This is my new way of checking in with myself and others. I learned this from asoulcalledjoel on facebook. A beautiful man who uses a few sentences to check in with others each day. It has become a wonderful practice for me.

I was at a lunch time gathering of folks where politics came up though the invitation had stated that it was to gather to talk about community, not politics. Someone said that they ran into an old friend who was a Trump supporter so she did not know what to say to him. I said, ” Ask him, How is your heart?” Everyone is going through something in these challenging energies. It is not about our belief systems, it is about our hearts. It is a question that puts the conversation on a new level.

It is time to remember our oneness, not beat the drum of our separateness. Time to focus on the blessings that we have, not what is going wrong. I pointed out the abundance of food on the table, that everyone had contributed to, the warmth from the heating system keeping the cold air at bay, the freedom that we all had to gather on a workday to talk, our cars that brought us from near and far, the view of trees and fresh snowfall outside. In this moment, all was well with us.

The dismantling of our society under the new president is a favorite topic of conversation here in this liberal state of Vermont. The talk ranged from the despair of programs being cut and systems failing to the more empowering of teaching classes on fermentation, root cellars, growing food, baking bread, spinning and weaving. Folks shared some of the things that they were doing in a positive vein though the weight of what the government was not doing, cast a shroud over the talk. There is some comfort in sharing a common enemy. Of churning out the stories over and over of how bad things are. It reinforces the belief that someone else is responsible for our lives.

To me, all of this change is encouraging. This is evolution. It is forcing folks to look within, rather than waiting for the government to save them. Forcing people into their own sovereignty, into reaching out and creating stronger communities rather than remaining in victim mode. We are creator beings, we came for that experience. We are witnessing our planet and society shifting in new ways. It is an intense and challenging time. It is also opening us up to new abilities and gifts. It is allowing new ways of living to emerge.

We are forced back to the human scale of our immediate circle. What can we do to create community, to care for ourselves and one another? The world will spin with both horrors and beauties unfolding. Science has proven that what we focus on will grow. It is startling how easily we are duped into focusing on what is wrong rather that what is going well. There is beauty everywhere in everything if we have eyes to see.

We have come to bring it all back to love. There is only love. We have created this separation, this experiment to see how far we could go into the darkness. We have gone in deep and now we wish to return to our truth. We are all tired of the game. Now we turn from that tunnel and move back towards the light. Towards peace, unity, harmony, abundance for all. Our hearts are our flashlights. We can turn them on high beam, we can find our way back to the truth of love. To the light of being love. We can breathe in the darkness and transmute it into love. We can spin gold from the dross.

It takes our intention and attention. Attend to what we desire, intend to be the love that we wish to feel in this world. We were made for these times.

Fill your heart with your own lovelight. Recognize your own beauty. Accept all aspects of yourself. Fall in love with you! We have been conditioned to feel that we are not enough, that we can never measure up, that we are parasites upon the planet. We can talk back to this and come to face all of ourselves, even what we consider shameful. We can reaffirm our own beauty, our hearts that want only good for all in this world. This is the path that leads to falling in love with everyone and everything. We are all such tender beings.

So, I ask you, How is your heart?