Recently while sitting on my porch I became overwhelmed with a cluster of weeds and grasses that were overtaking an area they were not “supposed” to be. I took the impulsive initiative to start pulling. I carelessly ripped out chucks and roots of climbers that were taking nutrients from my other intentionally placed plants. In one erratic sweeping gesture I unknowingly pulled out a sweet Globe Mallow I had been trying for years to get to take off. She just found her healthy sprouts and thin, yet established, roots this season but hidden by the creeping Bermuda I accidentally yanked her from her delicate Earth bed. Her peach colored cup-like flowers fell, her fuzzy leaves wilted, and my sad shock interrupted my weeding frenzy. It became an indicator that I needed to pay more attention, that I needed to be more deliberate in my actions. I took the sign and opted to sit down and pause, to reevaluate what I was doing and why.
As I started calming down and exploring my motives, I realized that I have been having a strong sense of urgency and need for change (sound familiar?). Perhaps by feeling limited in my options in other areas of my life, I overreacted to those areas that give me a sense of control and immediate consequence. It feels good to pull weeds. There is cause and effect and that makes me feel productive and powerful. It’s gratifying seeing results through simple actions, and on a deep subconscious level that helps ease feelings of entrapment and establishes a sense of safety and control (though subtle and often a false sense of security, it provides a bump of chemical feel-good in the moment).
After acknowledging a bit of my process and sitting withit, I started to feel more regulated, less reactionary and clearer in my next steps. My gut told me to do nothing. What I needed was to sit and re-root my own senses. In doing so I tracked my breath, closed my eyes and went inward. I sorted through my thoughts and put them aside and shifted to an inner landscape of the mind that invites the practicing field of deeper vision and contentment. I wasn’t there long, but long enough to redirect and reboot my perspective.
After just a few moments I opened my eyes and their much softer lens took in the world with less urgency, less fear, and more acceptance and tolerance. In that moment I saw tiny, bright-green flashes of movement. I crawled closer the ground and peered into a whole universe of life hidden under the canopies of clustered companion plants and within this perfectly balanced ecosystem, I saw about half a dozen baby Praying Manti. Even the little ones have a commanding presence that warrants a respectful distance.
Had I continued to react to my impulse, I would have devastated the potential for this community of auspicious critters. Instead, having taken the time to pause and evaluate my motives and to proceed with a well-thought out plan I ensured the safety and optimal environment for all the diverse aspects of my garden.
Praying Manti shows up to teach us about patience and the power of a clear mind as a result of meditation, mindfulness or prayer. Mantis teaches us that in slowing down we can cultivate higher vision that inspires actions of integrity and more noble achievement of purpose and progress. Even in his fight with his cunning hunting skills and razor-sharp precision he is graceful and contemplative and calmly focused on the right action at the right time. He is, indeed, a mindful warrior.
We are all experiencing heightened states of threat and upset. We all need more time in meditation and with mindfulness practices. It’s not easy to sit still and that is what we need to find new vision and higher thinking. Meditation trains the brain to operate in not only a more efficient way but with a more humanistic and compassionate approach. Meditation does not mean complacency; it means clarity and steadiness and deliberate purpose of action. Mindfulness helps to ensure our voice and actions are less reactionary and more responsive. If we want to evolve, we must come from an evolved frame of mind and heart. If we want to evolve, we need to address our individual nervous systems to be at ease (at ease, soldier). One by one.
We are in an epic and necessary era of history and with that comes a sense of urgency and demand of revised values, procedures and systems. The corrupt machine is enormous, and its wiring is imbedded in psychological, behavioral, institutional and industrial schema. Pervasive like a current of cancer that needs to be cut out, burned out, rebuilt and restored. It willchange but it’s going to take time. We must stay steady, focused, diligent and resilient as we learn to reboot our social nervous system. We cannot become impulsive; impulse is a week state of mind creating vulnerability that will ultimately feed the threat and keep us divided. We must be mindful and strategic, patient and purposeful. We must move from clarity and precision, so our efforts are not about performative ally-ship, current trends or intolerance of differences, but rather long-term sustainable and ideological change.
I have been in the field of social justice and mental health for my entire adult life (I would argue much of childhood too, growing up with half activist parents and half marine core/secret service parents). I have worked with a multitude of populations and issues; the death penalty, criminal justice, Genocide in Rwanda, domestic violence, refugees, mental health in the prisons, at risk youth. I have worked closely with soldiers and veterans, law enforcement and government agencies, criminals and victims and in conjunction with an amazing cohort of diverse social workers, counselors and helping professionals. No matter the issue, no matter the compatibility, or incompatibility, of perspective I show up with respect and the mindful intention to de-escalate threat in the name of collective evaluation and wellness.
I have had to learn to dance with my hot-tempered fire and fight (oh boy, you know the Irish-Ukrainian in me likes to fight) and find the steady, more peaceful and productive edge of conscious will and solution. I know, without a doubt, my work and my personal peace in facing nauseating adversity and injustice could not, cannot, and will not be effective without a regular mediation and mindfulness practice.
We all need more optimally responsive brains and nervous systems. Prioritize your individual and collective health with mediation and mindfulness. It’s a non-negotiable for embodied change.
Embody your fight but do it from higher ground, clearer perspective, and a universal heart. Use your voice wisely (consider having a voice a privilege in itself). Take time to pause and consider your motives and actions, be trauma informed, socially and historically informed and be willing to de-escalate your own impulse so we can meet conflict with compassionate resolution and restorative justice.
Embrace the mantis and honor your mindful warrior. It’s a practicing field, I will honorably meet you there.
