Running Toward Our Humanity

 Since the pandemic I've decided to spend more time learning, taking classes, expanding knowledge in areas that interest me most.

I've learned from 'thought leaders' of all sorts from across the globe and appreciated their encouragement to 'be all we can be' or to sort of 'inhabit our bliss' sort of thing.  (Go ahead and roll your eyes I know it sounds a little woo-woo sometimes.)  I've appreciated their insights, their probing questions, their deep naval-gazing homework lol.  Yes hard work usually requires homework! Some of these events are a day, a series of days in a month, a weekend, a week, you never know how much time or commitment will be required. 

One thing you DO know is that you'll start to see yourself and humanity, differently.

It's been interesting to note that it's possible to hear the information more than once and yet find it goes deeper than the first time(s).  We change and grow as we go along and our ability to integrate the information, the meaning of it for us anyway, deepens. I notice that often society 'takes notice' of things 'in theory' more than anything else. Life isn't theoretical though is it, it's 'the real thing' and to be present in that moment and really letting it all sink-in is sort of vital to our very existence.

Recently I've been doing a focus on embracing our humanity. How it's so important to stop numbing-out and ignoring our pain, our awkwardness, our insecurities and to start enjoying them as just parts of who we are. Whomever taught us to run away from these things as unacceptable was doing us and the world a disservice.  How can we learn to have love and compassion for ourselves and others, to be a well-rounded human if we try to lop-off the parts of ourselves that we don't like?  Why don't we like things about  ourselves and if we don't, why don't we change them?  Do we need to change them or do we need to change our mindset about them?  Maybe it's a little of both?  

This most recent focus has had me looking at society and ourselves, how we experience life, trauma, difficulties.  Can we find new levels of compassion for ourselves, for others?  Can we find a way to use our experiences to help others going through similar things?

I've noticed that I seem to be showing more of who I really am, what I value and vocalizing or expressing it more.  Rather than not responding to something  until later like a delayed reaction (as I've been known to do), I find myself just saying what I think which is a surprise to us all lol. I don't mean in some difficult or unkind way but I'm not as 'checked-out' to things as I once was. I may pause a moment and think 'Do I want to really say that? Yes, I do..."  It doesn't mean it's negative or hurtful by the way, just things I don't usually share.

Someone suggested it might be a good process of personal growth to 'accept' various things instead of letting them bother me and I thought a moment and said 'You know at this point, I'd rather not, I really am not comfortable with that'.  I realized that 'accepting' the things they were referring to was akin to 'letting it go, being ok with it' etc. They didn't mean for me to take it that way but that's how the idea hit me in that moment so rather than be 'nice to them', and aloof to myself, I said 'No'. 

By not accepting those things I can ask myself things like: What is the legacy I want to leave in the world? If I don't 'accept that' thing in it's status-quo, what can I do about it? I can raise awareness, I can write the various leaders at various levels and suggest important changes and encourage others who feel the same way to do the same.  It matters.  It REALLY matters!

In most cases we have been taught in various ways throughout our lives to detach from our  humanity and really it's high-time we all run back to embrace it.   I'm finding that I'm more authentically myself and more open to life and others with this change. It also makes me prouder of myself that I am reaching out for change in those things I can't 'let go by' like that.  Inhumane treatment of people, egregious mismanagement of various situations, greedy behavior by companies or politicians, laws that only focus on helping people who don't need it and ignoring those who do; things like that.  

How about you, what things would you like to embrace advocating for to make the world a better place?

Serendipitous or Innate Awareness

Did you ever 'get a sense of something' or some kind of awareness that caught your attention ahead of something happening?

It didn't have to be a negative event just any sort of awareness.

It seems like these things happen more often than we give credit for.

Indigenous people often say that in order to learn about life we must observe and listen to the land (the planet, the world).

I'll give an example of something I just heard about today on a teaching video. That person had just passed between two bordering countries with nothing but a sign but the difference in the atmosphere was so different everyone felt it like a palpable passing through of an energy field.

That has happened to me at least three times.  When flying into Belfast (N Ireland) from Glasgow (Scotland) and again when driving/flying into Canada from the US. In either case the difference of feeling was so intense it really made me feel like I was entering/exiting places with profoundly different history and 'ways of being'. 

How about you, can you think of something like that? It might have happened walking into a home with a lot of interpersonal turbulence between it's occupants for example.  Or maybe driving into an area  unknown to you and suddenly you think, "I should get out of here." Things like that?