What a Ride

It has been a hell of a year. 
That is not to say that we are not still on “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”, it is just to mark the last 12 months.
What we expected in December of last year and what occurred in the ensuing months were very freaking different. Adaptation, assimilation, innovation, and contemplation have been qualities we have had to develop. There have been heroic acts, there have been acts of cowardice. There has been incredible generosity and commensurate acts of selfishness. There has been obstruction and destruction. There has been liberation and love.
The time has rocketed by, and it has also been interminably slow. People have come and gone. Businesses have come and gone. What looked like solid ground has turned out to be shifting sand.
The point is: we are having to reinvent balance. I don’t mean the kind of balance that is about allocating an equal amount of time over existing commitments. I mean real balance – like when you first learned to ride a bicycle. For most of us, that was our first date with balance. Yes, there was that wobbly state when you went from crawling to standing and walking but most of us were too young to remember our initial step.
We then progressed, pushing the balance bar – maybe to a scooter or a skateboard, then to a snowboard or skis. We are now being asked to surf. To navigate on a moving surface.
We have been thrown off balance, and what was now is, and what is, is now was.
Even our costumes are confusing. Mask or no mask, you can’t spot the enemy and you don’t know your allies. Can’t tell the players without a lie detector.
We are strangers in a strange land – transitioning to what we don’t know and to where we cannot see.
This is an unusual holiday message because it’s an unusual time, but I am filled with love and gratitude and an immense amount of heartbreak. Not heartache where there is a lack of emotional relief and a good deal of suffering. But heartbreak, where there is a cathartic release.
I believe in communication and the power of communication. To know when to lay down and to know when to stand up and fight is the Warrior Way. I am watching people fight the good fight and valiantly trying to find their way. I am inspired not by people’s accomplishments this year but by their spirit in the face of such great loss.
I wish all of you a healthy and loving holiday and for you to live in the context of one day at a time and all things must pass.