What Feels Right for You?-Embracing Difference

Judith Nelson introduces a new series for 2022, which will highlight and explore ways to integrate different perspectives on various topical issues.

- By Judith Nelson. Illustration by Ananya Patel

I don’t know anyone who has found the last two years easy. For most of us, it has felt like a rollercoaster ride through a very long pandemic tunnel, with an unrecognizable landscape as we emerge!

I have felt overwhelmed by polarized and contradictory information, advice, and instructions. How to navigate the non-stop media bombardment of endless tips and tools for wellbeing, and “toxic positivity”? What to do and not do, say, think, be, look like, etc.? It’s no wonder I am tired, and it’s a relief to drop all this stuff, let myself and my feelings be what they are, accept myself, and embrace all our differences.

Life is an ever-changing picture. We are also constantly changing, even if we don’t realize or feel it. Even within ourselves, we often need to reconcile many different feelings, emotions, and thoughts, so why do we load ourselves with an expectation to be right, to be certain, and to feel the same as others? How can we learn to stand in our own “space,” among many different views, and enjoy and respect them all? That’s our challenge.

In a recent discussion, the actor Kabir Bedi asked Daaji about his views on God. Daaji said he doesn’t think much about God, and that if you ask the five most evolved human beings this question, they would all have different views. He spoke about the beauty of individuality, and the need to honor the perspective of others when they describe the beauty they see, which we might not see in the same way.