#13 - "Do not underestimate the power of community"
Well friends, what a week!?!
From helping my youngest through a nasty infection (and being so unbelievably grateful for modern medicine and trained medics), to meeting new people and feeling both daunted and inspired, this week has been something of a journey.
I’ve also been fortunate to join two new communities, and, with both children back in school, I’ve been able to reflect on everything just enough to be able to write this issue.
Last week, before illness struck, I was able to help with something I care deeply about. At the time, a part of me thought: “Oh, what’s the use?” It was a familiar type of apathy that I know I have a tendency to feel when it seems like nothing ever changes.
Something I feel we, as humans, can all experience and give in to. So tiring it is, sometimes, to merely get through the day, and we all need to switch off. So I get it. There’s nothing wrong with that.
But, last Friday, I didn’t crave to be in a heap somewhere. No, instead I went for it and I got involved and I joined the many others who were also feeling the move to ‘try and do something’.
And I don’t mean getting better at sorting my single-use plastics. I mean changing the way we are governed. Because, the truth is, individual action is not enough. It will never be enough. That’s just a greenwashing con.
What we need is for big business to stop using fossil fuels, such as oil. And we need those in power to foresee this vision and begin implementing the transition. Now.
(I urge you to watch The Oil Machine.)
As it turned out, my efforts, combined with those of so many others, had the desired effect. Just to be clear, I am talking about the U.K. local elections, with The Green Party winning in my area.
Anyway, this connected feeling carried on throughout the rest of the week, and it saw me committing to an online course run by an environmental group, completing tasks in the wee small hours while laying next to my feverish child. Because I couldn’t sleep anyway and it is something I am passionate about.
Without wanting to make this post too political (it’s funny how we say this in the U.K., isn’t it? When, really, everything is politics, especially now) I don’t want to turn my head and look the other away any longer. And neither do I feel immobilised by fear. And this is down to there being others doing the same. It’s about community. Do not underestimate the power of it.
Seriously, there are some amazing people out there doing incredible things to combat global warming and they need our help. They need us to connect the dots. They need us to connect with them. The future of our planet, and all of our lives, depends on it.
Secondly, I also began a yoga training based on the paths of Karma and Bhakti yoga. It’s not the first time that I have completed these trainings, but, again, it has re-awakened in me the power of the heart connection that we all share.
Near or far, nothing really separates us but our minds.
I always think it’s amazing how quickly we can forget that we are all connected. Even with a regular practice. And how quickly we can feel like it’s ‘just us’. Like we’re the only ones. And it’s no wonder, really; we live in incredibly divisive times.
There’s no use in denying that we face existential threats on so many fronts, and we can absolutely choose to cope with it by putting out heads in the huge sand buckets that are placed all around us - the great big pots of distraction - if we want. There’s no judgement here. Do what works for you.
But protecting the rights of others to have an opinion and to speak the words that need to be spoken, as part of a healthy debate; as part of democracy, is something that we, I feel, do need to be doing. Removing ourselves from the echo chambers. Having uncomfortable conversations. Without shame. Listening with kindness. Allowing all points of view to be expressed, and not just the mainstream narrative. Especially not the mainstream narrative. Allowing that which we can hold onto, so tightly, to be challenged. Allowing even the concepts of ourselves to be challenged by asking the questions: Who am I? What type of person am I?
Hopefully, you will find that you are, we are, each one of us, a soul with love at the centre.
Hopefully you will recognise that underneath all of the noise of your head (most of it placed there by external sources), at your heart, there is the real you.
And that it’s the same for everyone else. We are all locked in the same game.
Out Beyond Ideas
by Rumi
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make any sense.
Try it for a moment: forget about all of the things you think are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’: the labels and the drama that serve only our runaway mass-consumerist culture and the increasingly far-right ideologies that support the model of an Industrial Growth Society: an unsustainable system that is discriminatory to many, especially to those who reside in the Global South. Consider, also, all of the separation and division that it creates.
