Letter 8 of 22: Reconciliationville

Good morning 2022,

Let's head up to Reconciliationville today. This trip usually occurs on 16 December, which is a public holiday known as Reconciliation Day in South Africa, but this year we took another young shot left on the day.

Have you ever been on a trip that ended up not being the trip you thought it would be? It happens, right? Trust me, I know. I've learnt a thing or two about these on the 2022 timeline. Point is, destinations are not necessarily what you thought they would be. One of the prominent lessons I learnt this year about the healing journey is that the destination is not necessarily making peace with others. I'm not saying that isn't an important aspect of Reconciliation. No. I just mean that I discovered that, maybe for me, the destination of my healing journey is finding inner peace within myself. 

This year, I focused less on what was happening around me - conflict, disagreements, miscommunication, cutting ties, betrayals etc and more on what was happening inside of me during those times - anger, frustration, annoyance and surprisingly, relief. Yes, not all conflict is bad. Some is very good for future references. Knowing were to avoid potholes. Life is like the state of the roads in South Africa - your emotional state, like the mode of transport you're using, needs to be roadworthy to carry you on rundown paths. 

When things fell apart this year, I just kept adjusting the route on the emotional GPS to locate Peace. I'll be honest, at times I hit the "your destination is on the right" when there was absolutely nothing there. At other times I got the "turn left" when left really was not an option. I guess maybe because I was done repeating certain emotional patterns which were not healthy for the sake of "peace". Then, once in a while, I was met with the occasional "you have arrived at your destination" and my, oh, my it was glorious. Being At Peace is one of the most breathtaking destinations to be. 

There were times too, when I had to meditate on the "Your people, Lord" prayer like I would the rosary. Kodwa (but) that is not an area I like to visit at Reconciliationville. Like Bruno, we don't talk about people here. 

2022,  Thank you for cleansing me of unrealistic and suffocating routes to inner peace. I'm grateful for the lesson that reconciliation begins with me...