In my last post, I sensed that our wish to “turn the corner” of Covid might be something to hold lightly. But still, I hoped that we might be heading toward a better year ahead. And we still can.
Now, more than ever, we need all-hands-on-deck. We’ve been staring straight into the shadow of humanity for almost two years, and without ignoring what’s been exposed – entrenched self-grasping, an ADHD nation, basic struggles with basic science – we can orient toward our most needed capacities. What are they?
- The ability to notice the suffering of others, even when we don’t want to.
- The ability to respond to suffering with patience and empathy.
- The ability to tolerate what might feel intolerable, and then stay tuned for how it invariably changes.
- The ability to prioritize the needs of others over our own pleasure and comfort.
- The ability to receive care from others with gratitude and humility.
There are so many more extraordinary capacities we have! But these are a few I want to underscore as we usher in this new year.
Some of you have experienced mind-bending losses. And some have merely been frustrated and bored. But however you’ve been impacted, we all need to trust our ability to respond to this moment with compassion and integrity. If we can do so, when we look back, we’ll remember this time as extraordinary because we dug deep into our treasure trove of capacities and found what we needed to carry on.
Sending you all wishes for genuine well-being in 2022!
