Healing Rites of Passage

I often receive criticism for my philosophy that within an illness or calamity a message resides. However, it has always served me well to see Life in this way and so I continue. The current event of the Corona pandemic is no exception. The message I have deciphered so far is…

RESET

A forced time-out is what we have needed globally for quite some time. That time-out is now. You have no where to be, unless you are fulfilling an essential role in retail and health care.

We have spent far too much time on devices with those not present while in the face to face presence of others. Now, we have been forced to separate our faces and rely largely on those devices. See now how there is no substitute for face to face encounters. It is time to reset our priorities, our philosophies and our practices.

We have been absent while present, now we must find a way to be present in our absence.

R

Rest. Relax. Restore.

Rest – Sleep when you are tired. Take naps.

Learn again what it means to follow your natural rhythm. If you are one who would rather stay up until midnight and sleep until 8:00 am when you naturally arise, without an alarm, then do that. Naps are little gifts. They allow us to be more creative because they offer our brains a chance to reset. Just like this time-out.

Relax – Take time to read those books on your shelf or on your kindle. Take more hot baths, with candles and music. Start a meditation practice or deepen your existing one. Take long walks if possible.

Restore – Explore new aspects of yourself. Begin a journalling practice. Do more self-care treatments like facial masks, ear candling or deep conditioning your hair. Take an online yoga class. Do some yard work. Most individuals are running on fumes and have been for some time now. Take this time to restore yourself back to balance.

We’ve put so much busy-ness in business.

Try BE-ness.

E

Educate

Take an online course. Explore something that you’ve always been interested in but hadn’t yet gotten to. Read books that are beyond entertaining and create new neural pathways. Explore alternative perspectives. Stretch yourself. If you have strong opinions about something, explore the opposing viewpoint. Use this time to grow your mind.

Feeding your mind with new information diverts attention from panic…

S

Sacred. Surrender.

Sacred – Without a doubt, this has been something I’ve identified as lacking in many lives. Honoring the sacredness of life. The loss of reverence for life. The lack of respect for it. Above all else I believe this to be most important. I believe this is where the illness truly lies. That we have gotten away from the sacred in favor of religions, politics and the pursuits of materialism, capitalism and consumerism.

Sacred is a deep connection to the soul.

It is the deepest of connections. It is the purest expression. Sacred is holding a new born baby. Sacred is lighting candles and saying a prayer. Sacred is joining a global meditation. Sacred is casting a spell. Sacred is a song that moves you to tears.

Sacred belongs in our everyday lives…not just on Sundays or holidays. That’s not sacred. Sacred is that place where we experience the deepest meaning in life. That place where we cannot differentiate between ourselves and our higher power. That moment when we feel our connection to the entire Universe and know we are all at our greatest core…fine.

Surrender – Surrender to Divine Grace. In lieu of panic, worry or frenzy, surrender to your Faith. Whatever that Faith is, surrender to it. If you believe in it, believe in it fully. Take the tenets of your belief system and really live them. For me, it means I don’t panic over anything I can’t control. By default then there is no reason to panic regarding things that I can control, either. So, I do my part and surrender the rest to Divine Grace. But that’s important, DO YOUR PART first, THEN surrender the rest.

E

Expand

This is another really important one. Expansion of our energy fields is imperative for happy healthy living. When we are in fear our energy field is in constriction. We can feel it easily if we check in. The second we take a deep breath and release our energy field to expand instead of constrict we feel immediate relief.

When my daughter was young and began to whine, I would instruct her to change her eyebrows. The eyebrow ‘whine position’ is scrunched. I don’t know if there are any actual studies stating that changing one’s eyebrows changes the physiology, but it worked 100% of the time in our household. When she raised her eyebrows, her voice resumed it’s normal tone. The same is true for fear. We cannot feel fear when our energy field is expanding. We only feel fear when in constriction mode.

T

Trust

Saving the most important for last. Trust. Trust that the Universe is conspiring on your behalf, in ways you can’t even imagine right now. Trust that this is what is needed for you and for all. Trust that what you need you will receive. Trust that your highest good is a priority with the Universe.

This all may happen in ways you don’t want. You might not even recognize the gifts when they come. You might even see them as evidence to the contrary.

Keep trusting. In trusting, we don’t panic. In trusting, we sit in the darkness, calm until the Light returns. In trusting, we find the Light in ourselves and we live in service to it. In trusting, we see the Light in others and live in service to them.

Be still. Embrace the BE-ness of this time. We all need this reset. If we didn’t it wouldn’t be happening. So- rest, relax, restore, educate, create the sacred, surrender, expand and trust.

If you need to DO something, then start having conversations regarding your end of life wishes. Complete your advance care directives. Make a play list on your phone or some other platform that can be played if you ever need it. Start keeping a journal – about your experience during this pandemic, about your memories over your life, about your children, about your dreams, about anything you want.

Much love surrounding you and yours.