It's Week 45 of our #Go52 Challenge, and here we are again. Our weekly theme aligns with what's currently going on in our country.
In roughly one month's time, we find ourselves facing another mass shooting in the United States. During times like these, we find ourselves in search of comforting words, thoughts, or actions, to help us make sense of what's going on. That's our theme of the week.
The thing about finding comfort is that we seek it out in two different ways, intrinsically and extrinsically. Extrinsic comfort tends to be what first comes to mind when you think of things that are comforting; a blanket, a warm hug, soothing music, a warm drink, good food that's been lovingly prepared, etc. Those are all things that exist outside of ourselves that may provide some sense of ease or relief.
The intrinsic comfort that we seek, or self-soothing, is often the more tricky of the two to navigate. Why? We can often fool ourselves into believing something that might make us feel better, even though it might not be an accurate depiction of what's actually occurring. It's a protection mechanism that we lean on when our world view isn't as pretty as the illusion we have painted.
Our Week 45 illustration is a quote from Noam Chomsky that surmises the above,
"If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion."
So what do we do to move forward? Just as Noam Chomsky alludes to, we have a choice. We can continue to allow our fear of the unknown and or uncomfortable to drive our thoughts and the actions that follow. Or we can face it head on and work through it, one day, one step, one breath at a time.
Our challenge as a nation is to move beyond the illusions we have painted that protect our perceived vulnerability, and seeking out true healing. This, like all other progress that has been made thus far, must come from each of us facing our individual truths and fighting to protect each other's opportunity to do the same. Real, honest conversations and a desire to find common ground - not a desire to prove your point, must be the goal. Otherwise we'll continue to exist in our chosen worlds of comforting illusions, and factual dysfunctions.
Hoping for and working towards progress...