Grief, fear and gratitude

The promised future was never real – it was a promoter’s dream

The striving and grasping for excess
The loneliness, desperation and greed
Limitless growth – untethered to reality

We are in the time of unraveling – the end times of modernity
The time of uncertainty

It is critically important:
To continue to do our personal work of transformation to authenticity
To no longer be stuck / frozen / dissociated in the old trauma-based protection programs
To no longer be running the past triggers, reactions, beliefs, and patterns
To be present to now, capable of inner regulation of body, mind, and emotions
To increase our open-hearted capacity for what is to come; to suffering, to compassion,  to love
To open to intuition, mystery, synchronicity and inner guidance
Building our inner foundation for what is to come

Calamities await us
All driven by business as usual
Nature: fire, smoke, flood, drought, freeze (ice/snow), wind, heat, tsunami, sea level rise, ocean circulation slowdown/failure, species and ecosystem loss/extinction, crop failure, and multiple ecosystem tipping points
Human: war, nuclear reaction failure, disease, artificial intelligence, inflation, deflation, debt default, fascism, mass migration, civic unrest/riots/revolution
To name a few

Acknowledging, knowing and naming what is to come (what will likely occur in our location), allows us to reclaim our power
To prepare emotionally, spiritually, physically, and with family / community

And to grieve – there is so much to grieve

There is no secret passage to a magical, conscious future
Endings and death always come before rebirth

It is time to acknowledge that we don’t get to decide the future – it is emergent and now well set on its course
To shed the blind notion that politicians, governments, corporations or other institutions are going to take care of things – that the elites, the aliens, or anyone else, will rescue us.
No, it’s personal

There is much to fear:
Change – the unknown, discomfort (psychological and physical), inconvenience, disillusionment, disruption, disasters, loss of possessions / home / roots, the end of superiority/privilege/consumption, accusations of inaction by kids and grand kids, having to face reality without distractions and delusions, suffering and death
To name a few

Acknowledging, expressing and releasing fear and grief can free us of their tightest grip and builds our inner emotional and spiritual courage
Through vulnerability

Free of the grip of hope

There is much to be grateful for:
Water, food, shelter,  family, friends, community, beauty, nature’s abundance, spirit, kindness, generosity, creativity, simplicity, open time, peace, all the elementals, and Pachamama
To name a few

Acknowledging and expressing gratitude builds our inner heart capacity and shifts our focus
As does honoring the sacred
Even while living on the edge of despair

We can know how to be, even when unsure of what to do

Be in community – be kind, generous and passionate
Practice fear, grief and gratitude
With sensitivity
Together

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Grief, Fear and Gratitude Workshop Outline

Preparation:
Find 2 stones that “speak to you” and are willing to work with you. (remember to ask them; and remember that getting a no is likely Pachamama’s way of directing you to a better stone to partner with).
One stone to hold grief and fear (and be released) and one to hold gratitude (and be held).

Introduction:
Overview and brief discussion / Q&A of the writing.

Phase 1 Grief and Fear
Circle:
Express the grief you most feel at the moment – describe where it is held in your body.
Express the fear you most feel at the moment – describe where it is held in your body.

Place Grief / Fear stone on your heart (lying down) – or other chakra.

Sound session for 20 min – (psycho-catalytic sound alters brain states and allows access to deeper aspects of consciousness) – go deeper into feeling the grief and the fear. Sit with them, see what they offer to you, see how they might shift, what is deeper.
Shaking, tears and vocalizing of grief and fear during the session is fine / appropriate.
At the end of the sound session, blow / sing the grief and/or fear that is in your body, mind or emotions into the stone.

Circle:
Share your experience, how grief and fear shifted, or not, during the sound session.
How will you release the stone containing the grief and fear back to Pachamama – e.g. into ocean / water, bury it, place in forest, etc.
Remember to get permission for whatever you plan to do with the stone.

Drink water; breath work

Phase 2 Gratitude
Circle:
Express the gratitude you most feel at the moment – describe where it is held in your body.

Place Gratitude stone on your heart (lying down)

Sound session for 20 min – (psycho-catalytic sound alters brain states and allows access to deeper aspects of consciousness) – go deeper into feeling gratitude. Let it move into your body, mind and spirit, see how it might shift, what is deeper.
At the end of the session, blow / sing gratitude into the stone and ask it to “transmit” the gratitude back to you when you work with it. Continue this back and forth process over time – charge the stone with gratitude for things that come to you (day to day or in meditation) – then ask the stone to “remind” you when you need a “gratitude boost”.

Circle:
Share your experience, how gratitude shifted, or not, during the sound session.
How will you work with your gratitude stone over the next month.

Wrap up: drumming

Sharing of food and community