2020 – One From The Heart
When it began, I thought of 2020 as a year of seeing clearly (20-20 vision). Well it was every bit of that. We saw more clearly how challenging and dangerous life can be, and how selfishness on all levels from behaviour to government doesn’t work, and how loving our neighbours as ourselves makes all the difference.
For me 2020 as been a revelation in so many ways. It has reminded me forcefully that there are two kinds of “me”. There’s me who pretends to be a little old man separate from you. Let’s call him the Little Me. He’s what I look like from the outside. He takes care of his own Little Self. Then there’s the me I obviously really am, if I can be bothered to notice it, as I am right here for myself. Let’s call that the Real Me: the Me that only exists because of everyone else, the me who cares for and is kind to others because there are no others.
Covid 2020 made it so clear that pretending to be just the Little Me doesn’t work out so well in a crisis. Not something you want to waste too much energy pretending at a time like that, and way too dangerous. There’s nothing like a proper crisis for getting back to reality, to the Real ‘love your neighbour as your Self” Me.
I’ve blogged about how easy it is to notice your Real Me, and how hard it is to avoid it, with titles like the “Zen of the Bleedin’ Obvious”. I’ve done a bit of teaching about it (and there’s much more at www.headless.org). This Covid year I’ve also had the great joy of being brilliantly taught. I’ve had the privilege of running regular Wednesday and Thursday afternoon Zoom sessions with MYsocial members – and found in every one of them the most amazing teachers. Wisdom of ageing? Yep. They’re ‘ordinary old folk’ like me, and each in their own way living from their Real Me. Learning from them has helped make this an awesome year, suffering and kindness and all, and I’m more grateful than I can say.
