A Remedy: Acts of belonging in a fractured field of awareness
1 CommentThe full moon closest to the Autumn equinox (Sept. 21/22) is considered the Harvest Moon. A time to gather the harvest from the field, reorganize internally and in your home, and reflect on what you’ve harvested this season. In a collective field fractured by broken promises, broken politics and broken systems, what’s the remedy? Learn three acts of belonging to root us and sustain us.
Why is belonging so important right now in the fractured field of our world and our awareness? What are we nurturing into abundance? How can we tell when we’re sewing and growing the seeds of violence, mistrust and harm or when we’re acting from a place of belonging?
Inspired by the Pisces Full Moon energy, considered the Harvest Moon when it’s closest to the Autumn Equinox, and Buddhist spiritual teacher, Tara Brach’s Dharma talks on belonging and our collectively bad habit of bad-othering.
Acts of belonging in a fractured world:
- First, reflect on this simple question and this profound quote
- Next, listen to this dharma talk by Mindfulness Meditation teacher, Tara Brach
- Notice the signs of “bad-othering” in yourself and others
- Practice how to act from a place of belonging
First, reflect on this question and this quote about belonging
“True societal healing
Tara Brach from her Dharma talk “Awakening from the Trance of Bad-Othering”
needs to be rooted
in the realization
of our shared belonging.”
Next, listen to this Dharma talk by Mindfulness Meditation teacher Tara Brach on belonging and bad-othering
“Awakening from the trance of bad-othering”
Notice the signs of bad-othering in yourself and others
- A mindset of “us” against “them
- Qualifying “us” as “good” and “them” as “bad”
- Black and white thinking: “Rightness” versus “Wrongness”
- Triggers that give rise to anger and blame
- A feeling of contraction or tightness in the heart
“We can’t feel belonging in our world,
Tara Brach from her Dharma talk “Survival of the Nurtured — Our Path to Belonging”
if we can’t allow the parts of ourselves to belong.”
Practice: how to act from a place of belonging
How can we each dedicate ourselves to waking up from bad-othering? There are three ways we can start right now, advise Tara Brach:
1. Observe the stories and beliefs that keep us separate
Make it a point to notice throughout your day where you’re telling yourself a story or believing something that isn’t necessarily true.
Ask yourself, is it really true?
If you cannot answer honestly, you might be telling yourself a story or believing something that isn’t really true.
2. Allow, nurture and bring presence to these stories and beliefs inside ourselves
“When our own hearts are armored, then we cannot be free,” says Brach. In these moments she reminds us that we’re not living from “a sense of awareness and wholeness and connectedness,” but instead we’re “participating in a consciousness that perpetuates harm.”
3. Intentionally include others in our heart
Extend our caring beyond our immediate familial, friend and work groups.
Use our primary human strength: collaboration.
Intentionally over-include and notice where we subtly exclude others.
“The more violent the society and the more poor the attachment bonding and personal, generational trauma, the more the bad-othering occurs.”
Tara Brach from her Dharma talk “Awakening from the Trance of Bad-Othering”
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Beginning in 2011, she invested more deeply in her own mindfulness exploration and education as a Sahaja yoga/meditation guide and two-time apprentice of spiritual teacher and humanitarian, Vanessa Stone. Carolyn is an Ayurvedic Sadhana Consultant, having completed training in 2018 under her teacher, Maya Tiwari. Maya served for two decades as a Vedic monk belonging to India’s prestigious Veda Vyasa lineage and is the founder of Wise Earth School of Ayurveda.
Carolyn is currently immersed in her practicum after graduating from a two-year comprehensive Hakomi Mindfulness-Centered Somatic Psychotherapy practitioner training through Hakomi Institute Southwest.
Founder of Conscious Content, a mindfulness movement for business that serves the greater collective good, her intention is to bring ancient mindfulness technology first to individuals, and then their teams and organizations to connect them more authentically with themselves, one another, and their tribe.
Conscious Content’s guiding inquiry is: what would business look like if work became our sadhana—our personal growth practice?
Her chosen name, Koa, is of Hawaiian origin and means fearless and courageous.
Her given surname, Elder, is of Scottish origin and signifies one who is wiser, older and quite possibly born near the Elderberry tree.
[…] is the second of two full moons in one month. Considered the Hunter’s Moon: where we line our stores with meat enough for the long winter […]