A year ago today, January 6th, we saw an explosion of anger, violence and hatred descend upon our nation's capital. So many of us were aghast as we witnessed citizens attacking fellow citizens. We were left asking ourselves "how did everything become so out of control?" 

It's easy to see these days that the world has become increasingly inflamed.  Polarization, divisive rhetoric, fear, frustration, anger, prejudice, hatred, all saturate the news and are rewarded on social media. Nature now swings to extremes as a result of years of degradation and over consumption of resources. Many of us feel caught on an endless treadmill where we're always expected to do more, faster so we can acquire more stuff in order to be happy? successful? valuable? We've created a culture where crafting an appearance of a perfect life is more valued than actually experiencing it. No wonder so many people are depressed, anxious and lonely.

We live in a culture that places an inordinate value on yang qualities such as action, achievement, competition, acquisition, consumption, speed and external focus. Yang energy is an important and valuable part of a whole system. However, when either yang or yin unnaturally dominates at the expense of the other, we experience prolonged imbalance and suffer consequences. The energy of yin and yang are meant to work in dynamic harmony. Once one energy reaches a peak, it begins to recede as the other energy rises. This endless dance animates the tides, the moon, the seasons and your very own breath. Unfortunately, yin qualities such as being, releasing, stillness, cooperation, interconnection and internal experience have all too long been neglected, ignored and devalued by the dominant culture. And so here we are in 2022 in a hot, angry, exhausted world. But there is a path back to wholeness and it starts with us. 

The world we create is a reflection of ourselves, our values, priorities, habits, hopes and fears. Any external imbalance we see in the world, is a reflection of our collective, internal imbalance. If we want to return to wholeness, we must embrace and elevate the yin qualities that have been so sorely lacking in our culture and the place to start is with ourselves. Integrating more yin qualities into our own lives creates a ripple effect, impacting the people around us and the earth itself. It is often said that when we heal ourselves we heal the world, and what does healing really mean but a return to wholeness.