Eclipse

4/9/24

I don't have a lot of words about the Eclipse itself. It was cloudy in Florida. I peeked for a moment but was feeling a bit skittish about spending a lot of time outside looking at the eclipse for a number of reasons. Even though I found my glasses from 2017. Two pairs of them. Easily. Even though I had planned on traveling to the path of totality over the last several years.

I just wanted to be humble this time. Last year's Eclipse Season was confusion and unresolved pain.

This year I was just hoping that if I laid low and counted on the goodness of Spirit, of my heart and the sincerity of my actions always with willingness to dig deeper, that perhaps the cosmos would smile. And if not, so be it.

I've also learned a little more neutrality (or one might say radical acceptance which I think is a bit different-sounding. And I prefer this phrase along with “loving detachment” from outcomes) - an embodied way of being at peace with whatever life is. Which can often mean grief. And often joy. And leaving misunderstandings unresolved. Never certainty. In no way does it mean I never take action. In fact, loving detachment can often help me take action. But sometimes it helps me wait.

If I know my heart is telling me something, I can potentially act on it without attachment to outcomes. Without worry about what anyone will think. Loving detachment frees the heart. I think I have operated out of this space for a while, but recently there seems to be even further progress in areas where it was hardest for me.

I've also learned the importance of giving people my unconditional love. The more that I do this, the more I realize that boundaries are a thing within me and about owning my humanity, not demanding others see it but inviting them to respect it. And frankly I have to see it first and name it. That's the hard part. Boundaries are about knowing and loving myself. Because when I know myself, I know what I need. And I give you space to know what you need in return if you are ready for that level of honesty. Sometimes that's scary. Will we be able to compromise? Meet both needs? That takes patience.

We really do all speak different languages. We may use a lot of the same words and we may even look a little bit alike, but we live in different worlds. I remember when I was in England and feeling a little disoriented in the first few weeks of settling into my home in Yorkshire and we went into the grocery store… and they were probably selling most of the same products underneath and they were using the same language but with completely different meanings, habits and ways of presenting and arranging products and even paying for products. I felt absolutely out of sorts. Having a lot of the same words doesn't make it easy to communicate and to be at ease in someone's space.

I'm 100% committed to living a life of reconciliation.

Maybe this Eclipse reminds me more than ever that we value union. Oneness. Show-stopping alignment. I do. I long for it.

Yesterday morning before the eclipse I listened to “Blackbird” by The Beatles in every cover version I could find of it because I couldn't get it out of my head. I had a dream about that song years ago.

Here is my doodling with Canva yesterday - a form of spiritual practice: