Finding Coherence as the Year Turns

WEBVTT
00:00:03.685 --> 00:00:08.370
Hello, I'm Ellen Bintz, coming today from Wheaton, Illinois, in the USA.
00:00:08.852 --> 00:00:13.127
Welcome to IMPACT, a podcast about how we can each bring about real change in
00:00:13.127 --> 00:00:15.771
the world and getting practical in making that happen.
00:00:16.479 --> 00:00:20.847
And hello, I'm Clive Johnson, coming today from Paphos in Cyprus.
00:00:21.381 --> 00:00:26.303
A special welcome if you're listening for the first time, and a big thank you to our new subscribers.
00:00:26.890 --> 00:00:30.597
Each week we look at one aspect of how we can connect our hearts to offer healing
00:00:30.597 --> 00:00:33.949
for others with our collective intention, prayers, and meditation,
00:00:34.454 --> 00:00:37.897
and go behind the headlines of a critical happening in our world that needs
00:00:37.897 --> 00:00:39.301
our attention right now.
00:00:40.052 --> 00:00:44.992
In today's episode, we take one of these regular deep dives to more fully understand
00:00:45.294 --> 00:00:49.587
and tune in with something many of us may know only a little about and see where
00:00:49.587 --> 00:00:52.051
we might hone in with our prayers and intentions.
00:00:52.487 --> 00:00:56.504
And as we record, it's October 8th, 2026.
00:00:57.122 --> 00:01:01.162
Wow. October the 8th. And you have a new member of your family.
00:01:01.609 --> 00:01:06.147
Yes. I have a new dog. Well, I have a new old dog. It's a senior dog.
00:01:06.147 --> 00:01:11.484
Yes. We think he's at least probably 11, 12, 13 years old. Yes.
00:01:12.217 --> 00:01:17.577
He's very sweet. He's just an old man. He's an old man. Is he settling well?
00:01:18.057 --> 00:01:20.997
Yes, he is. He is. He's settling.
00:01:21.525 --> 00:01:24.972
And yeah, he's a sweetheart. And you'll get to know the neighborhood.
00:01:25.123 --> 00:01:30.922
Lots of interesting new smells to check out, I would think. Right. Right. It's fun.
00:01:31.253 --> 00:01:36.559
Yeah. So, as we said, it is now October. Calendar page has turned over.
00:01:37.051 --> 00:01:40.617
I don't know what it is. I haven't seen my mother's October calendar page yet. But.
00:01:43.083 --> 00:01:43.837
We picture of me. Yeah.
00:01:45.997 --> 00:01:46.664
That's cute.
00:01:47.583 --> 00:01:51.667
And actually, the intention we held on Inside Timer today was,
00:01:52.283 --> 00:01:57.297
as we sometimes do, we like to offer gratitude when there's good news stories and things happening.
00:01:57.297 --> 00:02:02.257
It's the 15th anniversary of a campaign that started by a middle school boy
00:02:02.257 --> 00:02:07.556
15 years ago in Arkansas called Socktober,
00:02:08.421 --> 00:02:13.887
which was to collect and gather socks to give to homeless people.
00:02:14.078 --> 00:02:17.404
And it's something that's spread. It's really inspired a lot of other people.
00:02:18.447 --> 00:02:23.558
So, happy anniversary and well done, all those behind that initiative.
00:02:24.138 --> 00:02:27.867
Maybe buy some socks and take them to your homeless shelter. Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:28.167 --> 00:02:33.247
Absolutely. I know my mother knits hats, or she used to, and someone on my Insight
00:02:33.247 --> 00:02:39.365
Time Group said they make bags or collect bags, which again are very valuable. Long-liding.
00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:43.260
So, yeah, it's that time of year here in the Northern Hemisphere as the winter approaches.
00:02:43.684 --> 00:02:49.320
But it's also the time of year we've entered the final quarter of 2026.
00:02:49.814 --> 00:02:52.432
And what we got here is a bit of a mystery, so quickly.
00:02:53.192 --> 00:02:57.929
But that aside, a new quarter means a new theme for global healing response.
00:02:58.452 --> 00:03:03.907
And continuing the running theme this year of grounding, this quarter our attention
00:03:03.907 --> 00:03:06.671
turns to what it means to be coherent.
00:03:07.432 --> 00:03:09.996
As the seasons turn and we look towards the end of the year,
00:03:10.403 --> 00:03:14.559
this may be a time for allowing what we've learned and what's moved us to settle
00:03:14.913 --> 00:03:16.759
and become integrated within.
00:03:17.456 --> 00:03:22.057
So with this in mind, in this episode, we take a look at what being coherent
00:03:22.057 --> 00:03:27.365
means and see how this fits in with GHR's theme this year of being anchored
00:03:27.533 --> 00:03:30.163
and grounded during uncertain times.
00:03:30.901 --> 00:03:36.944
So let's start by asking what we mean by coherence in the context of being grounded.
00:03:37.738 --> 00:03:44.628
There are times when an experience is over, but it's not quite finished happening inside us.
00:03:45.145 --> 00:03:50.778
A conversation has ended, a difficult season has passed, a decision has been
00:03:50.778 --> 00:03:53.045
made, or a change has arrived.
