Holding contradictions is an old spiritual wisdom to help you navigate life’s complicated realities.

Right now, people power is on the rise globally as authoritarian governments are also on the rise. One reality is not more right, but they are hard to make sense of at the same time. They key to contradictions is not to solve them, but instead welcome both sides and listen for the wisdom.

For years, I pitted two parts of myself against each other, I separated my spiritual self and my activist self into the two worlds. I found that spiritual folks resisted my activist intensity, and activist community resisted my desire to use spiritual tools. So I learned to live with both truths in contradiction.

Then an indigenous elder challenged me to listen to spirits while facilitating an activist training. I took his challenge, and found myself using the spiritual tools of chakra healing, energy work, and smudging to help groups recover from conflict.

Now in many societies spiritual wisdom and social justice are connected, but with the colonial history of Christianity, many people are cautious about spirituality. But when I brought spirituality and activism together, a larger wisdom was illuminated: colonial systems are falling down globally.

Now I can see how colonialism globally is getting challenged successfully, and new/old ways of being are taking hold in Africa, the Americas, and many places around the world.

Welcome life contradictions. With the rise of people power and authoritarian governments, I invite you to hold both. Hold them and yourself with care, and the wisdom will come.