Bubble Living

Shaman Guy and I like to joke that we live in a bubble. Bubbleville is a safe, quaint little town on a beautiful coast and we don’t often leave its borders (except to go to an equally cute town in New Hampshire). You could say we bounce from bubble to bubble. We are well, quite frankly, blessed, if I may use a word that’s a bit religioso.

It’s a wonderful world.

Yet the truth is that I live in a bubble that is much more than where I physically live.

In my bubble, there is peace and love. Magic exists. Possibilities are endless. Abundance abounds. Coincidence and serendipity take care of me. Bluebirds sing. I could wander around town in a daze and eventually make it home no worse for wear. My world is full of zippity-doo-da kind of days.

And I am grateful. Very grateful. Life hasn’t always been this way and I am quite aware that it still isn’t this way for the majority of the world. In service and gratitude, I do my best to share my wealth – the wealth of my heart, and yes of my pocketbook too, with those around me. I laugh. I hug. I tell and show people that I care.

Before you get the wrong idea, let me please say that life is not all juju-bees and flowers. Frustration erupts. I lose my patience. I am not perfect. The bubble is not perfect. I sometimes have to dig deep to express my truth. Watch out if I get hungry or tired. Like so many of us, I juggle how to be a mindful mama and a conscious romantic partner, how to have a creative and successful career and still nurture myself.

Yet for the most part, I live in a quiet place. I meditate. I see the good in the world. I believe in the power of love – sincerely and whole-heartedly. I write. I coach. I play with Shaman Boy and adore my Shaman Guy. I do my best to share this contentment with my loved ones and the people in town or online that I do interact with.

For many years, I have felt somewhat guilty about living here. Not everyone gets to live in Bubbleville. Not everyone has a gorgeous, safe place to live. Not everyone has outer or inner peace in their lives. Why should I?

Why do some of us create bubbles for ourselves? And why do we get the privilege of living in one?

Like many healers/teachers/light workers, I am a sensitive person – energetically and emotionally. I feel very strongly. I pick up on the emotion of situations and others. I vibrate at the level of my own awareness – and I also vibrate at the level of what is around me.

I know that there are so many of you Shaman Girls out there who are sensitive like me, who have created bubbles for yourselves to survive and even thrive in. For a long time, my bubble was a protective mechanism. It was hazy and cloudy and kept the big bad world out. But by working on myself, I’ve scrubbed my bubble clean and now my energy sparkles. I stopped being afraid of the world beyond bubble boundaries as soon as I started deeply loving and caring for myself. Now the bubble is my place of power. It is home. And from this vantage point, I can be of true service to the larger world.

Living in a bubble is a privilege – absolutely. But it also has a purpose. And it comes with responsibility.

I have spent time living in rough neighborhoods, teaching in tough schools that were as far from a bubble as I could find without moving to another country. While these experiences certainly contributed to who I am today, I’m not sure that my living in a hard-scrabble part of town contributed to my happiness or the ultimate wellbeing of those around me. I played the role of the martyr and naïve hero while living and teaching in these areas and while I did do some good, I certainly didn’t glow with love or happiness. How could I? I wasn’t happy inside.

Tonight I watched The First Grader, a movie about a Kenyan man who went to elementary school when he was in his 80s after being denied the opportunity to be educated when he was young. He had fought British rule of his land and paid for it with the murder of his wife and children, being tortured and maimed, losing his home, his tribe, his land.

My heart ached as I watched this true story being portrayed. And I know that atrocities like these still happen today around the world.

Definitely not part of bubble world.

Years ago, watching a movie like this would have shrunk my bubble into a microscopic pinpoint. I would have grown intensely sad about other people’s misfortune. But making myself sad doesn’t add much to the love in the world. Having compassion, yes. Being aware, yes. Hurting myself, no.

For the first time, I felt the true power of the bubble. I saw my part in the larger world. By living in my bubble, I see the world differently. I vibrate differently. I hold the space for the world to be bubble-like. I have chosen to live in a physical, emotional, energetic space that is most conducive to my genuine happiness. I pass on and radiate this happiness as much and as often as possible. It touches you, and you, and her and him, and Shaman Boy and Shaman Guy. It makes a difference, in my own small way.

Life has somehow asked me to live largely – large of heart and spirit. I do my best to say yes. I do my best to inspire myself and perhaps others. Living in a bubble has a purpose. For in here, I can be my joyful, sensitive self and still be safe. I can do my work for myself and our planet. It is my sanctuary and from it I can go forth multiply.

As I’ve become stronger in maintaining my love bubble, I can take more in and also “send” more out. I no longer have the desire to be ostrich-like and shut out the larger world. But the larger world is full of hate and hurt and heartbreaking sadness. I know this. And I choose to direct my attention and my energy toward the love. Toward the light.

I now see that living in this bubble is a responsibility. I can increase my ability to respond to my life and even the larger world when I live here. That’s my definition of responsibility. I can respond with love. I can emanate passion, purpose, peace.

My bubble is a lot more porous than it used to be. I pull my head up and turn it away from the screen, away from the concerns of my immediate family much more often these days. But I still choose to sit and energize within my own sphere. Living in a bubble no longer is from a place of fear of what I might see or encounter “out there” but rather from a place of loving what’s right here. Loving the best I can. Singing from my heart as loudly as I can. Being the bright sensitive soul as courageously as I can.

I might not always succeed in loving large, even from the safety of my bubble. But when I do, my bubble grows a little bigger and a little stronger. And when you choose to surround yourself with your love and your light, when you live in a space that makes you genuinely happy, then you are making the greatest contribution to the world. You are contributing and attracting more love, light and happiness to your family, community, nation, planet. See it ripple out? If all of us chose to make our own bubbles, there would be much less drama, war, conflict, hatred on this planet.

Can you picture it? Bubbles floating everywhere. Bumping into each other, growing bigger. Sparkling in the air, on the grass, in your hair.

In my dream, one day the whole world is living here, in a beautiful, safe bubble, with me and with you.

It’s a lovely way to be.

Let’s dream it into being Shaman Girls.

Bubbliciously yours,

M