Shadow anyone?

~ Cleo Wade

We are ratcheting into the pointy end of Eclipsia as tensions rise across the board. It may be inbuilt for us to be wary of what or who we don't know. Still we have to be taught to turn that natural trepidation into hatred instead of curiousity. We have to be shown how to convert it into bloody murder. And that has to be accepted or condoned, excused or ignored for it to continue. The many bad examples that precede us have never made it right.It is easy to look at the events of the past few weeks and just be frozen: horrified at how we stubbornly refuse to learn and grow as a species, terrified for our children. Here we each sit self-interested, mired in our collective shame and our privilege, witnessing the horrible weight of our euphemistic histories when the curtain is truly pulled back, raging wrongfooted while pointing the finger at anyone else.But what are we changing? Who are we helping? Where do we start?Welcome to the shadow: yours, ours, theirs. The upcoming solar eclipse will literally hurl us all into the dark as the moon blocks out the sun, our source of light and life. Boobs deep in our collective and individual darknesses, we are being forced to inhabit our own wounds. As individuals. In our communities and societies. As humans.The hidden gift of a shadow well excavated is when it is used to help others, make change, model and embody new and inclusive ways of seeing and being in the world.It is easy to feel powerless or a long way away. It is disgustingly safer to do nothing. But each of us can look about us and find a place to start being the change close to home. Just start.Thank you to those whose words have educated or elevated, challenged or changed me these past few days. Brené Brown explained privilege and the power of story like no other. Layla Saad for throwing down the gauntlet, Yvette Luciano for bringing it home. It is shifting how I think, what I say and that translates into changing what I do and what I offer, in the hope of impacting a mind, a life, a place for the better.Time now for us all to shapeshift and elevate, one tiny positive step at a time.Be the change you wish to see in the world~ GhandiThose who refuse to remember the past are condemned to repeat it~ George SantayanaThe only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good (wo)men to do nothing~ Edmund BurkeIf you are not part of a solution somehow, somewhere, you have now become the problem. What will we each do about that? © Kerrie Basha, 2017