Turning Towards Ourselves

“Open your eyes, look within.  
Are you satisfied with the
life you’re living?” 

~Bob Marley

I am hopeful that you and your families are staying healthy, connected, and peaceful.  This is not an easy time to be alive, raising children, and in relationship with others there is no doubt, AND, I am of the belief that it can be a deeply healing time if we choose for it to be.
 
It is important to recognize and acknowledge what we are missing during these times and allowing ourselves to feel their loss, while simultaneously acknowledging the gifts of this quarantine and uncertainty.  
 
This time, for me, has me missing hugs, eye contact, smiles, tangible gestures of connection, live music, sitting at coffee shops, farmers markets, little league games, eating at restaurants, grocery shopping without following arrows up and down aisles and wearing a mask, walks and hikes where we can pass our fellow humans and not veer completely off course to avoid them…..I miss face-to-face connections with others.  
 
I also recognize and appreciate this time of face-to-face connection with myself.  This opportunity to look into my own mirror.

The possibility of navigating my own relationship to myself in a new way --  without the distractions of running all over town, checking 50 things off of my list, and focusing outwardly on all that needs to be accomplished in my days.  
 
Whether you find yourselves living alone with minimal contact with others or you are living with others (and probably at many moments wishing you were alone!!:)), we have a golden opportunity to turn towards ourselves and cultivate a beautiful inner relationship.  
 
Although not always pleasant, we can look in the literal and figurative mirrors and land in a genuine and authentic connection with the truth of who we are.  
 
When all is said and done, it is our relationship to ourselves that is the most valuable one. The one that is pivotal to how we exist in the world and how we navigate our relations to others.  
 
Learning how to be with ourselves in a kind, loving, compassionate, and accepting way is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.  
 
These circumstances have provided the feeding ground to grow, heal, and rewire ourselves on the deepest level possible. 

Many of our external creature comforts and resources have, in the very least, been tremendously limited, leaving us stripped to our core and open to the possibility of creating some real and sustainable shifts in how we relate to ourselves and our lives on the whole.  
 
Not easy work, yet incredibly rewarding.  
 
Any time we are faced with a challenge or traumatic experience of any caliber, the opportunity arises to reorganize and heal from the inside out.  
 
As we are all learning from this experience, life will never be the same.  We will never be the same.  
 
So often that becomes a negative thing -- shedding old skin and going through a challenging life event. However, to me, these are the moments that shape us, that mold us, that force us to rise up again and again and again. 
 
Perhaps as we continue to dance down this collective path of trauma and uncertainty, we can shift into a space of appreciation for this space to turn towards ourselves, to look closely in the mirror and open our hearts to what it means to unconditionally love and accept who we are exactly as we are.  
 
Embracing this time and truly turning towards it with our whole selves.  
 
The energy and flavor of this time is reminiscent to me of my near-death experience several years ago. While I had only moments of not knowing if I would live or die, they were the most impactful moments of my life.   
 
For me, that moment was a flash (read my near-death encounter in its entirety here in the blog), and one that has had lasting impact on me in immeasurable ways.  
 
While we may not consider this time a near-death occurrence, we are collectively undergoing a tremendous death both literally and figuratively.  Lives are being lost without predictability, old ways of existing are dying, we are being stripped of many external vices that have perhaps aided our existence, and we are being given the opportunity for perspective.  
 
Unlike a momentary near-death encounter as I experienced, we are navigating weeks and months of a dying of sorts.  Rather than a flash of perspective, we are being gifted with many hours to re-evaluate, re-assess, re-prioritize, re-group, and truly appreciate the simplicity of just being alive. 
 
So, how can we use this liminal time well? 
 
How can we embrace this time of extreme uncertainty and use it as the fuel for our growth?
 
Can we look ourselves in the mirror every day and cultivate some semblance of peace, acceptance, and love from deep within the well of our own bodies and hearts?  
 
Can we turn and face ourselves and remember that unwavering inner connection to carry us through this challenging time and beyond? 
 
This time of pandemic and social isolation truly is an opportunity to turn towards ourselves, to look closely at our patterns of living, how we show up in the world, and what feels important to put our energy into.  
 
May we use it well.
 
We are all in this together.