The Ins & Outs....

“The radiance of that which wants to be born illuminates the shadows, bringing them into the light of awareness that they may be healed.” 
― Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible

They say you can always tell a teetotaler by their skin.
It’s most usually glowing.  
A healthy dewy sheen to them that emanates from deep in their Being.
Their inner cellular structure so well-scrubbed and tended that the outermost layer has no other choice but to simply reflect back the cleanliness within.  
……….
My kiddo is edging toward her 5th birthday inside the next few weeks.
She’s gotten taller (loads and loads of pink, munchkin-regalia now made obsolete by her newly-stretched limbs)
Her insights much keener than once they were (NOTHING gets past this radar, nowadays)
And I’ve noticed the little drawings she crafts for me - are brimming with detail.  
 “You’re SEEING more,” I tell her, as she hands me her latest Creation.
…….
Some of the best musicians I’ve known have also been some of the best Listeners as well.  
A wise, sixth-sense about them alerting them to the fact that if they are going to Make Music - they must first attune themselves to the Sounds around them - the pulse, the breath, the timbre of the Moment they are In - which will accompany them into the Song they wish to Sing.
……
The best Writers come from those who’ve had their noses devotedly tucked into a book for most of their life.
Actors have been watching, cataloguing and aping the Action of Life all around them since they could move and talk.
And any Great Teacher - well - spent much time taking down notes, looking up into the faces of the Wise Ones who went before… attempting to walk some semblance of the Path they laid down before them.
 As Above, So Below.
As Without, So Within.
 ………………..
 All around me, in my small community & elsewhere, I’m watching people take concise and conscientious steps toward mitigating the horrendous path being chosen in Washington right now.
It’s heartening to see.
I’m excited to be alive at a moment in human history where it feels like collectively, we may be called upon for Something Big.
And yet, I am reminded that for Great Leaps to be made on the Cultural/Historical stage - Steps - both tenacious and grand - will be called for individually as well.
 As Below, So Above.
As Within, So Without.
 The Normal Operating Rules of Procedure is the broke-down boat that got us here.
And we are beginning to see that it will take a much different vessel - to steer us to the place we aim to be.
 …..
For the past several days, I’ve been flat on my back.  
Kept company by warm socks, down comforters, cold medicine and an appalling amount of Netflix, tissue and hot tea.
My body has been doing its utmost to wring out whatever Virus brought me to this spot.  
Fever.  Chills.  A grinding ache inside my spine that wakes me in the night in shudders - the pain of Illness overtaking and finally, relinquishing its hold on the body.  
The pain - a reminder that something is amiss.
That rest - medicine - attention - is needed here.
The pain - an Invitation to call forth my allies - rest and soup and wacky garlic/lemon-juice cocktails spiked with cayenne and ginger.  This is the time to call in the troupes.  
And when the storm of ache and tissues clears - to remember how Sickness was granted such a warm welcome to this vessel in the first place.  
What habits, stressors & less-than-stellar choices made such a thing possible.  
Am I paving the road for Health in my Day-to-Day?
Or am I unwittingly laying the foundations for dis-ease to take root?
………..
 I want to applaud you for all the work you doing in the world right now.  
The ways in which you are showing up in the Outer Realm - ready to march, move, and have your Voice heard.
And I invite you, as ever, to attend to the work within as well.
To become a keen observer of your own minutiae.  
To witness the ways you show up when the stakes seem not as high - or not as visible.
If we are to harmonize inside the great human Symphony emerging right now… we must train our ears to listen to all this is discordant inside our own hearts, bodies, lives.
If we are to make Art or anything of lasting Value or Beauty for the Generation(s) to come.. We must start to watch for what colors, shades and detritus we’re throwing off into the void.
If we want to write this chapter before us Anew - we’d better be ardent readers of all the ones that led us here.
…….
 At the end of it, I’m always guided back to the same, basic Maxim that keeps my world in check..
Yoga - a word we all know as meaning to Unite.
Yoke.
To knit together as One.
The old ways of half-assing or half-awake no longer make sense here.
This new era invites us to Integrate each and every aspect of our Selves.  Our Lives.
The public as well as the private.
The sacred and the profane.
The right and the left.
The hand and the heart.
Rumi wrote about moments like these as Invitations - rare moments of Clarity we’re gifted along the path  -
“The door is round and open… Don’t go back to sleep.”
And indeed, we stand at the precipice, gazing… out at all our lack of wakefulness has wrought.
This pain, this illness -a Beckoning - for closer examination.
If I could distill my own heart's Wisdom down into a single guiding phrase right now it would be thus:::


*To knit together all the discordant pieces of my world.
Examine the places inside of me where I am out of Alignment with my Truth, the Values I hold dear - the dictates of my conscience and soul.  To move on into every cob-webbed corner of this Life I own - and make it positively Ring with LIGHT.*



May you be granted allies and access to the places in this World your heart bids you Go.
May you be willing and able to do the difficult work ahead.
And may you do it with Great Love.
May we be prompted to Move Outwardly inside the World.
And tend, fervently, steadily, to the seat of Quiet Knowing deep within.