By Caverly Morgan
Exhaustion. Overwhelm. Anxiety.
These are the three words I hear most often—in retreats, in my inbox, and among friends. The world can feel heavy, and most of us are carrying more than we might even realize. We are conditioned to downplay how what’s happening in the collective seeps into our personal lives. To be overwhelmed is an honest response to a moment in which so much is going on in our shared world.
I keep arriving at the same place with it all: Love. Love with a capital L. It’s the only foundation I know of that doesn’t give way — what’s unchanging, unconditional, beyond time, and ever-present even when the content of our lives, and our world, is on fire (literally and figuratively). This ground of Love is a simple, sturdy place to stand when the whole world feels like it’s falling apart. It’s the light that doesn’t burn out.
So how do we find this Love when shit hits the fan? One practice—arising from Love with the power to return us to love—is moving toward rather than away. I wrote in The Heart of Who We Are :
We’ve had our fair share of against infused with hate.
We need the vision of toward infused with Love.
Moving toward isn’t always the easy answer. It requires us to stay present when every nerve ending is screaming to shut down. To deliberately remain open hearted when the current of fear pushes us to defend. It asks us to get more comfortable with the unknown and to keep showing up—for each other, for ourselves, for what’s possible— even when it’s hard. We can’t do this alone. The fun secret? We weren’t meant to.
A Practice to Carry With You
Enter the SNAP practice. Whenever you catch yourself spiraling into worry, regret, or the habitual loops of the conditioned mind, snap your fingers. The sound cuts through. It interrupts the pattern. Then:
- See it—notice what’s here. What are you caught in? Is there a story being told? Is there tension in the body? See what is happening. Now.
- Name it—with kindness, gentleness, and without judgment: The inner critic is on the scene. Worry is here. Planning. Regret. Fear.
- Allow it—simply acknowledge that this is what’s present right now. Let it be. Allowing paves the way for letting go.
- Return to Presence—Come home to loving awareness. To being aware of being aware. To your luminous being. Rest here. Let the attention soften to the heart of who you are.
Let this be simple. The moment you notice you’re lost in thought, snap. Then move through: See it, Name it, Allow it, return to Presence. You can do this anytime, anywhere—in line at the grocery store, in a difficult conversation, when anxiety rises, when the inner critic yammers on. The snap is a reminder:
I’m here.
I can choose where my attention rests.
I’m aware.
I am.
Try it three to five times a day for one week and notice what happens when you interrupt conditioned and habituated patterns with these experiences of returning to presence. May this be a practice that reminds you that loving awareness was here all along.
This is part of why I’ll be at Hollyhock for An Autumn Contemplative Retreat: Rooting, Unfurling, Letting Go— because moving toward, staying open-hearted, returning to Presence again and again, is much easier in the company of others doing the same. If this resonates, and you’re feeling the pull toward practice and away from isolation, I’d love to see you there. We’re a small circle this time, which means more space, more depth, more room for what wants to happen when people gather in an intimate setting with this kind of intention.
Register Now!
Dates: September 10 – 15, 2026 at Hollyhock Retreat Centre
