Not Always Likable. Always Trustable.

Every year I buy miniature daffodils to place in pots in front of my house and on my porch. When they are done blooming, I plant them in the garden. And then in late winter, these little green shoots begin to show up from the cold dark earth, and it reminds me that spring is on the way. And when they bloom my heart just sings. 

It is so easy to get caught in everyday living, but these happy flowers remind me that life is a river that has been unfolding long before I arrived and will continue on long after I leave, and this river has an ebb and flow. It contracts in the winter and expands in the summer just like the tides arise and recede, just like the valves in my heart open and close. When the daffodils remind me of this intelligent unfolding called life, I remember that while it may not always be a likable process, it is a trustable process. 

In 1965 The Bryds created their song, Turn! Turn! Turn! based on the well-known bible verse from Ecclesiastics. It is full of the kind of wisdom we need during this challenging time: 

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven 

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep 

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together 

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing 

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late 

One of the most important gifts you can give to yourself is to let in the truth of what this quote from the Bible is pointing to. It is saying life is a constantly changing process and it will continue to expand and contract, open and close. It will include even things we don’t like such as hate and war and dying for there is a ‘time for every purpose under heaven’. As author Byron Katie says, “Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late.”   

What can you do to help relieve the suffering of this unconscionable war? Just like we all breathe the same air, we also share a collective mind. The kind of mind that is in Putin is in all of us. Most of us are not as greedy as his mind and most of us care more for our fellow human beings than his mind does, but the moving pieces that make up the collective human mind are the same in all of us. The only difference is what we allow to bloom and grow. 

So, you and I have an opportunity during this challenging time. It is superfood for the struggling, comparing, greedy mind that believes it is separate from everything. It isn’t only the war in Ukraine but it’s also politics and Covid and inflation and on and on. How do you not get seduced into the world of struggle that causes so much heartache on this planet? 

A woman just sent me this quote by Thich Nhat Hahn from his book The Art of Living that speaks directly to what we can do to alleviate suffering on our planet:   

“When suffering comes up, we have to be present for it. We shouldn’t run away from it or cover it up with consumption, distraction, or diversion. We should simply recognize it and embrace it, like a mother lovingly embracing a crying baby in her arms. The mother is mindfulness, and the crying baby is suffering. The mother has the energy of gentleness and love. When the baby is embraced by the mother, it feels comforted and immediately suffers less, even though the mother does not yet know exactly what the problem is. Just the fact that the mother is embracing the baby is enough to help the baby suffer less. We don’t need to know where the suffering is coming from. We just need to embrace it, and that already brings some relief. As our suffering begins to calm down, we know we will get through it.” 

So, the invitation is to use this time to get to know how your mind struggles, meeting its fear and judgment and comparison and doubt and confusion and rage and despair ‘like a mother lovingly embracing a crying baby in her arms’.  Even if you spend the whole day identified with your struggling mind, just one moment of seeing it with true compassion is a moment of healing for our planet.