Tomorrow the world begins anew

This morning I'm thinking about September 12, 2001, how impossible it was to believe that September 11 would not last forever. I felt the same way on October 18, 1989, the day after the Loma Prieta earthquake. The electricity came back on at the house where I lived in San Francisco, and I believe my ex husband and I even ventured out of the house for a little while.

There was a November 23, 1963, an August 6, 1945, an April 9, 1865, a July 5, 1776, and so on. In the realm of personal crisis, too, there is always the next day. Always. For instance, on February 2, 1979, though I was still unconscious, I was being well cared for in the hospital after a serious accident involving me, a Datsun B210 and a Southern Pacific freight train. In spite of what the doctors told me when I finally woke up a few days later, I was quite sure I would recover fully. Would I ever have found my way into "alternative" medicine if not for the train accident? I will never know. And yes, I recovered fully. I surely did!

The family going through its crisis, the family I mentioned yesterday, has shifted gears into the next day syndrome. These people share a deep-seated belief in their ability to cope with what has happened. I believe in their ability, too. They will cope, learn, evolve and grow wiser, kinder and more compassionate.

Disasters small and large are never the end of the world, not even December 21, 2012. Nope. The world goes on. Life goes on. Shit happens, but it is never the end of the story.

There are crises and disasters, and there is the recovery from these events. What my wise spirit guides tell me is that big "collisions" - the term they use, even the most destructive of these events, create possibilities for change and growth. They open doors to the new. Wisdom accumulates slowly, and is hard-won, they tell me. Crises such as what this family is undergoing is the fertile ground from where wisdom can arise. The work we have to do to become wiser, kinder and more compassionate is well worth it.

Perhaps my guides are as optimistic as we humans.

Here's a link to a TED talk about human optimism. Thank goodness for human optimism!

"Whatever happens, whether you succeed or you fail, people with high expectations always feel better, because how we feel — when we get dumped or we win employee of the month — depends on how we interpret that event.” (Tali Sharot)

What I'm in awe of this morning is the way in which the family I've been talking about has shifted gears already from the immediate shock of the crisis into clean up mode. They have rolled up their metaphorical sleeves, and have begun the work of healing, learning, and evolving to accommodate the wisdom that they'll accumulate through the process.

Storms and disasters and crises are inevitable in the course of our human lives. Thank goodness we're so optimistic! If we weren't, how would we ever muster the energy needed to recover from these events?

We try so hard. We make mistakes, and some of us give up, or so says Tali Sharot. But 80% of us can see the silver lining at the edge of every cloud. Onwards and upwards, hey? Hell yeah. Shalom.