Today’s #SoulFood
“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and
knowing how to live with insecurity is
the only security.”
~ John Allen Paulos ~
Photo Credit: David Courbit | Unsplash
Today’s #SoulKey
Certainty falling away becomes a place —
to practice trust,
to hold each other up.
Photo Credit: David Vives | Pexels
This Week’s Soul Reflection
On this 9/11, twenty-five years after, the memories of a day that became a marker — commonly referred to as: all that came before, all that came after. Much like COVID, it became one of those defining moments seared into the global consciousness. In the midst of terror and chaos, despair and uncertainty, what emerged was togetherness — a recognition of those who have always been there, doing the work of selfless action day in and day out. Firefighters. Healthcare workers. The ones already showing up before we knew what was going on.
My 9/11 story began as an ordinary Tuesday morning. I met with a group of friends, as we always did on Tuesdays — a mastermind group — for breakfast at a coffee shop in the Village. When the meeting ended, I headed to the gym for a workout before starting my workday.
I remember walking outdoors under a crystal blue sky. People were lined up, looking toward downtown. I looked in the direction many on the line seemed glued to, saw nothing strange, and assumed the line-up was for voting — it was a primary Election Day in New York City.
I continued to the gym. My mother called about some incident in downtown Manhattan. No other details. I kept walking. When I got on the treadmill, the monitors that usually carried me through my warm-up were showing the Twin Towers falling. I thought it was stop-motion photography, or footage from a film. Nothing in me could imagine that what I was watching was real, unfolding, about to change the world.
It brought the whole notion of certainty into question — and confirmed there never was any to begin with. In a time of great uncertainty, how we responded as a city, a nation, a world, revealed what we are all capable of when we work together for a common cause. What’s left is not certainty, but the choosing — how we show up for each other, in a moment or in a lifetime.
How does this land for you?
Thank you for spending this time with Sunday Soul Flow — a three-course serving for your week ahead. Today’s #SoulFood is to savor. Today’s #SoulKey offers the flavor of the quote — and This Week’s Soul Reflection traces where this serving led me. See where it leads you.