We are in the slog of a strange quagmire of time. The world has changed, we have changed, and there is no clear path to what comes next. It seems like in every direction we go, forward, backward, and sideways, the way is muddied and unclear.
“Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore benefit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.” ~ Laozi
We are in a process that most of us aren’t sure we signed up for. We can sense the stress and anxiety in the air. Just stepping out of the house, there is a sense of stress around us. It shows up in how people drive and in our day to day interactions.
Our bodies may be saying that it is not safe yet. We are in this strange in-between, where it is somewhat safe to go out, but it is not all the way safe. Your body takes that temperature and it tells you. We can jump into what we think are safe social exchanges, but our nervous systems are still holding the pattern of the lockdown. It feels awkward. It feels confusing.
The land underfoot doesn’t feel solid. There’s squish here. There are a lot of possibilities. And what we have experienced this last couple of years has been high volume volatility.
Life isn’t going to slow down. It isn’t easy for us to accept this much change. We want it to be over by a certain date. We want to be able to predict it. This amount of intensity, stress, and anxiety can push us over into survival mode. We start just pushing through, with a do or die attitude.
So the question is, how do I cup my hands around my flame of knowledge and protect it? How do we recognize our exhaustion and do something about it? We can acknowledge our overwhelm. We can nourish ourselves so that we have the capacity to move on. And we can ask for help when we need it.
