Loving Kindness for a Hurting World
See Below for a Free offering next week: The Loving Kindness Circle for a Hurting World.
My heart has been hurting so deeply. I have heard my inner critic say so many times, “You are too sensitive for this world”. Sometimes it feels like all the pain and suffering of this world will take me under. The insanity happening in Gaza, people I love in the throes of addiction, the dualistic nature of our world, and how mean and hateful people are to each other online. I found a baby robin on its deathbed and its three siblings already dead next to their nest that had fallen out of a tree. I cried so hard it was hard to breathe. Sometimes it all feels like too much and my heart feels like it is breaking in my chest. Other times I move into such a state of freeze and numbness because my nervous system feels absolutely flooded by all the feelings.
There are times I want to hide away in the woods with my loved ones, animals, and trees and not deal with the craziness of this world. But the truth is I also really love this world. I believe I chose to be here at this time and I want to leave this place a more peaceful, loving place.. So I will try and make my little corner of the world as loving and beautiful as I possibly can. I do this by how we steward the home and land we own and the animals we get to care for. How we spend the money that we steward. I see so much beauty in growing food, in planting native plants that help with pollination, and in supporting local farmers. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that one of the house finches we feed has laid eggs in our porch fern and every day i get to watch and see if one of the blue eggs has hatched. How Eric is always sending thank you notes to people and now he has started drawing them. I'm in love with his cards, they are so thoughtful and intentional.
I see beauty and joy in taking our niece to Comicon yesterday for her birthday how her eyes lit up with so much joy when her costume was recognized and the pride she felt telling me who the characters were that we saw. Eric picked out our costumes, can you tell who grew up on WWE?
I see beauty in trying to save a baby Robin's life because that life matters too. We are dog-sitting for a dear friend this summer and this dog's loyalty and love have brought me so much joy when the pain of this world overwhelms me.
I see beauty in the way Eric spends so much time with our elderly neighbor, listening to his stories for hours at a time, always cutting his grass and helping him out without ever being asked. The way he loves me when I am in the lowest of emotional states and want to hide away. The way he leans in more. I love that he can make me laugh until I am in tears like he did last night making up silly songs or how he dances just to make me laugh.
I see beauty and divinity in the clients I have, the utter privilege of getting to sit across from them each week and hold space for their grief and pain. Because here is the thing, as “inconvenient” as my big feelings and emotions can feel at times, I also know it is my superpower and it is yours too! The level of grief I have allowed myself to feel in my own body is the level of grief I can hold for others without trying to “fix them”. There is so much to be heartbroken over and there is also so much beauty and pleasure to be experienced.
When I am feeling the weight of the world I have to give myself space to also experience pleasure and joy because you can not have one without the other. I need to allow myself levity from the hurt on our planet. You get to take care of yourself and your mental health in whatever way best serves you.
That is why I am so excited to share with you that on June 10th at 7:30 pm central. I am co-hosting a free event called the Loving Kindness Circle for a Hurting World. This gathering will be co-hosted by myself, Hailey Mitsui and Lindsay Branham. Hailey is a spiritual director and somatic practitioner, and Lindsay is an environmental psychologist and an eco-doula.
You are invited to a peace gathering to practice metta, a Buddhist concept of loving-kindness. Loving-kindness can liberate our hearts from division and generate loving and beautiful action in the world.
In light of online spaces that feel hostile and disorienting, we want to create a brave, loving space where we can express our grief, practice love for all beings, and be together in community.
I’d love to hear your simple joys and ways you make your corner of the world more loving. Leave a comment below to tell me about it!
Happy pride month my loves!!!!!
Love you so much, Ruthie
Dancing when a good song is on and resisting shyness around it. (A simple joy that getting older has allowed me.) Watching the birdfeeder with my family and learning the names of different species. Making the perfect latte for myself in the morning. Snuggling and reading with my son who rarely sits still. All simple joys.