by Emma Joy | Mar 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
Winter is fading and spring has arrived. Yet many of us are struggling with what it means to transition out of the wintering periods of our lives. During these periods, we have witnessed death and experienced loss. People and past situations in our lives have fallen away or continue to lie dormant. During seasons of wintering, we lament the present and the past and struggle with ideas of change. Whether these are small changes or monumental shifts, there is no going back to the way things were. Yet we are still stuck, unable to go back and uncertain of how to move forward.
Not everyone or everything survives or remains after our seasons of wintering. But we are here. As we slowly start to stretch after the stillness and dormant rhythm of winter let us take a breath. It is time to reawaken. As difficult as it has been, wintering positions all of us for new life and new being. As a time of rebirth and renewal, spring is calling us into a new rhythm of hope and aliveness.
Hope has arrived
It is faint and small
Waiting
Growing
Blooming
Inhale
Its perfume permeates us
It opens and expands
Releasing fear
Exhale
Hope is here
Awakening within us the courage
to dream
to feel
to be
New and whole
Once again
by Emma Joy | Mar 28, 2022 | From The Rocking Chair, Uncategorized
Some of what we are witnessing is the fallout from what it means to be expected and to expect oneself to operate at high levels of excellence and achievement, while at the same time contending with the constant public scrutiny of those who play out their lives through the public performance of actors, athletes and artists and the transactional demands of fans and entertainment industries. Public performers are-as much as we would like to ignore-human beings subject to the same heights of achievement, depths of feeling, experiences of trauma, failures and frailty that we all experience. The scrutiny and energy that is projected onto them must take a toll.
When public actors do not live up to our projected expectations some of us respond as if we are bystanders on a school yard playground egging on the fight for our own amusement and entertainment; others of us who are affected by histories of trauma are triggered and wish the same punishment on these public actors as we would like meted out to those who have caused us pain. Finding healthy resolutions to conflict amid the constant barrage and pummeling of public commentary, hero’s praise or death wishes, without adequate boundaries, constraint and sage wisdom to guide the process will be difficult if not unlikely. The arguments that ensue, the judgments unleashed, and sides taken eventually overtake social media actors’ and consumers and sweep us all into a swell of dis-ease and states of depletion of what is needed to remain grounded and in tune with who we are and who we are meant to be.
Acknowledgment and accountability are necessary for true healing and reconciliation. Healing and reconciliation are more likely to take place outside of the public gaze of those intent on keeping score, stoking the embers of conflict or not yet ready to forgive even when those primarily involved have acknowledged the injury, attempted to make amends and have moved on. To light the path to justice and healing, be prayerful and ponder the best way to use your energy in light of all of the energy that is being projected and unleashed in the current moment.
