One Small Step
- Michelle McCosker
- Apr 15
- 5 min read
April Newsletter Story
Planet Earth you are a CREW’
- Christina Koch / NASA Astronaut / Artemis II
Have you been obsessed with the Artemis II mission this week?
It’s bizarre - I’m not usually too much of a ‘space’ person, and my parents telling me about the Apollo missions happening in real time for them always felt like a ‘yeah yeah.. man on the moon, whatevs - I’ve got the lego’.
But now I’m watching this in real time I’m like WOW. And WHAT?????
I'm suddenly in awe.
The pictures, the physics and mechanics are astounding. But what is striking me most is the message that each astronaut, like most before them, is sharing - that living and life on Earth is a precious miracle. And from out in space, looking back, humanity looks like ONE thing… one organism upon one tiny shining blue jewel, floating in a vast void of inky black.
It’s so easy to forget this macro-lens reality when we go about daily life in a human body.
This month in the Holistic Psychotherapy training we touched on learning about ‘Parts’ - ‘a part of me feels this, but another part of me feels that’. I loooooove Parts work - and see it exisiting not only inside of people and their sense of self, but in all things around us.
A single feather from a bird - made up of different colours forming a pattern - each colour a part within a whole. Not necessarily matching or making sense, but taking up space. We can zoom in from here and look at the tiny filaments, or we can zoom out and see it is one of many feathers.
Same for the parts inside of us - the part of hope, the part of rage, the parts that have been wounded and don’t believe in themselves so much, the parts that fiercely love what they love - each taking up space, sometimes with a feeling of lack of harmony, but taking up space nonetheless and forming the glorious unique pattern of who we are.
Forming our presence.
And of course we can zoom in and listen to each part, or we can zoom out and see that we are one of many.
When Christina Koch speaks, with her fresh from space bright eyed clarity - Planet Earth you are a crew - this rings the bell of Community.
A community, or human organism, made of many parts. Many people.
A whole community of self, with a place in a whole community of selves.
And what is healing but a return to wholeness?
Teal Swan so beautifully claims that ‘Fragmentation is the plague of our time’. This is perfect clarity around what we are working with here - when we feel wounded or like crazy parts of us take the drivers seat (driven by unintegrated desire or feeling), we become split, fragmented. And the whole world knows about it as our actions project this internal state.
We see it everywhere - in politics, in families, in ourselves.
When we even just acknowledge the split or feeling of fragmentation, we start moving from a state of ‘Longing’ to ‘Belonging’ - both within ourselves, and within a greater picture. From a state of nervous system distress to a state of feeling peaceful and connected.
What does it mean to ‘belong to yourself?’ - great question and let’s chat about it.
On the surface it might be mistaken for some kind of weird encouragement for narcissism (current buzz word / high therapeutic insult). I imagine standing high on a hilltop and claiming “I belong to MEEEEEEEEEE…! Mwah ha ha ha HA “ (cue mad cackling and holding some kryptonite power rock)
So, that’s not what I mean.
I mean the deeper movement of this. I mean, no longer searching for something outside of me to change or fill me up, but ‘be’-ing at peace with what is already here. And part of that might be, being at peace with the part of me that yearns for global happiness peace and freedom. Or my own for that matter. And feeling at peace with feeling sad and uncomfortable.
I belong to myself.
I live here. In this body.
On this earth.
It’s a grand gesture of acceptance that is neither passive or activated. It allows me to continue walking with my integrity as the driver.
Just to quench the narcissism insult I need to say - I’m not doing it perfectly - just using myself as an imperfect example. Give it a try! Ask yourself - 'which part of me is driving, my thoughts and my actions, today?".
And so, zooming out, and applying this ethos to Community. Perhaps we can see ourselves as one collective ‘be’ing.
Not in competition with each other, but offering uniqueness at every turn.
No two humans the same, and yet all the same.
Community might even be, a way of future-proofing our existence!
WOW, big claim, but one worthy of thought.
Community defined here, might go something like:
Not just a group of people.But a field of relationship.
It is the place where nervous systems begin to settle,because we are no longer holding life alone.
Community is built through repeated moments of:being seen,being known,and being met without needing to perform.
It is not perfection, agreement, or constant harmony.It is the willingness to stay in relationship -to repair, to listen, to grow alongside one another.
In community, resources are not only material.They are emotional, relational, and human:care, presence, shared knowledge,a hand on your shoulder when things feel too much.
It is where individuality is not lost,but supported -where each person becomes more fully themselvesbecause they are held within something larger.
Community is resilience made visible.
It is how humans survive uncertainty,and how they remember what matters.
It is, at its heart...
love made structural.
Planet Earth - you are a crew.
And you Belong to yourself.
If something in this speaks to you, and you’re longing for a felt sense of community… our therapists would be honoured to sit with you. 🌿 |
About the Writer - Michelle McCosker
Michelle is a therapist who knows that healing isn't about fixing what's broken - it's about learning to walk comfortably, gracefully and honestly with what's here.
With training in both Holistic Psychotherapy and Art Therapy, she brings a lifetime of her own walking-with to every session. She's been to the bottom of wells, knows the terrain and befriends it in others.
She works with compassion and awareness - the two ingredients that actually change everything.
With warmth and clarity she also celebrates the gold of those she holds, and is not only wound-focused.
Michelle doesn't dig into your pain or access your wisdom for you.
She walks alongside whatever you're carrying - the pain, the questions, the judgements, the shame, the parts that hurt, the grief - with awareness and compassion.
This is healing as a movement of life, not a solution to a problem. Your shadow gets to come too.
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