by Kathie England

Who Can We Be As We Look Toward 2022?

2021, like 2020, was not an easy year in so many ways! My posts during the second half of this year focused on the devastating effects of the climate crisis to our planet, like the temperature of 116 degrees experienced in Portland, Oregon on June 28. Though the pandemic is not over yet, many of us are very grateful for the vaccines and booster shots that are making it possible to be with family for the holiday season and even attend live theatre and concerts.

Last year the On Being podcast inspired me to modify the Prayer of St. Francis, the Prayer of Peace, to include a loving kindness meditation. My goal was to make it more inclusive to better connect with individuals of diverse beliefs and cultures. I am continuing this tradition for 2021.

As we celebrated Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021, I launched my new project Who We Can Be.  As we look forward to 2022, I believe it continues to be important to ask these powerful questions: How do we want to live? Who will we be to each other?

The title Who We Can Be was inspired by Krista Tippett’s On Being interview with Karen Murphy, the Director of International Strategy at Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit educational and professional development organization.

May this Loving Kindness Meditation inspire us to continue to imagine what is possible and to discover Who We Can Be!

Make me an instrument of peace.

Where there is hatred, let me bring love.

Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.

Where there is discord, let me bring union.

Where there is error, let me bring truth.

Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.

Where there is despair, let me bring hope.

Where there is darkness, let me bring light.

Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.

May I not seek as much to be consoled, as to console.

May I seek not as much to be understood, as to understand.

May I seek not as much to be loved, as to love.

May it be in giving that I learn to receive.

May it be in pardoning that I allow myself to be pardoned.

May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be at peace.

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be at peace.

May we embrace this message to help find the courage to take many small steps in 2022 and to be Who We Can Be!