Let the past pass?

In various places, we read and hear about forgiveness and letting go of the past. Who wants to navigate life with a ball and chain around one’s ankles? Yet, many times we do this without even being aware. I have been reading a different translation of the Psalms, one recommended to me by a friend of the Jewish faith who also describes herself as part Buddhist. The book is called The Complete Psalms by Pamela Greenberg and it offers a new translation of these beautiful prayers and songs.

In the second Psalm, her translation says: “God said to me: You are my child. I give birth to you every day.”

I have been pondering this for several days now. One of my favorite ways to relate to God/Universal Life Force is as Divine Mother. This sentence fits perfectly as all of us being God’s children. But it is the part about being born daily that is truly astounding and rich. This is how to let go of the past totally, once and for all.

We are born daily. Not just in this lifetime. Not just this week, month, or year - daily. What better way to let go of the past both for ourselves and for the other people in our lives. We go to sleep at night. When we awake in the morning, it is a new birth. We can be the child with open eyes, mind, and heart. We don’t have to hold ourselves or others in bondage to what has been. We are free to navigate our world anew with a fresh viewpoint.

And if the day isn’t going so well, perhaps not according to plan, we can go ahead and embrace a new birth right then and there. Let go of what transpired before lunch and start a new day after lunch! This is so freeing - give it a try and feel the ball and chain fall off your ankles! Now on to psalm three.

What spaces are you allowing in your life?

If there were no spaces between the words I’m writing, this sentence would be only a run on mess of letters. When we speak to one another, we add little pauses where commas or periods would be. Without these spaces, it would be difficult to communicate effectively with one another.

So, too, we need spaces in our lives in order to make sense of what’s going on. We live in such a pressure cooker of performance and goals and results that if we’re not careful our lives can become a mish mash of meaningless actions.

Would our world be in the mess we’re in if enough people took the time to reset on a regular basis? If more people gave themselves the space to feel, think, dream, and vision, to cuddle up with Mother Nature, would they be so quick to attack and demean others? I don’t think so. People who attack others do so from a place of insuffiency, from their own feelings of lack of self-worth.

I realize there are many areas needing healing right now. I would like to suggest one place to begin is by putting more spaces in our lives and encouraging others to do the same. Let’s encourage the practice of taking the time to be with our own thoughts and feelings, breathing consciously, surrounding ourselves with nature, and giving the space needed for healing thoughts and feelings to arise. From this space, taking inspired actions becomes much easier.

The sleeper cells have awakened

We’ve heard a lot of criticism of the generation called Millenials. As I watch some of these young people today, I’ve said to myself, “There’s nothing wrong with this generation. They are sleeper cells who didn’t wake up until it was time to engage, time to do what they came here to do.” It certainly feels like some of them have been planted in certain locations and situations that would cause them to  activate suddenly and ferociously when their time had come.

Almost daily, we’re assaulted by destructive actions from some of our elected officials. There’s a lot of handwringing going on, especially when polls supposedly indicate the general public is approving more of some of these people. “How can it be?” we ask ourselves. “How can good people approve of such vile, immoral, selfish public officials who don’t seem to care about the common good?”

While I can’t answer that to my own satisfaction much less yours, I can say this. The sleeper cells have awakened. They are on the playing field now and they won’t go back to sleep. In fact, more of them are awakening daily. It’s our job to support them however we can, encourage more of them to wake up, and do whatever part is ours to turn this ship around. Ships don’t turn on a dime. It takes care, consistency, expertise, and patience to turn a ship like this one around. It can be done. It is being done.

Yes, it’s a bumpy ride, but one we have to take. Hang on, don’t lose faith, keep your eyes on the horizon while knowing the ship will ultimately go in the correct direction.