time to clean the tank
Welcome to the guts of the tornado. It’s unusually quiet in here. On any other April, this town is inundated with tourists, travellers + musos. But the streets + beaches + forests are empty havens. For introverts like me who dream of a world without crowds, it’s almost paradisal. The pendulum swings daily between the joy of a new, slow life to feeling a little bit freaked out at what lies ahead.
Crisis sucks. It is discomfort of the stickiest kind. We want a balm, a diversion or someone to blame for all this crap. Our attempts at averting discomfort in regular life have been admirable really. We marinate ourselves in booze/sugar/TV/work/gossip/shopping until eventually the ache subsides.
But, like the proverbial turd floating to the top of the toilet bowl, our shit soon demands our attention.
Make no mistake: chaos + uncertainty + discomfort precede GROWTH...every. single. time.
Most of us have learned that control is a delusion one way or another: birth, death of a loved one, divorce, mid-life crisis, puberty, menstruation, menopause, war, crisis of identity, trauma and spiritual awakening all wake us up somehow.
We want to use our brains + strategies + logic + rules to be ahead of the game...but legitimate shifts must be felt in the marrow of bones, so that the lesson will stick. By definition, initiation is the “turmoil in the chrysalis” and it is crucial if we are to evolve.
They aren’t teaching that in schools are they?
Pandemia has reminded us of how vulnerable we are: that we have a lifespan; that the topics of death + sickness + health need to be addressed, discussed, honoured and accepted. We have been pushed cheek-to-cheek with our no-filter, un-photoshopped humanity. We have been shown our privilege and how we have been complicit in a system that CAN be brought to its knees by our ability to forgo.
We see that what affects one person, affects all of us.
The nefarious muppets at the helm of this royal shitshow give us little faith. Up until now, they weren’t winning anyone over with plans for a thriving humanity. Their rehearsed words left little residue, but the narrative was always crystal clear: exploitation + destruction in exchange for economic growth. Exalt power as force. Stay within the lines. Pay your taxes, work hard + buy yourself a lot of shit that won’t fit in your coffin.
I’d like to accuse + indict these idiots just as much as the next guy, but mark my words: before the door slams behind their sorry asses, more greedy suits would be streaming in to take their place.
Because it is the narrative that needs to change.
Culture + environment set the precedent for those who operate within it. And if it is dangerously flawed, then those under its canopy are complicit in keeping it that way. The current paradigm – the “normal” in which we all know - breeds corruption, inequality, prejudice, sickness, oppression, apathy, ignorance, addiction, loneliness and it greatly neglects that which is sacred + wondrous in life.
It is time to clean our fish tank because frankly, it is fucking filthy in here.
It is a powerful time to be alive. All of a sudden, there is this crack in the continuum, giving opportunity to build a better world from the ground up.
Avoiding uncertainty right now is damned near-impossible. I do not know. You do not know. No one knows. This is the work.
What is certain + manageable is what goes down in your section of the fish tank. Do the work you need to do here. Check in on yourself, your family and if possible, your community. Imagine a world you want to leave for the grandchildren of your grandchildren. Untangle yourself from the tendrils of the industrial world + go for a barefoot walk. Sharpen your ability to think critically + stand up for what you believe is right without remaining ignorant to other possibilities.
Practice sitting with uncertainty.
And remember that great things never came from comfort zones.
❤️