JLC Newsletter
Full Moon Edition
June 17, 2022
The Message
I’ve been listening to The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman on audible, one of many influencers of Martin Luther King (for more info click here). Here is a quote from chapter 2 which is most resonant to this week’s topic.
To be willing to take responsibility for one’s own actions. To say I did it. I am responsible.
It’s so comforting to say - I am as I am because my grandmother didn’t like me, or I was a rivaled sibling or any one of a thousand profoundly “helpful” reassurances, but when it is all said – when I have exhausted all of the extenuating circumstances, at last, it is I who act. I am responsible. Therefore, I must underwrite my deed with the shear radical essence of my own integrity. I am responsible. I could wish that the circumstances had been more fortuitous. Or as Abraham Lincoln says, God could have made a better-looking man, but he didn’t. But…this is my fate. And I am locked within the tight circle of its intimacy. It is mine. And my responsibility.
And it is only when this sense moves through all the levels of my being that there begins to seep into me an energy enabling me to cope – to cope.
And this is God’s way of rejoicing when we do it. (end quote for the cell users)
This issue is about looking at the potency of alignment. I see this abstractly as a tapping into a possibility alchemized by the realities of life – rather than in spite of it. My personal journey with this is the result of a daily practice of continuing to be curious about what is resonant for me. Do I like crawfish because I like them – or because they root so deeply into good family times and experiences? And conversely, do I hate jogging or is it wrapped in some idea of toil that I don’t actually feel when I do it? These explorations bring me into not only a closer knowing of myself, but also better care and alignment so that when I am faced with situations that are confronting, I can trust me. And I know that my self-worth does not rely upon the favorable actions of another. AND through practice I am also able to hold my nervous system in a way that allows me to stay more present to what the person is saying and respond with clarity. This is certainly a practice, and one I find most important because I’ve found so much health, clarity, enjoyment of life in it. It comes from my willingness to try new and uncomfortable things that will grow me slowly, with great care and if possible with friends and community first. I invite you to look at this, this week and journal about what it means for you! And, join together on July 13th for friendly practice and connection time.
Lessons from my garden
I’ve been reading and contemplating lately. And there is an idea that continues to come to me in different ways and most recently from the book The Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Some. There’s a Western perspective that we need to help the earth or that we are smarter than nature – or at least that’s how I used to see it. I needed to do something, use my brain to create solutions, but in fact I’m seeing things in a different more nuanced way. Yes. I can “do” something. And, yes, I can use my brain, but the idea that the environment which created me – the brilliance of Her being seen as helpless or hopeless without me is a western creation. Instead, I believe, there’s an alignment with earth, creativity, our fullest expression and natural state that is required in order to align with this current evolution - so that She chooses me.
Full Moon
Practice of letting go. What is it you would like to let go? Perhaps just an ease in letting a higher power have it is all that’s needed. Energetically release.
For more info on the astrology of this moon see my friend Ryan Seaman’s update below:
Practice
What is the inner state of you that is being called forth? Either through challenge, through new situations, through desires of your body? How can you attune and align with the you that is being called forth? What would you like to slough off this full moon cycle? And what support do you need here?
Together
Blossoming of your soul expression through community, conversation and creation.
July 13, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.
This is an in-person meeting.
Details of the location provided at purchase.
Final Message: We are learning and growing every day and the object of this life may be to trust and know and love ourselves in the learning and growing.
