Bridging the Divide

kristina leonardi
4 min readSep 1, 2020
Photo credit: Kristina Leonardi

We’ve experienced many severe storms both literal and figurative over the past of couple weeks — whether out-of-control fires, floods, heat waves, tornadoes, hurricanes, shootings and protests, and all the upheaval in our educational, healthcare, entertainment and sports worlds — culminating in the political conventions for the upcoming presidential election, in which each side painted the other in the most apocalyptic way.

As the famous line from Lincoln’s speech goes, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” This sentiment was in response to the very literal Black and white issue in our nation at the time, i.e., slavery and the division it caused in our union. We are very much continuing to deal with that era’s repercussions, which are coming up very loudly at this moment to be confronted and healed in a more profound way than ever before.

And in the broader context, it’s important not to get sucked into the polarity, the absolutism of everything, the duality of good vs. evil and us vs. them. Right now it’s especially easy — with all the propaganda from both sides — to get into a catastrophic or doomsday mindset. This is certainly a challenging time, and people, property, businesses and ways of life are dying and/or permanently changing, but when we accept that this is all part of the much bigger transformation I’ve talked about here many times, you can switch into a less extreme, more detached attitude in order to be a constructive rather than reactive part of the process.

And we must get there, because when each of us individually is divided within our mind, body and spirit, we cannot stand collectively as a whole and healthy society. In other words, when we are divided, we are much more susceptible to being conquered. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in being conquered on any level. So how can we resist becoming a casualty of the conquest? We need to start with ourselves, hence this PGG, called Grey’s Anatomy which you can find here on Medium.

And to learn more about how you can help bridge the divide, you can check out this interview where Rick Young of What’s In Your Hand Radio Show started out by asking me what I would say if I were speaking at the Democratic convention. I had no idea what he was going to ask in the hour-plus interview, which meant all of my answers were off the top of my head, and here’s how I responded.

And this PGG Video of week is a clip from a talk I gave in February, right before the world turned upside down. I talk about how some days are good, some days are not so good, and how we need to listen to ourselves and learn to go with the flow of life, which can help us be more detached and neutral as we navigate the tempest that lies ahead.

Because the more of us who remain calm in the eye of the storm, the more unified we will be internally, and then can join forces externally to get to the other side as one nation, indivisible, and stronger than ever before.

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And in case you missed these, you can read my essays here on Medium that specifically address the current crisis: Quality Control: How to make the best of these times of quarantine and questioning, How to cope with (and benefit from) what you can’t see during the time of corona, United We Stand and Anatomy of Awareness. You can also check out The Pain of Being, which talks about the George Floyd/BLM protests.

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Kristina Leonardi is a nationally recognized career and life coach, speaker and author who for over 12 years has empowered individuals to make lasting professional and personal changes aligned with their true passions and talents while fulfilling their role in the world at large. With a holistic and personal growth-oriented approach, she has helped hundreds of men and women over the past decade improve their job performance, enter or re-enter the job force, change careers, better manage their time and stress, and live happier, more meaningful, balanced lives. Her specialty is working with people who feel stuck or are in transition and can help you clarify exactly what you want to do, identify blocks, issues, and patterns in your way, and offer proven ideas, resources, and action steps to get you there.

Click here for info about Kristina’s coaching and speaking services

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kristina leonardi

Speaker,Coach,Writer.Very Tall. Expertise:People. All kinds, what makes 'em tick, how they fit into the world, how they can best connect to themselves + others.