Spirituality in the City Our readers share their visions for the world

spirituality in the city

YOUR VISION FOR THE WORLD...

Anthony Monteith

Mastering your own definition of spirituality requires letting go of the stereotypical definition of being a master. Most of us cannot live away from society, on a mountain top, by the river, or the lake. At this special point in history, we are learning how much of a challenge it can be to stay inside, both physically, mentally, and more importantly, spiritually. My vision for the future is that we learn to become the Human Being, not the Human Doing. This is how we will progress spiritually in this current reality. Take time to foster peace internally through the breath. Take time to listen to the workings of your body. Conscious embodiment through movement of the breath.

jadenaturalhealth.com

Michelle Keane

I think we need to go back to the basics. As a mother of two children, I think we as parents need to educate our children on the importance of spirituality. We need to stop searching and look within ourselves, as deep inside we have the solution to fixing all of life’s problems. I pray that all people in this world awaken within themselves. I pray for peace, joy and justice in the world, and I pray for our universe to be protected, as we as humans are destroying our planet. A line from a song comes to mind – ‘Imagine’ by the Great John Lennon. ‘Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us, and the world will live as one.’ The children of our world are our future. We need to invest in them to make this world a better place.

kingdomwater.ie

Kim Kindersley

For years now, I have been holding community heart song circles all over the world. The circle is a safe space for people from all backgrounds, beliefs and ideologies to come together as one. This is what is needed now on this planet, for us to feel our common humanity in the heart. I see an awakened world led by the people, for the people. I see a beautiful, balanced and fair world, full of localised freedom cells living on the land. I see us once again in tune with the natural world, communing with the great mystery of this beautiful life. I see communities held together though loving support of one another, rather than market forces and outmoded competition. This is the moment to explore true sovereignty in the heart and build an entirely new system, so that there can be a future for the generations to come.

hugold.online chantbreathedance.com

The vision I hold for the future is one in which all humanity co-exists in harmonious symbiosis with each other, the animals, the plants, and our Earth. I use the phrase ‘harmonious symbiosis’ to mean the restoration of the natural balance, rather than an absence of the things we would deem ‘negative.’ We humans have forgotten that we are nature. As a result, we have stepped out of the effortless order of governance that the rest of the natural world abides by. This creates disconnection within our inner ecosystem and our external ecosystems. When we remember our connection to the natural world, we are able to listen. In listening, we can be guided into the flow of Life, no longer resisting the instinctual, intuitive forces that always move through us. These forces inspire our action and creativity, attuning us towards a shared impulse: to work together for the betterment of the Whole.

likewatersheflows.com

Dean Fraser

Had you asked me a little over a year ago what the future held for most people, I would have said, ‘it will be largely the same as the past.’ And then a massive pattern interrupt to established lifestyles happened through Covid. As people adjusted to this new reality, it seems many also took the opportunity to access their lives and what truly matters. I see more of us making good physical health and positive mental wellbeing central to our life philosophies, awakening to the awareness that without those two things, we actually have so little. Some aspects of life, then, will not return to the way they were before. Once our eyes have been opened to new paradigms, they will remain open. I see many more of us placing wellness as a first priority in the future.

deanfrasercentral.com

Sarah Fogarty

I imagine a community owned, renewable energy future. I imagine citizens owning and generating their own renewable energy and reaping rewards for it. I imagine a future in which citizens can participate and be included in a community energy market in Ireland. This is the philosophy and goal of Community Power (Ireland’s first community owned electricity supplier). Community energy is the answer to a sustainable future. It can also help create balance between local economies and the global economy, and overcome the rich and the poor divide. It creates a democracy in which our villages and towns can partake in co-operation, not competition. I am excited for the future of community energy and the movement that has begun to allow us all to grow.

communitypower.ie

11

the realm of imagination

MEET YOUR CHILDREN THERE.

