“Ours is not the task of fixing the
entire world all at once, but of
stretching out to mend the part of
the world that is within our reach.”
–Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés
On three different occasions, I’ve been told in recent months that I have an impingement. What is impingement?
My dictionary says that to impinge is to strike or collide like “sound waves to an eardrum.” Another definition is encroaching or trespassing, like “impinging on my privacy.” My three impingements are all trespassers on joints and nerves.
When my physical therapist, Linda, said, “I think you have an impingement,” I started thinking about all the other impingements happening in the world. Russia is impinging on Ukraine by invading a sovereign nation. China may do the same to Taiwan. The United States Supreme Court decided to impinge on women's reproductive health privacy and constitutional rights by striking down Roe v. Wade—so many impingements on our rights and freedoms.
And what of our collective impingement on the environment, as global climate change wreaks damage to water, air, plants, and animals? COVID-19 brought over a million deaths in the US and many other losses, such as long-term health, travel plans, changes in how we work, seeing loved ones, isolation, employment, wages, and grief. The racial reckoning that was long overdue arrived, showing us the consequence of white supremacy and its impingements on civil rights and beyond. Without humane immigration policies in the U.S., people seeking asylum are being used as political pawns as they are shipped to locations with empty promises of housing and jobs, impinging upon their humanity. The world feels calamitous in so many ways. I don’t know about you, but my capacity for holding all this overwhelms. Then I remember Dr. Estes's quote and try to see what is before me.
Impinge not only means to encroach or strike upon but to influence. While I don’t have the answers, caring for our environment and fellow citizens is always the next right decision. Thankfully, I have the privilege of medical insurance that provided me with a physical therapist who helped me fix my shoulder impingement with exercises. A podiatrist helped me with my foot.
When impingements threaten our world, we can do something that empowers another or improves our environment. Our work or presence can change a situation's energy from constriction to expansion. Always include yourself in this caring, your body and spirit. If your capacity is low, caring for yourself is enough. As Christina Baldwin says in her book, The Seven Whispers: A Spiritual Practice for Times Like These, "Ask for what you need and offer what you can." I impinge upon you to act in some way that helps us, or ask for the help you need.
Do you have an impingement? What’s calling for your attention and action? What part of the world is within your reach to influence?
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