No More Running, No More Hiding

I have spent the last six days reflecting upon national events and then running from what I found only to return again to reflecting. This has been tough time for one me. I generally have an optimistic view — I can usually reframe most any situation. 

I admit to having difficulty understanding how some people will go to outrageous limits to incite the anger in others. And, that some people will go to even more outrageous limits to express that anger. Honestly? It has been a tough week to be an American. 

I wondered, “How did we as a nation get to this point?” After a review of history, I can cite a series of events that led us here. I could also cite individual and collective responses to those events that exacerbated what we are experiencing. I could talk about how disturbing the past four years have been. I could even point fingers and make a lot of people really angry at the results of my critical thinking. In effect, I could throw more gas on our wildfire.

Instead, in order to understand how my life experience has evolved these past four years, I dug into my past — my blogs from November 2016. As I reviewed them, I asked, “Where were you emotionally, spiritually, and mentally during that time? How did that impact the sharing of your vision with others? How has your vision changed?” 

Let’s begin: 

November 8, 2016: #weareinthistogther

We are at a point at which we can no longer ignore the polarization that has become increasing more evident over the past year or so. Good people, really all of us, have been hurt in some way or another. But, we often do not have a way of channeling the hurt. We get stuck in an endless cycle of being hooked, lashing out, and being hooked yet again. This gap between us and them will continue to widen until we stop our personal cycle.

In this place of less than peace, we are not aware of how our judgments and beliefs create our fragile personal reality which is comprised of both the authentic and the illusory. We get so stuck in fear that we cannot even identify the illusions. The only way to increase peace in our self and the world is by courageously identifying our wounds, our illusions, and our authentic.

How do we step into this place of peace? That begins simply and perhaps not so easily with our self. 

While I still know that we are in this together, the polarization has grown. I am not sure how “inthistogether looks like any more. I even admit to edging farther left even though those steps have, at times, been a painful recognition of illusions that I have fostered. 

What I have witnessed is that instead of creating a country where we can all lived together, certain factions have tried to create something in their own image. And, what we have got as a result is a version of #inthistogether that certainly is not a welcoming community. 

We have the tools to be an inclusive, equitable community. Building that community begins with challenging ourself, individually and collectively, to name what is true and what is illusion. We must courageously meet this challenge no matter how disconcerting, no matter how embarrassing. 

The question to ask over and over again is “what catches me?” In that answer, we discover what is preventing us, individually and collectively, from creating a nation that is aware of injustice and inequity and take steps to resolve the injustice and inequity. Within that answer is an implicit agreement to work together to create a community that is comprised of people who are #inthistogether.

How have I changed in the past four years? I can no longer go back to sleep or be silently complicit in the beliefs of another by agreeing to disagree. So, in the fragility of the world, I say, “I hear you, but I do not agree with you.”

November 15, 2016: Compassion’s Visible Commitment

Wearing a safety pin, for me, represents an intentional and tangible way of closing a gap of separateness and uncertainty while offering compassion and support. So, I bought safety pins — quilter safety pins in honor of my mom who was a quilter.

I believe that my Mom, a women with a big, compassionate heart, would have probably worn a safety pin of solidarity and offered a haven for anyone in need. You see, my Mom was the manager of an elementary school cafeteria. She had this knack to see past the surface illusions and into the heart of each child. Mom served a smile and a spoon full of compassion with every meal.

So, I wear this simple metal piece positioned just to the left of my heart, near my shoulder. That safety pin is a quiet beacon that people notice. The connection with intimate strangers is more immediate than before. Our conversations are rich as we share our commitment to the meaning of the safety pin. How it provides a tiny point of light in the dark for the wearer. How we hope that light connects with others and provides solace. How this symbol illuminates us and others with fragile rays of compassion.

I sometimes happen upon a sweater that still has one of those quilter’s pin on it. And, I wear it with the pin attached. I wonder what my Mom, who although not political and would have worn that pin, would think about the chasm that divides her own family. I could get stuck in that rabbit hole of wondering, so I stop that meandering. 

The safety pin is a symbol of my fragile belief that all should be welcome to the table. The belief that while we need to protect those who are hated and feared for who they are, we can come together. It will take a lot of work, but that crazy optimist in me believes even after what has happened that one union is still possible.

That safety pin is more than a welcoming symbol. It is a clear reminder to me that I have an obligation to stand strong, to be compassion, in a world with a growing divide. That a I am a light in an increasingly dark world. That light glints off that safety pin in a message of hope.

Wearing that pin is an act of daring, a response of courage. I realize that may not be able to pin the world together, but I can pin myself to others through compassion, respect, and awareness. And, pin by pin by pin, we can create a more equitable, a more just, a more compassionate world. I realize that while this may not happen in this moment, we must begin in this moment. 

So, I commit to being the pin that connects one another and even pricks the unaware until they awake from their illusions and stand in the truth of what could be. I will not stop until we have a world that is safe, just, equitable for everyone because we are #inthistogether.

November 22, 2016: A Brave New World

I’ve had a reality check. You know, one of those hair sizzling jolt that shakes us in the ground of our being. Collectively and individually we have been shocked; we are awake with a new awareness. Eyes open, this new view is not an easy one for me to see.

But, within me is a growing awareness that we have a choice. We can choose to continue the path of divisiveness and be paralyzed by fear or we can choose a new way, a brave way of navigating our reality. I see possibility seeping through the cracks and crevices of this new reality. It encourages us to live courageously, daringly, and curiously.

How we live from those possibilities frame our new world. We are called not to be lights that banish the dark — cockroaches scatter in the light but do not leave. Our bright being is called to be a spotlight on what must be changed. The courageous choices that we make in this moment and the coming moments will frame this brave new world.

The last four years have been one reality check after another. Much of it has been painful — I cannot/will not understand why people do not live the reality that we are #inthistogether. Why does the color of skin, ethnicity, religion, gender — I know that I have left something out — makes such a big difference to some people?

I am going to reference my mom again. She was a simple woman with a big heart who didn’t believe in judging people based upon anything other than what was in their heart. She was quick to help those who needed assistance. She was a light that shone in the dark and scared away a cockroach or two. 

During these past four years, we have all made choices — some have brought us further into the light; some have got us turned around in the dark. A lot of people have woken up and are now shining brightly. No matter where we find ourself, in this moment, each of us can commit to being that spotlight that has the cockroaches scurrying away. We are the possibilities, the potential, that can reframe our world into a place where we are #inthistogether.

What we choose in this moment, individually and collectively, ultimately changes our future moments. We’ve got a long way ahead of us filled with uncertainty and, unfortunately, violence. Each of us needs to make a decision about the root from which all our actions stem. So, at the root, how will you choose to respond to the cataclysm in this country and the echoes in the world?

As always, I am a work in progress. In this moment, I choose to respond the way I have lived these past years: with the compassion of enough+, through relationship, being nonviolent, and listening to my intuition. 

Let me know what you choose. Van

PS If you would like the three blogs referenced in their entirety, send me an email. 

 Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive-Coach-Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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