Shards of Uncertainty

Tidbits of recent news are lingering in my thoughts this evening: Oil prices are low; civil wars in several countries are causing immeasurable suffering; weather patterns are increasingly erratic; suicide rates are on the rise...

So much hurt in our world; so much anxiety. How are we to move forward when we are surrounded by this cacophony of sad news?

Perhaps the answer is to found in comments from a participant at a workshop that I recently facilitated. In considering her own wellbeing and her need to increase her vitality, she said, "I need to build a stronger village around me."

This strikes home for me. When we feel isolated we despair. In the village, however, all have a place, all are supported - mutually holding and being held. if there is an antidote for despair it may be found within interwoven threads of the village's mosaic. 

In an era of increasing individualism and growing isolationism, sowing the seeds of village is perhaps our most important endeavor. That leaves us then with one simple question - how do we grow village?

The soulfulness of village.

Something to ponder...

Living amongst the shards,
B

Shards of Re-membering

I met with six friends yesterday with whom I graduated from high school...34 years ago. We haven't aged a day. Well, we haven't aged significantly since we saw each other a year ago. 

We caught up on kids, cancer, vocation, losses, travel... and of course a thick helping of conversation regarding classmates with whom we've lost track.

All in all it was an evening of remembering. Or perhaps more accurately it was re-membering. To re-member is to bring into membership again that which was perhaps lost or pushed out. 

In re-membering stories we weave back into the tapestry of our life those threads that have been dropped, torn, or maybe just faded. In sorrowing, for example, the recollection of a loved-one returns that person to the communion of our inner being, back into membership with us - lost physically, reclaimed emotionally.

My classmates and I reclaimed old stories, experienced anew from a more mature lens, a different lens. We salvaged long forgotten tales, not to stir the pot of old wounds, rather, to bring back into the membership of our life mosaic reminiscences that are precious in both their wounding and their wonder. 

Re-membering.

Something to ponder...

Living amongst the shards,

B