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Living in YOUR Rhythm

Home Sweet (Away from) Home

Home Sweet (Away from) Home

Conditions become chaotic when you are not in a position to manage the harmonics of your core energy to create. Gregge Tiffen (The Journey Continues: Time Travels – July 2010)

I’m reminded of this Gregge Tiffen wisdom as I look out at the multi-faceted chaos in our world. And, as I walk through current events in my life.

Maintaining order is an inside job. Peace within creates peace and order as we walk through the events presented to us on our path. Managing personal energy by living in your unique rhythm is key.

While others can support us on our walk and may even help discover our rhythm, the responsibility is ours alone to manage our energy whatever the conditions, whatever the event. When we move through life in our unique rhythm – our pace, our style, our ways of being – we can experience life in its glorious flow.

Your rhythm is unique to you. It is the beat of the drum to which you naturally and easily respond. It knows no stress, no overwhelm. There is no right or wrong. Simply there is your rhythm, your tempo – YOUR way of life. When we operate in our unique rhythm we experience harmony in body, mind, and spirit. Life flows.

We find our individual rhythm by experimentation and discovery, listening for our beat, noticing when life flows easily even in challenging times. When that is our experience, we are living in our rhythm. Notice it. Nurture it. Allow it to speak and inform. Notice times when you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or that conditions are in control. These are clues that you are not living in your rhythm.

I’m particularly aware of this as I handle the estate of my dear cousin who died unexpectedly three weeks ago. Her passing necessitated a road trip across five states and 1200 miles. It finds Zadie Byrd and me away from home for an extended time, finding our rhythm in a new environment with new challenges, new opportunities, and more interaction than in our quiet Crestone life. Adjusting, while not allowing events and conditions to overwhelm.

As I began preparing for the journey, I promised myself that I would stay in my rhythm and practice extreme self-care throughout. ‘No rush.’ ‘Everything in its time.’ ‘Allow – don’t push (and don’t be pushed).’ These are my daily mantras. They help me live in my rhythm in this new territory with its rich opportunities for learning. They remind to adjust when stress or chaos creep in.

More than ever, I’m reminded that I/we are not the chaos in the world.  Rather, I am/we are each here to walk through, to navigate, to learn to live in our rhythm, whatever that is, in ways that maintain our peace within. No matter what.

Nourished by Art and Nature

Nourished by Art and Nature

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What's In Front of You

Marty's Place.jpg

Whatever is in front of you is what you have in front of you. That’s it! Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: Creative Power Released – July, 2011)

For a couple days I’ve thought about taking a vacation from these weekly posts. This morning I pulled out one of Gregge Tiffen’s booklets, Do the Angels Take a Vacation?, thinking I might find a pithy quote supporting that choice. Of course, the angels, the etheric, the unseen worlds operate 24/7/365. So, where I was led instead was to a different booklet.

The quote above immediately jumped off the page and into the muse. I had an awareness of my commitment to showing up each week to discover what wants to be shared. THAT’s what is in front of me on Wednesday morning each week.

Yes, I could use the family matter that is the focus of most of my attention these days as a reason to take a break. But as I let that choice try to settle in my bones, that ‘reason’ felt more like a cop-out, an excuse. Not that I was laying a guilty ‘should’ at my feet,  taking a break was a choice that would not bring me any sense of satisfaction.  I would miss the connection that I feel when I tap the ‘send’ button.

As I realized this and shifted my choice, my spirit lightened. I didn’t need to choose ‘this’ OR ‘that’. Both are possible and when the post is complete, I can easily put the other matter right back in front of me without a sense of pressure or overwhelm. Whew!

What’s in front of me is what’s in front of me and I am at choice about the quality and the quantity of attention whatever that is receives.

There is much in front of each of us these days. Some of it very close and personal. Some a broader focus of our care and concern for humanity and the planet.

