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Being Love in Hard, Chaotic Times

A client asked me recently, "Well what do you do when things fall apart?" "I ask for help." I responded. "I look for what needs to be born and then what needs to die to get out of the way of that birth. Then I do that work and have faith." The client looked a bit dumbfounded and then rallied, "well yes, but how do you do that?" Ah, now that is the important question.

First, my shamanic skills give me the means to ask spirit directly for help with anything. I don't mean my shaman superpowers, I mean my everyday, shamanic skills, those skills anyone who can pay attention for 10-15 minutes can develop. Everyone has spirit help. Everyone can take that step beyond meditation or prayer and create a working relationship with their spirit help through shamanic journeying. In a working relationship with spirit you can ask direct questions and get direct answers. You may not like the answers, but you will get answers that work.

Then I look to my Vision. For this I need my spiritual/energy skill set from The Cycle that compliments my shamanic skills. I ask myself what needs to be born? In this I look to what is essential and what do I have passion for? What do I love enough to bring into manifestation? This isn't about what do I want. This is about what is my soul longing for? What am I willing to love into being no matter what it takes? This answer really isn't any different whether we are in hard times or easy times. Rich one day or poor the next, our soul still longs to express its unique purpose in the world. The only thing that changes is the path.

We are a country awakening from a false dream within a nightmare of greed, exploitation, and fear. It is the perfect time right now with the stock money gone, the mortgage defaulted, and the business closed to ask, "what is my Vision?" What truly matters? What matters so much that I will do what it takes to love that vision into being? So we ask ourselves as families, what is important to us? We ask ourselves as communities, what is important to our hearts? We ask ourselves as a country, what is important to our collective soul? All that has changed for each of us in this challenging time is the path; it is not what you expected it to be. But the vision remains and it calls you into being.

For this we need a clear heart. For this we must be willing to truly live. To live truly and fully we must be willing to die in any moment. Now is not the time to contract in fear and disappointment. The grace in this time of chaos and hardship is that so very much is dying. The home ground is rich with rot and decay to nourish the seeds of vision we are willing to plant. Pema Chödrön speaks to this moment in When Things Fall Apart.

"Generally speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad news. But...feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we are… Those events and people in our lives who trigger our unresolved issues could be regarded as good news."

There is no shortage of "good news" right now. Every day brings more. When I am willing to lean into my discomfort the personal work that unfolds clarifies what needs to die. Then, if I love myself enough, I will let go of who I have been and die for the possibility of who I could be. Love involves risk, always. Possibility bears no guarantee. For the possibility (the vision) to emerge from this death, I must love. Love is the supreme creative act and it requires great courage.

Why courage? Because I must love myself enough to see myself honestly if I am to draw back my projections on the world. I must love myself enough to see through my own fear mongering to see where I am holding onto a false sense of self. And it takes great love and compassion to be open-hearted with the person I find when I am willing to see. And then actions must be taken to love her into the Vision too.

After death and loss we must have faith. I have faith that discomfort is an opportunity that, when explored honestly, will lead me on the path I must take, though usually not the path I wanted to take. I have faith that there is no shortage of love, given that it is the Source of all things, and that there is enough to heal whomever I find inside myself. I have faith that my life and my soul are conspiring to bring to me the experiences that, if engaged with lovingly and fiercely, will guide me directly to my soul's true purpose. So why not do my work when it is clearly the most direct path to the transformations these times are calling for?

What ever we choose to be in this incredible time of chaos and transformation is what we will create. Thus there is no real choice but to be love in these hard, chaotic times.