What Makes You Come Alive?

We’re so excited to share this community art mural with you all! Come visit the clinic to participate.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

— Dr. Howard Thurman

Getting a good night’s sleep makes me come alive. Eating something delicious makes me come alive. Intimacy makes me come alive. My 10 year old’s jokes, the impossible wisdom of my 13 year old and the kisses and cuddles of my 7 year old makes me come alive. Helping someone makes me come alive Humor makes me come alive. Letting myself cry when I am feeling frustrated, angry, sad makes me come alive. Nature makes me come alive. Creating and playing makes me come alive.

Coming alive is connecting and engaging in ways that wake us up to the beauty, fullness and joy of life. It only requires a willingness to make space, to be present and to connect. It centers around one’s most basic feelings and expressions of a human being. Still,many of us cannot make space for these simple life affirming things. We cannot give ourselves the permission to come alive.

Dr. Howard Thurman was an author, educator, mystic, and civil rights leader. He was an inspiration and mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King. His words are not feel good new age words. They are words meant to incite the greatest revolution of all times, the liberation of each of our hearts and minds.

We live in a society that has made coming alive subordinate to our daily ambition. And that ambition has crushed the life out of us without our noticing. It’s the anecdote of how to boil a frog: if you put a frog in hot water, it will jump out but if you put it in cold water and slowly turn up the heat, it will not notice that it is being cooked.This is what ambition is doing to us, slowly draining the life out of us without our noticing.

Daily ambitions are not simply grand plans and schemes. Daily ambitions are the belief that our present state must be sacrificed for something bigger and better in the future. This belief drives us to work long hours, neglect our loved ones, neglect our bodies and disconnect from the present moment. And yet it is commonly reported that at the end of our days, our ambitions remain an elusive mirage only to be replaced by regret. Regret that we did not spend our precious time doing the things that make us come alive.

Coming alive is an act of liberation and an act of courage. It can be as small as choosing to put bubbles in your bath, as serious as speaking a long held truth, as fulfilling as writing your novel, as silly as having a water balloon fight with your kids, as passionate as declaring your love to someone for the first time, as moving as pouring your heart out in prayer, or as defiant as using your body to protect and defend the water. Whatever it is, it is an act of self love and a connection with life.

Coming alive is jumping out of the pot before it’s too late. It’s risking scrutiny and judgement, challenging the voices that question our worth, our value, our right to come alive now, in the present moment. Too often, people’s response to my urging has been, but how can I come alive when all around me are endless struggles, suffering and injustices? And to that I say, it is precisely because of this that you must come alive.

Come alive to bring more light into the world. Come alive so there this more beauty, more joy, more connection in the world. Come alive in response to the gift of life your ancestors passed on to you. Come alive so that the children can know what aliveness is as they grow up. Come alive so that our Nation, our world knows that true liberty belongs to us all.

In community,

Thuy

Harmony is the Rule of Nature: The Year of the Fire Rooster!

The Lunar New Year recently began and I feel the first stirrings of Spring underway. Fresh blossoms are beginning to bloom, the sky lightens earlier, and I leave the house with one less layer on. I feel an energy slowly emerging that desires greater expression and connection with the external world. After a dark cold winter of the Fire Monkey when the world seemed topsy turvy, I am eagerly aligning with the Fire Rooster for a fresh new start.

Like Chinese Medicine, the Chinese Zodiac is based upon keen observations of the patterns and laws that govern the Natural World. Existing in harmonious relationship with the laws of the Natural World is the aim of the traditional Chinese way of life.What is considered the Natural World is not only what we commonly think of as Mother Nature, but includes us as human beings and the worlds that we create. The question of how to be in harmonious relationship with ourselves, Nature, the current state of the Nation and our fellow human beings is something that many of us have been struggling with as of late.