While we may not choose the details of the event before us, ever present is the choice of how we walk through each event and how we use them to contribute to our personal growth and expansion in a world that needs our unique piece of the puzzle in order for it to unfold.

So, what IS in front of you right now? How will you use it for you?

Sign of the Times

Sign of the Times

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From Domination to Love

Sangres Sunrise

Sangres Sunrise

For thousands of years, Western culture has become increasingly obsessed with the idea of dominance: with dominance of humans over nonhuman nature, masculine over the feminine, wealthy and powerful over the poor, with the dominance of the West over non-Western cultures. Deep ecological consciousness allows us to see through these erroneous and dangerous illusions. Bill Devall, Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered

This week finds me immersed in a personal family event, so the weekly muse is taking a break from writing my usual post. Yet even with much of my attention elsewhere, the need for laying old systems to rest and bringing forth new ones is ever present in every aspect of our lives.

This week I invite - no, I encourage - you listen to Humanity’s Team co-founder Steve Farrell interview conscious business pioneer, Hazel Henderson. Find it here.

Then, think about, indeed dare to imagine an economy that is fair, just, equitable. One where dominance has no seat at the table. And, deep ecological consciousness has a voice.

What is possible? What will you do to contribute to the pivot toward this possibility?

Cottonwood Creek Nearby

Cottonwood Creek Nearby

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Stewardship in The Great Turning

Sunrise in the Sangres

Sunrise in the Sangres

If there is to be a livable world for those who come after us, it will be because we have managed to make the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society. . . . While the agricultural revolution took centuries and the Industrial revolution took generations, (the Great Turning) has to happen within a matter of years. It also has to be conscious—involving not only the political economy, but the habits, values and understandings that foster it. Joanna Macy (from Pace e Bene’s This Nonviolent Life: Daily Inspiration for Your Nonviolent Journey - July 3, 2020)

Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especiallythe careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care (emphasis mine).

We are stewards, you and I. Each of us. All of us. Individually. Collectively. I’ve written here many times (hopefully not ad nauseum) that every thought we think, every word we speak, every action we undertake matters in the grand scheme of the Universe and Universal cycles. That is the nature of stewardship: careful and responsible management of our thoughts, our words, and our deeds.

Stewardship requires awareness and willingness to take full responsibility for every choice we make. Stewardship asks that we identify our values and commit ourselves to aligning our choices with those values.

Stewardship demands that we think and act independently and with awareness that we are part of the web of infinite and interconnected life. As frustrating and confusing all forms of media and the world of ‘alternative facts’ have become, when light is shined on their dark shadows, we are given the gift of seeing how media is used to promote particular agendas.

That awareness offers us a pivot point – a point of choice about what resonates deep within our being. Choosing wisely asks that we know what we value. And to act consistent with those values. It may invite us to swim upstream for a time, eschewing following the crowd. Perhaps it is akin to what Joseph Campbell called ‘the hero’s journey’.

Which brings me back to stewardship in this pivotal time. I value creating a life-sustaining society, one with true ‘liberty and justice’ for all. I value a deeper understanding of Universal law, Universal cycles and living life from that understanding. I value learning to live ‘in’ the world without being ‘of’ the world.

Aiming to filter my choices through these values, one of several domains of life I’ve begun to re-evaluate is financial, asking the question ‘are my money habits – what I spend and where I spend it, what and where I invest – consistent with what I value?’.  I am far shy of a ‘perfect 10’ in this domain.

Although I’m not aiming for perfection, I am looking to be a better steward in both the spending and investment categories. I’ve long invested in ‘socially responsible’ funds, but my exploration led me to wonder ‘is that the best I can do?’ How can I do better?’  It was no surprise that resources and helpful information began to flow my way as I engaged the question. Indeed, the Universe does respond and magnify our thoughts, words, deeds!

