By Swan Michelle
In one month’s pandemic time I have gotten to know most all of my neighbors. We wave at each other as though we are the only beings left on the planet, or as though we haven’t seen other humans in days, or as though we do truly care about how we each are doing even if we did not take the time to show this before in our busyness and pre-occupation. This is our village now and we do look out for one another, even from our yards and homes.
“Wherever you stand, be the Soul of that place.” Rumi
My neighbors bake one another cookies, offer extended paddle boards lends and invite me over for socially distanced but warm hearted libations and bon fires. From the balconies and yards they tell me about the dog that got loose how they dealt with the death of their twin sister, the newest local news and the eagle nest that just hatched. The children offer me rides on their blow up unicorn and lend me chalk so that I too can write about hope on my driveway. My local tribe are cancer survivors, surf champions, deep sea divers, bird lovers, trust funders, life savers and home schoolers. They have all experienced loss, death, divorce, sickness, family triumphs, sailed the world, attended to their garden, wave banners about their political beliefs, discovered nature’s wonders and written books. There is unity here, and when you look deeply, there is diversity.
Recovery is kindness, thinking globally and acting locally.
Globally, more than ever before, we have a chance to share concern for this entire planet. From live streams, video chats and pictures, we can travel in minutes to vast geographic regions. We can along with this, picture the earth getting an overdo cleanse and each of us no longer wastefully living beyond a means that contributes to her contamination.
Praise the waters, air clearing, and animals safely thriving, with joy. This is now vivid “proof” our lifestyle effects global warming. Reach out to others in France and Italy. Hear their triumphant stories of singing to the health workers from their balconies. Hear about the courage of others wishing their loved ones goodbye in this lifetime on Zoom. It inspires us to remain interconnected and to live more radiantly and consciously.
Find your favorite teacher Live. They can now be anywhere on this globe. You are no longer limited by where you live. The internet can be a library of prolific education. Teachers are still serving bravely and tirelessly in the advancement of this planet while health care workers save lives or do research and parents educate their children even as they’ve been laid off from their job.
The internet does not have to be a waste of time or voyeurism, wishing you were living somewhere else or someone else’s dream. Live YOUR life. Life is precious. Your life is here and now. This is your chance to connect to what is the most resonant to your growth. We can also be clear as to when it’s time to be present locally and put the computer down.
It is important that we love where we live and who we live with. We must be able to live with ourselves and our neighbors, even in unbearable compassion or thinking they are different from us. Ask how your tribe is doing and observe what those close to you need. We can attend to those around us locally as stewards of our village. See who needs your local business, your hope, your experiences of past hardship, growing food, your exercise or cooking tips, your ability to go to the store, even on your bike, to get their prescriptions. Our location is a manageable approach to outreach. It also lessens our carbon footprint, spreads an education of a holistic, sustainable life style and bonds us in co-existence.
Co-exist.
One warm hearted neighbor near me stated quite forthrightly, “ I am pretty sure we didn’t vote the same way in the presidential election and that we are probably political opposites but that doesn’t bother me. To the extent that your ways bring together opposites for peace is good. Keep on being a good force that accepts all” These were his exact words.
He’s right. I prioritize unity, not difference and division. I don’t need homogeny. That is fear based. I am indeed bewildered and welcoming of the many ways in which we choose to live our lives and how all of life can be. Free agency is our right. Rock your free will. I personally ind it important to relate to each person as a human BEING unconditionally, from a place of “Supreme Love” as John Coltrane would say.
Whether I agree with or understand all beliefs or not, change is here and thinking only about ourselves is dead. Endlessly wasting time in rightness, righteousness, neglecting anyones health, hoarding shared resources or violently harming animals for testing purposes does not work. What we are learning right now is important.
Mother Earth is providing a shift of priority. The earth is her dominion, not ours. A shift of perception requires a recognition, not a fear, of all sentient beings. There is enough fear based consciousness as it is. It requires total presence to keep fear at bay. Presence to these circumstances is love. I choose love. I know from Hurricane Katrina; there is nothing worse and unsettling than living around a large group of humans that are afraid. .
I really do not care about anyone’s political yard sign or what kind of flag you wave. I do hope that you vote and practice your freedom. More than that I hope you tell the truth to yourself. I also hope that you find a way to love this life, respect nature and are not a coward. Show up for this life and share hope so that more beings feel like their life matters. Love the animals. Let us love this life together.
.
It’s a miracle that we live on a giant rock 4.54 billion years old, comprised of 70% water, at just the right distance from the orbit of the sun to not burn. With a satellite known as the moon, there is a gravitational pull far beyond our conscious control that helps sustain a stable enough rotation. This movement is so balanced that we don’t really notice we are moving. What a miraculous home we share.
