We are meeting in our meditation for the well-being of all life and in our Friday reiki send.
Reiki will flow to all who asked for it and are ready to receive and to all who participate.
Can you believe that it is the last Friday in November and that we are heading to the last month of the year 2022? I can barely fathom where the time went—even though it has been an eventful year, with high-lights, successes and balancing acts on one hand and warnings, unsettling news and nail-biting drama on the other hand.
Plenty of conflicting information is trying to grab our attention. So I want to offer a thought:
Let nothing stop you from working on your life.
It is convenient, understandable and easy to blame outer circumstances, the present economic situation, social turmoil and the animosities between countries or between the antisocial personalities whom we got accustomed to seeing in the media for why you can “not” improve your life. But history and your own ancestors’ history are full of examples of how people survived stressful conditions, solved their dilemmas and paved their way into a better existence.
How did they do it? What strategies did they have access to? What strategies did they employ? What can you learn from them, going forward?
The fight for human attention is real. If you believe opinions, only depression and defeatism are “the correct” response to a world in crisis. How have such opinions passed the test of trustworthiness, though?
What about the argument that our grandparents and parents could afford stuff and a lifestyle that we no longer have access to? True enough, if you were born on American soil and into privilege: of skin colour, generational wealth and membership with groups that had enough influence to support their insiders at manifesting financial stability and some desires that money can buy. That leaves a lot of people out: subcultures and a whole lot of cultures! Somehow we forget that a large population of the world has overcome existential obstacles only in the last two and a half decades, or is about to overcome them. Statistics make for startling arguments, but from a wider, more inclusive and more objective perspective, progress is much more recent than not, and we are not worse off than we once were. On the contrary, life has become easier than it has ever been. (And if you were born into privilege, is it so far out to be happy for the people on the rise who are outside of your group? Some generosity in attitude can be truly healing.)
What we need to focus on now is coexistence and habitat renewal. In other words, to not support extinction with the weapons at our disposal and not hurt the ecosystem that supports us all. There is no better time than now.
If you examine your sources of information — do they call for war or for coexistence? Do they risk environmental destruction and dismiss it, or do they work to bring fertility to the soil and water flow to a region?
When you ask yourself the most basic question — let me borrow a mesmerizing quote by Shakespeare, “To Be Or Not To Be?” —, a lot of broadcasts sound like the attempt to derail audiences and conflict addicts trying to recruit new victims for their specific, insidious addiction.
In the coming months, this group will emphasize the need for peace on earth – so that life can continue – and the commitment to making our lives work.
If you are living in a family setting, think about how you can contribute to bring more love and joy of living to those who share your space. Men tend to be security-minded, and that is a good clue for men to create more security, more calm and a foundation for the people they live with. Women have the gift to nurture, and that is a good clue to become a more nurturing source to children, partners, relatives in care, and maybe even younger, receptive and neglected people in the community.
Let me get back to the topic of strategy again.
What I am being shown about 2023 is that things that we may not like and may not have the power, or the people power, to change are likely to unfold.
You could be tempted to console yourself with soft addictions, procrastination and excuses. You have this one life. If all you chose to do with it is to consume, so that you can bear what is being thrown at you, you are depriving yourself of shaping your life.
Put a few strategies in place to feed your courage when the going gets tough and to keep working on your life. As we turn our gaze away from what we can not change, we liberate our energy for what we can change.
Who could you contact to help you stay focused on your goals? How soon can you contact them? What strategies have crossed your mind that you would like to give a try this week?
In most invitations to our Friday Earth Send, I keep it light. Today, I wanted to get a point across. With mindfulness, we can neutralize turbulence and make loving decisions. May these thoughts benefit everyone who reads them.
May this Friday refresh you and give you plenty of chuckles. A sense of humour is a blessing. You will rely on it in the coming twelve months.
25 November 2022
Nanda Jurela 