Imagine you’re standing at the edge of a stage, moments away from delivering a speech… Your palms are sweaty, your heart’s pounding, and your stomach is hosting a gymnastics competition. Are you anxious – or excited?
I just want to take a moment and speak to my readers in the United States and say that my respect and compassion go out to everyone who’s genuinely wrestling with how best to resist what’s coming in the wake of Monday’s presidential inauguration. As you know I now live in Portugal for nearly 3 years, so I’m not in the frying pan. But, regardless of where you are in the world, we are all to some degree going to be held hostage to the man’s cruel whims and tantrums. At this point, the U.S. is a wobbling behemoth – the real question is when it topples who will be left in the wreckage?
I’ve had a strange compulsion since Trump won the White House – I’m drawn to dystopian films and series. And, at the same time, I find myself reflecting deeply on what can be done when faced with overwhelming societal challenges.
My assistant Carsey has a master’s degree in public health and used to teach a sex ed class. On the first day of class she would ask her high schoolers to name the dirtiest sex word they knew (a very clever gauge to find out their knowledge level). The most common answer, she laughs, was always “69.”
I hear from many people about their view of meditation. The most common sentiment, especially among driven professionals, is that despite knowing the benefits, they struggle to slow down and sit for mindfulness meditation. Even guided meditation, where the narrative takes you somewhere calm and peaceful, like a walk in the woods, seems challenging for them. They get itchy and twitchy – and it makes sense.
There’s a lot more going on here than simply firing up the plant – but she’s a mighty potent friend when we want to go deep! Oh sure, I work with mushrooms too but when you simply want a powerful but simple session to release whatever is knocking loudest on your head, pair canna with my emotional release work and voila! – you launch yourself into a different zone of being. I call it an exquisite state of being.
This is a little off-topic from my usual letters, but – not really – as you’ll see. I invite you to just keep reading. The week after the presidential election, Ron and I got a lot of comments (along with assorted emoticons!) in emails from friends. I guess you could say it was in a congratulatory vein.
I’m not a big fan of commercial holidays – think Valentine’s, or Mother’s and Father’s Day where you’re made to feel obligated to “honor” a loved one. In fact, I always like to honor people close to me without an “enforced” holiday nipping at my heels – forcing me into doing it.
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh was asked, “Aren’t you worried about the state of the world?” “I allowed my self to breathe,” he answered. “And then I said, ‘What is most important is not to allow your anxiety about what happens in the world to fill your heart.'”
A long while back (before my current partner, Ron), I was in a committed relationship and my then-partner and I decided to get some couples counseling. He was a successful businessman and scared to death that somebody would find out that we were seeing a therapist.