“Please Call Me by My True Names”

This poem by Thich Nhat Hanh was written in 1978 after reading a letter from a Vietnamese refugee fleeing on a boat from war. A twelve year old girl on that boat was raped by a sea pirate and in despair she threw herself into the ocean and drown. Hearing of this, Thich Nhat Hanh was very angry and upset and did walking meditation most of the night to calm his emotions and to look deeply. This poem that has since been transformed into songs, different languages and circulated all over the world was a result of practicing to transform suffering.

They (the monastic community) received hundreds of letters each week sharing suffering from that time and reading them was difficult. But they chose as a community not to look away. This is what Thich Nhat Hanh said after reading this letter…

When you first learn of something like that, you get angry at the pirate. You naturally take the side of the girl. As you look more deeply you will see it differently. If you take the side of the little girl, then it is easy. You only have to take a gun and shoot the pirate. But we can’t do that. In my meditation, I saw that if I had been born in the village of the pirate and raised in the same conditions as he was, I would now be the pirate.

In times where I myself see Border Patrol agents killing civilians and disappearing immigrants with impunity, I share this poem again as a reminder to myself and whoever is willing to go deeper than duality while at the same time standing for justice and speaking up for our shared humanity. In the spirit of compassionate action founded in solidity and love, I share this poem again.

‘My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.’

Please Call Me by My True Names – Thich Nhat Hanh

Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow —
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Meeting a Master

*‘To be with such a teacher in this lifetime is a huge honor and blessing. ‘*

Sometimes you don’t know what is going to change your life forever. In fact I’d say most times I don’t know. I guess that is why it’s called the Mystery. One day in my late twenties I was sitting on the steps in my house with my friend and then house mate who was telling me about Palestinian home demolitions. Not that I wanted to know, because who wants to know about suffering far away? We were both taking Landmark Education courses and we were also talking about ‘ways of being.’ Like for example, self righteous indignation…a very popular way of being these days. Munteha embodied it as she role played with me, “You are ignorant and I must teach you!! They rounded up all the Japanese people, American Japanese people and put them in internment camps!” Kay, so she switched it from Palestinian land seizure and house demolitions to Japenese Americans being abducted a forcibly placed in camps during World War II…which to be truthful my younger self did not know about either at that time. That conversation with my 23 year old house mate did change my life forever, because it led to an opening of heart and willingness to see what is unpleasant and painful to see. It even led to travel to see and hear different stories that most American citizens and most people will never get a chance to hear/see. I have Munteha to thank for meeting my spiritual root teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh.

After the conversation on the stairs, Munteha ventured out to actually go witness for herself what was happening on the ground. She went with Leah Green and the Compassionate Listening Project to Israel and Palestine. The group of international citizens sat in people’s homes and listened to their stories. They visited Jewish families, Palestinian families, military officers, people on the ground in Gaza (you could get in back then), Israeli orthodox Settlers and peace activists from every faith. It was called a Compassionate Listening Delegation and the sole purpose was to listen deeply to people’s stories and that in itself would do two things…it would alleviate suffering and it would open people’s eyes within the delegation to what is actually unfolding on the ground thereby cutting through ignorance.

I’m not Jewish, I’m not Arab and I had no interest really in Israel at the time. But I do follow intuition. It was a clear Yes to accept Munteha’s invitation to participate in my own Compassionate Listening Delegation even though I didn’t really know why I was going. The first step in that journey was being trained on how to listen. We are not trained in this culture how to listen deeply. Especially if I don’t agree or like what the other person is sharing or saying. The Compassionate Listening Manual was the first time I saw the name Thich Nhat Hanh and that name did not mean anything to me but the poem Call Me by My True Names embodied everything that the Compassionate Listening delegation was about. So the name of this Vietnamese monk that grew up in war stayed with me.

