transformative

It’s time to never, ever be the same.

As 2024 continues to come closer and closer to a close, I find myself reflecting on a year that has been nothing short of transformative. This past year, the universe offered me two awe-inspiring gifts—moments that not only filled my eyes with wonder but also reshaped my heart. In April, I stood beneath the shadow of a total solar eclipse, and later, I watched the aurora borealis dance across the night sky from my own backyard. These moments were more than breathtaking; they were reminders of how extraordinary it is to be alive and part of something so vast and miraculous.

Yet, as I stood in awe of these cosmic events, the world on the ground felt far from harmonious. This year has been marked by division, polarization, and a deepening of the “us versus them” mindset that keeps so many of us disconnected. The contrast between the beauty of the cosmos and the discord of humanity has left me asking hard questions about who we are and how we can find our way back to one another.

The universe doesn’t deal in binaries—it honors the whole. It reveals the uniqueness, the beauty, and the truth of what’s possible when we embrace the full spectrum of who we are. In its vastness, it reminds us of our shared humanity and calls us to rise above the divides, to honor the hurt and the beauty, the truth of who we are and who we can be to one another.

This year has asked me—and all of us, I believe—to hold space for the mesmerizing and the maddening, the grief-stricken and the generative. To not turn away from the pain but also not forget the awe, the possibility, the transformative power of hope and connection.

As I continue to scoot closer to the close out of this year, I carry these cosmic lessons with me: that transformation is always possible, that we are always being invited to change, and that when we honor the whole—the light and the shadow, the beauty and the hurt—we begin to see what is truly possible.

I hope these reflections inspire you to consider how this year has changed you, too, and how we might move into the next chapter with more openness, more care, and a deeper connection to the truth of who we are.

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The literal definition of “transformative” means to have a lasting and outstanding change—be it different or be it for the better—whatever has taken place makes it utterly impossible to ever be that prior version again. Lately, I feel everything around me is transformative—be it different and enraging, be it for the better and bright—all around me, all around you, all around us, is offering us a transformative experience. And I am hoping with all my heart we take its lead and offer ourselves this possibility of not being the same.

In this last year, the universe offered me the gift of bearing witness to two cosmic sights I had dreamt—and even prayed—of seeing one day. It began with the witnessing of April 8th's total solar eclipse, and wow-wee, I am still being changed by that experience. Later that same year, it was sealed with front-row seats, right from our very backyard and roads, to the beauty of the aurora borealis—northern lights—thanks to the solar storms and flares above us. Seeing this phenomenon with my own eyes, two evenings in a row, left me transformed. I am still being changed by both of those experiences. Absolutely transformative.

I also loved the way I witnessed other people delighting in the joy of being able to see something so incredible. Both events had so many human beings looking up and smiling wide in wonder, saying, "Wow, wow, wow, this is amazing." We are a part of something so amazing.

And yet, in all the amazingness that we are, and what I feel the cosmos so clearly wanted to demonstrate and show, such apathy still runs and reigns widely throughout our bodies, attitudes, and minds here on the ground of Earth.

I am witnessing—we are witnessing—police brutality in spaces where peaceful resistance to genocide, oppression, and inhumanity as a whole is taking place. The courage of students and the support of teachers and faculty is transformative, mirroring to us what it means to speak truth to power, to use their bodies to take up space literally for justice, for peace, for all they are showing up for. Absolutely transformative.

This is such a messy and miraculous moment, and has been for quite some time… This now has been shaped by years, decades, and many lifetimes, bringing us to a present that holds the invitation to wonder: what is beyond this? and how do we engage in a way that allows us all to evolve and not stay on that loop of repeat, repeat, repeat… What if we rooted in and gave ourselves the chance to let it all—the generative and the grief-stricken, the mesmerizing and the maddening—change us, and change us all, for the better?

There are no sides here—there is only humanity. And I am so grateful for the ways the universe is showing up, taking up space in this moment in a big way, to show us—to remind us—that we are all a part of something so amazing, so beautiful, so in tune with the heart of all. So how, how, how did we get so far from our ability to not fear, but feel into all that this now—this right here and now—is offering, in hopes of waking us up and welcoming us home?

With all that is changing me, and hopefully us too, it is essential to keep practicing bringing my energy down into my roots, needs, and ways I can stay regulated, responsive, and rested. I want to keep my heart and eyes as widely open to this world and all its wonder as best I can. That which continues to push up against peaceful attempts for liberation does not want our hearts open. Does not want our minds open. Does not want our transformation. It—being man, mindset, culture, conditions, whatever cuts off the flow of liberation, justice, or any attempt to be free in all the ways one and all can be—does not want us experiencing an existence that evolves, expands, and sets us free. So I’ve got to ask: why? And how can we work together to peacefully push up against it, so these conditions of stuck, shame, and silenced no longer have to be? For who truly benefits from your lack of transformation or mine?

I’m continually asking the universe to let me know how I can use that which is changing and challenging me, healing and holding me, loving and liberating me, in a way that can be of true benefit for this here, you, and now. I am feeling my way through all these happenings, hopeful they will continue to offer me new ways of meeting myself and all those I have the fortune to bump up against and be around. I ask that all we come into contact with offer us the remedy of realization—returning us to the beautiful truth that we are a part of something so amazing, so loving, so kind, so just.

It’s who we truly are.

I hope in this coming year we witness a permanent and immediate ceasefire.

I hope all who are putting their bodies, psyches, talents, and time into peaceful liberation are held with love, care, and protection and know they are seen, transformative, and heard.

It’s time to never, ever be the same.