The Real Pandemic: Phones and Fear
The accumulation of the way we experience our moments tips the scale to the happy or the unhappy of our lives. If we are to live a happy life then we must accumulate more moments in the joyous pile than in the depressed, angry, and fearful pile. Our devotion to happy or depressed, joy or misery, love or hate, will determine whether we live in a dreamy dream or in a dilapidated dungeon. The daily practice of this devotion is called Sadhana.
The what and the how get to be determined by you, for you, and in service of you. The rule book is yours to write, break, and re-write in accordance to your own evolution. Whether you practice in a church or a graveyard is up to you, whether you face northwest or southeast is up to you, whether you get down on your knees or stand on your head is up to you, whether you speak in song, Sanskrit, or rap is up to you. The details of your devotion are yours to dream up, dial in, and deal out in a way that feels authentic to you. Rules and regulations have been rained down on us since our first breath. And like a flood have been washed over our brains to bullshit us into feeling feelings such as guilt and shame so someone else can pad themselves with perverted power. We are told what to pray and how to pray it, what book to read and what the words on the pages mean. We are told when to stand up and when to sit down, what to wear, who to worship, and what to pledge or not pledge. We are told what is wrong and what is right, what music to sing, how many versus to sing, and in what pitch we should sing them.
Our well-being is absolutely not being prioritized by the public, and while this may feel disheartening, how could we fool ourselves into believing that this is even a possibility when we have not prioritized our own selves and our own lives? If we have failed to deem our own life experience as our own responsibility, as our own exquisite work of art, why would anyone else deem it theirs? What makes us think that we can be of service to others when we have no idea how to serve ourselves, nor will we ever if we continue to allow guilt to be the guiding needle on our compass.
Obligation and obedience have been ordained from the people who have the most influence over our actions: our families, our religious and political leaders, our teachers, and our media. What if we decided to own our own obligations. We owe it our own self to determine what to make important and then make it important. What if we decided that it’s more important to connect and converse than to agree, or that it’s more important to sing than to scroll, more important to watch the sky instead of the news, more important to put our feet in the earth than in shoes, more important to breathe than to bitch, and more important to have a relationship with fun rather than with phones.
If we own our own obligation to ourself and our life than we must care for it daily. Our house doesn’t clean itself, nor does our mind. It’s just as easy for our love to get buried underneath society’s junk pile of fear as it is for our keys to get buried underneath our junk pile of mail. Let us be in service to our own spirit and serve her with gifts of grace and gratitude in ceremonies and celebrations designed, directed, and most importantly, attended, on the the daily, under our own obligation in devotion to this day and the recognition of the novelty that it is absolutely one of a kind.
May this moment, this day, and this life be lived in peace, love, and joy. May we fiercely commit ourselves to our own experience and choose to dedicate ourselves and our time to this commitment daily. May we all remember to make important, what’s important.
It is very important to me that you have taken the time to read this and consider my thoughts.
So much love and joy to you dear one,
Andrea Dawn