First, I met this Master through a poem. Then I met Gene Knudson Hoffman, who was Leah Green’s mentor. Gene’s words, “Who prays for the Oppressor?” dropped like a seed into my consciousness because it was so radically different than how I had been trained in a culture bent on punishment. Gene had Thich Nhat Hanh as a mentor and was an elder when I entered as a Compassionate Listening delegate. Compassionate Listening came from Thay into Gene and then Gene transmitted it to Leah. Ripples are like that, they may go out so far and wide like the ocean and we may never know the reverberations. Leah went on to lead 26 delegations to Israel/Palestine as well as delegations in other countries. I could write a book just on the experiences of the Compassionate Listening delegations I participated on back in 1999 and 2001 but that is for another day.

When I was in Diapers, Thich Nhat Hanh made his way from his monastery in Vietnam to Washington DC in the United States. He went to the US government to make visible his people’s suffering and ask for an end to the bombing. “You ask what I want, I want you to stop bombing my people…” I was not even six months old when he was offering a proposal to end the war and and to asking the United States to offer reconstruction without ideological strings attached. It was that call for peace in 1966, without condemning people and without blaming one side or the other that had the then government of Vietnam exile Thich Nhat Hanh for being a traitor. He was not allowed to come back for 39 years and he did not know if he would ever be allowed back. In exile, he transformed the suffering in his own heart and learned to make his heart his home.

*‘The Rage is my baby and the energy of love and mindfulness wraps around the Rage and calms it down.’*

Despite being in exile, despite being labelled a traitor and having his work banned; Thich Nhat Hanh wrote books, poems and teachings. He wrote under pen names and his work was shared in a clandestine underground network in Vietnam. He was considered a subversive so someone caught reading his work took the risk of being punished.

The Rage Bomb that I returned with from being witness and listener in Israel/Palestine invited me deeply into practicing with All of It. That’s when I needed Thay’s gentle presence telling me to make friends with my Rage. Not to judge it or supress it and definitely not to spew it out onto others. Look for the root cause of the rage like a mother looks for the root cause of a baby crying by holding the baby in her arms. The Rage is my baby and the energy of love and mindfulness wraps around the Rage and calms it down. After it had calmed down I could see clearly what was beneath the Rage was a sense of helplessness and grief. And overwhelm. Under anger was an ocean of tears. The rage is not like it was back in the days of re-entry from the Compassionate Listening Delegations, but the tools of honoring grief, fear, overwhelm, anger…I use them every day.

Thay said often that he would not want to be born on a planet without suffering, because without suffering you cannot develop your compassion. He would also say, “It’s not enough to suffer….” Be in touch with the wondrous, healing and nourishing elements in us and around us…that is my job too. Alleviate suffering, water the seeds of joy. In the mindfulness trainings is the line, “I have more than enough conditions to be happy…happiness is not dependent on external conditions…”

*“A cloud can become vapor, it can become rain, but a cloud never dies.”*

To be with such a teacher in this lifetime is a huge honor and blessing. He transitioned into a cloud on January 22, 2022 at the age of 95. “A cloud can become vapor, it can become rain, but a cloud never dies.” No death and no birth may be the most potent teaching of all right now because it can be an antidote to fear. Everything continues, albeit in a different form. As a testament to how he lived, he was allowed to re enter his homeland in the last years of his life and open ceremonies for Thich Nhat Hanh’s transition were held in and live streamed from Vietnam making them available to people all over the world. Yes, war is impermanent. Yes, compassion can move mountains over time. Breathing in I feel deep gratitude, breathing out I allow these gifts to flow to others. Deep bow of love and gratitude.

We Can Exhale

*…inviting me back to be in the present moment.*

Am I the only one that feels sometimes like I am holding my breath hoping it all works out? It’s an amazing thing to breathe in and breathe out consciously. Even typing the word breathe I feel my little fingertips giggle, ‘Hey, she remembered…thank Goddess!’ I mean you could say God, or Buddha, or Big Bird but there is such a display of masculine Machismo everywhere I gleefully choose ‘Thank Goddess!’ But I digress. It happens, even in the new year with the season of resolutions and all that.

Does anyone else out there feel like they are sometimes forgetting to breathe? Or you are breathing but maybe only down to your throat and your belly is crying out, ‘what about me?’ Yes, the breath is not as flashy as a retreat in Mexico with your private suite on the ocean and gourmet organic food…but it is free. And it is your birthright to breathe. Right up until it is your death right to take your last breath. Yet, we rarely think about breath; the gift of life and the gateway to death.

