Good morning and happy Sunday,
August 2nd,
2020.
The days are getting definitely shorter here in Calgary.
The sun is going down a little earlier and rising a little lighter.
Since 6 o'clock it's been just slightly dark.
Now as I look out my window,
And it has been for the last 10 minutes or so,
The sun is really beaming beautifully on the leaves of the trees.
The birds are much louder than they were about 45 minutes ago.
The world here in Calgary is coming alive.
It's been a rather heavy week for me.
I feel a real heaviness and a real sense of fear surrounding me.
My mantra really has been to be in the world and not of it.
Trying to surround myself with books that remind me of how I do that.
Having conversations and time with friends that remind me of that.
Being out in nature,
Getting fresh air,
Feeling the dirt,
Feeling the wind,
Smelling the water,
Smelling the fresh air.
As one of my most favorite and inspirational doctors,
Dr.
Zach Bush would say,
Breathing in my biome,
Filling my gut with healthy nutrients from the earth,
Which also then feeds my mind.
So the gut and mind,
That's such a healthy connection,
Right?
What we feed our body into our belly really is feeding our brain.
Not only through what we eat,
But also what we breathe,
What we feel,
What we eat.
All of those wonderful things feed our gut and feed our brain.
So maybe pause throughout your day.
Ask yourself,
What are you feeding to your gut which feeds your brain,
Which feeds either anxiety and fear or deep,
Deep love and compassion.
And so in sharing time with friends,
A really wise and incredible woman that I respect and am gifted to call friend recommended this book to me called Self-Observation by Red Hawk.
And I've just started it and already in the first couple of pages there's some really amazing wisdom and is always exactly what I need in moments when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed or a bit of that sense of,
I don't know,
Confusion around me.
And so I'll share some of what Red Hawk shares in this book.
We are herd animals.
This is a very powerful force in the body,
Almost impossible to ignore.
It causes me to lose the thread of who I am,
Which is consciousness,
And identify myself as the body.
So powerful is the need to identify with and be included as part of the herd.
Herd animals do not think for themselves.
The herd thinks for them and acts for them.
Whatever distraction,
Or sorry,
Whatever direction the herd goes in,
We go.
Even if we are led over a cliff,
We will follow to our death rather than go against the herd and think for ourselves.
To think for myself,
To know myself,
Risks being expelled from the herd.
A death sentence for a mammal.
Security is the herd.
It requires conscious effort and intent.
It requires courage and will of attention.
As far as I can tell,
Humans are the only mammals who have the capability of observing themselves.
Therefore,
Nothing here should be taken on faith.
Everything here should be,
Must be verified by your own personal experience.
Safety lies in no longer taking the words of others for anything.
Too long we have followed blindly like sheep,
Like herd animals following the leader,
Even when the leader leads the herd over a cliff or into war.
Everything must be verified by personal experience.
Otherwise,
It is merely another form of slavery.
One more chain to bind me in my unconscious and mechanical slavery.
Verify,
Verify,
Verify everything for yourself.
Free yourself of the habits of a lifetime,
Of blind following,
Of not thinking for yourself.
There is no better or safer path to freedom.
Isn't that beautiful?
This kind of speaks to last week a little bit about responsibility.
It's our responsibility to verify,
Verify,
And verify for ourselves.
So as always,
I have ideally a story that is something you can take into your life and I might remind you of this principle just a little more simply than just the words or the principle itself.
Once upon a time,
There was a large mountainside where an eagle's nest rested.
The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs.
One day,
An earthquake rocked the mountain,
Causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain to a chicken farm located in the valley below.
The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg,
So an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.
One day,
The egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born.
Sadly,
However,
The eagle was raised to be a chicken,
And soon the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken.
The eagle loved his home and his family,
But his spirit cried out for more.
While playing a game on the farm one day,
The eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies.
Oh,
The eagle cried,
I wish I could soar like those birds.
The chickens roared with laughter.
You cannot soar with those birds.
You are a chicken and chickens do not soar.
The eagle continued staring at his real family up above,
Dreaming that he could be with them.
Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known,
He was told it couldn't be done.
That is what the eagle learned to believe.
The eagle,
After time,
Stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken.
Finally,
After a long life as a chicken,
The eagle passed away.
You become what you believe you are.
If you believe you are an eagle,
You will soar high.
Believe in yourself and not the words of the chickens around you.
Close your eyes if you haven't already.
Take a deep breath deep down into your belly and feel your belly rise.
Moving that same inhale,
Follow it in your mind up into your chest.
Try to grow your chest as wide out to your arms as possible.
Pause for a moment,
Know that you're okay,
And try to let the exhale release just from your nose really slowly.
This time,
Place a hand lightly on your belly and one into your chest,
To your heart.
Breathe deep down into your belly and feel the hand on your belly rise.
Then move your breath up into your chest towards the hand that's on your heart.
Breathe a little more fully.
Then slow,
Slowly exhale through your nose.
Doing that once more.
Breathing belly,
Chest,
Hold,
And slow exhale.
Believe and know that you are an eagle.
Verify it for yourself.
Know that education is power.
It is more than anything to educate yourself.
That despite what everyone says and what everyone is doing,
You are more powerful than you will ever know,
But not any more powerful than those.
.
.
Actually,
That's incorrect.
You are more powerful than you know and more powerful often than those around you might believe.
Happy Sunday.
