So far, January has not been at all what I expected. At 57, I’ve learned to be pretty much free of expectations, so I’m not sure what I thought 2022 would bring….but certainly not this.

I’m not even sure what “this” is. Certain things are obvious:

• A world on the brink of war.
• A raging pandemic.
• Continuing conflict over vaccines, masks, conspiracy theories, etc.
• Government corruption.
• Increasing restrictions on reproductive rights and access to voting.
• The on-going unveiling of the evils of the ruling system.

Sadly, this has all become “business as usual.”  War? Famine? Pestilence? Death? Everyday occurrences – right?! As Lord Varys (Game of Thrones) once said, “Perhaps we’ve grown so used to horror, we assume there is no other way.” 

The good news is there is another way.  It is the way I am choosing:

As the world continues its path of self-destruction, I’ve been serving as objective witness while quietly building my own new world.

As one cannot stop a runaway train, neither can we prevent the current world from its unraveling. It needs to unravel, but we don’t need to unravel with it. Instead, we can observe the world in its dying from a place of detachment, non-judgment, and non-reaction. Letting go of our need to control or “save” the dying world frees us to get on with the real business at hand:

Building our own new worlds.

Building my own new world is exactly what I find myself doing. It’s quiet work. It’s also mostly invisible. And it begins with choice. Asking myself:

• To what do I want to give my energy and attention? 
• With whom and how do I want to spend that time? 
• In what do I find meaning and purpose?
• What gives me joy and helps me find peace?
• What feels like a good balance between solitude and engagement?
• What do my body and soul need to feel healthy and whole?
• How do I want to move within and upon this world?

For the past many months, I’ve been seeking the answers to these questions and as the answers arise, I have been choosing them. Now I’m being given an opportunity to put these answers into practice. The result has been a quieter, gentler, more peaceful and contented existence than what I had before – especially when the before was very much defined by societal conditioning and the expectations of others. No more! Now I’m living by my choices around what gives me peace and realizing the rewards of that choice. If I could provide a single image to what my new world looks like, it would be this:

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