Category: Lightwork

Gotta Change Our Way of Thinkin’

Gotta Change Our Way of Thinkin’

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Last week I attended the annual homeowner’s meeting in our neighborhood. All was going well until just before the meeting adjourned. A guy brought up the fact that a neighbor, who is not a member of the association was receiving the community bulletin board emails. He was irate. Another guy became irate, then another and I felt like I was watching nice, decent men transform into two-year-olds throwing a temper tantrum because two of their neighbor kids refused to join their koolaid club.

While I make light of the display, it upset me for days. The precipitating event was many years in the past but these men were holding thought forms that made it 100% real just last Sunday. I could actually see an energy shift in their faces and it was as if they were possessed by something nasty, something scary even. These are very nice guys so how could they transmute into such angry, spiteful beings?

Of course, I had to speak up….perhaps things in the past should be left there…don’t we want to create a sense of community through communicating with each other? Why such anger after so many years? It’s not like they’re getting free cable.

After recovering from the emotional outburst I witnessed and processing it within myself, I saw it as a tremendous teaching. This is exactly what happens when we refuse to change our way of thinking. The thought forms grow in strength and become more and more real.

How many times have you heard corporation CEO’s or politicians or your neighbor or even yourself say some of these things? “It’s impossible to switch from fossil fuels.” “We have to use fossil fuels.” “We can’t do without oil rigs in the Gulf.” “There’s not enough wind to make windmills useful.” “Solar is too expensive.”

I could go on but you get the drift. Each time we think these thoughts or others like them, we are literally creating a world where those statements become reality. I have heard many times that our thoughts create the reality in which we live. Group thoughts are even more powerful, as I saw last weekend.

Who are you listening to these days? What are the thoughts you repeat to yourself and others?

“Gonna change my way of thinkin,’ make myself a different set of rules. Gonna put my good foot forward, Stop being influenced by fools.” These lyrics from Bob Dylan offer something to think about…literally THINK about. We have the power–our MINDS–to begin to change this world. First we must listen to what we’re saying to ourselves and others. Then we can begin to change our way of thinkin’ and make a better world.

Everyday People Making a Difference

Everyday People Making a Difference

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When Bon Secour diesel mechanic John Sherman heard of the oil spill last spring, he began wondering what he could do to help. He had lived around the water and worked on boats for most of his life and knew what was at stake with such a devastating disaster. He told his wife Linda, “I can help clean up this oil.”

So an idea began to form in John’s mind and the result was a skimmer that can work in shallow water and worked so well the US Coast Guard, Department of Defense and even BP got excited. John and Linda applied for a patent and negotiated with a corporation that was set to purchase several and mass produce them to use in spills all over the country. Then before the Deepwater Horizon was capped, BP pulled the plug on all skimming operations and cancelled the order.

But it hasn’t stopped John and Linda. They believe their skimmer can be used in small marinas, along shorelines where boat traffic is heavy, and in any inshore, shallow water where everyday fuel and oil spills occur. And that is often, according to statistics on oil spills. Their vision is for the skimmers to be used as a method to improve and maintain water quality.

Leo Denton, a resident of Dauphin Island, Alabama, is working to bring the environmental and eco-spiritual aspect of the spill to the forefront. His passion and love of the water and land around south Mobile county and his desire to bring people together in community is an effort he is putting forth to heal the spiritual wound created by the spill and to educate others on the healing process of the environment.

Lori Bosarge, in Coden, Alabama, is working to help others in the commercial seafood industry. She is networking with others to raise awareness of illnesses beginning to increase due to crude oil and dispersant. From personal experiences related to toxic exposure, she is reaching out to others.

While kayaking between Dauphin Island and Little Dauphin Island today, I thought about the many individuals who are working to bring awareness to the needs of the communities along the Gulf Coast, including the community of wildlife and marine life who are deeply loved here. Independent scientists, diesel mechanics, artists, university instructors, photographers, chiropractors, teachers, writers, salon owners, print shop owners, marketing strategists….the list really is endless. And even readers of this blog, by reposting and sharing it, are working to bring light to the plight of the Gulf Coast.

