Read more about the article My Heart Breaks, I Pray for All

My Heart Breaks, I Pray for All

What is going on in the world affects us all on many different levels, both seen and unseen. For me, what's currently happening also feels a touch personal, closer to home in some small way. I made the mistake of going on social media today, barely a moment in and I realised this was not the place to be, not for me, not right now. Especially during a retreat, the very thing I advise people against during a retreat! So here I am instead, on beyondimogen.com - my little nook of the internet. I'm not sure if this post will ever make it elsewhere. -- I am horrified by what is going on in the world on all fronts. The divisiveness, the hate, the lines we have drawn in the sand, too many to count. It all feels impossible. How can we make our way through all of this? What is to be done? Today is the anniversary of my grandmothers death. She walks with me closely still to this day. In someways closer than ever... but that's a story for another day. My grandmother's family were Ukrainian Jews, my grandfather's, Russian Jews. The current war between the two was…

Continue ReadingMy Heart Breaks, I Pray for All
Read more about the article An Open Heart, A Kinder World

An Open Heart, A Kinder World

The deep heartbreak of what is and what has been happening in the world of late brings with it an opportunity to light a fire in the heart in service of lasting change. The willingness to be that change for a better, kinder world starts within us all, with an open, tender and loving heart.   I pray with every breath for peace in the world. Peace on all levels and for all beings. I pray for every individual to sink so fully into their hearts and with that to treat all in this world, inclusive of themselves, with the care and love that is so desperately needed.   We must not only cease the many conflicts in this world, but the conflicts many often face silently every day with the inner most tender, hidden and neglected parts of ourselves. This inner fight all too often spills out into the world in unforeseen ways, and vice versa.   It is not only our omnipresent, transcendent divinity but also our ephemeral, embodied humanity that unifies us. In finding our commonality we can truly celebrate our diversity and our differences, no longer seeing them as a threat of any kind. May all…

Continue ReadingAn Open Heart, A Kinder World
Read more about the article Change Begins Within

Change Begins Within

I don't know about you, but I feel it's a very intense time right now calling for us, both individually and collectively to take a look at that which is in the shadows and bring it into the light so that it may be seen. We're being asked to stretch and change and grow, and that can get intense and uncomfortable. We're being asked to let go of the old and step into the new. Change is a beautiful opportunity, one that hopefully we're able to welcome and celebrate, even with the presence of discomfort and unknowingness. But change always begins within ourselves. Trying to enact change on a wider collective level from its own level can only ever provide a temporary bandage. Because then it becomes an imposition or a rule from the outside, rather than an emanation or reflection of the heart in how a person truly, naturally and spontaneously interacts and acts in and with life. It's not to say we should give up trying to make change and transformation happen in the collective, whether that be in our closer relationships, in our communities, in our societies, or on a global scale; but it's to say that…

Continue ReadingChange Begins Within
Read more about the article The Intensity of Change

The Intensity of Change

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel grateful for who and what life brings my way - like this view yesterday... just up the road from me, not far from where I was born. I’ve had a rough week of strong stuff coming up and that’s okay, I truly welcome it all. There's a lot of change and a lot of growth happening, both for me personally and collectively too. Growth and change can be intense and uncomfortable to integrate and hold space for, to let go of the old and welcome in the new. It requires everything of you, and requires you to suspend all sense of knowingness and certainty. No matter how many times I go through this, it doesn't get easier, or should I say the process doesn't get more comfortable. Yes I may have less resistance and more acceptance, compassion and understanding for the process - so on a deeper level it does make it easier. But it requires patience as it inevitably gets messy and sometimes downright ugly. There are so many people who are having such a difficult time of it right now and yes there will always be those…

Continue ReadingThe Intensity of Change