You’ve Got the Power
Standing by the kitchen sink, hands deep in dirty dish water, berating yourself. Again. What is it you’ve done this time? You haven’t eaten well. You haven’t exercised the right way. You said the wrong thing. You did something harmful to yourself or another.
It’s all wrong, it’s all wrong, it’s all wrong. And the accumulation of all the wrongdoing is that everything that’s good will most certainly disappear. How could it stick around when you don’t know how to treat it.
Your Jailer
What a slippery devil this human mind is. It takes the smallest, neutral moment and turns it into an atomic bomb. The mind, the most exquisite jailer comes with the perfect key. The one that, when turned, locks you into patterns of inactivity, inertia, and self-diminishment. The one who laughs at your every attempt to break free.
And yet, Dear One, the jailer that is your mind, is also you liberator. The same one who put you behind those bars is the one that offers you freedom. Those thoughts that hold so much weight become beacons of light when turned over and seen for what they are.
They are illusions that are hiding the Truth. They are the maya, the veils dropped over your natural expansiveness, there to keep you feeling small, separate, and ineffective. They are “powerful” but only for as long as you believe them. When you stop believing you take back your power.
Freedom & Divine Feminine
You know what you really are. You are in-powered, empowered by something so much larger than your tiny mind. Some yogis call her Shakti, the Divine Feminine energy that creates and empowers the entirety of the Universe. It is by her design that you walk this Earth at this moment in time. It is by her design that you experience all of your challenges and joys… all of this LIFE.
In her elegant creative playfulness Shakti pours herself into everyone and everything. She pours herself into YOU. And, yes, even into your funny little mind that takes itself so seriously. It is she who built those limiting thoughts. But they are only a disguise. They keep her hidden so that you may continue your life, doing your life-y things, in utter ignorance of your power.
But then one day she’s had enough. In her delight and freedom she seeks to set you free. She calls you to a yoga class (in the form of a dear friend’s invitation) or she sits you by a powerful river for hours. She reminds you what’s there behind all your mental contractions.
Expansion. A turn of thought from untruth to Truth. Truth that’s like gravity, irrefutable. In that sweep she reminds you: You have the power. You are not separate. You are vast. You are capable. You have the power and have always had it. Remember?
Remembering
Your task from this day forward is to put yourself in the way of your remembering. Those nights of agitation while washing the dishes still come, but now you have the power to remember (they aren’t True). The lost temper and harmfulness arise, but only briefly, because, remember, you are connected. Connected to all of it - yourself, your people, all of nature, the stars, to Her. And you cannot bear to cause harm to all of this Beauty.
This is your task now. Practice remembering. Remember your connection. Remember your power. Remember who you are - the entire arc of space and sky. (and there you were, thinking you were just a tiny suffering thing)
These thoughts come from my experience of contraction and self-diminishment as I washed the dishes earlier this week. What arose eventually as I suffered, were some teachings of nondual Tantra. The particular teachings I referenced are revealed in a 10th century text called: The Heart of Recognition (Pratyabhijñā Hṛdaya), my favorite. This one, more than any other has supported me and shaped my experiences for the last 15 or more years. It’s a good one.
Later this month, Bill Mahony PhD will be presenting an overview of this text - focusing particularly on the Divine Feminine in the form of Shakti and her powers, and the Divine Masculine in the form of Shiva and his dance. I cannot say enough about how these teachings can create a dynamic shift in perspective from limitation into freedom. Please join us.
CLICK HERE to learn more and register.