Light, Shadow, Grasses in the Morning Sunlight
If you do not change direction, you may end where you are heading. Lao Tzu
You must unlearn what you have learned. Yoda
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Albert Einstein
A crisp, fall-like morning drew me into the woods and then to the deck to enjoy the rays of morning sun. The Muse was there with me along with the unseen elementals that thrive in these woods. Zadie Byrd rested nearby. No other creatures or critters were about.
Quiet. Deep Quiet in the woods.
In that quiet, mind wandered to several activities, projects, and possibilities asking for attention. Setting them aside, I heard a gentle nudge: the Muse reminding me of stories and how our stories create our reality.
I was drawn back to a couple of posts about just that, one of them when The Zone pivoted to become The Pivot in April 2020 [you can find it here]. Much of that post feels apropos for where we find ourselves today and the fundamental shifts that we need to continue to make, individually and collectively. In our shifts we create the possibility for new stories.
From new stories a new future rises, a future that Charles Eisenstein calls “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.” Perhaps that’s what Albert Einstein had in mind when he said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
It is as sobering and humbling today as it was 18 months ago to consider that ‘we’ created ‘this’. We’ve ‘ended up’ where we have been heading for quite some time living in our world created from the underlying stories of competition, right/wrong, good/bad, win/loose, have/have not. Language that separates and generates fear in humanity. That fear has led us to plunder the planet to a point that she proclaims, “Enough!” It has led we humans to injustice, polarization, and war over points of view different from ours.
As Yoda so wisely suggests, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” I can imagine Yoda observing our world today and advising us from his deep wisdom to create new stories. Our stories come from our thoughts and our beliefs. Stories strengthen our beliefs, even those that don’t serve us. Then, we wake up to find ourselves mired in difficult challenges, worry, or fear and looking outside for the cause. But when we have the courage to look within, we create an opportunity to find the real cause and, if we choose, to shift it.
Over the past year of change, personally and globally, I’ve tossed much of what I learned and what so many of the systems of our world continue to perpetuate (or would that be perpetrate?). I’ve shifted my thinking with more attention to how to align what’s good for me with what’s good for all, the human collective AND the planet to which I belong.
Although I hold ownership of the property where my home is, I can create different stories and make new choices when I embrace the true perspective that I belong to the land more than it belongs to me. When I embrace the earth as the source of the food that nourishes my body, I can seek to do business with those whose practices honor mother nature.
From our pivots, new possibilities emerge, and new stories can be crafted. Revisiting my ‘pivot’ to The Pivot this morning has renewed and strengthened my intention to inspire my own personal change and to plant seeds of change beyond.
To that end, I invite you to pause for a moment and ask your heart ‘what pivot do I need to make?’ Yep, it’s the thought that’s been niggling you for a while, perhaps a prickly place you know is ripe for change. What new story is possible?
Get your juices flowing with this song from the amazing singer/songwriter Jenny Bird. Put a joyful tempo in your heart and share it all around!
Gazing into the Woods Out Back