Category: conscious change
What Kind of World Do You Want

What Kind of World Do You Want

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If our phone is damaged we might have it repaired. After the repair there is a reboot that happens. Information might have been lost so we have the opportunity to decide if we want to reinstall all the old information or choose start over with new information. Most of the time we will just reinstall all the old data because it’s easier than inputting choices of contacts we want to keep, photos, apps. It’s tedious to review every bit of the old. It’s time-consuming. And a real pain.

We’re in a time now where the system is damaged. We’ve known it hasn’t been working for quite a while. So during this time of pause we have the opportunity to choose what we will input once things are up and running again. And so the question comes, What kind of world do we want?

Do we want more time at home with family? Do we want to do more things that enrich our life? Do we want to feel more compassion, more connection, more Oneness? Everything is up for renewal, rebooting.

So in this time of pause, the gift we are given is the choice to make changes that will steer us into a new direction. It’s easier to go back to what we’ve known but will we have the courage to make life-enhancing choices? Every one of us is being given the opportunity to choose…What kind of world do you want?

World

by Five for Fighting

Got a package full of wishes

A time machine, a magic wand

A globe made out of gold

No instructions or commandments

Laws of gravity or

Indecision’s to uphold

Printed on the box I see

Acme’s build a world to be

Take a chance, grab a piece

Help me to believe it

What kind of world do you want?

Think anything

Let’s start at the start

Build a masterpiece

Be careful what you wish for

History starts now

Sunlight’s on the bridge

Sunlight’s on the way

Tomorrow’s calling

There’s more to this than love

What kind of world do you want
The Way Home

The Way Home

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The other day I reflected on survival resources. Not outer ones that address our physical needs but inner ‘resources’ that help us find our way back…home, to balance, to sanity.

We live in a time of global Unknown where our health, careers, food, money, and even toilet paper can be sources of stress and anxiety. Things we took for granted are quite suddenly not as dependable.

For the most part I’m handling this time with calm, groundedness. There are moments where tears come for the suffering of the world, where I take a journey down the bumpy ‘what-if’ road but I find my way back. So I questioned myself…how do I find my way back to that place of calm, grounded, peace?

 As I asked the question I started seeing scenes from underwater caves…of my first dive into a high-flow cave system, of a dive in Mexico when one of our team members had light failure in all three lights, when a guy leading our group out of a cave took a wrong turn (but we quickly steered him back to the correct line)…of one of my first open water dives as a newly certified diver diving with two guys I didn’t know and coming up in a maelstrom and them leaving me to my own devices underwater to find my way back to the boat or the shark dive that had the entire hungry shark cast coming to me as I struggled against the current (also a newish diver and left by my dive buddy).

Those scary times and more all gave me experiences in problem-solving, working together, learning to remain calm when things around me were stressful. Those times prepared me for this time we are all experiencing now. I have successfully navigated situations that required me to momentarily suspend the fear and make a plan to make it through to completion of the experience.

These steps can be applied to any situation in life. And I credit PADI, the dive training agency for my open water diver and eventually my instructor training, with the simple solution: STOP, BREATHE, THINK, ACT.

As that newly certified diver surfacing in six foot seas and lightning popping all around, the first thing I thought was, OH SHIT! The next thing I thought was…Stop, breathe, think, act.I stopped, looked around. A boat was close enough to swim to even though it wasn’t the boat I was a guest on. I took some deep breaths and then decided to swim to that boat to rest. Even though they didn’t want me to board their boat because I wasn’t a paying guest, I not-so-politely told them to get out of my way and let me board to rest. I rested, calmed myself even more and then made a plan with their dive master and the boat crew which I had to swim back to. I got my compass out, took a heading, dropped back down underneath the six foot seas and made that lonely, hard, against-the-current swim back to the boat.

That dive stands out because things happened that were unexpected…the current changed from a slight current to a raging current coming from the other direction. The surface changed from a slight chop to six foot seas. Clear skies changed to lightning-filled raging heavens. I took the conditions at the beginning of the dive for granted. Was paired with two guys I didn’t know who were there until they decided to leave me while I was doing a visual check at the surface. What I expected to remain the same didn’t…in any way. So I had to adapt and remain calm to find my way back to the boat…to home base.

During this current time, the Unknown is really all we can be sure of so I offer the PADI dive reminder….Stop….Breathe….Think….Act.

Remember how you have successfully navigated past stress and trauma with healthy coping strategies. If you haven’t used life-enhancing methods, now you are being given the opportunity to develop them.

Stop….whatever you are doing when you start to spin-out or get anxious about the future just pause your thoughts and actions. Sit down and then….

Breathe….take some nice clearing breaths focusing on your body.

Think….you are in a temporary state of heightened anxiety. Until you are calm and grounded, abstain from decision-making. Spend some time breathing and thinking about ways you can navigate this moment….not the month or the year….this moment. Make a plan for the next half hour, hour, half-day, day.

Act…once you have a well-thought plan, then take action.

When we find ourselves spinning with anxiety we can practice good self-care by developing strategies that will lead us back home to our self. Call upon all of who you are and all the past experiences where you learned vital life skills and coping mechanisms….and if you never learned them celebrate the opportunity to learn them now.

 
The Lie of Security

The Lie of Security

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The three of us sat there, in the back of the bagel shop, in our own force field of power. It might not have looked that way as three middle-aged women shared ways we are leaving the old paradigm and forging forward into new territory, but the energy was palpable.

Each of us, in our own way, is releasing the fears that keep us stuck in the old beliefs of how money works, how our work in the world can be expressed and we are standing with a foot in each world trying to maintain balance.

