The Wide Lens
Photo taken by Katie Bromme, Hayward, WI, February 2020
We are fast approaching New Years Eve and the birth of 2021, the world around us abuzz in anticipation of a clean slate. I don’t think many would disagree when I say that 2020 has been a rough ride for pretty much everyone in some way or another. On a collective level we have all experienced loss, we have all felt anxiety or fear regarding the future and uncertainty of what it may bring, as well as anger and frustration, even rage toward unexpected change and the structures that have controlled or restricted our lives.
So it’s no surprise that we’re hearing a lot of “2020 is cancelled,” or “It’s time to throw 2020 in the trash,” or “I cannot wait for this year to be over.” When we have felt pain or experienced suffering, it’s totally natural to want to eradicate it completely, or numb out, maybe even dissociate and pretend it never happened.
But before we decide to turn our backs on this past year, it is important to take a moment to hold space for all that 2020 was on first a personal and then a collective level. Why? Because in some way or another, this year shaped you and it’s important to meditate on how. Because understanding this can ground us in our growth.
I often say that Homeopathy allows us to widen our lens. Or that it asks us to take a step back so that we can see the greater picture. But what does this really mean?
During the homeopathic consultation, your practitioner will ask you a lot of questions and with every answer given, you’re asked to give a little more information. A little more of what is coming up for you, more about that runny nose, more about when you get your headaches and what it feels like to you, more about that feeling you get in your stomach before you see that relative. The more specific, the better. The truth is, the client does most of the talking, but it allows your homeopath to see your “symptom picture” by piecing together a thorough and detailed map of what has brought you to the exact space in which you find yourself. We get to see the world through your eyes. In the end, we have a clear picture; a collection of experiences and your thoughts or feelings attached to them. Really, it’s everything that make you uniquely you. It’s the role of the homeopath is to hold space and to suspend judgement, to act as the unbiased observer. This is why clients often say it’s the most they’ve ever had the opportunity to talk about their own experience and the most heard they have ever felt. So truly, this can be a profound experience for clients as well. As you work through this process, it gives you the opportunity to clearly see your own state of being, to witness your own existence. Often in these moments, we are able to see ourselves separate from our disease or whatever is ailing us.
What happens if we weave the concept of holding space into 2020. Take a moment, scan through your year. Who were you at the start? What are the experiences that forced you to make a change in mindset or action? How has the pain you’ve experienced transformed you? What about the judgements that you’ve had about yourself, or maybe a bias you held about someone that resulted in conflict or stirred inner turmoil? Examine these moments, what would happen if you suspended all judgement and were merely curious?
Curiosity has been my best tool for growth because it allows me to clearly perceive the events that shape my life. Curiosity takes away judgement. When we simply witness the events of this year without any bias, all that is left is what is. All that is left is mere being. In this curiosity, we find our wide lens, we find holism.
When we combine unbiased observation, curiosity, and a holistic view, what we are left with is allowing life to be exactly what it is. Challenges, conflict, setbacks, grief, fear, anger, are just movement in life’s dynamic dance. Through this lens, nothing is good or bad, it just is. We don’t judge waves by how large or small they are, or how they affect the sand on the shore, we don’t gather certain opinions about a tree for a crooked or bending branch, nor do we hold biases against a cloud for its shape or color. Just as we respect nature enough to observe her, we can lend the same space for ourselves and for this past year.
So instead of tossing 2020 out the window, lets take space to identify the shifts that occurred in our lives, in our very world this year. Place your challenges and conflicts in front of a wider lens, hold them in your hands and gaze with wonder at how you alchemized your suffering into beautiful, expansive growth.