My Experience
I can’t pretend I’ve had some glorious, blissful response to this election. My heart hurts anytime humanity turns to darkness. My heart hurts as I watch people choose racism, inequality, and misogyny. My heart hurts when I see the double standard for women; we accept astonishingly corrupt male politicians but expect a female politician to be better than that. My heart hurts when we neglect conscious, loving care for our planet.
But it’s not enough for me to just languish in my aching heart. It’s just not interesting to me.
Darkness is a powerful catalyst. Nothing spurs humanity to change than darkness, struggle and pain. My intuition tells me we are on the threshold of BIG change. And this is simply the pathway through, however gruesome it might look.
It is this change – and the call of Shadow to be met with the Light of Truth – that makes me feel alert and energized.
Shadow Is Asking To Be Illuminated, Loved, Reconciled
A friend described this election as “our nation’s shadow being exposed for the world to see – like garbage on a sidewalk that spills out all over the street.” When I see this, I know it is a Golden Opportunity to transform.
As individuals, when we awaken, the shadow comes up bigger and stronger. This is a necessary part of the path. We have to go through shadow in order to evolve. If the shadow doesn’t make itself known, it can’t be seen, reconciled and loved.
The cost of ignoring shadow is great, and the cost increases exponentially over time. Our nation’s shadow is now presenting itself in a very loud, clear, and blatant way. I can’t turn away from that. I know I need to show up to this call to help it heal, whatever that might look like and however long it takes.
I was called to share with you the steps for meeting an individual’s shadow, which we could apply to the scale of a nation:
- Listen to the shadow
- Try to understand the source of the shadow
- Don’t judge it; just meet in Presence
- Meet the Shadow with Truth and Wisdom
- Forgive the Shadow for its confusion
- Give compassion for the Shadow
- Open your perception; see new pathways and possibilities for relating, communicating, and taking action
And sometimes when meeting shadow, we have to take these steps (especially 1-6) over and over again before it’s done and we can recognize the new pathways.
Our collective shadow may also be stimulating your own leftover individual shadow. I take this as a wonderful gift. How are you called to love and heal whatever might be arising for you?
How are you called to meet the shadow outside of you with wisdom, truth and love?
Be and Act from Wisdom, Truth, Love, Integrity and Alignment – Now More Than Ever
It’s not going to serve any of us to dissolve into ego demands or unconscious emotions. What we want from the world around us is Truth, Compassion and Integrity; and so we need to be what we want most in the world.
Emotions may be happening or flowing for you; that’s ok. Let them flow through. Just don’t believe everything you feel or think. Just as with shadow, meet the emotions with Presence and Wisdom. After emotions have a chance to move and express, see what is really true. What does Wisdom know? What happens when the emotions are met with Love?
As you move out into the world, you may be called to act. I support you to use your inner truth barometer, inner wisdom, heart, alignment, and integrity to discern which actions to take.
How does your Wisdom call you to take aligned action? This is an open inquiry we can use any or every day.
The Golden Opportunity: Stand Together in a New Way
I’m seeing that we have an opportunity to:
- Clarify our core principles and values
- Represent them with clarity and love, and
- Stand together in shared values.
In the reflection of our Nation’s Shadow, I see more clearly how some communities can take principles of equality or compassion for granted. I see more clearly how easy it is to become passive and complacent, or retreat back to our little safe zones of spiritual community and stay in denial about the world around us.
Now we have an opportunity to get even clearer about what’s true for us and stand for it without righteousness, anger or divisiveness.
How do national (or global) situations catalyze us to…
- Step up?
- Stand together?
- Evolve?
- Deepen spiritual practice?
- Stay engaged?
- Be proactive?
The Power of “Yes And…”
At the deepest essence of Divine Truth:
* All is in absolute Wholeness
* You are fundamentally ok, whole and loved
* All is in absolute love
These are Divine Truths that you can know and rest in.
However, if these truths are taken the wrong way, they can lead to spiritual bypass, avoidance, or denial. That’s why I use “Yes And.” Examples:
“YES, you may have emotions of anger and fear; AND in your essence, you are fundamentally whole and ok.”
“YES, what is going on in our country doesn’t feel ok; AND all is ultimately in wholeness and love.”
“YES, people are acting from fear and hate, not love; AND I choose to meet them with Divine Love and Truth.”
What are the “Yes And” statements that resonate for your Inner Wisdom?
“Yes And” creates a bridge – from awakened wisdom within to thought and emotion and ultimately to action in our dualistic world. It can empower you to heal, access awakened consciousness, and find your center again.
When we move from a foundation of love, truth and wholeness, amazing things are possible.
We are doing some Big Work as a collective; this is no joke. Just like a “dark night of the soul” for an individual, this collective experience can be excruciating sacred work. I don’t know what this will look like or what is coming next. I only know that I need to show up and meet each challenge, invitation and opportunity from the foundation of love. In the end, I am deeply grateful to have a small army to do this work with. Thank you for being part of this sacred army.
And thank you for reading. What resonated most with your inner wisdom? If you feel this could be helpful for others, please share the link to this post. If you would like to quote a section, please share the link with the quote. You can also re-post this from my Facebook page. Thank you for the loving care of your community.
