Hello Dear Ones,

What's surprising to you during this time? For some, I hear they've experienced the true colors of friends and family. Extreme conditions can facilitate the drawing up of boundaries verses the opening of arms. Fight or flight kicks in and all agreements are out the window. Perspective and kindness matters.

Think of your own home, your relationships with friends or coworkers, the dynamic with your team or community groups you may lead or participate in. Has there been a tightening of relationships or an unraveling?

It can be terribly painful to discover people who count on you can't be there for you when you need them most. It's a good time to reassess and reallocate energy.

With that said, be mindful that as you lead others through uncharted waters that they may be experiencing deep suffering, loneliness, even self-doubt during a trying time. Opposites are all around us and within us. Pause for a moment of noticing. We can all be better stewards of holding space for one another.

How are you navigating through change lately? Feeling like a yacht, proud and able? Maybe more like a tug boat, slow and stable? Or are you more like a sailboat, soaked with torn sails?

No matter your vessel, you're here now on a journey. Your vessel may not look or feel like mine or the next fella's. Also our paths may look profoundly different. Poet Rumi said, "There's a thousand ways to kneel down and kiss the ground." A thousand ways to get to the same point.

It's our perspective that yields the "real" experience. Can you be both a torn sailed vessel with a sense of stable ability? Sure. It's called hope. Others call it faith. I call it perspective.

Perspective changes everything. It's not a mind game (maybe a little bit). It's more of a mind-altering game. Literally a game of more or less information. A change of aperture. When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.

Stand on a mountain see the valley. Stand in a valley see only the mountain. So much of our time, we spend stuck in the trenches. When we rise up and out we can see from that proverbial 30,000 foot view and see how the trenches connect.

Good wisdom right? To some extent. See... where people get snagged is in NOT realizing where they are in the first place. Lacking the sense of sense to be aware in the first place. Awareness of place, purpose and intuition. Mindful leaders lead from within.

Do you know where you are?

Do you know who you are?

Where are you most awake?

As we nudge back into #lifewithcovid, I encourage you to acknowledge what's important and walk with that in mind and in practice. Take care of self, take care of one another. Be kind.

Eyes wide open friends.

Love and light, Annelies