Holding the Center When the World Feels Broken

Posts

Feb 14

Why Your Inner Growth Matters in Times of Chaos

“Why should I care about personal development when the world is going to shit?”

It was over a glass of wine – ok, a few glasses of wine- that she asked me that question. It was the end of a stormy day. The evening had started well, with a beautifully presented dinner, and now we were relaxing over the last bottle of wine.

Our conversation detoured into today's politics. We are both American by birth, although I consider myself Colombian by heart.

"I didn't vote for him. He's destroying everything. I hate what's happening. I just want to stay home and pull the blanket over my head," she said with a twinge of despair in her voice.

"Why the F*%# should I care about growing or evolving when the world is shit?"

There it was. THE question that I had asked myself a few days previously when I was walking the beach. At the time, I didn't have an answer. Tonight, I did.

"I'll tell you why. Because it's not about a THEM out THERE. It's all about YOU and how you want to show up. You wake up every morning and look in the mirror. Tomorrow, look into your eyes and tell me what you see.”

“When I look, I see someone who is tired. Somedays, I see someone who is angry. On other mornings, my eyes are sad and grieving. I am all of that. Every day, it changes.”

“But after a hot shower and a walk outside or a slow cup of coffee looking out at my garden with my pets next to me, I relax into my heart, and I understand that I can be the eye in the storm. I find peace in the quiet. I reconnect with who I am and how I want to express that because my job is to reveal that space to others.”

"Alicia, don't you get tired of teaching about conscious leadership and leading an intentional life when the person on the other side of the screen lives in such chaos and works in toxic systems?” She asked.

"That is precisely why I have my quiet mornings and start by being in nature. Nature is what it is. Sometimes, it's brutal. Storms destroy cities. Fires devastate large swaths of land. People lose their houses and sometimes their lives. It's the force of nature, and it hurts.”

“Then, like nature, we recover. We rebuild. We move from death to rebirth constantly. We begin to ask better questions. My job is to help clients, to help myself, ask different and difficult questions that startle us out of complacency, and remind us that everything is iterative, not linear. Life is a series of cycles. The essential part is to hold the center. To stand in who you are and what you believe is the only way to weather the storms of our times.”

“So, no, I can't change what happens in politics, the economy, or global issues, but I can stand with someone in the middle of their storm and remind them of who they are.”

“And that is why we should all care about our evolution of consciousness. Personal, leadership, and spiritual development matter more now than ever."

I watched as she took a deep breath, her shoulders dropping and her face's tension released. It wasn't resignation. She was looking inward and recognizing herself.

We finished our wine, walked outside, and gave each other a long, luscious hug and kiss on the cheek.

Then we walked back into the storm.