The Repair Work of Our Time: Visions for Collective Healing
The New Moon as a Catalyst for Collective Unity
Today marks the new moon in Capricorn and is a wonderful space in time to set fresh intentions for the month (or short term goals), along with the year, or years ahead, (our long term goals). New moon's give us a fresh restart button every four weeks and is a reminder that nature is changing all the time. Just as it moves in cycles, so do we, as we are not separate, but of nature itself.
To set intentions is not passive wishful thinking. It is the first act of creation and a radical return to our power as co-creators of reality. The moon is in the sign of Capricorn which symbolically asks us to organize, strategize and create systems to reach our long term goals.
In times of great disruption and division, it feels like we are being called to find balance and a harmonious frequency in which to unite ourselves to a collective vision. I believe it is our responsibility to share these visions with one another as we move into an uncertain future that is promising big changes on all fronts.
My vision is that we find the common ground rooted in our interconnectedness to one another and all things as a base in which to implement change for the highest potential for humanity, to live in harmony amongst each other, all living things and the planet we call home.
In an era of profound division and ecological crisis, we are called to engage in the inner work of self-repair and vision-setting—transforming our personal healing into collective action by consciously designing a future rooted in interconnection, respect for all life, and the courage to voice our dreams before others write our paths for us.
As Above, So Below: The Mirror of Inner and Outer Worlds
I have been on a long journey for years now working to find peace within myself. I have journals littered with self reflection over my anxiety, anger, fear and pain from broken romantic relationships and uncertainty of my future. As I have been growing my awareness around these triggers and hidden wounds that needed attention, I can see that these feelings are being reflected outside of me now in the larger narrative of our collective. I dare say then that I am not alone in needing to do this inner work.
My Journey to Recognition
My broken relationships with old loves began because I had a broken relationship to myself. Instead of setting strict boundaries to protect myself I ignored warning signs from my own heart and I permitted harmful behavior that later became fuel for pain, resentment and bitterness because I mistakenly thought ~ if I allow this, maybe they will love me?
This same pattern goes from the micro to the macro. Within myself - within my relationships - within the collective. Without having this awareness and doing the necessary inner work to understand why we behave as we do or react as we do, we will continue to see this ripple effect move from within ourselves into the greater collective.
Our society has a broken relationship amongst ourselves, all living things and the very resources we rely on to be healthy. I cannot help but assume that I am not alone in having hidden wounds and triggers because this collective reflection has become so pronounced. I see intense flairs of anger, hatred, anxiety, fear and pain being reflected outwards and bouncing around the globe.
The Work of Repair: From Personal to Political
The good news as I see it is that we have the capability to repair these ruptures and wounds. I’m watching myself do it right now. If I can, so can others.
Now is the time to make sure we prioritize this repair and have capacity to begin the work it takes to heal and perhaps more importantly, shift our perspectives when necessary.
I do this in my personal relationships as best as I can, especially with my children. As parents we can be easily triggered into having our own tantrums when our children reflect our negative behavioral patterns back to us!
When I catch myself in a tantrum, aka speaking in a tone that is unfriendly, using threats to gain control, embodying an energy that could be potentially harmful to our relationship, I am pausing as soon as I am aware. I may need a break and to step away, though I return quickly and immediately address why I am behaving the way I am, while simultaneously working to see my child's unmet need. This work is messy, and I'm certainly not perfect, but I feel like this IS the work of our time. We must address our destructive and harmful thought patterns, whether we are speaking poorly to ourselves or others.
If we can practice accountability, calm communication, and repair in our most intimate relationships, these become the skills we bring to community organizing, political discourse, and collective visioning. The emotional regulation required to pause mid-tantrum with our children is the same capacity needed to engage across ideological divides.
Power, Respect, and Cooperation : My Visions for the Future
The Voice Within & the Voice Online
As I watch people bicker and spread fear and hate across our social platforms, I think about the negative self talk I've done to myself and how it has only made things worse.
The same voice that tells me I'm not good enough, that I'm failing, that catastrophe is inevitable—this is the voice I see amplified across our feeds. Collective anxiety mirrors individual anxiety. And just as I've learned that berating myself doesn't create productive change, watching us berate each other online clearly isn't healing our divisions either.
There certainly needs to be accountability and I do think it is appropriate to demand it when harm has been committed. I also know that speaking calmly and clearly and having an action plan to readjust works a lot better than yelling. Sometimes this takes time, a lot more time than we’ve been conditioned to have the patience for. I keep returning to children’s tantrums because they really shocked me at first in my motherhood journey. But once I realized that an unregulated child simply needed a calm space and to be witnessed to find safety again, almost all matters could be restored.
With adults who never had this experience to regulate and feel seen and safe as children, calm voices and yelling can also go unheard and unmet because this is completely foreign and a need to be correct or in power takes over the mind as a form of protection.
I am not full of all the answers, though I am sharing what works on the micro level in my life and seeing how we can apply this to the grander stage of our communities and collective as a whole.
Cooperation in our Collective
Cooperation comes from mutual respect. Forcing any type of change or obedience is coming from an imbalance of power and driven by fear.
