Post by Sarah Cain, Kalamazoo Housing Advocates Executive Director
BE.HERE.NOW.
These are three simple words with a not-so-simple meaning. I don’t know about you but I’ve been racing through my days trying to get all the things done that I need and want and on the rare occasion I will stop to breathe.
I will pay attention to what I hear, see, smell, and taste in an effort to connect with my here and now and until recently, I thought that was enough. But I was missing a crucial part of it: myself. Who am I amongst the things around me? What is my part in all of this?
As a person driven by social justice, I want to change it ALL. Which can sometimes feel like a heavy weight on my shoulders and that is why it is so important now more than ever to BE HERE NOW because true change must begin within ourselves.
It is so easy to encounter frustration and despair in our line of work but the true blessing is when we realize that those things are happening outside of ourselves which means they aren’t a part of us. When we focus on the Within we are better able to deal with the Without.
We realize that giving someone food when they are hungry or a coat when they are cold isn’t the most important part of that interaction. It’s the interaction itself that provides the most power.
The feeling of connection with another living soul.
That’s just one of the beautiful things about being here now.
