I am on sabbatical in California. I’ve been here since the beginning of May. I have sought to recover rest and renew myself for the work ahead. This trip has not been what I expected it to be, nor has it been what my partner expected it would be!

Let me explain!

Not long ago, when I was in the East Bay, CA, the car we are using was burglarized. Everything was stolen. We were shocked, felt invaded, traumatized, but we also knew that this was a crime of desperation.

There is so much suffering in the world.

We, my partner and I, decided that we would see this event as ‘redistributing our wealth.’ Now, to be clear, we are not wealthy or rich, but we did have nice things — at least nice to us! And, while the inventory of loses was over 9,000 dollars, we know we will be okay.

There is so much suffering in the world.

When we asked for help, our community, far and wide, stepped up and gave in monetary ways through Square Cash, PayPal, and Venmo! They saw our suffering and joined with us to help ease the blow of having to purchase things, which amounted to a suitcase, clothes, makeup for my partner, shoes, and so many other odds and ends. It really adds up!

Still, as I sit here almost 10 days after the burglary, I am amazed at how much suffering there is and how traumatized I was. Yet, beauty and the generosity of community helped soften the blow.

We will end our sabbatical in California next week and return home to Tennessee. I hope we take the lessons of abundance with us! With so much suffering and crimes of desperation being entirely endemic, we all need to pivot out of a mindset of scarcity and sink into a mindset of abundance. I even did a 21 day meditation on abundance and was in the middle of it when this burglary happened.

Though there is suffering in the world, what we need is community — we need each other. We need to remember that we belong to each other! So, can we become the healing of the wounds?

What’s the first step you will take to create healing in this world compromised by suffering?