Dearest brave hearts,
It’s raining here, nourishing, constant rain. The earth is happy and the birds are quiet. Wherever you are in the world I hope you are enjoying similar beautiful weather and can find a pocket of time to breathe easy while we share some moments together for our shared Sunday Ritual. Daisy Rose Possum (our queenly cat) keeps asserting her right to sit on my keyboard, I am her greatest disruption and inconvenience as I keep wriggling to type.
March is often a month where my usual slow Sunday rhythm gets rearranged a little. I am writing to you later today as we had beautiful visitors stay last night (Roberto’s niece and her fiancé), so our morning was one of chai’s and chats. Deep dives into dreams. Weaving our way around all that our hearts are longing for and creating in these ever changing chapters of life.
When they departed we then drove through even heavier rain up the mountain to Chenrezig Institute for the Sunday teachings. Arriving late is never ideal but somehow this meant that we had the chance to meet my beloved friend’s family who are visiting from Europe. These beautiful humans were meant to be back on the other side of the world by now, but with the world in turmoil, airports closing and international flights on hold in many places, sharing a meal together was an unexpected delight.
Even when a common language is lacking, it always amazes me just how much we can share of our hearts and feelings. Translations bouncing back and forward so we could all have a shared window into some moments, with the few that knew multiple languages binding us closer together. Plus, when all is said and done a sincere hug can translate much of what the heart feels that language could never convey in 100 years.
This week has reminded each of us how little control we have over what unfolds in the wider world. Precious lives lost and expanding threats of war, although a long way from our shores here in Australia, reminds us that uncertainty, impermanence and change are still our reality. This daily erosion of what we assume to be stable is also inviting us deeper into our peace practices and our ever evolving relationship with trust.
Yes, uncertainty disrupts us, but it also brings gifts. Changes to our plans can also bring people together, to share, pray, practice and support each other. To share a meal or a song. A tear or a smile. A ripening of mature community and connection weaving us back to a place where we remember we are all share much more in common than we do differences.
Change, challenges, cancellations, new unexpected plans arriving and altering our days reminds us that as humans, we rely on the kindness of each other to survive. Sharing this kindness and generosity with each other may well be the most important part of life on earth.
We need each other in the good times and the bad. The heartbreak and the celebration. And sometimes we all get so busy we forget this. Disruptions may disrupt, but they help us remember what really matters.
I think it’s one of the reasons we plan trips and travel. Travel is consciously choosing to disrupt our days. When life as we know it changes, and we are in a new place with new humans, hearing a different language, eating new foods and witnessing a new culture, we get to reimagine who we are and how we show up in our lives too.
Rather than slipping into auto pilot, and going unconscious to all the beauty and wonder that exists, travel asks us to stay awake and alert to what is in front of us. To truly see. To listen. To stay open. And we get hooked…
I reckon the real gift of travel is that it deepens our practice of staying present. Travel is a mindfulness practice of meeting each moment with an open heart and mind. A meditation of sorts. A portal to presence and an intention of being willing to see, to hear, to experience each moment anew.
Imagine if we could keep growing ourselves up enough to remember that when we get home from the holiday, we can continue this practice of being awake and present to our moments. That we can choose to travel every day of our lives, truly witnessing and delighting in what is already directly in front of us. Sowing seeds and harvesting gifts as the abundant beings we truly are.
Homework this week: No matter where you are today, may you find the courage to greet uncertainty with kindness, bravely adventuring through your breaths like you were on holidays in a far off land.
Maybe you can set an intention to truly see the beauty that already exists in your own everyday life, to find delight and wonder while welcoming all that remains uncertain.
As one of my teachers shares, we must practice holding gratitude in one hand and grief in the other, this is the true work of growing up. As wise adults we can hold many opposing things at once.
And may we each be the kind of humans that strangers can approach and ask for directions when they are lost. May we keep our hearts safe, soft and sheltered, offering what support and reassurance we can to help our kindred human beings find their way.
With much love from my travelling heart to yours,
kmf xo
ps My next Women’s Retreat is now booked out. If you are planing on joining the one day Family Constellation Healing Workshop I am offering with Roberto in July or the August Women’s Retreat at Chenrezig Institute please remember to get your tickets early. xo
I hope to share more moments with you soon.
© Kate M Foster. All rights reserved. An Invitation To Trust™
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