This introduction to Marco Vangelisti’s ideas of ‘no harm’ and ‘regenerative’ investing are getting me started on the path to improving my financial stewardship. His article Making Amends Through Regenerative Investing gives me hope as we awaken more deeply to our impact on ourselves, on one another, and on our precious planet.

Taking stewardship to heart is a bold act of caring.


Evening Shadows

Evening Shadows

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The Work of Freedom: Harmonizing With The Universe

Good Morning July!

Good Morning July!

It has become crucial that we break away from dependency and become independent thinkers, independent teachers, independent people. Doing such is like swimming upstream, but once you find yourself in harmony with the way the Universe is moving, you get tremendous support for what you want to do and the swimming becomes easier. Gregge Tiffen (Finding Freedom: The Meaning of Independence Day -July, 2007)

This past week has presented a variety of experiences and learning opportunities, new information some of it conflicting, new resources, and a roller coaster ride with Zadie Byrd that reflects the tension of our world.  This morning, as I sat quietly to discover where the muse might guide me, Gregge Tiffen’s quote above came on my radar along with numerous other ideas. All faded except his idea of becoming independent.

And that led me to thinking about the work that becoming independent and maintaining it requires. It seems that we have lost our understanding that the gift of free will granted by the Universe requires practice, experimentation, adaptation, and adjustment. For too many it has become far easier to depend on others, on systems, on governments than it is to do the work of thinking and acting for ourselves. Work that is deep and requires knowing yourself intimately from the inside out.

Now, I’m not saying that we are not connected, interdependent, or that we shouldn’t care for one another! To the contrary, each of us is one of the One, just as each cell in our body is one cell of the one that is ‘I’. That is the design. That is the seed of our being. Just as does each cell in our body, we each have an individual and unique role to play in the unfolding of life.

Harmony is a basic element of Universal design. The cells of our body are designed to harmonize. The elements of ecosystems are designed to harmonize.

With every fiber of my being, I believe that WE are designed to harmonize – within and in our expressions and relationships in the world. All too often we have forgotten this truth and given ourselves over to systems and to others rather than doing our individual work: that of harmonizing within. We see the effects in chaotic events, addictions, violence, war … and the list goes on. In a world where dependency has become the norm, we shout demands for freedom without embracing the responsibility and doing the work that true freedom and independence require.

I witness and am appalled by fascist and authoritarian trends here in the U.S. where in a few days we will celebrate ‘Independence Day’. I do so not from the sense of loyalty to country that was drilled into me almost from birth, but from a knowing deep within my cells, cells that hold the wisdom of the Universe, that I (and you, and each and every one of us) have been granted independence, free will, freedom as a divine right. We have a distance to travel to bring this to fruition, individually and collectively.

I ask questions. What is my role in bringing about the harmony that true independence represents? How might my choices be contributing to the disharmony? How do I harmonize within?

I do my best to listen and to respond. Action by action. Step by step. Day by day. For me, that is the work of independence. That is harmonizing with the Universe. Done from a sense of personal choice and with curiosity, love, intention, purpose, and care, it is work that brings me peace, joy, and deep sense of satisfaction. From that place I can authentically celebrate the ‘Independence Day’.    

Morning Walk with Zadie Byrd (2).jpg

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Discovering and Creating The Ways Between

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There’s always a Way Between … Think about it until you see it clearly. Shulen, the Old Warrior challenging his apprentice Ari Ara (Not This, Not That), a young orphan girl, in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Way Between. https://www.riverasun.com/

The Way Between must have been with me early one morning a few days before the Summer Solstice when this flow of words landed on the journal page in front of me.

I love being awake to watch the day dawn.

Dark mountain against the lightening sky.

First sounds of life

Winged beings flit about

Singing, not quite – testing their voice in preparation to

Greet the Day.

Hummingbird buzzes.

And, yet these woods are oh so quiet in their waking.

Gentle

in the cool morning air,

reminding me

Gentleness is the way – MY way.

Gentle with self.

Gentle with others.

