If we can’t learn this from the pandemic, then we will have missed the point:
NO ONE IS FREE UNLESS EVERYONE IS FREE.
Period. The end.
And what this crisis is teaching us is that we each need to practice this, live this, believe this, and embody this in everything we do.
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I remember reading this Bible verse in Sunday School: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
I thought to myself: Well, that doesn’t sound like much fun.
I think all of us hope that somehow we’re going to be able to avoid the fear and trembling part of life.
We can’t.
And that’s actually a good thing.
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The word “open” is on everyone’s lips these days.
Re-open-ing the states. Re-open-ing for business.
Is it too soon? Is it too late?
Open. Open. Open.
And yet, so much of this conversation doesn’t feel so open at all.
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We cannot really be present, we cannot really be awake, unless we recognize that Life is a Whole, a circle, an infinite cycle. This means that we can’t ignore the things we don’t want to deal with, sweep things we’re afraid of under the rug, avoid the tough stuff, distract ourselves from the challenges. We can’t because they will inevitably cycle back around and surface back up.
BUT we also can’t beat ourselves up when we fail. After all, as my favorite aunt used to quip, “We haven’t ascended yet!”
So to BE awake is to be, in each moment, as awake as we can be. To keep waking up. To notice when we are drifting off more quickly. And when we have fallen asleep, to wake ourselves up with kindness and compassion and then keep waking up.
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Today’s heart-centered practice is honesty.
Hello. My name is Victoria. I am a workaholic.
Those were the words with which I began this blog five years ago.
Today I am no longer a miserable workaholic. I find joy in my work. Joy in my walks. Joy in my life.
But I am still a workaholic. And now it’s time for the compulsion and denial to end.
It’s time for every part of my work and my life to become a holistic heart-centered practice. That’s why next month’s practice is going to be Wholeness. The recognition that it’s all one big tapestry — and living that way.
And it starts today.
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This is one of my favorite of many favorite poems by one of my favorite poets — William Stafford.
It’s called
ASK ME
Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.
I hope — have a feeling of deep trust — that if we can all be willing to release all our little opinions — we will hear the same answers as the birds and the flowers and the trees seem to hear. And then remember that Love is the only true Source and ReSource.
That we will all lean in with hope and faith, with understanding and belief. And do what is right and best and true. FOR OUR WORLD! Together.
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I am going to be good to this beautiful planet that has been so good to me.
Good is not some grandiose religious achievement. Good is actually being what the world is to us every single day. It is loving our most important neighbor actually more than we love ourselves.
Good is not perfect. Good is not sainthood. Good is being kind, considerate, loving, compassion, empathetic, thoughtful, uplifting, hopeful. Good is doing something for someone else instead of only thinking of ourselves. Good is recognizing that our actions always affect others. Good is basic not lofty.
And our planet needs us to keep being as good to it in a few months as we are being to it now.
So today’s heart-centered practice is simple. Be good out there.
Let’s love our world whole.
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Today’s practice is BEing Love. To show up in our hearts in everything we do today. To make living in all its mundanity — brushing our teeth, feeding the dog, paying the bills, doing our work — a heart-centered practice. To understand, beyond a shadow of doubt, that LOVE IS WHY WE ARE HERE.
Today let’s BE Love. And in doing that, let’s take #LoveViral.
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BEing is clarity. Clarity is BEing.
BEing is reality. Reality is BEing.
That’s why we say: Let’s be real. Or let’s be clear.
Because deep down we all know that we can all talk circles around anything, but unless we all show up with the intention of being real and being clear nothing’s gonna shift.
So today, let’s BE clear.
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I posted this poem by Pablo Neruda two months ago.
It reads very differently today.
Today’s heart-centered practice: BE Quiet.
Enough said.
#LoveViral
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LET’S BE REAL: WE KNOW WE ARE BETTER THAN WHAT HISTORY SHOWS WE HAVE DONE.
So let’s be real: It’s time to show up as our better selves.
Let’s be real: Reconnecting with those better selves IS how we help other.
And let’s be real: We’d all better get cracking.
Because let’s be real: This world and our fellow human beings need us all to BE OUR BETTER SELVES ASAP.
So let’s be real together: Let’s love this world whole by living Love.
Because Love IS the only Reality.
Loving is the only way we can BE real.
And Love. Heals.
Let’s BE Real together. Let’s #LoveViral
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When I was younger, if you had told me that one of the highest compliments I would receive is being called nice, I would have been horrified.
Nice? I thought. Meh! More than meh, actually. Nice was vanilla. More than vanilla, actually. Nice was scraping the bottom of the barrel.
I wanted to be interesting, intelligent, creative, talented. Nice? Nice is what you are, I thought then, if you’re not interesting, intelligent, creative or talented. Nice was almost an insult.
The older I get, however, the more I’ve come to realize just how underrated nice is. . .and just how necessary.
That’s why today’s heart-centered practice is BE: Nice.
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Steadfast ins’t a word we hear or use a lot these days.
Well, today, we’re gonna change that!
Steadfast means resolutely firm and unwavering. Immovable.
And that's what we need to be in our heart-centered practice of Love. World-class athletes practice every single day. The world needs us to become world-class Love practitioners by practicing Love, leaning into Love. This is the Love that heals our world! Let's be steadfast in Love for one another and our world! #LoveViral #Loveheals
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