When I’m down I tend to withdraw and yet there’s such power and medicine in being transparent when we struggle, right? Letting go of the shame and blame, and of feeling that it’s our personal shortcomings. Bringing awareness to how impacted we are by the larger systems we’re embedded in.
I’m not sure if I’ve reached rock bottom yet – I am grateful for my years and understanding of cycles to know there is such a thing as ‘descent’ and a ‘rock bottom’ and always the promise of the other side of that.
My God, what a powerful place to be, on one’s knees and the only prayer that pours forth is “I’m listening!” when the body starts screaming instead of whispering.
And while there is a place for asking for and receiving help, at the end of the day, there comes a time when it’s between us and life. And we can go to doctors and make some changes and adjustments, but ultimately life requires us to dig deep for the answers inside and identify the core traumas and beliefs that colour daily choices that aren’t aligned with life.
This is so going against the grain in a world in which you are taught to look for answers outside of yourself, to not trust the body and its cries for help, and a world in which our autonomy and ability to decide what is right for our own bodies is being massively impinged upon right now.
And what I’ve come to understand is that what many of us require is a new software that helps us not only intellectually understand that we have a right to BE, but to fully inhabit the truth of that. And with that coming into balance between being and doing, our guiding north star must be living in balance and collectively thriving over everything else. Over earning money. Over completing our to-do list. Over making others happy.
I want to share this because I feel it is part of a bigger, collective process and awakening, that life is demanding we move our raison d’etre and guiding north star from surviving in this system and earning a living and fuelling the economy…. to creating balance and doing what helps us and the web of relationships around us to thrive…. if we are to continue living on a habitable planet. The future I imagine we desire depends on this complete paradigm shift.
Imagine that.
A world in which being is just as valuable as doing.
A world in which the ultimate goal is thriving, in connection with the web of relationships around us.
A world in which we tend to and our held by our relationships. No more neighbours who are strangers.
No more hustle and the chronic weight of life being a struggle.
It’s uncomfortable and vulnerable admitting my struggles… as I teach self-care and body literacy for a living! But my job is to simply follow what calls me and own what is truthful to me and humbly show up to the best of my ability. I am doing my best. I am struggling. If I am not transparent I become trapped in my own lonely golden cage. And perhaps the more we are transparent and the more we get down on our knees, the faster we can speed up this process of what’s needed – no less than a complete shift in priorities and re-organisation of society.