I scrolled through my inbox today. It was less alarming than scrolling through the news but I did notice a trend. Everyone thinks I need to do something RIGHT NOW. By everyone, please don’t assume it is actually anyone I know as an in the flesh human. There are a few messages from those but mainly it is organizations asking for money or selling me something. Or asking me to do something. I get it…I really do, but what to do? That is a deeper question. Don’t think I’ll find the answer to that one in my email box or the news for that matter. Yet, I have been trained…to look outside first. Fortunately, training later in life came in to teach me to come home first. Thank you Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh for teaching me about the breath and inviting me back to be in the present moment.

Circling back home I find my breath. I find my breath and invite her to come all the way down to my belly. I invite you to do that right now. No one is looking, I am not charging any money and think of it as an experiment. Place an open palm on your belly and then breathe in through your nose and track your breath with all of your awareness down into your lower abdomen. Feel your open palm rise and deflate riding upon your belly. Repeat, until you have taken five belly breaths. For extra credit close your eyelids. Give those little eyeballs of yours a break for a second or two. They have likely been gobsmacked by all the stuff there is out there to see. Do you notice any difference?

*To be Re United with* *your true Self* *come home to your breath.*

Exhaling is as important as inhaling. You really can’t do one without the other. Exhaling right now is ‘letting go’. Letting go that there is some class in my in box that is going to make my New Year rock, letting go there is some non profit that if I don’t give money RIGHT NOW they are a ship that is going to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Letting go of fear of what my country may do later today, this month, or this year and even letting go of the enormous dread about the suffering that has already occurred and continues. Just continue to breathe my dear. Anxiety, fear, overwhelm are familiar friends to offer a smile and wink, not a foe to chase around your house with a broom yelling “Get OUT!”

When I tried writing this blog post, it had been so long since last writing that I was denied access to my own blog site. Imagine Sheepish me looking down at my feet kicking the ground. Then they said, ‘to be Re United with your site go to your email.’ Re United. That term made me laugh out loud. To be Re United with your true Self come home to your breath. Try smiling gently, even if there is no one ‘out there’ to see your smile. You see it. From the inside.

Growing my stability, my inner peas, my joy is not a selfish act. It is a requirement to showing up fresh for others. It helps me see with new eyes. It is like the inhale and exhale, the give and take. As I have written this blog post more emails are coming in telling me what I need to do RIGHT NOW. News is covering whatever is the worst of the worst and that will become the headlines of the day. I choose to UnSubscribe from distractions and come home to my Self today. Rather than continuously consuming what is out there and then being in perpetual reaction mode in here, what a gift to come home. Invite the heart to speak up for it knows what is most important from the inside rather than be told from countless messages out there what to make your top priority. Phew! What a relief that is!

WE are in upside down times, when bully tactics are said to be self defense, when some people that grow my food, take care of people’s children and work in every walk of life may feel threatened to come out of their homes. Coming back inside is not to forget the times that we are in or to pretend that I know how to get out of them…it is simply to come home to my heart. From this heart is where to set intentions for this year and beyond. When I forget it is simply a breath away to Re Member again.

*From this heart is where to set intentions for this year and beyond.*

Re Membering Inter-Dependence

*“We are dependent on each other to awaken…”*

There’s a few things I’d like to re-weave if I may be so bold. One is the romanticizing of war into the awareness that our future depends on finding ways beyond war where we can honor and celebrate each other. The other is the belief that we are independent melting into the deeper truth that we are in this together. What conditions led to a nationalistic President being elected in the United States? Disillusionment may have been part of it but me thinks this current president is doing a better job than I could with this humble blog at re-wiring our awareness quickly. People pay attention to what they pay for groceries and gas. If I look deeply I find human beings behind the unlimited products I enjoy…or have enjoyed as an American. There are human beings from other lands in every part of every day life woven into United States. WE are dependent on them. Just like we are dependent on the earth. But sometimes we forget. People are out in the streets all over the world and all over this country who have not forgotten. Millions of others are also remembering our Inter-Dependence

I sip a cup of coffee this morning that does not come from Texas or Alabama. Even though I drink Seattles Best, it also didn’t come from Seattle. Like so many other things I consume, I am benefiting from the labor of human beings in Costa Rica planting, growing and harvesting coffee beans that make my cup of coffee in the United States possible. Just like human beings in factories in China made the computer I am writing on right now. Clothing…how much of my wardrobe was assembled by human beings in Southeast Asia? Thank you for making it obvious that we are not independent through the threat of tariffs. We are deeply dependent on each other to thrive. We are dependent on each other to awaken and that is happening right now in so many ways seen and unseen.

