Does pain have to be so painful?
There is so much pain in the world right now – wars raging, children starving, whole towns burning to the ground, politics becoming more divisive by the day, the Earth crying out for our help and people so lost in doing that they have forgotten the healing of simply being.
How did we get in such a pickle? Are we destined to stay struggling with ourselves and others in a way that causes so much heartache on our planet?
My answer to that question is no. In the evolution of life on this planet, human beings are standing on a threshold where more and more of us are maturing, learning how to unhook from reacting to all the challenges life gives us, so we can respond, meeting life through the wisdom of our hearts.
To react, rather than respond, can help you make a difference in what is happening. It is so easy to react, falling into judgment, resistance, and fear. But understanding that most of the time humanity has been around, it has been identified with the kind of mind that easily falls into struggling with what is happening can help free you from the merry go round of reaction.
There is a new kind of mind that is being born out of this chaos, the kind of mind that includes rather than excludes, that understands we are all family regardless of our race, our gender, our religion, our sexual orientation, our politics, a kind of mind that cares for the Earth and all the beings that inhabit it.
The easiest way to recognize this mind is to see it is responsive rather than reactive. Rather than being lost in the endless rounds of liking and disliking that are so prevalent in the old kind of mind, this kind of mind moves from the wisdom of our hearts rather than our deeply grooved reactions.
One of the places you can see this new kind of mind emerging is in the innovative science around pain. Whether it’s Alan Gordon’s book The Way Out or the Curable app, science is now showing that when we react to pain, we actually empower it. When we respond, it can calm down and move right on through us. This is true for physical pain, mental pain and emotional pain.
In discovering how to respond to pain rather than reacting, all the holding in your body that guarded against pain will begin to let go and the energy of life will flow more easily through you. Then you will be able to hear the wisdom of your heart that your noisy mind has covered over all these years.
But most importantly you become a healing presence on our planet for every time you respond to a challenging situation, whether it’s in your body, with a friend, and rush-hour traffic, listening to the news, or a challenging health diagnosis, you will bring humanity one more step out of this old kind of mind and into the new and these moments will go a long way to bringing forth the healing that is coming out of this time of chaos.
So whatever story your mind comes up with around all this chaos that causes you to tighten, see it as the old kind of mind that is so used to reacting to life. For a moment here and a moment there, relax into the living process of life and know that life is smarter than us. This time of chaos is a time of birth and every time you respond rather than react you become a part of the healing that is coming out of this wild and crazy time.
If this intrigues you, click to download The Fertility of the Dark chapter from my book Belonging to Life
I also invite you to listen to my upcoming radio show on Dreamvisions 7 Radio: Meditation Simplified. It will air on Thursday, March 13th at 5am and 5pm HERE. After the 13th, it will be available on demand, along with every other radio show I’ve ever done HERE. Please feel free to explore my catalog and listen to topics that call to you.
Offerings:
Free Live Call with Mary:
TOMORROW: Last chance to join us for the next Free Live Call: How To Be Empowered in this Time of Chaos! We will be meeting Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11th at 5:30 pm PST for an hour and a half. We will continue to meet every two months, so keep an eye out for future events!
Here is a snippet of what we will be talking about:
So many heartaches happening on our planet…. Wars, wildfires that consume whole cities, aggressive politicians, and all the while the earth is crying for help. How can we not get lost in reactions? How can we become a part of the healing that is at the heart of all of this chaos? Join Mary in discovering it is possible to, as Stephen Levine would say, “Keep your heart open in hell.” And it is possible to make a difference in this challenging time.
Don’t forget if you can’t make it on the day, you can still participate by sending your questions and enjoying the recording after the call at your convenience. I hope to see you there!
Click HERE to learn more and register!