Ah, ‘others’ …

Solstice Sunrise in the Woods Out Back

Solstice Sunrise in the Woods Out Back

That particular morning I was thinking about creatures that we label as ‘pests’ – ants, mice, mosquitoes (it’s THAT season here in the mountains) - and, how often I mindlessly swat a ‘skeeter’ or squash an ant that, perhaps with at least equal mindlessness, has dared to crawl on my arm while I’m engaging in a Feldenkrais lesson. I think about this as I observe myself and others in our relationships and our conflicts with one another. I think about it in relation to working with my canine companion, Zadie Byrd, when I become frustrated or confused. I know that there are better ways.

Discovering and creating those ways, then practicing and following them with conviction and commitment is a sure path to creating a more peaceful and just world. This, my heart knows. These better ways? Most start with listening – listening to others, to nature, to self, listening within.

Shulen’s quote above is from a scene where he has told his apprentice in Azar, The Way Between, to put an end to the bullying she has been subjected to by another orphan. She is challenged to not fight (she’s committed to peace and, besides, she’d likely loose) or flee (report the perpetrator to the Head Monk at the orphanage). She must find The Way Between for this situation.

She does so, first by connecting to and acknowledging the boy’s pain and by listening to his angry, heart wrenching story. Then,

The moment opened like a door. Ari Ara saw his leap coming in slow motion. She stepped through the possibilities between fighting or fleeing and entered The Way Between. As Brol sprang at her, Ari Ara turned his momentum in midair. Softly as a snowflake in Shulen’s hand, she leveraged his flying weight into a flip and brought his body to the ground. ‘It ends here, Brol,’ she warned him in a low voice as his shocked eyes stared up at her. She held his gaze for a moment, until she saw something shift in his face. Then she stepped back and strode out of the monastery without another word. Rivera Sun, The Way Between

Ari Ara came to this strength and capability, not in a moment of sheer luck, but with months of study and training, of trials and tribulations. (Get the book, read the story, be inspired).

My own dive into exploring nonviolence and peace this summer is deepening my understanding that peace and nonviolence won’t happen ‘out there’ in our chaotic, violent world until we each create peace within and craft our lives and our systems from that place, from finding and creating The Way Between in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Listening. That is the opportunity, perhaps the necessity, of this time.

Acts and approaches that exemplify The Way Between abound in our world, often are ignored by a media seemingly trapped by the dark aura of violence and chaos. We are steeped in this culture by our language (think ‘war on poverty’); by products designed to rid us of pests of all kinds; by books, movies, games, cartoons and more. Activism can be as simple as unplugging from the systems and products that brought us to this place: being more mindful of what and from whom we purchase goods and services, and where we invest our time and our money.

I’m imagining a world where we relate, create, and make choices from The Way Between: a just and caring economic system, love for our precious planet, wellness and health systems that honor the body’s intelligence …

These are the pivots inviting us forward. What are you imagining? What are you wanting and willing to create?

Sunset - Day is Done, Rest for the Days Ahead

Sunset - Day is Done, Rest for the Days Ahead



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Speaking with Care

Cooperation, Sharing, Joy is the language I imagine the humming birds ‘speak’.

Cooperation, Sharing, Joy is the language I imagine the humming birds ‘speak’.

Every time you open your mouth you are charging atomic particles, arranging them and setting them into a pattern of action. Consequently, everything you say, everything you say, is putting some energy effect into action. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Honest Performance - June, 2011)

Words. Words matter.

Sounds. Sounds matter.

On this planet where manifestation begins with sound, the words we speak create our world. Given the cacophony of babel present 24/7, is it any wonder that our world is in chaos? Given the language we use, is it any wonder that poor health afflicts so many or that our society seems more divided than ever? Or, as I suggested a couple weeks ago, how pervasive war is (you can find that post here).

