Living in Washington, D.C., is interesting, to say the least. And regardless of your politics, the recent changes and shakeups in the federal government—and the real-world and real-life implications for our friends and neighbors—have been challenging to witness.
One of my dear friends was recently caught up in this swirl and roil. An attorney in the Department of Justice, the days of DOGE forced her to choose among uncertain options and to try to find firm footing in a landscape that shifted from solid to sand on a dime.
Should she stay or go? Retire early or risk being fired?
Each option had potential consequences beyond where she might clock in each day. What of her career trajectory? Her sense of purpose? Her and her family’s financial stability?
It is easy to get lost in the hurt, heartbreak, and wrong-making inherent in situations like these. And of course, it is important to feel, to process, and to mourn.
But there is also light in this, and in all darkness.
We all know or have heard of people who have been through near-death experiences. Those who, in spite of those harrowing moments, often come away with a sense of gratitude for the interruption of the expected and accepted that grants them a new lease on—and view of—life.
My friend, and all of us moving through uncertainty and challenging times, have this same opportunity: to discover who we are without the labels we have taken on and the choices we have made. To ask ourselves and actually discover: Who are we without our work and all that we have created? Who are we without what we have come to identify as Who We Are?
When we release or are forced to release our attachment to our practiced notions of identity, we arrive at the only truth, the only given.
And that is that who we are is that We Are.
Being at peace with Being results in the realization that nothing can or will add to our wholeness and adequacy. That we are all already enough as we are, because We Are—a knowing that leaves us empowered to handle whatever may come our way.