Be the change you want to see in the world
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Mahatma Gandhi
The image of 3 year old Syrian, Aylan Kurdi has touched hearts around the world, and with good reason, humanity is in crisis.
So what are we going to do about it?
For a start we need to unplug from the fear. I am sure I am not the only one who has felt themselves all caught up in this - its inevitable isn't it, that we consider what it would be like if we were in that position, and with that comes a whole heap of emotion, our stuff then, and all the fear that comes with considering the decline of the humanity and the increasing darkness, ISIS and terror and human trafficking and torture and sexual violence. It really is the stuff of nightmares. And for some, real living, breathing nightmares.
And then add to that the helplessness we feel in not being able to do anything to change things for those suffering so much - so that there is all this energy of fear and helplessness hanging in the air - and imagine how the refugees must be feeling, a whole heap more fear and helplessness...and a hope for the love and compassion of humanity...
So actually, us staying pugged into fear and helplessness is helping nobody. From the darkness we must turn to the light.
We need to tap into ourselves. We need to sit quietly and really feel where this whole awful situation is showing up. And we need to love and forgive, love and forgive, love and forgive. Because the thing is, if we get angry, or fearsome, or bitter, or full of blame, or feel helpless and full of despair, well then we are no better than the ones initially causing the pain, because we are now causing pain is us...and believe you me, this is not going to help humanity because we are just putting this all back out there.
Mahatma Gandhi was quite right, WE need to be the CHANGE we want to see in the world. If we want to see more peace, if we want to see more happiness, if we want to see more respect for others, if we want more love, well then we have to find that in ourselves first.
You see we are all made of energy and like attracts like. So if we are full of negativity and anger and pity and shame and bitter and twisted and all of those things, well then we are more likely to attract more of that into our life. But if we are full of love and joy and compassion and forgiveness, if we are light in our vibration on this earth, well then we are more likely to attract more of that into our life. And it doesn't take a genius to work out which one is better for humanity and the world at large.
So it really does come back to us.
Because let us not forget that we are all one. I feel it and perhaps you do too. We are all one. Duality (the separation of self from 'other') is nothing more than an illusion. As my dear friend Jessica Mardon recently said to me, "there is no difference between what I recognise to be myself and the universe at large. Yet the self is an individual expression with individual talents. The purpose of a well-led life is to understand one's individual self design and contribute the best of one's individual talents to create the best collective. We manifest what we believe in. We, therefore, have personal choice to create whatever world we want for ourselves. Personal choice leads to personal responsibility to understand our true nature and unique talents and to apply them wisely for the common good of our collective nature".
Rebekah Shaman is well aware of this too. She has recently returned from 10 days of deep isolation in the Amazon jungle working with plant medicine and remarked that "we are a part of this amazing planet, we are nature personified". (Get that, we are nature personified, I love this!). She continues, "We are a humanity in crisis and the next few months are going to get rocky. Plant Medicines are here to assist with the conscious evolutionary shift so that we can remember we are, each one of us, the solution to the challenges that face us." (Get that, each one of us is the solution to the challenges we face).
So what do we do.
Well we need to love and hug. And this makes me laugh because I was getting myself so passionate about all this last night, there had been a number of coincidences in the day so that I felt truly alive with the message being conveyed and then my 21 month old son presented me with a book at bedtime that made me laugh out loud (I love the magic the Universe with its Divine dancing and how it gets the message home) because it was "Hug Time" by Patrick McDonnell, which reads:
"There was once a kitten so filled with love that he wanted to give the whole world a hug..the world is so big. And yet so small, it's time we embrace it all. There's something that we can all do. Start with the one who's closest to you. Hug time!"
It really is hug time! We need to stop doing and we start being (with ourselves). So many of us have lost our way, filling our lives with distraction, which keeps us going around in circles chasing our tails. We are living out of balance - without connection then - with our authentic self, drowning that inner yearning with all our busyness and need to accumulate material wealth (and with that a false sense of things being ok) and led falsely by the ego who feels separate from the rest of the world. Ha!
The process starts at home with the one who is closest to you...YOU. We need to start by BEING the expression of what we want to see in the world and allow the doing to come from that as an expression, rather than starting with that as our goal.
This means we need to dig deep. We need to get on our yoga mat or our meditation cushion or out in nature, and we need to be quiet and we need to listen. We know deep within how we should be living. It is our deepest yearning. We know what individual God given talents we have within us that need expression for the greater good of the collective, of the world then. It is for us to find the strength and courage to allow them expression.
We need to step beyond the fear. We need to let go of the ego, which tells us we are not good enough. WE ARE ALL GOOD ENOUGH. We are as beautiful as the most beautiful sunset, as magical as the most magical sunrise, we are as magnificent as the most magnificent flower, we are as stunning as the most stunning raindrop. We are all the same. Personification of nature. We need to tap into the heart and forgive and love and forgive and love.
We need to find a way to express ourselves in the world, the dreams, make them real, for if you don't, well then the depression and the sadness and the anger and the blame set in. We destroy ourselves, and in destroying ourselves, we destroy humanity and the world as a whole. It is imperative that we express what most makes us feel alive...As Howard Thurman wrote, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you feel alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive".
And it goes on...be love and light and happy and peaceful, treat yourself and others will the utmost respect - if you cannot love and respect yourself then how can you love and respect others? See, it is not easy, for many that will be the first stumbling block, but you do deserve it, you deserve to love and respect yourself.
And it won't be easy, the demons are close at hand. But we need to find a way to live in the flow of our intuition with faith in ourselves and in the world as a whole, in the Divine who is dancing to wake us all again...wake up, wake up, wake up, the time is nigh.
Don't let Aylan's death be in vain. Love and forgive and make changes. Be the change you want to see in the world, it really is as simple as that.
With love and light
x
To do that I’m going to have to face down a bunch of demons that tell me to plan, to construct and control and instead listen and wonder and allow myself to be moved to where it is appropriate for me to be. To live a life guided by intuition with faith in myself rather than any pre-presribed plan of what I’m going to do.
- Breaking through to this understanding can raise the consciousness of all of us and open our eyes to an expanded set of possibilities
For a more generalised shift in consciousness to occur, we would have to break through the prisoner’s dilemma that keeps us working towards individual ends, however ultimately unsatisfying that is and allows us to step into something that respects our place as part of the whole and works towards a lighter, more inspired existence. The 1% will need to support each other, such that we can build towards a critical mass, at which point it has the potential to be taken up by the general consciousness and humanity’s understanding of itself can shift.
As always, the process starts at home. It’s about being, rather than doing. I need to start by being the expression of what I want to see and allow the ‘what I do’ bit to come from that as an expression, rather than starting with that as the goal.
To do that I’m going to have to face down a bunch of demons that tell me to plan, to construct and control and instead listen and wonder and allow myself to be moved to where it is appropriate for me to be. To live a life guided by intuition with faith in myself rather than any pre-presribed plan of what I’m going to do.
So, that’s about where I’m up to. The process of dismantling is over. The process of transformation can begin.
