by Digger Barr
gaiasgardens.guru/
And just like that, in a matter of hours, a quarter of the population of Spokane Washington was left homeless. As the second largest city in the state, that’s a lot of people. Throw in the homeless population that already lined the streets and that huge number is staggering.
The amount of people that are displaced on the planet as a whole is staggering. Fire in Spokane caused by an arsonist. Fires in Reno Nevada, fires in Oregon, Fires in California all displacing people wreaking havoc in its path of destruction. This is not just one fire. It is multiple. This is not just one story. It is multiple.
Ripped from the comfort and security that a lifetime of hard work and careful planning built, gone in an instant .
Having a home and raising a family is filled with the tiny things that most of us take for granted everyday.
We get used to having our slippers tucked under the bed ready for morning after a peaceful place to lay our heads. It doesn’t get any more ideal than that. It’s a simple thought. The most basic human need is met without effort or thought everyday.
Until it is stripped away.
This story isn’t about the destruction. This story is about the pain that comes with the destruction. The pain that is felt when loss is so great.
There is no greater pain than losing someone you love.
My heart is with those who have lost a family member. A friend or a member of the community, any life lost is a difficult and painful event.
This gives perspective to just losing a house.
But it doesn’t resolve the pain. Lose and pain is still very real. As adults we tend to get busy and start fixing things.
We assess the situation and figure out what we need to do next.
Sometimes we can’t think at all because the trauma hijacks our brain and thinking becomes a difficult thing to do.
That is part of the painful process.
I have been processing this idea of pain and what its purpose is. All things must have a reason and a purpose.
Why do we have to experience pain?
And this pain I am discussing is emotional and mental pain although physical pain can cause those too.
I am not claiming to be an expert in this field. But I have experienced loss. Many times.
I have experienced great loss and it hijacked my mental and emotional state.
From this experience I can relate to others’ trauma.
We all have our own way of viewing tragedy. We all have our own way of coping. But we do share the human trait of feeling.
In this I have insight enough to share what I have learned. Where there is pain there is also love.
The pain feels greater when the love feels larger. But pain is pain and love is love.
Find the love and you can understand the pain. Focus on the love and the pain eases.
It’s an odd paradox wired into our core.
Understanding why we feel pain is paramount in finding resolution to the pain.
Why we feel love is just as confusing. Why do we feel love and why is it so painful?
Like I said, as adults we like to get busy, access the situation before us and start finding solutions.
That is the resiliency of human nature at work. It takes strength, fortitude and inspiration. It’s what we Americans call GRIT.
It takes grit. WE all have it .
Some of us are just better at it than others.
Others spend more time processing the pain.
So when you meet someone who is having a hard time functioning with everyday basic living, don’t doubt for a minute that they aren’t working with the pain the rest of us have set aside for the moment.
But busy as we stay, the busy that that we cherish that keeps the pain at bay, it will still be there waiting for us.
At the end of a busy day after solving problems there may still be the pain of the problem we just solved.
The trauma lingers until we find resolution.
For some this may take years. And if truth be told it will always be there in some fashion.
In fact previous pain bodies will probably be triggered with the new trauma and then it becomes a complex of issues.
Best to deal with them sooner than later.
For some people the act of rolling up their sleeves and getting busy is the action of love.
This is the antidote to pain for those personalities. No matter how you choose to cope with trauma, know that there is an answer.
Understanding that there is love in any situation doesn’t sound comforting when you’re in the midst of an emergency. This is something that comes as we begin to process the situation.
At my lowest point, in my darkest moment I found love. A love so deep and so pure it lifted me like a life raft in a great sea of darkness.
Some would call it the Christed light. I didn’t give it a name other than Love.
I knew it when I felt it. I didn’t need to explain it or give it a moniker.
It covered the pain and gave the pain meaning.
Now I understand why it hurts so badly. Because I loved so greatly.
And that gave life meaning and understanding for me.
I have seen it in our community during the response to a great tragedy. The action of complete strangers pouring forth endless acts of kindness and giving.
The outpouring of love in the form of food, clothing and medical attention was overwhelming.
It doesn’t need to be an action of giving. It can take many forms.
There was and is so much love surrounding us all the time. It seems like a shame that it takes a disaster in order for it to reveal itself.
But that’s part of the paradox with love.
When there is pain there is love.
It is all around us but, and you can trust me on this one, it is also so deep within each of us, we may not even know we have it.
Pull up that reservoir of love within you.
When all else has been stripped away and there is nothing left, look inside and find the eternal gift that was in your true home all along.
Now this article is about rebuilding. And look at the foundation we found.
Digger26