Ecosystemic Responses and our Relationships with Transformation: A New Year Blessing
Ecosystemic Responses and our Relationships with Transformation: A New Year Blessing
“It is not when a part of the self is inhibited and restrained, but when a part of the self is given away, that community appears.”
Feelings of loneliness commonly arrive during this dark time of the Northern Hemisphere year. Even when gathering with people we love we may feel separate—how do we authentically offer and receive gifts given to celebrate festivals of accumulation? Perhaps we are unable to share ourselves as we are, and we choose to isolate ourselves. If there aren't people with whom we can truly share and receive gifts, who are we?
I ask this question not of your mind but offer it as an invitation. Consider opening yourself to the vastness of ecological intelligence. Become more present within this field so that the feelings of separation stimulate your body’s innate drive towards permeability and connection. For it is through reciprocal giving and receiving that we truly become members of community.
Our feelings of loneliness and unworthiness recede as we remember that we are integral parts participating with other beings in the ongoing creation of life. Orienting ourselves energetically so that our gifts are made available for those who can receive them, we initiate self-perpetuating cycles of reciprocity that allow us to give and receive more and become more aware of our inherent mutuality.
"Easier said than done" you might say.
Indeed! This way of being demands a lot from us, and though it gives so much in return, it's not transactional. There are no magic bullets in medicine. Healing, especially when it comes to things like loneliness, is a process.
Whether it’s intensely burning Australian bush fires and the suffering of countless plants, human and nonhuman animals, and ecosystemic beings or a common cold resulting from lack of sleep while staying up late to celebrate the New Year, something's trying to get our attention. We could say that "there is always a price to pay for our actions" or "the bill is coming due." These phrases describe certain ways of relating to the world.
But there are others. One way says that "reciprocity makes the world go 'round."
Vulnerability...feeling with...care...knowledge...transformation
We have a choice to make. Our interpretations of Earth system functioning (our bodyminds included) inform our interactions within the flows of unfurling life. Can we allow ourselves to feel dissonance when we interact in ways that impact the healthy functioning of biosystems?
What happens when we let go of our habitual negative reactions to illness or the negative connotations we impose on this natural flow of our individual and collective beings to find balance? What happens when we accept and soften our edges, rather than reacting against, to allow the forces of change to move through our beings and perform their service with humanity? What would shift if we were to treat illness as a welcome friend?
How much anxiety do we generate when we don’t allow ourselves to feel dissonance when interacting in ways that impact our health or the health of others? Can we live fulfilling lives without being present to all that we feel in our bodies or without being in solidarity with our human and nonhuman kin?
This is not a call to feel guilty or shameful. These feelings only intensify our separation. Cultivating ecological intimacy actually helps clarify relationships to shame and guilt.
May we all find ways to become more present—in the moment and within larger swathes of time—with ourselves and with the communities that make our lives possible.
May we all integrate the parts of ourselves that shun life and/or attempt to escape death.
And may the light of the seed of remembrance and renewal shine forth brightly from your being now and always.
