Stillness 7-2

when you sense danger, be very still.

I don’t mean freeze in fright. I mean be still and aware. Observe yourself. Meditate. Your ancient amygdala part of your brain has been a wonderful ally for thousands of years, but it doesn’t really know how to behave in our current culture of perceived, emotional threats, hurt feelings, and wanting to express our fullest potential. It’s concerned with survival. It triggers that old fight or flight response that sends our bodies into sweats and tremors. Do you feel afraid or too exhausted to cope? Breathe quietly into the situation to see what is next. Perhaps there is no danger—it’s just in your mind. Perhaps there is a real danger and you need to be very quiet so it will pass by without attaching to you. Whenever there’s an eclipse our ancient amygdala part of our brain starts acting erratically. By the way, today there is a full solar eclipse occurring in the constellation of Cancer the Crab. Eclipses—whether you believe in their actual affect on our lives or not, stir up ancient DNA of anxiety, confusion, and surrealness. How can the sun go completely dark in the middle of the day? It used to be considered an awesome and fearsome event. Animals still hush before and during an eclipse and our non-intellectual selves hush too. Once the eclipse—the symbol for danger—passes, all is well once again.