*“She taught young people and old alike from all over the world English.”*

The coffee I sip is in a cup that came from my mother. I drink from her gifts. She was an artist and a writer. For paid livelihood she was an English as a Second Language teacher rolling around the freeways of Los Angeles between three part time college jobs without benefits. She taught English to young and old people alike from all over the world. Her students loved her and she loved them. She had the whole world in her classroom and the thread they all had in common was learning English so they could better their new lives.

The land where I live was Indigenous land. The land of the Esselen and Costanoan/Rumsen tribes who existed before I existed. These tribes are the land ancestors in the area I live. The lands that had a mostly unspoken genocide occur before the United States became ‘the land of the free’. The “Othering” and arrogance that made that genocide possible before I was born is alive right now in my country. The “Othering” that thrives on fear, domination, and silence is rippling out now. But awakening is rising as well. Growing stronger every day.

Naming fear takes some of it’s power away. Bringing shadow into light is easier when it becomes impossible to keep ignoring. In that sense, having the President we now have in the United States is yet another wake up call. Not the first wake up call, but a more visible one. Because people who have spoken up are disappearing into detention centers and are being labeled a threat to national security. They are being abducted from their communities by plain clothes ICE agents and shipped far from their loved ones. You might ask…who is next? If targeting professors and immigrants now, who is next? Oh, the press. The press is part of what is also deemed a threat to national security. Then who?

People in Gaza are still depending on people in the United States to have the courage to speak up. Thousands of Israelis are out in the streets and have been for over a year trying to bring hostages home and also end a war. You can’t really think Americans are like this and Israelis are like that and Palestinians are terrorists. I mean you can think that…but it’s ignorance. Every human is unique no matter what nationality and to assume everyone from one country is the same…it’s like deporting a person for having a tattoo because you assumed that means they are a gang member. Which has happened here.

It can all be a bit overwhelming. Swimming against the current of the culture in which you live can be challenging. But then it’s time to take a walk. Remember to breathe into the lower abdomen and feel my feet connect with the earth helps me to awaken to the here and now. The balance to outer awareness is inner awareness. The way out, is in. The mirror is a mirror. The question is, can I clean the mirror?

I am never powerless. It just takes the courage to come home to my own heart and start there. Breaking through denial is painful. There is a reason for the denial. It is to push away pain. The denial of the holocaust was to not let in that immense human on human atrocity that had gone ignored. The denial of the genocide of the Indigenous people of the land I am living on…is to push away the pain and the shame of the roots of this nation. Melting the walls of denial is painful but in so doing we can begin to dream a new dream rather than keep looping.

*“The bullets are still there, the trees are there too.”*

The land I walk used to be a military training ground to prepare soldiers to go to Vietnam. Now it is a National Park. Impermanence makes me smile. It gives me hope. The bullets are still there, the trees are there too. As my root teacher once said, “I wouldn’t want to live in a place where there is no suffering…without suffering you cannot grow your compassion.” May we find ways every day to grow our courage, our wisdom and our compassion.

Got Time for Joy?

I don’t know about you, but I am a bit of a list maker. Lately I’ve been a lazy, on strike list maker. Nevertheless, lists are part of my daily mojo. This morning was a slow start ‘make coffee and write’ morning. That’s until my friend texted me, “Any chance you can hike Sobrannes?” A full body ‘Yes!’ arose when I read the text. Suddenly, the slumpy energy of nesting and writing disappeared into get those hiking boots on girl, right now! Sometimes it’s easier to rally energy when some playmate is out there wanting to meet at the monkey bars. My monkey bars is nature and yet it often doesn’t make the to do list. Like, I have the mail in ballot on my kitchen table to fill out, my rent contract to renew, and the house…oh MY…the house is a disaster zone. Don’t forget the dog, got to walk the dog, and the cat box! You get the idea. But a full body yes, is a full body yes and it means get those hiking boots on.

