Everything is Broken.
Everything is Beautiful.
(Susan Cain)
Sitting in the spaciousness of brokenness and beauty.
Brokenness is everywhere.
Gaza.
Sudan
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Political Polarization.
Our world
Our nation.
Our communities
Our relationships.
I experience, as you may also, a profound sorrow for the world. A deep grief in the lack of imagination, desire for power and the dehumanization of peoples that feeds violence, radicalization and alienation.
and yet,
Beauty is everywhere.
Grief can be a measure of a caring, compassionate heart. Learning to tend to our grief as a sacred part of ourselves, a part that refuses cynicism, self righteousness and also despair.
This is the part of ourselves that sees the bumblebee on the purple flower as an invitation to connect the sacred part of ourselves to the permeable aliveness that is EVERYWHERE.
Beauty can be found:
- in freedom songs.
- in liberation from toxic “good vibes only” culture.
- In the movement from isolation to connection in the collective practice of lament.
- In the sharing of resources.
- In rest.
- in choosing to love in the face of impermanence.
- in curiosity.
- In transforming our own shit into fertilizer.
This list can go on all day.
What is the path between beauty and brokenness for you? Can you make it a well-worn path so you don’t dwell in bypassing the enormous challenges of these times OR catapult into despair or shrill self-righteousness?
What practices do you have to bring a grounded spaciousness to life right now?
How do you get underneath all the noise to connect to consciousness or what in the yogic tradition is called “the cave of the heart.”
These are the conversations I want to have during these times.
How about you?
Let me know.
