Dear Friends …

This historic virus reveals our proximity to the “edge.” I’m talking about that edge we’ve always known we could go over, the one we lose our sanity to when we’re desperately afraid.

Yep. That one.

Even as a child, when other people looked on in disbelief at some poor soul committing an unspeakable act, I remember saying to myself, “But for the grace of God, there go I.”

So, here we are, in the thick of a pandemic. And we risk escalating everything else that can go wrong, the way we might if we were perilously tired, or hungry, or intoxicated, or hormonal.

Under the influence, we can feel like “what’s it all for?” We can also lose our filter, that thing we use to keep our conversation and behavior in check, kind, and appropriate. We may not know what’s in our unconscious, but that doesn’t stop it from coming out.

When it surfaces, we have an opportunity to face it. And if we face it, we also begin to disable it.

You don’t have to take the drop and hit the bottom. You can choose to process your negative emotions (anger, sadness, disgust), without being high-jacked by them.

But if you find yourself over the edge in a dark abyss, don’t let the fall define you. Get up. Look around and bring some of the unconscious into your consciousness. Trust me, you’re not bad. You’re human.

The wound behind the fear is not shameful. It’s painful.

Bless your little heart–mine, too.

Love wins!

PS: I first published this one year ago. It still fits.