Is the Proverbial Cup Half Full or Half Empty?

October 09, 2019 1 Comment

It was not at all hard to connect to Borage this moon cycle.

My little Borage patch in the garden has been flourishing with the unseasonal mild weather that we have been experiencing here in Maine. And my social media feed—well, let’s just say I have been continually bombarded with messages of hope, of optimism, and of general empowerment so that I know for sure Boarge is speaking to me. 

Borage flowers point down, towards the Earth, gently illuminating our way so that we can each find our own unique paths to inner balance from which to navigate the darkness that is thrown at us daily—from within and without—baby steps the whole way. 

On the outside we are bombarded continually with news of tragedy after tragedy and desperate situation after desperate situation. The cup is definitely half empty.

On the inside we succumb frequently to inner doubts and fears where we tell ourselves we must work harder, do more, or worse decide we are unworthy and do not deserve to live a life of joy and meaning—you know, our deepest desires and hopes are nothing but pipe dreams. The cup here is most definitely half empty. 

With so much suffering, inside and out, it is hard to imagine the world as a beautiful place, especially when we reside in the realm of our thinking rational mind.  

And this is where I have found myself this moon cycle. Mentally aware of the extent of the challenges facing me, facing us all, in our desire to heal the Earth and live joyful lives, but also knowing that following my heart, is the single most powerful thing I can do to help. 

I know clearly that if we spend all day enmeshed in the belief that the world is a scary place, if we reside in the darkness where the world has gone to hell, if we let go of hope, then that will be our experience. And we are only adding fuel to the fire.

It’s tricky, I know, but I think it’s time for each one of us to find a place where we move from unconsciously engaging in the suffering, to consciously creating a new reality by envisioning, thinking, communicating and choosing to actively create that which we want to experience. 

We have to change our thinking about ourselves and the state of the world so that we can create a new state. 

The act of being creative then is deeply feminine energy. To sow and nurture seeds and patiently allow them to grow from their resting place in the darkness—this is the part that is missing from our world. Our world aligns dark with scary/bad and decries it should be avoided at all costs. We even have the deep seated belief that this is actually possible. 

So what to do? Well, I think it means we don’t DO anything. We can’t apply some band-aid, locate some external miracle cure or approach transforming the darkness with the cause and effect model of change. In other words, we can’t fix the problem by using the same tools that gave rise to the problem in the first place. 

Instead Borage is offering the wisdom that we transform the darkness from pain/fear to nourishing/fertilizing soil for personal growth by allowing ourselves to FEEL it. To no longer numb ourselves to the pain of our lives or the suffering of our world, but to allow it to move through us in order to be healed. It is not possible to heal something if we avoid it.

This means observing what is happening around us and within us but not allowing ourselves to be duped into believing that that reality is all that exists. 

This means gently and tenderly exploring every day what it means to be a compassionate, non-judgemental witness, of ourselves and others.

This means spending a good deal of time connecting with your heart and envisioning your deepest desires, your hopes and dreams and feeling them move through your body. Everything that has ever been created was first a dream and if we are stuck in a mental nightmare that is certainly what we will experience and create. 

I’ve wrestled with accusations of spiritual bypassing and avoidance. That my thoughts are pie in the sky imaginings and I should actively get on the fix-it train. I’ve found that there is some belief that optimism, that hope, excludes pain. But Borage assures me that is not the case. 

Optimism, in fact, includes the pain, feels it acutely and yet feels hope anyway. 

Personally, I refuse to let the direness, hopelessness, unfairness of any situation bring me to a place where I cannot create any joy in my life or the life of others. Being constantly upset, indignant and angry, a victim, doesn’t make the reality change. Shame and blame doesn’t make the reality change either. I know. I’ve lived from that perspective.

I know in my heart that I am not bypassing, ignoring or avoiding at all. I know I am witnessing, acknowledging, and feeling it all, but choosing to do so from a place of balance and deep knowing that we are human and we move through both the dark and light. We cycle round and round, like the moon moves through her phases, in and out, of light and dark. 

The cup is neither empty nor full. It is both. 

We are just beginning to understand our creative potential. And we need to cycle through the dark AND the light in order to create. We can no sooner thrive on a planet that is in perpetual summer than a planet that is in a perpetual winter.

If we want to create a different world we’re going to have to go into the dark and dream into being the world that we wish to create.

Of course this is not easy work. Reprogramming ourselves. Or rather, returning to the truth of who we are. But avoidance and bypassing is not easy either. 

The easy route in my mind is when we allow ourselves to be duped, disempowered and manipulated into believing that pain and suffering is our own reality and our only choice. Since from that place we cannot possibly create anything different.

It is time to remember that we are sovereign beings with the power to choose how we respond to our experiences. 

And so every day, I am going to make time to tend to the garden of my soul. I am going to trust that my needs are being met, even when it doesn’t feel like it. I am going to state out loud, often, that I AM ENOUGH and I am going to share my love and kindness as far and wide as I possibly can. 

And when I’m having a bad day, dealing with pain or seemingly overwhelming challenges and unable to find any joy, I am going to go out in Nature and wonder at the vastness and mystery of life itself and the incredible Earth we call home. 

And this is where Borage meets me. 

There certainly IS a big problem facing us but Borage says, “We have to feel ALL OF IT. All the feelings. All the doubts. All the fears. And from within that place of hopelessness, when we are ready, we can let go of trying to force our will on the world around us. We can let go of trying to fix and control and save and can instead surrender to Divine will and the flow of life. And in that sweet surrender, that is where Divine Grace steps in.”

And that place is where Borage resides, and with total and unconditional love plants a teeny tiny seed of light, of hope, in our hearts and reminds us that all we need do is to nurture that seed by trusting our compassionate, loving hearts to lead us through the darkness.

I hope you will join me.

Dig deeper with Borage (OPTIMISM) here.

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