2020: A Rare View & Resonance of Genuine Gratitude for New “News” & the Clarity Seen from a Distance

My word I boldly blazoned to the year on the first of January was resonance, in a hope to find vision and clarity in myself, my direction, and the ability to declare who I am and where I was going confidently and courageously. While working through particular periods or even within an experience, it could’ve seemed at times like the swirl of the seasons and opportunities within settings were counteractive to that goal, I have found the opposite. Like most everything in life, while it was nothing in the way I may have planned or foreseen from my personal control, it was unique and more formative than I could’ve predicted or perceived, looking at it from a refined vantage point. 

I, along with Newton, have chosen to admit to gravity and have allowed the force of growth to transform the coal-smudged corners waiting to be pressured into more glimmering truths in so many ways that I had known I needed to and wanted to for years, but had never allowed myself the time or space to do so to reach the “place” I had wanted to, by finally prioritizing my time and energy far above any simple time management skill I’d learned in a publication or post. Moreover, we’ve all learned “place” is more so a mindset, sometimes a fantastic imagination, but always a setting in which our emotions intersect with our environment, and our place is that active awareness within a minute or moment of life.

I’ve found more space and more time in the smaller quarters and longer hours to finally partake in things that I’ve always said, “if only I had a bit more time.”

Leaving an open invitation of virtual outlets to wide-open windows where doors have been closed has brought people into my life who have been hoping their messages and stories are heard and praying they make an impact, by my ears and eyes being more attuned to accepting and seeing their platform through exposure and search of voices doing just that - spreading and making a difference in different times of the new normal through spreading personal passions and purpose and empowering any and every person they may reach to do just the same in their unique golden ways. 

While it is the most fun and preferred sitting side-by-side and hearing crystal glasses clink, sharing a zoom link can suffice a similar experience of the same depth of showing participation and earnestly being present in a moment - the more direct meaning of impact in the root of interaction - whether in person or virtually-can be shown and shared. 

Silence is scary but the only place to find baring and allow echoes to resound and inner-truth to be found, having to get comfortable with ourselves.

That inner-knowing and assurance is what is needed for equipping us to be so much more adept to remaining firm and rooted while millions of voices hurl unfiltered messages that swirl in the air. It is a freeing gift to more mindfully be able to more actively choose, filter, and focus on only those messages which matter and are valid amidst the deluge of media and voices, as opposed to consuming massive amounts of media without a more solid stance of our personal convictions having been contemplating first and guiding us in our opinion

It is an honor to be able to show responsibility in sitting, listening, and learning, from having an equal opportunity to access the voices - even virtual ones - of every single experience as opposed to mostly those that are directly in our neighborhood and ballpark of interaction. 

Making the effort to expose ourselves to more equitable and diverse conversations and having access to those is a two-way street of enrichment to give thanks for paving. However, making an active choice to truly immerse ourselves whereas before being less prone to make that small effort of creating a bit more space in our day, generosity of ear, and expansion of mind and heart

Scaling back in spectacle has created a simpler and more surreal feeling to be thankful for each person and each experience I have, no matter the multitude of magnitude. It is truly is Quality over quantity. In people. In daily tasks. In access to the more basic necessities. In what we listen to and absorb. Where we place our efforts and see our accomplishments come as a result of the simplicity of life to be celebrated as subliminal.

For their innate power in sharing their knowledge, sharpened skills, and the hope and ease that come from their tremendous efforts, I am thankful for every essential employee and healthcare worker.

The people that allow me to be provided with and have overly generous assurance in the and ability to celebrate the prospect of having good health and the care that fosters, along with the people that continuously administer outlets and access to everything that I need and an abundance of extra in such ease are not only essential but the essence of what it means to put the world and every person who composed it first by answering the call to utilize our strength and the ability within it.

I amidst billions have genuinely begun being more grateful for the more basic aspects of good health becomes vital, not just virtuous in theory.

Feeling my heartbeat. Filling my lungs with breath. Finding power in simply being able to stretch and walk around the block. While it is internally rewarding to set a new record or feel the strength that has developed through effort, that feeling and the ability to still flex a mental muscle or bask in completing basic body function is what matters and what we have to be grateful for, no matter how showy or strong. The real treasure is unburied in simply being able to partake in it and being thankful that ability most of all and is far more meaningful in the moment than any end result, in contrast to no longer valuing the most extensive exercise or extreme optimal performance in physical expression or being put on a podium for achieving it, while it is still a mental achievement to see progress in personal physical activity,

For many seasons now I have begun each of my daily yoga practices with this adage that has become only more appropriate with each sun that has risen every day with further reason:

“Breathe.

It’s a privilege.

Every minute, emotion, day, devotion, experience, situation, struggle, and celebration 

Are filling your lungs & life

And to feel that

Is fulfillment in life

That we should

exhale gratitude for"

I’ve had the heavy gift to unwrap each day of actively accepting a lack of control.

Finally, I have had an opportunity to entirely acknowledge and ascribe to the truth behind the personal mantra I preach of not worrying about things that are out of our control, and only exercising a healthy amount of attachment to those that we can control because there has to be a lack of attachment to the end result of our efforts in uncertain times and contentedness in knowing we have given our best effort in the means and ways we possibly could.

