685th Week: On Being An “Energy Oyster”

685th Week: On Being An “Energy Oyster”

ByNancy Napier

What if it were possible to move through the world filtering negativity in much the way oysters filter the water they live in? Because of my belief in collective consciousness, I’ve often thought of oysters and the role they play in helping to clear and clean water. The other day, I saw a video of oysters cleaning the water in a glass tank, and it always inspires and amazes me how nature generates what is needed to bring balance and healing.

Here’s another question. What if each of us could hold the intention to carry into our daily activities qualities such as kindness, compassion, collaboration, and respect for others, and what if these qualities were able to act as filters for the collective negativity currently being expressed in our world? Read More “685th Week: On Being An “Energy Oyster””

A Derivation of Tonglen Meditation – A Form of Subtle Activism

ByNancy Napier

One of the practices I have committed to over the years is now called “subtle activism”.  Subtle activism involves any activity we undertake to support positive change that involves prayer, guided imagery, directing intentions to local or global situations, etc.  One of the primary subtle activism practices I have used for many years is a Buddhist practice called Tonglen.

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Another Version of Tonglen Meditation

ByNancy Napier

Tonglen is a process that invites us to breathe in our own suffering and that of countless others in our world, and then breathe out ease, comfort, peace. Through identifying the negativity and distress around us – recognizing that it is part of the human experience and, as such, not separate from us, along with the fact that many people are also experiencing exactly the suffering or negativity that is the focus of our meditation or experience right now – we diffuse some of the intensity of this suffering and chaos. In the Tonglen process, we breathe into the fire of love in our heart any suffering, distress of whatever kind, and then breathe out – through every pore, from our whole body and then out into the world – ease, calm, comfort, peace, compassion – whatever transforms the suffering we have taken in.
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