Presence & Thanks Giving
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart
Lately, I’ve recognized that the greatest access to presence is gratefulness. When one is wholeheartedly thankful and expresses this from focused precision, both inwardly and outwardly, all sense of separation dissolves, and the truth of our absolute interconnectedness with all of life emerges.
Presence is a function of connection! Connection is seeing. Seeing is a whole-body experience of zooming in on what’s happening right now, in this moment. Can we be present to and grateful for that which we would rather deny, suppress, or look away from? The holiday season is meant to be a holy time of joy, prayer, and connection, but it is often accompanied by grief, upset, suppression, provocation, reactivation, and addiction. Especially in this time of Covid and physical separation.
Presence is a function of connection! Connection is seeing. Seeing is a whole-body experience of zooming in on what’s happening right now, in this moment. Can we be present to and grateful for that which we would rather deny, suppress, or look away from? The holiday season is meant to be a holy time of joy, prayer, and connection, but it is often accompanied by grief, upset, suppression, provocation, reactivation, and addiction. Especially in this time of Covid and physical separation.
It seems that we tend to look outwardly, away from our center, beyond what we have, and what is here, in this moment, for our fulfillment. Which creates a feeling of emptiness, lack, separation, and estrangement. This is further exacerbated by continuing to focus on what’s wrong and broken in our lives and the world, rather than reveling in gratitude for all the amazing things that have been bequeathed to us by our ancestors, the earth, and the web of life.
The more disconnected and narrowed we become, the more we feel fragmented in our frightened grasping for some sense of certainty. We miss the reality of how deeply interconnected we are with everyone and all of life. In this issue, I’d like to journey with you into the hope and possibility that lies in meeting and embracing the very things we resist, suppress, or turn away from…
The more disconnected and narrowed we become, the more we feel fragmented in our frightened grasping for some sense of certainty. We miss the reality of how deeply interconnected we are with everyone and all of life. In this issue, I’d like to journey with you into the hope and possibility that lies in meeting and embracing the very things we resist, suppress, or turn away from…
Those events and people in our lives who trigger our unresolved issues could be regarded as good news. We don’t have to go hunting for anything. We don’t need to try to create situations in which we reach our limit. They occur all by themselves, with clockwork regularity.
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
Thomas Hübl calls trauma” our frozen past”, which is the gift of a very intelligent nervous system. It functions to fragment our wholeness and suppresses a part of our essence when we feel threatened or are confronted with something that overwhelms us or appears to be a risk to our survival. These “childhood friends” as Thomas calls them, are a natural part of our innate self-protection and support system. They allow us to survive in times of overwhelming fear, pain, loss, or crisis. The problem is that without doing the inner work of integration and healing, these lost soul parts remain hidden, but still active in dictating our behaviour through the unconscious. The more fragmented we become, the more we are living into our past, destined to make the same mistakes and repeat the same habitual behaviours that have shaped our worldview with repetitive patterns from the past.
We live in a sea of trauma! Trauma can overwhelm us and affect our ability to cope, diminish our sense of self and our capacity to fully feel our emotions and experiences. We are also unconsciously immersed in a field of collective and ancestral trauma. What we call normal (as in “getting back to…”) exists in a climate of traumatic adaptation and psychologically shared effects. Trauma circles can encompass small groups or include all of humanity. Many of the filters through which we see the world have been handed down by our ancestors through thousands of years of evolution. When trauma is unhealed and unintegrated in our body, it will be passed on to those we love the most, our descendants. This is why children of abusers often become abusers themselves and the offspring of victims are more likely to become victims themselves. They can also take on the opposite role where a person who has been a victim becomes a perpetrator. How can we shift these unconscious and unwanted effects of personal, collective, and intergenerational trauma?
Trauma is not just a personal experience. It is always embedded in a much
wider chain of events and history. Examining our collective trauma is a way
to tap into the evolutionary intelligence of humanity.
Thomas Hübl
wider chain of events and history. Examining our collective trauma is a way
to tap into the evolutionary intelligence of humanity.