I’ve noticed words and tone used – my own and others – on many fronts this week. Reflecting on my awareness, Gregge’s quote added an important dimension to my reflection and to projects I’m engaged in. Our words, regardless of whether they are heard, ripple out into the infinite Universe living forever.

Is it any wonder …?

I was reminded of how the words I speak affect me this week when I noticed feeling quite awful after uttering a few snarky words about another person. Ick! The effect was immediate, as if I’d made the comments about myself. Of course, having spoken them, some landed right in me just as everything we speak does.

It was easy to contrast that icky feeling with the impact of an uplifting conversation which inspires me to act or think more deeply. I experienced such a conversation with a long-time colleague and friend who is doing amazing work in the political arena (check out the Bridge Alliance, if want to be inspired).

It was easy to contrast the ‘ick of my snarkyness’ with how I feel when I sing to my cells (you can find one of many versions here), talk with flora in my care or to Zadie Byrd (or sing her name joyfully), and when I speak to the varied life forms in the woods out back. And, who among us isn’t uplifted by a smile and friendly ‘hello’ in passing as we walk through daily life?

Through words we create, we influence. We create the quality of the body we inhabit as well as the immediate environment in which we live, our home, our community. And beyond.

Words matter. Sound matters. Our spoken words today are creating what will emerge tomorrow and in all the tomorrows beyond. We ARE that powerful and with awareness and practice, we can master that power.

What do you say? What energy are you putting into action with your words?

Home Sweet Home to some creatures of these woods …

Home Sweet Home to some creatures of these woods …

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Sprouting Seeds of Change: A New World View

In the Flow of Life and Change

In the Flow of Life and Change

… the work of pivoting to a new paradigm in which humanity along with all of nature on our planet can thrive …is deep and personal, each of us contributing to a larger collective. … Our work is work of the heart. Commitment, discipline, and consistent awareness are required. Being counter to much of our culture, using words of peace will require acts of courage, different, yet no less demanding, than engaging in battle. Read last week’s post here.

If you threaten someone’s worldview, they will often react to you as if you were threatening their physical body. … a worldview can function like a force fieldPaul K. Chappell, A New Peace Paradigm: Understanding Our Human Needs

We live in a worldview that separates from our wholeness – body, mind, and spirit.  This paradigm separates us from one another and from nature, the planet that birthed and sustains us. Is it any wonder that that masks and ‘social distancing’ are this paradigm’s answer to slow the spread of Covid 19, and that strengthening one’s immune system is not front and center to the strategy and conversation?

My point is not to get into the controversy over the effectiveness of masks and other approaches, but to invite us to look at the challenges and deep work required to sprout and nurture a new worldview. As I discovered (again, for the first time) this week in a blinding flash of the obvious, the worldview of separation is so deeply embedded in our being that we are often unaware of how it guides our choices. It, like water to the fish, is transparent. For the fish, awareness may not matter; for us, awareness is required.

My discovery came from a story that a member of the faith community, an activist herself as well as a counselor to those on the front lines of activism and service.  It deepened my understanding of why the drive to succeed at all cost has never felt quite right. It invited me to look back at my years of workaholism in a new light.

She told of a conversation in which she was counseling a young man who had been loading food all day on an assembly line. He was so focused that he forgot to eat, hydrate, or go to the bathroom. He slept only three to four hours over five or six days. In our culture we tend to praise and admire such dedication. We might add some words suggesting some self-care.

We rarely look more deeply to the root, the worldview from which these choices arise. We accept, even honor, the dedication and commitment. It seems required in times of urgent need such as these.  I too acknowledge and honor those who serve in so many ways. In acknowledging, we might say something like ‘I had no choice … it had to be done.’ Who among us has not spoken those words?

But the minister took a deeper look. She saw a deep awareness that (and I’m paraphrasing/semi-quoting her words here) ‘this system of individual performance without connection to mind, body, spirit is white, male, supremacy, domination, capitalist thinking … it is the disconnection from mother … and, we will not move from this place in the consciousness that created it.’ 

