What truths enable us to be strong, stable and clear, especially when enduring adversity or challenges?

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With that question, we went on a journey, exploring different sides and crevices of this inquiry — from joy, to an inner resource, to the capacities that are available to each of us, to truth, challenge and to the space between or the unknown. Each element has its own character, a message, and something to teach us about how we might better navigate in these complex times.

Joy

Have you forgotten me?

I am a birthright.

I am a primordial life force that keeps you alive, thriving and healthy.

Embrace me.

I am actually quite pissed off, to be honest.

It’s as if I’m in a cage that is buried under constructs and mounting pressures.

Please remember, I can not be forgotten, dissolved or diminished.

Underneath my anger, there is a sadness and a heaviness in my stomach.

I no longer flow, yet I am still very much alive.

I am here to teach you something, not the other way around.

I am fascinated by how flames dance.

Like fire, I too need air to express what I can offer.

My purpose is to connect.

And I want to connect you with each other.

I want to weave between all aspects of life so you can feel each other again.

I am resourced when you gather together and see each other for who you truly are.

I can lean in if connection between people is happening.

Feeling a sense of warmth, my energy can flow like dancing flames.

“Joy.” Abstract art by Nancy Zamierowski

Truth

I pretend to be very high up and untouchable.

You make me often into something I am not.

I am actually just a very tiny part of reality.

I can only be seen when you are authentic.

I just want to be held, cuddled even between your inner capacity and your inner resource.

I am something mundane.

I am hands-on, practical and down to earth.

I am what is true now — and that shifts and changes.

I am the moment to moment experience.

I am harmed if I am used for anything other than to support the flourishing of all life.

Then again, I become untouchable.

“Truth.” Abstract art by Nancy Zamierowski

Challenge

I am not the problem.

I am helping you to remember who you are.

I enter the scene to remind you of how you are connected to all life.

I am spinning you by moving the waters to make a current.

Through that current, you can see what you’re made of.

How do you respond?

The more you look away, the more I add pressure.

I don’t need to be here.

I am an illusion in the sense I can come and go.

I am not permanent.

I am a perception that reveals to you how you see things and your environment.

I reveal how you see all that is.

You can project on me anything you want.

I will not be hurt.

The space between

You don’t have to be strong, stable and clear.

You just have to be authentic and present.

Don’t pressure yourself to fit in a box or judge yourself if you’re not feeling as strong, as stable, as clear as you want to be in that moment.

That’s where the problem starts.

How about embracing the sense of adversity or feeling challenged?

How about embracing the sense of not feeling clear or strong?

Can you discern between what’s true and what’s not or between what feels resonant or not?

You may not be strong, stable and clear at all times.

But what are you?

You are an authentic being when you allow yourself to stay connected to yourself, your habitat and the larger unfolding.

What is the value of being with what is?

Allowing yourself to be authentically present or bearing witness to “what is” can become a place of strength and fortitude, even if the sea around you is chaotic, uncertain or confusing.

Immerse yourself fully and trust that you are connected to life.

Are you allowing yourself to truly surrender to what is?

Are you allowing yourself to stop fighting, fixing, pretending or blaming?

Are you allowing yourself to be unstable — to find, again and again, a newly gained stability and clarity?

The invitation is to move and be moved by what is.

The invitation is to dance and move with energy rather than fixing, twisting or forcing yourself to be a certain way in order to stay on plan.

Be right here and right now.

“The Space Between.” Abstract Art by Nancy Zamierowski

Inner capacity

You need each other.

Be gentle with each other.

To show yourself authentically with all your weaknesses and vulnerabilities is a gift.

Receiving someone as they are and with what is, is a gift.

There is a strength in that vulnerability — to receive with softness and an open heart.

There is courage in allowing your heart to be touched in return.

The fear of being touched is real, so you learned to close up.

Yet, when we are actually touched it can reinforce a sense of inner strength.

From this solid ground, we all can reconnect to ourselves anew.

Close off or stay open? You have a choice.

If you choose to show yourself, as you are, to someone else, feel the strength that starts vibrating from that very act of being authentic.

Then you might find what happens next may not matter as much.

The drama, pretence and worry melt away.

Inner Resource

I breathe.

My lungs can breathe.

My hands are outstretched.

I am vocal and expressive.

I am vocal and authentic.

Sacred anger is welcome here as I stand tall.

I am my surroundings.

I observe.

I relate.

I acknowledge what’s mine.

I take responsibility.

I stay present with what is.

I create space to be with what is.

I welcome the discomfort.

I welcome everything.

I discern.

I acknowledge what’s mine and what’s not.

I connect.

I let myself be tickled by joy.

Co-Authors

The content of this article was sourced using a method known as Systemic constellations. The story was then co-authored and edited by Luea Ritter and Nancy Zamierowski. You can find their bios here.

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