00:03:53.777 --> 00:04:00.023
Life around us has moved on, yet something within us is still trying to catch up.
00:04:00.662 --> 00:04:06.758
Perhaps a feeling returns unexpectedly Perhaps an old account of who we,
00:04:07.258 --> 00:04:12.712
are no longer seems to fit Or perhaps nothing dramatic has happened at all,
00:04:13.188 --> 00:04:18.298
We simply notice that the things we feel are not quite in step With where we
00:04:18.298 --> 00:04:22.806
think we should now be focusing our energies Being coherent,
00:04:23.381 --> 00:04:31.102
means letting our experiences settle into meaning, alignment and a greater sense of wholeness.
00:04:31.514 --> 00:04:37.118
Coherence asks us to notice what is coming into stuff and invites us to incorporate
00:04:37.118 --> 00:04:38.561
what we've experienced.
00:04:39.217 --> 00:04:44.732
It calls on us to make space for integration, meaning, and wholeness.
00:04:45.324 --> 00:04:48.946
This doesn't mean that our lives might in an instant become perfect.
00:04:49.271 --> 00:04:53.248
Neither does it mean that every painful thing we may face will be put away.
00:04:53.776 --> 00:04:58.548
Rather coherence involves something more within reach, moving forward on our
00:04:58.548 --> 00:05:00.022
journey of becoming whole.
00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:05.040
And in reflecting on what it means to stay anchored in an earlier episode in
00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.974
this year, and it was an earlier theme for the global healing response,
00:05:08.612 --> 00:05:14.028
we turn to the image of a boat being held steady while the water continued to move around it.
00:05:14.528 --> 00:05:17.326
An anchor does not calm the sea.
00:05:17.587 --> 00:05:23.032
It gives the boat a point of connection within it. It gives stability.
00:05:23.693 --> 00:05:28.482
Coherence asks a similar question. As we move through the water,
00:05:28.761 --> 00:05:34.050
that is, as life changes us, can we begin to recognize a thread connecting where
00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:37.990
we've been, what matters to us, and how we are living now?
00:05:38.908 --> 00:05:43.370
And we might want to say, this is just one different way of looking at coherence.
00:05:43.370 --> 00:05:45.555
It's not the physics definition.
00:05:45.804 --> 00:05:50.778
It's, you know, of being in alignment and equal sudden waves that, you know, connect.
00:05:51.492 --> 00:05:54.812
But this is like an internal way of looking at coherence for ourselves.
00:05:55.724 --> 00:06:00.625
Yes, yes. It's a slightly different meaning, isn't it, to the one we quite often
00:06:00.625 --> 00:06:03.695
do refer to, although I think we probably will mention that just to make the
00:06:03.695 --> 00:06:05.905
clarification there difference. Right.
00:06:06.845 --> 00:06:11.105
I love that image of the boat as well, because again, it's the sea.
00:06:11.105 --> 00:06:15.588
I mean, yes, it may be calm at some point. It may be really beautiful and calm,
00:06:16.244 --> 00:06:20.878
but it may be gently rocking or it may be quite a stormy sea.
00:06:21.545 --> 00:06:26.895
So you can still be moving around whilst you are anchoring essentially yes yes,
00:06:27.522 --> 00:06:33.803
and being anchored doesn't mean being stuck no it just means gaining stability
00:06:34.192 --> 00:06:36.205
and then you can pull the anchor up and yeah.
00:06:37.030 --> 00:06:42.745
Yeah so this word coherence also suggests being in tune with other people or
00:06:42.745 --> 00:06:47.125
with the wider world there's usually something we can recognize when this happens
00:06:47.125 --> 00:06:50.100
for example a conversation can feel easy and well-paced.
00:06:50.704 --> 00:06:54.256
Two people can notice when the other needs silence, encouragement, or space.
00:06:54.703 --> 00:06:58.976
In a group, a shared task can find a rhythm that no one person controls.
00:06:59.423 --> 00:07:01.725
I guess we can all think of circumstances, can't we, Wubbie?
00:07:02.145 --> 00:07:07.206
We kind of have this sense of, does it feel that we're in tune? Yeah.
00:07:07.949 --> 00:07:11.415
And you might actually be able to define when you're not in tune.
00:07:11.682 --> 00:07:16.471
Yes. That feeling of discomfort. Exactly.
00:07:16.976 --> 00:07:21.450
Researchers studying forms of interpersonal synchrony, as it's called,
00:07:21.450 --> 00:07:26.536
those patterns in the timing of people's movements or physiological responses while they interact.
00:07:27.047 --> 00:07:31.050
This is a very interesting area, this area of research. But it doesn't provide
00:07:31.050 --> 00:07:34.449
a simple measure of whether people love one another, for example,
00:07:34.803 --> 00:07:39.064
or truly understand each other. there's something else much deeper going on.
00:07:39.406 --> 00:07:41.410
Intuition, for example, we might call that.
00:07:42.047 --> 00:07:45.870
This being in tune can include knowing when, as you were saying,
00:07:45.870 --> 00:07:48.468
not to join someone else's mood.
