Wisdom, musings and teachings from your favorite Spiritual BadAss...

There’s an old illusion being burned to the ground. It’s the idea that women begin going downhill after the age of 35.

In fact, we are the most powerful group of humans on the planet, both in our support of the economy as well as carriers of wisdom and medicine.

What saddens me is to see and hear women walking in this stage of their lives as if they no longer have relevance or power. If this is you, call me.

The women that you see rocking it here on social media are not the exception, I promise. They don’t have something you don’t have access to, it’s just that they have figured out how awesome they are.

They stopped listening to the often deafening voices that tell them to fade into the background. I’m over that shit and my voice is getting louder, not quieter, thank Mother God!

Fly your grey-hair flag, or dye it pink. Wear your face bare or cover it in sparkles. Rock earth-toned smocks or a bikini. Whatever. Just chose you. Be you. Stop hiding. We need your wisdom. We need your medicine.

she gathered her years
spread the medicine she had collected
in the dirt
whispered her ancient sisters into being
from her womb flowed healing
in her palms the universe expanded
deep in her heart she saved us all

Love and respect to all the elders,
Jill

I have something on my mind this morning about conversations that are ended.

You know, ‘this conversation is over’ kind of ended. One that someone has put up a boundary around.

It happens for many reasons, including because the conversation is causing harm to a person and they have had enough of that shit. It’s healthy and loving to end that kind of conversation.

Here’s where my mind goes from there:

The conversation doesn’t actually stop. It continues on at the very least in the heads of the people that were having it, both sides. Often, it continues between two people that each party has turned to that is in agreement with their position.

Of course, this means there has been no real resolution. Sides have been taken and the conversation is over. As we are in this moment, that is often the best thing that can happen. The visible harm stops and eventually everyone finds some level of peace.

Again, this still means there is no real resolution. What I’m noticing is, if I take this out further, beyond two people not seeing eye to eye, it translates on a much larger scale and the issues become exponentially more problematic. They also directly reflect the original issues that shut down conversations between 2, 4, 6, 10 people.

As I type, my mind is struggling to find the language going forward. It wants to shut down and pull back because it feels like an impossible situation. So many dynamics, so much pot stirring, so much inner reflection and, quite frankly, courage required.

Perhaps what there is to do is stay in the conversations we’re having with ourselves to start, even when it gets uncomfortable. And stay in the conversations with the ones we love and that love us, even when the emotions rage through us. From there, stay in the conversations with acquaintances, and then people that are declaring their pain, and then people that are on the opposite side of an issue.

What that will take, I see, is staying with our hearts wide fucking open. Whew…that takes courage.

Ultimately, this may lead to the really difficult conversations that we have been so divided on for so long such as race, colonization, gender, privilege etc being had with grace and love. It may lead to solutions and coming together rather than division.

We’re not there yet. It’s not safe for many. If you want evidence, just read a few of the comments on posts that POC write and share. The damage caused both by ignorance and fragility is devastating and heartbreaking. I should know; I’ve unwittingly caused it. But because I’ve learned to be willing to keep my heart open and been given the honor of remaining in the conversation, POC have been gracious enough to teach and I’ve shut up long enough to learn.

This is why I know I’m on to something. I know it because I have been a part of staying in with my heart open and finding a place in which everyone feels heard.

I also know I will fuck up again and be challenged to keep my heart open again. And again. That’s ok. I’m willing and that’s where it begins.

If you think you aren’t impacted by this, think again. With this in mind, I ask that you start by reading what I’ve written one more time, with your heart wide open and your walls down. Let it all in and feel what you feel. Once you feel something, stay open and go have a conversation that perhaps you’ve been avoiding because it’s difficult. Stay open. Stay open. Breath. Stay open. You will be a part of the solution. You will be a part of the Love.

There’s more to write, I know. This is perhaps just a beginning but without beginning we go nowhere.

Photo credit: Warren Wong – Unsplash w/edits by me.

We judge all the time and it’s natural and perfectly fine. It’s a necessary aspect of being human.

Where we run into issues is when a judgement becomes condemnation.

Yes, you will judge things, situations, and people. If you didn’t, you’d fall prey to dealings with people that don’t have your best interests in mind, you’d buy things you don’t need and you wouldn’t know whether or not to cross the street in traffic. Judging is normal and healthy.

Condemnation, on the other hand, has started wars, both large and small. If you condemn someone that you judge to be unsavory, there is no room for you to see them through the eyes of love or hold space for them to simply walk their path without harm. If you condemn a man for his beliefs or the colour of his skin, you have closed the door to any chance of living in harmony.

Condemnation ends all possibilities of peace, no matter if we are speaking of one to one relationships or entire countries.

Remember, there are many paths to Oneness, or in other words, enlightenment. To condemn a man for his path is to choose separation.

We are all headed towards the remembering of Oneness. Some have consciously chosen this path and are actively participating in bringing this into their reality. We are called by many names; seekers, edge walkers, spiritualists and simply human. Others may not have yet chosen or have chosen to remain in separation. This choice is available as we are blessed with free will.

Here is the piece that speaks to the true impact of condemning your brothers and sisters:

Oneness and the evolution of mankind to living in this truth cannot happen until it happens for all. Condemn your brothers and sisters and you have condemned yourself to separation.

You chose.

Love,
Jill

The heart in service to Spirit; the mind in service to the heart. This is the order of reverence in which we will operate as fully aligned beings.

The is the order we know when we are born into this life and one of the first things that gets ‘taught’ out of us. Our minds are praised as the most wonderous and powerful aspect of self. We’re rewarded for being smart and punished for being sensitive. In short order, the mind forgets it’s place, working hard to dominate the heart while we forget almost completely the power of Spirit.

We then spend many years wandering, lost, with no idea why or how to find our way home. We keep trying to sort it out, think it through, change our minds and make it all work, all the while not understanding that we’re attempting to make the un-natural, natural. We seek for answers in the outer world through accumulation, addictions and unworthy relationships to self and other.

Until one day, our mind grows weary of trying to do a job it isn’t designed for, our hearts’ calling becomes louder and Spirit can no longer be ignored. This is the moment of reckoning. It is often uncomfortable and destabilizing, resulting in unrest and pain.

And so we turn, finally, inward. Tentatively and with much hesitation, we seek our own hearts under the layers of lies, broken promises and confusion. We are rewarded, perhaps only briefly in the beginning, with a sliver of grace, opening the door to Spirit once again. This small taste of the glory is enough to elicit a single, sacred word:

Yes.

That is all that is required to begin the journey home; to right the misunderstanding between mind, heart and Spirit and course correct. This is not an easy journey. No, not easy. It is, however, simple. All that is required, over and over, is your Yes.

Whispered, shouted, dragged through your clenched throat soaked with tears, Yes. Yes. And again, Yes.

Love,
Jill