In a way, this crisis brings all of us into the present moment like never before.
This is the Great Pause.
We are seeing what happens when much of the world simply stops. As challenging and heartbreaking this experience is, it's also one of the best opportunities we ever had to take stock. To be present to what's not working in our society and our lives. To return to what and who truly matters. To remember and clarify our aspirations. To vision and create anew.
I've been sitting with the questions:
Who and how do I want to be in this crisis and beyond?
What is worth returning to and what is worth creating anew?
I'd love to invite you to join me in living these questions in the weeks ahead.
A more equitable, compassionate, and sustainable world is possible. Together, we can move in the right direction.
Below are a few resources to support you.
With love,
Sarah-Marie
Resources
[PRACTICE] Walking with a Question
Purpose: To unplug and create space for new insights and ideas to emerge around a question you're holding in your life/work.
Go for a long walk by yourself without your phone or with your phone switched off. Be present to your surroundings with your senses awake. If possible, spend some time amidst trees and plants. You may want to take a question you're currently holding on your walk and see what insights arise.
[POEM]
Grace and the Great Turning by Joanna Macy
When you act on behalf
of something greater than yourself,
you begin
to feel it acting through you
with a power that is greater than your own.
This is grace.
Today, as we take risks
for the sake of something greater
than our separate, individual lives,
we are feeling graced
by other beings and by Earth itself.
Those with whom and on whose behalf we act
give us strength
and eloquence
and staying power
we didn't know we had.
We just need to practice knowing that
and remembering that we are sustained
by each other
in the web of life.
Our true power comes as a gift, like grace,
because in truth it is sustained by others.
If we practice drawing on the wisdom
and beauty
and strengths
of our fellow humans
and our fellow species
we can go into any situation
and trust
that the courage and intelligence required
will be supplied.