by Anna Cole

12

Relationship therapist Esther Perel says our imaginations have played a more central part than ever in our lives, as the lockdowns continue. ‘Over the last year, our imaginations have gone into overdrive—both good and bad. Unable to see our friends, we’ve had to get extremely creative. But that creativity has also extended to the scary things, too. How much time have we spent hypothesising how bad it will get? We’ve fantasised a roller coaster of apocalyptic outcomes. .… The economy is forever in smithers …The kids will never return to school. We’re going to lose grandma. We’re going to lose everything. For so many, some of our deepest fears have come true. And so we wonder, what if they all do?’ As parents, we are living with experts in imagination. Play and imagination are a child’s first language. In one study described by the clinical psychologist Laurence Cohen in his excellent book ‘Playful Parenting’, a Russian nursery measured how long a classroom full of young children could stand still in a line. When told to stand as still as they could, for as long as they could, the group managed barely 5 seconds before a wiggle, a wriggle, an itch and a giggle. When told to imagine they were soldiers standing straight on parade, the time they could stay still doubled, and in some cases trebled. Imagination is a powerful way to meet your child where they are at and join them there. If you can enter your child’s world and meet them in the realm of imagination, you will go a lot further together than staying in a blander lockdown adult world. This year, let’s plan, as parents, to use our own imagination for good, inspired by the children in our lives. Esther describes a video sent by her niece, of her young children in lockdown, hopping from pillow to pillow, pretending the pillows are rocks in a river. In another video, they pile those same pillows up to make their “cabin in the woods.” Children are naturals. They know the trick: freedom in confinement comes from our imaginations. We’re not out of the woods yet, but fantasy can take us anywhere. So what would you like to imagine? Recently in my local park, I watched a little toddler bent over, exploring the cracks and crevices in the paving stones: lost in the detail, delighted by it, entranced by worlds in the pavement, while his patient parent waited nearby to move on.

Fast-forward now to the teen years. Adolescence has long been misunderstood, and is now a site of real concern. In a recent news article entitled ‘Behind closed bedroom doors, a teenage mental health crisis is brewing’, Gaby Hinsliff writes: ‘[d]uring last spring and summer, parents of older children worried about them gallivanting off for rebellious lockdown busting parties. Through the cold winter months, the fear is more for kids with all the stuffing knocked out of them; teenagers spending the whole day huddled under the covers, refusing to complete online lessons, or mentally checking out.’ Even before lockdown, adolescence was a difficult time. Many people, including their parents, have a strong negative attitude towards adolescents. I remember when my daughter was approaching her thirteenth birthday, people would remark something along the lines of, ‘it’s all raging hormones from here on.’ This attitude is seldom questioned. It is as if we have all agreed to expect the worst from teens. Patty Wipfler, founder of Hand in Hand Parenting, and now a grandmother with grown-up sons and grandchildren, writes eloquently about this situation: ‘There is no reason to back away from our children just because they have become teenagers. We parents of teenagers know our children. These are the children who ran from across the school playground to hug us. These are the children we rocked in the night, the children we read to at bedtime for years, the children who cried for us when we went away. These are the children who couldn’t wait to snuggle with us on weekend mornings. They are good people. They love us. We love them. We have a vital role to play in their lives as they make their way to adulthood.’ Here’s something we can do as parents amidst the lockdown and fallout from the restrictions around coronavirus. We can imagine our teens in new ways. We can remember the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe words: ‘Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of being.’ Adolescence is not a period of ‘immaturity’ or ‘hormonal moodiness’ alone. It is an essential time of emotional intensity, social engagement and creativity. While the world out there has closed down options for our teens to do what they must do – explore, take risks and socialise – we can open up the world to them via our imaginations. I don’t mean showing them great films or art online, although that’s a great thing to do. I mean we can reimagine who they are on a daily basis – not the sullen, moody, withdrawn, angry, lazy teenager who won’t get up for online schooling today, but a young person aching with confusion, dreams, hopes, ideas, loneliness, and likely some fear, about the world. A person whose developmental needs for exploration and socialisation have been curtailed. Someone whose needs for love and playfulness, connection and affection are no less than those of a much younger child. Imagine that angry, sullen or critical teenager as the sweet boy or girl they once were. See that sweet child in there, needing the same kindness, warmth and playful limits around behaviour that doesn’t work. Reach out for them from that place. Let your imagination out to play in this way for the sake of your teens.

“This year, let’s plan, as parents, to use our own imagination for good, inspired by the children in our lives.”

Anna Cole is a certified Hand in Hand Parenting Instructor and the Regional Lead for the UK. Anna is offering, with colleague Liesl Orr, an online class for parents of teens during lockdown and out the other side. Contact her at anna@handinhandparenting.org for details.