Sound familiar? People are doing this all over the planet. We are leaving the idea that you must be chained to the status quo in order to survive. Sort of feels like the Matrix movie. Do you choose the red pill or the blue pill? Do you want to know the truth or continue to feed a system that is toxic just to have the illusion of security?

Definition of security: “Freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, or loss.” (Dictionary.com)

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Helen Keller wrote that.

I would rather live life as a daring adventure than be stuck in fear that keeps me chained to the old paradigm. The red pill reveals the unpleasant knowledge and the truths of everyday life, the blue pill keeps us in ignorance. I know which one I will choose every single time. What about you?
Goodbye Television

Goodbye Television

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For a while now I’ve wanted to stop watching television. I didn’t watch much the last several years but had streaming channels that offered just enough drivel to keep me hooked into mindless vegetative bingeing on occasion.

Recently I changed wireless service providers and decided it would be a good time to back away from the TV. I have a few movies I kept after giving most as donations…The Bird Cage, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Young Frankenstein….just enough to give a laugh when needed.

After unplugging my Apple TV and staring at a big, black glass rectangle I had a strange reaction….I actually felt withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately I began reading more and found a sample of a book I downloaded a while back. I decided to purchase it as it was quite perfectly timed. The title? The Way Home: Tales from a Life without Technology.

Mark Boyle lives in Ireland and wrote a book about leaving the world of technology. His was an extreme choice. It wasn’t just a screen…it was nearly everything. No indoor plumbing, no electricity…he even opted to leave music behind unless it was live. No email, no computer, no social media. Nothing…except an occasional ferry, ship or train travel and he even walked to get to those.

Reading Mark’s book made me realize stopping the majority of television-watching was really nothing compared to leaving nearly all technology behind. The book is very interesting and didn’t convince me to do it…ever…unless I have to.

The main time I would watch was after working at a part-time retail job that can be rather draining. As an empath, being around so many people is challenging so the TV was a way to numb out after work. Not a great choice but better than some I suppose. I would prefer being outside but with sweltering temperatures I pass on that until later at night.

So the first few days were weird. After a bit of a shock at realizing how much I was addicted to it, I began to feel so much more mental and physical energy. As much as possible I would go outside, even if only for a few minutes, and just breathe with the trees. I found my entire brain function felt different. And there was extra energy to do things I love…writing, playing music. But I also faced the feelings that surfaced when I didn’t numb out watching mindless garbage.

Who knew that watching television, even fluffy, funny stuff, could affect us so much?

I’m not saying I don’t pull out a few movies here and there and allow myself some vegetative time…I think we need time off on occasion. But I don’t turn the thing on every day and I’ve even put it and my home theater system up for sale. I don’t want to take it when I move.

Something that also transpired is I no longer have an internet modem constantly bombarding my home with a wi-fi signal. I have a hotspot I use only when I post on my blog or upload photographs to my photography site or do maintenance on my web page. I wonder if that isn’t making a really positive difference as well.

It’s taken me years to make this choice and its amazing how much better I feel–cleaner energetically, clearer mentally and more aware emotionally.

Next in line….reduce time on social media. And who knows what will follow.
The Tower Crumbles

The Tower Crumbles

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The other night in meditation, a very strong vision came and I watched with discomfort as the Tower I stood on with my white horse started to crumble. But it wasn’t crumbling from any outer force. It was falling apart because the horse and I were striking it. The white horse reared up and used both front feet to begin the destruction and I slid off her back and grabbed a sledge hammer and aided her. Then I saw my child self and teenage self arrive and begin to work with us. There came a point when the energy was so intense the three parts of myself were hitting each other and the guide intervened and reminded us not to turn on each other. Then as the Tower fell, the horse took the three of us to safety on her back. The ground turned to boiling lava so the horse flew us to safety…a green pasture beside a clear stream. The edge collapsed and we went into the water where we were washed clean.

It wasn’t the most peaceful meditation. It was more of a journey into the reality of what is happening not just in my life but with all of us. The old paradigm is crumbling and the process is scary and filled with danger. We even turn on others we care about in the process of dismantling the old way of living.

Today I was opening boxes I packed nearly a year ago when I had a near-sale of my home and the buyers were pushing me to get out quickly. When they ghosted, I never bothered to unpack. So I decided to open all the boxes and get rid of more stuff…if I haven’t used it why keep it?

I came to a box of books on the Ocean, whales and dolphins…some of my most precious books. When I started looking at them I stopped and hugged the box to me and wept deeply for my cetacean brothers and sisters and our beautiful seas and all life that hangs in a very precarious place. I allowed myself to feel the grief and be with feelings of great sadness.

What a strange time to be alive. We are watching the old paradigm be challenged every day and it rears up and shows its abusive self…but we are collectively taking it down….piece by piece.

It’s a time of intense emotions and fears and great anger at what is being done to innocent children and wildlife and wild places. Ultimately compassion and kindness and a deep, fierce love and devotion is what is needed. The kind of love that stands up and says…NO MORE! We are experiencing the old paradigm die within ourselves and in the world around us.

This is a time when we need to forge bonds of love and compassion and reach out to those experiencing difficulties….and who isn’t these days? It’s not a time to isolate ourselves even though we might need time alone to access stillness and inner silence. A phone call, a visit, an email or text….are you okay, friend?

The new is found within the old so as we witness and feel the old falling away, let us be mindful of the seeds of new awaiting nurturing so they can take root and grow and thrive. Water those new seeds, give attention to what you wish to create.

Stay hydrated, rest, take time to be still and quiet, eat well, talk to friends who understand, talk to a life/spiritual coach, be outdoors, get a massage, take a salt bath. Take loving care for you are birthing a new world from within yourself.