In stressful times, it’s easy to get thrown off course.

During these past few weeks I’ve been keenly aware of the massive hurricanes sweeping our globe. They’ve not just been in the United States and the Caribbean.

I’m an empath with antennae that are fine-tuned to global environmental crises. I also have friends, family, and students in hurricane affected areas.

Perhaps the thing that’s been throwing me off the most though is a long stretch of sleeplessness. Not sleeping is certainly contributing to my empathic nature being even more prominent than usual. While I’m dedicated to a spiritual practice and self care, when I don’t sleep, my brain gets so confused that I lack all motivation to do the things I know will help.

When my mind starts to wander into the kind of negative, fearful thoughts that inevitably arise at 2 a.m. while I’m not sleeping, I simply say out loud: “I am holy ground.”

Sometimes I stand up, feel my feet on the floor, and connect with the ground. Usually, though, I’m so tired that I just lie in bed. But in saying those words aloud, I feel a shift in a visceral way, through my body and my heart. When I say these words, my breath lets go, and some of the stress in my body is alleviated.

From there, I can take another breath, and make a better choice about the next sleepless moment. Instead of being pulled further into a spiral of despair, I’m pulled toward hope. I remember to pray. I remember that I believe in miracles. I remember that I’m not alone.

These days I’ve come to accept that I may or may not sleep. But if I remember that I am holy ground, I don’t abandon myself when I’m at my most vulnerable. If I am holy ground, then I’m able to connect to a web of sacredness, a network of invisible support that always knows my name.

So. I whisper it. I chant it. I sing it out loud: “I am holy ground.” I say it over and over again, so all my cells wake up and remember.

~
You are Holy Ground {Poem}.

When earthquakes shatter your foundation
You are holy ground.

When nuclear war gets played with like a game
You are holy ground.

When the wildfires come, and the hurricanes,
and you know that climate change is already here:
You are holy ground.

When fear arises and stops your breath
and you can’t take another step,
You let it rise, and let it go
and know again—
You are holy ground.

Over and over in these changing times,
when an old paradigm is dying
You let the old paradigms die within you as well.

You call out the lie of your weakness,
your powerlessness, your shame
You step into the wider truth, the deeper truth,
the ever present, unchanging truth
of who you are and why you came.

You remember the call:
to be in service to the earth’s
Great time of change

You want to remember
and help others remember.
You know that fear cloaks
the light you are.

To come back home,
you walk.
Every step you take
is planted on the earth.
You remember
the promise you made.

Right now, when it feels impossible
is the time to remember
without a doubt—
who you are:
you are
holy ground.

You are holy ground.

You are
holy ground 
already,
even now.

With every breath you take:
Remember.

We are holy ground. Now, always, still.

And if that’s so, then we are loved. If we’re loved, then we’re not abandoned. If we’re not abandoned, then there’s hope, and when there’s hope, we feel a part of life again, even at 3 a.m. on another sleepless night, when the whole world feels like it is on shaky ground.

All of us need each other to remember who we really are—holy ground, holy ground, holy ground.

 

Author: Debora Seidman
Image: Deviantart
Editor: Jen Schwartz
Copy Editor: Travis May
Social Editor: Waylon Lewis