Sequestration of waiting and preparation

December 3, 2023

“We engage in Advent not to turn away from all our worries, burdens and fear, but to turn toward an integrated wholeness that we so desperately need.”

—Reverend Brent Damrow

Perhaps we are especially in need of Advent this year—the time in the Christian calendar when we await the birth of God’s unnaturally merciful love for us.

Don’t worry I’m a Buddhist, Christian Jewish-loving mystic at heart. My sense of God is so much bigger than a great white man on a cloud throne. The huge overwhelming love of God and the universe is something we can only experience through feeling, not thinking. In this way the felt sense of the great mystery is (at least to me) archetypically feminine.

In any event, it seems we are amidst so many minefields these days if we talk about politics or public health or current events. Feelings are so raw and unfortunately fear is in the air so that people take offense at almost anything.

Even with the best of intentions, I fear people misinterpret each other because of the vulnerability of the moment. I don’t relish the experience of walking on eggshells every time I have a conversation. It’s all a little too much. Enter the nervous system reset.

I didn’t know how much I was in need of a 10-day work from home sequestration until I tested positive for Covid (for the first time) on Thursday, and believe it or not, even Covid is proving to have some gifts.

While the first few days were pretty difficult, like a bad flu, now I’m starting to relish in this awesome retreat I hadn’t planned on. The feverish pitch of the post Covid summer and multiple fall projects was bound to reset or topple at some point.

So I’m going to milk this recovery time for all it’s worth, to go within and seek the truth. I am inviting the spirit of Advent to help me feel that wholeness every morning and every evening, consciously cultivating a few minutes to create space for something new.

Something beautiful. Something untamed and loving and alive. The dare is to actually consider abandoning oneself into this kind of all-consuming loving presence.

That’s my thought from recovery central. May you be well.

❤️