The collective pulse of our world is presenting a lot of shadows all at once. We are in a global pandemic. Some are terrified of getting sick and have vulnerable people in their care. Others are fearful of too much control and having rights taken away. In addition, we are living in an unsettled political climate where choosing a side comes with unprecedented pressures and consequences. On its own, this is enough to take secure and otherwise confident humans down a dark rabbit hole. But then when we add the everyday struggles, the traumas, and losses, the disconnected feelings, it feels like a weighted blanked holding us down, not letting us breathe, questioning everything.
This pandemic has forced us inward. We have retreated from our day to day life, holding space for reflection and contemplation. For some, this has been a welcome respite of remembering what’s important. But it seems like a lot of privilege for those who have been economically impacted and are in primary survival mode for food, shelter, and safety. Living in the information age has its benefits, but it also allows us to trip over snake holes and lose our way. It takes under a minute to absorb confusion, hatred, division, and lack of clarity. In under a minute, we can undermine our own beliefs and find ourselves consumed with fear. It’s a slippery slope, a deep dive into the abyss of real v.s. Fake. And with our current technology, it can be impossible to spot the difference.
So what do we do? Life continues minute by minute, whether we like it or not. We will all be asked at some point to bear more than we feel is humanly possible. We will see our economy ebb and flow, our government change back and forth, a pandemic that peaks and wreaks havoc, and then at some point subsides. All of these things impact each one of us differently. There are a million variables that affect each one of us.
It is our thought that regardless of what is happening globally if we lose our way with each other, the consequences are too significant. We are all on a unique journey, hopefully evolving and growing along the way. So much of that comes after we have survived trauma, loss, anger, sadness. We all have a unique blueprint that requires us to process life-based on our specific needs. If we lose our connections with each other because we remain divided, we lose everything. When we struggle or are in the middle of trauma, we need each other to survive. When storms wipe out towns, we come together to rebuild. When people are displaced by tragedy, we come together to find solutions. We open our homes and hearts when others absorb a life-changing loss. This human connection is the glue that holds our planet together. Without it, chaos will destroy us all. We need to allow each other to process the journey, unique, and custom to each soul without judgment. We were never meant to all fit inside the same box. What we can do is get curious about the stories others have to tell. When you hear another experience, when they share real and raw emotions, we realize that we have more in common than we could have imagined. This is the grace we need to allow each other—the opportunity to hear stories and keep our humanity connected. If we can do it together, we can overcome anything.
This time of year is challenging for so many of us. Holidays can bring endless joy, but it can also stir up all of the old wounds and leave so many of us feeling lonely. If your family of origin is not intact, make a point of redefining your tribe. Gather with those who you have chosen and who have chosen you. These are the connections and bonds that change the world. Love is something we all crave. Let’s create it where we can. Find curiosity in our loneliness, connection to each other, and faith in the idea that time alone will bring change. Time, she takes us with her; she moves us forward. It’s the baby steps we attempt each day that take us to the summit—one small painstaking effort at a time. One day we will all look back and see our journey, how it changed us, how we evolved through it, where we still have more work to do, and the legacy we leave with it all.
A few tips:
Tips to help you navigate –
- Understand that everyone has differing opinions
- Before you enter into a situation, decide how you want to show up.
- Try asking questions to get people to share more of their side of the story / ask questions like how did that make you feel? Listen. Connect.
- Ask questions that invoke storytelling – be curious.
- Dot be afraid to be vulnerable with your own stories.
- Discern what relationships are worth the energy.
The Art of Joy is the journey to wholeness.
With all of our love.