Everyone craves a sense of belonging – on this planet and with one another, especially during these times. When we cultivate connection to one another, the Divine, and nature, we begin to feel our sacred place on the Earth.
You may have heard the term “awakening” used before you found this blog, in reference to personal or spiritual transformation. But what exactly does awakening mean?
Of course, that’s really a subjective answer, but I’ll share with you my perspective on awakening and why I use that word for the name of this website and my book, Awakening from Anxiety. It’s a word that speaks deeply to me. Yes, it is a spiritual process, but also a psychological one as well.
At the age of 19, I started on my spiritual path, believing that I’d become perfect. Boy, I was wrong. It took decades before I realized my goal was to be awake, not perfect.
Like millions of others over the 4th of July weekend, I watched – for the first time! – the Broadway hit musical, Hamilton. I knew it would be great, but had no idea how much it would impact me.
In this current crisis of George Floyd’s wrongful death and the re-igniting of the Black Lives Matter movement, we’re seeing the polarity of Victim-Tyrant playing out through racism.
It isn’t a new polarity – it has been perpetuated over and over through millenia with people of different races, religions, cultures, genders, and sexual orientations. It shows up even within abusive families. It also plays out through the plight of the planet at the hands of the tyrant of the human race. Every one of us can relate, in some way, to being victimized and, if we’re honest, occasionally being tyrannical.
I think this post will be a bit meandering and not perfectly composed, but my spirit has something to say, so I’m sayin’ it. There’s a lot of soul-suffering and it’s time to shift to soul-satisfying.
It’s National Mental Health Day (October 10th), and I’m reflecting on what I see in our nation and our world. I could talk about anxiety or depression, the epidemic of loneliness, and mental health tips to feel better.
But all I can think about is our souls.
The NBA finals are here, and they’re providing some fuel for my spiritual awakening – from the Golden State Warriors! Yes, I’m a fan and that’s a photo of me and my family at a game with the famous Kevin Durant – well, you know, the cardboard version. *wink*[excerpted from my recent article on Elephant Journal]
Sure, I live in the SF Bay Area, so it’s easy to love our home-town champions (and even when they weren’t champs). But ever since Steve Kerr took over and the Splash Brothers have wowed us with 3-pt performances that have revolutionized the game, I’ve found more to love about this iconic team than their championship reputation. Even if you hate the Warriors, or couldn’t give a fig about basketball, there’s a lot to benefit our own personal and spiritual evolution from how this team works and plays.
Two celebrity suicides prompt me to share my own story of depression, and how I journeyed from being suicidal to wholeness and happiness within.
I have struggled this week with what to write in this month’s blog. I can’t say that this is a unique experience; I often have challenges with the looming question of “what to write?”
But this week it was a bit different. The recent suicides in the news – Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain – made me stop to reflect on things.
I hardly knew who Kate Spade was, other than seeing her name on merchandise in local department stores. Anthony Bourdain, however, I was very familiar with. Our family enjoyed watching Parts Unknown as a bit of education about other cultures around the world – how they lived, ate, celebrated, and even mourned the tragedies that their nations had been through. It felt important for us to know these foreign lands and peoples who lived very differently than we do.
Though I have no idea why they ended their lives, one thing was very clear to me: fame and fortune didn’t make them happy. At least not in a lasting, sustainable way. Although I can’t say I have had fame and fortune, I have had many lessons in the pain of depression, and in discovering what made me truly happy, or at least content with my life. It didn’t come from making money or appearing successful, or even from a wonderful relationship. I had to find it inside myself.
