“Inside the word "emergency" is "emerge"; from an emergency new things come forth. The old certainties are crumbling fast, but danger and possibility are sisters.”
― Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark
What is possible when we shed the skin of our old stories about "the way it is?”
Perhaps we have the willingness to share?
I have had the good fortune of traveling to remote places in the Himalayas of Northern India several times. Each trip was alone, each was a pilgrimage. I traveled with others along the way, participated in a trip guided by my dear friend Nevada Wier, www.nevadawier.com, engaged in volunteer projects, and trekked for days with a kind, brilliant guide, Regzin Padum.
Each time I experienced what to me were profound insights about being just a drop in the ocean of humanity and was humbled by his brilliance and generosity. He speaks 6 languages, has a degree in technology from South India, came home to take care of his parents in one of the harshest environments on the planet (frozen 8 months a year) and leads wanna-be mountaineers to the top of 21,000’ peaks.
As I trekked day after day in silence, I felt myself shedding the skin of my old ways of thinking and being. I returned home deeply changed. I couldn’t see things the same way. Our abundance and choices became overwhelming. I remember after one trip, my husband picked me up at the airport and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I stood in front of 20 different kinds of peanut butter and told him, “I can’t do this, I’m going to the car.” It was overwhelming. It still is.
I wonder, in this crisis, if we have the psychological willingness to share?
If we believe that sharing means” I end up with less”, we are in trouble.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.