Blog of Jonathan Teel

The light is loving and kind and it comes from an inner source. Love is the source of that light and drives it outward into experience. The light in us wants to feel wholeness and to connect with other parts of itself that have felt separate for far too long. It wants to unify in that oneness and to know that it already is whole, but doesn't yet recognize it.  To feel divided and separate from each other is uncomfortable and challenging. To feel unseen and unheard is hard. The light in me wants to recognize the light in you, however. It doesn't want to experience that it is any different. It wants to see us as we truly are in that union.  We might experience darkness in its many forms existing inside of us. We might experience darkness in the political, economic, and social landscape of our time. We might observe negativity and darkness in the media and in the messaging in an age of endless information. But is that darkness our true reality and the real nature of the inner sel...

The winter solstice comes every year and offers us an opportunity to make the most of a new Sun cycle that shines down upon us. That new cycle connects to a new cycle for us too, naturally. It is a time to reimagine and reignite intentions and enthusiasm for what is to come.  I've joined a lot of winter and summer solstice meditations over the years. I've used the chance to reset and rethink and feel into what changes I'd like to make in my life. As we set our winter solstice vision for the next months, we have to be prepared to take action on what we intend. We have to be prepared to tread gently and lovingly too with ourselves as we put energy into what we want to improve.  One could easily say that each day offers us a new opportunity to make a change in our inner or outer experience. Waiting for special moments on the calendar to do so aren't always helpful to our growth. The present matters. Still, we can take advantage of this winter solstice and the new year to c...

For two decades, I have been on an intense journey of both understanding myself and deciding how I would like to show up in the world. Even if I always had a sense of the outcome, I had to navigate many competing and challenging parts within me and around me in my relationship to the rest of the world. I share this only because what follows is part of that outcome, but it also connects to what's going on right now in our world. It is relevant to the past, the present, and the future. It comes from a place of love.   Recently, I had yet another one of my premonitions (or intuitions) that outlined the present and offered up a view of the current and coming challenges. It existed mostly as a feeling. It wasn't novel per say, but I found it helpful in order to take stock of how I will show up as we move into this next phase of human experience. We are, in actuality, already in all of this, but there is still more to come. Let me briefly summarize by saying that these three challen...

Finding peace might seem to be a tall order and maybe this blog is too ambitious. Granted, these are only some keys that might be helpful and for many of us it could be a lifelong journey to experience the peace we want.  So often though I think, however, that if we can understand ourselves and begin to love and honor who we are, peace is a natural outcome.  It is one that involves taking a unique look at our lives, relationships, and our environment.   Most of us have been on our own journey. Each of us is also different with unique filters for perception. We've been tested and challenged to attain our worthy goals for a peaceful, happy, and healthy life.  We may be in the midst of that now.  Like anyone, I've lived through ups and downs, but my intention has often been to experience more peace. The more I intended, the more it showed up, even though there have been plenty of distractions (I'm still working on it too by the way).  That said, here are some ...

Anxiety is a common experience for most of us. Some have it more strongly than others. Anxiety disorders or conditions have a wide variety of ways that they show up for people. Some have grown over time while others are triggered in stressful situations and then continue.  In my research of anxiety, it has been stated that anxiety often arises from a number of factors: a parent with an anxiety disorder (genetic), traumatic events, stressful situations, substance abuse, or health problems. These are not the only reasons, but the most common.  In my experience (and as defined by others), anxiety is a persistent fear or worry about every day circumstances. Anxiety is also focused largely on the future or something upcoming, whether real or imagined.  For anyone who has had anxiety or has an anxiety condition, we will know what it feels like to be anxious. How it impacts the body, mind, and emotions. How it leaves us feeling when we are in it, either from time to time or sust...

Gratitude is the art or act of being grateful. Being grateful for life, for self, for others, and for the things or experiences we have. Gratitude is a thought, a word, and an action. Gratitude is a "felt sensation." Gratitude appreciates the simple and more complex moments in life both past, present, and even future.  It is very difficult to be grateful for the events, circumstances, or  experiences that have given us pain, hurt, or suffering. It is challenging to let go of loved ones or to experience personal struggles with self or with others. Life happens and in some of the worst case scenarios, gratitude is hard to come by.  Can we however begin to practice gratitude for the things that we have and for the things or people we have lost? We can gradually and gently cultivate a practice of being grateful for these difficult experiences in our lives?  What are the benefits of practicing Gratitude? One can find many studies on the benefits of gratitude, but these ar...

Love is everything. Love comes and goes, flows and forms, upends and opens. Love is ever-present and presently everywhere. Love moves in and out, underpins coming together and falling apart, rising and meeting, or unraveling and disconnecting, but always coming together again.  Love is a benevolent force for Love without wavering. Love is a constant and never-ending experience, unconditional and free. Love may be at the heart of all of life here and there and intimate in its endless unfolding and uninterrupted infinity.  So why so much fear of expressing Love? Afraid to Love each other, to Love ourselves, or to Love the Earth or existence? Why so afraid to express an emotion or a feeling that is so ingrained in us, and yet so comfortable with those actions so far from Love?  Oh they say it is human nature to be unloving or survivalist, but I don't believe it. Even in the darkest, most mistaken places or hearts, could those individuals only be wanting love? Wanting to be s...

