseball season, and energetically always feels like a new year because it is the first sign of the Western Zodiac.
As we already know, eclipses are catalysts for change and shaking up the status quo in our inner and outer worlds. There’s nothing to be superstitious about with regards to any of these energies because, like the present moment, they are what they are.
More importantly, what matters is how we align with the energies at play. Hunkering down and riding the storm out are typical conditioned human survival instincts. But instead of running away from the weather by heading down to the shorelines to get washed out; consider what the animals like rams do in times of alarming weather fronts.
Rather than resisting and fighting ominous weather, they head for the mountains to gain a better vista so that they can intelligently secure deliberate footing that harmonizes with Climate Change.
Or you can curse the weather, fight against the current or push the river, so to speak.
May all Beings be free and live in the present moment of Inner Peace,
Classroom Mothership Earth 