The connection of our performance-based approach to so much of life and this worldview seems obvious in hindsight. The minister’s story resonates deeply in my being. It shines new light on the choices I’ve made to withdraw and live quietly connecting with myself and nature. And, on how blessed I am to be able to make those choices.

It reminded me of the challenges of making personal change. And, more importantly, of the historical context of how difficult birthing a new paradigm, a new view of the world is.

The seeds of a new paradigm are sprouting all around as the old worldview fights to hold on to its old, outmoded ways. Chaotic and messy is the nature of creation. Pivoting to the new is not easy. It will often seem as if we are going against the flow of life. It is work of the heart and work in the streets. We can do this. Indeed, we must.

Nurturing Seeds Inside and Out

Nurturing Seeds Inside and Out

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Pivoting To the Language of Peace

Stairway to Heaven - The Ziggurat

Stairway to Heaven - The Ziggurat

One of the key words Gandhi used in expressing the meaning of nonviolence was ahimsa, literally ‘non-harm,’ the refusal to hurt others. It's the rock bottom of nonviolence. A second key word was satyagraha (a combination of the words for ‘truth’ and ‘holding firmly’) sometimes called ‘truth force,’ holding on to what is true and good, striving to bring about more humane conditions for people and society. King called it ‘soul force.’ Dr. Gerard Vanderhaar (daily quote for June 3, 2020 This Nonviolent Life – Daily Inspiration for Your Nonviolent Journey, Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service - https://paceebene.org/

I feel my ‘inner radical’ waking up, emerging as something both new and familiar. Not to re-engage in the political activism of my distant past (that system is broken, yet, until we change it, that IS the system), but to call forth the shifts and changes needed, individually and collectively, to bring new collaborative, cooperative systems forth.

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me … let this be the moment now (Sy Miller and Jill Jackson Miller – 1955)

Words seem inadequate to express the depth of sadness and grief I’ve felt this week witnessing the discord and rage playing out across the United States. Sadly, I’ve seen it before both here and abroad.

Likewise, words don’t seem up to the task of lifting us out of the morass to a view above the fray. Above the fray we can imagine a different world: a world of peace; of harmony, of beauty and joy; of love. A world of understanding that we are one. A world where justice is not a system, but a way of being. A world in which ‘ahimsa’ is our way of life. Let this be the moment we pivot to peace.

Yet it is with words that we create our world. Our words beget action. The dissonance and outrage being lived out today stems, in part, from our failure to use words wisely, thoughtfully, with awareness and care. Rather than words of peace and nonviolence, we humans have declared ‘war’ on most everything: other cultures and countries, disease, poverty, racism and a host of other ills.

Surely by now we understand that war is not the answer no matter what the question. As so-called leaders declare war on each other and incite us to follow, WE must lead with a resounding ‘NO!’ We must render the words of separation, of competition, of violence null and void. We must toss them onto the trash heap of outworn concepts and ‘facts’ that science no longer supports. Separation has defined far too much of the history of humanity. We must weave science and spirit together again in our consciousness as surely as they are wed in the universe.

This is the work of pivoting to a new paradigm in which humanity along with all of nature on our planet can thrive. The work is deep and personal, each of us contributing to a larger collective. Our work is as simple as being thoughtful with each and every post or comment on social media. Gulp! And, simple is not easy. Our work is work of the heart. Commitment, discipline, and consistent awareness are required. Being counter to much of our culture, using words of peace will require acts of courage, different, yet no less demanding, than engaging in battle.

The world we’ve known with its illusion of separation is falling apart. Rather than putting Humpty Dumpty together again, it is time to pivot to a new story.  Infinite possibility awaits our discovery and calls us forth to weave the world from a place of new understanding and new knowledge, using wisdom past and present to guide us step by step to a culture of peace.

