Elections, Reflections: Dialogue and Healing - A Beginning

I don't know about you, but it's been a tough week!  Election Day was filled with drama, surprises, and uncertainty for many people in the United States, its immediate neighbors, and the citizens of other countries monitoring our campaign and election process.  Now, it is time to breathe, reflect, and begin the healing process: healing within Self; healing between Self and Others.

A lot has already been written and broadcast about the last few days.  I don't intend to rehash conversations or pretend that everything is okay.  Anger and pain run deep for many people - those demanding change and those shaken by the unexpectedness of the outcome.  Hopes and dreams may have changed depending on how you cast your vote.

What do you see:  Three or Four?  Maybe there is another answer.
(Quote from Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 CE)

I have heard of stories where people were unfriended on Facebook.  I have heard of stories where family members, talking on the phone, hung up in anger.  I have heard of stories where spouses are threatening divorce because of how each person voted.  We each have our stories.

Questions that we must face - individually and collectively - in the coming weeks and months:

• Do we want to be in relationship with people who have different hopes, dreams or visions?
• Are we interested in healing:  facing our anger... understanding our despair... reaching out to diverse ideas... accepting what we find? 
• Where do we go from here?

I wonder if our rote responses or premises in the past have been short-sighted: it seems like Americans need or settle on One Answer or The Right Answer.  The intimation: "Are you with me or against me?"  It is as if we expect Truth to be packaged and sold in neat little containers.

What would future conversations look like if we realized that there may be many answers to each question?  Or if we recognized that my strengths allow me to see one piece of the Truth-Puzzle, and your strengths contribute another piece.  What would it be like if we freely shared our Individual Truths, accepting that The Truth is bigger than any one of us?
 

Am I willing to contribute freely to the success of All?

In this time of transition, if you are in pain and I am in pain, we may think that we have something in common.  But, just maybe we are not experiencing the same pain.  There may be various sources that are causing the pain, hurt, and misunderstanding.  Our language and expression emanating from this hurt also may look different.

The fact that we are both in pain might be an invitation to step back, listen to, and try to understand the other person.  And, if you are not in pain?  What response is necessary when pain, frustration, or anger are encountered?

The invitation for now: healing, dialogue, and understanding.  Now might not be the moment to look for a solution.  Instead, maybe all we are being asked to do is:  Be Present - sitting and acknowledging what is happening.  If we are present to Self and Other, we may be able to take this first step... together.  Solutions will come later once we reflect and accept what is being experienced.

There is a time to move inward: seeking Self-Truth.
And a time to move outward: seeking Truth-With-Others.

Is this not the time for all of us to slow down, breathe, and ask ourselves:

• What happened to America these past two years preparing for and enduring the Presidential campaign?
• How do we want to move forward?
• Is there an answer beyond Red State and Blue State?

May we offer prayers of healing as we become present to this new week of uncertainty, challenges, listening, understanding, and growth!

Larry Gardepie
Dialogue San Diego Consulting