SOUL MAIL Sunday: Breathe In, Breathe Out
Welcome back again to SOUL MAIL Sunday! Our question for today is: Where does your true power come from and how are you connecting with and using it? The word power seems to be coming up often in my world these days.
During a Zoom training session this week about Knowing Your Rights, the trainer identified that your rights are a legal protection that gives you power. However, we are finding that this only rings true when those rights are respected and upheld. They also pointed out the importance of power in our breath, which can ground us and help us deal with stress and trauma. I've been listening to Zulu healing music from South Africa described as 'powerful vocal chanting' that helps protect our inner peace. It has a wonderful effect on my autonomic nervous system and beautifully settles my grandsons down when putting them to sleep at bedtime.
Whether through music, breath, or the patient wisdom of nature, I continue to discover that true power doesn't force growth—it creates the conditions where healing can happen. My garden continues to provide me with powerful metaphors for my human experiences in this life. When I lived in Florida I nurtured this beautiful Crinum Lily that had heavenly-smelling blossoms. I took it from a bulblet growing at the base of a mother plant. I kept it in a large pot in the front yard under an oak tree. It eventually became a blooming mother plant itself. I discovered that the blossoms eventually turned into green seed balls. When planted they draw on their stored energy to form a baby bulb underground.
When I moved to Texas 6 years ago, the plant was too large to take with me. So, I took several plants that I started from the seed balls. It takes about 5 years for them to develop into a blooming-sized bulb. However, as you can see they aren't doing that well in this environment. When I had them outside in one big pot, the Texas sun scorched them, so I had to bring them inside and replant them in separate pots. Inside, however, they lacked the sun and good drainage that comes from being planted in the ground. They sank in the pot and their roots became crowded at the bottom.
So this week I replanted them in their separate pots with healthier soil mix and more room to grow. I took them back outside and gave them sunscreen! They will now get rain and water from my sprinkler system and fresh air, which will help them grow. Hopefully these supports will help them recover over time. My neighbor Sue, who is also a new artist friend, said she would help tend to them when I need to travel. Interestingly, the name Susan comes from the lily, a flower family symbolic of nurturing the soul with the qualities of peace, calm and purity. Perhaps the lily family is teaching us how to be a better human family.
Like the lilies, being transplanted from where we grew up can make adjusting to a new environment overwhelming. When we face the stresses and traumas that arise in our world, we can't be in fight-or-flight mode all the time. We also need some recovery time. And in the process we also need each other to build a strong supportive community that helps us grow and thrive. There is a power in our connection with Mother Nature and our human family. Like the lilies that use the powerful energy from their core lily bulb, there is also a powerful core within us. You may view the art image and read or listen to the message below. May today's SOUL MAIL help you reconnect with the spiritual power already within you.
May we remember to connect with the power that comes from the one who created us, and to connect with each other and Mother Nature.
