It's time to Wake Up

Now more than ever is the time to wake up.

I know you’d like to go to sleep - literally or figuratively - but please consider that this moment is offering you a profound opportunity for transformation.

Global pandemic.  Social distancing.  Stay-at-home orders.  These are all phrases that hadn’t even entered our minds as we rang in the new decade full of hope and aspiration.  And yet, here we are.  

This virus is having a huge and immediate impact on all of our lives.  We are having to make profound changes and will be feeling the effects for a long time to come.  At the very worst, people are losing their lives and their loved ones. At the most simple, people are just having to stay home and restrict their movement.

No matter where you fall in the midst of that (and I’m praying for your health above all) you can either go to sleep or you can use this time to wake up.  It’s that simple.

Going to sleep can look like a lot of things.  Zoning out.  Denial.  Pushing away the situation and your feelings about it.  Giving up.  

Waking up is something different than that.  Waking up is Zoning IN.  Becoming more clear and attentive to this moment and the next one.  Waking up is feeling the feelings, no matter how messy and uncomfortable - and allowing them to resolve back into peace.  Waking up is a possibility of connecting with a glimmer of peace no matter how the virus is impacting you.

If you want peace, and you aren’t naturally there, you get yourself there with your practices.  So even though it would be easier to stay in bed or on the couch.  You get up and you meditate or practice your yoga.  You take 10 minutes to sit outside and watch spring arrive.  You feel your feelings even when they are terrifying, annoying, and inconvenient. Over time and with lots of repetition, finding the place of peace gets easier. It’s like walking the same path through the wilderness over and over again - eventually that path gets worn in and easier to find. And so, your practice today supports your practice tomorrow. And the peace gets to be longer lasting and feels deeper.  

This is a unique time in our lives.  If you stay awake for it you just might be able to grow a center of peace that is lasting and powerful for the rest of your life.