When Grief and Gratitude Appear as One
Dear Deep Soul,
I continue down the path of Spring experiencing great beauty and new understandings, all with a sense of loss deeply embedded in my neural circuits as my roots tenderly grow down into the earth. This metaphor of our blossoming starts with the newness of a sprout that is ready to burst forth.
Nature and the Cosmos
As the sun shines down for longer periods of time (yes, even with wind, rain, or snow), we will see different stars in the night sky. On May 6th and 7th go out and see if you can view the glory of the Aquarids Meteor shower.
On May 16th notice the full Flower Moon and total lunar eclipse. That should be an interesting day to feel the shifts and pulls of the planets. On May 30th the sky will be completely dark with the new moon.
Natural Healing
My heart continues to ache in a distant way (along the edges of my human form) as I can feel the gentle energetic oscillations of sadness, loss, and a recognition that whatever ideas I and others once had—we can no longer hold onto.
Uncertainty is the word that fits this Spring. Always a surprise along the way—sometimes extremely pleasant—and other times horrifying. These times indicate to me a need to be ready for radical change. How we frame this as we go through each day becomes crucial. Do we look at radical change with fear or with love?
When faced with uncertainty, the other word that comes to me is resilience. Flexibility is a beautiful aspect of resilience, but this is more than just being flexible. Resilience is also being able to continue with courage, vulnerability, and hope. Let us move into spring with all its uncertainties and with a foundation of resilience that we continually nurture.
In a recent inspirational interview that Janet Attwood and Debra Poneman had with Lynne Twist, (click here to watch) she mentions that Michael Beckwith talks about fear as a form of negative prayer, which means that love is a positive prayer. How can we create positive prayer for what we want in our life?
As the divine feminine clearly needs to be held with reverence again, we see a bigger struggle within our western culture to let go of things that don’t serve us. We see more factionalism, breakdowns, and retreating into our holes to protect ourselves. We get scared about what the future will bring. Therefore the need for balancing the masculine with the feminine—with dignity and respect—must first start within ourselves. As Francis Weller says in the preface of a powerful book I am reading, Choosing Earth by Duane Elgin, we must practice self-compassion. Lean into our feelings and allow them to be embraced instead of pushed away. Learning patience and looking for gratitude becomes the lens for how you see things. Even those small moments of gratitude can help you shift into a new place of openness.
I have been taking a course with Francis Weller, the author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Last night he talked about how we once came from a cosmology of connection, and now with western patriarchy defining our culture, we have learned a cosmology of separation. Although many of us know this when stated so plainly and with such coherence, it helps me make more sense about why we are at this place of fragility and crisis on so many levels.
Bringing connection back into our world means uniting body with mind and soul. It means allowing all the senses to be experienced. Recognizing the interrelatedness and richness of our emotional, sensual, soul-alive moments brings purpose and gratitude into each action.
Connection equals community. Let’s build upon this. I am sharing some inspiring communities and people that can support you or inspire you. To encourage community, share this with others. Please share with me what communities inspire you!
GLOBAL INSPIRED COMMUNITIES
- Learn about women coming together to inspire and vision together through the Sisterhood Planet: https://thepassiontest.simplero.com/S/https://sisterhoodplanet.com/lynntwist?ref=19977-Karin-Lubin
- Women inspired events, education, and gatherings: https://www.hellorevel.com
- Supporting Women in Transition and Building Resilience: https://ttnwomen.org
- Learn about liberation from white supremacy through the eyes of a woman: https://www.christenacleveland.com
- Learn more about the indigenous ways in the southwest and learn what empowerment really looks like: https://santafeindigenouscenter.org
- This organization always inspires me to see nature-based solutions for our environment and the dismantling of systematic racism: https://bioneers.org
- Supporting our young people and seeing their courage is incredibly powerful: https://www.yuccanm.org/our-movement
- Lynne Twists new book and her programs: https://soulofmoney.org
- A Spiritual Teacher Building Leaders: Michael Beckwith: https://michaelbeckwith.com
- Francis Weller’s incredible soul activism and community building around grief: https://www.francisweller.net
Building Leadership in Community
I have been honored to be speaking on and presenting regularly about the five characteristics of building Intuitive Leadership Teams. By learning five practices, you can develop an amazing synergy of introspective, inspired, and skilled people to positively transform their own inner world, their team culture world, and the bigger world of clients they work with.
Here are two ideas to practice finding and building community for yourself.
1) From Francis Weller’s work on the Third Gate: The Sorrows of the World: A Ritual for the Earth.
“Begin by creating some simple objects as gifts for the earth. Make sure each piece is handmade and biodegradable. Clay and mud make an excellent choice for this work. Imbue each object with your love, grief, and prayers for healing. Dig a small hole, large enough to receive your offerings. In whatever way feels right, say an invocation, a prayer that states your intention.”
Share your fears, sadness, and anxiety about the earth and all the elements. Place your offerings into the hole. Cover the hole, give gratitude and leave. What might be the positive ripples we feel?
2) Join in illuminating conversations in community from journal wisdom circles that I facilitate, to taking exercise classes with me on Zoom, to exploring other inspiring groups as mentioned above. Step out and allow your vulnerability to grow and see that with sharing more of who you are—you find a strength from these new roots of courage. Go forth and blossom!
“Glory to the phoenix for teaching us that ashes are not an end point, but a bed for consummating that which is destined to be reborn.”
—Jamie Reaser, PhD
Go Deeper to Be Greater,
