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Created: Dec 02, 2008
Updated: Nov 17, 2009
Membership: Open
Semi-Private
Topic: What are you doing to stay centered during this tumultuous time?
Posts (1 - 6 of 6)
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Flag comment for removal laurenparks27 10 months ago
It feels like the ground is shifting under us rapidly - what things are you doing that keep you centered during this time?
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I just got off a conference call this morning with two dear friends and colleagues, and we were discussing this very question. We realized that each of us has been embracing a daily meditation practice with more joy and commitment than in the past, and that this is proving to be a real source of strength and steadiness.
I also find myself turning more intentionally to the arts -- singing, playing my guitar. Dedicating time to just be in the joy of expression keeps me out of my head, which can be a pretty crazy place these days! |
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There is a fire in me of unquenchable inspiration that feels most resonant when I act in alignment with my authentic purpose. I think each of us has this fire. I try to operate in my daily life from my burning intention to make a difference by breathing through that purpose in me. I also try to minimize my "now" so my energy is not wasted on the past or the future. And I stay in contact with friends with whom I have made a "pirate agreement" (meaning no rules) to give me friendly feedback about how they experience me. This keeps me on track. We meet weekly in our Just-Stop Team meeting (www.just-stop.org). For extra credit I take responsibility for a generating the context of radical responsibility in which I live. Without that context I am lost, so I source its presence from moment to moment. It provides me with great clarity that helps when making decisions. And believe it or not, all this is fun!
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I just checked out the just-stop.org site and I was struck by the line about stop living in the unsustainable old culture and start creating a sustainable new culture that works for you. I think this is so at the heart of what many of learning centers in the Berkana Exchange are doing. I'm reading this book about addiction right now, America Anonymous, and it makes me think about all of the unsustainable activities that Americans (and of course others as well, but I think we're the worst) are addicted to. Even if we're not shopping addicts, we are still all buying new things all the time and throwing things out when we don't want them anymore and most always I think these actions have nothing to do with actual need.
I thought about this a lot while our friend Silas was visiting from Zimbabwe - I felt like while I was with him I was seeing things through his lens, through a lens of someone where there is no excess, and here, there is excess everywhere. We are this culture of excess and convenience. But how can we stay centered when we're overwhelmed by all of it - I think there's something in what both of you have said, but for me it's trying to keep things simple. I try every day to live a more simple life. |
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One of the things that helps me is letting go of my various certainties. When I am able to let go of how I "know" things are supposed to be, it is like this shift in my gut. A releasing. I step into the possibility of simply encountering things as they actually are, rather than the way they are in the story in my head.
What's tricky, of course, is how to do this and still stand somewhere, on some ground. I think the kinds of practices you mention, Debbie, are part of reconnecting to ground in a different way -- not through the certainties I presume to know, but through something that is, well, more grounded.
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I grab hold of things that moves along the shifting ground. Not on the plane that's shifting into the abyss of course. I find it possible no more to stand on, or near, the fault lines.
Transitioning from the other side and over the fault lines has been very difficult as it was more a solo run in reality, albeit a community effort in mind. If only there were people alongside and from the other side holding hands and reaching out, I imagine it would've been a joyful adventure instead of a journey to the creepy unknown. Very good to know now that it really is the former.
Grasping the way things are... being still and grounded... keeping centered.... is a work in progress for sure. Connecting and conversing with kindred souls is one of the things that works for me. |