The pool of meditative reflection
I just returned from a five-day silent meditation retreat. This is the season when Nature sends forth a persistent and deeply evocative call to turn inwards to that very vibrant and deeply quiet moving within. Nature conserves energy and allows all the fanfare to fall away There is a natural purification, rejuvenation, and strength that comes from this time of year. There is a natural slow gathering of energy. All of this and more is what I listen to when called to retreat over the New Year.
Turning over the Gregorian calendar from Dec 31 to Jan 1 is always a moment for me to expand and hold paradox. Of course my life like everyone else’s is highly led by the Gregorian calendar and time schedule. And yet, my nature is truly led by Nature’s calendric cycles.
In our culture and many around the world, the turning over to a New Year seems to focus directly opposite to what Nature is calling forth. Turning externally to loud parties, unmindful use of intoxicants that numb the access to the inner world, and incredible phrenetic activity that blasts past any possible chance for the subtle messages being invited forth. Is there any room for Nature’s calling to be noticed and possibly invite more balance?
Nature is about change. Nature IS change. We are Nature. We ARE change. There are no static resolutions in Nature. There is only adaptable resilience. An emerging, rediscovering and inquiring into the Nature of how the only permanence in life is the nature of change, the nature of impermanence.
Now is the season when Nature gathers strength; a rejuvenation of energy and a calling forth of subtle change. This time of slowly waning light is when Nature can gradually and slowly gather resolve. We can also gather energy ourselves and then through mindful direct felt-sense inquiry create an intention. This gathering occurs parallel with the slow waning of light so that the buds of new clear intentions can burst forth at the Spring Equinox. This is when Natures’ cycle calls forth a setting of intents for her New Year.
The Nature of change and flow
May we turn inwards to the natural gathering of change within and build the resilient and rejuvenating strength that nature is supporting for us at this moment in time. Our world needs this underlying current of strength to show up clearly in each and every one of us.