Inspiration

This selection speaks to meditation’s radical inclusivity. It’s not about fixing, rejecting, or running from pain - it’s about expanding around it. When you soften into resistance rather than pushing it away, when you open to your ‘non opening’, however paradoxical that sounds, you break open instead of breaking apart. You soften instead of contracting. Every emotion becomes a doorway to deeper presence.

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Do not reject a sense of rejection,

or abandon a feeling of abandonment.

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Do not resist your resistance,

or run away from the urge to run away.

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Do not make sadness sad by leaving it,

or enrage anger by disconnecting,

or make loneliness more lonely by pushing it away.

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Hold the broken heart with as much love as the happy heart,

never lose the sense of being lost,

and do not doubt the presence of doubt.

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Do not fear fear,

or desire the absence of desire,

or worry about worry.

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(And if you do, don't worry).

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All parts of you are sacred,

the light and the dark alike;

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all are worthy,

deserving of unconditional love.

The Emerald explores the human experience through a vibrant lens of myth, story, and imagination. Brought to life through the wise, wild, and humorous vision of Joshua Michael Schrei — a teacher and lifelong student of the cosmologies and mythologies of the world — the podcast draws from a deep well of poetry, lore, and mythos to challenge conventional narratives on politics and public discourse, meditation and mindfulness, art, science, literature, and more.

Listen on Spotify.

Your trauma is your unique portal to the sacred.

To the Absolute. To the Divine.

To the Safety of yourself.

Here is the paradox:

Right at the heart of trauma,

right at the core of the Great Loneliness,

there is a place

that was never traumatised,

never broken, never damaged,

and deeply connected to ALL THERE IS.

At the core of the Great Loneliness,

you have found your true Self, absolute,

ever-present, innocent, whole.Unbroken. Unbreakable. Eternal.

You have flushed the deepest wound with love.

You have inhabited it. Illuminated it.

You have brought your astonishing light

to the darkest place, order to chaos.

You have befriended the monster inside,

and now she sleeps soundly at your feet.

You have conquered the forces of darkness,

slayed the great armies of fear and shame,

and won the heart of the one you love:

You.

The ‘inner child’ is no monster

– she is the most precious one.

She was only raging for your embrace.

- Jeff Foster

"Be around the light bringers, the magic makers, the world shifters, the game shakers.

They challenge you, break you open, uplift and expand you.

They don't let you play small with your life.

These heartbeats are your people.

These people are your tribe."

- Danielle Doby

‍Let the trees bathe your breath

Let the meadows embrace you

Let the mountains and the bees remind you

Let the sky flood in and allow the clouds to guide you.

Let your undoing be as total

As your becoming is beautiful –

And when the living world has climbed inside

Enough for you to feel four legs, scales and wings.

May you finally know yourself alive as all things –

Indivisible and responsible

Reborn into wholeness

Natural, Sacred and Wild

- Clare Dubois