Paradigm Shift
Looking inward, expanding outward
I envisioned this series of posts - The End of Separation, Relational Reverence, Paradigm Shift - in late summer, and I had a vague idea of what each would be. I had no idea what a journey it would involve: the exploration of masculine and feminine aspects, the framework that would connect all of my Dendroica Project writings, the way that I would weave in my own life story as a pursuit of reciprocity and relational reverence.
Last December was an intense process for me, a re-birthing of sorts, a re-embodiment of aspects of self, a releasing of mind. This month has been another process for me, perhaps even more intense. A paradox of personal separation even as I seek to bridge divides. An opening and healing of old wounds, old family patterns. I did not know if I would be able to write this, but I gave myself space, walking a familiar path that includes the altar above, and the words did come.
If there are two overarching stories I wish to share in my writings here, the first is that what we perceive as mundane is truly magical if we open our perception and the second is that we can choose in each moment where to direct our attention, our imagination, our empathy. We can watch bombs fall on distant lands and focus on political adversaries, or we can watch kinglets flit among willow branches and focus on the beauty and interconnection that surrounds us. And focusing more on the bombs never seems to make them stop. Perhaps what we need is not so much a social or political movement as an awakening within, collectively. And then change will flow from there.
When I say that we can choose our focus in each moment, I also want to acknowledge that this hasn’t been the case for me for most of this intense time, and I have come to view life as a river where sometimes we are free to explore shorelines and tributaries and sometimes the canyon walls close in and the current takes charge and it is all we can do to hold our center, to remain afloat. And if you are in one of those times, I invite you to wait for calmer waters to read further.
Finally, I want to acknowledge that the Winter Solstice is a time of looking inward, of introspection, of reflection, of quiet. But I have found that it is sometimes looking inward that allows us to expand, to imagine and envision possibilities, to see ourselves as part of a greater whole.
Have a blessed Solstice everyone,
Markael
Relax your body Relax your mind Relax your identity Your stories of what it means to be you What it means to be human What it means to be a good person Open your imagination Your understanding Your empathy Expand your awareness And I invite you to join me On a journey Feel the rivers flowing inside you The rhythm of your breath The pulses of electricity The cells dividing The ten thousand processes That convert lettuce and wheat and beans Into blood and bone and muscle And energy and motion and thought Feel the weight of your body Feel the tug of Earth upon you Feel the gentle pull of Moon, of Sun, of planets Feel the tug of every star Pulling across light years Holding the galaxy in form What is gravity If not love At a cosmic scale? Feel the resting potential In buds In seeds In bulbs In cocoons In eggs In hibernating animals Awaiting warmth And a return of longer days To burst forth Into kinetic vivacity Feel the web of mycelium Spreading through the soil Expanding, interconnecting Feeding roots Sharing information Feel the fallen leaves And trunks of old trees Softening Returning to Earth Feel the strength of the salmon swimming upriver Instinctively knowing where to turn Through a thousand branches and braided channels To return to the stream of her birth To procreate and then let go Feel the tenacity of the young warbler Just three months out of the nest Setting out across open ocean Knowing the path with no teacher Trusting there will be land ahead Feel the dance of bees Collaboratively co-creating Sending chemical signals Visiting millions of flowers Gathering aromatic resins Metabolizing pollen into wax Building perfect honeycombs Converting countless pinpricks of nectar Into honey-heavy hives Feel the deep resonance of whalesong The playful leap of dolphins The swaying of kelp forests with the waves The myriad mysteries of water realms In which we are only visitors Feel the ice crystals forming in clouds In unique and intricate patterns Feel them settle softly upon mountains and plains Feel them melt into rivulets Ripple into creeks Thunder over waterfalls Slip silently past in great rivers Seeking the ocean from whence they came Feel the warmth of sunlight Borne of fusion Containing all colors Powering all life Through the miracle of photosynthesis Evaporating water Transformed into wind And rain And lightning And rainbows Feel the Earth beneath your feet The slow-shifting plates Building mountains Opening oceans Bubbling up hot springs Molten rock Then liquid iron Flowing, shifting magnetism Dancing with the Sun In curtains of light Aurora Borealis Feel the vast web of human commerce Trucks crossing snowy plains Trains winding over mountain passes Ships plying stormy seas Airplanes gliding between thunderclouds And inside them all Heartbeats Human lives Loves Stories Like our own From all different cultures All different backgrounds And inside them all Lifetimes of human labor Created and packed by human hands Commodities in name only Grain Lumber Oil Clothing Steel All creations of Earth and Sun And water and soil And sweat and blood and tears Feel the softly humming potential in the wires Power of rivers Power of winds Power of ancient, fossilized sunlight Transformed Lighting our homes Connecting us across the globe Warming our food Feel the passage of time Each present moment slipping into memory Memory fading into stories Stories fading into myths and legends Feel your own center Your own awareness Your own ability to choose In each present moment Where to focus attention What to notice Feel all of this And more Continue this journey If you choose With your own imaginations Your own understandings Hold this space for as long as you need The words on the page will wait And then When you are ready Allow your identity to return Your mind Your thoughts Your stories about who you are About what is important About what differences matter What is worth fighting for What it means to belong To be loved To be whole And notice What has changed? What has softened? What new possibilities have opened?
I’ve been meaning to tell you how much this piece resonated with me.
“If there are two overarching stories I wish to share in my writings here, the first is that what we perceive as mundane is truly magical if we open our perception and the second is that we can choose in each moment where to direct our attention, our imagination, our empathy. We can watch bombs fall on distant lands and focus on political adversaries, or we can watch kinglets flit among willow branches and focus on the beauty and interconnection that surrounds us. And focusing more on the bombs never seems to make them stop. Perhaps what we need is not so much a social or political movement as an awakening within, collectively. And then change will flow from there.”
Yes, there it is Markael. You so beautifully explain the nuances of focus. We can acknowledge, and we can also choose. And where we pay attention, we are investing our energetic currency, which pays dividends no matter what. I want my returns to be the wild kind. With feathers, fur, bark, stone, wild rushing waters, and stars.
Thank you, as always. The past two months has been a deeply internal time for me. A part of me wondered if I would ever write again, or want to show up online. But I woke up yesterday feeling like the day was a gift, and some kind of inner adjustment has been made. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I feel a shadow lifting.
Happy Solstice 🌀✨
Simply beautiful