We are nearing 500 days. Time has passed. We have endured together and apart. We have explored ourselves. We have listened and shared. We have grown up and out. We are aware.
Change is inevitable. No matter how much we deny. The fork in the road is approaching. To ignore it is stalling. To deny it is blocking. To respect it is honoring individually and together.
Like any story, this community has had a beginning, a middle and ascends into next steps. Because there is no end. No end of our awareness. No end of self-care. No end of advocacy. No end to our spirit.
We are One with Divinity however you name it. A greater force out there fueled by love, cultivated with patience, kindness, respect and compassion. We are spiritual beings in physical bodies.
We struggle with our minds to understand our hearts. Two different languages eventually merging into wholeness as we overcome fear. This struggle is the journey we partake from birth to transition, a journey we learn more and more each day we awaken in it.
It is our responsibility as spiritual elders in human bodies to share our stories as we understand our lessons. Our elder voices stand as witnesses for others willing to listen and learn. No human walking this earth is without spirit. No sentient being on this earth is without spirit. Many spirits walk this earth non embodied. Humanity struggles as spirit supports. We are all in this together. We are one.
Over the next three weeks we will be traveling towards the end of this daily meditation group with closure on Saturday July 31st. It’s time for a change. We will continue a presence in the Morning Gem Meditation email list-serve to process, exchange and adjust. Some of you have been traveling with me since the beginning. Others have joined mid-stream and still others are just discovering us. We will all feel the transition.
I have always followed my guidance. Guidance comes to me in many ways, in knowing, seeing, hearing, feeling. My direction is always led by the question, “is this life giving or life diminishing?” one of the many tidbits gleaned from the wisdom of this group.
We share wisdom. This group has never been about me knowing all. Our life lessons are about learning to trust our wisdom. Awakening to human life holds incredible innocence. The wisdom of our soul is beyond understanding. We inhabit our human body learning life’s lessons to enhance the wisdom of our soul. The stories of our lives take different shapes, different twists and turns. Part of our journey is remembering our magnificence and befriending our ego with our soul, a challenging task unless we learn to surrender to the struggle.
Surrendering does not mean challenges disappear and all problems are resolved. Surrendering does not mean one becomes a doormat. Surrendering means working with what is before us, staying present, taking responsibility, honoring our human needs, and letting go of grudges, judgments, blame and shame.
Surrendering is looking forward towards solutions instead of backwards with regret. Surrendering is choosing to be happy instead of right. Surrendering is using our Higher Power, however you define it, in all our struggles. Surrendering is creating the intention to move forward even with fear and the need to control, because always without question, we learn from every experience.
It has been my pleasure to remind you of your magnificence. We hold the choice to embrace this change with an intention of rising into more wisdom. None of us are alone.
I may continue to blog. I received a green light for more writing, most likely a book or two. I call my guidance my marching orders. I am one with spirit. I listen. Yes, I feel fear. Yes, I feel sorrow. Yes, I know my limits and I am honoring them. Heck, I planned on holding daily presence for a couple of months back in March of 2020. We did pretty darn good at 500 days.
So again, it has been my pleasure to remind you of your magnificence. You remind you of your magnificence. You advocate for your self-care. You love your foibles. You have your own back.
by Alice Walker
Before I leave the stage I will sing the only song I was meant truly to sing.
It is the song of I AM. Yes: I am Me & You. WE ARE.
I love Us with every drop of our blood every atom of our cells our waving particles -undaunted flags of our Being- neither here nor there.
Participants' Reflections:
Today I am grateful for the word ‘foibles.’ I’m having fun playing with that word. It sounds joyful to me, like joybles and bubbles. They rise up and are nothing. I do laugh at things I used to think of as my imperfections or flaws. It’s such a good way to think about it. Thank you so much. I’m sure I’ve been here 400 of those 500 days and it’s the longest I’ve meditated in my life. Thank you, thank you for that.
I had a sense from the beginning when you were talking that that was what you were going to say. As one of those who was here since day one, I want to say thank you. We have really become a family, and that will continue. I hope people will continue posting on the listserv. I have one request, that we could someday have a weekend retreat devoted to us. For me, with profound ADD, habits are anathema to me. I know that on August 1st, I will sit for a half-hour meditation, and that is not going to end. Thank you so much.
We thank you so much. All of us realize how much this has taken from you and we are all so grateful for the incredible devotion you have put into this.
It came to me about beginnings and endings. I heard this little voice say to me ‘there are no beginnings and no endings.’ I am wondering what that really means? I realized that when there is an ending, there is a beginning and that gives me so much hope. A quote I remember is ‘don’t be sad it is over. Be happy it happened.’ I can do both at the same time. I am sad the format of this group is going to end. I am grateful for this opportunity and grateful for what will come after. In the Tao Te Ching, I read this morning in Chapter 37: “The Tao that never does anything, yet through it, all things are done. If powerful men and women could center themselves in it, the whole world would be transformed by itself in its natural rhythms. People would be content with their simple everyday lives in harmony and free of desire. When there is no desire, all things are at peace.” It goes along with the definition of surrendering.
I will miss this group very much too. I am so grateful for all you have done. I had an experience which is because of the learnings here. The other day, I was at a medical appointment and I left it feeling down, beating myself up for how I handled the situation. After a couple of hours, I started shifting and said to myself, even though my voice wasn’t as strong as I wanted it to be all these years and I was afraid to speak, I’ve been advocating for years and researching and doing everything I could to help. I was tired today, and I stopped being hard on myself and I was gentle instead. I let it go. Which is like amazing. I wouldn’t have done that before. Thank you so much.