Earth’s miracles are our miracles. If the earth were an organism, we would be her cells. We can choose to activate further generated cellular health (love) instead of a degeneration (fear) of this exquisite planet and shared home of planet earth. This is not my home. It is our home.
We are a unified eco-system. How we treat this planet and all of her sentient beings is a direct indication of how we feel about ourselves, in sickness and fear or health and love. There is vivid misfortune with so much sickness and loss. I pray for you if you have experienced this. We must not take this lightly. There are also clear silver linings and a chance to change with such a blank sleight ahead.
“Oh, it’s like this now.” Lama Marut
There is a window opening. This window is an opportunity. We can choose to open this window thoroughly, or partially, still being partial to whom is worthy of living a blessed and healthy life. Yet, who wants to be in a partial life really? Not I. To me, this is cowardice. I am not a coward. Each of us must be given the right to health for us to be in a healthy eco-system together. This is brave. This is love.
It is impossible to not affect others with our internal landscape. If we give fear a lot of attention, we will become even more afraid. No one can rush. Haste and reactivity are fear based. Impulsivity and thoughtlessness to tactics of a new life could further harm us all. It isn’t life affirming.
The quality of the mind’s thoughts go out of us as waves, hitting into everything in the atmosphere, far beyond your mind alone. Quantum science has proven this.If something is unsettling within you, this is your time to get clarification. It can be a productive time to uncover anything keeping you from the greatest of all powers; unconditional love. Myopia is dead. Work to have no enemies.
There is a window opening. It is opening fully. Nature couldn’t be more loud and clear. Within it is an awakening. Not just your awakening. But our awakening, together. Learn to hold yourself and your part in this well. Your are affecting us. This historical moment is important.
“Whether we like it or not, we have been born on the earth a part of one great family. Rich or pour, educated or uneducated, belonging to one nation or another, ultimately each of us is just a human being like everyone else. Furthermore, we all have the same right to pursue happiness and avoid suffering.” The Dalai Lama
It is incredibly difficult to be both afraid and present. It might be strange if you didn’t have a moment of fear in the many questions that might arise during a total global dismantling. To have fierce compassion for yourself and all others is the love I speak about. It is the most potent of all energies on the planet. It will be important to closely monitor ourselves and those in close proximity to us with gentleness. Awakenings aren’t easy. So.go easy on yourself and others, as this is notoriously uncomfortable..
I think it important to not feel guilty if you are having a good day. It allows us to understand there is access to joy during a pandemic. If you watched the sun did indeed reliably rise again with it’s same eloquence and beauty, rejoice. More joy on this planet is helping to balance out the hardships that many are facing. Just be certain to still care. Complacency is a real killer. Own your time. Pretend you are dying, because really, we all are!
Being a visionary comes after you’ve allowed yourself to process out the fears that kept you separate, small and stuck. Vision requires a new perspective, totally devoted to this life’s continuation. If we are each doing our local part, with less panic, and more love, it is the beginning of saving the world, one neighbor and one neighborhood at at time. Choose love over fear. It just feels good.
Thank you pandemic. I now have my priorities for a loving life more in check.
I choose love, I have no enemies, Swan Michelle
“No Hard Feelings” The Avett Brothers
When my body won’t hold me anymore
And it finally lets me free
Will I be ready?
When my feet won’t walk another mile
And my lips give their last kiss goodbye
Will my hands be steady?
When I lay down my fears
My hopes and my doubts
The rings on my fingers
And the keys to my house
With no hard feelings
When the sun hangs low in the west
And the light in my chest
Won’t be kept held at bay any longer
When the jealousy fades away
And it’s ash and dust for cash and lust
And it’s just hallelujah
And love in thoughts and love in the words
Love in the songs they sing in the church
And no hard feelings
Lord knows they haven’t done
Much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
When my body won’t hold me anymore
And it finally lets me free
Where will I go?
Will the trade winds take me south
Through Georgia grain or tropical rain
Or snow from the heavens?
Will I join with the ocean blue
Or run into the savior true
And shake hands laughing
And walk through the night
Straight to the light
Holding the love I’ve known in my life
And no hard feelings
Lord knows they haven’t done
Much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Under the curving sky
I’m finally learning why
It matters for me and you
To say it and mean it too
For life and its loveliness
And all of its ugliness
Good as its been to me
I have no enemiesI have no enemiesI have no enemies
“And even after all of this time, the sun never said to the earth, ‘you owe me’. Look at what a love like that does. It lights up the whole sky.” Hafiz
Namaste, Swan Michelle
Artwork by Daniela Marx. Special thanks to her for documenting the prophetic words of our Swan River Yoga Teachers daily and to the teachers and students that continue to show up for themselves, which dissolves fear. Your practice is your daily statement that you have chosen love.