What if Everyone is More Afraid Than You?

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the /
conversation. The kettle is singing / even as it pours you a
drink, the cooking pots / have left their arrogant aloofness
and / seen the good in you at last. All the birds / and
creatures of the world are unutterably / themselves.
Everything is waiting for you.”
David Whyte

What if everyone is more afraid than you? 

Still you survived the night again and got up from your bed this morning. And so did I.  Even if you did wake and start to shake and coach yourself to take ten deep breaths. We are together and closer in our world than ever before and still many of us feel terribly lonely behind our masks. Mercy was easier to cultivate in safer times when it seemed we had boundaries. The contagion we are experiencing has opened that curtain to show how collectively vulnerable we are (and always have been). We are truly global now and actually more connected than ever- both a blessing and a bane.

“The silver lining of our collective disappointment, confusion, grief, illness and loss is that the people and places that mean the most to us have become crystal clear in a 20/20 kind of way.” ~ Camp Merrie-Woode

These days of late summer and early fall are here and are known as the season Worry in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Emotions from this perspective manifest in our digestive systems. Fortunately, September looms and it is a natural time to reboot: our days are shortening, and the sun is lower in the sky every day, casting more shadows so we see more dimension and less reflection. “Don’t kill the butterflies in your stomach. Instead, ask: ‘how can I find a way to ride them?" ~Jonathan Fields

The only way out is through this these days. Breathing. Thinking. Struggling. Persevering. And taking good gentle care of ourselves. “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.” ~Mother Theresa

We run on oxygen so learn to breathe. Take 3 deep breaths before challenges. Breathe yourself to sleep. Breathe in for a count of seven and breathe out for a count of four, ten times. “Breathing brings you home. Body and mind twine together in the breath. As soon as you become aware of breathing, you're in your body. Speed up the breath and there's new energy. Slow it down and you calm. Inhale and oxygen surges into your brain while the arousing sympathetic nervous system activates and accelerates the heartbeat. Exhale and activate the soothing peaceful parasympathetic nervous system, so the heart beats more slowly. In the breath you are home in this moment, this Now.” ~Rick Hanson, Just One Thing

What does this have to do with who you are becoming?

​Thinking is meditating. Thinking is focusing. Thinking is staying still. Thinking is a way of being present. Think positive. Pray.

Visualize yourself up and above yourself and explore your meta view.

Visualize yourself in a sacred safe space. Notice what calms you. Notice what feeds you. Notice what inspires you.

What do you really want?

Struggling is working. Struggling is self-management. Life is a struggle.

Witness yourself. Stand in front of a mirror and really look at yourself and acknowledge what you see.

What about this is important to you?

Persevering is hope and faith and gritty nails and courage. Perseverance is a mantra. Perseverance is a battle cry. We persevere because we care. Because we want to be here and in the game. Press your hands together hard in front of you harder and harder until your anxiety abates. Or consider your hands and fingers. What or who are you pointing at?

What will you do and when will you do it?

I do not believe this strange time is meant to kill us. Yet we and everything dies a little every day. What if death is like the sun? Our world orbits the sun but staring at it is dangerous and painful. 

Yesterday a busy bee crossed my path. She was a cicada killer bee in flight transporting a cicada to the ground where she landed and straddled her prey walking to her burrow home. The operation was like a stratolaunch. The bee was made for the cicada and the cicada for many bees.  

We are born into this world, we give birth, and we die just like every living thing. We are all part of everything, and we heal in community. Brené Brown coaches “we’re moving through a lot of tough “todays” as we try to build a world that brings better “tomorrows.”

We have a common enemy and as long as we’re part of a story, we’re not alone. In fact we are one as never before. We are all residents of earth and united in virtual rooms. Still, “Nothing is ours, except time." ~Seneca
 
Could it be that we really have nothing to fear but fear itself? My fear weighs on me like a depression more often than not these days by any clinical definition. But what if my depression is a healthy response to an unhealthy situation? “If you take responsibility for anything in your life know that you’ll feel fear...Every worthy challenge will inspire some fear.” ~Resilience, Eric Greitens

BE NOT AFRAID is the recurring theme through The Bible. If you are afraid, you will fail for sure. The other recurring theme is LOVE. Be the love. Love one another.

Remember the Bible ends in Revelations, not conclusions, and graduations are commencements not terminations.”
Bernie S. Siegel, M.D.

Be well. Be the Love. Take good gentle care of yourself.