Belonging

When I went out west so long ago, I purchased this stone image above in ceramics and it always resonated with me. In todays world, belonging, acceptance and cohesiveness is up for review. I have had a life journey of this and much of the judgement, exclusivity and ousting people from the group resonates deeply for me. I have always wanted to be open and accepting of others for I felt the not belonging in many areas of my life. I feel it has been a purpose to understand others and even if they believed different than me, to look for common ground even if it is small. Some of us learn this in family and we learn to connect against all odds of difference. 

Some you just won't find that thread and that is ok as well. I never felt it was ok to judge but discern, by saying inwardly,  "we are not on the same wave". I can open often  to not call it wrong but just not aligned to me.  I want to believe and be me, so I can allow others to be them in their ways. This is not easy and does take practice and feeling through my emotions to find that openness and clarity.

 I can say, for me, it is a survival mental pattern. If I don't belong, if I don't resonate with others or adjust, I will not survive. Often love or any thing we need was not available if we did not conform. I never understood this but it is very much in our humanity. All of us are divine, so it seemed unkind to not allow others to be what they are if I wanted to be what and who I am. I have had learning in this loop deeper and deeper through life. I think humanity has as well.  Are we going to get along and unite or are we going to fight?

Right now with the split in things as it is, I have reached in deeper to understand this thread of belonging in me and others. In reflection, I have realized that as I complete this loop in me, I can be part of creating  a new way. I can honor another's path without shifting mine. Many times, I was quiet or conformed to be liked or allowed in a circle for acceptance. Now I realize, if I just accept me and love me, the desire to belong is not so outside as it is an inside job. Love doesn't require alignment. It requires acceptance of all that is. 

Like nature accepts all the creatures and processes going on at once, I too, can accept all creatures and beliefs as her.  I don't have to agree or align, I can just move to areas more coherent to me and allow the others to be in their own coherence. This way I feel peaceful, I discern where I feel safe and move to that zone. I let others have their safe place too. Some live in the desert, others in the mountains and yet others at the beach. We all belong or we would not be here, alive at once. When I get triggered by another's belief or ideas, I just breath and allow the old loops to complete. Into the earth not up to my head to create a story or a mental loop of againstness. I find this to be very centering and peaceful. It is a chance for me to notice I have ancestral survival patterns inside that are ready to release back into the earth that holds it all. 

As I am ending a long journey of being on the rode and feeling for that area I resonant with and can belong in all my wholeness, I have learned a lot about belonging. Most of it is an inside job. I sense and feel where on earth, in this case, in NC, I feel the most stable and alive. I didn't listen to my mind of where is the most people to connect with or do my business. I allowed each area of the earth I went to, to speak to me in feeling and resonance. It was very different than how I went to Colorado. I went there for my daughter and it was a very logical outward choice. For this next chapter, I did it differently. 

I am going to live for a bit in the mountains around Ashville, a place I did not expect to go. I was considering closer to family, a different environment than mountains as I already did the great continental divide in Colorado. But in going about the different areas, there I felt an exhale and a great connection to lush beauty. It unfolded I knew people there, met others through connections and followed the breadcrumbs so to speak. However, the true test was how I felt there. I felt home like bucks county with winding roads and lush waters. 

How do I tie this into our current world? Well, I will be expanding to find my community and belonging there. I will open to new opportunities of people that I have never met and am really not sure I will find resonance. Many would say that being an open thinker and into the healing arts that makes sense. I just didn't want to go to an area where grief was prevalent from the flood a bit back.  However, grief is everywhere these days. As a farmer, the lush mountains called and I felt resonate within. I am sure as when I was in Colorado, I will find many others that don't resonate with me. I don't need to be concerned, for it is that way everywhere too. As I whole my resonance and values, I will find those through shear attraction. 

We are in a time with lots of judgment and exclusion that I really don't want to be part of. I don't believe in the ideology of our leaders on any side so rather than concern myself with that, something out of my circle of influence at this time, I will focus on what I can influence and engage in those that are resonant to my principles where ever I am. I do not think it is cut and dry as many are calling it. I think it is individual and the more I align my values to this changing world, the more I will draw experiences and people that hold that some resonance. 

We live in a harmonic field that has all the notes in it. As I find harmony and acceptance within, I will find that same harmonic outside me. I think we all could take a minute to find that peace and harmony within so all our worlds can be more naturally balanced. Our humanity is all the notes of the scale. Yet certain notes sound harmonious as others create discord. Knowing your harmony and rhythm will naturally bring you to a song that sings rather than one that is off key. These things make sense to me and that is all I am balancing for.

Belonging is important to us all. We need to find that for ourselves and as for me, instead of seeing the discord and calling it out, it feels better to keep looking for the harmonic. That is how I have taken this journey for a new home and it has flow. It seems to have served me in a discordant world. I will know when I get there and root in. I do feel the excitement of that expansion and find focusing on how I am adding to that harmonic in business, in friendship and in myself, I feel peace while there is craziness around. We only control ourselves and our contribution. The rest of nature is doing it's thing. We either harmonize and add our own note or we express discord. For some discord may be their purpose. For me I want to belong and feel the joy of that. I can only know my mission and do that and let others do theirs. 

So I offer those who do want to belong, to first realize your survival patterns that are deep in us all. We will survive and our ancestors had far more hardship than us. It has been proven through the generations and it is time to complete that loop. Sense your center and what you feel and seek those places to belong and feel safe. Safety for most of us is an inside job. Then add into that by contributing safety, harmony and connection. Some places just feel better than others for each of us. Seek those places and build. Building harmonic communities and allowing others to do what they are doing is far more powerful to me than fighting against anything. it is just my learning at this time so I share what is working for me and bringing joy, alignment, flow and peace.

For as I can clear the resistance and unsettled in me, I can resonant out peace and belonging so others can feel it. Songs do it, nature does it and so will we as humanity. I believe we will find a way that all the notes can find their place in harmony. Perhaps it wont happen fully in my lifetime but I can lay that ground work forward for the next generation. We all belong and we are just learning to create a system that allows all to be here in peace and collaboration. 

Much love on your journey!