To get into your body,
Take a deep breath.
Arrive here,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
A friend of mine recently told me about a Latin phrase that I'm about to butcher,
A gere contra.
It's an Ignatian principle that means act against.
Now it doesn't take long for us to remember all the ways that we as humans have done this to one another,
Acted against.
So it seems counterintuitive for Ignatius to urge us to do this.
Being against feels like the opposite of love,
Connection,
Care.
But I bet if we think a little harder,
We can probably come up with the answer.
Ignatius warns us to do this because we often act in ways that do not serve ourselves or others.
We judge,
We berate,
We hurt,
We neglect.
We make the easy choice,
Not the right one.
We put off until another day that which will move us toward more life.
We give in to the pulls that bring only the briefest moments of satisfaction.
But we all know it doesn't take long,
And once again,
There we are feeling that sense of heaviness,
Stickiness,
Emptiness.
Inhale,
Exhale.
To act against those easy impulses,
Those habits,
Takes courage.
We have to own up to who and how we are,
Not in our public face,
But in our private heart.
To act against those impulses and habits takes commitment.
We have to practice again and again,
Making this choice than this one.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Why do we want to act against?
Now let's ask a different question.
What is the cost if we do not stop acting in these ways that move us away from our best selves?
When we act against,
We are asking what can we do to keep our life and energy whole,
Contained,
Life giving?
Inhale,
Exhale.
Chances are you know where you need to practice acting against.
I do.
Inhale,
Exhale.
But here are some ideas in case you're coming up dry.
If you always feel the need to do,
Inhale,
Exhale,
And be in this now,
And then this one.
If you feel unmotivated,
Like your spirit is stuck in tar,
Inhale,
Exhale,
Choose one thing,
One thing you can do to pull yourself just this little bit up and out into the fresh,
Clear air.
If you judge everything,
Yourself,
Others,
The situation,
Inhale,
Exhale.
Can you see everything around and within you with kindness,
Compassion,
And a sense of being open wide?
If you try to control everything,
When hardly anything can be controlled,
Can you put on your valley girl surfer voice and say,
Dude,
Let's catch some waves and surf riding this out.
Wouldn't that be totally tubular?
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Your tender insides might despair,
But there are so many things wrong with me.
Exhale,
You are enough.
You are worthy,
But consider taking one,
Just one thing,
One of the ways of being that binds you and pulls you down.
What is one thing you can do to act against that?
Not to punish yourself,
But to live in a way that brings you more life and light.
After you've settled on one thing,
Commit to it,
Practice it,
See what gifts it brings because by acting against one thing,
It means you are turning toward something different in this present and who knows what surprises await you when you do so.
Inhale exhale.
Namaste.
