Gotta a story to tell…
I wrote to my congressman and senators the other day – furious and fed up about the polarized partisan absurdity going on in DC over the debt ceiling and budget woes and us teetering on the brink of a downward spiral towards national bankruptcy and international economic collapse. Good times.
I asked them to please knock it the heck off – we’re not stupid, we don’t want any more placating sound bites, we need real solutions for our real baby boomer bubble for the coming decades, not just false hopes to get us through the next election cycle. (For the record, I opined that it’s gotta include BOTH reducing expenses AND increasing revenues for a while to get us out of this debt hole, and yes it’ll mean hard truths and sacrifices for us all, and yes that better include the wealthiest amongst us, but so be it, we can’t keep getting something for nothing…)
Anyway, I went on to tell them I was losing all hope in our political system as well as our public leaders, because of the lack of civil discourse and honest problem-solving that we sorely need to move our country forward. (Just like the families I work with.) I asked if they could please work together to find a realistic solution, given that we’re all in the same boat and we’ll all either sink or swim together on this one.
(Again, like the families I work with.) I asked if they could please give me reason for hope again.
Meanwhile, I had some extra tough challenges at work and home this week. It’s been one of those weeks where the harder you work, the further behind you feel; the more you get done, the more others want you to do; the more you want things to go a certain way, the more apt they are to go just about 180 degrees differently.
So finally I paid attention to the tension in my neck and back and head. I stopped pushing so hard to produce. Instead I quieted down, and started to listen – to what my body and the universe were trying to tell me. Rather than pushing, I began to allow myself to be pulled in a direction that my heart knew to be true. Rather than trying so hard to achieve, I opened myself up to receive.
This took me on an alternative path to my destination (and who’s to say which is the main road and which is the detour, anyway?) – that of completing this article and some other reports by tomorrow’s deadline.
In short, I called a TIME OUT from the raging conflict within, and sought some brief TIME OFF to recharge my spirit. I let go of insisting on exactly how I was going to accomplish my responsibilities, though never doubting that I would. I just opened myself up to different possibilities about how I’d get there.
I stopped micromanaging myself, took a few deep cleansing breaths, and just entered into a brief centering prayer – allowing myself to become one with the flowing river of life, trusting where the current would take me.
It wasn’t long before the current brought me quite effortlessly to a meditation reading for today by Joan Borysenko (“Pocketful of Miracles”) that saved my sanity and led me on to something even more inspiring.
Her reflection for today:
“There is an old adage that angels can fly because they take themselves lightly. Steve Bhaerman is a humorist who often performs under the alias of Swami Beyonananda, the Yogi from Muskogy. Levity, he says, is the very best way of overcoming gravity. Have you heard the story about the guy who actually left his body permanently during a course on death and dying? He got an A.”
And her suggested practice for today:
“A joke a day may not keep the doctor away, but there is good scientific evidence that laughter actually brings forth the relaxation response. Why not? A good joke instantly breaks you out of everyday trance and the attachment to past and future and delivers you into the present moment where joy, harmony, and peace are as natural as breathing. Your spiritual practice today is to learn, and then tell, one joke. Notice the increase of the lifeforce energy when you laugh.”
Amen! This brought a smile to my lips and a tear to my eye. It was just the message I needed – to not take things so seriously – not a writing deadline, not a certain expectation that my child failed to meet, not even an impending economic meltdown.
I’ve always agreed with the old adage that “Laughter is the best medicine.” And it is important to practice, of course, what we preach. So I sought out Swami Beyonananda’s website, enjoyed some video clippings, and gave myself an endorphin bath with a good few minutes of LOL humor.
Then another magical thing happened. I went to the companion website, Steve Bhaerman’s blog, where I thoroughly enjoyed his editorial post about a transpartisan movement of people “left and right coming together front and center” to seek common-sense, common-cause, consensus-based solutions to our societal problems. (See http://notesfromthetrailblog.com/?p=280 if you’re interested.)
I loved it. It cheered me up. It recommitted me to my work to restore sanity to humanity, one family at a time. It spurred me on to write and complete a newsletter article in time for my deadline (Voila!). And much more than the form-letter replies I received from my congressman and senators, it gave me hope.
So here’s to summer living that is a little bit Steve, a little bit Swami – living out loud with both our heads and our hearts. And here’s to living ala his website: WakeUpLaughing.
Our spirits, our families, and our children, will benefit greatly.
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