00:07:49.130 --> 00:07:53.180
So, if a friend is anxious, being coherent together needn't mean being equally
00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.422
anxious. It might mean the opposite, in fact.
00:07:57.150 --> 00:08:01.771
It might mean remaining calm enough to listen while taking their concern seriously.
00:08:02.531 --> 00:08:06.250
And there's science about this, too, that you can affect someone else with your
00:08:06.250 --> 00:08:11.198
coherence can have an impact on someone else's incoherence.
00:08:12.922 --> 00:08:16.620
We might also talk about coherence as being about noticing and aligning with
00:08:16.620 --> 00:08:19.191
appropriate energies or frequencies.
00:08:19.882 --> 00:08:24.201
You might sense the atmosphere or vibes, as it's sometimes called, of a place.
00:08:24.758 --> 00:08:29.675
The hush before the rain, the liveliness of a market, the strain in a room after an argument.
00:08:30.302 --> 00:08:35.329
As poetic language, energy may describe how such moments feel.
00:08:36.304 --> 00:08:40.230
But listening to the world as it is asks for something more grounded than claiming
00:08:40.230 --> 00:08:42.161
to detect an unseen frequency.
00:08:42.376 --> 00:08:48.379
It asks us to notice what is actually present, and to adjust our own vibe to be in sync with this.
00:08:49.442 --> 00:08:53.645
To be coherent with the world isn't to pretend that everything around us is in harmony.
00:08:54.312 --> 00:09:00.900
It may mean allowing reality to reach us and then asking how to respond without losing our footing.
00:09:01.729 --> 00:09:05.223
For some of us, such moments can involve real awakening.
00:09:05.973 --> 00:09:09.008
Perhaps you've noticed one or two this year.
00:09:09.663 --> 00:09:14.615
I'm wondering if I can reflect on anything in recent days, actually. Probably.
00:09:16.333 --> 00:09:22.161
I i've long been interested in the idea that places carry an energy well that may be they have a,
00:09:23.033 --> 00:09:28.163
from the memories of what's happened there for example and sometimes maybe we,
00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:32.873
if we know the history we we might in or we've had particular experiences of
00:09:32.873 --> 00:09:35.673
our own there we might invent some of that but,
00:09:36.333 --> 00:09:39.073
i love there is a practice,
00:09:39.893 --> 00:09:44.393
in in uk we call psychogeography i don't know if that's a term known.
00:09:44.393 --> 00:09:47.173
I've never heard that term. That's fascinating. Yeah.
00:09:47.533 --> 00:09:49.737
And in France, it's slightly different.
00:09:50.312 --> 00:09:56.913
But at the time of the housemen, you know, the beautiful post-revolution period
00:09:56.913 --> 00:09:59.753
when all the beautiful buildings were gone in Paris,
00:10:00.898 --> 00:10:06.603
there was a practice of, I guess this was the upper classes,
00:10:07.346 --> 00:10:11.523
gentlemen, it tended to be gentlemen, known as, oh my goodness,
00:10:11.523 --> 00:10:12.881
I've forgotten the word now,
00:10:13.455 --> 00:10:17.763
french word which have conveyed a very similar idea and what what these were
00:10:17.763 --> 00:10:26.145
about were just ambling around a place or sitting in a place standing in a place and sensing the energy,
00:10:26.760 --> 00:10:29.433
it wasn't exactly people watching it was kind of,
00:10:30.272 --> 00:10:36.153
getting a feeling for a place and i have on occasions practiced i'll have to
00:10:36.153 --> 00:10:39.233
use the word psycho psychogeographer i want to say uh,
00:10:40.077 --> 00:10:43.573
on fleur was the french name but that's not right i don't think.
00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:45.801
It will come to me,
00:10:46.953 --> 00:10:51.979
I've practiced this sometimes. I go to a new place, just wander around.
00:10:52.269 --> 00:10:55.605
And you don't have to do the sightseeing to just wander around,
00:10:55.605 --> 00:10:58.236
sit in a coffee bar as well, maybe.
00:10:58.353 --> 00:11:02.021
That would certainly be one thing I would tend to do, and just get a feeling,
00:11:02.846 --> 00:11:06.567
of the energy of the place. And it's quite remarkable what comes to you.
00:11:07.472 --> 00:11:11.455
Oh, I want to do that. I'm also thinking. That's where you do start looking
00:11:11.455 --> 00:11:13.995
into the history. And if you get a bad feeling about a place,
00:11:13.995 --> 00:11:15.831
you find, oh, there was a battle there or there was...
00:11:17.662 --> 00:11:22.862
I do believe the earth holds the memories and, and we know that from the energy
00:11:22.862 --> 00:11:27.239
grids and our friend, we, you know, we've done a past episode on forest bathing.
00:11:28.382 --> 00:11:32.584
That was great with my friend, Tammy. And I find that fascinating too.
00:11:32.711 --> 00:11:36.632
You know, the forest can give us such great energy, but I do believe there are
00:11:36.632 --> 00:11:42.382
positive and negative places on the earth that, you know, equal physics.
