Uncurling from the fetal position

A mental image of uncurling from the fetal position inspires two feelings in me tonight.

Courage to uncurl.*

I just googled 'courage quotes' and got a site with hundreds of quotes - here's the first one:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. - Steve Jobs

I worry about sounding too radical with my thoughts on climate change. I fear that I'm turning people off to the message altogether. I'm afraid that most people know much more than I do about this stuff and have really figured something else out, that I'm foolish or naive. I'm concerned I'm not doing as much as I could, like I'm missing the best path for optimum impact. I'm scared to see my kids in pain, scared, sick, or sad. I'm anxious that I'm underprepared.

That's me in the fetal position. 

I uncurl when I'm present to my gorgeous family, the funny things we all say, when we're having conversations. I uncurl when I'm present to life and the physical world around me, the giant trees behind our house or rainwater streaming in a gutter. I uncurl when I'm playing music, or hearing the tick tock of perfect reasoning. I uncurl when I feel compassion without burden, concern without weight, joy without insult.

Uncurling by maturing. 

Here we are, as a society, not exactly prenatal, but young. We've been growing and becoming more coherent, but we've got uncurling left. 

From my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut:

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

Can we satisfy our needs (including comfort, compassion, and enjoyment) without destroying the place? Yes. So why do we keep destroying it?

What if:
All we're missing is authentic connection - With other people - With the physical and biological world around and within us - Within the world of mind. What if we're just distracting ourselves from loneliness with all this 'progress'?

It's time to uncurl.**

* An interviewee from a new documentary, How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change, on a director's panel this week at a showing in town, described her fetal-to-postfetal self-image when she acts in the face of despair.
** Happy Easter! Uncurling, death and resurrection, either works for this idea!