A lover of what is looks forward to everything: life, death, disease, loss, earthquakes, bombs, anything the mind might be tempted to call “bad.” Life will bring us everything we need, to show us what we haven’t undone yet. Nothing outside ourselves can make us suffer. Except for our unquestioned thoughts, every place is paradise.
Byron Katie, Question your thinking, Change the world.
Regardless of my opinion about it, reality happens. There are two ways of dealing with it, with peace or with resistance. If I am in resistance, it is coming from inside of me. If I am at peace, it is coming from inside of me. The circumstances are always changing and if my peace or happiness depends on Reality being a certain way, well... I will always loose to the Lord of Reality. It seems like a kind option to be internally at peace with whatever manifests in each moment.
I find it is more efficient and flowing to deal with what is happening when I am in acceptance of it. And that doesn’t mean I am going to become passive and indifferent. It means I will be able to see and notice without an emotional reaction placed on top of the circumstances, and make choices based from that position or stance. Acceptance may just as readily imply peaceful action.
I think climate change is real. I could be filled with hate and hopelessness with this belief, even as I take action. Also, with this belief I could see that it is real and accept it, trust all things, and act with peace and gratitude that I know how I can do my part. It is wonderful to feel active in the counter expansion of something we call global warming and even still, the world, as we know it could end tomorrow. I don’t know, I just know both ways I am taking action towards environmental stability, and one way it feels good and the other feels heavy and hateful.
The clearer my head is, the clearer my action is, the kinder I am to everyone and everything in front of me, including the planet. There is an inherent intelligence that arises in the present moment. Any belief or story that keeps me from the present moment effects my clear, creative, cooperative action. So I continue to clear the environment within the mind, and watch to see what reality offers.
Jen Deraspe, is the founder of Nurture Through Nature, an eco-retreat center in Denmark, Maine. Jen is a certified yoga instructor, a licensed Maine guide, and a certified coach and facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie. She has been leading holistic nature retreats since 1999. www.ntnretreats.com, (207) 452-2929.