It’s Saturday morning smack in the middle of an unprecedented global stillness. Yet here in the United States there are people struggling to accept that this is what is being asked of us. To understand that we really are being asked to be still. To learn to be still. To stop long enough to learn new ways. And to trust that some of these new ways we are being taught can help us and our planet heal.
To them — and to all of us — every single one of us, I say: Chill!
My friend Carly has a wonderful acronym that helps people shift out of compulsive eating habits. The acronym in S-T-O-P. And the S in the acronym stands for STOP!
I’ll be honest, I can’t remember what the other letters stand for, because unless we actually choose the S, where never going to get to anything else.
Yes, we have been asked to STOP. But if we stop with resentment or anger, we’re not really going to learn what we need to learn by stopping.
Sure fear is going to arise. And anxiety. And worry. And all kinds of challenging emotions. And when that happens, most of us are going to feel compelled to do what most of us do all the time. We’re going to want to DO something to make those feelings stop.
But really, the only thing that is really going to STOP the difficulty is for us to STOP and learn to hear what needs to change so that we can all shift the bigger picture.
Yesterday was one of those days for me. It was a challenging day. It was like God had to hire a skywriter and a bullhorn and an iMax movie screen to get me to see the answer to a question I’d been asking all week.
Looking back, I see now that I’d been asking the question and neither stopping or listening to hear the answer. I’d ask and then walk away. Ask and then get busy. Ask and then ignore.
The answer was there, but I didn’t stop to listen deeply enough to hear it.
And then came the skywriter and the bullhorn and the iMax move screen BLARING the answer so I couldn’t ignore it! And the way it came was hard and unpleasant and emotional. AND PERFECT!! Because I had an answer that has eluded me my entire life!!
And from the place of that answer, I can move forward in a way I could never have moved forward before.
Literally every single thing that happened yesterday — deep and challenging and stressful and emotional as it was — was perfect. And I know it never would have happened if the world wasn’t stopped like this.
Last night I was supposed to be on stage in Los Angeles at the Turner Classic Movie Festival. The whole week was a travel and appearance week with a book launch.
I never would have even asked the question that I have been asking this week, because I wouldn’t have been stopped long enough for it to surface. And without the question calling for an answer, the answer would never have surfaced.
And that has taught me that I need to keep practicing today’s heart-centered practice. To Stop Doing. To accept the stillness being asked of us. And to BE: Chill.
So today, if you feel antsy or worried or anxious about how this is all rolling out, try this practice with me. Allow yourself to STOP whatever you’re doing and take a nap, take a walk without talking to anyone, curl up and read a book, meditate, work in your garden — and BE: Chill. See what surfaces! It could hold the key to what comes next — for you, your community and the planet. Because when we chill, we hook into LOVE! And Love does hold the key to what comes next. We just need to lean in and listen. And BE: Chill.
Today’s audio version of this blog (with some different stories) is right here. Have a listen!