Poetic Revelations: Pinpricks and Bliss-State
Follow the Energy
“Your Life-force is consipiring with you.”
~ Monisha Mittal
This is a weekly publication for heart-centered warriors, trying to make it through this thing we call life with an intact, open heart (and strong voice).
SELECTED POEMS
Breaking Surface, Mark Nepo
This is Just to Say, William Carlos Williams
Dear Embodied Hearts and Dancing Souls,
Welcome new subscribers. Because I took last week off, this letter will be posted in two parts. Also, Dance Chapel resumes Tuesday, September 5th at 7:30 pm! Link provided after the letter.
Nothingness Hack. I’ve been caught in a bad loop since July. With little work I thought I couldn’t spend money getting away. It felt like an enforced staycation. I was meant to “produce.” But when I went to my art, to movement, or showed up at my desk….nothing. No matter my list of projects and earnest to-do list, nothing emerged. Something was off. Weeks went by. I got jealous of other people’s vacactions. The gap between my plans and actual reality was making me lose steam. What was mine to do in these huge stretches of time? How to be in the present when nothing is presenting?
Society has told us to judge this as “a lack of motivation.” But that’s not what I found.
Sitting there trying to ‘figure things out’ just made it worse. What worked wonders was yanking myself from the emptiness and doing something that filled my heart. Purposely taking time out to connect with my Bliss was a fuel source for my heart-tank all on its own. One afternoon I soaked up the smells of books in an independent bookstore. This week it was exploring a warehouse of art studios by the Potomac River. I found an empty classroom, pulled up a chair, sketched a basket sitting on a shelf. I discovered their art class offerings, a teeny jewel of an art supplies store, and the gallery for their artists. Rounding a corner, I walked into an exhibit that made my HEART soar. The patterns, colors, textures and shading stirred my juices; I met and spoke with the artist.
Being in our bliss reminds us life is here for us. It fills up our heart-tank like nothing else and re-orients the energy with which we undertake our tasks.
Instead of approaching my life as holes that need filling (and to-do’s filling them), I remembered Bliss is my natural state and that I came here to have fun. Its the opposite of “figuring it out.”
Schedule playdates for yourself. Get lit up and turned on. Unlike other pursuits, there is a there there in our joy. It naturally informs our priorities and focus, for the better.
Keep your Friends Close and your Buddhist Teachers closer. Last week I wrote about the unease of a friend judging me. Her intent, (which we can file under “straight talk”) was well intentioned (it usually is). While I listened, I felt the sensation of something deflating around me, softly landing around my ankles, like a popped balloon. I noticed how small I felt afterwards, especially about money.
Our job with other people’s judgements is not to buy into them, or overcome them. With the support of my communities, I explored my specific experience of being judged (through movement and play) with people who witnessed me with compassion and light. Over the course of a single day, I was able to receive the gifts of my friend’s straight talk without taking on her judgements.
So important, right? It is too easy to slip into how society sees us.
One witness explained the friend on my path represented an inner judgment I had of myself. The proverbial Buddist teacher. This one happened to be holding a little pin in her hand to burst my bubble with. This is where the gold was. I asked (from a lovely heart place): What did I honestly think and feel about each of the judgements? What was true for me?
From this place of compassionate neutrality, many gifts poured forth. Seeing that peeps living the security game playing by society’s rules need more of a bridge to my work is useful. Feeling into the unrealistic nature of the pressure I placed on myself…also useful. But expeirencing how I can show up in my light in a way that sustains my energy is illuminating. My energyies are alive again.
Follow the Energy. Do you see? All roads lead back to the truth of who we are. This is why they say:
There is No Way you can make a mistake in your life. How can you make a mistake finding and being who you truly are?
For those following along, this letter is about living life from the inside out. I wasn’t unmotivated in approaching my goals and desires. My inner energy (Self, Life-force, Being, etc.) wanted me to engage differently to my desired work, in a way that gives me energy rather than depletes it. Underneath the nothingness was an unwillingness to undertake my to-do list from the older pressure. The energetic mismatch between my brain and body was a clue: my inner Being was asking me to evolve. That’s why I couldn’t complete my tasks.
Now, the energies in my heart, body and mind are aligned and flow is pouring through. Its fascinating how much we can trust our whole experience.
Put Your Records On. Just as summer fades, I am finally getting into its invitation. Summer is for dreaming. I sense that taking concrete action to connect with my bliss-state in my heart carries some forward momentum. We send a signal, at the frequency of bliss out there. I strongly suspect that when we do, we call this in. Unlike “figuring it out,” being in our bliss is a more ready way to circumvent time, distance, and all the lack of resources we perceive stand in the way of our dreams. Alot of these perceptions subconsciously drive our to-do lists. Taking time to fill up our heart-tank with Bliss is like pressing the gas-pedal on your life.
So, Girl put your records on. Put on your favorite song. Go ahead and let your hair down.
Some nights kept me awake
I thought that I was stronger
When you gonna realize that you don't even have to try any longer?
Do what you want to.
Corrine Rae Bailey song, Put Your Records On.
Part 2 continues with the theme of following our life-force and bliss-state. The next podcast activates our true abundance.
Stay #heartwoke. To your exquisite unfolding,
Monisha
NOTES:
Tuesday Dance Chapel Zoom link (same each week):
NEW Dance Chapel Link: 825 748 1773 or Click here (has password)
Passcode: wedanceI’ll take time this weekend to turn on the “paid” capability on this site. You can still choose to follow for free.