When our systems prioritize corporate profit over community wellbeing, when policies benefit the few at the expense of the many, we've lost sight of what governance is meant to be: service to the collective good. We've become divided on what our collective understanding of values are.
So what would this look like in practice? What would a world built on repair and interconnection actually prioritize?
Here's my vision—incomplete and imperfect, but offered as an example of the kind of dreaming we must all engage in:
A Vision for Collective Repair
Ideas for a better world:
1. Recognizing the interconnectedness of all that is:
As a collective we know and understand that separation is an illusion and humanity is not separate from one another, nor any life form, mineral or element. We collectively understand that we are extentions of the source of all that is, co-creators of our collective reality and therefore responsible for our conscious evolution and growth.
2. Respecting all life (people, other life forms, planet)
Respecting all people, including women and children, moves us in the direction of harmonious cooperation.
Respecting other life forms is recognizing that all life is sacred. The preservation of wild spaces for plants and animals is essential as well as keeping thriving, regenerative environments for farm life.
Respecting the planet means taking every available measure to eliminate pollution to our water supplies, the air and our soils.
Regenerate soils through grazing and compost (Carbon Cowboys)
Plant native filtering plants near waterways (Gray Water Systems)
Use fungus to assist wherever possible (Paul Stamets’ Ted Talk))
3. Redefining success (wellbeing over wealth)
Define success not by monetary wealth, but by the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well being of a community.
Is everyone housed? Clothed? Fed? Have access to health resources including holistic practitioners and education and access to living healthy lifestyles.
Do people have time and the knowledge to garden, cook, exercise, pray/meditate, rest and create?
Is the air quality good, is the water clean enough to drink, is the soil being regenerated and healthy?
4. Honoring bodily sovereignty
Respect the bodily sovereignty of all individuals. Each person has the right to nourish and care for themselves as they see best.
In the case of repetitive harm by individuals to others, we can hold one another accountable and have community rehabilitation to nourish their mind, body, spirit, as well as participate in community building and projects like gardens.
5.Centering ecological wisdom in design
All future designs and systems that serve and affect communities have permaculture graduates and native community members on deck to ensure stacking functions, appropriate technologies and ecological respect, restoration, and regeneration.
All of these are ideas and visions that come up for me as possible solutions to build a better world for our future generations. I will continue to build upon this and share more when I have more. I realize this is incomplete and there are many details to clarify, but I wanted to provide a quick brainstorm example of how we can all be doing this.
I believe in order to see change in the ways we want, we must be working on repairing our relationship to ourselves.
We can recognize and interrupt the destructive self-talk and thought patterns that loop endlessly in our minds—conditioning deliberately placed to make us doubt our power and sever us from our creative capacity..
We can be doing this same repair to our relationships in our lives and communities and together share our visions for what a better world will look like.
The Imperative of Vision-Sharing
If we remain silent on our dreams for the future, then the future will be planned by others who lack our collective interests, as we have been watching in real time, for centuries…
Greed, corruption and a hunger for power and domination through force have become the norm. It is now also a ‘joke’ which makes it extremely difficult to take seriously when our leaders are behaving as toddlers having tantrums or jokesters, but the consequences are indeed serious.
We do have some honorable people in positions representing their communities, but it is rare and we need to have more people with the courage to step up for people over profits. To start, I would love to see more people sharing their visions for how we can repair the rupture and build a future with a collective vision, by the people for the people.
Your Thread in the Divine Web
This new moon, I invite you to write down one vision for the world you want to create, and one action—however small—you'll take toward it this lunar cycle. Share it with someone you trust. Let your voice join the chorus of dreamers refusing to stay silent.
Spend a moment to reflect on how we are all part of the divine web that weaves all things in existence together - what do you want your unique strand to represent? What mark are you leaving on this world?
In my own journaling session today, I explored these questions, and I invite you to reflect upon them with me.
Questions for self reflection : Repair After the Rupture
1. When triggered in relationships: friends, partners, children etc. (triggered meaning our of alignment with your true self, having an overwhelming emotional reaction - anxious, angry, afraid, feeling the need to be right) ask yourself:
Why do I need to be right?
Why do I feel inadequate?
How am I doubting myself?
What unmet need is not being fulfilled for me to feel safe?
What story am I telling myself that is not based on facts?
What feelings are comfortable even if they are not in service to my highest potential of being?
What feels unsafe or uncomfortable about change?
What would it take, what do I need to let go of (a person, an idea, job, place, version of myself) in order to move into alignment with my highest potential of being in this lifetime?
And lastly before I end my stream of thoughts, I ask that we make it a priority to see the beauty in each day and experience the joy of what it means to be alive.
Until next time, I’m envisioning for all of us to feel clarity, peace and harmony.
Special prayers for our Iranian brothers and sisters fighting for their lives and an end to the oppressive Islamic regime.
A tiny add: If you haven’t yet ready my book, I speak on the topic of interconnectedness in God is Like the Sun laid out in simple terms so it can be discussed and read with all ages. I would love to hear your review!