no longer needed to work against my circumstances. I began to sense that a life of peace, abundance, and joy was my most native state.
For over two decades I have practiced falling madly in love with my circumstances, exactly as they are. It has not been easy. It has not been comfortable. But it has been transformational. I now say, I have “sex with my struggle.” This paradigm shift has loosened and relaxed my grip. I am able to sit in the unknown and breathe with it.
You’ve likely heard the transformational question, “how is this for me?” In my experience that simple inquiry can provide a freedom that is incredibly useful. It requires curiosity and willingness. It involves loosening our attachment to being right and disrupting the tendency to perceive threat.
The human condition has a long track record of learning from pain. And so here we are, yet again being pushed by pain. We are collectively being brought to our knees. We are confronted by our own existential questions: what am I here for? what do I want to do with my life? how can I make a difference? These deeply personal questions are coupled with systemic concerns including economic equity, racial justice, and the environment. While this pattern of pain is profoundly familiar I am optimistic that something is shifting in the consciousness of humanity. We are ready to be unlocked from the prison of binary thinking and dualistic paradigms.
Binary: involving two things
Duality: an instance of opposition
The polarization that we often refer to in the human condition is a dis-ease. We are often moving through our lives with subtle and unconscious levels of threat. We are seeking external safety and abandoning our inner knowing. We are measuring and stack ranking ourselves based on material indicators and are disconnected from the unseen realm. We are experiencing duality. We are unconsciously scanning our landscape for our opponent. We are suffering as a result of this pattern.
The gift of the pain we are in is that it is unsustainable. It is exhausting. It is not working. We must shift beyond suffering and allow ourselves to be pulled by a personal and collective vision. Imagine dreaming again. Allow yourself to wonder what the extraordinary and exquisite is in all of this pain. Begin to look for evidence of interconnectedness. Appreciate the complex and nuanced beauty that lives in everything you encounter.
The world we are moving toward involves a massive shift. Our old ways of being will not work in this emerging paradigm. We can see this shift as a threat and perhaps it is, a threat to our ego. I am encouraged. I am inspired. I am witnessing an outrageous invitation for something more expansive, more fierce, and more loving to emerge. Humanity is ready to evolve.
Photo Credit Estudi Bloom