Today’s Miracle Moment is About Your Power to Shift Right Now.
What does it mean to shift right now? It means that in this very moment, you can experience a miracle of letting go of old pain, anger, regret, guilt, and sadness and opening up to love, joy, gratitude, and compassion.
To illustrate this, here’s an experience that Sadhvi Bhagavati Saraswati, a dear friend of ours, had in India more than two decades ago. At the time, she’d traveled to India to take a break from her grueling work of getting a PhD at Stanford. When she was there, she met her spiritual teacher. At that very first meeting, she told him about her very painful past including a childhood that was filled with emotional and physical abuse. She told him this expecting him to feel sorry for her, but instead he said to her, “So when are you going to let go of that anger and resentment for all that you’ve been through? When are you going to forgive? Are you going to do it before you die?” She was in her twenties thent. She said, “Well yes of course, I’m going to forgive before I die.”
Then he said, “Well, are you going to do it an hour before you die?” She said, “No no, of course not, I’m going to do it well before then.” And then he said, “Well, a day before you die?” “No, much before that!” He said, “A week? A month? Then why not now? What’s going to make you any more ready a year from now, or 10 years from now — why are you putting it off?”
And she thought, “Well yes — why am I going to be any more ready then than I am now?”
He suggested that she go down to the sacred Ganges river and sincerely let it all go into the river.
He told her to offer her anger, resentment, worry, and fear into the river and to ask the river to take it away. She thought to herself, “Well, this is crazy. How could it possibly happen that easily?” But she sincerely wanted to be able to let go, so she decided to give it a try. So she walked down to the river, took off her shoes, put her feet into the pure cool waters, and felt her feet sinking into the sand. With the utmost sincerity of intention from her heart, from deep inside, she pulled up all that she could remember about her abuse and all that she had been through in her childhood and since then. She stood in that river sobbing. She cried for a very long time as she offered her pain into the river.
After a while, there were no more tears, and she felt a feeling of lightness, release, and peace come over her.
She was shocked, because she really did feel cleansed of the pain, worry, anger, and fear. Over the next few days, she tried to find the anger again because she was so amazed that it was gone. She tested it from every direction and she couldn’t bring it back. The river, along with her sincere heart and intention, had cleansed her. She felt so released from her old pain and resentment that what flowed in to fill that empty space was a joy, freedom, and love beyond what she thought possible.
Today, she continues to live with that love and that forgiveness in her heart. Let her story be an inspiration for you!
It is 100% possible to let go of any heavy feelings or past pain right here in this moment.
Here’s an exercise to experience a shift right now:
Think of a situation in your life that you’d like to let go of. It may be something that you feel angst, irritation, or resentment around that you know no longer serves you.
Focus on this situation and take a deep breath in. Breathe into your heart space and into your belly, and then exhale down into the earth. Open up your chest, heart, and belly, and breathe in Mother Earth’s nurturing, loving support. Allow this situation that you’d like to let go of (and the angst, frustration, sadness, or irritation about it) to come into the space where you’re sitting.
Take a deep breath from the heart of Mother Earth, and then exhale down through your body, and breathe into the heart of Mother Earth again. Breathe in the fiery, molten lava of Mother Earth into your belly and allow her to help you transform this as you exhale. Embrace the feeling you have about this situation. Don’t try to change it — just accept that it is here. If you feel resistance, accept that.
Breathe in this entire situation and your feeling of it up through your throat, to the center of your head, as if you’re giving it to the Divine. Allow all that you’re feeling to be in your heart and be transmuted in ways your mind can understand.
Allow all of it to come into the bonfire of your heart and be transmuted into love and light in ways you can’t understand. Feel the ashes of it gracefully flowing away as if a river was taking it all away
This week, we invite you to remember your power to shift right now.
Please let us know in the comments how you’re feeling from this. What are you letting go of and what are you opening up to? We’d love to hear from you!
