I grew up in Grinnell, Iowa (first through sixth grade). We moved there for my dad’s first teaching job after he received his PhD from the University of Michigan. In many ways it was an idyllic childhood in a small midwestern community.

Long summer days were largely focused on the community pool. At the time the pool was a very large rectangle with a deep end which included high and low diving board options. The low dive was a low risk proposition. The high dive, something entirely different.

Older kids knew how to run and jump, leaping into the air and landing with a cannonball or jackknife to the delight of everyone waiting in line for their turn. For them, the low dive was a pedestrian exercise, the high dive an instrument of artist expression.

But not for me; the high dive was a source of concurrent curiosity, joy, and fear. Perched on the lip at the end of diving board, I felt like I could see to the ends of the earth, the pool an unimaginable distance below. Eventually I would step off into space, only to take a short, terrifying and exhilarating ride downward, back into the pool.

One day, I decided it was time to run and jump off the high dive. Standing in the queue I psyched myself up for what was to come. Once I arrived at the top of the ladder, I stood still, gathered myself, and began to run down the diving board. When I got to the end of this runway in the sky, my perfectly timed strides would ensure my left foot became my pivot foot, stopping my forward motion and directing all that kinetic energy downward into the diving board before jumping up, landing again while gaining even more altitude and springing out into space for what I was sure would be a record setting cannonball . . .

Instead, my pivot foot slipped, and I flew off the end of the diving board with my feet out in front of me. By the time I hit the surface of the pool, my back was perfectly parallel to the water, my dreams for a record setting cannonball dashed as instead I set a record for the most painful landing that summer.

I’m sure I was crying underwater as I made my way to the side, doing my best to not express my agony out loud by the time I climbed out of the pool. My bright red back the outer evidence of my misstep. Internally, a small revision to my awareness at the time: Diving boards can be tricky to navigate.

***

The solstice offers a springboard into deeper consciousness on a silver platter two times each year. Each includes the invitation to accelerate more fully into the unknown of Divine Presence. At the same time, we are also invited to attend to all the issues not yet resolved.

It’s probably easy to see the repeating pattern in your life: the dissonance which hasn’t yet been transmuted and integrated continues to come up for attention, with each successive opportunity more urgent than the last, until there is nothing else to address.

We’re seeing this dynamic played out collectively right now.

***

Collective shifts require individual transformation.

The most significant individual transformations are initiated and sustained through a shift in perspective.

And the most profound change in perspective comes not from thinking, but from experience.

Consider your life or the collective for living proof.

Experiences of dissonance inspire change while experiences of resonance sustain, deepen, and integrate the transformation.

The ultimate source of all resonance is the Divine by whatever name.

Whether your focus is on attending to the dissonance that has been stirred up and is demanding attention, or on exploring a deeper experience of resonance, experiencing the ineffable within is an unmatched resource, never more important than it is right now.

Will you slip on the solstice springboard, or will you take flight?

That’s it for this week … From My Heart.

We are always in God’s Love and Presence . . . Further into the Mystery—All the More Extraordinary with You!

Ken

PS – Here are some resources to support you in your spiritual work this week and as you prepare for the solstice:

Today’s live stream at 5p Eastern (Wednesday, June 10, 2020) on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xILseEd8V-E

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel (it’s free) by clicking this link.

The Resonance Community (we’re in the middle of a series focused on Living in the Mirror – with our next session this coming Monday, the 15^th of June): https://kenwstone.com/resonance/community/

The Deep Dive Virtual Retreat (the next session is on Thursday the 18^th, with a special solstice session on Saturday the 20th):  https://kenwstone.com/deep-dive/