What We Are Up Against

What we are up against in this world is polarity. Coming into a world of opposites, we are asked to carry oneness in our hearts while living out division in our body/mind. This is how it works. You suffer a tragedy in your heart. You cannot carry it into the world of the opposites because there, everyone is under the necessity of playing a role. There are businesses dependent on their employees “carrying on.” And the world runs on financial incentives. We must eat, goodness knows. So we put our heart under wraps and do the best we can. This is true of every man and woman and that includes people in the helping profession. That is why they burn out. This is why caregivers burn out. I certainly did. My spiritual bank account was quickly depleted as I played the role of my husband’s caregiver. I had to deal with doctors, pharmacies, accountants. And they had to deal with me. Everyone is playing hurt in the human arena and it is rare that we are allowed to run in “subs” to play our roles.

This is the situation. We are all doing the best we can. Leonard Cohen is the bard for our broken hearts. He is the healer of this gaping wound we all have. He called his organization “The Unified Heart Touring Company.” And never did we see such brilliance on one stage as he toured the world with his band of performers. Once the tour was over, he returned home and spent the last 3 years of his life working hard. Even when diagnosed with leukemia, he kept it private and kept on working. His heart was huge and he shared his brokenness with one and all. Why? To enlighten the darkness of this polarized world.

I try to do this with my own writing, albeit a tiny contribution. I write from the broken heart of humanity in search of the one heart we all are. To do this, I must travel a terrain that is often rocky and barren. What sustains me is what is within me. I tell my story again and again in order to heal what is broken.

Some of you reading this are nodding and others may be in mighty disagreement, but I doubt it. What is real can never be broken and perhaps that is the message. But tomorrow we will get up and go about our lives in this broken world. May we bring peace to the extent that we can and always remember that self-compassion is not mandatory; it must be chosen. A good mantra is “I choose to love myself.” And when you do that, you bring healing to the world.

Vicki Woodyard

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