A Greek philosopher once said that “change is the only certainty of life”. Yet I’m sure we can all agree, that today’s world is an exceptional time. From the war in Ukraine, to climate change, from political upheaval, to the cost of living and housing crisis, the times we are living in are unprecedented. Life can feel full of uncertainties these days, which can have an impact on our sensitive nervous systems.
I know that for myself, I go between both feeling disturbed by global events, and day to day living as best I can, tending to my well-being and that of my loved ones, savouring what’s nourishing and good in life, moving stress and tensions through my body and through having time in meditation and in nature.
Yet, I also feel the need to create space with others, to reflect on and relate to what’s unfolding in our world. How are we being impacted, and what might we need to tend to, for our own sense of wholeness and well-being? How might our bodies be an important resource in dispersing tensions? What might our response-ability be, as we listen deeply within? What creative power might a community gathering hold? Rilke suggests; “Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. …live in the question.”
To draw on Rilke’s words, the questions that I am currently with are,
- How might we navigate such uncertain times?
- What resources and allies might we need for the journey?
- How might we understand resilience as something we don’t need to do alone?
- How can resilience be experienced on many levels? ( nervous system regulation, emotional and heart intelligence, taking action, community support?)
- where we might draw on the connective tissues of community and the mycelium web of the soul to support us?
- How might we collectively listen deeply, for what is calling to us, to guide us in these times, and that whisper of a new vision, perhaps a new way of life that is longing to be birthed?
What questions get evoked for you? I’d love to hear- please feel welcome to comment below.
Many theorists I’m reading for my PhD in Leadership, speak of these times as a liminal space, a time when an old way of being is dying with a new one yet to be born, where uncertainty and unknowns abound, yet, with the shaking of the normal structures, also hold the potential of a new phase of life to be born. Think of the caterpillar who must enter the cocoon phase, where its body must turn to mush, so that the new cells of the butterfly can be born.
In the ancient wisdom lineages, such transitional times would have been carefully prepared for and held in a ritual space by elders. Communities would gather, ritual be enacted, and a deep listening for guidance would guide the phases from dissolution to re-forming into potentially a better state than existed before. A kind of alignment would happen, then, a following of life’s flow, where the cycles of death, re-birth, and renewal were embraced and navigated together.
In today’s culture, many of us have lost this art of how to navigate liminal times. Yet, we have also been gifted with ancient wisdom along the way, with contemporary approaches such as somatics, depth psychology, and transformative leadership, that can act as modern elders and ritual holders for us.
( If you are curious to learn more, I invite you to join us for an upcoming mini-retreat, “Sanctuary in Uncertainty”, to explore what wisdom ways we might draw upon, just scroll up to the courses section of this site)
I believe that although the times we live in can feel shaky, that we have also been gifted with so much wisdom to help to guide us through. An image comes to me from childhood, of the nettle plant that stings, but where also the docken leaf was always growing close by, ready to offer its medicine.
I’d love to hear how you are, in these times, and what questions you are holding, or anything else you’d care to share.
Feel also very welcome to join us, on November 13th, for our mini-retreat. You would be so welcome there.
Sending love
Aisling
