“The Whole World is One Family”

It feels wrong to complain about the cold
From the privilege of my warm house.

The cold certainly has made my life harder—
Getting out of the house,
Putting on the seat belt,
Walking the dog.

Physically managing, 
It’s difficult.

Yet I have a house to get out of.
I have a car to get into.

How many people in Berkshire County
In this moment,
Have neither?

Too many.

One would be
Too many.
~~~
Swami Kripalu taught, 
The whole world is
One Family.

We are connected.

We are one heartbeat,
Divided into our trillion
Different bodies.

We are one breath,
Expressed through
Each of us.

Individually and collectively,
We dance together.

So similarly,
Dr. King said:

“Whatever affects one directly,
Affects all indirectly.”**.

We know this.
We believe this.

I know this.
I believe this.

Is the question—
How do we practice this?
~~~
How do we respond?
How do we widen our communities of healing?
How do we—help?

I can only speak for me—

First, I must 
Feel my feelings.
To prematurely transcend them
Is part of the problem,
Not the solution.

I must acknowledge
My annoyance at the howling wind,
My discomfort trying to
Squash my over-clothed body
Behind the wheel of my car.

The way out of the feelings
Is through
The feelings.

Secondly,
I must find my way to gratitude,
Which connects me to a Greater Consciousness.
Gratitude is the doorknob.
It opens the field, the possibilities of new behavior.

Then—I practice,
Then I take simple
Tiny actions.

As the cultural/political/humanitarian issues seem 
To balloon
Bigger and bigger,
My attending to the tiny things
Matters.

They are my contribution to change.    

• Making eye contact with the register person.
• Saying hello to people I encounter.
•  Being there for that hello.
• Driving like a safety-minded adult rather than an asshole (admittingly, at times, my default).
• Letting people merge, in vehicles and in life.
• Returning my grocery cart to its place.
• Calling my friend who has pneumonia.
• Leaning toward helpful, especially when I don’t want to.
• Looking for the beauty.
• Seeing the grace.
• Committing to seeing the beauty and the grace in us, all.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like enough.
But it has to be,
Because it is.

You?
What do you do
To remember
We are all one?

To offer
Positivity
To another?

Consider.
Ponder.
Practice.
~~~
Music! Such a cool and shared experience.
Here’s yet another song from yesteryear.
I proclaim this a song of gratitude!
It comes from the supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys.
They were a British & American supergroup formed in LA in 1988, formed by George Harrison.  
Members were Bob Dylan, Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.  
The group sparked Dylan’s career, which was in a slump at that point in time.  

I DOUBLE-DUTCH-DARE-YOU, ALL:
Put this song on.
Put it on loudly.
Dance around the room.

Dance
In celebration of what we have been given.

Dance
In gratitude for the invisible communities that support us.

Dance
In possibility for the healing of our bodies,
For the opening of our hearts,
And
For the quieting of our minds.

To all of us—here is The End of the Line.