An inner spaciousness around my heart, I have glimpses of.

And I want more.

I first experienced this state of being after learning how to “observe my humanity from my divinity” with a spiritual teacher, when she held her hands at right angles to each other, as though one was observing the other. I’m also grateful for the privilege of having Buddhist monks for neighbors here in Temple, New Hampshire. Men who dedicate their lives to the experience of this inner spaciousness. Sitting with them, I cannot help but sense their intense presence. It’s fully alive and vital and surrendered into this present moment. Words cannot fully describe this experience or state of being. Words can only point towards it. And yes, I’m aware of the irony that I’ve chosen to work with words and write articles and books about this experience.

But I want people to know. I want humanity to experience something other than the material realm we are all conditioned to believe is the only realm that matters. I’m more interested in investigating the spiritual, emotional and mental aspects of this human experience, and sharing with others the joy that is also available without the external material “success” we’ve all been taught to strive for.

I know I’m not the only one to want this. And at this point in our human history I feel like I’m joining the forces of humanity in reaching a tipping point where we all experience this shift in consciousness before our species becomes extinct.

We still have so much to learn about simply being on this planet, connecting with Mother Earth and Father Sky. Our indigenous spiritual traditions have so much to teach us about living in harmony with spiritual energies and being in flow, and yet our patriarchal hierarchies did everything possible to wipe out the faiths of indigenous people.

I’m heartened by the fact that a book like Braiding Sweetgrass has been on the NYT Bestseller list for so long. It’s written by a Native American Indian woman who learned to speak the language of Western science so she knows how to communicate the instinctive spiritual principles embedded within her culture, and translate them into a form that our Western culture can understand. The fact that her book is being read by so many people gives me hope. And I love the story that it had been in print for 10 years before it hit the NYT Bestseller list. Storytelling spread by word of mouth has more power than we know. Stories have way more power than we know. All religions are in essence stories, and some of those stories have caused immeasurable harm to women and those who are not white men, suppressing their voices for thousands of years.

I am not my stories.

I am not my thoughts.

I am a presence that is beyond my mind. An inner spaciousness, of which I want to experience more.

Please consider this an invitation to experience this spaciousness too.