+ one
Brené Brown gifted a chapter called “High Lonesome” in her most recent book, Braving The Wilderness, that’s resonated nearly every time the sentiments within are shared with another. She talks of how the holler song of soldiers gave way to the ‘high lonesome’ sound that inspired bluegrass, while also perfectly describing ‘the lonely feeling’ that can grip just about anyone who simply shows up, steps foot out the door, or bravely makes his or her way into the mix of faces or places maybe known or new. “I don’t think there’s anything lonelier that being with people and feeling alone,” Brené writes. She later offers, “It’s why connection matters… it’s why we’re wired for belonging."
While out on one of my usual routes this morning I passed by the gathered statues that I’ve spied and walked by for years now. Today, though, I stopped to read what they were about.
— Rush Hour | George Segal —
“This composition of anonymous figures evokes the deep isolation that can occur
even when we are surrounded by others.”
Weeks since reading Brené’s words, and the illustration of that sometimes known feeling was on my path all along. (Let’s just sit with the irony of passing by them for so long…)
The rest of my walk left me thinking on Rush Hour—from carpools to conventions, from hurried city streets to the crowd or quiet of church pews. While the pace of such pockets in our days is seemingly unavoidable, what’s addable?
Where’s the window for a plus to our rush or quiet or in between hours?
When can we maybe extend, invite, see, and converse?
How can we—in our own loneliness or knowing that of others—be the boost in another's day?
Plus one…
+ smile, text, or note in the mail.
+ hello, helping hand, or genuine look in the eye.
+ exchange with the person ringing or bagging our finds.
+ phone call or visit or seat made at the table.
+ Plus one “Tell me your name, I’ve seen you before.”
+ Plus one “me too,” “you too?” familiarity shared.
.“Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience, and transform despair into hope. Only art can take the holler of a returning soldier and turn it into a shared expression and a deep, collective experience. Music, like all art, gives pain and our most wrenching emotions voice, language, and form so it can be recognized and shared. The magic of the high lonesome sound is the magic of all art: the ability to both capture our pain and deliver us from it at the same time.” —Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness
#see #beseen #work of #art #each #and #every #heart
#BravingTheWilderness
#plushour #plusour #hearts #minds #worth #hopes #purpose
#coloryourcorneroftheworld