As we share information and learn to work cooperatively, we really can make a difference. We can change the destructive path we’ve been on and create a better way. This happens with everyday people that choose to reach out, stand up and share from their heart.

How to Save the Planet

How to Save the Planet

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Over the past year I have experienced an inner struggle. I feel profound love for the Earth yet the environmental damage I’ve witnessed from the oil spill has created immense inner frustration and anger. Love has kept me present while walking the beaches, yet there has been a progressive closing of my heart. I did not know what to do to make a difference, how to take action, how to help the planet. I felt the pain from the water, land, animals, plants….people.

I fully immersed myself in the Gulf work because of love, yet have rarely allowed myself the pleasure and joy of connecting with pristine areas since I began it. If I opened myself to these areas of beauty, I would have to open to the pain within.

Because by nature I am a positive and open person, the fire of my heart began to speak loudly. Girl, get out there and deal with your ‘stuff.’ So yesterday I journeyed to the Smoky Mountains in an effort to reconnect with this sacred area, to commune with the land and water, the plants and animals there–and to take the risk to open to beauty.

I left my home before sunrise and spent the entire day opening and connecting with treasures of the Earth. One hour into my trip and the heaviness on my heart was gone. My spirit had broken through the sadness, the grief for Mother Earth. There was snow, ice, hoar frost, moss-covered rocks, pristine streams, blue sky, happy people, elk, hawks, deer, fog, mountains….endless opportunities to see and experience precious life. As I drove from place to place, I listened to music, sang, whooped and shouted ‘thank you’ to everything I passed and even danced (not THAT difficult to do while driving…even on steep, curvy roads). The day became a celebration of life!

In Cades Cove I came upon a giant tree that had fallen with a winter storm. I climbed onto the massive trunk and peered into the hole that had caused the beautiful tree to fall. As I put my hands on the wood, I realized that closing my heart created a hole within me. As I moved through the rest of the day I pondered this truth.

If I close my heart, for whatever reason, I create a chasm that cannot be filled. Only an open heart can receive….and give.

Questions echoed within me as I walked and sat within nature. What if I open my heart without any expectation that others will meet me in that space? What if I choose LOVE as a way to make a difference? What if I dare to open to the dance of helping others learn to care for this precious planet out of love, out of compassion?

At the end of the day I knelt beside delicate wildflowers and whispered sweet words of gratitude for their presence. I sat on moss-covered rocks in the middle of streams and laughed as clear water danced onward. My heart connected with the amazing life force in the woods and streams and I gently came into balance again.

*Love–exponential….sweet…..transcendent…luminescent….this is the key to saving the planet, the key to saving ourselves. My vision quest ended with this truth.

The Universe can only fill an open vessel.

(*this series of words comes from the song Foundling by David Gray. “At the feet of love, sweet transcendent love, exponential love, luminescent love. Feast your heart on love.”

Breath of Spring

Breath of Spring

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The morning started with my usual walk down and back up the mountain. After breakfast, I was opening the door to the deck to add some orange peels to the ‘compost.’ I saw two turkey hens. Then four…no six….no eight! I ran and got the turkey call box my brother made. Just two tries and a resounding GOBBLE!!! came from another direction. WHAT?!!?! I tiptoed across the deck and beheld two beautiful, puffed-out tom turkeys strutting after the hens. All of this was happening within ten feet of my deck. I felt lifted by the beauty of the morning.

After bursts of energetic laughter, I came upstairs to work. But my thoughts turned to a beautiful connection I have made recently, another soul on the path of service to the Earth… and then to Joanna Macy’s words that I heard last night on the radio. It felt as if doors were flying open in my heart and mind with the fresh, warm, spring breezes.

I reflected back to last Sunday. I sat at my computer working on prints for an upcoming exhibit. I received a notice on FaceBook that Malidoma Patrice Some was speaking in five minutes at a local bookstore. After two minutes of arguing with myself about whether to go, it felt like hands pushing me out of my chair, away from my desk. I ran downstairs, leaving the printer working.

I arrived 15 minutes late but just in time to see him stand and begin his teaching. Many things he said spoke to me, especially about ancestors and remembering the help we have from the realm of Spirit. He said by virtue of becoming aware of Spirit, we are qualified to do the work we came here to do. We have to ask for help and be specific.

