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…

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To Love It All

The arrogant one The fraudulent and untruthful one The one with complete lack of integrity The narcissistic and the deluded one The selfish and self-centered one The unjust and angry one The petulant and unreasonable one The unkind, uncompassionate and unloving one It is our job to make friends with all these aspects of our self and not just the aspects that are easy to love. It is our job to find love and compassion for those parts that are hardest to accept. To forgive ourselves for rejecting and excluding that which so desperately wants to find its place, its home too. This is the job of work to do. For if not now, then when? If not you, then who? This is where life is calling out in pain and suffering. To love that which is hardest to love, hardest to accept. To stand shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, closer than close with the unloveable, unworthy, unsightly. To meet with space, and love, and compassion those aspects that feel unmeetable. For there is room for all in this vast space of being-ness, this constant changing play and display of life. "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I…

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