My ‘inner radical’ agrees with author/activist Rivera Sun who declares that radical is the new sensible. As part of my pivot, I’ll be joining some of her summer trainings and offerings (you can find them here). I’ll continue to engage with nature and listen deeply to call forth wisdom from my past and discover what new wisdom emerges at this pivotal moment in time. We can do this. It is our time.

Mountain Morning Majesty

Mountain Morning Majesty

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Inviting Curiosity Amidst Chaos

A New Day Dawns - Curious What It Will Bring

A New Day Dawns - Curious What It Will Bring

You can apply curiosity to all your experiences in life. … Your own life is the parameter of your experience which is your own world. To begin to accept this provides you with the incentive to take responsibility for the power you have over your own world. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Air of Optimism – May, 2011)

I started my morning feeling a touch of sadness and worry. I wondered what wanted my attention other than writing this weekly muse. As quickly as I asked, answers came: a strange dream of someone being humiliated publicly (ugh!), concern about Zadie Byrd, a memory of discovering Luke’s tumor about this time last year, and addressing the issue of mice in the house (more ugh!). Nothing earth-shaking or life threatening, just life. Let them go for now.

As I turned my attention to the muse, my first thought was of the world’s chaos and the battles being waged over power, power that is powerless when our agreement is taken away. Underneath the drama of the news, our individual power often lies wasted (to the glee of those “in” power, I imagine).  As we wake up and understand the world anew, any power over us is surely at risk.

As I gaze into the woods out back, I see beyond where I could just 10 days ago. The same is true out front. With the fire mitigation’s removal of undergrowth, I experience openness, an expansion of what’s now visible.

That goes both ways of course. Passersby on the road out front can see more of the Dragonfly House. Mentioning this to a dear colleague earlier this week, she suggested that it is a metaphor for my becoming more authentic and transparent. Now there is something for the muse to chew on for a bit!

The idea surely deserves consideration as I think about building a visual barrier of some sort out front. If my intention is to become more of my true, authentic, soul self, do I want to screen that off? Do I want to limit my ability to see what’s out in the world? My how a single suggestion invites curiosity!

Besides, ‘who am I?’ anyway? Now there’s a question to be curious over!

Asked through the ages, that question is fundamental to understanding our stories and the structures and institutions that we’ve created from those stories. They are imbedded in us, paradigms comprising the so-called ‘reality’ that we walk through each day.

As I gaze out at the world beyond these woods, that ‘reality’ is in chaos. Much of it is crumbling before our eyes, obsolete in the face of new discoveries about our true nature. Yet fighting to hang on. Known. Familiar. Comfortable, even with its discomforts.

We humans do that in life – hang on to habits and ways that no longer serve us. I smoked cigarettes and stayed in a marriage well beyond the time I knew that each was no longer good for me. Even today as I long for and open to a new, unfolding world, my invitation has conditions: I hold on to old habits and ways that are comfortable on some level, even in knowing that they inhibit the new from coming forth.

THIS is what really invites my curiosity! Even in my hesitancy, I invite the unfolding of a new world by exploring. What IS possible in a universe of infinite possibility? What are the worn out, disproven stories that continue to hang on until, with awareness, we stop using them as frameworks for our choices? How do I live in this world, yet withdraw my energy from systems that no longer work (health care, financial, etc. etc.)? I AM curious! You?

When things fall apart, the hopelessly radical becomes common sense. Charles Eisenstein (The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible)

This week, I invite you to be curious and “hopelessly radical” about the deeply imbedded stories, the paradigms, of our world. What is our responsibility – individually and collectively - for using our personal power to lay the old to rest and invite a new world with new realities into being? How can we make radical the new “common sense”? In short, where will we pivot?

I found this episode of Gregg Braden’s Missing Links series a thought-provoking place to engage in this exploration. I hope you will as well!

Onward! Upward! Pivoting Into the New!

Openness and Expanded Visibility in the Woods Out Back

Openness and Expanded Visibility in the Woods Out Back

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