Whenever we meet it is usually non stop heart talk while walking together through beauty. From sharing dreams and the medicine that came from the dream, to sharing family secrets, and everywhere in between including the upcoming election. This is a friend who I heard her name come through sitting in my car in the driveway, out of the blue. So, I googled the name to find a local Art Therapist (whatever that is) near Big Sur. Like me, she respects and listens to guidance, so when I reached out way back when we connected right away. I know Spirit gifted me this soul sister at the right time. Hiking in Big Sur with her is so much easier to rally for when my mind is telling me ‘I’m too tired for that.’ Part of joy is having tribe, folks who get you and that you can pick right back up with even if it’s been a year since seeing each other.

Where is your joy? How often do you hear the voice in your head saying, ‘yeah, but I don’t really have time for that today.’ Or for me it was, ‘I don’t have the energy for that today.’ Or for some it might be, ‘I don’t have the money for that today.’ Joy is waiting. You and only you know what feeds your joy.

Especially during these times, it’s vital to know what brings light to your eyes. We all need a little more of that, people who are lit up from the inside by their own lives. With the collective energy field in tumult it’s even more important, not less important, to feed joy. I forget that sometimes. So compelled to do my part for Gaza, to show up in ways that are a bit heavy and hard. I show up to places it’s hard to see if it’s making a positive difference at all. It’s even more important to feed joy, so my stamina and commitment last for the long haul.

There is also the western programming, “When this, then that.” When everything else is perfect, I will nourish myself. When I have a degree, that’s when my life starts. When there is whirled peas, or world peace, that is when I can exhale. When my house is not a disaster zone, I can go hike in the sunshine. The if this, then that can hide in the background unseen running the show if we don’t pull the curtain back to witness it. ‘If people would wake up, then I could be happy.’ Kay, maybe just be happy and help people (including myself) wake up, instead.

Taking time to feed joy could look as simple as enjoying what I’m already doing. Yesterday I walked my dog at Asilomar, which is one of my favorite heart places. Even though he is 90+ doggo years old and we walk very slowly…we had a blast. Taking the judgment and comparison out and just being there, being with an aging being can also bring joy.

*Especially during these times, it’s vital to know what brings light to your eyes.*

Even rest can bring joy. Sitting in the sun and consciously inviting in the warmth of the sun onto my face. Choosing to let go of the ‘to dos’ even if for just five minutes. Connecting with the power and warmth of the sun to Restore energy can bring joy. The thing that zaps energy is when the mind runs amock with the ‘here comes the judge!’ channel. Self judgement or judgement of others are not the miracle grow for joy. I think acceptance and grace are more likely the gatekeepers. Even if it is acceptance of judgemental me, and grace that I can let it go at any time.

Acceptance, grace, patience, and humility help me water the seeds of joy. It’s not like I don’t have other seeds…guilt, shame, fear or anger. We all have all of it, whether it is currently popping it’s head above ground or staying dormant. The heavier emotions can zap energy. So knowing ways to refill the tank on a regular basis is part of self care right now. Also knowing ways to honor and release grief. I see within me the belief, what right do I have to feed joy when there are so many beings suffering right now? Many of them suffering as a direct result of my government’s weapons? How do I deserve joy, then?

Well, to that voice within I can attest that not wanting to get out bed in the morning does absolutely nothing for those beings who are suffering. Falling into despair can be a natural reaction to so much that feels beyond control…but finding ways out of despair is the medicine for our time. Part of that is permission to imbibe in joy. Having traveled the world earlier in my life I can tell you this; the brightest lights have come out of the deepest darkness. The people that I met during my travels that had experienced tragedy, and had composted it. They radiated light in such a powerful way. Some of them exuded joy, even though there was absolutely no visible reason in their circumstances that explained that joy. Their spiritual path helped them transcend their life circumstances and become a light house. So instead of feeling guilty about what my government is doing, I can see people in excruciating circumstances in their own resilience and power. I can also show up to be a voice for them.

