📰What happens when we turn away?

Hello Connectors,

Greetings from The Connection Current!!

This month, let’s sit with a question that can feel uncomfortable, yet deeply human:

🌍 What happens when we turn away — do you find yourself not reading the news? Not engaging out of overwhelm or hopelessness, it’s just too much? Or do you feel helpless in the face of what’s coming at you? I ask this question because recently I have been feeling exhausted and burned out. Even helpless and a little hopeless. So I am sitting with the reality that I can’t do everything, be present all the time when my values are calling me to stay present. Sometimes it’s too much…

Sometimes we turn away quietly.

From hard conversations, painful truths,  feelings, needs, activism, even ourselves. We stay busy, distract ourselves, or say we’re “fine” because holding one more thing feels too heavy. And sometimes, that’s protection. When this happens, it's not only ok to take a break, it’s essential to care for ourselves and to deepen self connection (understanding what’s happening inside) and connecting to our values, so we can expand our capacity to be with hard things with more nuanced resilience. If we stay in disconnection it can leave us feeling distant from the world and from ourselves. 

Find self connection- a daily gratitude practice, getting empathy from a friend, focusing on practicing identifying our own needs, mediation and mindfulness, journaling, working out, gardening, any practice that brings us home into our bodies and connects us to our core values or needs. 

Staying present doesn’t mean doing everything in front of us, it means staying present to our own inner experience, and getting clear on why we are choosing to do what we are doing, so that we have more clear choice and intentionality….. Watch what happens…. Embrace patience and compassion. Choose when to focus your attention outward, and when to prioritize yourself.

Return gently, honestly, to yourself.

Maybe courage involves trusting that if we deepen our connection to ourselves with spaciousness we will recharge our souls, and reemerge with strength in a more grounded way to attend to all that’s crazy around us in the world. This is exactly what happened for me. When I slowed down and metaphorically wrapped a blanket around myself and rested, cooked good food,slept,  planted my vegetables for the summer, read a book on Nonviolence, practiced gratitude throughout the day and sought out community to connect with,  I felt energy return to my heart and soul, and I began to be aware of new ways I can show up for change impactfully to create the world I want to live in. I felt stronger, more grounded and more hopeful. I could see opportunities that were not obvious before.

What’s important

• Taking care of yourself. Get clear on what that looks like.

• Take a break. It’s ok to take space, even when things seem urgent.

• Deepen your understanding of what really matters to you.

• Wait, be patient, the universe will point you in the direction your values align with. 

• When you are fully grounded and you are clear what your action steps are, then move with intention. The road is long, we are creating it as we go….

🌾 A gentle reflection

Sometimes turning away happens quietly.

We distract ourselves, stay busy, avoid difficult conversations, or tell ourselves we’re “fine” because life already feels heavy enough. And honestly, it makes sense.

Often, turning away isn’t a sign that we don’t care. It’s a sign that we care so much that we carry too much for too long without enough rest, support, or space to process what we feel.

But slowly reconnecting—to ourselves, to others, and to what matters—can be the nonviolent compassionate way of reconnecting to our own power so we CAN show up and face things from a grounded place. It begins in very small ways first facing inwards, gathering ourselves into soft care, and then trusting the unfolding to new ways of coming back out into the world. 

 A pause.
A breath.
A moment of honesty.
A conversation that reminds us we are not alone.

We do not need to have everything figured out to stay connected to our humanity.

🌿Turning toward life means staying connected to what matters while also caring for yourself.

Sometimes we just need to take care of ourselves and trust the rest we get will support what happens next.

🍃 Gentle practices for reconnecting

🤍 Notice what you’ve been needing

Sometimes beneath overwhelm are very human needs:

• Rest

• Comfort

• Support

• Reassurance

• Connection

• Hope

Instead of judging yourself, try asking:
What have I been carrying lately?
What do I need right now?

Even gently naming those needs can soften the weight we carry.

☕ Give yourself permission to pause

We are not meant to move through life without rest.

Stepping back  doesn’t mean you’ve stopped caring. Sometimes slowing down is what helps us reconnect to ourselves again and is the compass to finding our personal power.

Take the walk. Sit in silence. Talk with someone safe. Let yourself breathe.

🌻 How many layers of understanding can you reach within yourself?

Dive below the surface of the pool that is you. Become fully embodied. Trust the urge to resurface will arise, when you are resourced and connected in a way that your showing up will make a difference when it happens. 

Remember to connect to your needs/values, because disconnection from all that is happening around us does not serve what we long for in the world and in our lives.

How does this newsletter land for you? Please let me know….

#ConnectionCurrent #EmotionalResilience #SelfCompassion #CommunityCare #InnerWorth #HealingTogether #Empathy #RestorativeConnection

 Warmly,
Pam Orbach
Founder
A Center For Restorative Solutions