It has been a lesson of rationality to recognize that regardless of the opportunities we are used to attaining, or the orthodox ways of accessing them, the people supporting, encouraging, empowering, and helping us achieve our goals are what make the difference. The journey and development that come along the way of shaping our destiny are what helps us find the direction to even travel along to reach it, even if it is set at a different pace or given cause to be put on pause.

Having patience with finally being completely content in the present, which is truly the only thing within our realm of control, and not rushing too fast and fiercely into the future and not reminiscing and settling in a sense of revolving tug of contemplating the past. 

The future comes to its fullest fruition when we focus all of our efforts on maximizing what is at hand in the present moment.

We can more plainly trust the thought and believe in another message I preach that I’ve had to internally realize last simply vocalizing has come full circle to a concentric citric light,

“Just do the Next Right Thing -

Right Here & Now.

It will form a String

That will Lead

to the Next Right Place.”

Each opportunity to share life - whether a celebration or emotional ventilation - is a gift. In being a bit more mindful that every moment we share with someone is a bit more meaningful because life really is uncertain but the community and depth of love we have in it is certainly what matters most. 

Reaching out and being extended the metaphorical and virtually theoretical olive branch has become a change and choice to interact more intentionally.

Though it was more unnatural, being put in a place to make more of an active choice to show compassion and empathy in simply showing that we are there to listen to someone and spreading a tremendous amount of compassion in just simply acknowledging their presence and the fact that we are thinking of them, in a time when it means just a bit more to be thought of, and in fact, can mean everything. Along with that, even if we can only see the crinkle of an eye and hear a muffled laugh from behind fabric, laughter proves to be the best medicine and salve for the soul for the daily emotional continuum we often find to be quite curvy - and that prescription, for laughter and levity, is always accessible when the proper conditions allow for production. 

It is rewarding to advocate for the understated and even more under-spoken-of understanding that is okay to admit we are not at our best, that at times we find ourselves struggling, and that we need help, and being able to admit that and find the support needed in that vulnerability - and having the courage to both say it and seek it because people just might be a more understanding and a lot more willing to meet we where we are at and help us reach a place of more balance. Compassion and the courage to be vulnerable and help ourselves and others grow through that grit and grace is powerful and much more conducive to prolong content even within more emotionally polarized days.

Actively acknowledging and constantly being aware that there is immensely more than me, my small social circle, the society I am most acutely aware of and surrounded by is an awakening akin to the gradual rise of a sun that spreads its light evenly and wholly in a way that makes a morning even and a vision of the horizon balanced in brightness and boldness.

There is an entire universe beyond what we personally can peer into, and the effects of each action we make and the compassion for every person who feels the impacts of our words and our choices are not to be underwritten, in the bigger and most certainly smaller but just as meaningful ways. Making it all the more important to have an internal check, follow simple safety guidelines set by administrations, and considering the best intention for showing compassion and consideration for every person who composed that much broader world. Realizing it is my responsibility to play my small part in following what is advised as the most beneficial and conducive to contributing to a better, safer, and secure society.

I have finally chipped into having the courage to not just say who I am and how that is perceived but declaring who I know myself to be and where I see my destiny. Carving out the time to excavate our inner emotions and be with ourselves and working on becoming a better version of ourselves before looking to someone to tell us what that version should look like and how it is seen, can allow us to become a truer iteration of ourselves that then is bolder and better able to help others become more of who they know themselves to be, giving them more of a platform to declare who they uniquely are as opposed to saying who they are viewed to be. 

There is a duality between the personal and communal concepts of growing stronger from the struggles we have faced and being refined and fortified by them.

To make change and growth conducive, we have to fully feel our inner struggles and work from a place of full understanding. In a parallel way, to make community change and universal growth productive and substantial, we must offer the entirety of possible empathy and offer the utmost understanding we can perceive for their pain and from a communal place of commiseration, work from the most visceral and vulnerable understanding we can offer.

It has been a privilege to be presented with the sobering simplicity of the deepest truth I have found, which is that at the baseline of humanity, everyone yearns to be acknowledged, heard, and understood.

Creating a more equitable space to allow each person I pass by or share air with to showcase their struggles and successes and the place where they have come to land as a result of the hand life has dealt them, and actively listening and simply acknowledging their experience can be the most rewarding moment of a day or month in enriching each experience an individual on earth has had and affirming the emotion that has come along with it as valid. 

While we cannot choose what circumstances arise or what rhythm or revolution the world turns upon its axis, we honestly do choose our attitude, as the Voltaire quote goes,

“J’ai décidé d’être heureux parce que c’est bon pour la santé,”

(I highly recommend copying, pasting, and translating that, if needed, to allow the mantra to imprint itself on your heart when you freshly read it much my experience when I happened upon it as it was printed on a postcard in a stack I was plucking through years ago at my favorite papeteries while living in Paris.) The statement itself exudes a mood and environment of each day, regardless of the normalcy or comfort where we usually choose our assortment of emotions from. Outlook and vision are in our control, regardless of the vantage point in the horizon that rises regardless of our choosing its color or clarity.

We can’t control what revolves in our environment. We can’t control what rises within our emotions. However, we can control what our reaction is to every experience.

In reflection, in fact, my reaction to 2020 is a generation of gratitude - in a turn of events and a turn of heads, following the common response to the uncanny year it has been - for the growth and grace that came within all of the unprecedented environments, and the flowing emotions that followed. I feel fortunate to have found an inner resonance while the world is finding a new rhythm, and the clarity I can bring to contributing to that universal tune.