Good Morning Everyone,
Today is the Winter Solstice celestial event. Many of us have been having a difficult and certainly a strange year, with all that is going on in our personal lives and on the collective consciousness level. For some, this challenge will bring greater clarity and resolve to your life; but for others it may bring you closer to the edge of confusion and doubt; and shake the very foundation of how we have organized our reality.
The art of cultivation is an organic practice used to navigate the world and how the world flows through you. This is sometimes called “Riding the Dragon”. At the most basic level, it is the ability to be attentive and aware as we experience the events of life internally and externally.
Experiencing emotions, feelings and the constant motion of mind (thinking) sometimes feels smooth, but at other times is quite chaotic. It is common to run or flee from uncomfortable circumstances or create tension and stress by fighting those experiences. Instead, we can cultivate and ride the dragon by not fighting ourselves. We can approach these experiences with open curiosity that is filled with awareness, tenderness, kindness and an awakened emptiness. Your focus can shift from hard and rigid to soft and subtle. You can transcend your old, habituated patterns of how to create your life and discover the “rhythm of stillness” within each moment.
Today we enter the end of a yearly universal cycle and start the beginning of a new one. This is an opportunity to finish old business and begin riding the wave of energy that brings the returning light and clarity to our endeavors, together as well as individually. Connecting to this primary universal experience connects our consciousness into this field of energy that has been appearing since ancient times.
This realignment of the sun, moon and planets is considered a high energy day in Taoist traditions and other traditions around the world because it presents a unique opportunity to descend deep into our being to experience our authentic humanity, and also that which is clouding and blocking our direct access to spirit (universal consciousness).
So, take some time today to sit quietly somewhere in nature by trees, in a deep forest, by a stream or the shores of the ocean. Connect to your deepest breath and quiet your mind or do any practice you have learned from a wisdom tradition. Our futures can be influenced by the quality and sincerity of our sense of presence.
Good Journey, Frank & Miki