The ground has shifted beneath us.

We can look at the world events for the last couple of weeks, and indeed the last couple of years, and see that there has been this destabilising effect within the collective energies on our world.

Part of us might feel very frightened or anxious. We might start trying to control what we can control. Part of us might want to feel like we need in be in community with others, with people are reflecting back our beliefs (and maybe our fears) to us, so that we can feel seen and feel safe.

But then maybe there’s also the opportunity to come back to ourselves in a way that feels a little more earthed, a little more balanced. And then from that place, a different kind of vision for our world can grow.

Maybe all of these things are happening at the same time within you, which can feel overwhelming. Or maybe that vision that you held for your life and for how your life was going to flow has felt disrupted, or now feels impossible. And there might be anger about that, there might be frustration, as well as anxiety and fear about meeting basic survival needs.

There are very complex situations and reactions in play within us, and this is without even getting into any of the inequities that already existed outside of us in our world. Maybe when we zoom out like that, it just seems even more overwhelming.

So that is why I feel like we can give ourselves some grace with that right now.

We can give ourselves some grace with that response of feeling overwhelmed, of feeling like the goalposts have moved. We don’t know what’s happening. How are we supposed to plan? How are we supposed to survive? We can give our bodies some grace. Especially if some of your ancestors in the recent past experienced scarcity — that might be triggering a lot of that aspect for you too, for your body, for your nervous system.

I can share that the scarcity that has been felt by my ancestors, by my people, my lineage, it does get activated in me in times like this. And when it’s activated, it is hard. It is hard to separate out that activation from this present moment, where I am fortunate enough to be sitting in a secure home that has electricity and has heat. I have enough money for food, to buy my child clothes — things that my recent ancestors did not have. And yet it is felt by me, now, in this moment, as something potentially and cripplingly real.

So I feel the very first thing we do right now is give ourselves some grace. I invite you to do that. Some people are wanting to jump into action. Some people are wanting to withdraw, some people are wanting to fight, some people are wanting to bypass. And whatever response you might be having right now, I invite you to give yourself some grace with that response. Just let yourself be with whatever you need to be with right now.

And be with it, in the full understanding that that in itself, that the ability to have spaciousness to grant yourself time to be with your reactions, is a privilege. With that privilege comes accountability. Giving yourself grace does not mean giving yourself a pass to indulge your privilege indefinitely. But we can all give ourselves some grace for a few moments each day. We can all extend ourselves some compassion.

And then from that place, it’s a little easier to breathe more easily, to get a different perspective. It’s a little easier to see where we are actually in that moment. What’s been activated for us, what is running, what has the controls? And is that what we really want?

And if it’s not what we really want, how are we going to tend to that part of ourselves? Because it wouldn’t be at the controls if it didn’t feel like it really had to be.

So how do we tend to that part of ourselves? How do we take care of that activated part so that it can release the grip, so that there can be a different perspective?

In this collective moment, we are all human beings. We are part of a human collective. What impacts one of us impacts all of us, whether we’re conscious of it or not. The systems that we have lived in have damaged us all in ways, have hurt us all in ways, some more than others, whether we’re aware of it or not.

But when we can have that more present perspective, when we tend to those hurt parts of ourselves, we give ourselves the gift of more capacity. And we are going to need more capacity to navigate and hold the rest of this year.

And your capacity on any given day might be different to my capacity on any given day, but isn’t that the beauty of the fact that we live on this world — that we can take our turn to step up and step in and step back?

And from that different perspective, from that wider perspective, more balanced perspective, we can see what actions we feel drawn to take. What vision are we holding? What hope are we allowing to emerge?

Even at a time when hope is — that wonderful phrase — the ultimate act of defiance.

It would be easy right now to look at our world and feel despair, feel like this is spiralling in ways that will not end well, that it has already spiralled in ways that have not ended well.

But hope remains. I feel it’s one of the most precious, most illogical aspects of the human condition, that hope remains.

For me, one of the most memorable parts of the Lord of the Rings books and films (and it always makes me cry, I’m tearing up just thinking about it now) is that part where Sam says to Frodo: “There’s good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And that’s worth fighting for.”

And I feel like that sentence just holds so much of the human condition. So much of what’s amazing about being human, living a human life. It holds that quality of hope, that quality of seeing the good, seeing the light, seeing the possibility.

And in that moment, Sam’s right in the middle of Mordor. He’s not bypassing where he is, he’s not bypassing their situation. He’s just reminding Frodo of the reason they started, and of the reason they continue.

And maybe right now, that’s what we need to be doing — reminding ourselves every day of why we continue, of why we continue to hold hope, why we continue to take the actions that support something growing in a positive way, in a way that is inclusive and helpful. Whether that’s on a local level, whether that’s on a community level, whether it’s on a wider level within your particular business or corporation, or whether it’s within your own family or circle of friends and neighbours.

It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that return each day to that space, because we do have an impact. We have an impact in our energy, in our actions, in our words, in the space we hold in this world. And that is worth remembering at times like this.

No one person right now can fix everything in the world. But groups of people can make a difference for good, in loving ways, just like groups of people have made a difference in unloving ways.

It has to start within us — within each one of us — and it has to be nourished and sustained within each one of us. And maybe there are days where you will need your Sam to say to you: this is why we’re still holding on, this is why we’re still here, this is why we’re still holding this vision. And maybe some days you’ll be the Sam for someone else’s Frodo.

This is the beauty of being human. And as messy and painful and uncomfortable as it can be, there is so much that is also possible.

So this is an invitation to each of us to step up, step in, be accountable, give ourselves grace, and, above all, to keep holding that vision for something loving, something better, something sustainable, something precious.