Shirley says: Thank you for listening. It’s not me giving you that power. It’s you listening and allowing it in. That’s what this is all about.
What came to mind during the meditation is that to everything there is a season and a time and purpose under heaven. This season has been so rich. I can also feel that there is a new season dawning now. Our group is in transition into a new season for all of us. I share the vision of all of us being together for one or two extended weekends every year. I know places where we can gather. I want to express my gratitude and appreciation. I want to offer the word ‘wonder’ to you and to the group. May we stand in awe and feel the grace of the experience that we have shared so far, not knowing what the new season will bring for each of us. In our heart centers, may this be a place of incredible peace and opportunity for each of us. Thank you all, for your being and essence, for your leadership and for being willing to cooperate with spirit and channel to us every day for so long. Thank you.
The love we have felt. I’ve only been a part of this for five months and I have treasured each gathering. We have picked up on the tiredness and empathize, and the wonder of how you have kept at it was because of the love. And yet, we are in these human bodies that tell us and talk to us. I honor you listening to that. I heard a phrase yesterday from Pamela Gregory. She talked about what is coming: our families will expand and it won’t be our blood families but our energetic families. This is an energetic family. However frequently we connect—if and whenever we connect in any form, from this moment forward, I’ve got goosebumps anticipating that. Transformation is at hand.
Our hearts are heavy hearing about the 500 days, but only because they are so full and so enriched with everything that you have given us and with everyone’s sharing. With great gratitude, thank you.
I feel like a toddler whose training wheels are being taken off her bike. And right now, I don’t feel ready. It’s scary. I’m realizing how dependent I’ve become on all of you. And how in awe I am of your commitment and love for us. I’ve never felt love like that before. I have so many skills now, and I just have to practice pedaling. So thank you. I will have access to the blog and all the wisdom that is there. I love you all. Thank you.
Everyone has expressed so much love in this group. I feel so connected. Without this group, I don’t know what I would have done. I would like to reflect on that. I always feel so unenlightened but I love every one of you, and so often in the last year, I have felt buoyed up and held in the arms of this group, even when I was in my most traumatic state. Especially in the worst times, I felt the energy of this group and it has really helped. I love you.
I feel a lot. I’ve been appreciative of hearing everyone’s responses. I’m feeling more than I know what I am feeling. I know I am feeling loss and appreciation and wonder at the life we’ve shared together. I’m the kind of person that does not immediately process, but I’m full of a lot of sadness and appreciation. That’s what I wanted to share.
Shirley says: The blog will continue. I follow the guidance I get. There is a book in the near future, about the merging of our humanity across the veil, living it and stepping into our merged selves. This is about me growing through that, like we all are, letting go of our training wheels. It is my nature to mother everyone. Sometimes it is the hardest thing to know when it’s time to let go. It doesn’t mean I’m letting you go, it means I’m changing the form. It’s up to each of you to honor yourselves, to reach out instead of holding back staying isolated. That’s up to you, as it is up to me. Love doesn’t end.
Love never ends. Nor does connection. When we love deeply, and I think this group has been so real and so heartfelt how could we forget. So I think the connection will stay and perhaps the fact that it is taking a different form, will prompt us to want to gather in person. So let’s do it.
Shirley says: That takes time and we have to be safe. We created the ritual, and with mindfulness, a ritual can be created again that is fueled by our inner hearts. This group was fueled by my heart. It started through guidance I received. And people encouraged me to give it up after a month, after two months. See, this is exhausting. But I couldn’t end it until it was right, and I’ve honored my commitment. We need to honor ourselves and not get caught in the story of the loss but get caught in the story of the wonder.
What I felt all the way through from the early days til now is an anchor. It’s anchored me through all of it. And what I realize today is that I now carry that anchor in my heart, and the ability to balance and center and to feel that love within me as well. So thank you, thank everyone.
Shirley says: Yes, we each have an anchor within us. Thank you. And the line to the anchor is the one we hold, not the one I hold. I think that is valuable.
The line image reminds me of seafaring movies and all the sailors in synchronicity pulling in the line. If there is any group that is synchronized, that’s us.
For the last many months, we have looked at this meditation space as an incubator. The question we are facing now is what did we incubate? This is the test to find out what this is. The last two days of meditations have been about fine tuning a spiritual practice. I think that’s a good thing to reflect on over the next couple of weeks: what is our spiritual practice and how have we strengthened it in this incubator? This has taken many forms. The first blog back in March of 2020 is so different than what it is today. This practice has continued to evolve. We can evolve it into new ways. There is a rich place we can continue to share about the themes and topics that have been explored. I am excited about next steps as this incubator lets forth what it has incubated.
One of the things I will take away from this is courage and wonder because who in the beginning would have thought that we could walk into a room of strangers and speak our truth and wonder and curiosity. If I have learned anything from this, I have learned and seen proof that speaking from my heart with my authentic self is what it is all about. Wherever it leads us, it will lead us forward.
It is all about truth, our truth within. Thank you. Thank you all for the courage and curiosity and the wonder that you hold this morning. Transitions are hard. That’s why we take the time to honor ourselves, honor our emotions, practice self-care, be honest, provide what we need as we weather the transition. Because transitions come whether we want them to or not, and they sure hurt a lot more when we resist. I have learned that with my body over and over again. And this is a transition. What a wonderful place to practice a transition in this incubator with awareness. With that, I wish you all a gentle day. Be grateful to the energy within your body, no matter what level it is, and your abilities in your spirit to feel, to sense, to know what love is. Be gentle with yourselves.
Photo credit: Lynda Hinton @lyndaann1975