Moving into summer of 2021 makes me want to squint my eyes a little, peek out from behind the curtains, and try to gauge the mood of the world before I get dressed and step outside.
I want to brace myself before slipping out of the cocoon I’ve been wrapped in this past year. I need a deep breath before stepping out into a world that has not felt welcoming or comforting or even safe recently.
Some of us, myself included, suffered real loss these past months. People have left the Earthly realm, leaving us to grieve. Many have lost jobs, homes, friendships. Sometimes, just breathing seems too hard.
As a collective, we have been through the wringer. We have seen more changes and challenges than have taken place in generations, if ever. The pandemic has forced us to look at our government, our communities, our friendships, and our work differently. Change is hard even when we are supported in it; forced on us this way, change feels untenable, almost impossible to tolerate and adapt to.
But adapt we must, and adapt we will, because that’s why we are here, as humans, on this planet at this time.
Do you feel something similar? I’ve been thinking about what I need to do in order to bring back the sense that life is back on track, even if it’s on a different track than it was on in 2019.
Here’s what I came up with:
Clarify
Sometimes at dinner we play “Rose and Thorn”, taking turns to describe the best and worst parts of our day. What is your Rose from this period of quarantine? What is your Thorn?
How can you bring more Rose to 2021, and how will you take the thorny parts and either morph them into something useful, or get rid of them.
What will you keep; what are you happy to see fall by the wayside? How do you want your world to look and feel, now that we have the opportunity to step into something new?
Align
Once you’ve found clarity, or some semblance of it, around the benefits and challenges brought on by the pandemic, it’s time to find a way to contain these conflicting thoughts, ideas, and emotions. We want to come out into the light with two feet on the ground, balanced and ready to move forward. So how?
It will take a certain amount of acceptance, and a bunch of courage to face this new era. We can learn to breathe through our anxieties, and practice grounding and root chakra work. We can learn to be honest with ourselves and our loved ones about how we are feeling, and how we are faring as we step forward.
We need courage to face the new, and courage to change. We can access our inner wisdom and our sense of hope and all-is-well-ness. We can see ourselves as aligned and sturdy and ready to face the world - even if we don’t quite feel it yet.
Emerge
While a butterfly emerges from its cocoon whole, beautiful, and ready to fly away in just an hour or two, our emergence may take more time, and that is okay.
Baby steps are encouraged. We need time and self-compassion to become happy inhabitants of this new space, this new era.
We need to practice tolerance, and hone our listening skills. We need to find ways to be in community with people who support us even when we don’t always agree.
We need to emerge even if we don’t feel quite ready yet. Because there are people to be loved, communities to be supported, and work to be done.
We can find Clarity of purpose.
We Align ourselves with that inner strength we may have forgotten lives inside of us.
We can allow the cycle of transformation to continue until we feel strong and ready and wise. Or at least see that we are becoming those things!
Then we can Emerge into a world where we feel grounded and ready to serve, love, and be joyful again. Our wings will dry, we will be gorgeous, and off we will go!
Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Hugo.
Hugo who?
Hugo go first, it’s scary out there!
OK, I’ll go first. Or maybe we can go together.
