Balancing Celebration and Mourning

Today as I’ve been sitting with others, accompanying them on their journey, there was a light rain that came through. The air is much warmer, as spring is arriving here, and it smelled fresh outside. It feels like new life is ready to bloom. This new life preparing to bloom is happening for a lot of us as we have been experiencing life much different than it used to be. 

There is a sense of stabilizing. Many of us in positions of leadership have needed to work diligently in order to maintain our capacity to monitor our environment, and that of our team members and those that we are responsible for taking care of. As well as being more expansive reaching outside of our inner circle to be a resource for the extended communities in our world, creating places where there are safe zones. There are finally beginning to be places where we can trust it is safe. It’s just beginning. 

I want to acknowledge that for many of us, when we are younger, there is an inner resiliency that we have, and we believe we are invincible, that nothing can get us or hurt us. For those of us who are older, we can remember those times, and we can monitor the environment for the younger ones too, doing our best to maintain safety for all. 

When we want to create safety for all, we also need to be sure we are slowing down and taking time to connect with our own hearts, with our own needs. Because we are not going to be able to be a resource if we are depleted. And when we are ‘on’ monitoring all the time, being busy because there is so much to do, we can fall into that pattern of not consciously checking in on our own sense of self. I want to encourage us to slow down and to take that time to “BE” in our experience and create a little more room for ourselves. 

As we come down from being so busy, some of us can feel a sense of loneliness. There might even be a sense of loss of precious time that we value so much for self-connection. Because when we take time to deepen into self-connection, deepen our roots connecting with life, we can tap into our joy. That joy juice, it’s sweet. It really brings the joy up in life to abide there, we need to nurture ourselves to abide there, and we need to be met there by others to celebrate our joy. 

As we are navigating this time in our world, we are trying to find our way to come into balance. We want to be able to be a resource, to be busy monitoring and attending to things, and we want to be able to slow down and come into our sense of self and relax to rest and digest. There is a balance that we need, each of us to find our own inner rhythm with Life. 

Some of us are wondering as we are looking for our balance, “Am I doing enough?” Some of us are making donations to front line workers. We have so many people that have stepped up to be resourceful for other people. Then there are others that are supporting those beyond their own inner circle, and there are those who are supporting the emotional well-being of others and their people. There are so many different layers of support that is needed. So, we sit with, “Am I doing enough?” 

Another question I ask you to consider is, “Am I being WITH LIFE enough?” Am I taking the time to be with life in the present moment? Or am I caught up in the clouds of my thoughts, my plans and my thinking? Those are important, I’m not dismissing them, and, it’s important to rest in the Being of who you are and to take time to acknowledge what you need. 

As we take the time to come into that inner balance, we can begin to sense a new beginning that’s beginning to open before us. A new path coming out of the confusion and the stress of this virus that has traveled our whole world. For many of us have been touched by the loss of extended family members and that creates a different ripple. It’s a ripple we can slow down as we begin to touch into the depression, the sadness, the grief. We need to name it and meet it gently. As we sit with it, we can feel it soften within us. 

When we can sit with what is, and abide in that pool, and take time to mourn together for the loss of our loved ones, there is a response that happens within our body, and we can start to breathe deeper. The miracle of being WITH life, being with what is happening in the moment, it opens our heart to new life. It renews us and thickens the pathways of resiliency deep inside. 

As we rest there we can be rejuvenated and empowered to glimpse the new life. Just as there are many bulbs that are beginning to sprout up from the ground knowing they will develop into the beautiful blooms that they are in our world, there are new celebrations that come up out of the roots of being willing to take the time to allow acknowledge our need to mourn together. Mourning and celebration are flip sides of the same beauty of the need. We need to take the time to mourn in order to come fully into our new life with celebration.