The following blog is a journal entry. It is unedited and raw. When I mention the Divine, I must share that what I am referring to is not the judgmental God of many religions, but instead what I consider the Source of All That Is and fully and completely loving and unconditional.   Surrender  The phrase “I am not enough” came through strong today to answer the question that was asked me about a belief I maybe holding onto. It came through a sacred tarot card from the RUMI deck. I pulled the Cloak of the Christ card and later read the Passion for Purpose that goes with it. This was the answer to my question about a belief that I am holding onto. That “I am not enough.” Earlier this week, in the field past the neighbors, I stood in the sun on the snow and closed my eyes. Something similar came through to be released related to the notion of not being enough. I asked for this energy from this life and past lives to be released. A lot seemed to be released in the Divine's p...

  After a winter storm, the white fluffy snow sticks lightly to the barren ground. In the sunlight, the snow sparkles of gold and stars. The fallen snow rests upon trees, inanimate objects in the yard, and two large machines, whose landscaping duties have been delayed. It rests upon parked cars and still roofs.  Against the light and blue sky, the landscape below is lit up in a winter wonderland of crisp cold and weekend silence.  New winter boots fit snug on my feet. A new winter coat and some borrowed gloves warm chest and hands while a winter hat holds tight to head and hair. Barish, my dog, prances playfully near me as he awaits our direction. Maybe a walk across the field.  The crunching of winter boots on frozen ground overrides everything. I walk uphill toward shimmering light through still trees. A crow caws from a tree somewhere. The distant sound of a snow blower momentarily pierces the previous silence and then stops.   The destination sits behin...

 I am a teacher this year for a group of 9th graders in Durham, North Carolina, at a public charter school. This is my second year there teaching the same group of students I taught in 8th grade. I have been fortunate to move up with them in grades as they grow and discover more of who they are and what they are passionate about.  It may seem strange to think that these young students could know as much about who they are or what they care about at only 13 to 15 years old but times have changed. Our youth are growing up fast, showing signs of maturity and awareness only befitting of a generation powered by information but also a sense of what's important in life. As teachers, we also have a responsibility to instill in them such awareness and appreciation for what's possible when they trust in themselves.   As the nation moves through another phase of the pandemic and these young people deal with being online and away from their friends in the classroom, we still hav...

I teach a diverse group of 12 and 13 year old 8th graders in Social Studies in Durham, North Carolina. As part of our weekly current events in recent months, we discussed the large protests moving across Latin America. Since I lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina between 2003-2010, I often share stories with them and we reflect on the plight of a large majority of citizens south of the US border and elsewhere.   As a class, we considered the political and social crisis raging in Venezuela, the violence in Bolivia after disputed presidential elections, and the large protests in Chile over mounting public grievances against the government. Public discontent then boiled over in Columbia. They also looked at the presidential election in Argentina that returned a left-wing party to power amidst another possible economic crisis in that country. I observed in Argentina and throughout the region that common citizens were fed up with their persistent economic hardship, pover...

I grew up near a lake, a river, and the ocean in a small town in coastal Maine. I spent my summers on the lake watching sunsets and its play on myriad cloud formations. I marveled at the uniqueness of each sunset and was teased at times for it.  Each moment, however, was different and awe-inspiring in its beauty. I smelled flowers, observed wildlife, and swam with fish. I watched angelic snowflakes fall from the sky upon my face in the wintertime. I was blessed and deeply appreciative.   I grew up with clean air and a fresh breeze off the Atlantic. I played in the frigid ocean and smelled the salty air. I heard stories of intoxicating air pollution in US cities and across the Earth. I was saddened. As any curious kid, I wondered why.  Against the expansiveness of the ocean, there was the majesty of the mountains. I hiked growing up, enamored with the smell of the forest on trails and scaled small mountains. During a gap year, I hiked Volcanoes National Park on t...

A gaucho village beckoned.  It offered silence from the chaos of a city that never sleeps, of honking car horns, dump trucks pounding pot holes, and the buzz of incessant activity.  A gust of wind picked up as I descended from the public bus. It dusted the old cars with dirt parked nearby as well as a group of middle-aged women carrying plastic grocery bags. I observed their sun-beat skin and preoccupied looks with curiosity.   I moved through the village streets with melancholy as if I had been there before in my dreams. To this quiet place of horses, farmland, and simplicity.   I arrived at a park and found shade under a maple tree. I wondered about the last rain when I rested my backpack on grass colored brown. There I contemplated  the quietude of this far off place.  There was a creek and it flowed through the park forming different pools for swimming or dipping. A small waterfall pounded slippery rocks down the hill from me. ...

I walk in nature.  I walk along a trail that leads somewhere. It is nestled into the green growth of a forest whose trees reach the sky. The singing of birds echo in my ears, each with a distinct song and message. One bird here and one bird there.  I hear the branches of the trees as they sway in the subtle breeze. I notice my footsteps on the dirt path. A dog barks in the distance but I know it is not mine. My dog, Barish, is near, jumping over fallen trees, smelling the scent of animals, and investigating the home of a creature below the ground.  The trail takes me to a stream. Flowing water fills my eyes, ears, and heart. It tries to calm the endless thoughts that rumble through my mind like freight trains. I walk over a footbridge and it bounces against my weight. From my view the stream now sparkles in the sunlight, its rays pouring down from the heavens.   My busy mind continues unabated even if nature is slowly winning. I walk along a straigh...