Recession: We're All in This Together, Part 3

I have lately been in despair over the seeming disappearance of several acquaintances of mine. Neighbors move away suddenly, leaving behind an empty home, classmates from my daughter's class are withdrawn from school without good-byes, shops we used to frequent are empty and closed one morning.

It seems so sudden, and so quiet, as though sadness or shame has sucked the air out of their voices. What's odd to me is that while the French are protesting loudly, proudly, that they ought not need suffer due to world-wide financial foibles, the Americans that I have known are quietly slinking away without so much of a murmuring "ouch."

I took my daughter to her ballet class, located in a mini-mall, and 6 of the 10 shops had closed their doors and emptied their stores. The recession is apparent, but what is not apparent is how to deal with it.

I feel especially concerned by the quiet disappearance of those I have known. How chaotic are they inside? Have they disappeared into sadness, shame, anxiety? I can only imagine what might be happening within them, if my feelings as their witness might be a sliver of theirs as they go through this.

I went to visit an old friend and long time teacher of mine, Eckhart Tolle, in Vancouver recently, where his talks are being recorded for webcasts called "Eckhart TV." As I listened to him speak, more than a thousand pounds of worry, anxiety, doubt, and fear, lifted off of me, allowing me to see my personal situation and the world situation from a broader, truer view -- as Eckhart Tolle's words are known to do. I realized that should I (or anyone) be required to leave my home with my family, as sad as that day might be, and as much as I love my home, we would be okay.

Something that doesn't require a location or a bank account is a deep breath. Another something that doesn't require any particular location or account balance is love for your family and partner. The same is true for creativity, for feeling connected to yourself and the world, and for feeling peace, hope, or inspiration. Change is not the end. Not to say that we should not each do everything in our power to create or preserve the best possible life situation for ourselves. Of course this is true, however, sometimes preservation is not possible.

The only differences between that moment of leaving and going...who knows where?...and this moment now, in which I am comfortable in my chair, quietly typing these words, are external. My internal condition and awareness need not change. Furniture may be being moved -- it's okay, I don't need to resist it, if resistance is futile.

Anxiety only begets more anxiety. I could let it go and remain in peace. Perhaps I would find myself walking away from my home for the last time. Could I walk away without resisting the form that moment takes? Could I let it go and remain in peace? That future moment of change doesn't have to be any different from this moment of sameness.

The important questions are: what is happening in my awareness? Am I okay in this moment? Yes. Always yes. It is my hope that my friends who have faded into our economic recession may also realize this eternal truth. It is my hope that we can all hold onto our peace in the midst of these profound changes, because it's from peace that creativity and inspiration arise. And from creativity and inspiration, newness blossoms. And after all, sometimes peace is all you can keep. So why not keep it?

Comments

[mergina]

No we are NOT. The rich are still getting richer and the poor poorer.

[tgd]

Change takes more than a month after the mess Bush and Cheney left! If you are concerned why don't you contact your Senator and urge support for the stimulus bill.

[SarcasticFringehead]

You're on the right track Olivia. You cannot control the economy or what may or may not happen in the future; you can only adjust your attitude and your reaction to those things, come what may. Change and loss are always difficult; they reveal to us how vulnerable we are in this world, and how little we really control in our lives. Still, as someone who has lived through quite a few recessions in his 51 years, this recession will pass too.
P.S. I wish the picture of you at the start of this blog was bigger, you look like a cutie-pie.

[Primadonna]

Con't

When will we all just take a breath and grab our neighbor's hand in union and have peace marches for real economic reform and jobs? p.s. Your blog about your health insurance and daughter's surgery ... wonderful. As painful as it was for you to experience it, you captured it well for others to grasp the reality of this bleak situation. Our elected officials don't get it, don't have to, and will not get it until we demand the same privileges they have.

[Primadonna]

Keep posting, Olivia ... your words speak for others and hopefully people will begin to realize that it is okay to discuss how their lives are being pinched in these economic times. You show much empathy and compassion. Bottom line, it can be any one of us ... and certainly it is every one of us at the grocery store. Prices are skyrocketing and packaging is getting smaller. I know too many forty-something year old single women who have been unable to get re-employed ... that they don't even show up on the unemployment figures because they've been unemployed for too long. Interestingly, they are all college educated and have applied for work that pays $10 per hour. I think they'll go ballistic if they hear "overqualified" yet again. What do employers not understand when it comes to we all have to put food on our tables? Thankfully, they're piecing together through friends and family an existence. This is happening all over the country. Like you, I live in LA - the fifth or sixth largest economy in the WORLD ... unemployment here is at 9.5%, although, I think its higher due to so many who have been off the radar for so long. 9.5%??? It's huge and growing.

[Skylarstar]

Words are easy and Eckhart Tolle has made a fortunate with easy words. How easy it must be for someone with all that abundance to tell desperate people who are losing their homes, jobs, living on the streets with small children that all they need to do is breathe and live in the moment. I would like to see what kind of breaths he would be taking if he lost everything tomorrow.

[intrstd]

It's true that Mr. Tolle probably has a lot of money now, but he spent two years homeless on a park bench. It was when he left Cambridge and had a break with mainstream thinking. He speaks about that time quite favorably. Peace is like a candle: it's really important when you're in the dark. But in the light of day (when everything is fine), you might not even notice a candle in the room. I don't think this blogger is saying that a deep breath and peace is all people need, or a quick fix. I think she's saying it can make any situation better. I agree with her.