During the past year of documenting the oil spill and recovery, I knew that I was doing the work, was on task and fulfilling my purpose. But how far did the Work reach out into the world? Was anybody listening? So I decided to put into practice what Malidoma suggested and ask for help. I was specific about needing doors opened so the Work could move out into the world. That was a week ago.

Yesterday, in Atlanta, I met with two of the guys that are participating in the Spirit of the Gulf Coast project. I thought I heard echos of universal laughter as we shared ideas about creating Work that moves out into the world to help people recognize the beauty of Earth and love our planet more. The two meetings we had caused me to return to Asheville later than usual. Because of this ‘divine timing,’ I heard an interview on NPR, while driving, with Joanna Macy that grabbed my attention. She said some of the EXACT words that Brandon and I had shared at our meetings. And to bring this story full circle, this morning I dove into Joanna’s website with an appetite like a starved soul. She shows the way to put into action what I have dreamed of and prayed for over the past year.

I feel as if I can breathe again. Spring has entered into my consciousness. I asked the ancestors to open doors and they were ripped from their hinges with joy and light! Joanna Macy says that we are experiencing The Great Turning, a point where people are awakening and turning toward caring and loving the Earth and each other. We are alive during this wondrous shift of consciousness. We are aware of the horrors being done to the planet now, and in the past, and we are coming together to make a difference. We are collectively beginning to realize, in the web of life, everything is interdependent.

For the doors that are opening, I am grateful. For new connections with kindred spirits, I am grateful. People are hearing the call to help the planet and we are finding each other. We are becoming catalysts for each other. Joanna said that this is a time to join with others of like-mind, to do what we cannot do by ourselves, to understand with others what we cannot understand by ourselves. I find peace in knowing just how true those words are as they echo through my mind, my heart, the depths of my being.

We Are Masters of Our Destiny

We Are Masters of Our Destiny

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Contrary to what corporations and governments want us to believe, we have the ability to change the world. How sad when we see ourselves as victims….to oil/gas prices, to toxic spills, to a degrading environment. Often I have heard friends say, “I’m only one person…I can’t make a difference, so why bother?”

We have the power to change the world by the choices we make. When we infuse our day with conscious choices, we are influencing the direction of life on our planet. Our choices add to uplifting of the world or its continued degradation.

Nobody ever promised it would be easy. If the mass consciousness is suffocated with fear and anxiety, it takes a strong will to see through this fog and choose a different way. Honestly, it’s much easier to follow the status quo; however, the only way to create change is to actually be the change we want. Taking personal responsibility for every decision, every choice, is a key to creating positive change.

So what will wake us from our collective sleep? What will shake us from the illusion that we cannot make a difference? Another oil spill, gas prices over $5 a gallon in the US? More cuts to programs that add to our civility so more war can be waged over oil in the Middle East? A growing economic gap in the US between the top 1% of wealth-holders and the rest of us? More oil companies (and coal companies…let’s not forget them) telling our government what to do and how high to jump?

WHAT WILL WAKE US FROM OUR SLUMBER?

Each of us has our own, personal tipping-point. Mine was the Gulf Oil Spill. I stayed intentionally and blissfully uninformed of many of the horrors surrounding me….environmental degradation, wars, worldwide population explosions….and on and on ad-naseum. I cared but I did not want to be too informed because of the pain it caused within my mind and heart. But then, BP created an environmental disaster that hit home, literally. And my wake-up call came April 20, 2010.

The past ten months have been difficult as I have witnessed, first-hand, oiled beaches and water, sick wildlife, dead wildlife, and far-too-few clean-up workers removing oil. And now, dolphins aborting their babies and dying in record numbers. The research I have done has only increased my struggles to deal with not only this disaster, but worldwide apathy to the plight of our beautiful planet. The only way I find inner peace and calm is to actively be part of the solution.

It takes ‘muscle’ to remain aware because it is painful to stay informed. Are we willing to work hard to stay awake, aware–conscious. The more of us that make that commitment, the greater our world will be. We are the creators of our destiny.

“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.” Lyrics from “World” by Five for Fighting