Week 2

Day 8

I can only point to places I’ve discovered along the path. Many guides and friends walked with me like I now walk with you. You are not alone.

Let’s set the stage. I’ll define calm so we can move along together and our good intentions will not get lost in translation.

Calm is the secret heart of chaos, the eye in the center of the storm, not separate from nor spun out of control by the forces all around us. It is the vortex, the secret door to beyond, and the easy smile.

It lives within the tiny and sacred spaces of the heart from where all experience and phenomena flow. It’s a way of being. Choose it. Intend to know it, meet it, greet life through this lens.

The Calm Way is a quality, a frequency. It is the All-in-All, which locks nothing in place, and yet contains all that is. Walk with me if you choose.

Day 9

The Calm Way shows us we can lighten up. We can laugh and giggle in good-natured humor. We can cheer up free ourselves from drama.

As a curious adventurer on the Calm Way, you might even begin to feel comfortable no matter what is happening around you.

The only outcome I can promise on this journey is that you will meet your Self. And you will meet your Not-Self. Whether this distinction arrives as subtle or in your face, you are not alone.

Write down your questions about the Calm Way. Then let the answers unfold during this adventure-experiment-play.

Day 10

Breath Practice

For today and every day.

***

Breathe in. Follow the breath moving through your body, down to your seat.

Breathe out. Follow the breath as it exits your body.

Rest in the gap for as long as you like. Then begin the next inhale.

Let your awareness follow the breath beyond you.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in, to the soles of your feet.

Breathe out. Breathe beyond the edges of your body.

***

Do this simple practice until you settle.

Day 11

Starting new things leaves room for all these waves of emotion and vulnerability. It’s surprising, as many new things as I’ve begun, how I can still feel squiggly and raw. I like that feeling. It means I’m closer to letting go of whatever is in the way of being wide-open grace.

I live in this evolving flux while I inch closer to embodying my fullest expression. Let me show up and be free from deflecting the possibilities that make me nervous, hesitant, or doubtful.

I live my life as much as possible in pure flow and trust. I know without a doubt I’m fully cared for by all that is. Like I REALLY KNOW. And yet sometimes, I hesitate to accept that groovy gift! And I get all squiggly feeling again. Ever been there?

Let’s leap into the squiggly feeling together.

Day 12

Calm people. Steady-in-the-storm people. You appreciate the way they make you feel. But they have a secret. They don’t always feel it. They are committed to it. That’s the beauty. They don’t repress the chaos. If chaos is coming from inside them, they move through it. They steer around the ruckus others are involved in to not add to the confusion.

Think of calm as if it is music. It’s unamplified. Unplugged. Lovely, raw, acoustic calm moving through the loud demands that are trying to suck you in.

Sure, feeling calm is a lovely thing. And at some point, we remember it as our natural pool of being. To get there, we practice and agree to a new approach. Practice is the gateway to vitality. Your intention to become skillful is the spark.

What drew you here to the Calm Way?

Day 13

There are moments I forget the bounty of the calm way. I take a step out of my inner calm to react from a small, tight place inside me. And it shows me never to assume I have it all figured out. Which has taught me grace. Which leads to more grace. Which fills me with compassion for the small, hard places in me that aren’t yet as flexible or generous as they can be. Which brings me to tears, softens the small, hard places and washes away the gunk. Which reminds me the gunk was a heap of stagnant thoughts I hung onto. Which reminds me I am not the gunk. Which makes me smile and breathe deeply. Which makes me soften my eyes. Which makes the world look kinder. Which makes me remember I am fierce and gentle compassion in my core. Which changes the way I speak. Which changes the way you speak. Which shifts the world one breath at a time. Oh, how one breath can change the world.

Day 14

There are many ways to view practice. Here are some of my favorite approaches.

Enter the dance floor and try out some new moves!

Put on your lab goggles and grab a notebook.

Grab your shovel and pail to play in a new sandbox.

Practice is the journey. It’s life. There’s no way to do it wrong. For this is your journey. And if life is calling you into remembering the Way, if life is whispering or shouting to get our attention, I am glad you are here.

We can lighten up, not take ourselves so seriously. And we can practice sincerely, not seriously. This is the grace of the Calm Way.

You are here now. Will you play along? And discover the way of grace in you?

Get the Book