Looking at myself with the eyes of compassion when that ‘Do I really deserve joy?’ rises, takes recognizing the part of me that might think I don’t deserve joy. Yes, we all deserve joy. Every single one of us deserve joy as our natural birth right. Driving to Big Sur, rocking out in the car to Rising Appalachia songs (go check their music out), I know feeding my own joy brings more light into the world. Here’s another secret, it also gives me energy to come back to the heavier work that I’m also called to. Watering seeds of joy and light gives me strength and courage to show up for the rest of it. So, what if you didn’t procrastinate your own joy? What if?

Breathe Deeper Friend

Sometimes the outer world pulls us in so many different directions that the antidote to anxiety can be as simple as the next breath. Empaths… be aware that these times are important times to get back to basics. What are the basics? The breath, my dear. For those of us who feel what is happening in our own neighborhoods, but also can feel what is happening with the earth and places far away…come home. Come home to the present moment, come home to your body, come home to your breath.

I have felt my breath caught in my throat, since bombings have expanded in the middle east. I have felt pressure and pain in my heart. So there is simply to go deeper into spiritual practice. The beginning of that practice is self care. The beginning of self care is the breath. I was on the phone with a friend talking about recent actions that I have taken to stop weapons from being transferred. She reminded me to breathe. I realized I have been holding my breath and I have been up in my head. Maybe a lot of people right now have had their breath caught in their throat and have forgotten to take the breath all the way down to the lower abdomen.

During the storm, whether it is an emotional storm, an actual weather storm, or a political storm; there is to come all the way back into your body through simple belly breathing. Put the palm of your hand lightly resting on your lower abdomen and breathe all of the way down there. Feel the rise of the lower abdomen, feel the fall of the abdomen. Hear your breath coming in through your nostrils and hear it on the exhale. Soften the shoulders. Do this for a few minutes and take your concentration into the breath. Let it ride the breath down to the belly and back out through the nose. The mind wants something to track, let it track the breath. It gives it something to do.

Drink water, be sure and drink plenty of water. Lots of places are experiencing extraordinary heat. Drink water with the awareness…how lucky I am to have access to clean drinking water. There are so very many people on the planet right now that do not have that luxury. Drink water mindfully.

*give your feet the assignment to be awake to the steps* *you take*

Feel your feet. Western culture is the culture of the mind. Come back to the earth through feeling the earth when you walk. If you have the conditions for it, walk barefoot on Mother Earth. Feel the feet contacting the earth. Bring your attention all of the way down to your feet, we get caught in circular thinking or worrying about this or that. The furthest point from our head, is our feet. Beam your attention down to your feet and give your feet the assignment to be awake to the steps you take, feel the steps you are taking.

Rest in Mother Earths’ arms. That can be as simple as laying a yoga mat out on your lawn and find a sunny patch to rest. Or rest in the shade. Feel any worry, or any heavy energies fall away. Close your eyes, rest. It may be for ten minutes, it may be for five…it will shift your vibration to lay on the earth and let go.

Feed joy. Find the things that give a little light to your eyes. Make a list of the things that you never make time for because it’s not convenient or ‘important’. Include the ones that you know bring a twinkle to your eyes. Put it on your fricken calendar. At least a few of those things for a few minutes. For me, drinking in nature brings joy. It may be cooking, a kiddo, a pet, a chocolate cake, a funny movie. Everyone has their own twinkle list.

Wear a shield. I must say these are intense times energetically (particularly for empaths) so I do recommend calling in protection every morning. You can imagine it as a invisible bubble surrounding you made of white or golden light. I also include ‘may I harm none, may none harm me.’ Know when to close the doors and the windows. When the winds are blowing strong, close the doors and the windows. This includes regular media fasts for me. I do track what is happening, but I also know when to come back to myself. Part of coming back to myself is unplugging everything for a time.

Circling all of the way back to the breath. The simple belly breathing introduced here can shift your sense of well being. It’s free, it’s portable, it doesn’t require any equipment or teacher. Just you and your breath. Good luck! It’s great for being stuck in traffic!