This week, I’m taking about listening more deeply to ourselves and each other, whether or not you are going to be home for the holidays.

I sat down to write a post about this moment we find ourselves in—the holiday busyness, the covid confusion, the astronomical fear and uncertainty—and it felt far too familiar.

Turns out I had written that post a year ago. You can read it here. I wrote about setting and communicating boundaries and about safety and consent for holiday gatherings in a pandemic. Take a look, because it’s unfortunately far too relevant.

We’ve been here before. It’s jarring and frustrating and confusing. Yes, we have vaccines (thank you science!) but as the pandemic continues to rage on, we have less clarity and more uncertainty.

Many of us don’t know if we are going back into offices. Far too many of you have no choice but to work in person (thank you endlessly to our heroes in medicine and education who are being tested beyond limits, especially those of you who are my clients). We don’t know if we’ll have to manage childcare if schools get shut down or there are outbreaks. And way too many people are sick.

We are not okay.

It’s triggering and re-traumatizing and of course, we never left the trauma (especially those of us with unvaccinated kids and immunocompromised loved ones). That makes us far more likely to get lost in thought, to have difficulty sitting in silence or spaciousness, and it leads to a quickening pace that impacts the very rate of our lives (and that includes our communication).

Listening can feel a bit overwhelming and scary right now. But it’s essential and necessary that we listen deeply, to ourselves especially, so we can center our own comfort and confidence throughout this holiday season, especially in the midst of so much emotion and volatility.

That’s why me and almost all of my clients this month have been focused on listening more deeply to our own perspective, point of view, and power, instead of over-prioritizing the perception of others. We do this by using breath, body awareness, physicality, presence, and conscious, embodied thinking to shift and align our focus in the present moment.

It’s been powerful and necessary for those of us who tend to get absorbed into others (or our devices!) or who become deferential to authority in various forms (less relevant for those of you who may need to listen more and create space for others!).

So, who are you listening to? Are the voices in your head your own? Are they societal? In a moment of so much societal upheaval, are they accurate?

So much of this work is about helping us realize the unconscious voices, thoughts, distractions, that are filling our unconscious minds and redirecting that attention towards focusing on the present moment.

With such tremendous uncertainty in this moment, can we get really clear on what we know to be true? Can we communicate with so much clarity to make up for the endless confusion we all find ourselves endlessly in? Can we use clarity as a magnetic opposite and harness certainty in how we stand up for ourselves, communicate our boundaries, and care for others?

Wishing you health and safety this holiday season. I hear you and I’m here.