By Priscilla Knolle, MBBS, MAT, FACHE
The COVID-19 pandemic created a change in basic assumptions on a global scale, necessitating renewed reconciliation with the uncertainties of life, disrupting prevalent inequities, self-transformation through seizing inner power and fulfillment through expanding the boundaries of growth. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant loss of lives, challenges to the world of work, including job losses and inability to provide for one’s livelihood, poverty and undernourishment, and an almost complete social disruption. Mental health also took a toll, with increasing stress, inability to cope, and depression. Existential questions surfaced, including the meaning of life, what matters in life, the definition of success, the structures of our work life, and the control or the lack thereof over our lives.
Three years and counting since the first days of the pandemic, my conversations with friends, colleagues, neighbors, and strangers of all generations and life views reflect these continued pressures with the deep desire to restructure systems and empower one’s inner resources. In late February, my family and I had the opportunity to re-visit the popular Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, through a live concert at the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco in a “studio-soundtrack” setting. My three children, now grown up – but who grew up on the TV series – filed into the theater in nostalgia. We were not disappointed. The hall was packed with a diverse group of adults. Ina sweep of extraordinary unity and mental telepathy, we performed alongside the musicians with cheers, claps, and great big sighs. In a grand finale, our two thousand voices sang loudly and in harmony, complete with misty eyes and filled hearts. If the 2,200 people are an indication of our current state, surely the world of Avatar and our world collide.
Similar to the Hundred-Year War in Avatar, our backdrop of burnout, personal losses, and yearning might find encouragement in the key message of Avatar: The Last Airbender in owning our own power, irrespective of external circumstances.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang, the Avatar, is responsible for harmony and peace among the four external forces or elements – water, earth, fire, and air – by utilizing practices called “bending.” In this series, the world is engulfed in war, oppression, systemic inequality, marginalization, and corrupting forces of power. In responding to Aang’s hopes of finding a way to end this Hundred-Year War, the wise Lion Turtle reveals to Aang that “power comes from Bending not the elements, but from the Energy within ourselves (paraphrased).” Underlying this message of our legacy journey is Uncle Iroh, who asks Zuko, a key redemptive arc character who struggles with his path and destiny, “Who are you? What do you want?”
Key lessons from Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Our society and family do not need to define us. This is especially true if we have been subject to negative or abusive environments. (Book 3: The Beach Episode, Zuko’s character arc).
- Empathy and kindness are essential values. (Book 2: Tales of Ba Sing Se – Iroh). Be continually self-aware, applying expanded learning to daily actions and practices. What we practice becomes a habit, and through habits, we excel; role modeling is key.
- Letting go is hard but necessary to grow. Along the journey of our authenticity, not all relationships will come along with us. (Book 2: The Chakras – “Learn to let her go, or you cannot let the pure cosmic energy flow in from the universe.”)
- Equality and equity are worthy and necessary to anchor ourselves. (Book 1: Sokka and Katara). Know and have clarity when you ask for help or sponsorship. Do you want to be a part of a new and exciting project? Do you want to learn supervisory skills? Do you want to achieve a certification? Do you need accommodation for a personal situation and have a plan in place?
- Each of us, with our skill and talents has something wonderful to offer. We do not need to have exceptional abilities or gifts to contribute. When we give what we have, we will find that we have more to give and more to receive. (Book 3: Sokka, the Sword Master). Be faithful in the small steps. Let us ensure that our projects and work performance are excellent and consistent in the details as in the vision and presentations.
- Respecting and honoring people with different life-views, cultural habits, and ideas are important for a positive life. (Toph). Be open to continual mentoring. Mentoring can be just informal conversations where we cleave to words that give us wings or formal programs with specific goals. Mentoring allows us to reach levels of clarity, which in turn successfully supports sponsorship at work.
- Friendships and relationships are the most powerful forces in the world. (Roku). Develop and feed genuine relationships without the need for expectation or reciprocation. This posture of service enables open doors to future sponsorship – often from unforeseen and unexpected sources.
- Each of us can be transformed and redeemed regardless of our past mistakes or difficult circumstances. (Zuko). Retell and reframe thoughts and actions positively. Even in the grimmest circumstances, try to find light. An example is to reframe, “This tunnel is very dark,” to “I know that at the end of the tunnel is light.” This helps us negate paralysis with what we face, keep hope alive, and helps us move forward.
It is important and interesting to note in the Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series that it is well-meaning people who release and revive the frozen Aang from the iceberg, and it is in the company of his friends that Aang sets out to restore the balance of the universe. Despite being the most powerful being in both the physical and the spirit world, Aang does not travel alone. While we must develop ourselves fully and continually, as Aang would say, “If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear,” we must also willingly and joyously work with others for a satisfying life. As has been said – in order to go far and accomplish our personal vision, we must indeed travel together. This is even more critical in times such as ours in this post-COVID era, that we find our individual voices and our paths in perspective, trust, and unity with others.
