in this together Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Under Pressure

I’ve been clenching my teeth in my sleep for a lot longer than I want to admit. I even bought a mouth guard and started wearing it at night a few months ago. But honestly? Over the past few weeks, I started noticing that my teeth on one side of my mouth are more sensitive to temperature – and I realized the joints of my jaws were sore. My poor teeth! Clearly, I’ve put them under pressure. (Yes, follow this link.)

The extent of that pressure became sadly and abundantly clear this evening when a piece of one of my molars actually cracked off. Good grief! I took a photo of the piece of my tooth that ‘just couldn’t take it anymore,’ which allowed me to magnify it. Although it’s kind of unpleasant and a bit embarrassing, I’m posting the photo anyway.

I’m posting it because I’m astonished at the cracks I see striating my tooth. It’s sobering to contemplate just how much pressure my jaws were putting on my teeth – some estimate up to 265 pounds per square inch.

It makes me think about our country and the pressure we’re all under right now as well. It feels as though my broken tooth is a metaphor for what we’re witnessing play out in our country as a whole for generations. That’s how long I think the pressure has been building.

I also think if we put our country under a microscope (or even zoomed in on it with our iPhone cameras – which perhaps is what we did with all the ‘selfies’ and videos taken during the insurrection and attempted coup on Wednesday) we would find as many cracks in some of our foundations as in my tooth.

Something Has to Give

It seems to me that something has to give. It’s obvious that the status quo is unsustainable.

I believe in the principles upon which our country was founded. But I think cracks are appearing and pose an imminent threat of breaking us apart if we don’t apply the principles we hold dear uniformly and fairly.

We’re all still reeling from the debacle that unfolded in our Capitol grounds just three days ago. The rampage exposed a lot of cracks.

I want to believe we can still shore up those parts that have cracks. Perhaps make them stronger through relieving the pressure and desperation felt by so many. Maybe we can do that by sharing the foundational concepts (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) more equally. It’s hard not to crack under pressure when you can’t afford food, shelter, or health care – particularly in the midst of a pandemic that you’re told is a hoax – so get back to work – if you even have a job.

It’s even harder to feel free, or heaven forbid, pursue some happiness.

Weight and Hope – 9 January 2021 – Photo: L. Weikel

Heavy and Light

Right now, the future we’re facing looks like the photo above: There’s huge and pretty dark pressure weighing down on all of us right now. But there’s light at the edges. And it’s exquisitely beautiful.

I feel – even if only tangentially and in my own pretty darn privileged way – the pressure and desperation felt by so many in our country. It’s hard for me to find the words to convey how much I want to contribute to shifting our collective reality toward what we all seek in our hearts.

I truly believe that the way we’ll relieve the collective pressure on all of us individually and on us as a country enough to avoid cracking and breaking apart is to realize we’re all in this together. It’s so simple, yet so complex. We need to get back to those founding principles but this time – really and truly have them apply equally to all.

Post-Script

Can’t hurt to take a look at the lyrics to Under Pressure as we contemplate where we are right now. I’ll admit – I never listened to them as closely as I did tonight – when the title to my post appeared before I wrote any other words. And now, as I go to copy and paste the lyrics here (while you’re hopefully listening by clicking on the link, above), I realize it is the 4th anniversary of David Bowie’s death. I just got chills. This very well may be our last chance.

Mm ba ba de
Um bum ba de
Um bu bu bum da de

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure that brings a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day da
Ee day da that's okay

It's the terror of knowing
What the world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming Let me out
Pray tomorrow gets me higher
Pressure on people people on streets
Day day de mm hm
Da da da ba ba
Okay

Chippin' around kick my brains around the floor
These are the days it never rains but it pours
Ee do ba be
Ee da ba ba ba
Um bo bo
Be lap
People on streets ee da de da de
People on streets ee da de da de da de da

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out
Pray tomorrow gets me higher higher high
Pressure on people people on streets

Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love but it's so slashed and torn
Why, why, why?
Love love love love love
Insanity laughs under pressure we're breaking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
Give love give love give love give love give love

'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the (people on streets) edge of the night
And loves (people on streets) dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure

David Bowie and Queen

(T-321)

Hold On

I’m not going to sugar coat it: last week was pretty awful. And each day seemed to take us a couple steps further down the road to – where, exactly? I’m not sure. But no matter how you look at things, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that they’re going to get worse this week. And all we can do is hold on.

One reason things will get worse this week is because this is the first Monday of a week in which, almost everywhere, if you’re not considered an employee in an ‘essential industry’ then you will be home.

Shock to the System

This whole concept, the very idea that so many of us will no longer have an office to report to, will come as a shock to not only ‘the’ system but ‘our’ systems as well: not only our national, regional, and local economic systems, but also to our internal systems, our sense of who we are and how we personally fit into the world.

I’m not saying this to be doom and gloom. I’m saying this so you can prepare your internal system – your navigation system, your system of balance, your sense of self and how you go about your day, your comprehension of your place in the Universe. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to arrive and people are going to feel like they’ve been playing The Game of Life and their dog just bounded into the room and upended the game board, scattering the pieces to the four winds.

Boom.

We’re In This Together

If I can assure any of you reading this right now of anything, I want you to know that we’re all in this together. Every single one of us is going to be impacted by either the Coronavirus (Covid-19) or the economics of basically having our entire economy slow to a point where it’s a shell of its former self. And let’s face it: many if not most of us may ultimately end up having to deal with both.

As the week starts off, I’d like to suggest that you smudge your home. You’ll recall that smudging is a cleansing ritual in which you use the smoke of a burning bundle of sage (or of some leaves of sage burning in an appropriate container) to cleanse and purify your environment. Even just lighting up some sage and breathing in the scent can clear your head and help shift your perspective.

I feel we could all benefit from setting ourselves up for success as we set out on our quests this week.

And quests they are: discovering who we are when all our familiar touchstones (for us adults, our jobs or vocations, our workplaces, our favorite places to work out or be with friends, and for our children, our schools, our sports and competitions, our musicals and school plays and band practice) are suddenly gone or unavailable to us…

Pondering the Questions

Who are we when all the things we’ve done almost without thinking for as long as we can remember are taken away from us? Who are we when we have no errands to run? No clients to call? Who are we when we suddenly have the time to do those things we’ve told ourselves we’d rather be doing? Maybe those yearnings should’ve been updated a decade ago. Maybe they’re no longer a reflection of our dreams? Maybe they were an illusion, a fantasy that simply kept us from loving our lived experience.

As we figure these things out, it’s important we remember: we’re all in this together. We’re going to get through it. It’s true, we may find that some people and situations – including ourselves – are a disappointment. These realizations will call for adjustments. But all in all? I’d wager we’re going to discover some amazing treasures along the way. Precisely because we’re all in this together.

So hold on. Take heart. Wash your hands; keep your distance; and know that together we can get through anything. And we’re going to come through it all transformed.