What Is Meaningful to You?

I've been reading Gregg Braden's book The Divine Matrix*.  Gregg is a best-selling author and expert in exploring the role of spirituality in technology.

In his book, Gregg tells of hiking in a remote canyon in northwest New Mexico, a place I visited several years ago. This area was inhabited many centuries ago by Native Americans who built a sophisticated community.  Archeologists who examined the area found 4 story buildings, an agricultural and irrigation system, and no evidence of weapons or defensive structures.

As Gregg hiked the conyon, he encountered what he called a Native American wisdom keeper, another solitary hiker. This wisdom keeper shared a story "A long time ago, our world was very different from the way it is today. There were fewer people, and we lived closer to the land. People knew the language of the rain, the crops and the Great Creator. They knew how to speak to the sky and to the Sky People. They were aware that life is sacred and comes from the marriage of Mother Earth & Father Sky. In this time, there was balance and people were happy. "

"Then something happened. People started to forget who they were. In their forgetting, they began to feel separate - separate from the earth, from each other, and even from the One who created them. They were lost and had no direction. In their separation, they believed they had to fight to survive in this world and defend themselves....Soon all their energy was used to protect themselves from the world around them...."

As I read this passage, it occurred to me that in our culture, so much of the focus is on protection. Whether we are talking about relations with other nations, or acquiring significant amounts of wealth, or looking at our health, much of the focus has a defensive nature to it. What would happen, I wonder, if we took health as an example and began to look at it as a natural expectation, one that is natural and sustainable when we maintain balance in our lives?

We know today that our bodies have an amazing capacity to function, even when we don't treat them well. People call themselves fat, or ugly, or worse, and still the heart beats, the lungs expand and contract, the blood flows, day after day.  Your body is perfection. It only needs balance and acceptance and connection.  

The first step in any change is the practice of awareness. See if you can notice the way you treat yourself each day. Do you get adequate rest? Do you give time and attention to connecting with people you care about? Do you nourish yourself with good food?  Do you stimulate your mind with a mental and spiritual practice?  Do you laugh out loud at least once a day? These practices are all expansive in nature and lend themselves to your good health in the context of connection rather than protection.  It is when we connect that our best self comes forward; when we protect, we contract and isolate.

Make a plan. Get a hug or two today.  Listen and seek opportunities for connection and the world will be a more peaceful place.

*excerpt from The Divine Matrix, by Gregg Braden, Hay House Publishers, 2007.