From Chez Pinata,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is daily magic for peace.
Today we will cultivate balance in the role of the witness.
Welcome to the circle.
So today I would love for you to grab your news source.
It might be a newspaper,
It might be an app on your phone,
It might be a radio,
It may be a picture of your aunt from London who calls you to tell you what's going on in the world,
Whatever your news source is.
This is an invitation to slow down,
To join us in circle,
To connect with not only the sound of my voice,
But the presence in magical space and time of everybody who's listening to this episode along with you.
You are part of the circle and you are welcome here,
Whether this is your very first circle or whether you've been here since the beginning.
If you've been around for a while,
You know one of the first things we do,
The very first thing we do,
Is connect with our nervous system and do a quick little exercise to calm ourselves just a little bit,
To bring a little more regulation to our system.
And to do that today we're just going to do some really deep and full breathing.
And I invite you to listen to your body and do this only as much as feels comfortable to you.
We're going to breathe fully out and then fully in,
And I mean fully.
This is kind of an experiment because I think we tend to breathe pretty shallowly most of the time.
So if this sounds good to you,
I invite you to breathe out and now really breathe out,
Really everything,
Everything,
Everything out.
And when you're completely empty,
Go ahead and let that air come in,
Just flow into your system.
See if you can breathe into your side body and your back body and down into your belly.
Fill every space up with air.
And when you're full,
Reverse the process,
Breathing back out,
Out,
Out,
Out,
Out,
Out,
Emptying,
Emptying.
And then when you're totally empty,
Breathe back in,
Let the air just come in,
Filling again,
Your belly,
Your sides,
Your back,
Really making use of all that space you have in your lungs.
Filling,
Filling,
Filling up.
And when you're totally full,
Breathing back out,
All the way out.
This will be our last one.
Breathing all the way out,
All the way out,
All the way out.
Maybe breathing out anything you don't want in your space,
Any old thoughts,
Any old anything,
But breathe it out.
And now just let your breath come back to normal.
Notice how you feel.
If you feel dizzy at all,
Hold on to something or don't get up right away.
Just notice how you feel.
And notice if you can feel your connection to the earth.
What is your grounding like in this moment?
Can you feel down beneath you?
Can you find the energy of the earth beneath you?
What does it feel like to connect to that earth energy?
Effortlessly connect down.
Find your place on the planet.
Claim your space on the planet.
And now noticing the bubble space around you,
That space that is around you two or three feet in every direction,
Kind of a bubble,
Kind of a sphere,
Maybe an oval,
Maybe an egg shape.
Noticing that space that is yours,
Your bubble space.
What are the boundaries like?
What is the quality like within this space right around you?
Is there anything you'd like to let go of or cultivate?
Is there a color you'd like to bring in?
Is there an energy or a hope or a vibration you'd like to bring in?
Is there any sort of anything you'd like to do with a boundary?
Would you like to put up any protection or anything that designates this as just your space?
So the idea today is finding a balance in this role of the witness,
Which means that since most of us are coming to the circle in an advocate role,
We're not on the front lines,
We're not in Ukraine,
We're coming in an advocate role,
Our connection to what is happening in Ukraine comes to us through our new source.
And we get to decide how we are going to interact with that,
How consciously we're going to interact with that,
How unconsciously we're going to let ourselves interact with that.
We get to decide.
And this conflict has been going on for several months.
And there are plenty of opportunities every day to check in to find out what is going on,
Because of the amazing news and media professionals who are working all around the world to make sure we know what's going on.
But that doesn't mean we have to listen to all the news 24 seven.
So today's focus is finding your balance.
And I have to say from my perspective,
My balance changes.
And your balance might change day to day,
How much news you want to take in,
How you want to sit with the news that you've absorbed.
Today is really an opportunity to find this place of balance.
And from this place of balance,
Notice,
Is the news you've been consuming?
Has it been a little too much?
Has it been good?
Have you noticed that maybe seeing the images is hard,
But hearing a podcast is easier for you to take in the information.
And I want to say that for myself as a witness to this conflict,
There is a range of hard feelings I have about the privilege that I have of being able to choose how much news do I want to listen to,
Because other people don't have a choice.
It is their daily life.
They cannot choose.
I am in a relatively privileged position of getting to choose.
But I also need to choose and I need to make wise decisions about the kind of information I'm taking in about all things in the world,
Not just the conflict in Ukraine,
Because I want to show up as best I can.
I want to be the best advocate possible.
And that means taking care of myself.
Put the oxygen mask on yourself before putting one on your child on the plane.
We have to take care of ourselves first.
So today is an invitation for you to notice from this place of balance,
What's working for you,
What's not working for you in terms of consuming media.
So my questions for you today are,
What are your goals?
And how much media consumption and what kind of media consumption helps you?
Thank you for being with us.
Thank you for showing up in all the ways that you are for the people you love and the things you care about on the planet.
I wish you balance and calm and ease.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy and your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today,
Breathe and expand and join us again next time.
And please consider inviting a friend.
That's it for Daily Magic for Peace.
Our music is by Terry Hughes.
I'm Colleen Thomas.
Thanks for listening.