00:11:42.882 --> 00:11:48.360
You know, we have to equal each other out, and those great spaces like Maui,
00:11:48.802 --> 00:11:53.219
and Sedona, Arizona, and I know there are several others,
00:11:53.864 --> 00:11:59.362
but there are also some negative places that, you know, that's how it has to be. Yeah.
00:12:00.757 --> 00:12:05.569
And it kind of makes sense, doesn't it, as well? Not only the Earth energies, but what we do.
00:12:06.322 --> 00:12:09.912
Yes. Human activity, but the built environment as well.
00:12:09.912 --> 00:12:18.282
And it all contributes energy, for good or ill, as that is felt.
00:12:18.282 --> 00:12:24.235
So it makes sense that we can, especially those more empathic, can pick up on it.
00:12:24.939 --> 00:12:28.392
While moments of awakening are important, we might remind ourselves that we
00:12:28.392 --> 00:12:31.064
don't need such experiences to help us grow.
00:12:31.782 --> 00:12:35.342
All in real life can have led us through many learnings and many awakenings
00:12:35.342 --> 00:12:38.657
too, even if we might not consciously recognize them.
00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:44.282
We might sit quietly at the end of a difficult year and realize that they are
00:12:44.282 --> 00:12:46.979
not the same as they were at the beginning.
00:12:47.728 --> 00:12:52.442
Some things have been lost, some things remain uncertain, yet a little more
00:12:52.442 --> 00:12:55.065
of their experience can be spoken about on a slip.
00:12:55.634 --> 00:12:57.527
That may be enough for now.
00:12:58.319 --> 00:13:04.472
So how does this fit in with what physics has to say about coherence, about tuning in?
00:13:05.044 --> 00:13:09.391
There is one use of the word coherence worth touching on, if only briefly.
00:13:09.705 --> 00:13:13.316
This is a meaning that we've mentioned many times in the past in connection
00:13:13.316 --> 00:13:19.376
with the way intention appears to work, the precise meaning attached to it in quantum mechanics.
00:13:20.052 --> 00:13:24.656
Here, coherence concerns a stable relationship between the phases of the waves
00:13:24.656 --> 00:13:26.913
used to describe a quantum system.
00:13:27.520 --> 00:13:31.601
When that relationship is disrupted through interaction with the surroundings,
00:13:32.071 --> 00:13:34.817
physicists speak of decoherence.
00:13:35.593 --> 00:13:40.116
Most physicists don't yet extend this idea to claiming that thoughts emit a
00:13:40.116 --> 00:13:44.025
special frequency or that relationships are governed by quantum effects.
00:13:44.449 --> 00:13:46.098
Well, some do.
00:13:46.545 --> 00:13:48.600
There are a few who are investigating this.
00:13:49.168 --> 00:13:53.956
Nonetheless as regular listeners know we stay very open to believing that this
00:13:53.956 --> 00:13:59.339
may be so and that it may play a vital part in how we construct and access memory,
00:13:59.821 --> 00:14:04.666
hold attention and connect with others and the world around us not to mention
00:14:04.666 --> 00:14:06.833
possibly worlds very far away,
00:14:07.350 --> 00:14:11.626
i mean we have to keep our minds open right yeah exactly exactly there's so
00:14:11.626 --> 00:14:16.366
much interesting science going on about this heart math institute ions institute
00:14:16.366 --> 00:14:20.046
of noetic science is doing some really fascinating things that you can just google,
00:14:20.606 --> 00:14:27.246
and and find different experiments going on yeah absolutely i have found that
00:14:27.246 --> 00:14:30.666
word by the way the french word flaneur flaneur.
00:14:32.646 --> 00:14:38.672
Flaneur this is a little piece i wrote in a journal called labyrinth pathways a while back and,
00:14:39.511 --> 00:14:43.740
Flaneur is a term coined to describe one who walks aimlessly,
00:14:44.268 --> 00:14:47.190
observing others, and savoring the sensation of place.
00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:52.319
Occupation became popular following Haussmann, who remodeled Paris,
00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:59.407
when such idle strolling especially became a favorite pastime of a so-called boulevardier.
00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:02.339
There you go. There you go. Become a flaneur.
00:15:02.972 --> 00:15:04.626
Yes, I love that.
00:15:05.636 --> 00:15:11.410
So, if we accept that working at coherence matters, what can we then do when
00:15:11.410 --> 00:15:13.984
things don't appear to be settling for us?
00:15:14.656 --> 00:15:19.280
When we sense that an experience hasn't yet settled, a starting point might
00:15:19.280 --> 00:15:23.712
be to think about how ordinary it is to get through something before understanding it.
00:15:24.287 --> 00:15:28.124
For example, a person leaves a job they had expected to keep,
00:15:28.687 --> 00:15:30.678
or someone we love becomes ill.
00:15:31.658 --> 00:15:35.205
A friendship changes shape. A child grows up.
00:15:35.698 --> 00:15:39.367
A place that once felt like home begins to feel unfamiliar.
00:15:39.651 --> 00:15:43.180
We all have those moments, especially when, I guess, the more significant people
00:15:43.180 --> 00:15:48.393
in our lives go, for example, they pass on or there's some big change.
00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:53.676
And in the moment of such changes, attention may go to what needs doing next.
