Noise

We’ve a full moon approaching on Thursday, a Scorpio one too, and the third super moon of this year, so we can expect it to be a little potent, with a sting in her tail!

I’m no expert on these things, and I appreciate that we will all have our truth on this but I feel that we are being asked to look at the noise in our lives and how this prevents us from hearing our own wisdom, and how we might trust in this more than we already do.

Taking a break from social media has been extremely liberating, albeit I am only four days into it. But I have recognised how much noise there is on Facebook especially, and how distracting this can be, allowing us to lose minutes, if not hours of our lives.

But it’s more than that, because for me, I feel as if I have gained more of the magical, more of the mystery, more of that which is kept secret. It is that which cannot be fully known, because to know and to define will limit, and this is limitless. This is the stuff of ancient wisdom which is whispered and spoken, which is heard only when we take the time to listen.

 Life has been so busy for many years. I recognise now in the slower pace of my life, how much my old life was busy for the sake of busy and how much time, and energy, and magic, was lost in the noise of it. There was a fear of what might happen if there was no busyness, as if this would suggest a purposeless life, and this I feared the most. 

Yet now, with less busyness and less noise, of course there is space for the new to come in, the magic that was sat there waiting, but could not move forward because the busyness left no room for it. Magic cannot enter if there is no space for it. It’s a natural lore.

So the death has come to us all. This too is in the field. I have talked about it before. We are all going through our own death and grieving for this, for ways of old, even if they were no longer serving us (as most of them weren’t), we still have to go through a process of letting go, and that’s not easy, or pleasant. 

But there is delight in the uncomfortable of the unknown. Yoga encourages us to sit in the unknown. We’ve been practising for a good old while now. This is time to put the practice into practice and I’m grateful to the practice for holding me as it does, because the letting go process has been a part of this from day one. We already know that nothing in life is certain.

Yet there is so much noise out there trying to bring some certainty to it. Those trying to understand Covid-19 scientifically, those talking about vaccinations as if this alone will ensure a safe future, those in the spiritual fields talking about awakenings and light overcoming the darkness and the separation of fear and everyone trying to make sense of that which is absolutely unknown. No one knows.

Yet we do know, on some deep level we do know. We have wisdom, and we have a truth, and both are magical and unique to each of us, and yet a part of the whole. We are sacred, each of us, and this sacredness connects us deep into the pulse of the universe which is sacred too, and knows only love.

I cannot tell you the reason this is happening for you, or to humanity generally, and it is not my place to tell you because you must feel into it for yourself. This is one of the many gifts of lockdown to me, that it has provided a pause, a gap, an opportunity to notice the noise and to distance myself from it.

This has brought in another gift, in the space that has been created to allow a new path to reveal itself, one that I could never have previously imagined in the noise and the busyness. Yet the greatest gift perhaps, in addition to the re-prioritising of my family and my boys beyond all else, is the gift of the sacred and trusting in that, and thereby letting go of all the old stories that are outdated and limit us.

I have shared this poem a number of times on retreats and it has always brought tears to my eyes, but it is only now that I read it and know it to be true: 

 “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love – for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” 
― Max Ehrmann, Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life

I hope this full moon illuminates that which needs to be known, and you are able to create the space and the peace that you might need to hear that which is spoken to you alone. I also hope that you might have the strength of spirit to let go of that which now needs to go. Hold that part of you that fears gently, as if you would a new born baby, breath and trust.

With love xx