Coming and Going

We arrive and depart, constantly.  Our breath is the reminder that is so present and so subtle.  The breath gives way to life - and life is animated by how the breath moves in the world, how it manifests.  Living is how breath manifests and the choices we make in life, matter greatly.

The cycle we call 2023 is here, as the one called 2022 has actually already gone - the energy shift happened a while ago.  And our collective recognition is that the shift happens according to a calendar.  The energy however, moves and what we feel is an invitation being extended to reflect on what we are doing with the breath that comes and goes in our bodies.  

Ours is a deeply textured existence.  We are able to bear witness to changes and skillful navigation through conditions both affirming and daunting when it comes to collective existence.  We are introduced to realities that the imagination cannot conjure - even if given the space to try.  That seems to be the nature of things: human beings do their best to serve, to control, to define "reality" and then mother nature steps in and demonstrates time and again, that there are things beyond our capacity to anticipate.  New realities emerge - ones that we could not have imagined.

Coming:  changes in national politics that will shift society into deeper distrust or, release the pressure and give way to recognition that working together is the only way to care for the common good.  Also on the horizon, an opportunity to tap into ancient wisdom to guide decisions, both personal and societal.  A practice of entering the space to access this wisdom is available.  What will people choose? Finally, complexity will grow in these times of conflict and competition for resources, both material and non-material.  Where are the tools for working with complexity?  And of course, all of this is just anticipation.

Going:  all events and incidents of the past survive to the present through living in the now.  What is going: the body breaking down, the opportunities to use skillful means to encounter life's adventures/challenges/ openings.  What is going is both material and non-material.  Recognition is already a memory of things past.  And things past are no longer available for correction, expansion, or many other ways that people want to change things already gone.  A reminder:  Now is all that is real and it is all that one has.

Tools for working with the inhale/exhale, coming/going, material/immaterial:  

 -  learn about timing, rhythm - dance more;  

 -   learn to breathe properly - bringing the fresh oxygen deep into the body and fully releasing all the stale air that has been trapped inside;  

 -  learn to love beyond romantic love - allow big love to enter life, and allow for the possibility that big love can be firm/stern; 

 -  learn to let go - recognize that this is the secret to healing and allow for the possibility that letting go does not mean forgetting, for the past is with us now, just as the future is – now.