00:15:54.808 --> 00:15:58.479
Practical decisions, conversations, forms of film, meals to make.
00:15:58.815 --> 00:16:03.750
It's only later that perhaps some of the deeper questions might start to emerge,
00:16:03.750 --> 00:16:10.964
such as, what happened to the life I thought I was living, and what does this change about me?
00:16:11.632 --> 00:16:16.010
Such questions needn't signal that anything has gone wrong. They may be part
00:16:16.010 --> 00:16:20.984
of the mind's attempt to bring a new experience into an older understanding of life.
00:16:22.547 --> 00:16:26.702
Perhaps again reframing it as things are now unfamiliar to us.
00:16:26.974 --> 00:16:32.437
Researchers sometimes call this meaning-making, that is, the process of relating
00:16:32.437 --> 00:16:36.707
an event to our expectations, goals, and sense of self.
00:16:37.619 --> 00:16:39.607
Research on serious illness, for example.
00:16:42.437 --> 00:16:46.674
Describes how a disruptive event can unsettle a person's view of their life,
00:16:47.255 --> 00:16:51.649
prompting them to work out how the experience belongs in their continuing story.
00:16:52.172 --> 00:16:56.357
In this context, meaning doesn't mean that an illness or a loss or an injustice
00:16:56.357 --> 00:16:57.750
was somehow meant to happen.
00:16:58.244 --> 00:17:03.340
Neither does it mean finding a silver lining before grief has had room to speak.
00:17:04.205 --> 00:17:07.508
Sometimes all that may be said about such experience is simply,
00:17:07.909 --> 00:17:10.237
this mattered. It changed things.
00:17:10.777 --> 00:17:12.994
I am still discovering how.
00:17:13.699 --> 00:17:18.277
Sometimes it takes years to be able to look back on it and understand why or
00:17:18.277 --> 00:17:22.023
how it affected you or changed your course of your life.
00:17:22.215 --> 00:17:25.117
And quite possibly, sometimes that never comes back, you know,
00:17:25.117 --> 00:17:28.917
the full reason for sure never comes into our full consciousness,
00:17:28.917 --> 00:17:32.738
does it? It's something we have to accept has gone on at a deeper level,
00:17:33.318 --> 00:17:34.769
has been for our good, optimally.
00:17:35.437 --> 00:17:40.214
And perhaps this is where coherence begins, not with an answer or answers,
00:17:40.487 --> 00:17:42.507
but with enough steadiness.
00:17:42.896 --> 00:17:45.334
That's a word we've used before, isn't it, through this year,
00:17:45.828 --> 00:17:50.919
to stop pretending that an unanswered question has already been resolved.
00:17:51.285 --> 00:17:53.427
Being careful, being steady.
00:17:54.175 --> 00:17:58.268
These are the watchwords we consider when talking about anchoring in our earlier episode.
00:17:58.674 --> 00:18:03.278
So as we look back on the year, it may seem to be full of things that have happened,
00:18:03.951 --> 00:18:08.943
without yet necessarily feeling like a year when we fully lived through.
00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:12.421
There may have been changes, disappointments, moments of joy,
00:18:12.995 --> 00:18:17.099
decisions made in haste, and losses that took time even to name.
00:18:18.108 --> 00:18:23.006
We may be setting our sights, not quite yet, maybe for some of us,
00:18:23.006 --> 00:18:27.790
on New Year promises, resolving that next year we'll start a new chapter.
00:18:28.295 --> 00:18:31.956
And actually, if we think about that, quite often it is perhaps the first few
00:18:31.956 --> 00:18:36.979
months of the year when that focus is strongest. And so maybe these last few,
00:18:37.554 --> 00:18:41.356
months of the year, as we are now, could well be the ones when we're looking
00:18:41.356 --> 00:18:42.970
at what we've learned and what we're integrating.
00:18:43.533 --> 00:18:47.626
If we're aware now. If we're aware, yeah. Maybe we won't enter that new year
00:18:47.626 --> 00:18:49.986
going, gosh, darn it, I've got to change some things.
00:18:50.406 --> 00:18:52.374
Exactly. Maybe we can alleviate that.
00:18:52.833 --> 00:18:58.666
And it becomes more of a transition, seamless transition between the two years.
00:18:58.666 --> 00:19:01.037
A coherent, grounded transition.
00:19:01.211 --> 00:19:03.261
Yeah. How about that? Absolutely.
00:19:03.915 --> 00:19:10.056
As we've suggested, becoming coherent may mean giving the experience we've had room to settle.
00:19:10.056 --> 00:19:12.946
And as we were saying as well, that can take a lot of time. So,
00:19:12.946 --> 00:19:19.106
three months is not necessarily very long, but it's probably quite a good time to be doing this.
00:19:19.106 --> 00:19:24.106
Remembering what happened, noticing how it's affected us, and perhaps gradually
00:19:24.106 --> 00:19:27.841
recognizing what it has or hasn't changed about who we are.
00:19:28.804 --> 00:19:32.560
This doesn't mean we have to tie up the year with a neat conclusion today.
00:19:33.820 --> 00:19:37.500
Come to this definite break point. Welcome 2027.
