SingingStones Sangha: Community of Mindful Living

 From the Sangha November 10

Listening with my heart to those close to me, to my own body, to social media and network television, I am hearing and feeling a common theme; deep exhaustion. This theme is coming with varying degrees of labels : isolation fatigue, burnout, traumatic stress and apathy. Alongside there is the expression of a host of feelings and emotions, ranging from numbness and a lack of feelings to rage and a despairing depression where one feels no motivation at all.

Regardless of how the crisis of these moments are being experienced by you, they all are a manifestation of a deep response of our being. The term I feel is the most descriptive is fatigue of the soul, not just individually but on a universal collective level. The world soul is hurting and exhausted with grief and hurt.

"We need a break", one said to me. Yes we need a respite from the hurts, from the grief, from the loss, from the dark energies surrounding us. However, most of us push obsessively on, and as one person described it, feeling guilty that we feel so tired and exhausted. Her label was fatigue guilt.

Acknowledging that as the human family we are deeply interconnected, we take refuge in the teachings of the ancients, the teachers and the mystics of many traditions who have came before. those who in prior times of crisis have shown the way. Our beloved teacher Thay drew upon these ancient teaching and spiritual practices as did the mystics of many other spiritual traditions. "Come away and rest awhile" they said. Come away and acknowledge the messages our bodies are sending us. Accept our bodies and our emotions as a very human response, claiming the moments and the space for rest, for sleep, for healing, trusting we can heal and be renewed. Claim rest as a Spiritual Practice.

Thay has been so clear in his teachings and practice that rest is a sacred practice that renews the body and transforms the mind. So let us claim the time and space to 'come away and rest awhile'. There we will find the healing for our exhausted souls.

I invite you to ponder deeply from your heart.

Namaste

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