You really have two choices.
To harden or open up and grow.
Of course between these two polarities, there are hiccups and swings.
But let’s not kid ourselves. The upcoming decade of 2020s will yield some of the most challenging and complex problems of our times. Given the unprecedented global scale, it’s easy to harden. To squint tight and see just a sliver of perspective, causing us to harden against both the small and big things.
When our heart feels into war, the climate crisis, planet plastic, mass migration, and shrinking natural resources, it’s easy to flail our hands and say “what a shit mess we’re in” and go buy a latte. (In our reusable cup that briefly satiates our broken heart.)
In sight of these wicked problems, it’s easy too for our hearts to sharpen the borders of our fierce individuality.
At my local ice rink over the holidays, I ran into a guy who told me that he’d “bought a piece of land down in Alberta, just in case, well- things ‘go south’. You know whattaImean?”
I didn’t totally know. I wasn’t sure if he was anticipating water wars, mass migration, or the North taken over by fat-biking environmentalists.
Whether I understood his reasons, or not, I caught a glimpse of his hardening.
I could see it because I witness myself hardening in micro-moments throughout the day.
I say, “I’m too tired to clean the burnt eggplant from tinfoil.” I want to ski and Michael wants to skate out of town. I say “I guess we’ll take two cars”. Or I’m slow to join our family dinner conversation after my teenager has pushed me away for (what feels like) the 17th time in four days.
When we’re hurt, exhausted, overwhelmed, or scared our human impulse is to harden to protect…don’t you find? Or we propel ourselves into endless distraction, making it difficult to break ground in the present moment into what’s wise and liberatingly-full.
Our intractable problems are opportunities
The 2020s are generating a movement of movements; a swell of consciousness that won’t be contained.
And our choice, whether to harden against or open up to the wicked problems before us- is gonna make this a great ride or a hot mess of one.
[bctt tweet=”You and I, right now, are ankle deep in the new waters of the decade. Will we choose liberation, guided by the vital pulse of our deepest yearning?” username=”thisisjengland”]
Our intractable problems are our biggest opportunities. We can get curious and unfurl our imaginations with big hearts. We can welcome the quick-winded pace of our own evolution.
Instead of hardening- we can open. And then…
Hierarchy turns to collaboration.
Judgment yields curiosity.
My Way is transmuted into Our Way.
Borders become porous.
Scarcity breathes out generosity.
“We can’t” becomes “it’s truly possible”
In-breath dances infinitely with out-breath.
What’s your developmental edge now?
We can harden or we can open.
Each of us, as we grow throughout our adult lives, is teetering on what I call a “developmental edge”.
This is where our human limits of understanding, perceiving and acting brush up against our vision of what’s possible. To break through these limitations, we must break the ice dam of hold back- whether beliefs, mindsets, or hardened responses.
Your edge may be to boldly speak our truth, no matter what crowd we’re in, despite fear of reprisal.
Or you might need to step towards creative living, so you can bend like a river no matter what Life brings.
You may be called to bravely invite your teammates to share something that’ll unearth your deepest vulnerabilities.
Your developmental edge is the wild play of the next decade.
Set Your Intention and Give it Space
The vital pulse of your evolution is guided by an intention.
One that’s guided by what you’re called to express and deeply listen to.
Maybe you’ve already set one. Or maybe you’ve distracted yourself out of it, and have moved on to planning March, your summer vacation, or the next big launch. Either way. Come back to stillness and the pulse of your intention.
You have a choice. You can open or you can harden/distract.
Set an intention for this beautiful, terrible decade of opportunity- so you can work your edge and skillfully navigate the demands upon you.
Practice for You: Unburden Your Heart and Set an Intention
Write an intention for the Decade 2020-2030.
1. Before you set an intention, you’re going to do a wee purge. A purge of words, drawing, or another creative outlet…to let go of all the ‘shoulds, what ifs, buts, could haves, they might think…” Anything that weighs down the potential of your liberation. You’re going to give yourself some space.
2. Then ask: What am I longing to express? Contribute to? What will bring me my core desired feelings [add them here] that will bring fulfillment and impact?
3. Write and rewrite your intention until you feel in your bones, sacrum, heart, or chest, that it FEELS right.
4. Then share it with someone you trust– so they can bear witness to the chrysalis of your own longing.
Bring yourself some spaciousness
Between your expression and your listening, is a kind of space that’s infinitely expanding. This is the space of love.
It makes me think of something Reverend Angel Kyoto Williams, ordained Zen priest said, in a conversation with Krista Tippet (host of On Being) recently. She said,
“Love is space. It is developing our own capacity for spaciousness within ourselves to allow others to be as they are. That is love. And that doesn’t mean that we don’t have hopes or wishes that things are changed…but that to come from a place of love is to be in acceptance of what is, even in the face of moving it towards something that is more whole, more just, more spacious for all of us.”
And with this, I wish you a most spacious decade of wise, bold and creative living.
xo
Jennifer
