By: When you’re really woke, You register and Vote!
2020 vision, perfect sight, vision, See Us!
The intersection of COVID-19 and George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis
© Audio Reading by Terri Gardner, MSW
For all the times you didn’t matter,
For all the generations you were invisible and silenced,
And made to feel irrelevant and shamed.
For all the times the collective of human frailty
Tried it’s hardest to define you. To break you, to destroy you.
For all the places you searched for somewhere to hide,
Just to get out of the line of fire, just to gather yourself,
For all the debts you pay, that were not of your making.
For all the times you had to do more and be more,
Fleeing in the dark, desperate, sweating and lashing out,
When it was never clear, just who was chasing you.
The ageless phantoms and shadows chip away at you,
The wise part of you has been dormant almost forever.
You were taught not trust it, to separate from it.
But you endeavor to return to your truth.
It is in your very being….. to stand up,
to protect, to give, to show,
to be that one who could make it all better.
to be the man……………
…………Love Meditation to honor the Black man
Come sit with me, your soft pillow chair. Come lay back on me and close your eyes. Take a breath and release your tension. Your stress. Your weariness. Rest your elbows upon me and sink closer, closer to my heart. Relax and breathe in my fragrant oils of chamomile and lavender. This is my love meditation to you, my strong heart king.
Slow your breath until you can feel it moving through your chest. Focus on feeling it come in and out of your body. Make your eyes heavy and heavier still. Close them softly and meet me in the darkness. The room is disappearing. The sounds, this place and me become far, far away things.
Release and Breathe. Calm your thoughts.
Release and Breathe. Calm your body.
Release and Breathe. Calm your spirit.
Release and Breathe; calm your feelings.
Breath is the link to where you belong. It calls you to come now. My strong heart King, look down at the sword and shield in your hands. There is no need for them now. Your power is far beyond what they can wield. Put down your weapons; place them gently at your feet. They have no real place in your being. The world has convinced you that you need to take up arms. But that is an illusion. Your strength is inside. Take a deep breath and blow the weapons away like so much dust. Just Breathe.
Fix your eyes upon the darkness. You have seen it many times, but this time it calls for you to stay a while. It calls to you as an ally, a friend. So look into the darkness in a new way. With an openness that sees past the nothing; into the infinite. See the darkness around you break into tiny
particles. Feel yourself lifting to float above, high above this earthly plane. You look down at your hands, arms and legs and you see yourself suspended in space. Your body is as light as spark, a flicker of light. Breath comes slowly and easily, no tightness, no second guessing. Breath flows and comes again without effort. Your gaze is fixed as you try to make out the horizon. But there is none. You have lost your sense of direction but found your sense of being. There is yesterday and tomorrow all in this one moment.
There is no end and no beginning, only here and now in the majesty of the galaxy that surrounds you. This is your peaceful kingdom, this is where you reign strong heart king. Your search has lead you here to the vast glory that is the universe. See the particles as they expand and you recognize them as stars, and planets and suns. They become brighter and more colorful with your awareness. The colors dance in your eyes as you drink them in. This is a dance you know , your spirit knows and remembers. The colors, the stars, the suns come so close that they pass right through you.
You are one and the same with the universe, no longer separate and apart. You look back over your shoulder and see tiny specks moving further and further away from you. The specks are your doubt, fear, and worry. The specks are your defensiveness, guilt and shame. See that they are no longer a part of your constellation, no longer a part of your being. They float further away from you. They are not able to sustain themselves in your peaceful, loving orbit.
But it is your innate wisdom that rules you now. Wisdom has returned to reside within you once again. You see and recognize the gemstones that make up your crown. Jade, cobalt and amethyst,
for they are like you, forged from millions of years of existence. You, your wisdom, your suns, are one with the universe. You are the ages, the gems and the infinite. Just Breathe.
You are in a place of peace like none known to you ever before. You are in a calm that has no earthly reference point. The quiet, the dark, the light, the gems, are all that matters in your kingdom. Just Breathe.
You are in a place of harmony and light that is beyond the simplicity of words. It only exists in feelings. It is a satisfaction, an acceptance that comes from that One true place. You have understanding that surpasses all meaning. Just Breathe.
Every thought and feeling you have expands the universe to a higher level of love and care. This is the gift you give to yourself and your peaceful kingdom.
So just Breathe.
Bathe in the cosmos that accepts you fully and nourishes your potential. Bask in all that you have been made to be. Take in all the elements that surround you, feel them strengthen and create you anew. Revive and restore; for this is your time with the infinite.
Linger in that place as long as you need. There is no urgency when it comes to your soul. There is no human need, nor lacking in this celestial place. Just Breathe.
You start your journey back to the earth plane. You streak like a supernova towards the blue water planet. There is no regret. No desire to grab and take souvenirs because you have the knowing that you can always return. Knowing that you will be welcomed in that timeless door every time you choose to enter. The trip across the forever delivers you into the solace and comfort that you have so much longed for. So just Breathe.
Come back to us with a new sense of purpose. You are freshened and initiated with the dew of this never before experienced day. You return glowing with the brilliance of 10,000 suns and calmed by the coolness of a thousand moons. Your colors bending and shifting as you morph into your newly invigorated self.
So you deliberately return back to this earth’s body, to the material world. You begin to notice, to feel your body resting against mine, acknowledging the heaviness of this earth plane. But you are also lifted and buoyed by your recent travels.
Slowly now, you slowly open your eyes and adjust them to the light, to this place.
But your transformation is enduring; you can revel in your new alignment.
So my strong heart king, please know
You deserve all that is good in this life,
You are all that I need,
You are everything this world needs,
You are my strong heart king
So just breathe.
©2016 Terri L. Gardner All rights reserved. This writing may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without express permission from the author.
