What makes me a qualified teacher?
It is not a constant state of serenity, or knowing all the answers, or being better than you.
In fact, I’m very likely worse than you. I have not been well. I have been feeling lost and confused. I have been losing hope in humanity’s chances for redemption. I have been crushed by the constantly worsening state of emergency that has become life in the age of climate crisis.
I have been here before, stumbling in the dark, maybe more often than most.
This is the very thing that makes me a qualified teacher. That I know the darkness, that I have been feeling my way around in it so many times that I also know that I always find a way out. This insight is strong and so even in the depths of hopelessness and pain, there is a whisper, soft yet persistent, that says,
I trust that this is not forever.
I know that where there is shadow there is also light.
Out of necessity, I have learned practices that help me hold the difficult moments with tenderness, and help me navigate back to my heart, to my home. Sometimes in a few moments, and sometimes it takes longer, but without fail, they always lead back to the light.
These teachings and practices have saved me so many times, that all I want to do is share them with others, with you.
That makes me a qualified teacher.
If you’re feeling stress or difficulty or any other uncomfortable human condition, you are not alone. I am here with you.
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(If you are in need, or curious to learn, I hope you join our weekly meditation circle, to practise together the skill of holding whatever is here, in kind and spacious awareness. Together, we can grow our “window of tolerance” and make space for more resilience. We’re going to need it. The world may not get any better. Life may not get any easier. But we can grow our capacity to be with it all. And maybe even learn to laugh with it, to play, to connect and know joy, in the midst of it all. For more info: awaywegrow.xyz/offerings)