02/03/2022
In my email today, I received this message from the NVC group email list. It is about how to contribute when it seems impossible or hopelessly beyond our power. You might be experiencing feelings like this given what's happening with the floods in Qld and NSW as well as what is happening in Ukraine.
I thought I would share it.
Elizabeth
Antidote to helplessness – notes from a call with Miki Kashtan
Where do I have agency when it comes to war?
Notes from a coaching call held by Miki Kashtan on February 27, 2022. These are not Miki's exact words, but my notes and my understanding of what I heard. You can listen to the actual call here when the recording is uploaded onto the site: https://thefearlessheart.org/recordings/overcoming-patriarchy-calls/
My first level of power is internal; I have choice in how I relate to myself. I can be compassionate with my capacity limits and mourn the conditions that are outside my control. Both of these – self-compassion and mourning - will help prevent my energy from being wasted in resisting reality.
Think about your options and your limits. Take time to understand what you are able to do and drawn to do, and how best to go about it.
Do the things that you can do whole-heartedly; stretch past the level of what's comfortable but not past your actual capacity.
The antidote to helplessness is to be whole-hearted in what we do, and to know that we did what we could – no less and no more. When we go to assess what we did, look not at the outcome but rather at whether we did what we could in the fullness of our humanity – and then release what we couldn't do. I would add – have some trust that regardless of our perception of the outcome, whatever we do from love will have positive ripple effects that go well beyond what we will ever know.
If you are drawn to helping people come together, remember that despite years of conditioning to be separate, it is a human strength to come together in hardship.
Notes and interpretation of Miki Kashtan's ideas by Pam Winthrop Lauer on 2-27-2022
Overcoming Patriarchy Call Recordings You can access the call recordings here You can find more detailed information about these calls, including upcoming times and how to register, here. Overcomin…
