Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else. – Leonardo DaVinci

We are all connected.

I have to keep reminding myself of this, especially after this election season with all the hatred and anger. We seem so separate, so diverse, but the truth is we are more similar than we are different and we are all interconnected with each other, for better or worse, whether we like it or not. Everything we do affects everyone else. Lately I can’t pick up a magazine, or go on line without reading about the interconnectedness of life in one form or another. Environmental disasters, violence, cruelty to one another, lack of understanding, all of these problems have a resolution that begins within ourselves. How we find that resolution is the problem that needs solving. But once we do, it shifts our perception, our world, and the way we live.

All the big questions have manageable answers. Usually it’s just not the answer we were looking or hoping for. Resolving any kind of conflict begins with taking care of ourselves. Getting enough rest, eating right, filling our lives with who and what we love to name a few. But the list is as long and varied as our imagination. The truth is how we treat others is only a reflection of how we treat ourselves. When we are being kind to ourselves we think more clearly, we’re more settled, then it becomes easier to be kind to others. I’ve been doing TM for a long time and in the introductory lecture they talk about this very thing. How changing the world begins with the individual. Each one of us. By taking care of ourselves we take care of the world. We create change in the world to the extent we change and recreate ourselves. That’s interconnectedness at work.

And we are all connected.

Ultimately this is how we take our place in the cosmos. We consciously work on ourselves and take responsibility for what is really ours. Our joy, our passion, our exuberance. And perhaps more importantly, our wounds, our darkness, our issues. When we do, we align more with our authentic self, the person we really are, the person we were meant to be. Taking responsibility for what lives in us, good and bad, means we face all of who we are instead of pretending to be someone we’re not. Sitting to meditate, taking a hot bath, or journaling how we really feel, lets the stillness inside have a voice and this creates a web of kindness that silently expands out to all we meet. Being good to ourselves shows. People can feel it. It inspires and uplifts. Coming into contact with kindness has the power to shift our day, and maybe we pass that kindness on. As we continually remake ourselves we help remake the universe. It sounds so big, so extraordinary, but it all starts on the smallest scale with the details of our individual lives.

Each of us has a job to do, our inner work, to look inside, and to embrace what we find there. This includes the difficult things, in fact they are in desperate need of our attention. The difficult times are the fastest road to change. And we will most certainly have to travel some of these dark roads that don’t feel very peaceful at all. We have to deal with people we don’t find heathy or uplifting. They show us where we need more attention and love. The internal changes we make can’t help but lead to a shift in our external circumstances.

We are all connected, and it’s our job to do our part.

There’s a line from Hello Dolly where Dolly says, “Money is like manure, you have to spread it around.” I think it’s the same with the work we do with ourselves. Doing the work of being kind to ourselves helps spread kindness around to others.

Let’s be wide awake to the role we play in this world and do everything we can to make our lives and the world a better place.

kb