Crisis = to sift
The root of the word crisis is *krei- “to sieve, discriminate, distinguish.”
As in, when in crisis we are called to discern and sift through our lives – what stays, what goes, what still makes sense in this new world and what no longer serves.
When the grief of the change no longer overwhelms us we are invited to consider – what really matters? What do I adore? And what can I not abide any longer?
In the midst of a crisis – and after it – old rules and standards may start to feel both familiar and strangely bizarre. Things that made so much sense we rarely questioned them seem like square pegs in round holes. So too, we may be feeling gratitude for things we used to take for granted – the gems left in the sieve.
This can happen with big stuff, small stuff...all the things.
What is essential about our work? According to us? According to others?
What is the quality of our relationships?
How do we feel in our homes and neighborhoods now that we are in them so much more?
This can create confusion at first – our ideas don’t typically just evolve straight into clarity about what we should do or how we want to live. And as I’ve shared before, change triggers our natural preferences for the familiar. This happens with external change but also with the changing preferences inside us.
I’ve found that I can greet all that change with a little more ease when I see all this sifting and evolving as the natural course of things during a crisis.
As this one period of life ends (my before-COVID life) my body and my mind start to free themselves of old expectations, rules, and beliefs that held that old life together.
We lose particular circumstances of our old lives first…and then we lose our old “truths.”
Sometimes I call these truths my “personal religion” because before they start to wiggle loose they have a certainty that reminds me of religious definitions of right and wrong.
We don’t have to give up all the old or accept all the new – but we are invited to consider: What serves and what doesn’t?
Are you starting to sift?
Much love always,
Marijke Ocean Joy