CONTAINING IT ALL

I started writing this post with the intention to write about something easy and comforting. I mean, IT'S FALL! Sweater weather, apple cider donuts and drinking pumpkin spiced lattes by a cozy fireplace are foremost in my mind.

But it’s hard to ignore what is happening in the world. We are - ALL OF US - going through so, so much right now, and are you feeling it? I am. On all levels – physically, mentally, emotionally.

Oftentimes, I don’t know how we do it. How do we pull through such tragedies? Is it just because we have no other choice? That’s what we tell one another, but I believe there is something deeper.

We, as human beings, have a unique ability to “contain it all” at once. For example, years ago, when I lost both my dog and my mother in the same summer, I was off the charts drowning in grief. My whole body ached for them and the loss darkened my days.

My family decided we needed a new puppy, which I was not ready for in the least. But the day Roxy came… ah, I will never forget. She was so small and precious and feisty, filled with life. She jumped all over me, frisky and bold, attacking my face and body with her loving energy. I couldn’t help but laugh, and my son said to me, “Mom, you do know, that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh in months!!"

I felt guilty, laughing. What right did I have to be happy? I was sad, I had to be!

But, then a strange thought emerged; a thought that had taken months of healing as I came to a beautiful realization about the human experience. In truth, I could be both. Yes, I was able to be happy and sad all at once. Angry and accepting. I could feel loneliness and hope fill my every breath, and they were there simultaneously, one and the same.

You may find you are going through this process right now. A passageway in which so much pain is present, yet in pops a moment of joy, reminding you of all you have to be grateful for.

It is not easy, this task of containing opposites at once. And it is hard to understand, this paradox of our lives. Yet, if you really look at it, it is magical and quite unbelievable. We are powerful beings who just don’t always see ourselves this way!

Thus, as the leaves continue to fall, and daylight grows shorter, my wish for you this month is to find peace in these turbulent times; to take in the simpler things that feed and nourish your soul. Trust that there is always a spark of good mixed in with the bad.

The world may feel chaotic and frightening, but there is still beauty and healing all around. And if you look closely, you will see – your bitterness and betterness, your trauma and triumph - it is all, all of it combined, into one intricately designed, breathtaking whole.

A personal photo of the Biltmore Estate, Ashville, North Carolina - July 2024, before Hurricane Helene...