A peace filled day to you. I hope during the past couple of weeks
that you have been taking time to be still and just breathe. There has been so
much to process, act upon, mourn, speak up about, and transform. During times
that feel tumultuous, it’s more important than ever to maintain our
contemplative practices.
I was reflecting the other day on a ring I have worn every
day for years that has become part of my contemplative practice. On it are
symbols for the whirlwind and the Kiva. The Kiva is an underground, sacred
ceremonial space used in some native traditions, most notably in the Pueblo
Indian tradition. The ring has been a powerful reminder for me since the day I
put it on. For me, it symbolizes the sacred space within that I can return to
at any point, especially when I can feel the whirlwind start to swirl. That
whirlwind can be simply the thoughts racing in my mind or, as in the past two
weeks or so, the whirlwind of events in our nation and around the world. No
matter the source, when the whirlwind spins and threatens to at the very least
throw us off center and at the worst rob us of our ability to make conscious
choices, the best thing we can do is remember to connect with the stillness
within ourselves before reacting. Much easier said than done, I know, which is
why I wear a reminder!
The events of the past few weeks also prompted me to return to
a topic that is important to me and that I have been exploring over the past
few years; spiritual activism. It’s a term that in my explorations of it, I
found I had to define for myself. I read back through a previous email I sent
out about the topic, which has become an essay that will be featured in my next
collection of poetry. The part that jumped out at me in rereading it this week
was this thought, “Being still within myself allows me to
engage rather than enrage.”
It’s infinitely more difficult to engage with someone and truly be
heard when I come from a place of rage within myself or if I have intentionally
provoked it within someone else. It is a challenge for me, because my natural
inclination in the face of some of what we’ve seen over the past few weeks is
to get riled up! I honestly wish more people had gotten riled up about racism long
before now, but that’s a different conversation.
What I witnessed in attending several marches and in watching them
through the news coverage, was people who were vocal and angry, and yet, who
wanted to engage in a conversation about real, substantive change. People who,
I’m realizing now, wanted to harness the energy of the whirlwind to create
transformation!
What I was witnessing was exactly that, a desire to harness the
energy and power of the whirlwind. That power does not have to be destructive
or harmful, it can be creative and transformative if we can approach it from a
place of consciousness, if we approach it from a desire to engage rather than
enrage. Contrary to what was sometimes shown on the news and contrary to what
happened in some isolated incidents, the marches throughout the world were overall
a peaceful and powerful harnessing of the whirlwind.
