Mixed Up
Today I am grateful for a coolness in the air and on my skin after some high heat and humidity. Fresh rain for the grass and flowers and farmers' crops.
I had a phone conversation with my mom yesterday morning. She used the words "mixed up" several times, referencing how she was feeling, her current state. "Mixed up" can mean a lot of things. I don't really know what it means to my mom--89 years old, frail, slipping further into dementia.
But I know how I feel when I hear her say it. I think forlorn is the word I am looking for here. The pandemic has kept my mom on lockdown in her nursing home for over 3 months now. The limits and the isolation have probably accelerated her decline. It's a mixed up world when loved ones can't visit, hug, see the facial expressions to match the words.
It's a mixed-up world when Mom can't do what she enjoys . . . walking, stepping outside, looking at gardens. I so appreciate the efforts to keep people safe, and I understand and support these efforts. It still all leaves me feeling a range of emotions though.
"Mixed up" seems to also fit our current condition as a nation, as a world. The pandemic overlies and underlies so much of our typical existence. It doesn't feel so typical anymore. Recent events of violence and injustice that sparked more violence and injustice highlight the pent-up pain and suffering of recent months, recent years, and decades and centuries of history.
How do we move from mixed up to clarity? It takes time, patience, acceptance, tenderness, compassion, willingness, surrender, humility and much more. It starts with simple kindness, with simple acknowledgement. Contribute, don't contaminate.
I found myself at a local peaceful protest yesterday afternoon, thankful in my choice to attend. I was there less than an hour, yet saw and heard the release of fear, anger, injustice. I felt the presence of peace and hope, of shared humanity. We were standing on common ground.
We can each do our part to spread the common ground, to strengthen the tenuous footing beneath us now. This is the clarifying moment. I can do my part today in all my interactions with others, and those interactions within my own heart and mind. Be kind and gentle. Acknowledge and attend.
Desmon Tutu gives us this to consider:
I had a phone conversation with my mom yesterday morning. She used the words "mixed up" several times, referencing how she was feeling, her current state. "Mixed up" can mean a lot of things. I don't really know what it means to my mom--89 years old, frail, slipping further into dementia.
But I know how I feel when I hear her say it. I think forlorn is the word I am looking for here. The pandemic has kept my mom on lockdown in her nursing home for over 3 months now. The limits and the isolation have probably accelerated her decline. It's a mixed up world when loved ones can't visit, hug, see the facial expressions to match the words.
It's a mixed-up world when Mom can't do what she enjoys . . . walking, stepping outside, looking at gardens. I so appreciate the efforts to keep people safe, and I understand and support these efforts. It still all leaves me feeling a range of emotions though.
"Mixed up" seems to also fit our current condition as a nation, as a world. The pandemic overlies and underlies so much of our typical existence. It doesn't feel so typical anymore. Recent events of violence and injustice that sparked more violence and injustice highlight the pent-up pain and suffering of recent months, recent years, and decades and centuries of history.
How do we move from mixed up to clarity? It takes time, patience, acceptance, tenderness, compassion, willingness, surrender, humility and much more. It starts with simple kindness, with simple acknowledgement. Contribute, don't contaminate.
I found myself at a local peaceful protest yesterday afternoon, thankful in my choice to attend. I was there less than an hour, yet saw and heard the release of fear, anger, injustice. I felt the presence of peace and hope, of shared humanity. We were standing on common ground.
We can each do our part to spread the common ground, to strengthen the tenuous footing beneath us now. This is the clarifying moment. I can do my part today in all my interactions with others, and those interactions within my own heart and mind. Be kind and gentle. Acknowledge and attend.
Desmon Tutu gives us this to consider:
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.
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