Yuuyaraq: Love and the warmth of life

When sitting in front of my wood stove in prayer on the first day of 2012, I found my thoughts drifting back to the Catholic wake and funeral for my uncle this past Christmas.

Kneeling at his coffin, I placed my hand wrapped in a Rosary on the back of his right hand, which was resting on top of his left hand.

For some reason, I'm compelled to make that final contact at the coffin as part of the grieving process.

This is ritual. I'm always sort-of taken aback by the hard and cold sensation of the deceased loved-one's skin, especially the concrete hardness and how the warmth and softness are completely gone. I've been reflecting on the halting, stark contrast of the sensation of my warm and relatively soft hand on the once warm-to-the-touch skin of my "blood." Now, the sensation is like touching a cold, hard, rounded Cooper River rock.

I'm compelled to write about this as the contrast of cold and warmth leads me to believe that the warmth we possess as the living is all about goodness and light. Every one of us is walking with and powered by the endless energy of love.

Just the idea of the complexity of our brains linked to all other parts of our bodies, functioning in synchrony and producing thought and emotions, is overwhelming in contrast to cold, hard and stilled physical death.

In my faith tradition we're called to do God's will. It seems so evident that this is the case when I think of my uncle's lifeless hand.

When the warmth of our being is influenced in not so positive ways, maybe we should take a minute and filter through the incoming, as I call it.

How could I allow, whatever the negative input is, affect the nuclear-powered warmth and overwhelming goodness I possess - a gift from God?

We are all, individually, placed here to advance goodness and love. We are vulnerable and flawed beings who have the capacity to stay well or heal and bounce back to a better place with the appropriate supports.

As we exit the holidays and enter into the depth of our cold winter, we might keep in mind that there are supports in the community to stay well, as well as supports for those of us who experience depression, addiction, loneliness, etc. Human resiliency and the ability to not only bounce back, but to be in a better place, is an attribute that is best facilitated by "community."

Yuuyaraq, the Alaska Native term for "wellness," includes "community," in addition to the three traditional elements in the Western definition of the term: mind, body and spirit.

I'm starting the year in community, and hope that you will be easy on yourself when you feel hope dwindling and that you are losing your warmth. There are many places to refuel, stay emotionally warm for the winter months and enhance Yuuyaraq.

Making your New Year happy may take some work, but you're worth it - for yourself and for our community, as we propel love forward toward the light of warm days to come.

Paul Maguire is a Palmer resident and former professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is the facilitator of the Center for Creating Peaceful Neighborhoods and advocates for eliminating bullying and fully including all people in community.

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