A very different Spring

I have been lacking the words or it is so stirred up in experiential terms that it is difficult to know where to start and it takes time to digest everything that is happening in the world right now.

The truth is that for some years now I expected a profound world revolution to happen, but in reality I did not expect anything like this: a pandemic.

Just access the internet to realize that theories are immense about what this virus is, why this is happening, where and when this situation started and will end.For many theories that exist, whether they come from mental or loving contemplation or even factual, I decided to follow the heart with logic in the mix.What does it mean?

Today it means that I wake up in a simple way, very early (5:20), I enjoy the dawn, wrapped in a mountain filled with a sawn fog. A mountain that rests from a rainy night, from water that watered the plants of the vegetables that I put on the ground this week, that refreshes the seeds of other vegetables, the trees that burst into bloom ready to give fruit and more fruit. And that refresh the spirits of the Portuguese who bubble in a fire of impatience, fear and so many other emotions.

I hear the owl and the water that flows in the stream (immense and strong).I remember last night's dream: I was walking in the empty streets of Italy.

I light the stove to heat water, in a decoction of anti-inflammatory roots and citrus juice.And I get ready for daily meditation.It all seems normal, doesn't it?

But the truth is that the world is different. We are in a period of profound turmoil that moves so much that has to be dealt with, that has to be seen, that has to be eliminated and dropped. And, at the same time, it is a period of stopping, of being inside, of using all the senses to be.

It is a period of absolute and profound worldwide change.

That each of us is daily changing is true, but a virus that affects all people in the world in such a profound and radical way calls for a different posture and is having effects in the present moment that I have never seen in my 41 years of life.

I feel privileged, blessed and deeply grateful to be where I am, with whom I am and for so many other things. For a comfortable and loving home, for food available in the pantry and outside on the ground, for being in a giant family full of love and togetherness (with my husband, my blood family in Porto, my English family so many kilometers away and my spiritual family that is here 7 minutes away and many others that are scattered in neighboring villages, other corners of Portugal and countries of the world), for the internet and for the phones that allow us to communicate with everyone, for the will of not to survive, but to live in deep joy and availability for what wants to happen, to be at the service of this immense Universe.

A Universe, God(dess), Light, Love that act in a mysterious way and to which we can only surrender, prostrate.In this way, the best and the worst of each one comes to the forefront. And like this, so many opportunities to choose the path of (re)volution and transformation.

Of course, there is fear in this mix and insecurity, but my attention is not there.

I embrace all the emotions that arise (a huge range!) And I make a constant choice to be, with curiosity and with the unfolding of the true human essence.I embrace the pain of physical distance, radical change and death.

I embrace confusion and incomprehension.I embrace the acceptance of what is happening.

I embrace the love that I am and the desire to express it.

I embrace the stopping and the action that is requested.

I embrace darkness and light.

I embrace uncertainty.

We only have the present moment and I answer to that.In a spring that came rainy and fresh and full of uncertainty, but with lots of light and immensity of love.

For now, in Portugal, we have a state of emergency. Thus was declared by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

What to do?

What to be?

How to respond?

I just have my experience to share with you.

This is what I have done and will continue to do.

These times call for communication and sharing.

And deep surrender.

We are together, now and forever!

In love, gratitude and surrender.

Raquel PW

P.S. - These podcasts (in english by my teacher Cynthia Bampton) have been wonderful and this one (in portuguese) has brought me a new perspective as well.

P.S.2 - Follow me in social media to know how I have been responding to these times.