Thomas Hübl
Our personal trauma feeds into and is fed by collective and intergenerational trauma. It is perhaps the single biggest threat to the evolution of our species, the health of our habitat, and to all life on earth. The seeds of trauma spawn separation, isolation, violence, depression, injustice, illness, spiritual bypass, and destruction. But, life wants to live! It is built into our biosystem to heal. When you get a cut, it naturally heals and the same is true of our nervous system. Those triggers, difficulties, disappointments, and challenges keep coming up into our awareness, because they are intelligent and want to be healed. To be healed is to be whole. It is not that you are broken or something is not working. Our entire system is working to create coherence, to return to a unified whole.
So, how do we heal our individual and collective traumas? It starts with the awareness of our own fragmented and dissociated parts. When we practice and cultivate presence, through meditation, contemplation, and prayer we begin to notice where our body, emotions, and mind are out of alignment. This gives us a greater capacity to witness and integrate our fragmentation and to recognize it in others. By embracing, holding in love, and accepting those places in us that were just too scary to deal with at an earlier time, they become reintegrated into our current physio-emotional consciousness. They actually never left us, they were just frozen past within our body.
Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside
in the absence of an empathetic witness.
Peter Levine
in the absence of an empathetic witness.
Peter Levine
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Conscious trauma integration activates potential and awakens the possibility of a new future. It means practicing the ways of the mystic, presencing, witnessing, and embracing whatever is arising from moment to moment. When we can love and embrace our shadow our inner light is free to shine through and illuminate all we see and touch. This gives others the courage to authentically look into the depth of their soul and discover a sense of purpose, passion, and possibility. Working with others in a safe environment accelerates the healing of both our individual and collective trauma.
Consider two different stories of the first Thanksgiving
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Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" a time celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. A feast attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. Others pinpoint 1637 as the true origin of Thanksgiving, owing to the fact Massachusetts colony governor John Winthrop declared a day of thanksgiving to celebrate colonial soldiers who had just slaughtered 700 Pequot men, women, and children in what is now Mystic, Connecticut. Which is right? It doesn’t matter! What’s important is to recognize that both happened. Ignoring the impact that our ancestors’ actions had in the past, is to deny our heritage and the unintegrated trauma experienced by both the victims and the perpetrators.
I’m not suggesting wallow in self-pity and suffering over what our ancestors did in the past. But, if we explore and become curious about our true history and face the inhumanity and terror that they faced, we are less likely to repeat our mistakes. When we tell the truth about issues like slavery, genocide, atomic bombing of innocent people, we open up the conditions for healing, integration, and wholeness… By allowing ourselves to go into the darkness we find our light. So, what if we spend a little time this week allowing the darkness of our past to be seen by going within and allowing ourselves to feel the grief, horror, and heaviness of our personal and collective shadow. To meet it with love and compassion, which will unfreeze it’s impact, integrate the lost energy of the past, and open our hearts to greater compassion, humility, and connectedness.
Those who insist they've got their 'shit together'
are usually standing in it at the time.
Stephen Levine
are usually standing in it at the time.
Stephen Levine
We all have dissociated parts that rob us of our vitality, creativity, and authenticity. It is the human condition! It is also the emergent future calling for an evolutionary jump. What’s required is the courage, humility, and curiosity to go deeply into and expand our interior consciousness as well as our outward compassion. Together we can do this and open to an entirely new future than the one that is currently predictable. Our presence and gratitude make a difference
We are here to support your journey. Please let us know how we can do that for you?
We are here to support your journey. Please let us know how we can do that for you?
With love and gratitude,
Michael and the Well of Light Team
Michael and the Well of Light Team
Knowing oneself comes from attending with compassionate
curiosity to what is happening within.
Gabor Maté
curiosity to what is happening within.
Gabor Maté
Sorry I can't come visit you for Thanksgiving...
I'm all ready to go but, my dad says we're quarantined.
Maybe next year - I love turkey and you!
Buddha
I'm all ready to go but, my dad says we're quarantined.
Maybe next year - I love turkey and you!
Buddha