- Kat
Different Embers, Same Fire
What’s your favorite video ever on the Internet?
Here's mine: “Where the Hell is Matt? (2012)” I was only 11 years old when it became published on YouTube. But every few years or so, I always find myself gravitating back to it. Every time I watch it, I feel renewed and restored. Give it a watch to understand why:
In a world where shame, worry, and fear have been normalized through our consumption of media, it is supremely easy to forget the remembrance of our shared humanity. It is easy to forget that at the end of the day, we all just want to love and be loved. We all have our differences, such as how we express our love and care for others, but the core of who we all are? That all stems from empathy.
It is so easy to forget ourselves in processes of attachment. When we don’t get what we want, we hurt. When we hurt, we choose easier options most mentally available to us: envy, sorrow, pity, sadness, disgust, misery. In these low moments, our heart tells us that we’re aching. If we’re not aware of these commotions that are moving inside of us, we start to identify with our feelings – our heart nags at our brain that we are and will always be hurt, however that may look like. We forget that these clinging attachments are vastly different than genuine connection.
It is difficult to remember who we are: the observer of our thoughts and the awareness behind our emotions. When we recognize that this our pure state of being, hard things become easier to do.
How are you going to choose the hard thing to do today?
When we pause, breathe, and take a step back at the grand scale of things, remember how small and big we both are.
We are small in this vast world, one tiny speck of a bunch of other people who are all on their own unique timelines with different sets of experiences that formed their own perspectives. But we're not an irrelevant, pointless kind of small. We are magically and powerfully small, as we are offered wide spaces for wonder, curiosity, and awe to discover and learn and explore everything that we do not know. At the same time, we are BIG – we have expansive and limitless potential, sights to see that are not in our visible horizons just yet. We have grown and hurt and laughed and changed so much, and we will continue to reach places beyond the heights of our current beliefs. Everything’s all in due time.
It is so easy to be fearful of the unknown. We always ask ourselves, “what’s next?” What’s “the next” thing I need to do? What’s “the next” thing I need to worry about? What’s “the next” thing on my calendar? But, we get caught up so much in “the next,” that we don’t realize how this moment of NOW used to be what was “next.”
How is it going with you, right now? You’re still going. You’re reading this. And you’re here. With a screen in front of you, intaking this media that hopefully helps you remember that you haven’t given up. And you’re doing your best with the energy and awareness you have, and that’s enough.
Let yourself be anxious, let yourself be fearful, let yourself be hurt. Temporarily immerse yourself in these uncomfortable states to clear up emotional space for the forthcoming peace, joy, and clarity that will fuel your best lived experiences. Fully feeling is fully living, and healing is a beautiful process.
We all go through different challenges, pain, and struggles which collectively constitute the full story that only our true selves fully know. It is troubling to integrate our lows as complementary counterparts of our highs. Navigating and unraveling these inner layers to clearly understand your own unique journey will always be a complex process. We often resist any mental sensations of hurting, as we are innately inclined to react than to respond.
We quickly direct our concentration towards external distractions to soothe our wounds with band aids, rather than going inwardly to get to the source of what’s hurting. Humans are biologically wired for actions requiring the least amount of physical and mental energy, and band aids are easier than the source identification of our hurt.
We think of pain as our worst enemies. But in these moments of terror and tragedy, I think we often forget that there is magic within them. These lows are your best spaces to not get over it, but to go through it. Pain is indeed our worst enemies, but they are also our best lessons.
Your worst enemy is only fueled by your worst reactions (whether that be through more self-sabotage and thoughts of shame), not by your self-compassion and grace. There is no fuel within love for your worst enemy. Your worst enemies come to eventually shape your best character.
Embrace the lows. This is how to overcome pain: you need to feel it to heal it.
Without uncertainty, anxiety, and regret, how can we know confidence, contentment, and acceptance? If we knew everything that there is to know about anything and everything, everyday would feel stagnant.
To embrace the lows, is to go with the flow. When you feel the flow, that is when you grow.
You are always capable of growing. Everyday, you have a choice to plant these seeds of thought for nurturing your dreams, visions, and aspirations. However and wherever that may look like.
Experiencing pain is not a prerequisite to joy; however, it does inject deeper levels and layers of abundance within each moment of joy. Because you know how it used to be like otherwise.
"Remember we're lost together, remember we're the same."
"We are all the glowing embers of a distant fire."
We all simultaneously collide and coalesce. Separating to unite, unifying to divide. But at the end of the day, we’re all just there to guide each other back home.
We’re all different embers, glowing for a distant fire. Never dim your light, and keep on shining.
As always, sending much love and light for all. <3
- Kat