Weathering the Storm

We are living in tumultuous times – the weather, current events and our own inner worlds. Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche’s poem invites us to “Rest in natural great peace / this exhausted mind / beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thoughts / like a relentless fury of the pounding waves / in the infinite ocean of samsara” (the human condition).

If you’ve been feeling the weight of world events piled on top of your own personal struggles, you may – as I do at times – feel a little frazzled, “beaten helpless” by the constant heartbreaking turmoil of life. Many people have asked, “How do I get through this?”

Most of us aren’t taught how to move through challenges in healthy, life-sustaining ways. We’re taught to keep our chins up – keep a stiff upper lip. In doing so, we deny our feelings and sometimes even who we really are. I was reminded of this recently as I watched an episode of Starfleet Academy. A young cadet was struggling with the inner conflict of being true to his nature and becoming what his family and society expected him to be. This is a struggle many of us know well.

Held long enough, that inner struggle will become an outer struggle. Because, as I often said when I was in church ministry, “Life is a mirror of our consciousness – our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and feelings.” If we don’t resolve what’s going on in here it will reveal itself out there.

So, when crazy, or crazy-making behavior shows up in the world, it’s wise to pause and ask ourselves, “How might this be a mirror of my inner conflict?” Or “How might I be contributing to this?” I’m not inviting us to allow bad behavior to go unchallenged. On the contrary. I think it is important to find ways to challenge bad behavior. But we are most effective when we do so from an understanding of interbeing.

Interbeing is the philosophy that there is no separation. That which is outside of me is in me. It is not the outer world that I challenge, but the inner conflict. And I do so with kindness and compassion because, as Dr Martin Luther King said, “Everybody is somebody because [they are] a child of God.”

In a poem called Please Call Me by My True Names, Thich Nhat Hanh talks of Interbeing: “I am a frog swimming happily / in the clear water of a pond. / And I am the grass-snake / that silently feeds itself on the frog. / I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, / my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. / And I am the arms merchant, / selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

Jesus spoke of this when he said, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

There is no separation.

But how do we come to terms with this idea that I am also that which I condemn? How do we hold this truth without shame? How do we face this without feeling helpless?

Breathe.

Don’t close your eyes to it. Don’t attack with anger. Just begin by breathing. Take a breath and sink into your heart space.

The breath connects us to Spirit. In Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit, and other languages, the word for breath is associated with the word for spirit. So, returning to the breath is reconnecting with Spirit.

Practice

Engage in spiritual practices like yoga, nature walks, massage and other activities that bring you back to yourSelf. These are no merely physical activities when done mindfully. They become spiritual practices that connect us with our truest nature.

Gather

Even group activities where you’re involved with people you trust and feel safe with can be deeply renewing. We are social beings – even introverts like me – and getting together you’re your people literally opens your heart.

Are you feeling exhausted by the world’s turmoil, feeling tossed by “the pounding waves in the ocean of samsara”?

Then take a breath. Let nature settle you. Let some physical/spiritual activity return you to your body. Let some quality time, or a quality hug bring you back to center. And see the conflicts in life as an opportunity to heal within