It’s been a year, hasn’t it. There are many moments in life when we recognise that we are not the person we were before. When life has somehow shaped us, perhaps more than we have shaped it. And yet, at the same time, as much as we can observe marked differences, it can all seem a blur of indistinct sameness. When life has felt anything other than extraordinary, despite having been anything but ordinary. That seems to have been the year, or nearly two, that we’ve had – and continue to have. Time has become even less definitive, with the year feeling like it’s flown by and taken forever, all at the same time.
Perhaps, this year has been a coming together of the binary. It’s been everything and nothing. It’s been challenging and dull. It’s been full of moments of appreciated joy and a lack of them. We’ve achieved so much, and yet, perhaps, have felt we’ve achieved nothing at all. It’s been all of it.
Who knows where we are going or what will be next. But then, have we ever really known? Perhaps, more than ever, we are being invited to bring simplicity into what is complex. Perhaps the outcome of our entire future, comes down to the simplicity of what we do now. Not in a binary sense, rather in that, if we get present and choose to own our thoughts, feelings, words, choices, and actions, in just this very moment, without getting overly attached to the past or the future….well, maybe, that will be the one thing that can make peace with the past and take care of our future.
When life seems complicated, overwhelming, or drifting; when we can’t quite see the wood for the trees or we don’t know our next step….perhaps we might pause.
When life seems simple, easy, or purposeful; flowing, when we can see the wood for the trees and are clear about our next step….perhaps we might pause.
Breathe.
Allow a moment of space.
Look around us.
Breathe a little deeper.
Allow another moment of space.
Look around us again.
Perhaps, the answer lives in the ‘AND’ or the ‘MAYBE’
In that space, we’ll find a way. It will be our way, and that might not be another’s way. Somehow, amongst owning our own individual paths, we also need to own our collective path, together and apart. There is our true challenge – one that we have always faced and always will. The moment we get drawn too much into focusing on our differences, we forget our similarities. The moment we are convinced we are ‘right’ we make another ‘wrong.’ The moment we declare we know the answer, we blind ourselves to our ignorances. The moment we polarise, we create opposites. And, whilst these may well exist, we create an impasse. It takes huge courage and humility to be able to come together when we disagree. It takes immense patience to be able to have the quality of conversation with another that enables us to understand each other more.
Much is coming to light, and will continue to do so. As it does so it will stir up many an emotion, and as it does so, let those emotions lead us into making better choices, ourselves, in these moments. Let that which comes to light encourage us to be brave enough to have quality conversations that lead us to better understanding each other, and ourselves.
Perhaps, the most effective thing we can do is to pause, to breathe, and to ask ourselves ‘what would love do now?’
That question, ‘what would love do now?’ is by no means bypassing the practical bare-faced reality of the complex challenges we face. On the contrary, it helps to lift us out of our likely limited perception, and tasks us with raising our game to the highest potential of all. It asks us to hold ourselves and others to integrity, without judgement or blame. Accountability, from a place of love, isn’t about blame or finger pointing; it’s a loving call to live by our highest human potential. Love sees the actions of greed, manipulation and lack mindset and knows that all come from fear. Love holds boundaries without building barriers. It says what needs saying, without attack.
I, personally, find one of that ‘what would love do now?’ is the most humbling and transformative questions that I continue to need to ask myself in any given moment. It never fails to show me when my ego is getting in the way of me, others, and in life itself.
Perhaps, at a time when we are all called to ‘do our bit for each other,’ we might reflect on the wise words of Rumi, “yesterday, I was clever, and I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
And, I would add to those wise words, that we can change ourselves from a place of acceptance of who we currently are, with a loving non-judgement.
On the subject of love, as the last blog of the year, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for being here with me in these blogs. I feel you love as I send you mine. It is in these simple, and yet powerfully felt, exchanges of love, that through life, we can all be reminded of our enormous potential as a human being, both individually and collectively. Let us never abandon that love, within ourselves or in each other.
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