00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:42.998
Some events will likely remain unresolved. Some may not have been accepted, as we were saying.
00:19:43.276 --> 00:19:47.733
Perhaps we will not get the answers that quickly. There'll be a lot of processing
00:19:47.733 --> 00:19:50.039
that goes on into next year and beyond.
00:19:50.608 --> 00:19:57.319
Yet a coherent mindset can still say, this was difficult and its meaning isn't clear yet.
00:19:57.783 --> 00:20:01.703
It may simply become possible to see that the person who entered the year and
00:20:01.703 --> 00:20:04.970
the person leaving it, i.e. us, are connected.
00:20:05.695 --> 00:20:11.326
Not because nothing has changed, but because there has been time to acknowledge the changes.
00:20:12.615 --> 00:20:17.456
Lawrence can sound like a demand to be consistent, to feel one thing,
00:20:17.596 --> 00:20:20.318
believe one thing, and follow a clear plan.
00:20:20.977 --> 00:20:26.213
But our lives are rarely like that. It's possible to love a person and feel
00:20:26.213 --> 00:20:31.373
hurt by them, to be grateful for a change and grieve what it cost,
00:20:32.105 --> 00:20:39.135
to want security and still long for freedom, to have faith while also carrying doubt.
00:20:39.413 --> 00:20:44.010
I think that's really important to remember that, you know, it doesn't...
00:20:44.794 --> 00:20:48.297
Have to be one way or the other. Yeah. You can hold two things at once.
00:20:48.297 --> 00:20:50.605
Yes. Two things can be true at once. Yes.
00:20:51.184 --> 00:20:55.915
Wholeness does not necessarily mean removing one side of these experiences.
00:20:56.229 --> 00:21:02.307
It may mean becoming able to hold both sides without immediately disowning either.
00:21:02.800 --> 00:21:06.904
Imagine someone who has spent years being the dependable one in a family.
00:21:07.566 --> 00:21:11.786
They value care and caring for others has given their life purpose.
00:21:12.367 --> 00:21:14.584
Yet, they are also exhausted.
00:21:15.274 --> 00:21:22.106
A coherent response might be to insist, I'm fine, while continuing to give more than they have.
00:21:22.721 --> 00:21:27.783
Another might be to reject the value of caring altogether because it was just too painful.
00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:35.194
A more coherent response could sound like this, Caring matters deeply to me, and I have limits.
00:21:35.589 --> 00:21:41.445
If I want my care to be honest and lasting, those limits need a place in the story too.
00:21:42.113 --> 00:21:47.645
Nothing has been neatly solved, but two parts of life that seem to be in conflict
00:21:47.976 --> 00:21:49.967
can begin to speak to one another.
00:21:52.247 --> 00:21:57.319
And this is also where coherence meets the idea of staying anchored, of remaining grounded.
00:21:58.547 --> 00:22:02.427
As we've seen before, an anchor may be a value, such as kindness,
00:22:02.427 --> 00:22:04.447
honesty, justice, faithfulness.
00:22:05.109 --> 00:22:08.400
It may be a relationship in which there is room to be known.
00:22:09.085 --> 00:22:13.062
It may be a practice such as prayer, a daily walk, a familiar landscape,
00:22:13.358 --> 00:22:19.108
or taking a familiar landscape, I should say, or the simple rhythm of returning to the present.
00:22:19.370 --> 00:22:25.814
An anchor gives us somewhere to stand or something to hold while we look at what has happened.
00:22:26.847 --> 00:22:30.157
And looking honestly at what has happened may reveal whether the anchor still
00:22:30.157 --> 00:22:32.211
holds. Sometimes it does.
00:22:32.658 --> 00:22:36.877
Sometimes a difficult season shows that what we had been relying on was too
00:22:36.877 --> 00:22:41.574
narrow, too fragile, or no longer true to who we are becoming.
00:22:42.654 --> 00:22:48.094
Staying anchored is not the same as refusing to change, as we were saying earlier.
00:22:48.425 --> 00:22:53.417
A good anchor allows movement without leaving us entirely adrift.
00:22:54.224 --> 00:22:59.004
It's very important. I quite often pick up on this in the loving-kindness meditations
00:22:59.004 --> 00:23:05.479
that I offer on Insight Time. I did today, in fact, that we nearly always talk about two grounds.
00:23:06.118 --> 00:23:10.154
We talk about our physical ground, which we can do with our body, and,
00:23:10.894 --> 00:23:14.114
kind of imagining how we're planted, we're connected with the earth,
00:23:14.114 --> 00:23:17.553
the ground, whatever it is, a chair or floor that's supporting us,
00:23:17.802 --> 00:23:23.021
and needing that to avoid having this sense of floating around.
00:23:23.549 --> 00:23:27.514
But at the same time, we'll talk about our ground of being, if you like,
00:23:27.514 --> 00:23:31.821
our spiritual, our inner source on which we draw strength.
00:23:32.656 --> 00:23:37.567
And that can take us into a much more airy, spacious kind of.
00:23:39.061 --> 00:23:42.745
In the sense of physical, ungrounded territory.
00:23:44.134 --> 00:23:49.486
So, yeah, very useful to keep those two thoughts together, I think.
