Drip like cola

I felt called to share this poem I wrote. I wrote it after reading a post in a community group on Facebook (for a place I definitely don't live in). Lately I've felt that these different pieces of this puzzle have been making their way towards my awareness for quite some time now. A little bread crumb here and there to help me understand how I can shape and pivot the projects I am passionate and working on at the moment, to service those who need it the most.

Here is the post for reference:

There is so much about our world that is currently unwell and in turmoil. We ask a lot of ourselves to attempt wellness and sacredness for our lives - in a world that encourages us to numb our feelings and emotions through substances, vices and addictions.

There is a real cognitive dissonance between the obstacles to truth and change that we all so crave to resolve in our lives AND what is packaged, presented and conveniently accessible through the very devices that inhibit our connection to one another.

I think it is incredible that we have the power of a super computer resting in each of pockets. But what are we doing with it?

Criticising our youth for being angry, bored, apathetic and disenfranchised? Encouraging them to follow in the very footsteps that have traumatised our predecessors into passing down their generational trauma? Missing out on the real, the good, the bad & the ugly, the deep oceans of connection that we are blessed with - when we take time to truly speak and connect with each other.

Now I'm definitely not saying that we should all get into trolley burning. However I think there is something to be said for the utter lack of support networks that offer genuine connection, skill building, communal learning and support across the world for those who need it most. In fact, I believe that the fundamental core values that we base our social practices and understandings on have been obfuscated and twisted for at least the last three hundred years.

My life so far - of twenty-seven years - has been an immense experience of trial and error. Making mistakes, fucking around and finding out. I am very honoured and thankful that even the deepest and hardest of truths and turns have led me to this place in time. This awareness of myself and all of my selves births a deeper commitment to keep finding out more. I confess that if not for the five star tour around the darkest parts of myself - I probably would not have the capacity to meet the truth that lives in the stories of my friends and family with non-judgement, compassion and eagerness.

The work is not easy, but I am also truly grateful to have the space to learn more about myself. To apply the love that I so needed in my teenage years, retrospectively and lovingly -to every hurt space that cries for love. It's often so difficult to find teachers, resources and road maps for this kind of work. I am incredibly grateful to have found mentors and individuals who see value in me and choose to help me cultivate the gems within my spirit so that I may show up for myself and others.

I believe you hear the cries of your selves, in the moments where you dislike or hate something that someone else is or does. You extend that same sentiment to the parts of you that resonate enough to recognise it in another. Changing the game means, stepping out of the duality of "You did this" or "they are this" to a lens of self inquiry, "what about this speaks so loudly in me?", "what emotion does this provoke in me?", "how can I show up for myself when I feel like this?".

It is not always a self-inquiry resolved situation; but nine times out of ten, you can reach a place of calm acceptance and peacefulness - that cultivates an inner space of strength and joy for every person you meet. Equanimity.

Get curious, exercise your compassion muscle. Brené Brown talks about compassion as a commitment. Its not something we have or don't have, it is something we choose to practice, something that only gets easier when we are not struggling with our own worthiness or authenticity.

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Boys,

Young people -

How do we even begin to know who we are,

when we've given ourselves no space to speak to ourselves.

To indulge & divulge our darkest secrets and "shameful pride".

To be "taught" to step on others and succeed violence at every corner & turn.

Why are they angry?

As you cut corners and hide behind billboards that say pepsi cola and world war III.

Teach them to fight but never teach them to read in shallow sunsets dipped in honey -

cascading from the Gods.

A sweet sweet symphony -

dripping & wet - juicy with a life so fragrant,

It would make your ancestors weep,

for all the blood they bled and tears they swept under oceans that spun for hundreds of years.

But what could we know of any of that?

Just drink your cola and eat their lies.

Twisting like nooses dripping red and wet -

stuck to the walls of my throat.

I don't know what to do.

Well neither do I.

Let's just stick to the truth.

I am me and you are you.

But together we are stronger,

there is strength in our youth.

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