Thoughts on Today

It’s complicated. And by ‘it’ I mean--everything.
Remembering that all of the layers tof ‘it’ are interconnected and interdependent helps. A lot. For me.
How? When I look at the world right now, I’m heartbroken, exhausted, and overwhelmed. The most basic things I know are out of sync with our culture. They include:

• There is no separation. Every human being, every aspect of nature, every member of a family, every generation, every cell in my body are related. That means that the health and well-being and prosperity of any of us can not be seen in isolation.
• Mistakes are a part of learning, and there’s no way to do this life perfectly.
• Thoughts and feelings and sensations matter, but they aren’t necessarily real.

When I see what’s going on right now--in Afghanistan, with the climate, and with Covid, just to choose three compelling current issues--my core values are at play.
What’s happening in these issues can’t be understood in simple, separated, discrete ways because the issues themselves are bigger than any person, family, country, nationality, race, gender, bank account. etc. Using the lens of separation, including blame and scapegoating, is not effective.
Real and significant mistakes have led us to this moment. It’s too late to fix the mistakes we’ve made, and still we can reorient, take responsibility, and start making new choices that are informed by the mistakes we learn from.
Shifting from a narrow point of view (whether it’s shaming people for how they’re handling covid or thinking of what’s going on in Afghanistan from only a western perspective) will not create meaningful, helpful change. Instead, when we notice our thoughts and entrenched belief patterns with some curiosity, there’s an opportunity to see more clearly. When we pay attention to our feelings without being ruled by them, there’s an opportunity to feel the fear that’s so prevalent in this moment and care for it without being immobilized by it. 
Finally and maybe paradoxically, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to relate to these issues in a discerning way, informed by our own wisdom. By that, I mean that we don’t have to agree with the loud voices around us, nor do we need to convince others that we’re right. Even as we are interconnected, we have the individual responsibility and opportunity to sing our own song or walk our own path. 
So today, right now, I remember that I’m part of something bigger. Not the collective trauma and story of what’s wrong, but a unified, whole that’s so vast I can only sense bits of what is possible. The thoughts and feelings going on in me (and around me) matter, and I can care for them without letting them define me. And, of course, I’m going to fall into the drama. When I notice, I can climb back out and know that I am not defined by my mistakes but by how I relate to them.

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