Are You at War too?

October 15, 2023

I have a pit in my stomach as I sit down to write this. 

My heart is very heavy and beating rapidly.

I feel scared and I am having the thought, “Don’t go there. Stay silent. This is not your lane.”

The truth is I do not know how to speak/write about the current state of affairs occurring in the Mid-East or even know if it is mine to do.

And….I want to be careful to not offend anyone as this is a divisive conversation.

War is divisive.

What is currently occurring is breaking my heart, and I am barely able to metabolize the reality as I watch, read, and listen to the atrocities on humanity we are inflicting on one another.

I feel the helpless one in me rise up, believing I have no power, and there is nothing I can do.

I feel the judgmental one in me who wants to point fingers, blame, and make someone or “groups of someones” bad and wrong.

After all, look at what is happening!  How can you not make someone bad or wrong?

I feel like the scared little girl who is confused by how my fellow human beings can bring such violence and harm to one another.  My mind and heart CANNOT fathom how any human being is capable of the inhumanity occurring, especially against our innocent vulnerable children. 

 I just don’t want to face it, and I can find the part of me that wants to look away, scroll, watch Netflix, or simply sit on my comfy sofa safely watching the rain fall outside my window.

I do not know how to reconcile my privilege to even have the above choices to make in this moment while my fellow human family of beings are fighting for their lives while  I type these words.

I can feel the guilt rising as I type that sentence.

I know, however, that guilt is not a useful vibration and does not serve the collective.

I know there is much work to be done in this world to support peace, freedom, and liberation for all humans on this planet.

I also know that peace truly does start within, one person at a time.

The truth is that what is happening “out there” is a giant reflection of what is happening inside each one of us, even if on a smaller scale.

One thing I believe I can individually do is take responsibility for the vibration I hold and the light I allow to flow through me and the impact it has on others.

What I can do right now is take personal responsibility for the divisiveness within me and look for the ways I create war inside of me and my life and relationships.

I can find the ways I create polarity in my relationships, believing I am right about something, and the other is wrong.

I see it happening in my friendships as conversations, opinions, and feelings arise around this current conflict in the Mid-East. So many righteous opinions and “sides” to take.

So much hurt to be defended. And that makes sense to me. When we feel hurt, we work to defend ourselves.

I know the one in me who defends when “she” is feeling threatened, scared, or helpless.

However, when we divide or fall into the spell of separation, we forget our inherent interconnection.

We forget how to listen from our hearts and expand to allow all the truth in.

This current war reminds me that our human family is suffering.

We may not have the ability to stop the war in the Mid-East, but we can begin to address the war within each of us that exists in the polarity of right and wrong or good and bad.

My invitation to you this coming week is to pay attention to the ways in which you wage war in yourself and create a divide within, whether driving in traffic when someone cuts you off, at home in your relationships believing you are right and the other is wrong, or blaming yourself or someone else for something that occurred long ago. 

When we expand our hearts and remain open to hearing what is in the hearts of those we love, we rise above righteousness and step into the depths of curiosity and compassion, and remember that we are all divinely connected. 

Know that each of us absolutely can make a difference. It all begins within.

Praying for peace & standing for freedom for all,

In deep reverence,

Annmarie Chereso
Author, Speaker, Coach, & Meditation Teacher

PS: Know a young person launching in life? I will be restarting my Launch & Life groups this fall. I have a few open spots. Email me at annmarie@bringithome.me to get on the list.