The Release of Rain and Tears

 I hear rain falling softly outside my window and think of clouds, saturated by moisture, releasing water upon the earth.   In this process of releasing, the air is cleansed of impurities, the earth is renewed and refreshed and all who live on earth are given a vital resource.  As I listen, I think of tears and the cleansing, renewing, restoring release of emotional pain that come with them.  Pent up emotion wells up in us like moisture in the clouds, allowing us to express grief, sadness, anger and regret as they are released in healthy tears.

"Emotional tears have special health benefits. Biochemist and 'tear expert' Dr. William Frey, at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis, discovered that reflex tears are 98% water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress hormones that get excreted from the body through crying. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins that accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.” Crying makes us feel better, even when a problem persists. In addition to physical detoxification, emotional tears heal the heart."*

 Unfortunately, tears are discouraged in our society; boys are taught that real men don't cry; and it is often seen as a sign of weakness.  If we're on the job or out in public, we have to hold back our tears because open displays of emotion are often associated with mental illness.  Everyday, we see pharmaceutical ads depicting sad, crying people as suffering from depression and in need of a drug to make them happy again. We don't dare allow ourselves to express normal human emotions, lest we be judged, offered a mental health diagnosis and given proper pharmaceutical treatment.

This is a difficult time for many people.  We are feeling genuine pain, for ourselves personally, for our families, our country and the world.  We cannot, nor should we, suppress our very genuine emotional reactions to our experiences in life.  It is important to allow ourselves to feel, to express what needs to be expressed and to release what we need to let go of. 

Through prayer, tears as they come, honest recognition of what we are feeling, and release, healing will come.  

Sometimes, we need to breathe into the pain, experience it and release it to find peace...

*"The Health Benefits of Tears": Psychologytoday.com

Shine On!

 This morning dawns murky and gray, a typical late November day.  As I breathe, stretch and whisper a morning prayer, a command floats into my awareness like a flash: " shine on in the darkness; be the light, the change and the hope that you long to see".  I sit with this a moment, meditating silently, sensing my inner light stoked into flame and give thanks for the simple gifts of breath and life.

This is a particularly dark time for most of us.  Not only are our days shorter and cloudier, but we are separated from our families by the restrictions of the pandemic.  As we enter Thanksgiving week, many of us have had to cancel plans to spend the holiday with extended families and are staying home, alone or with members of our own household. We may struggle for things to feel thankful for this week, at a time when we are living in a deeply divided nation, following a contentious election period which is still wrought with uncertainty. We are also facing a winter with a worsening pandemic and the economic challenges it is causing.

Yet this is the time when it is most important to keep our faith, to search for whatever there is to be thankful for, even the smallest glimmer of light, and to "think about such things"*. To keep our minds focused on the good is not foolishness; it is to call the good into being.

Elie Wiesel survived the horrors of a concentration camp during the holocaust and wrote of his experiences in the well known book, "Night".  He writes of falling into despair and then rising in hope again; of the indomitable nature of the human spirit: “I speak from experience that even in darkness, it is possible to create light and encourage compassion. There it is: I still believe in man in spite of man.” ― Elie Wiesel

On this gray November morning, may we create light within our own beings through faith in God and Spirit, shining on in the darkness, keeping our eyes open for all we have to be thankful for. 

*...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Philippians 4:8-9

Be Still My Soul

 We are living in a time of tremendous personal, national and worldwide anxiety.  Whatever we are each dealing with personally on a day to day basis is compounded by a contentious post-election period, a pandemic raging worse than ever before and a very shaky economy. We cannot envision the future because we have never been here before.  

If you, like me, find yourself waking up in the wee hours of the morning with this anxiety, perhaps you can relate to my message this morning.  "Be still my soul" is my thought for the day, something to carry with me, breathe in and out and find peace in. When I am able to focus my attention on the breath, affirming that God is with me, that he/she is the Light within that carries me through the darkest night and sustains me, I can still the busy machinery of my thoughts and release my fear. 

I can begin to sense the shift in consciousness that is happening in the world, in my country, in my heart. 

 I can begin to embrace hope for a brighter future once this period of darkness has passed.  I can, by the power of Spirit, fill my heart with light and peace and imagine this radiating out to my community, my country and the world.

So hope for a great sea-change

on the far side of revenge.

Believe that a further shore

is reachable from here.

Believe in miracles

and cures and healing wells.

Call the miracle self-healing:

The utter self-revealing

double-take of feeling.

If there’s fire on the mountain

Or lightning and storm

And God speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing

the outcry and the birth-cry

of new life at its term.

-exerpted from "A Cure at Troy", by Seamus Heaney

On this day, I will breathe in Light, choosing to" believe in miracles and cures and healing wells"

Choose Love

 Here we are on the eve of a very important election, which feels to me like a fork in the road with far-reaching consequences for our country and the world.  My message this morning is short and sweet: choose love and Light, cast away the darkness of fraud, lies and intimidation.  

The other night, I watched CBS evening news and they interviewed people around the world to gauge the reaction to our election and what has been happening in our country in general the last few years.  People were saddened that our shining beacon on the hill. which has always been the world's best model for democracy, has moved so far towards authoritarianism.  People who have lived through the slow slide towards a totalitarian regime recognize the danger signs that we are facing.

I don't have a crystal ball, but my hope and prayer is that people will vote with their hearts, will listen to the still, small voice and not the shrill cry of propaganda.

My prayer and meditation for today is that we would all, Republicans and Democrats, remember who we are and connect with the true spirit of democracy and freedom that is the very heart of our Declaration of Independence, and would resolve to treat each other with kindness and respect.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--

Please join me in praying for our country today -- that we would be unified in our mutual desire for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness FOR ALL...and remember to vote!