So, when you have leapt ahead energetically, only to hit a wall of pushback, what do you do?
The next step, as mentioned last time, is to try to align with your true center, Love. And then, to the best of your ability, dedicate an entire day to love. Yesterday, I was able to do that, meeting with friends by most of the current available phone and online methods. Then a friend drove me to a supermarket that is hard to access by city bus -- I simply needed a change from my usual grocery store, as grateful as I have been for it these last two years. So when I sat down last night to a meal of foods I haven't eaten in a long time and a glass of sparkling orange juice, I felt very thankful and somewhat renewed. (I almost said, "re-booted", which is ironic given my reference the other day to Orwell's boot!) Love, and doing things that you love or which are refreshing, is always the answer.
Still, this has been an exceptionally hard few days for northern Minnesota. We are not immune to what is happening around the country or the world...a gunman killed a family of four (and their dog), then turned the weapon on himself. There have been threats to a number of local schools, and several other painful incidents. The local morning news has a Hollywood segment, and the other day it featured three new movies. One was about a superhero (and the clip had lots of violence), one was some kind of Viking-inspired epic (the clip had lots of violence), and the third was a movie adapted from a children's video game, where animals are under constant threat of exploding. Excuse me, really? Then, a network ad came on plugging that evening's prime time line-up, which, of course, featured explosions, fires, people on fire, and all manner of crises.
I can't help but think that, energetically, the vibration America emits out into the world can be nearly as shockingly negative as that of the countries we consider our enemies. Those of us who are sensitive internalize all this violence, even if we are not its direct, literal "victim". But the answer is not to fight back against violence. (Maybe the gift of this time is how clear this is becoming!) On this Earth Day, the next step is to dedicate ourselves to Love of earth and each other. And to make each day, Earth Day.
