As the long awaited sun graces us with its presence and the rays of light extend like open arms stretching down to earth, much like the image I have chosen above, we feel it.
The sensitive among you will likely feel it, stirring. Just like the first seeds of spring, or the initial ingredients of a magic potion, those first ideas are there. They exist in a frequency that, whilst it cannot always be explained, although it isn’t rational to put into words, it exists as a sensory perception that we absorb in our minds, just like we absorb the sunshine rays.
The idea that the world hasn’t felt like a kind or loving place for a long time, the thought that maybe our individual stressful scenarios aren’t individual at all. Maybe because society has been molded into this idea that we must preserve ourselves, prioritise ourselves, invoke the idea that survival of the fittest means trample on whoever and whatever you need to, in order to get where you want to be.
I want to clarify that there is a huge difference between being all out for yourself, and actually loving yourself and taking time out for you. From my perspective, the whole explosion of promoting self love and self care was born from a completely human and natural response to the greed and obsession with power, status and money imposed upon us. What do I mean by this? The average person works like a machine, then tries to live up to unrealistic, unachievable and unsustainable demands at home. Whether that be their children attending every social club they want to go to every evening after school, fitting in gym sessions, cooking from scratch, redecorating the house, meeting the demands of family, neighbours and friends, being a good spouse and employee and parent or carer to animals.
The saying “it takes a village to raise a child” to me doesn’t intend to imply that a child is “hard work” or that a large number of people are required to do the job. To me it speaks of a time when if you ran out of milk for example you would ask your next door neighbour who would willingly give you some milk trusting that you would kindly return the favour some day. That simple act of kindness now seems alien to many people in society. Most have an attitude of “let’s keep ourselves to ourselves” the thought of knocking a neighbour’s door fills them with anxiety and many don’t even know neighbours who have lived on the same street as them for years.
Many things have forced people into this isolated way of thinking, in my opinion it has been part of a bigger live to work and not work to live agenda. Lockdown and its many consequences forced people to reflect on the quality of their own lives. Mistrust in government and and ever increasing rate of illnesses caused by stress have been the fertiliser for these seeds of growth.
What we have now is not community. It is not love and mutual respect. It is not a willingness to share. One of the first lessons we teach a toddler is to share and be kind to others. Many adults these days show such little compassion towards one another that our children, who learn by example cannot begin to dream of a life of peace and tranquility and harmony when such disrespect and disregard plays out before their innocent little eyes.
More recently all over the world people are gathering, brainstorming. Whether in groups or alone in their bedrooms. Daring to dream, imagining, feeling in their inner cores a new world vibration emerging. People are starting to try it out, seeing how it fits for size to say good morning to a neighbour on the street, to put themselves in other’s shoes, to swap skills without a need for money to be exchanged. Is it birthing a new world etiquette or is it simply returning to an older way of thinking?
Does it matter whether its new or old? Echoes of my Grandad’s era certainly emanate from this new frequency for me, but for many children, this appears fresh and new. The adults actually practicing what they preach. When a stranger is a friend. When you love your neighbour as your family. When you listen to the message from Mother Earth herself as she cries out ” Come unity” she calls for community.