Mary Oliver wrote, “To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”
It has certainly been a year of letting go, this 2020, and of many things we have known our lives to be surely dependent upon. Connection comes to mind, and so many things I was certain I knew about humanity. This past year we have watched a world we considered to be ours fall away, in ways minuscule and monumental. We have born witness to a spectrum of exposure and change that has inspired many of us to speak out, self-identify as allies, and come together in ways we may not have even known possible before. Yes, we have answered the call and mobilized to repair the loss wrought by unbounded fear and hatred, as we who show up on the side of love and justice have covenanted to do.
At the end of the day, though, how is it with our spirits?
Speaking for myself, I know I have had to be vigilant in caring for the feelings of grief and groundlessness which have come with this year of tumult. The energetic cost of engagement around the types of issues that have marked 2020 can feel often exorbitant, sometimes infinite, and frequently nearly more than I can bear. Now, more than ever before, I am grateful for practices that center and ground me, that give me the courage to not only allow every feeling, but also welcome every way it may present itself. Sometimes that looks like 15 minutes of silent reflection, sometimes it is the gentle making of supportive space for my tears. Always it looks like allowing whatever may arise, in the present moment, to simply be.
As we move closer and closer to the end of this moment, and this year, may there be courage enough in each of us to do the work of holding the struggles of our hearts with tenderness, as we strive to bring our world to a place of light for all.
In loving kindness and hope
Kate