Strip it right back and ask yourself: Who is it that is underneath the thoughts and expectations? Why should we have more, and others have less?
Be compassionate about the thoughts you are having and perhaps question: Why do you feel/think that way? Is it a cultural norm? Was it handed to you by someone else?
If reading this post is difficult for you, perhaps gently ask: What are you feeling defensive about? Why?
Then imagine: What would it feel like if you didn’t have those thoughts?
No matter how difficult it may be to let go of your grip on reality and any thoughts about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, try and see things from another, less-privileged point of view, and try to imagine what a kinder, fairer, greener world would look like?
What it would feel like?
Dare to imagine such a thing. Please. (Before AI takes over out thoughts!)
We know that the answers aren’t in technology or ‘progress’. And nor is it luddite to say such a thing.
It’s strange, isn’t it, that despite having more social media apps than we could ever hope to engage with, our children, who are, arguably, the first generation to grow up surrounded by these things are lonelier than ever. Question: Why?
For those of you that follow my Instagram, you will know that I have decided to take a step back. Again. This is for many reasons, but, essentially: I need some time to research and reflect on how I feel about it all. So ingrained have these ‘communication tools’ become that I feel I need to try and navigate a way forward, through the entanglement, to something that feels more aligned with who I am and what I feel is fair. And I know I am not alone. Millions are doing so, with high-profile figures such as the writer Matt Haig and big brands such as Lush doing the same.
Those of you who have been in my life for a while will know that I have started and deleted more social media accounts than I care to remember. At times forgoing quite large followings and then having to start from scratch all over again. I’m not too sure why. I guess I’ve felt the need to have a platform, despite disliking it. Believing (after being told) that it is a requirement for creatives these days: It’s how you get work. The only way.
I’ve been a reluctant sharer, but posting nonetheless, trying to see the upside of it - of which there are a few - but being only too happy to kid myself about it.
If any of you have watched The Social Dilemma, may I suggest that you watch The AI Dilemma. It will explain.
In truth (satya), I can’t write to you about love and light, and refuse to acknowledge the shadows; you can’t have one without the other.
And I cannot pretend that there aren’t huge issues that we should be engaging with, and that it is always okay to ignore stuff and perpetually live in a positivity bubble. That’s unrealistic. And I use gratitude every single day of my life as a way to survive, so, believe me, I know none of this is easy.
But, contrary to common belief, to deny the shadows would be as far away from yoga as anything I know (more on this next week).
Sometimes, you’ve got to take a stand, and you can do so in the name of yoga.
Please know that you, we, are not alone. We are never alone. And one thing I know is that people are generally good - even when they’ve forgotten this innate truth.
It’s just our thoughts and our judgements and our projections that are getting in the way.
That’s why connection to our selves - our true Selves - is so important. Because it will connect you with others who are able to reflect the truth of your essence right back at you (known as satsang or sangha).
It gives you the lens with which you can see clearly through the murk of our digital, AI-feeding and ever-unquestioned existence.
Things could be so much better. For all. And we’ve got the tech and, more importantly, the people, with the skills and the motivation to make it so.
Like I said, people are good. People care. And more and more people are asking questions and realising, and, so, on that note, I’d like to leave you with a poem that I’ve found, because it puts all of what I’ve just said into two verses.
So, until next week, peace, love and kindness,
Louisa x
Between Worlds by Glennie Kindred
We are being triggered from deep within; to reach out and reach in;
To find ever deeper levels of connection
To each other and to the natural world around us.
We are reaching out with our hearts… Alive to possibilities, and
Open to levels of communication with trees, plants, and animals
That we had previously thought impossible.
Worlds within Worlds… Connections ripple… Energy shifts…
Our hearts open and we bow our heads in deep respect.
~
A heart that is filled with gratitude sends healing energy
To giver and receiver alike.
We are waking up and responding to a deep internal call
To change our relationship with Nature;
To give something back; to stop demanding of the Earth,
And to say thank you.
From there, made compassionate by humility, we ask the Earth
“What can I do for you?”