Posted on

2020’s Perfect Vision

Recently I found myself journaling scraps of ideas about the year that is coming to a close:

  • a year of intensity
  • opening minds and hearts to previously unseen or ignored people and situations
  • opening to compassion for pain previously unseen, unimaginable
  • looking into the mirror to see where I’ve been complicit in the injustices around me

And then it hit me: 2020 is truly the year of perfect vision! The year has, in fact, sharpened my vision. The cataracts which blocked large segments of society’s dysfunction and injustice were stripped away. A light shown unto the whole and into the cracks and crevices to reveal both creativity, love, compassion, generosity and injustice, fear, anger.

So, are we – you and me – ready for perfect vision? Would we rather close ourselves off, shut our eyes, restore those cataracts, remove our glasses and choose to see only what fits our preferred paradigm? Will we choose to approach the happenings around us with This too! or, with No, not this!

2020 ripped off the band-aids and revealed so much on so many levels.

As this year draws to a close with so many unresolved situations in our midst, I invite each of us to ask:

What changed in my family, my “pod” during COVID restrictions?
What did racial injustice, shootings, protests and riots waken me to?
Waken within me?
What does wearing a mask, social distancing and quarantining
reveal to me about human connection?
In what ways am I called to heal the division that 2020 has revealed?

These are huge questions! Yet they are ones each of us is called to explore if our families, communities, our country and our world – if the human family – is to survive. Thank you for all the ways that you will focus on healing in the time ahead. You are a gift!
Posted on

We Are One

This morning, not unlike many mornings, I’ve been present with all that is going on in and around me and our world. So much pain and suffering, unrest, fighting. So many in service to those around them trying to bring a bit of gentleness, healing, ease and love into the world. I was reminded of song lyrics which came through me some 17 years ago which reflect what I see today. They speak to the wide range of experiences and emotions present but also to what some of us know to be a wider truth:

In the midst of all of this, we are one.

How can that be? We don’t act like “one”. We fight. We destroy. We kill. Yet, we are one body of humanity. We are one world wide civilization on one planet, Earth. As one, these actions are not hurting “the other” — they are hurting “me”. When I get caught up in wanting to inflict hurt, I try to remember that we are all in this together. I see that it will take each of us wanting to resolve our differences peacefully, to support one another graciously, to desire that everyone live in simple abundance in order to bring harmony to the chaos. It is from this awareness that I try to do my part and bring the best of me forward. When I do this, my impact on the world is powerful, positive and healing.

Today, my part is to write this tidbit and share a few inspirational words. If they touch you, pass them along. If they soften your heart, smile. If they inspire you to action, act!

What is your role in the healing of humanity today?

Here is the song which came through me so many years ago.

We Are One (Listen)

There are people everywhere who are happy,
People everywhere living life so free.
And we are one with all the people everywhere
One in Spirit, One in Love. And there are

People everywhere who are hungry,
People everywhere who are lonely.
We are one with all the people everywhere
One in facing life with hope. There are

People everywhere who are angry,
People everywhere fighting for a cause.
We are one with all the people everywhere
One in purpose, One in Truth. And there are

People everywhere who are crying,
People everywhere who are dying.
We are one with all the people everywhere
We are one in death in life. We’re one with

People everywhere, from all nations,
People everywhere, every race and creed.
We are one together hearing Spirit call
We are one in heart and soul. We are one.

Posted on

What are you listening to?

Today we are in the midst … and what I am most present to is that we are the collective we of the entire world. We are each, individually, and we are all, collectively, called to be present to the same thing. We are drawn together by the same challenge even as we are asked to isolate in service of the whole.

I am writing today to share two powerful messages I’ve heard in the last week and to invite you to be discerning about how you are nourishing yourself these days: Continue reading “What are you listening to?”

Posted on

Gratitude for the challenges …

{NOTE: If you have recently been through great pain and loss, this post may not be for you at this time. Please be gentle and listen to your inner being.}

Thanksgiving day is approaching and I’d like to offer a twist on the usual message “be grateful for all the gifts you’ve been given”. Let me begin with these lyrics from the band, Cloud Cult:

It’s easy to be thankful for the things you’ve got.
It takes guts to give thanks for the things you’ve lost.

They struck me as extremely powerful when I first heard them. As I think back on events in my life which represent loss or challenge or great pain, I notice the gifts. Here are just a few: Continue reading “Gratitude for the challenges …”

Posted on

Are you a change agent?

Do you want to have a positive and powerful impact on the world around you? Do you want to influence others? Do you want to be a “change agent”?

If you answered yes, then I hope you will ponder deeply these two quotes:

Hurt people hurt people. ~ Sarah Crawford

Read it again if you need to. People who are hurt or are hurting, often hurt others and often unintentionally.

Transformed people transform people. ~ Richard Rohr

Read that one again. If you: Continue reading “Are you a change agent?”