Ready for a Little Escape? Me too.

As I sat in the darkened, fully populated movie theater last night, watching Julia Roberts be Liz in Eat Pray Love I wondered how many of us in our seats were nursing broken hearts seeking a salve for our soul. I was. I was sitting there looking and hoping for a message that would bring me hope and peace and at the very least, distraction from the ache I’ve felt that comes from a sad and tired heart; the bittersweet experience of choice which breaks hearts.

How many of us, I wondered, are yearning to pick up, pack our bags and flee to find ourselves anew – heart break or not. Speaking with more than one client about this very thing, so many people are wishing for a break. A break from the fear of THE ECONOMY. A break from the fear of TREACHERY and another devastating SCANDAL that robs us all of our sense that we do have people leading; leading us with integrity and our good interest at heart. There’s little of that sentiment going around these days. So to go in to a crowded movie theater and at last, in stead of watching high tech explosives or humanlike animated characters (no matter how adorable they might be) and watch real people on the screen who are making friends out of strangers, and making meaningful connection in new lands (doesn’t the world feel like a new land sometimes but we aren’t quite so willing to make friends of these local strangers) well – it just makes you kind of want to stay in your seat and go in for another round of that movie. Open your heart. Forgive yourself. Travel light and find pleasure. Escape the burdens and fears of our complex and civically confused world. Ahhh. Sounds like peace.

And we pick up our sweaters, our cups of Coke or half eaten Twizzlers (I’m renouncing food dye and wheat so I ate almonds) and leave the movie theater and wonder ‘how can I have that hope and happiness right hear in my everyday life? When will I have that adventure, truly, and feel that relief? As hard as Liz’s journey was, I want what she’s having.’

We can do it day to day by listening to the sound of our heart beating more loudly right through the armor we put on every day before we to go to work, or to look for work, or to take our kids wherever they need to go. That can be the beginning of our transformation. Listening and feeling that blog of sweet yearning for love and peace right there that walks with us throughout our days. Letting that guide us in our choices.

We can be a revolutionary nation of open hearted journey folk who are fed up with being worried and ‘hunkered down’ for the ‘who knows what’s going to happen’ safety stance. If we collectively shift to the shoulders back, head high ‘I need to find my appetite for life’ posture and mindset, we will rally, and that energy that invites spark and innovation and connection with others – new friends and colleagues waiting to be similarly sparked – can happen. I know this in my bones.

I’m starting today. My giggly gooey heart is out there and I’m going to let it do the looking for me (even moreso than ususal) and I hope I’ll run into you out there and that I can see and feel your open heart (kind of like that ET glowing red light). We’ll recognize each other and know that we are up for some change in our lives and world, some salve to our yearning without having to leave our homes, families and what comfort we do have. The world starts to have new scents to it, and the sun shines more brightly. There’s a new kind of stillness inside of the buzz of our frenzied life. Can you hear it?

Tags: baby boomers, Barack Obama, career change, change, economic downturn, family planning, financial security, finding love, going back to school, heart break, journalist, leadership of the nation, leading in adversity, long term unemployed, mad as hell and I'm not going to take it, midlife crisis, moms, quarterlife crisis, relationships, silver lining, TED, twenty-something, underemployed, what should I do with my life?

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 14th, 2010 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.