Some start the day by pulling a tarot or oracle card, and I very frequently do that. But I also practise a little bibliomancy, randomly opening a page in one or more treasured books.
Most days I work with either Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese, or Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue.
Today, I was drawn to Embers and randomly opened the book for some wisdom for the day.
The text I found raised my awareness to my own monkey mind chatter, and the impatience and frustration I have allowed to manifest during this pandemic… neither being productive states (but possibly allowing me to release some pent up energy!).
But there are reasons those emotions are there, those shadows. They can be guideposts through the shadow work we need as we acknowledge them, embrace them, and ultimately reframe or transform them, using them as a catalyst for shifting those paradigms within that no longer support us.
I share that passage with you now, from the “Persistence” chapter in the book:
I am not the endless chatter in my head. I am the me who recognizes that chatter is happening. I am not the me who is impatient in the grocery line or at the stoplight. I am the me who recognizes and acknowledge that impatience. If I take a breath and change the chatter to “This is me waiting calmly”, that is what the experience becomes. Practising this simple awareness allows me to be present in all moments, to fully inhabit my life.”
Image: I took the picture of a Pacific Great Blue Heron in Vancouver’s #StanleyPark last year, with my trusty iPhone.