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Leonid Alert

In case you didn’t realize it, the Leonid meteor showers will be taking place this weekend (Saturday and Sunday evening, November 16-17^th, 2019). Had I realized it before this evening, I would’ve written this post last night. As it is, this won’t get automatically sent until 1:00 a.m., which I suppose could still work to provide a heads up for some of you.

When I first began this 1111 Devotion, I didn’t imagine my posts becoming a harbinger of meteor showers, but that’s apparently something that’s evolving out of this practice. I’ve written about the Delta Aquarids, Capricornids, and ‘advertised’ the Perseids. And now the Leonids.

I’m guessing it’s because looking up, increasing our awareness of the cosmos, promoting our realization that we inhabit an incredibly vast universe (and even that – my use of the singular ‘universe’ – feels limited) all feel deeply important to me. It feels important that we earnestly begin expanding our awareness of ‘reality’ (even more accurately, realities) sooner rather than later.

And That’s Just the Physical…

It’s amusing, I guess, that I consider watching the skies for ‘shooting stars’ to somehow be a gateway for us to consider other realities. Why would this be so, when they’re clearly part and parcel of this shared physical reality?

I guess I’m enamored with meteor showers because they have the ability to both confirm the physical fact that chunks of debris (from exploded planets and massive ice chunks and who knows what else) careen through space and burn to a cinder when slamming into our atmosphere – and also remind our spirits that we can experience astonished delight by simply witnessing a hoped-for but totally unpredictable point of light streak through the sky above our heads.

Why I Rant

I was out walking in the dark this evening, weaving my way along the stones and across the logs traversing the springs that bubble up along the path. The trees, having only recently lost their leaves, looked a bit naked in stark relief against the midnight blue of the star strewn sky.

But their nakedness allowed me to look up and actually see the bazillions of stars that are visible in places where light pollution barely exists. My heart cannot help but expand beyond all boundaries when realizing I’m staring into the Milky Way galaxy from my single little spot on Mother Earth.

When I look up and feel that vast sense of expansion, I yearn for everyone to stop what they’re doing and look up. I yearn for everyone to turn off the lights and look up. I yearn for everyone on Earth to stop for a moment and remember there’s so incredibly much more to life than what occupies most of our minds and consumes most of our thoughts.

Indulge the Magic

I’ve written about a couple different meteor events, but this is my first post about the Leonids. So tonight or tomorrow night, around or after midnight, turn off your lights. Go outside if weather permits and, if possible, spread out a blanket and allow yourself the luxury of both connecting your back (literally) to Mother Earth and your spirit to some magic.

(T-741)

Shedding Can Be Tough – Photo: L. Weikel

Shedding and Looking Up

Sometimes we need to let go of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and judgments that we’ve held for longer than we can remember. And we need to let go of them because they’re standing in our way to a greater understanding of who we are and why we’re here.

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of these things because we’ve grown fond of them. They feel like a second skin. They’re comfortable and familiar and they help us define our world – at least, they help us define what even counts as our world. So if we were to let go of them, we might feel lost. Or uncomfortable. Or a little fearful of the unknown.

Photo: L. Weikel

Sometimes, on the other hand, it’s hard to let go of these things because we aren’t even aware that we hold them, carry them around, or allow them to influence our lives every day. We honestly do not realize the fundamental beliefs, judgments, opinions, and attitudes that are the filter through which we experience our lives.

Taking the Time and Doing the Work to Discover What Needs to Go

How can we let something go that we’re not even aware we hold?

By doing the work.

By opening ourselves up to the possibility that we might not even be aware of our own self-sabotage – be it advertent or inadvertent. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter in the least whether we’re sabotaging ourselves purposefully or not. Or even knowingly or not. Blockage and self-sabotage impede. Period.

That’s why it’s a gift to have other people whom we trust implicitly walking beside us. We may all be on the similar paths, more or less, but that doesn’t mean our footsteps mirror each other’s.

Finding – and Being – Those We Trust Implicitly

Not in the least. But it does mean we something to have people whose perspective we trust close enough to call us out and say, “Hey! Do you see what you are affirming to the Universe every time you say such a thing?” or “You’ve been telling yourself that same story all the time ever since we met five years ago.”

Often this can lead to a gasp and an internal astonished realization of the belief albatross we’ve been slogging through the mud with, allowing it to weigh us down and slow our progress until we suddenly find ourselves stuck. “Oops. Wow. I did not see that.”

So to have people we trust nearby to call us on our stuff, lovingly but honestly, is a great gift.

True Friends Being There For Each Other

I witnessed some amazing stuff unfold today.

I watched dear friends shed old ways of thinking and being, beliefs and judgments that used to cause heartache and mean self-talk.

And tomorrow?

Tomorrow I’m going to witness them looking up. Looking outward; looking at themselves with profound love and respect, and an eager anticipation of what is coming ‘next.’