00:23:50.190 --> 00:23:51.949
Absolutely. In mind, yeah.
00:23:53.318 --> 00:23:58.583
So, how might we become more coherent? Well, here are just a few suggestions.
00:23:59.117 --> 00:24:03.641
You may want to start by making time just to be quiet and silently welcome the
00:24:03.641 --> 00:24:06.722
process of integration to happen within you.
00:24:07.296 --> 00:24:12.281
Make time to meditate with a heartfelt invitation to what needs to settle within
00:24:12.281 --> 00:24:14.801
you and what needs to be released.
00:24:15.457 --> 00:24:20.426
Don't try to force insight. These rarely come when we make such a demand. I can attest to that.
00:24:21.111 --> 00:24:26.471
When something unsettles us, the impulse may be to explain it immediately or
00:24:26.471 --> 00:24:27.996
to distract ourselves from it.
00:24:28.568 --> 00:24:32.741
But first, it's important to pause, feel the chair beneath you,
00:24:33.161 --> 00:24:39.342
notice your feet on the ground, and simply ask, what is present in me just now?
00:24:40.064 --> 00:24:45.224
This may be sadness, relief, frustration, confusion.
00:24:45.868 --> 00:24:50.976
It may be several things at once. Naming a feeling does not make it disappear,
00:24:51.301 --> 00:24:54.755
but it can make the experience a little less shapeless.
00:24:55.420 --> 00:24:58.972
Now you can explore your experience with a few honest words.
00:24:59.661 --> 00:25:05.879
A page in a notebook might begin with three simple prompts. What happened? What matters to me now?
00:25:06.625 --> 00:25:12.658
What has it meant to me so far? The phrase so far here is important.
00:25:13.041 --> 00:25:15.932
It leaves room for understanding to change.
00:25:16.566 --> 00:25:21.088
We can write what is true today without treating it as the final word.
00:25:21.744 --> 00:25:24.646
Writing about experiences may help some of us.
00:25:24.966 --> 00:25:31.502
You may prefer to speak to a trusted person or to draw, pray, or simply sit quietly.
00:25:31.705 --> 00:25:33.348
Do whatever works for you.
00:25:34.016 --> 00:25:38.665
Next, there is checking for alignment That doesn't mean asking,
00:25:39.002 --> 00:25:40.366
have I got my whole life right?
00:25:40.871 --> 00:25:45.970
That question is too large for most of us Rather, ask the smaller question What
00:25:45.970 --> 00:25:51.164
is one choice today that reflects something I truly value?
00:25:51.930 --> 00:25:56.200
If connection matters, perhaps it's giving a friend undivided attention for
00:25:56.200 --> 00:26:02.884
10 minutes If it's rest that matters, perhaps it's declining one unnecessary demand,
00:26:03.531 --> 00:26:08.302
If care for the world matters, perhaps it is noticing the needs of a neighbor
00:26:08.529 --> 00:26:10.462
or tending a small patch of ground.
00:26:11.159 --> 00:26:15.970
A single action will not settle every inner conflict, but it can let a value
00:26:15.970 --> 00:26:18.834
become visible in the way a day is lived.
00:26:19.455 --> 00:26:23.251
And finally, there's allowing another person to witness us.
00:26:23.901 --> 00:26:29.490
Not everyone needs to know every part of our story, but being heard without
00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:31.976
being hurried can make a difference.
00:26:32.383 --> 00:26:36.202
A good listener may not provide the interpretation we were searching for.
00:26:36.672 --> 00:26:42.850
They may simply help us hear our own words, and they may offer us a kind reflection
00:26:42.850 --> 00:26:47.046
too, such as, that sounds complicated. Take your time.
00:26:48.295 --> 00:26:51.250
That can be very wise advice, can't it? Take your time.
00:26:53.124 --> 00:26:59.174
I think for me at the moment when I'm reflecting on how to allow what has been
00:26:59.174 --> 00:27:03.294
experienced this year I mean just to give one example of my own very close friend
00:27:03.294 --> 00:27:04.916
I've known all my life passed away,
00:27:06.024 --> 00:27:10.374
I've not really processed that it's kind of there's not been particular grief
00:27:10.374 --> 00:27:15.584
or anything of that nature but you know there is some as we were talking earlier.
00:27:16.744 --> 00:27:20.544
A significant person who was in my life is no longer there.
00:27:21.184 --> 00:27:25.544
And so things are less familiar than they were before. And there were many other
00:27:25.544 --> 00:27:27.098
things that have gone on this year as well.
00:27:28.024 --> 00:27:32.414
And there is a bit of a sense that I have that, yeah, something has changed.
00:27:32.414 --> 00:27:36.964
Exactly the sort of focus we've had, how am I feeling now?
00:27:37.724 --> 00:27:41.447
What is my perspective and my feeling now compared with the start of the year?
00:27:41.998 --> 00:27:46.514
And I don't think I need to know the answer. We were talking earlier about the
00:27:46.514 --> 00:27:47.618
answers don't always come.
00:27:48.262 --> 00:27:54.144
I think I'm kind of at the moment at the stage of just accepting that some of
00:27:54.144 --> 00:27:55.216
these things have changed.
