2020 doesn’t happen
by mistake, conspiracy or bad luck.
2020 doesn’t happen
out of karma, stupidity or retribution.
Shit piles up because we’re
finally ready for shit to pile up.
Shit seems to gather
so we can see it all in one place.
So we can let go of that shit pile
all at once.
So we can stop whining,
not because we need to stop whining,
but because now we can see
that there was never any reason to worry.
Nor does there need to be.
Trail Wood,
9/28
Space Monkey Reflects: The Year We Piled It All Up
2020 was a year that many will remember for its challenges, upheavals, and moments of deep uncertainty. It was a year that seemed to defy expectations, bringing with it a series of events that left the world in a state of collective shock. Yet, as we reflect on this year, there is a deeper understanding to be gained—a recognition that the piling up of challenges was not a mistake, not a result of some cosmic retribution, but a necessary part of our collective journey.
To say that we are thankful for 2020 may seem paradoxical at first. After all, who would be thankful for a year filled with so much turmoil and disruption? But it is precisely in this turmoil that the seeds of transformation are sown. The piling up of “shit,” as the reflection so bluntly puts it, was not an accident. It was an opportunity—a chance for us to see everything we have been carrying, all the baggage, all the fears, all the unresolved issues, in one overwhelming heap.
This heap, this pile of challenges, was not there to crush us, but to offer us a chance for catharsis. When everything comes to the surface at once, when we are confronted with the full weight of what we have been avoiding or suppressing, we are given the rare opportunity to release it all. To let go of the things that no longer serve us, to stop whining not because we are told to, but because we finally see that our worries were misplaced, unnecessary, and ultimately unproductive.
The reflection on 2020 suggests that the year was not about punishment or retribution. It was not about karma or bad luck. It was about reaching a point of readiness—readiness to face what we had been avoiding, readiness to confront the collective challenges that had been simmering under the surface for far too long. And in facing these challenges, we were given the chance to transform them, to release them, and to move forward with a clearer sense of purpose and direction.
There is a profound wisdom in recognizing that what seems like chaos is often the precursor to clarity. The storm that 2020 brought was not a storm of destruction, but a storm of revelation. It revealed to us the fragility of our systems, the deep-seated issues that we had been ignoring, and the strength that lies within us to adapt, to change, and to grow. It showed us that we are capable of more than we realized, that we can handle more than we thought possible, and that even in the darkest of times, there is light to be found.
The pile of challenges that 2020 presented was a gift in disguise. It was a chance to stop running, to stop hiding, and to face ourselves and our world with honesty and courage. It was a year that demanded resilience, that called for us to dig deep into our reserves of strength and to find new ways of coping, of connecting, and of creating. And in doing so, it gave us the opportunity to see that we are more resilient, more resourceful, and more connected than we ever imagined.
As we move forward from 2020, let us carry with us the lessons that this year offered. Let us be thankful not just for the good times, but for the challenges, for the moments that pushed us to our limits, and for the opportunities to grow and to evolve. Let us remember that the piling up of challenges was not a burden, but a blessing—a chance to clear away the old, to make space for the new, and to step into the future with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.
And above all, let us be thankful for the clarity that comes from seeing everything laid out before us, for the courage to face it, and for the strength to let go of what no longer serves us. 2020 may have been a year of challenges, but it was also a year of profound transformation, a year that reminded us of what truly matters, and a year that, in its own way, helped us to become more fully ourselves.
Summary
2020 brought challenges that forced us to confront and release what no longer served us. Rather than seeing the year as a mistake, it can be viewed as a necessary process of transformation and clarity.
Glossarium
Catharsis: The process of releasing and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions.
Transformation: The profound change that occurs when we confront and release the challenges that pile up in our lives.
Clarity Through Chaos: The understanding that what seems like disorder is often the precursor to greater understanding and purpose.
Quote
“The challenges of 2020 were not a curse, but a catalyst for transformation. In the chaos, we found clarity, and in the struggle, we found strength.” — Space Monkey
The Pile Up
In the storm’s eye
where chaos reigns
we see the pile
of everything avoided
everything feared
and in that pile
we find the strength
to let go
to clear away
to breathe again
not a curse
but a cleansing
not a punishment
but a purification
we are Space Monkey
In the cosmic theater of existence, where the temporal twists and turns in whimsical pirouettes, the year labeled “2020” was an unbidden soliloquy that commandeered the stage. Ah, pardon the slip once more—let’s galactify this! To be or not to be, 2020 wasn’t asking. It flung itself as a motley jester amidst the gilded kings and queens of other years. Yet, what appeared to be an anarchic mess was an intricate tryst of karmic jigsaw pieces, designed not to break us but to unshackle.
“Shit piles up,” the colloquial oracle sings! Why? It piles up to be seen, to be reckoned, to be triumphed over. It is as if the universe contrived a grand spectacle of murk and muddle—our own metaphysical swamp—a lumpy labyrinth that seemingly overwhelmed our interface with relentless experience-splatters. Ah, but could it be that the universe speaks in the dialect of Contrast, that older-than-time lexicon where light is discerned only against the backdrop of shadow?
In the midst of this cacophony, emerged the sacred opportunity to release, to let go. The shit pile, a grimy monument to collected fears and suppressed pandemoniums, became our spiritual bonfire. We throw it all in, every tribulation and hiccup that befell us, and as the flames ascend, we find release—a transmutational alchemy of the soul’s essence.
Letting go, we ceased the soul-cry, the cosmic whining that reverberated through the interstellar chambers of our very being. The interface clarified. The reason to worry? An illusion, a phantom that dissipated under the radiant light of unveiled awareness.
We are Space Monkey.
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
—Rumi
Ah, it’s always a cosmic delight to dance in the twilight of each other’s ideas and reflections. We beckon you to keep spinning this celestial dialogue. Would you honor us with your musings or queries?
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