My 2024 was filled with making new connections, trying new things, and showing up in the world in renewed ways. Until December.
It was then I took a cue from the earth, paring back commitments to near zero. I slowed and often stilled myself. The energy of seeds planted throughout the year remained, though, vibrating gently in my psyche as both gentle remembrances and soft ideas for the future.
January has been a time of plugging back in. I’ve reconnected with the women in the Gatherings, people I play music with, friends I walk and hike with and landscapes I visit. I’m back to exercise routines and work with some local committees.
This is what I’m noticing:
We’re Getting Closer
While preparing for January’s Gathering, I found a list made by the group last year. The words were responses to “What’s Coming?”
We’re exploring retirement and the ways we spend time with family. We’re stepping into the realities of living with aging partners and the hard truths of losing loved ones. Parts of our bodies are not working well and are even being replaced!
The big concerns—the so-called wicked problems—of the world ebb and flow beneath all this.
Seeing the thoughts penned by the hands of these women brought each individual next to my heart again. The page felt precious. That same familiarity crops up as I return to my most-visited spaces and other relationships. Memories are stacked in layers; the specifics melting into felt energy. This is intimacy.
What’s the Big Deal?
How do we solve the climate crises, plastic pollution, and hate invigorated in the circumstances we are in? I do not know. But I do know this: We turn to other beings again and again.
We find communion in sharing words, music, food, and feelings. In occupying space together. Bearing witness to the innocence of children warms our souls. There is satisfaction in helping others. None of this is new.
And we look beyond ourselves. Hoping for a glimpse of something larger than all the pieces, we might seek closeness to nature or to something divine.
But there’s a catch.
These Relationships Are Work
Again, not new.
Reaching out and showing up takes energy and time. Commitment. Doing so with an open heart takes even more.
It’s the Same Both Ways
Whether looking broadly or personally, I see the same truths of the human experience: Not one of us is getting out alive and we don’t get to know the ending.
Our collective pain is enormous. Anything I can do is minuscule. But that doing is an important choice. Connections matter.
In the increasing light, I’m returning to the work and practices that nourish me. I’m re-entering the web of the world, trusting the seeds and roots of seasons past to take hold again. I’m hoping to grow a little bit of goodness.
This episode of Hidden Brain (titled When it’s All Too Much) showed up at just the right time and feels like a good companion to this post.
Thank you, my friend, for sharing these experiences. “I’m re-entering the web of the world, trusting the seeds and roots of seasons past to take hold again. I’m hoping to grow a little bit of goodness.” You ARE continuing to grow goodness as you long have. Grateful to have known you.