Offbeat

The sky is clear and the coolness of the morning is just right for an early morning walk. The temperature is 60 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Friday.

Things are a little off. Well, maybe not just a little, but a lot. Without going into details that you probably already know or are aware of - things are really starting to shift yet again. The rhythm for the past several months has been off. Individual and collective lives have been upended and catching the right footing in the manufactured chaos has been nearly impossible.

A few steady and clear voices have kept up with the effects of everything being thrown off - jobs cut, promises broken with cancellations of contracts, relationships breaking down, attacks on anything civil society has built - destroyed (or tagged for destruction). Things are off.

Then where does the steadiness and grounding come from and how do you get there?

This is the question for many. How do you live in a time of great shifts that are happening in the world - the environment, the balancing of science and spirit, the power and leadership?

Most conversations these days are about how we can maintain our humanity and not lose sight of the fact that change will happen - it always does. Meanwhile, can we hold on until that change comes about and returns us to a place of simple decency and consideration for ourselves and our surroundings? Of course, we must.

There are generations depending on a successful navigation to a future that can lead all people to wake up to our need to see ourselves as one. The complexities of individuals like some we know and see in the news - make it hard. The single individual can create conditions that throw everything off. The result is a state of confusion, obscurity, fear, and great stress.

What to do in such times?

Recognize that one can make a difference to the whole and offer something that is entirely generous, caring, and kind. Be clear about what conditions you face and act in accord with what you know to be your values. Remember that there are many others who are feeling what you are feeling - and avoid feeling (and being) alone. Offer yourself to be in service of others - it really works.

Last evening at a healing circle, there was a realization of a common threat that once again emerged as the shares of the heart happened. The thread was something that we all need right now and it happened to be something that is readily available to all of us. Reconciliation from the times when we each were missing a beat that created feelings of loss, of guilt, of suspicion - all of which were overcome by being in a place of humility and vulnerability.

We are collectively facing hardship. Some of us are suffering in ways that are hard to imagine, but the suffering is very real. Those of us who are able, need to recover our footing - now. The world needs that to happen, fast.