In the Midst of Chaos, Finding Calm

When confusion reigns, where do you turn? We are strangers to ourselves in these moments, unfocused and unclear. I often turn to the piano, or other musical instruments to get at and get out what's going on inside. More even than writing, composing music allows thoughts and feelings to flow through me unencumbered (or, at least, less encumbered than the more rational reasoned way I sometimes feel I have to write, or talk.)

In this episode, I play some piano and talk through some ideas about how we go about expressing ourselves and getting at the confusing often chaotic feelings going on inside us, often as a result of the chaotic confusion in the world outside:) 

We are not in control, not of the decisions of the government, how the mountains shift and change, how other people act or even of our own hearts. That realization and understanding can be both dismaying and, for me, strangely empowering.  I can't control, I just have to soften and become more pliant in the way I move through decisions and actions. I have to be adaptable, and compassionate to myself and others. It is easy to say but hard to do that in relationships of all kinds, with ourselves, with each other, with the world, we have to sometimes live with the idea that we will not figure the perfect way. We will fly haphazardly around and about sometimes, like a crazy dragonfly, and then we will suddenly latch on to something as if we knew what we wanted all along. We will, eventually, come through it all to a landing place. 

As we head into the Cancer New Moon tonight at 8:00, Zen teacher Ji Hyang suggests adopting a "spirit of empowered authenticity." How do we identify and release primal feelings and nurture ourselves to get past what she calls "socially constructed suffering"? 

I choose often to play piano or other music, what about you? Find me at stephsthompson@gmail.com, or subscribe to SacredBloomTribe.com to experience a sound bath or join me in a drum circle, a great release!!!

XX
Steph