Looking Inwards
What a month it’s been - for many of us personally, for our communities, our nation and all humanity. Increasingly as we adapt, cope, change, manage, navigate and progress through this global crisis my belief grows stronger that this time has been gifted to us all as an opportunity. A golden opportunity, a gift, which if we receive it with all its potential, invites us to stop, reflect, look deeply within ourselves and not just around us, and come to a deeper, greater understanding about who we truly are.
Recent events in my life have not just invited me, but forced me, to do just that. It has been a difficult, traumatic, confronting but crucial journey. What I am finding is that when you give yourself permission to see, to truly see yourself through the eyes of others, from the outside, often a veil or blindfold is lifted. You finally see and understand what you were previously ignorant of. It is some of the most difficult work I am doing but I know will be life-changing.
Many of us think we know ourselves, that we know what we stand for, what our values are, what is important to us and how we show up in the world. But life is unpredictable, and so much is out of our control. Things happen to and around us, which force us to come to a sudden and sometimes crashing halt - when the reality and world we have created for ourselves can be turned upside down, or can come crashing in around us. We feel like we are in free fall. All that we knew is now uncertain or taken away.
It is in these times that faith, trust, courage and fortitude is what we must summon up. Faith to believe that what is happening is all as it is meant to be. Trust that this will eventually pass and we will find a path through, wiser for the new lessons we will learn from this time. Courage to just accept and relinquish control, and to feel and be in the moment, as terrifying as it might be. Fortitude to stick and not hide. To cope, reflect, pray, live in silence and not knowing.
I am in the middle of this journey and I know so many of you are as well. My message this month is to simply say you are not alone, and I am not alone. We are in this together. We are all doing the best we can. We will endure. With faith, trust, courage and fortitude. Look inwards, look up, and trust.
