How to lift your burden?
I don’t remember how old I was, but I was at my grandpa's house.
Looking in his office through the fog of pipe smoke, I saw a bronze statue sitting on his desk. It was of Atlas holding the Earth on his shoulders.
When I was a kid, I thought the statue was of my grandpa keeping the world afloat. Me standing in his shadow, benefiting from his hard work.
As I got older, I thought I was Atlas with the weight of the world on my shoulders. Bearing the struggle of growing up. Now I see that statue and think something entirely different.
I had a bad day last week.
Everyone I interacted with seemed on edge, losing their patience. Maybe it was me who was on edge. Maybe both.
I walked downstairs and saw a neon orange parking ticket sitting on my windshield. “NYC PARKING VIOLATIONS” read like a slap in the face.
So I decided to go for a run. I go for runs when I’m having bad days. I turned a corner on my run and saw a bright orange ticket stuck on someone's windshield. I kept running and saw another car with a ticket. Then another, and another, and another. I saw that every single car on the street had a ticket. I stopped running, and I started laughing.
I stopped to really look at the cars. I saw dents and scratches. Inside the cars were crumpled up tissues, maybe from crying or from a cold. I saw snack wrappers from when they didn’t have time to stop for a full meal. I saw a stray cat duck under one of the cars, hunkering down for another cold night. Everywhere I looked I saw need and difficulty. It made me grateful for my own problems. Here I was, thinking my bad day was only mine.
Everyone is going through their own ups and downs. Their own emotional difficulty. Everyone is struggling in their own way. Especially now. What kind of week was that meter attendant having for them to go on a ticket giving frenzy?
We’re all struggling and moving through life. Every single one of us. Knowing that takes the sting out of a bad day. "You’re not the only one having a hard time." I thought to myself. That doesn’t diminish pain, it just means we’re carrying it together. We’re sharing the suck.
Then it dawned on me. We are all Atlas. It’s all of us with the world on our shoulders. That is what it means to be here on Earth. We carry the burden together.
Actually, we have it much easier than Atlas. Because Atlas had to carry the world alone. We have each other. And we can either add to each other’s burden or help carry the weight. Every day we have a choice. In everything we do and say, we are either adding to the burden or relieving it.
Now I remember. When I am having a hard time, I pause and look around me. I find someone else who is having a hard time. When I find them, I help them in any way I can. When I help them carry the weight, my burden is also lifted. A rising tide lifts all boats.
A good place to start is by looking around and seeing where we can help carry the weight for one another. I think that'll make the heavy days less heavy.
How can you lift your burden? Help lift someone else’s.
Warmly,
Lucas
PS.
I’m hosting another live healing event on April 8th in Kingston, NY
If you’d like to join and help lift your burdens, you can save your seat here
Let’s make light together 🕯️🌞
PPS.
If you’re a healer of any kind, I’m co-hosting a weekend workshop on how to heal unconsciously on April 1st and 2nd in Woodstock, New York.
If you’re a practitioner and you’d like to learn how to help your clients in new ways, hit reply to this email and I’ll get you the details.
See you soon