Harmony is a skillful ordering of separate elements to create an accord of greater value than what might emerge through accident, thoughtlessness or willful discord.To create harmony during troubling times, great skill is required and the wisdom of the Fire Rooster reminds us to call upon clarity, precision and intelligence for a successful resolution. Ignoring this careful work is a cockiness--the rooster’s imbalance-- that we cannot afford, especially during these trying times.

Where do we begin? We begin by putting our heads back on. Last thing we want to do in Year of the Rooster is to run around like chickens without heads. This may be hard as our fears are being triggered and setting off alarm bells inside our guts. Try not to panic and locate your head. In so doing, we may begin to see that there are logical systems and steps to caring for ourselves and our community that can establish peace and harmony.

Rooster is about structure - early to rise, early to bed. This year, it is critical to establish healthful regimens that ensure adequate rest, movement and nourishment. Prioritize eight hours of sleep, regular exercise and eating well. Additionally, organize your work and living space to increase order, cleanliness and efficiency. Care for yourself with thoughtful and established routines and your fear will eventually transform into empowerment.

Then turn your attention outwards and extend that empowerment to your communities. Connect with others to brainstorm systematic ways to realign our Nation with the Natural Order. Make alliances with those who are doing similar work. Harmony is the rule of Nature. In order to reestablish the Natural Order, we ourselves--through our living, through our being, through our conscious connection--must align with harmony. In the Year of the Fire Rooster, it is through careful, thoughtful and systematic action on both an individual and collective level that harmony and peace will prevail. Join me in this work. Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!!!!!

-Thuy

How will the fire rooster show up for you in your life this year?

Here at BCA, community is at the heart of what we do. Join us in conversation here on the blog. We invite you to share your thoughts, inspiration, or feedback in the comments below.

The gift of loss

Driving to work this morning, I saw birds in the sky, their V and M silhouetted shapes against billowy clouds of grey and white. They were commonplace birds - seagulls, ravens, pigeons - but today I was struck by them, like a visitor in a new land.  

Reflecting on the past year I have, as with many others, been filled by a deep sense of loss. The passing of leaders and creators that have helped shape me. The seemingly endless and senseless police brutality and violence against our Black brothers and sisters. The threats and violence at Standing Rock against Native Americans and mother Earth. Our local community devastated by the loss of bright young men and women in the Oakland fire. And a president elect who seems completely disconnected from his constituents. As such, it has also been a year of profound healing, enabling me to reconnect with life in deeper and simpler ways. The idea that loss leads to deeper connection feels like a paradox and like all paradoxes, its understanding cannot be grasped by the mind. It must be realized by the heart.

The term “at a loss” comes from hunting and is used in reference to hounds losing the scent. This past year I have been struck by that very feeling, a sense of bewilderment and confusion. To lose a scent is akin to losing a dream, the destination is no longer apparent and cannot be reached. I’ve had this feeling before when the rug is pulled from under me or I am unexpectedly thrown off track and have to quickly change plans and reconfigure. There is panic, anxiety and sometimes depression and paralysis but then I regroup and redirect.

This year I still can’t seem to find my footing, the feeling of loss is strong. And I actually feel this as positive and awakening. Being at a loss is like a short circuit to business as usual. Like a Zen Master slapping you upside the head, it hurts, it’s humiliating, it’s uncomfortable but it is exactly those things that wakes me up to challenge my own mind games. For many of us including me, our usual mind games are not mindful at all. We are running around like chickens without our heads (and hearts), obsessed with the busyness and trivialities of living but not feeling connected or alive. Much of life goes unnoticed when we are mindless like this. Put your head back on and your heart in its rightful place. Loss re-minds us of the uncomfortable fact that there is nothing permanent. As such, there is everything precious. For that may be the gift of loss.

A New Year has begun and life is short. I wish simple and beautiful things to take root in your life this year. There is much love and healing to cultivate in the world and in ourselves. May we locate all the loss and inspiration of the past year in our own hearts and in doing so may we ourselves give off the scent of love and healing so that none of us will be at a loss for very long.

Happy New Year BCA Community! All my love and blessings in the coming year.

Thuy