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…

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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…

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Read more about the article Current Times: Practical Advice

Current Times: Practical Advice

Boy oh boy it's been an intense year so far! I've noticed a massively heightened presence of energy in myself and had others report the same since around the end of January, before the covid-19 situation really took hold in much of the world. But I had no idea what was coming and it's become the new norm, the energetic intensity and the ground shifting beneath the feet, only time will tell where or if it will settle. Overall I feel there's also a beautiful opportunity right now to face the things that are being forced to the surface of experience, many of which were always already lurking in the shadows, with compassion and kindness - both on an individual level and a collective or global level. I've actually been blown away by the kindness and love I'm seeing on both small and large scales, it's incredibly heart opening and beautiful to see that our nature of love shines through in times like these. The ground is shifting quickly beneath our feet and that mirrors the process of awakening in a way. It's the dissolution of the certainty and assumptions of stability that were being falsely held on to, falsey…

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