Hazy days as the smoke from wildfires in Canada has drifted into Northern Vermont. Part of the desire to leave California was to escape the wildfires that had become a regular happening. We lived in the valley which held the smoke close for days on end.
The earth is going through changes: earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, floods, weather. All in motion requiring us to adapt to what is present. I am witnessing this all around me as we feel that instability in our bodies. I am hearing friends speak of feeling vulnerable, fragile, depressed, confused, uncertain. In my mind’s eye, I see it as our inner structure that holds up our personality self, is collapsing. Feelings of unease, desperation and despair can arise. Questions such as: Who am I? What am I doing? What do I want? come up.
The old ways of seeking outside for answers no longer works. No one holds the keys to our inner landscape. We have to go exploring on our own. There are shadowlands and sunlit mountain tops, rivers of pain and valleys of peace. The task seems to be to complete all in love……a phrase that a friend shared with me recently. To complete all in love. What a beautiful concept. Yes, we came to bring it all back to the love that is true.
Our dreams are working overtime to take us behind locked doors into this inner world. All that we shut away in order to survive, to continue to live our lives, now asks to be seen. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes. I feel heartened when I see all the information coming out for parents about doing their own healing in order to be more present for their children. Folks are wanting to end the cycles of abuse and trauma that earlier generations did not have tools to navigate. Local schools are incorporating workshops for staff on how to teach emotional regulation for the children. Breathwork, meditation, movement and sound are becoming more common. Grandparents are wanting to show up in healthier ways for their grandkids….I listen to podcasts and read books that allow me to be a better grandparent. My kids and I share information and I am conscious to follow their lead as well as offer advice if asked about their children.
There is so much available now to help anyone who is looking for healing. I remember going to the library and searching the card catalog for books on strong willed children, desperate to find something to help me with my daughter. Her will was a force that could rock the house. It took all of me to keep the walls upright. Now I see options and even a label…..deeply feeling kids. Advice is there on how to show up for these kids in ways that I did not know. It could have eased our relationship and that of the whole family, had I had the tools.
To watch her parent her own two children with such love, is a blessing to my heart. She has worked to overcome my way of dealing with her strong will and found a softer, lighter path for her children. I have helped in that by providing a release valve when she needed time out and a voice offering guidance hard won by my own life. These beautiful souls coming in deserve our very best selves to show up.
As the outer world disintegrates, I rejoice in all the changes in the inner worlds. May we all work to find that peace and calm within that will carry us into the new lands of our dreams.