On Grief, Tragedy and Peace

We're in it, aren't we.

In the middle of one of the most horrific, hurtful, dangerous, and tragic times in the history of humanity.

We're trying to live through it.

We're trying to find compassion for ALL those who have suffered and will suffer.

Our equanimity is straining.

Our balance and empathy are at the breaking point.

The desire to blame, to give voice to our cruelest thoughts, is everywhere.

Revenge is in the air and on the ground but its smell is toxic and life-destroying.

The violent storms of human suffering won't go away any time soon and they affect all of us, even if we stop scrolling or checking news sites.

This offering, after days of my own sobbing prayer and fragile meditation, is to ask us to find moments of time -- please try to do this -- to find a moment of peace in ourselves. And then another and another.

This is not a request to put our heads in the sand and numb out on our quaint spirituality.

No.

This is a sincere request -- for our own well-being and in service to those whose suffering is unimaginable -- to find a moment of gratitude for something, for anything in our lives.

A lunch break spent praying to whoever or whatever you want to.

A walk in Nature to breathe in its life, its energy, its calm.

More quiet time and rest time than your mind would normally allow you to take.

We have to go deep right now, to find the inner resources in our heart to grow in the midst of devastation.

We're all in this together, even in this moment of existential polarization.

I took this photo on a hike 7 years ago after the US Presidential election.

The scene took my breath away.

A lone windswept tree on a landslide-prone hillside with cloud squadrons nearby.

At the time I was deeply worried about our country and the impact that election could have on the world.

My plea, seven years ago, for more peace and love arose out of a deep realization that all human beings, everywhere, fundamentally want to be at peace and want to feel love.

Don’t let the power dynamics of dictators, terrorist groups, greedy corporations, nation-states, self-serving CEOs, or people of massive wealth and narcissists fool you.

Striving for peace and love is everywhere even though it’s often well disguised and disfigured.

Here we are at this existential moment for humanity.

What will we choose?

That solitary tree on the hillside may appear to be alone, isolated, abandoned… but is it?

Ask it.

Ask the tree what it would do without the sun...

without the wind...

without the rain...

without the fog.

Ask the tree whether it feels abandoned or whether it actually feels whole, supported, alive.

Nature shows us the interconnectedness of all life.

It’s we humans who want to divide and resent and separate and conquer.

Because of the personal pain and tragedies we have experienced.

Our trauma.

Generations, millennia of trauma.

Hoping that if we can control enough things around us, we will feel at peace and then we will love our life.

The lone tree on that barren hillside says life can be different.

Because that tree is not truly alone and it deeply knows it's part of a Natural world that is completely inter-dependent at all times.

There can never be too much peace and love in a world starving for both.

These are times when our nervous systems are exhausted from the emotional drain and pain of it all.

I don't care about your politics, your biases, your special knowledge of the world.

As a species we are in deep deficit as we try to navigate through this massive chaos that is so intensely personal, so tragic, so horrific, and so brutal.

We need to care for each other more now. Hug more. Share more. Be sensitive more. Be compassionate more. Be more of who you truly can be.

There can never be too much peace and love in a world starving for both.

PS -- I am humbled that in just two months this newsletter has attracted more than 2000 subscribers. If you are moved or inspired by my thoughts and expressions, please like, comment, and share this article in your networks.

I work at the intersection of science, spirituality and human well-being. If you would like to learn more about my approach to heart coherence coaching, leadership development and optimal health, DM me here.