First, for the grammar police: I see you and I am you. “Check in” as written is a verb. If there was a hyphen in there (check-in), we’d be dealing with an adjective or noun. Let this be your first clue that being here together, on either side of these words, is an important act in itself.
Experimenting on this platform versus in the algorithm of traditional (can we call it that yet?) social media is an act in itself.
Checking in - with ourselves, our friends, our partners, our family - is an act in itself.
I like checking in. I think and feel and know that checking in is important.
I don’t know about you, but for the past few years my brain has been in overdrive trying to make sense of the quantum changes afoot in our world.
I’ve watched as modern humans, already whip-lashed and addicted to the isolating gadgetry of the exponential technology era, collided with our first modern global pandemic.
I’ve watched the political and social aftermath of that pandemic, including a seeding of increasing distrust in governments, media and big business.
I’ve watched a massive cultural reckoning around the pain inflicted by colonialism on every level, and many attempts and failures to mend festering wounds on all sides.
I’ve watched as the global environmental crisis accelerated in one generation from a worrying problem to a worsening catastrophe. Unfortunately, we’re only beginning to pay the horrific cost of spending the last century exploiting the natural world to feed consumption. Turns out, it was a bad deal with deferred consequences.
Biodiversity falters. Ice melts. We scroll on.
Where these macro factors are, um, difficult to fathom, there are equally wrenching micro factors at play as well (of course, because everything is connected).
Humans are social beings who have been increasingly isolated. Many technology-related factors have contributed, but, remember when governments restricted holiday gatherings, weddings and funerals in 2020 and 2021? Icing on the cake.
We are creative beings whose creative impulses have been increasingly sidelined in favour of capitalism’s linear paths to income-generating activity. If we had a contemporary societal slogan on creativity, it would be this: creativity is for kindergarten. Like believing in mythical characters, creativity is something we are expected to simply grow out of as we age, so that we can focus instead on productivity and profit.
We are spiritual beings who have gradually discounted our intuition and connectedness, duped by thousands of years of patriarchal religious law that has left us lost and lamb-like, lonely and alone. Whereas even two generations ago holy places (though imperfect) fostered community and made an attempt at moral education, now many if not most, are deafeningly quiet.
The community’s shared spiritual life has dissolved into a polite void which, despite tossing in social media influencers, one-click shopping, and a peloton subscription, remains a void. We try again - this time throwing in stuff; mostly plastic, shipped from parts of the world where one family’s week’s worth of food is paid for by cutting down an old-growth tree. The void persists.
And then there’s work itself. Paid work has expanded and invaded the parts of our human experience that used to be called simply, “life”; cooking and eating meals, being with people in our families and communities, walking quietly from place to place. Technology has made it possible for many of us to work any time and any where; and for many of us, that has inconveniently resulted in working all the time, everywhere.
Meanwhile, family units are at a breaking point. Mothers especially are being crushed by their simultaneous “liberation” into a paid work culture built for the heyday of mid-twentieth-century capitalism, while still managing most unpaid family related responsibilities. Unfortunately for the millennial generation, the “you can have it all” message was delivered to girls seemingly in isolation, without a corresponding plan for who or what might pick up the slack at home when paid work outside of the home started demanding all of our attention. (spoiler: the roomba’s not cutting it).
There’s more, of course. There’s always more. But let’s stop there for a moment.
And let’s check in.
I recognize that different (and wonderful) words could be written on all the good that is happening in the world today - e.g., wild cougar species are rebounding from near-extinction in the Canadian prairies! e.g., cancer treatment innovation improves every year! eg., wealthy people are buying local organic produce!. And yet, the current net reality for humans and our natural environment is… very challenging.
We’re at war with ourselves, and most of the time we don’t even know it.
For those of us who feel the weight of this, the situation can feel hopeless.
And who, exactly, feels the weight of this? Let’s leave aside, for the moment, the estimated 25% of North Americans with a diagnosable mental health disorder; the people who’ve lost their homes to wildfires or floods; and those who’ve pulled the short end of the political corruption stick. All of them, of course, feel the weight of this.
