The daily news gets us all down. The only antidote I know (besides putting head-in-sand) is to shift your attention. Shift to the spaciousness and possibility that these longs days of light bring forth...to your inner light...to your garden's fecundity...to the amazing resiliency of humans to overcome disaster and trauma...to the gifts of love.
It's not easy, and it's necessary. My Andean teachers always talked about releasing the heavy and bringing in the light, replacing one with the other. My mantra is
where your attention goes, your energy flows.
Trauma
In honor of nationals PTSD Awareness Month (June), I published a blog on Elephant
Journal about ways to replace trauma with peace. If it's helpful to you, please heart and share!
Inspiration
Looking for inspiration this summer? I'm recommending a few free talks and summits on Qigong (simpler
than T'ai Chi), the Enneagram (very helpful to me in identifying automatic and unconscious assumptions I used to make), and Yoga (refine and inspire your practice!)
Sense of Place
As those of you who are connected with me through social media know, much of my attention in the last
year has been on creating an amazing book about the mountain where I live. A community project (five authors, ten photographers), it's also unique in encompassing the whole ecology of the mountain: not just plants, creatures, and geology, but humans, visionaries, history, and stories. It's been a best seller and widely appreciated, changing the discourse about our connection with the places we inhabit. You'll have driven past anytime you visit the North Bay! Check out Where the World Begins: Sonoma Mountain Story and Image.
May your heart fill with the burgeoning light of the longest day.
May that light radiate to all beings.
May that light shine into the deepest shadows, burning the fear and suffering away.
May all beings be happy, peaceful, and free.
