Why I Need to Watch the Bachelorette and Eat Popcorn, Often
"The worst thing we ever did
was put God in the sky
out of reach pulling the divinity
from the leaf,
sifting out the holy from our bones,
insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement
through everything we’ve made
a hard commitment to see as ordinary,
stripping the sacred from everywhere
to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
prying closeness from your heart.
The worst thing we ever did
was take the dance and the song
out of prayer
made it sit up straight
and cross its legs
removed it of rejoicing
wiped clean its hip sway,
its questions,
its ecstatic yowl,
its tears.
The worst thing we ever did is pretend
God isn’t the easiest thing
in this Universe
available to every soul
in every breath."
—Chelan Harkin
I am not your Healer.
You are your own Healer.
The medicine of your own Sacred Center lights the path for you to remember and return to your Source of Power every single day.
The challenge is to move past the very ingrained belief that Spirit is elsewhere, God in the sky with a long white beard.
What if everything you were taught were flipped on its head, and you woke up to discover that your sovereignty runs like a river inside of you? What if the power you have been giving away is actually yours, and She is actually a living, breathing light right inside your left hand?
You see, somewhere inside of your ancestral lineage is a beautiful wisdom woman who has all the secrets of sovereignty and wisdom. She is a wise woman, teaching other women how to stand in their light, how to have boundaries that feel right, and how to lead from their Sacred Center, that knowing place inside of them.
I have connected to that wise woman inside of me and inside of my lineage. She teaches me to listen, receive, act, and love. This has helped me to have stronger boundaries, healthier communication, and a deeper capacity to be present in my life.
But you know what?
Sometimes I need to watch the Bachelorette and eat popcorn in my bed with the lights off.
OK, I OFTEN need to do this. As a woman, we are taught to love but judged when we overlove. We are taught to be givers and the center of our homes but give those away when we need to spread our wings. We are taught to people please, stay too long, and give too much.
We have also been taught that Spirit is a far away feeling not found in the dishes in the sink, the body that is worked way too hard, or the grief that threatens to overtake us when life gets to be too much. Spirit is definitely not in the pants that no longer button or the inner voice that says we are tired and feel we can never give enough.
Well, what if she IS in all of those things?
The deep Feminine, the mystery of consciousness, She who is life, is longing for our transformation as much as we are. She holds back, allowing us free reign to choose, nudging us occasionally with synchronicities, illness, births and deaths … But when we make space for Her, she rushes into all the gaps, engulfing us with her desire for life and expression. This is what She longs for, this is what we are for: experiencing the Feminine through ourselves. We simply need to slow down, and find where to put our conscious attention.
– Lucy H. Pearce, Burning Woman
This past week, I took to the mountains by myself. I listened to my intuition and drove myself to a river. I felt the past two weeks weighing on my shoulders: losing my cat, the four year anniversary of my mother’s death, and getting my children ready for the new school year. I needed to sit, without any big aha moments, and just be still. I invited the Divine into my body, and my heart, and just received, without words. This act is what I call a Nature Quest. It is the act of doing nothing and receiving from Mother Nature by becoming still and allowing yourself to slow down. You can do this right in your own backyard.
I invite you to explore what it means to embody the Divine right inside your everyday life.
I recommend connecting with this part of you through practices such as journaling, drawing or painting, automatic writing, dream work, and mirror work. You may also connect to her through music, dance, or nature. Or you can just sit and receive.
You might even put a picture of who she represents to you in your home. You can create or print out a picture that resembles your inner Divine Mother and put her somewhere important in your house. Let her inspire and remind you of the importance of honoring and connecting with the Divine Feminine.
The greatest gift I have discovered is the power of our emotions to help guide us to the Spirit within. When we start to examine our feelings, to listen to the body and let it guide us to the root of our emotions, the landscape becomes more clear and our blocks fade away, allowing our connections to thrive. Ultimately, as we tune into our connection with the Divine, we release old baggage blocking us from this connection, and our intuition soars.
And, you can still watch the Bachelorette and eat popcorn with the lights off in your bed, like I do. Often.