Dear one reading this,
Thank you for your curiosity that brought you to today’s letter.
We are more than halfway through this year and it’s been still (?) or yet another (?) whirlwind of a year already.
If you have been following our journey for a little while – I thank you for being a loyal and caring part of our Ananda world. Your energy and participation matters, impacts and inspires our doing and the creating of our business.
Looking back
You might have read the letter that I offered to this community earlier this year. If not, that’s ok. You can find it here.
The main things I stated at this point in time was how Ananda Soul has grown its gentle and loving tendrils of simply being a jewelry brand to a safe container for many – firstly, my employees, but also local communities, suppliers, contributors, creators and our customers. Nourishment and family are keywords that stand at the forefront of all our choices and actions this year. And I can proudly state that we managed well.
With big projects launched in the first two quarters of this year, such as our Moon collection and calculator, an extensive transparency report, updates of our operational processes and structures and a whole lot of beautiful other creative ideas under way (yes, you may be excited!) we have been able to use the times that offered spaces to breathe wisely and to nurture our family and nourish our souls all while trying our best to remain present to the everyday changes of our world.
What informs us now
With the world moving and shifting places and spaces again, in particular in these past few months, I notice how our realities have been fed with a whole lot of new information. The pandemic is ‘over’, but actually not really, because attention has shifted to topics like a war and crisis between Ukraine and Russia and the female world has released a wild ROOOOAR after the decision of the US government to take away abortion rights from women and with that the rights of women over their own bodies. An incident that hurts us women so deeply.
I myself have been blessed to travel to visit my family for the first time in 2.5 years this summer. Encounters and travels have been an eye-opening and heart-widening experience in so many ways. The latest news, however, not as much.
What this all shows is that there is a diversity of angles and viewpoints on life to observe and witness at this moment in time. It’s been a revisiting of connections. Of values. Of all that I believed mattered, to find out that some still did, and some didn’t. And that eventually this was ok.
A deepening of the understanding that we all inherently have our own truth. That all truths are valid, so are our choices.
Summer, life, events, realities are seductive, explorative spaces that have so many stories to tell and information to share if we allow ourselves to meet these places with absolute curiosity and with a softened gaze that leads from the heart.
That sense of safety we crave for
Clearly, all of this is easier said and written than done.
Throughout these past months I noticed and sensed within me and outside of me a ‘burnt-out-ness’, a tiredness in people. Tired of all these news. A lack of feeling safe wherever we are. Darkness in places that are meant to be full of light.
I can't help but ask myself questions like: How safe is the world we live in truly? And where does safety even begin? Does it need to come from the inside, or is it ok to maybe for once just wish the world could be a quiet and peaceful place of harmony, lightheartedness and generosity?
How can we find comfort and a sense of security and home in a world that changes a lot in the blink of an eye? – a question I’ve been going over with with family and dear friends.
Nobody can fix each others reality, nobody has definite, guaranteed answers. We used to believe we know a little bit more, but how much is our ‘knowledge’ worth in a world that is ever changing every single second? How do we tend to the unknown, the yearning, the knowing that nobody can actually give us finite answers?
Finding ways to lean in
While this might sound a little more pessimistic than intended, I want to direct the attention to this, so I'll repeat this line again as I feel it's such an important one to truly sink in:
To understand deeply that we are all in this together might be helpful to lean back into trust and into community. Something bigger and greater always has our backs, in some funny, sometimes morbid kind of way.
It can be tricky to find hope and excitement for the future. How often do we catch ourselves thinking ‘I really want to do this and that, but what if…?’
So what if I could just be a bit more daring? What if I could move forward with an "F*** it, I will do it anyway" kind of attitude? After all we need to question the things that aren't serving us any longer, that we believed were the ones that made us feel safe. Just make sure self-nurture and self-care are at all times equally part of the game.
There is potential to create a really beautiful world right now. And you absolutely deserve the best.
Self-nurture is an art-form
When things get rough, we need to take care of ourselves even better. Lean into what needs to be held gently.
I always find my answers and my calm in nature. In many ways, throughout the busyness of my summer travels, my true highlights were always the moments spent outside connecting to Mother Earth. She, the one who holds us.
Alongside long nature walks my main practices are anything that supports opening the heart, movement and meditation.
Some thoughts on how to do life
As I conclude this letter I find a few points that stand out for me the most in these unprecedented times:
- Watch your words! There’s ways to say things that shut people down, and there are other ways where people become curious and open about. Pick that.
- Open yourself up to other people’s viewpoints. Something that helps you might come from seeing differently.
- Taking a clear stance but keeping an open heart to all the different choices people had to make. How can we find compassion around that?
- Self-nourishment is even more important than ever. There’s no point in talking about security if you are under-resourced.
What are your thoughts? I'd be curious to hear them in the comments.
May love and peace be found in every of your actions.
With so much love,
Christina