On a deeper level, the people who see this - who get this - who are deeply moved by all of this - are the ones who are drawn to the glinting threads sweeping across the intricate web itself. They are the feelers; the deep processers; the highly sensitive people (HSPs); the spiritually aware; the intuitive; the artists; the hyper conscious; the empaths; the connectors; the caregivers; the mothers; the grandmothers; the quiet; the contemplative; the healers.
We see and we seek that which is not yet apparent to others.
Increasingly, we are ringing the alarm.
So, let’s imagine that we hear and believe in the alarm. What happens next?
Any decent problem solver will tell you that more than half of the work is correctly defining the problem in the first place. And so, as we set these (challenging) puzzle pieces loose on the rug, we can begin to understand the intricate web of interrelated challenges twentieth-century humans face.
As I see it, the common thread shimmering amongst and through everything I have written so far is this: as human beings, we are forgetting how to be human. Spoiler alert: I’m pretty sure being human is not defined by hyper individualism, technological progress for the sake of progress, amassing wealth and fame, or establishing a colony on Mars.
While I'll leave the definition of what being human means to the experts (who they may be is debatable), I’m convinced that a healthier, more enlightened path forward for all of us and our descendants starts at the grassroots level and includes:
Re-connecting to nature;
Re-investing in family and community roots;
Re-engaging in creative acts,
Re-centering around spirituality and connectedness.
These topics haven’t made the agenda for global political and commercial summits in the past, oh, hundred years (and possibly ever).
In fact the ethereal voices speaking these ideas have been shut out of the system for a long time.
I would go one step further; and suggest that the linear and competitive economic and social themes currently dominating our systems and way of life have tragically overpowered the emotional, creative, and connective qualities (ahem, archetypically feminine qualities) that are also part of being human.
The colossal price of this imbalance is becoming increasingly obvious.
Can you feel it?
So where do we go from here? How do we course-correct? How do we move forward in the full expression of our humanity without destroying ourselves and our planet in the process?
We start small. We start with ourselves. We start by reclaiming whatever parts of our humanity feel lost.
Did you know that global interest in ancient spiritual practices is surging? In this time of darkness, many folks are reaching back; back past the straight therapy and the sexual abuse coverups and the woman-less holy texts into faith practices that shimmer, tangible and genderless in the physical world of oceans and stars, and the energetic world too, which we’ve been warned to turn away from for so long (because if it does not collide explicitly with the five senses that Aristotle named in the 300s B.C., then it can’t be real).
I firmly believe this tug toward enchantment is a positive sign.
No faith practice is without risk, but certainly we can do better than consumerism as religion.
And in case it wasn’t obvious, I am writing this because I feel the pull - as a deep feeler, etc. (see above) - to exit the proverbial broom closet and contribute in my way to the bridge that needs building from where we are to where we must, I am certain, go next. The twelve-year-old palm reader of my youth is back - and this time she’s armed with evolutionary astrology, tarot, embodiment practices and a few dozen years of spiritual adventures across time and space (and an international coaching certification, and an MBA, and 3 kids, etc.).
The mystery is where it all begins and ends, of course. We can choose to ignore the mystery, or we can choose to court it - to dance and play with it.
I choose dance. I choose play. I choose to weave meaning with the mystery.
So if you feel drawn to lying on the earth and feeling her heartbeat; then you my friend, are in the right place.
Most folks don’t see. Most folks won’t act. The ones who can see, the ones who are moved to feel, are therefore called into action.
Your capacity is your invitation.
Some of us will reach out and grab hold of each other.
Some of us will dismantle and reconceive systems that value sustainability, harmony and wellbeing.
Let’s check in with each other. Let’s create a better world together.
🙏
Allison
PS! We have officially checked in, thanks for reading all the way to the end. As for what to expect next, we’re going to figure that out as we go along (activating ENFP energy!!). Expect essays and shorter pieces on the state of the contemporary world, personal development, building an authentic path, creative and spiritual practice, exploring equity and feminism, and reimagining the status quo, together.