How do we avoid harming and being harmed?

Those who accept the vulnerability that we will harm and we will be harmed walk softly, always looking for ways to alleviate suffering in the world rather than avoid it. 

We take conscious steps, we look ahead- we check behind. We make amends, we bring food, we change our behavior, we ask questions, we sacrifice, we change again, we find it wasn’t a sacrifice after all. 

It might seem like a lot of effort, but its actually less effort for the body and mind and spirit than trying to avoid harm and suffering all together. 

When we reject the vulnerability that we will harm and be harmed, we miss opportunities to soften the suffering. We try to control situations, relationships, and environments with the intention to avoid harm. We compound suffering with our lack of attention, with our refusal to accept its existence. Our bodies, our minds, and our hearts are not comfortable. ( and they pass that information on to the sensitive nervous systems of others, if not consciously). 

So, the first step towards any real deep healing of any kind is this acknowledgment. This practice of accepting the vulnerability of harming and harmed. This practice of the courage to look, listen, and feel. 

From the primal wail of collective grief that peace will be restored.

The sun rises this morning over a great deal of tragedies. 

Now-days we have such constant communication with each other and the world’s trauma. What. A. Blessing. 

The internet and social media may be just the tool we needed to break the spell of severance that has numbed us for so long. Fairytales are not to be read word for word, they are secret messages. The only way some Truths can find their way to the future. Re-read sleeping beauty as a metaphor of our times. Hmm, is it love which saves humanity? 

The reason everything feels so heavy and you feel so powerless is because you’ve been trained to feel that way.  It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just plainly written, even in our very well scripted history books. Plain and simple. 

With great privilege comes great responsibility and it is your responsibility to train your body, heart, mind, and culture to stay with the excruciatingly pain of our times. Because it will indeed be our times, it will be ongoing. The ache of today is from those who looked away or, only at themselves, for centuries. Do you want that legacy? Or do you want to be part of the legacy of peace? Those teachers, peace-makers, activists and community leaders have a legacy too- it’s much harder to hear and see over the violence. But it’s there, woven into your hope. 

The first wars were over diminishing resources. The last wars will be over diminishing resources. But we get to decide if they are the last because we finally drove ourselves to extinction or if they are the last because we finally grew up. Grew into fully mature humans capable of balancing their nervous systems, reasoning, compassion, and using the magic of our brilliant brains to solve problems together. WE right now get to decide. No one asked if we wanted responsibility- they just passed it down the line to us. So, now we must find a way. 

This is all my work, helping us train our bodies and spirits for peace. We cannot find peace because we haven’t invited ourselves into the “space” where we can access those solutions. We can’t even dream them up in our current state. 

You must train yourself to tolerate fear and panic and pain in yourself and another. Not so you can “make it through” but so that you can feel it.  I challenge you today to find just one tragedy which moves you and let yourself really mourn. Maybe post to your stories on social media. Why? Because mourning is meant to be done together. This digital connection fosters that. Maybe we cannot get physically handle being together, all together, in our grief. But we can practice. 

It is from that primal wail of collective grief that peace will be restored. 

Compass-style Business Planning. What do you do when everything is always changing?

I don’t really know where to start with this conversation. So we will just start here. 

I have to spend my days doing something that brings income into my family. I have creatively figured out how to do that as a self employed person, while remaining true to myself and the life I want to lead, for almost 20 years. I am good at it. I’m phenomenal at what I do, and I’ve found a way to make a living doing that. Also, while in the midst of a business transition there was a global pandemic and I’ve had to change my business plan too many times to remember. Still here, creatively. I’ve offered programs that were essential and valuable while we navigated these trying times. I was able to do that because I was already studying what we needed with the foresight that these situations would arise. As people opened back up and returned to the world, and the government stopped being concerned about the economy - many of us who are self employed still haven’t returned to business as usual. 

Retreats are one of the most time efficient ways for me, and The Whole Health Center, and most spiritual teachers to make significant income. This is purely because that is what people are most comfortable signing up for ( we could teach you the same things for less cost to you and we try but not as many folks are interested). If not for COVID-19, I would have held probably 6 retreats in the last year and WHC at least that many. We were finally starting to breathe easy knowing that come fall we would be making full income again. But now, all of that is gone. I’ve had to cancel the first retreat and I cannot count on the others. 

I need to reinvent all over again. Some days I think “I’ll just do some other job” but almost every day I get a message about how something that came through my work changed someone’s life in a profound way- and it’s really hard to give up on that. If I knew I didn’t have something we needed- I most definitely would not ask you all to participate. 

I’m a great business person, I’m a great coach. I’m creative, and smart. Even before the pandemic I’ve had a lot of barriers, I’ve learned to identify them and work with them. I also have a lot of strengths. I’ve been running my own business and supporting The Whole Health Center with my children at home with me, and with non of our regular activities. I’m tired too. 

And- I think I found a way forward. 

In an effort to continue to support myself, my family, and continue my work- which i know is valuable, I have developed this plan. The plan to write the book that has been in development for years but I haven’t had the resources to make happen. However, with the possibility of no retreats for the foreseeable future, I have the time to work on the book. I will though, in order to give that time to this, need to know that my family is supported. If I receive 100 pre-orders before the date of the first canceled retreat ( September 16, 2021), I will write the book. I need to know we have readers before I can commit myself and my family to this project. 

This book will feature The Nurtured Life Recipes ( which folks regularly contact me about) and stories, interviews, and research around the importance of food for healing our relationship with ourselves, each other and Earth. Food is an essential element in all our lives, it is a universal need among all our differences. Because we all require food, our diet is an ideal structure for collective healing. Through small changes in our attention regarding diet, nutrition, and mealtime rituals we can sooth the places deep within ourselves and our culture that are craving deep and lasting nourishment. 

Pre-ordering this book is also a way to support me and show you value me, my work, and my efforts for our healing. I hope that even if you are not interested in recipes and food, you are interested in me. Without the success of this project, I may need to spend my days doing something that generates income for my family but does not utilize any of my strengths or gifts. This seems such a waste. Not only does this work I do bring me joy, but I know ( because people tell me) that it is good work that brings about healing and change.