Politics & Religion- Continued Reflection on 2020

August is always a tough month for me and my husky, Bodie, and we’re grateful this August is over.  Every year you can count on the heat and the fires.  Yesterday was an amazing day because it didn’t just rain in the Roaring Fork Valley— it poured.  I was so excited that I had to go for a run in it.  Inhaling the petrichor was exhilarating— an organic state of ecstasy if you will.  The double rainbow that stretched across the valley afterward wasn’t bad either.  All my senses were activated and perhaps that is what brought on today’s reflection.

I always thought that if I ever opened a bar, I would name it Politics & Religion.  Election years have always been triggering for me— 2016 was the most difficult year of my life thus far.  What’s interesting about this is that in 2016 I thought I had everything I ever wanted.  In 2016, I allowed politics and religion to trigger me.  I allowed my job to define my self-worth.  I allowed my relationships to determine if I was worthy of love.

Nearly four years later I have a different perspective.  I am still passionate about politics but I no longer identify with the outcome because I cannot control the outcome.  I will check my boxes and mail in my ballot (hopefully).  I will still be your friend if we have opposite beliefs because it is our experiences in life that bring us to those beliefs… unless you’ve inherited your beliefs— in which case— check yo’ self.  My personal relationships with my people matter to me more than my relationship with the U.S. President (because no relationship exists between me and the U.S. President).  All you people shaming each other on Facebook and whispering in public, “but they’re a Trump supporter” like no one’s aloud to have a damn opinion.  The opinion is the point— be mature enough to have a discussion about it.

This brings me to religion.  People want to wrap God up in a man-made box with specific rules and regulations and anyone outside that box is going to hell.  Who are you to tell me how I’m able to experience God?

I create my personal heaven on Earth because it is present, real, and tangible— it is also entirely up to me.  To me, God is an energetic vibration that I can only describe as sheer ecstatic bliss.  I feel this when I look into the eyes of my nieces and nephews and especially when they laugh, when my dog talks to me and lays on top of me after I’ve been gone a while, when my sisters and I laugh so hard we can’t breathe and have to check if we peed our pants, and when I drop into a powder field and can’t separate the snow from the sky.  This is my flow, my source connection, my church— my reality.  Do I require that the people in my life subscribe to this— absolutely not.  Do I want to hear about how they experience God— absolutely yes.

I am not ashamed to say that 2020 has been one of the best years of my life thus far for many reasons and despite the misery and tragedies that have occurred.  When you identify with fear and anxiety you will breed fear and anxiety.  When you choose to focus on your happiness, your positivity and love— this is what you will breed.  You aren’t able to help anyone if you’re unhappy.   How I show up everyday in the work that I do and for the people that I love is what matters. All seasons and years come to an end.

Yours in Evolution,

Courtney