A Wave in the Ocean
Habit Hack Episode 11.
"Accept that you are accepted. Belonging was never an issue."
Why is it so hard for us to believe this? Why do we so easily get displaced from the grounding, solid sense that we are ok and safe? Despite the fact that every ancient tradition has a fundamental teaching that we are ok and loved, we have this deeply fundamental primal fear of being separated from the tribe. This tribe is equal to livelihood, so the sense of belonging is more than "fitting in"; it touches the primitive nature of survival.
Right now, we are in a global and personal crisis, and we are being asked to hold many big emotions and sensations in the one container of our being. Joy with sorrow. Trust with fear. Boredom with anxiety. Patience with uncertainty. And it is coming up as a general feeling of stress. A pressing on our system. And as a system, we are really one organism, all of us, connected. And we cannot really compartmentalize; because that "stress" reaches beyond the bounds of our individual selves. Together, the nature of our experience is vast and diverse, fragile and fleeting.
And as every single one of us longs to be safe and to be seen; to be whole and to be loved, we have very different ways of getting at that connection. Different stories. Different ways we are in touch with our places of threat. Maybe even a sense of compassion overwhelm, towards a place of disconnection, as so much collective suffering tends to distort our perception. Here, in any space we are holding, we are still a wave, as one with the ocean.
And so, as the pot of water of pandemic fatigue continues to simmer or rage into a boil, may we hold ourselves gently, and also firmly. May we know that we are accepted as who we are, 100%, without needing self-improvement, or even betterment of some mindset or motivation. May we know some level of freedom in uncertainty, and some safety in being held by the people who love us. May you know that you are one wave that is an integral part of the ocean, never separate. May you know that you are here, and that there's no better you over there.
With all the waves in the ocean,
Jessica