In a world where people can have so much cruelty and indifference toward one another, it may seem strange to say that there is such a thing as too much empathy. While it is true that the average person would do well to have more empathy, for those of us that are born innately empathic, to live life in the empathy channel can be self-annihilating when we take the roles of victim, martyr, and wounded healer. Like a lot of things, empathy arises as both a gift and a wound. All children are born sensitive, but “empaths” orient to the world differently with their sensitivity. The primary direction of interaction is receiving.

We are moving into a time where our savior is not someone in power, it's in each other. Building community during this time is of utmost importance. We are like mycelium under the forest floor..we are connective tissue, an organic intelligence that will rise up through the soil into a new world. Take the time to be outraged, resist what is most important to resist, protect and serve in ways that make sense, but also consider making space for the long arc of change. There is the opportunity to continue to grow during these times, but we have to make it so.

Healing trauma is all about working with energy. The fascinating paradox is that when we work directly with the energy of trauma, it unleashes incredible forces of potential and growth. The evolutionary impulse is dancing between polarities, plunging us into the depths of suffering while also emerging us back into an ever flowing Presence. This drive to evolve is actually pulling the suffering INTO the present so that it can be healed. Personal and collective traumas are fixed points in the unobstructed flow of life. Wherever we feel snagged, that is our work.

It is easy to see natural movements all around us—this is how animals move, how kids play, how plant buds bloom, and zooming out we can also notice the dance of seasons, climates, and planets. Almost every human that has ever been born has had this organic process thwarted in our awareness due to the traumas and stressors of life. We are not often conscious of the organic movements of our deep animal bodies. This is something that we have to return to, and we cannot truly heal until we come back to these natural impulses.

Eastern traditions offer us a glimpse of freedom beyond our personal needs and wants. The word ‘attachment’ means something different in spirituality than it does in psychology. It refers to the moment to moment grasping for certainty and control. We go toward things that are comfortable, and we avoid things that make us uncomfortable. On the level of survival this works, but on the level of awakening to our full potential it keeps us stuck.

Where is the center of your being? Is it in your body? In your thoughts? Is it in your own life or someone else’s? Is it in the past or the future? Is it on what we like and what we don’t like? A fundamental teaching in the Eastern wisdom traditions is that mind and prana are paired—where our attention goes, our energy goes. Practicing good energy hygiene means to have an awareness of this dynamic and to direct our energy in ways that are beneficial for ourselves and for others. Here is a short meditation to call you back home—

This is not a revolution that comes from war and genocide, nor the type that comes from incessantly ‘othering’ one another, but one where our whole worldview shifts toward what it means to be ultimately joyful and free. We each contribute our individual mind as a drop of meaning to the collective mind—whether we realize it or not. What is it that we are giving one another? What kind of future do we want?