If you are living around the Twin Cities you have probably noticed that it has been really, really gray lately. The murky weather feels like a reflection of our collective befuddlement to our changing political climate.
I aspire for clarity and love bright sunshine. So I’m stretching to embrace the gift of gray. And I’ll say this: it is neither black nor white. While there is so much heat and polarization, maybe some damp gray could do us some good.
It’s time to regroup and remember our source and interconnection. We need to return to what Rabbi Martin Buber called an “I Thou†relationship of dialogue and exchange rather than the “I It†relationship of objectification and extraction.
These are beautiful ideas, but these are tricky times for breaking out of an inner polarization funk. So I invented a little game for myself which I’ll share with you.
This is a game about returning to the flow of love. Mirrors are a great metaphor for exploring the flow of relationship. Mirrors can also be a toy for spiritual play! I’m inspired by how Father Richard Rohr suggests using mirror medallions for meditation so I started playing with mirrors myself.
“Hey, Good Looking!â€
Take a moment to give and receive the gaze of love with yourself. The simplest way to do this is to pause in the bathroom in the morning and really look at yourself with love. Receive your loving gaze coming back to you. I think most of us look in the mirror to check on ourselves – like an object to maintain. For this reason mirrors can be loaded and painful.
Whatever your relationship to mirrors, let yourself be willing to be surprised by how softening and wonderful it is to receive your loving reflection. This is an opening to an “I Thou†relationship to oneself.
Mirrored Gaze in Nature
Inspired by the visually stunning Tarot Enchantments from Shauna of the Star, I took my mirror outside. Here I am receiving my gaze as it emerges out of my early winter garden. The context of the mirror changes my experience. It’s as though my face is connected to an earth body.
Can I recognize and receive the gaze of love in other forms? I experimented with this by focusing the mirror on a flower. I took a deep breath because I was feeling slightly self-conscious and silly as I played with the idea that the flower is looking at me. Yet the experience is surprisingly softening and connective.
The mirror helped me focus on this kale leaf in a new way. I do love my kale! But through the attentive listening of this exercise I received kale as a divine mirror of love in a new way. This love pulls me towards union and lucky for me I can literally consume and become one with this kale!
Keep returning to the gaze of love – even if it is just a quick glance
Gazing with love into a mirror takes just a minute. It’s way more refreshing than checking Facebook! My game with mirrors in my garden took 10 minutes and I was invigorated by the feeling of seeing anew.
Relationship and exchange dissolve the rigidity of polarization. It’s so important that we find ways to consciously return to the flow of love. Nothing beats the full-body spiritual knowing that comes through practice, experience, and playing.
Perhaps the grayness of the weather is helping us recognize that our mirrors are foggy. Its time to see through our illusions of objectification and clearly receive and reflect the flow of love. From this flow state, many wonderful things are possible.
With love,
emily
Tune in with the bigger flow of life at Winter Solstice
Journey through the turning of the year with a Winter Solstice and New Year’s Day Celebration.
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