From The Heart

It was bound to happen sooner or later, rain. Thunder, lightening, and as my mother would have said, "a real frog strangler", today. Torrential downpours, dark skies, low hanging clouds and really big puddles. We didn't go to Madison today. I wonder if there are brave and wet People who are walking around the People's House with their signs encased in plastic wrap. I am sure there are and I salute them for their dedication. This effort is like a 440 - we hand off to someone else when we need a break. And like those teams handing off batons, we know our brothers and sisters will be there so The People's presence will continue.

I've been thinking more about the heart factor of this historical time. My thoughts are not just for Wisconsin but for the planetary consciousness of which we are a significant part. What is taking place on the third ball from the sun? For certain there are more books than anyone could read, more articles, more speculation, more websites dedicated to the 2012 phenomenon, more people expressing their intuition and putting out scenarios for the future. There are people writing to the need for humans to focus on Light and on Love and not to feed fear. Those are all cogent suggestions, all appropriate actions. It is good to encourage each other to stay as balanced as we can be in this time of chaos.

How do we do that, be encouraging of one another, remain calm, be engaged even when it makes us just a bit fearful? How do we model for our children and our grandchildren the steady, purposeful stance needed when the ground shakes around us? Where do we gather our strength and how do we find our voices when the air quivers with uncertainty? How do we open our hearts when instead we wish to protect them as everything seems about to change forever?

I don't have the answers to those questions but I'm pretty sure they are the correct ones to ask. Yesterday when my heart opened like a spring tulip, I was caught completely off guard. There was no announcement that it would happen, no slight pulse before, no indication that a major, internal event was about to transpire. I was simply standing on the street in the sun holding the flag. But here's what else happened when my heart, that glorious early daffodil, hyacinth, fuzzy pussy willow organ, opened in my chest - I loved everyone on the street. Absolutely everyone, no questions asked, no ID card needed, no barriers. And it wasn't even me! It was some larger, all-encompassing someone, something that was me and everyone else all at the same time.

Friday evening, at a happy friends/family event, my three year old great niece, when she saw me, said "Oh Jeenie, I haven't see you long time!" Yesterday was like that. A spontaneous spout of unadulterated, beautiful, freedom-soaked Love! So, maybe that's one of the keys to standing straight, being present, offering encouragement, being calm. We go all childlike and speak from our hearts. It could work. When I think of Lacey I think of simple love, a gift from the wise heart of innocence. And I don't believe we must wag our fingers at that innocence and remind ourselves we are too jaded, too road weary to find that tender spot again.

We in Wisconsin (and across the planet)are in such need of hearts. Today Justice David Prosser spit hatred at Chief Justice Shirley Abramhamson. And what was he screeching about? He wants the interests of big business, corporate money to come first, ahead of The People of Wisconsin. The same agenda as Gov. Walker and all those for whom the promise of riches and fame are so seductive. We can be smart, savvy. We can organize, protest, talk, write, respond, vote. But we can do that from our hearts. We can come from our hearts and know strength.

It's good to have rain. Feels cleansing, somehow empowering. I like being reminded that the Equinox brings the balance of Light and Dark this week. It says to me that my heart has risen this Spring like a green blade and in the moment of watery pause, I am a new creation. When I take the baton sometime this next week, I will be refreshed and renewed. Someone else can sit down, rest. We are in for more than the 440 in Wisconsin and around the planet. We need our strength and we most certainly need our hearts.