Love in a Time of Despair
Despair about
the state of the earth caught up with me these last few weeks. (Even the Valentine's candy didn't cheer me up!)
Like many of you, I usually focus my attention on practicing compassion. I use energy meditations to manage and shift my perspective regularly—from frustration, rage, despair, or whatever emotion takes me over—to reconnection with the beautiful earth. I nurture
myself with nature. I shift from despair to imagining the world I want to create, to taking actions to feed change. I re-member what I love and live for and re-focus my connection to the refined, lighter energy of the cosmos.
Yet my regular practices failed me and events overwhelmed.
Was it my dream of me and a Polar Bear on a steep icy precipice, unable to move in any direction safely, watching in horror as the bear lost his footing and slid down the steep snowy slope into the ocean? Was it my broken heart that the Dreamers are under such stress, or the new levels of destruction in Syria? Was it four sleepless nights in a row? Probably all these factors combined. But the despair reminded me of how most of us live
daily—overwhelmed, fearful, disempowered.
As renowned philosopher Ervin Lazlo recently said, we as a species have reached a chaos point.
Your Intent Matters
It's easy to see the world in its dystopian aspects, yet it's your intent that matters. You create what you speak and focus on. So, whenever you take action in the world, it's essential to do it from a place of love and imagination, not despair.
Small moments matter.
Being
woken each morning by our Horned Owl duets helps me move away from frightening dreams and into joy at the preciousness of our Sonoma Mountain. Weeding the vegetable garden gives me pleasure (and sore muscles). Taking my lunch outside under the trees helps me shift my attention back to what is important—the great web of interconnected life. Each of these moments, taken together, help nudge me back towards love.
Does it help you to be reminded of such small moments? How else do you shift back into love? I would so enjoy hearing from you!
Library Book Orders!
The Seattle and Sonoma County
libraries now have copies of Weave the Heart of the Universe Into Your Life. Copies are on their way to Marin County libraries. If you know of others, let me know. If your library doesn't have a
copy, help us out by asking your library to order
some! 
