Celebrating Chaos To Find Peace: Story, Talk & Poem

It isn't often we think of celebrating chaos, much less erecting a monument to honor it. That is exactly what one town did in 1919. Come join me as I share this story along with my own personal journey that shares this same shift in perspective. We will explore how we can find peace once we honor what chaos teaches us. This piece includes a story, talk, and inspirational poem to uplift your day.

Transcript

Hi,

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I'm grateful that you're here.

I will be sharing a historical story,

Then an example from my own life,

And close with a poem that ties all of this together for us.

You might wonder about the title of this piece,

Celebrating Chaos.

What the heck?

Why would we ever celebrate chaos,

And how does peace find itself in this equation?

Before we discover the answers to these questions,

Let's first explore a story that is a perfect reflection of this idea.

Then,

I will follow with an example from my own personal journey.

After these two examples,

We will revisit the questions above.

First,

I'd like to share the historical story.

On December 11,

1919,

In Enterprise,

Alabama,

In the United States,

A monument was erected and dedicated to the bug called the boll weevil.

The monument reads,

In profound appreciation of the boll weevil,

And what it has done as the herald of prosperity.

Now,

To better understand this monument,

I'll tell you a little bit about what was happening at this time.

From 1892 to 1919,

The American cotton industry suffered a loss of $23 billion due to the damage created by this insect called the boll weevil.

The insect,

Which originated in central Mexico,

Arrived in the United States in 1892.

It swiftly attacked the cotton belt in America.

It created damage to the cotton crops,

Which affected the lives of thousands of farmers who were dependent upon cotton as their cash crop.

Farmers tried everything to get rid of this pest,

But it would always come back,

Even from dormancy and attack once again.

A man named H.

M.

Sessions,

Who resided in Alabama,

Worked with farmers,

Selling them seeds for their fields.

He began researching in North Carolina and Virginia other types of crops that farmers were growing that could be,

One,

Grown in sandy soil,

And two,

Weren't being affected by the boll weevil.

Peanuts,

H.

M.

Sessions discovered these other farmers were successfully growing peanuts.

The town of Enterprise,

Alabama decided to pivot.

They stopped all their cotton farming and switched to peanuts instead.

They had huge success growing peanuts and also with creating peanut oil.

Seeing their success,

Other farmers followed suit.

The farmers of Enterprise,

Alabama used the resources,

Tools,

And skills they already had.

They had the land and the farmers.

They just needed the right crop.

By making this pivot and shifting,

They saved their town.

And in 1919,

Enterprise erected the monument that I shared with you earlier.

It is directly dedicated to the boll weevil.

The chaos of loss caused this shift.

They could have held on to the old way,

But instead chose to try something new.

And out of this chaos and loss came peace,

Celebration,

And prosperity.

Now I'd like to share a little bit about my own personal example of turning chaos into peace.

In March of 2020,

All of us,

No matter where we live,

Knows that the pandemic hit.

It was like a scene out of some sci-fi movie that wouldn't go away no matter how many times you went to sleep and woke back up.

The pandemic was still there.

At the time,

As a cranial sacral therapist,

Reiki practitioner,

And spiritual coach,

My main practice was located in a shared space with the owner of an acupuncture clinic.

I was employed at this office.

When the pandemic first hit and we were required to close the office,

No one knew how long this would be.

I didn't hear a word from the owner for over three weeks and panic began to set in.

Oh my gosh,

What am I going to do?

My angel guides asked me to say a mantra daily to redirect my energy so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed.

Doing this helped me to stay calm,

And over the next two months,

I realized that the clinic wasn't going to open anytime soon,

And our area where I was working was allowing us to do safe home visits using standard precautions.

I realized then that I needed to pivot.

I took all of my skills that I already had and shifted.

I began to do my spiritual coaching and reiki sessions online through video conferencing.

I shifted my other clients for cranial sacral work to home visits.

I also had the opportunity to start teaching online through Insight Timer.

My pivot has been successful as I continue to grow and change and adapt.

Just as the farmers in our earlier story learned to pivot and adapt,

So did I.

I won't say I was excited about it.

I was scared.

It has been chaotic at times,

But in the end,

I am at peace with the changes that have taken place.

If we take both stories,

We can reflect on some of the life skills it took to make these changes.

It is definitely not a straight line.

Chaos makes sure of that.

First,

Taking time to honor the feelings that arise in the moment,

To process reality is important.

We may experience anger at what is happening,

Sadness at the loss,

Grief at the changes and fear of not knowing what is happening.

Because all of these feelings are normal,

It is healthy to allow ourselves to experience them.

Next,

In the wake of reality,

To be able to move from despair,

We need to shift into a place of acceptance of what is.

What is happening is real,

And we need to make choices from this place and not from the place of not wanting it to be happening.

Third,

Through acceptance,

We shift the energy away from chaos and into a place of peace by making new choices.

Healing can begin when the energy of peace enters in.

By experiencing our feelings,

Accepting reality,

And shifting to peace,

We can begin the process of pivoting.

We can take stock of that which we already have available to us,

Our own skills and resources,

And see how to use them in new and different ways.

In the instance of the farmers,

They already had the land and the tools they just needed to switch crops to find success.

In my own example,

I had the same skills as a wellness provider,

But my pivot happened by changing to a home-based business,

Both in person and online,

And expanding by allowing my teaching skills,

Which had been dormant,

To come back to life.

After chaos,

After pivoting,

After finding balance once more,

And from this new state of peace,

We can then celebrate the shift that has happened.

We come to a place where we can make peace with the chaos.

Before we close out our contemplative talk today,

I would like to share this poem with you by Jan Richardson as a form of encouragement.

I hope you enjoy it.

It is called The Map You Make Yourself.

You have looked at so many doors with longing,

Wondering if your life lay on the other side.

For today,

Choose the door that opens to the inside.

Travel the most ancient way of all,

The path that leads you to the center of your life.

No map,

But the one you make yourself.

No provisions,

But what you already carry,

And the grace that comes to those who walk the pilgrim's way.

Speak this blessing as you set out,

And watch how your rhythm slows,

The cadence of the road drawing you into the pace that is your own.

Eat when hungry,

Rest when tired,

Listen to your dreaming,

Welcome detours as doors open into going deeper within.

Pray for protection.

Ask for the guidance you need.

Offer gladness for the gifts that come,

And then let them go.

Do not expect to return by the same road.

Home is always by another way,

And you will know it not by the light that waits for you,

But by the star that blazes inside you,

Telling you where you are is holy,

And you are welcome here.

I'd like to thank you once more for joining me today for this story,

Contemplative talk,

And poem.

May you always find peace after times of chaos,

And may you celebrate your life in all of its failures and successes.

Know that we are on this journey together.

Have a beautiful day.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you for this beautiful insight Shannon. I’m so grateful to have found you on IT. 🙏🏼

Excellent Stories about Change.
Ends with a Beautiful Poem🥰

Lovely 🙏

Thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing 🙏🕊🌈

🙏 this was such a loving gift for me this morning and so timely. Right now I am forging a new path, responding to an inner push (though with trepidation) and this talk affirmed it. Sending gratitude and love 💕