“The Whole World is One Family”*
I wrote this blog last December. Here we are, one year later.
This topic, if not clearer, is strong and alive in my heart.
~~~
It feels wrong to complain about the cold
From the privilege of my warm house.
The intense cold certainly has made my life harder—
Getting out of the house,
Wrapping the seat belt around my bulky body,
Walking the dog down the snowy, potentially slippery road.
Physically managing the cold,
It’s difficult for me.
Yet I have a house to hold me.
I have a car to carry me.
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 practice this now, in these strange days,
These days that are getting stranger?
~~~
How do we respond?
How do we widen our communities of healing?
How do we—help each other?
Speaking only 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 adolescent.
- Letting people merge, in vehicles and in life.
- Returning my grocery cart to its place.
- Reaching out to my friend who has been sick.
- 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.
Often, it doesn’t seem like enough.
But it has to be,
Because it is.
You?
What do you do?
How do you practice the whole world is one family?
How do you remember
We are all one?
To offer
Positivity
To another?
Consider.
Ponder.
Practice.
~~~
Music. Ah, I struggled this week, trying to determine what music was most impacting me, most supporting me, my criteria. Then, magic unfolded.
On my birthday, I awoke to a friend’s email. His wife had passed a few days earlier, and he reported, after receiving the call, dressing to go out, he received this strong message from his wife; listen to this song.
He listened. And the song has been deeply supporting him through these difficult days.
I felt included in their miracle. Here is the song. Please do listen.
Here is Joan Baez singing Tom Paxton’s, The Last Thing on My Mind.
~~~
Dear Friends,
The whole world
Is one family.
We are connected
In ways we cannot
Even imagine.
May our eyes open,
So we may see.
May our hearts soften,
So we may feel.
May our minds relax,
So we may love.
May all beings benefit from our words together.
All blessings,
Aruni
~~~
2026 Invitations
Friends, the New Year hovers, her arms open, awaiting us. I am offering two programs in January 2025. Here they are, with more information up ahead:
Inner Quest Intensive
January 16-19, 2026
The Kripalu Approach to Healthy Eating—Beyond Right & Wrong
Mondays in January
12:00 noon-1:30 (online)
~~~
*Title quote by Swami Kripalu.
**Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail on April 16, 1963.