Hello YOU!

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks in many places that aren’t my studio.

I made a quick jaunt back to Texas to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 90th trip around the sun.

I volunteered a bit of extra time on the farm at Growing to Give, an amazing little non-profit I’ve been working with this summer. 

And, yesterday I was able to share the day with a room full of dedicated educators learning some practical tools and techniques to establish connection and coherence inside of small groups.

All this being out in the world among the masses has been both lovely and a bit curious to my nervous system. My body is so conditioned to my own quiet, contemplative work space, I now experience long stretches in the outside, human-built world in peculiar ways.

What I noticed as I was navigating each summer-vacationer-filled airport was my own detachment to the enveloping frenetic energy. In years past I approached airports as things to dive headlong into and kind of brute strength my way from the chaos of curbside through to the too-small window seat.

Any woman who has navigated a bustling airport knows that much of your time is spent stepping out of the way of men in suits barreling along who apparently are incapable of seeing other humans. This no longer seems limited to men, but as I was exiting one plane at Gate C 26 and walking to find Gate B9 in Charlotte, I recognized an inordinate number of people making eye contact with me and then smiling—briefly, but it was there. 

When this awareness hit me, my brain immediately ran through a bunch of why-fors—only to land on the only possible explanation, I was smiling. A big, happy, wonder-filled smile. I didn’t even realize it myself, but when others reflected it back in a sea of dour, anxious, distracted, hurried faces, it was impossible to miss. 

I have no idea why I was smiling. It was the busiest, most chaotic human filled space I think I’ve ever experienced outside of New Year’s Eve in Times Square in 1990. Yet I wasn’t feeling part of the chaos. My flights were on time. I had time to get to Gate B9. I only had myself to look after. I had a good book to read. All was well in my body, mind, and spirit. So the swirling murmuration of humans felt like the beautiful dance that it was. I could watch it all with wonder and awe.

Reflecting back on the experience now I can see clearly that I happened to be experiencing the state of awareness that is supposed to be our primary state. In Human Design we call it Passenger Consciousness. Where our chattering brains are quiet and we are able to look out quietly at the movie we are part of and just be present in our bodies.

Other traditions and modalities also share this idea that we are consciousness in form. That our bodies are merely a vehicle for that speck of consciousness inside of us that is eternal. The Hindus call that piece Atman; western religions use Soul; indigenous cultures speak of Spirit; the ancient Greeks referred to it as Psyche.

There are too many names from too many divergent cultures across too much time for there NOT to be some core truth there for us to ponder. Passenger Consciousness is asking us to get out of the conditioned mind of modernity that tells us we are in control and can think our way through life.

Modern culture has taught us to treat ourselves like we are little more than giant brains forced to walk around on these annoying bodies with too many feelings, weaknesses, and needs. We're so deeply conditioned to this idea we even have tech bros trying to figure out how to upload our consciousness to the cloud and ditch our bodies entirely. 

Though I can hold space for a time where humans and gaia evolve to operate on a more disembodied level of consciousness, we are currently living in a paradigm where all the ancient wisdom systems tell us we are each GIFTED the opportunity to experience a body. To walk through the physical world with all its endless wonder. To touch, feel, smell, taste and hear all this amazing, abundant planet has to offer. That’s it. That’s all we are supposed to be doing here. Existing quietly in community and a state of perpetual wonder learning about embodiment—throughout it's life cycle, from helplessness to ability to disability back to helplessness. Remembering in each moment that we only get the briefest blip of time to do any of it. As Ram Dass famously wrote, "Be here now."

Now I know that some of you will balk at this take on life in the midst of the ‘reality’ of the world today. I know because I’ve definitely had that reaction to similar accounts from others in years past. There is a really practical, grounded part of my nature that cannot fully comprehend or look away from the actual needless suffering that exists on this plane. But I’ve also been closely studying the cosmic energies that underlie life on this planet and there is clearly a shift happening. We are becoming different humans. We WILL create a life that is more kind, equitable and stable. 

We’ve first just had to learn a lot about how NOT to do it. 

We’ve been running this experiment of capitalist modernity for hundreds of years now. We’ve learned all about how to exploit each other and the gifts of the earth. We’ve gotten really GOOD at both. We know more now about what unchecked wealth extraction impulses look like than any other humans who’ve ever walked the planet. We are now living every day inside of devastation and see IRL and on our screens what horrors happen when we can’t figure out when enough is enough.

Like all experiments, there is an end. There comes a time when the data is collected and the analysis and conclusions are made and new experiments are designed based on what was learned. This experiment has been fraught with all sorts of mistakes, but none bigger than us losing sight of the fact that WE are the ones running this giant experiment. We may not have control in this life, but we do have a choice about how we respond in each given moment.

Again, I have no answers. I am just sharing some observations from the field. I do know that using the Human Design frame of ‘running experiments’ has helped me so much. I have kind of always approached life that way, but having this very concrete idea that we are all just here trying and testing things out, that no one has any real answers, that there are no true ‘experts’, that life is here simply to be experienced and lived in the breadth of its unknownness has helped me immensely. It has also made me a much better parent to two young men. I am much more willing and able to allow them space to run their own experiments and release that conditioned need to judge and measure their ‘progress.’

As they find their way in the world, I am regularly reminded that there is actually only one purpose in life and, funnily enough, we all share it. The only purpose in life is to be the YOUest.  And you can only do that when you embrace the unknown path and focus on what truly lights you up,  what makes your heart sing and brings wonder into your soul. Those are the things that lead you to YOU and then, by design, allow you to be a passenger along for your singularly wild ride.

Get out there and be the YOUest,

PS: If you're curious to learn more about your unique energy and how it works, you can get your free Human Design BodyGraph here and I'm happy to walk you through what it all means in an Essentials session. 

GOOD THINGS NOW

COSMIC ENERGIES