*Two Minute Read (Para leer en español, haga clic aquí)

My sister is a psychotherapist and in pre-Covid times had multiple patients in and out of her office daily. In her office she keeps a collection of kaleidoscopes and sometimes uses them to help her patients see how things can come together and change, often making something that may have been challenging in their lives into something beautiful.

A kaleidoscope is made of mirrors. You use a dial on the end to rotate the pieces inside creating an always changing reflection. Putting the kaleidoscope up to the sunlight helps the colors shine bold and brightly.

I thought about the idea of and images inside of a kaleidoscope a lot as I watched the election results and felt the continued division in our country. I wondered how we can bring things into the light and look at them in a way that brings beauty and cohesion, rather than separate pieces simply being together in one space.

It’s hard.  It’s challenging. And it’s certainly not as simple as looking through a little hole and turning the dial on the other end.

But like a kaleidoscope, when we bring issues into the light, it’s more difficult to hide the separation. When we continue (and in some places begin) having difficult conversations and (kindly) pointing out when people are doing or saying things that may be offensive to others, beauty will shine.

When we shift our perspective, much like turning the dial on the kaleidoscope, we can learn to empathize with others and identify how our systems are either helping or hindering others.

When we reflect on ourselves, like the mirrors inside the kaleidoscope, and honestly assess how our patterns of behavior have contributed in both positive and negative ways to where our country is today, things can also shift.

I’m not sugar coating anything. I’m not suggesting everyone needs to get along or even like one another. And I’m certainly not implying we all must be friends.

I am, though, trying to find hope in the visual of the kaleidoscope. Hope that there is a way we can come together. And when we do come together, it will be beautiful, colorful, and powerful.

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 Stevie Cromer is the Cultural and Enrichment Manager for LUNA Language Services. Stevie regularly provides engaging content to LUNA’s team to encourage a culture of care within our own LUNA family. For more suggestions and resources about how you might build a culture of care throughout your organization, please reach out to Stevie at stevie@LUNA360.com.