Gratitude for the hard stuff

Gratitude has been on my mind, particularly gratitude for the hard stuff. It's easy to stop in the midst of a beautiful landscape and feel awe. It's a lot harder to give thanks for things that are painful, or that dash our plans against the rocks, or that knock us off our center.

One of the great gifts of shamanism in my life is looking for the teaching in any situation. I don't mean from a place of magical thinking, where everything that happens carries some secret message. I mean thinking of life as a perpetual teaching, where every situation contains the potential for learning and growth. Shamanism certainly isn't the only avenue to this mindset, but it's what brought me here. I still get frustrated, I still dig in my heals and ball up my fists and shout "no" in my mind. But after I give myself space for feelings, I can take a breath and ask where the opportunity lies.

This is gratitude for the hard stuff. When it's hard to find the teaching myself, I ask my spirits about it. I look for where I can say "thank you." Sometimes life is really hard. Sometimes gratitude is "thank you for this hard thing, that took me out of the path of something even harder." Sometimes it's "thank you for giving me the strength to get through this." Sometimes it's "thank you for being here with me." Shamanism isn't an easy path, nor is life. We can still take responsibility for how we work with the hard things.

Are there opportunities for gratitude in your life that you aren't seeing?

Intuition and Divination

Do you ever just know something? Do you trust that intuition? I notice that a lot of us have been taught not to trust ourselves, to ignore our intuition. Often we only really come into that knowing after the fact, when something happens and we realize we knew how it would happen all along. I have had a few of those moments myself recently.

Trust in our intuition is important. However, so is discernment. We have to be aware of our own wants, our own biases, and the way our inner voice can convince us that what we want must be certain. Balancing trust and discernment is what makes our intuition useful. Otherwise, we have our head in the clouds without having our feet on the ground.

There is much to be gained from having a strong relationship with compassionate helping spirits. One of the benefits is access to wisdom beyond our human ability. It's important to check our intuition against their wisdom. We don't have to go it alone! We can ask, "what's happening here? What else do I need to know about this?" Through this process, our trust in ourselves grows.

Many of you have heard me say that when we are too close to an issue, it can be hard to get clear answers. I have people I reach out to and ask if they can take a look when that happens. Remember, we don't have to go it alone! Community is an essential part of the work. Our ordinary reality circles keep us grounded and help us check our desires against the bigger picture.

Intuition is a wonderful thing. It's made so much more potent when we are well-practiced with divination. As we head into the time of the year when the sun wanes, I begin to think about deeper questions. It's a good time of year to begin to take stock. What is your soul trying to tell you? What do your help spirits have to say?

Receiving

As many of you know, I have been awaiting elbow and wrist surgery since the fall. I had the operation two weeks ago, and met with my surgeon today for my post-op appointment. He was amazed at how well I am healing--how little bruising there is, how little swelling, how well my surgical wounds have closed.

While I didn't give him a lecture on shamanism (he was already running 45 minutes late), I was not surprised. This isn't the first time I have had a medical professional amazed at my recovery after an injury or accident. Each time, this one included, I asked for help. As you can imagine, I know a lot of people who do shamanic healing work. My teacher said that circles, once formed, continue in non-ordinary reality long after the participants have disbanded. I have certainly found that to be true when I ask for help. I don't know exactly how many people worked with their spirits on my behalf, because it doesn't matter, and I didn't take attendance. I do know specific people who responded to my request and said they would work for me. They did an amazing job.

There is something magical about asking for help. Think of all the variables involved: autonomy, vulnerability, relationship, trust, hope, love, relationship (yes, twice, because we are in a relationship crisis in our culture right now). Receiving, without having to do anything other than trust the support, is a beautiful thing.

Think for a moment what it takes for you to ask for help, and what it takes for you to receive. Is it hard? Is it fraught? Is it easy? Do you trust it? Asking and receiving is a skill set in itself, one about which I have received many teachings through this work. And here is another one--a doctor in disbelief, and spirits around me gently laughing.