00:27:55.704 --> 00:28:00.344
And when that is the case, we probably don't need to go through all the things
00:28:00.344 --> 00:28:02.564
we're mentioning there, like journaling or talking to a friend.
00:28:02.564 --> 00:28:04.781
It really is enough, I think.
00:28:05.884 --> 00:28:10.110
Just to meditate, just to be open, just to allow silence.
00:28:10.831 --> 00:28:14.231
You can start the meditation with a question, which can be, you know,
00:28:14.638 --> 00:28:22.846
tell my inner self to process, to absorb, to know what he needs to know because of this change.
00:28:23.043 --> 00:28:27.791
But then just letting go, not getting into analysis, just letting go,
00:28:27.791 --> 00:28:29.987
just sitting and processing and trusting.
00:28:30.625 --> 00:28:32.036
These words, take your time.
00:28:33.771 --> 00:28:38.172
I think we could do a whole episode on letting go. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:28:38.808 --> 00:28:43.781
As we take steps towards becoming coherent, perhaps it might at times help to
00:28:43.781 --> 00:28:49.077
remember that coherence isn't a destination, but more of a recurring movement.
00:28:49.460 --> 00:28:52.583
Noticing when life feels scattered, returning to what holds,
00:28:52.972 --> 00:28:56.148
listening to what has changed or just sitting with it, as we were saying,
00:28:56.599 --> 00:29:00.639
and then making perhaps just one truthful choice based on that.
00:29:01.220 --> 00:29:05.353
There will be days when our story feels clear. There will be days when it doesn't.
00:29:05.881 --> 00:29:08.389
Being anchored doesn't spare us from either kind.
00:29:09.068 --> 00:29:14.194
Yet, the boat is still moving, just as the water that buoys us is still moving as well.
00:29:14.856 --> 00:29:20.951
An anchor doesn't stop the voyage. Similarly, coherence doesn't erase what has happened.
00:29:21.520 --> 00:29:25.967
But, little by little, there may be room to recognize where we've been,
00:29:26.367 --> 00:29:29.885
what holds us now, and how we want to move from here.
00:29:30.670 --> 00:29:34.257
Coherence then invites us to gather what we have experienced,
00:29:34.594 --> 00:29:39.627
to grow and adapt, and to release what we recognize doesn't serve us,
00:29:40.196 --> 00:29:44.242
rather than simply moving on from what we've learned about anchoring ourselves.
00:29:44.724 --> 00:29:48.695
May we be ready to give it the attention it deserves. Really,
00:29:48.695 --> 00:29:50.366
that's giving it time and space.
00:29:51.978 --> 00:29:56.845
So this week as we reflect on the meaning of coherence and its important contribution
00:29:56.845 --> 00:30:00.475
to our staying grounded in times of challenge and uncertainty,
00:30:01.195 --> 00:30:07.045
we suggest holding as our main intention i resolve to allow myself space to
00:30:07.045 --> 00:30:12.165
integrate what i have learned and experienced this year willing for what serves
00:30:12.165 --> 00:30:15.262
the highest good to become a part of me,
00:30:16.556 --> 00:30:19.987
i love this intention Please join us in holding this.
00:30:20.521 --> 00:30:25.395
And do check out the range of resources on the GHR website supporting this quarter's
00:30:25.395 --> 00:30:28.892
focus on coherence, as well as this year's theme of grounding.
00:30:29.554 --> 00:30:33.925
We'll put the link in the show notes. Yeah. So that about wraps it up for this
00:30:33.925 --> 00:30:37.815
episode. Remember, you can connect with us in their Facebook group and for live
00:30:37.815 --> 00:30:41.985
intention holding in my daily insight timer offerings and with Ellen in the
00:30:41.985 --> 00:30:44.031
Labyrinth Activist Network's Zoom course.
00:30:44.710 --> 00:30:48.975
Details of how to hook up with these are in our show notes. Look out too for
00:30:48.975 --> 00:30:53.254
our next special topic episode, which we'll be releasing in the next few days.
00:30:53.730 --> 00:30:57.236
Thank you for listening and for sharing with us in Holding Intentions.
00:30:57.770 --> 00:31:01.108
We look forward to connecting again next time. In the meantime,
00:31:01.462 --> 00:31:03.784
thank you, go well, stay safe.
00:31:04.491 --> 00:31:07.184
And remember, we're more powerful together.
00:31:08.736 --> 00:31:14.274
Impact is presented by Helen Vince and Clive Johnson and produced by Impact Productions.
00:31:15.047 --> 00:31:19.876
Our theme music is by Chris Collins and our logo artwork is by Auto Classic.
00:31:20.677 --> 00:31:25.184
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and please leave us a review on Apple
00:31:25.184 --> 00:31:29.594
Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or your favourite podcast provider.
00:31:29.989 --> 00:31:33.894
We're a non-commercial podcast dedicated to people of any faith,
00:31:33.894 --> 00:31:37.500
tradition or none who yearn for healing in our troubled world.
00:31:37.901 --> 00:31:41.854
Please pass on the word so others may join us in making an impact.
00:31:42.789 --> 00:31:44.037
Thank you for listening.