Weighed Down by a Thorny World?

Standing on the ship deck a few miles away from the massive glacier, I reflected on time, weight, significance, and presence.

Time:  for the past hour we had been sailing through a fjord, carved out over millennia by a glacier advancing and retreating.  A pristine landscape had emerged, the product of this living ice field.  Weight:  centuries of snow had pressed down to create this glacier with its icy crevasses and tentacles reaching downward and outward.  I marveled at how the weight provided its movement to advance and retreat.  Significance:  surrounded by Creation -- created and in the act of being created -- I wondered at the significance of my young years in relation to this World Emerging.

A rifle-like crack pierced the silence and a new iceberg was born as it separated itself from the parent glacier.  Centuries of water, dirt, and nutrients floated outward to replenish the Waters Beyond.  Standing on the ship deck a few miles away from this massive glacier and its off-spring, I felt Presence.

Are you feeling the weight of the world pressing down on you?

Years later, I now wonder at the weight that presses down on us:

• Responsibilities of family, education, career... providing ways to survive this busy and complex world.
• Recent political divisions or societal mores which polarize us... causing a breaking away and drifting.
• The magnitude of struggles playing out on the world stage... creating rivulets of distorted significance.
• Fears about the future...  seeing only dark clouds on the horizon.

Are dark clouds gathering on your horizon?

Time, weight, and significance intersect our lives.... but, I also wonder, have we forgotten the Gift of Presence which advances and nourishes us? 

Dialogue offers an opportunity to rekindle Presence:  to listen to individuals; to hear differing thoughts and emotions; to accept tenderly diverse views; and to move away from defended behaviors that protect one view.  Seen in its fullness, Dialogue replenishes and nourishes only when we accept the presence of the other.

If we change our focus from massive glaciers to lessons nearer to home, we may see that Nature is showing us many ways to coexist.  For example, living in the Southwest, we become familiar with the life cycle of the cactus.  For most of the year (or for many years), we see a prickly, thorny exterior - the plant's outward defense system.  Many cacti species have phenomenal blossoms which invite others to pollinate.  Seeds are produced when the thorny exterior gives way to beautiful flowers and others are invited in.  Potentially, there might be no future if the exterior remained prickly!

Practicing dialogue skills helps us to:

• Become present and give our time to another.
• Remove the weight we may carry alone.
• Let down the thorny protective exteriors we rely on to keep others away.
• Understand the significance we each bring when we advance and nourish our Emerging World.

Beauty can erupt from the thorniest
of situations!

Consider this week:

• List any situations that are weighty or thorny in your life.
• Ask a family member or friend if you might describe one or two of these situations.
• Invite the other person to ask questions, to help clarify the situation.
  Note: don't try to solve the issue.  Practice:  listening; asking questions; reflecting back what was said.  The focus: being present to one another.

May you be open to Nature and Dialogue this week, where weighty and thorny issues can be transformed into advancement and replenishment!

Larry Gardepie
Dialogue San Diego Consulting