I have been asking myself this for many years. There was a point in my life when I stepped away from working with big groups of people to facilitating smaller groups because of this question.
I yearned to facilitate space for deeper connection, healthy relating & greater intimacy to emerge through a system of reciprocal support and care.
I became less visible, yet I felt more fulfilled. It also didn’t really pay the bills so there was a bit of a double bind here.
We exist in a space in between in which the structures we live within are crumbling, yet we’re not quite where we’re going to yet. We straddle worlds and multiple possibilities.
There are many external factors that can impact nervous system health which can be hard for the individual to modulate – exposure to electricity, increased reliance (and addiction) of ‘smart’ technology, the general pace of modern life.
It becomes increasingly challenging to remain healthy in the modern world, and health and access to services become more of a privilege. If you have money, you can afford to be well. If you don’t, well…
I wonder if nervous system health and regulation would, indeed, be more achievable were the systems that govern us and the businesses that seduce us be more regulated themselves. This is not to outsource personal responsibility, rather to acknowledge that it is a feat to remain healthy and regulated in the modern world and it is not surprising so many of us are struggling. It could be said that the nervous system health of the dominant culture flits between states of hyper-arousal and collapse. It is little wonder we do too.
Much in the way that the councils of many indigenous cultures consider the impact of their actions, often 7 generations down the line, and only proceed if they truly believe there will be benefit for all going forward, I imagine a world in which governments and businesses are required to consider the impact of their actions on future generations and on all sentient life.
It seems to me that what we need is not the advancement of AI and more smart technology, but a return to something more basic, less “impressive,” more slow, more truly wild – the stuff of our bodies, the stuff of life and of each other.
For those of you who may assume that I am suggesting a complete turn away from technology, electricity and the likes, let me be clear. This is not what I am suggesting.
What I am enquiring into is:
How do we recognise when enough is enough?
How can our actions support all life to thrive?
Rather than an ‘each individual to their own’ approach, how does the overall health and regulation of the wider systems within which we live impact the health of each individual (in mutual support with personal responsibility)?
How do we discern, and stop, when we feel ourselves tipping from health and relatedness into greed and unhealthy power dynamics?
How would it be if we spent more time with each other, body to body, sharing from our hearts?
How would it be if we learned to love and contain the multitude of feelings, sensations and emotions that are part of our human experience? And, even, to feel them humming their part in the great song of life.
What would shift for us if we spent more time in nature, not as observers, but as participants?
What choices would we make, if we felt deeper interconnection with all life?