March 17, 2025
I have long resisted putting a television in our bedroom, especially in these years of menopause with its unwelcome sleep challenges. I believe the bedroom is for reading, lovemaking, and sleep. Period. After my mother-in-law passed last fall, we brought home her 42” smart TV and put it in the garage. I recently decided to bring it into the bedroom for music and relaxation programs only, and we started watching Primal Earth on YouTube every night. This collection of stunning aerial views of the earth with relaxing music puts us to sleep in about 15 minutes, and we sleep peacefully.
This has become a soothing and necessary nighttime ritual, and I highly recommend it! I think most of us are feeling exasperated by what is happening in our country. It weighs on our consciousness, draining our energy and our hope supply. It takes intention and determination to maintain our faith in goodness as we witness unrelenting cruelty, chaos, and incompetence.
In one of the Primal Earth videos, we saw a mountainside with green trees growing out of the rock. There was no soil; the entire mountain was rock. It got me thinking about the amazing resilience we see in nature and what we can learn from it. We have all been in hard places in our lives, and we are in a collective hard place right now. At these times we have a choice - we can grow, or we can wither on the vine.
We were designed to grow, and we have the same life force in us that we see in nature.
The choice for growth does not bring smooth sailing. It pushes us out of our comfort zone so we can break through to an expanded state of awareness. We were not made to stay in dark, safe places where the view is narrow and the space is small. It can be tempting at times like this when reality is so painful and hard to accept. Can I just hibernate for the next few years, please?
But what would I awaken to find? I know this is no time to stay small, safe, and silent. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment in time. We each need to find our own authentic and courageous response, which might be increasing our output of love, generosity, kindness, and grace. That can be huge.
The word crisis can mean opportunity or inflection point. We are certainly at an inflection point which is being felt around the world. Perhaps we are experiencing a seismic global shift, but where will we land? It is up to us. We live and work in communities, and this is where we can find connection and meaningful action.
Communities are where the spirit does the deep work of evolution, away from small and superior, to deeper and messier and more alive.
- Anne Lamott, Somehow
The sight of green shoots pushing through the snow or the sidewalk or a rocky peak gives me a little burst of hope. I remember that same life force is in me. I wonder if my choice to grow in hard places will bring such determination and resilience.
When I affirm that God is only Love, and is everywhere and always, my doubts dissipate. I need this reminder daily, hourly, in every moment. I find it in nature which continues to bring me hope and healing, especially in the spring. I find it in the morning stillness as the darkness lifts and birds begin to sing. And I find it in community as I listen, learn, and serve with others.
The choice to grow brings an expanding awareness of beauty, wonder, and joy, which is the fuel I need to push through the rocks of adversity.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
-Psalm 143:8
Grace & Goodness,
ej
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