Meeting challenges as an invitation

2020 is a year we will all most probably remember for the rest of our lives. As we have been sharing over the past few months all the events can feel like an enormous challenge. A lot of darkness is being exposed and there is a lot to process on a collective scale. This can trigger fear based programmes that are rooted in unresolved traumatic experiences from the past.

The ego’s primal reaction is to protect our sense of self, which often resolves in the classic polarization, us against them. What if we could all embrace this challenge as an invitation to not give in to the egos need to be right and choose sides. What if, instead of searching for the answers outside of ourselves we turn our attention within, since it is very clear that the old games are not going to bring us any further, it is merely repeating itself over and over again.

Sign of the times

The big difference is that now this old paradigm is becoming so clear and out in the open and it is all going so fast. It’s a sign of the times, old scriptures, seers, native elders, many beings have been telling us about this time, which we can embrace as a great opportunity for change if we have the consciousness to do so. We love to share some beautiful words about this by the Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron: 

" We are at a time when old systems and ideas are being questioned and falling apart, and there is a great opportunity for something fresh to emerge. I have no idea what that will look like and no preconceptions about how things should turn out, but I do have a strong sense that the time we live in is a fertile ground for training in being open-minded and open-hearted.

If we can learn to hold this falling apart–ness without polarizing and without becoming fundamentalist, then whatever we do today will have a positive effect on the future.

Working with polarization and dehumanization won’t put an immediate end to the ignorance, violence, and hatred that plague this world. But every time we catch ourselves polarizing with our thoughts, words, or actions, and every time we do something to close that gap, we’re injecting a little bodhichitta into our usual patterns.

We’re deepening our appreciation for our interconnectedness with all others. We’re empowering healing, rather than standing in its way. And because of this interconnectedness, when we change our own patterns, we help change the patterns of our culture as a whole. "

 Spiritual teachings show us again and again that if we desire change in the world, the first ‘place’ to make this transformation occur is within ourselves, like the famous words of Gandhi ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’.

Become the embodiment of a new world

We are invited to embody the kind of world we would like to live in, to be a living example of the kind of leaders we wish to see in the world. This doesn’t mean you need to become the next president of your country, but that through your behaviour, through your choice of words and acts, you contribute towards unity instead of division. When we manage to accomplish this in our own lives, without blaming others for not doing the same, that is when we make a true transformation possible.

Stay put and allow the alchemy to happen

Let’s do our own inner work to transcend polarization. When something triggers you, upsets you or makes you angry, see if you can notice the reaction and instead of going against the person, institution or government that triggers this feeling in you, be with that feeling, allow yourself to feel it, really try to stay with it. It is an energetic reaction, it is literally energy that needs to move. Most of the time, when we are not conscious, we act out this energy. But when we stay put, just feel and stay silent, this energy becomes the fire of your inner transformation, often you can even feel the heat of it when you contain it.

Create a global shift

When this initial reaction is contained, you can act from a totally different place, not from the place that needs to defend, destruct or attack, but you can act from a place of love, from that place within you that contributes towards unity. This is how we can together create a global shift and have a positive effect on the future.

Compassion

Compassion is needed in these times, for yourself to begin with, with compassion you can allow yourself to make this transformation happen and with compassion for others, you can respect them and allow them to make their own journey in their own way. Each and every one of us is unique and we can never ever force someone to see things the way we do. When we can make peace with that, we take a huge step towards peace in the world.