Leadership in Urgent & Emergent Times

The Lands Between … Mountains and Valley

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)

Last night as I watched and listened to the so-called ‘debate’ here in the U.S. I was reminded of my post back in June that started with the above quote from Gregge (http://cindyreinhardt.com/blog/speaking-with-care). I cringed as I felt the darkness of the words, the tone, and the behavior try to pull me down into the morass of uncivility that has, sadly, become the trademark in far to many arenas of politics and, indeed, life.

I noticed the stark contrast between this event and seeing and hearing 70 world leaders come forward just a day earlier to pledge action in support of the planetary being, Mother Earth addressing the urgency of climate change. I encourage you to watch the #NatureforLife Leaders Event and consider what and whose leadership speaks to you in these urgent and emerging times.

I ping-ponged back and forth between despair and optimism, disgust and appreciation, rage and love, confusion and understanding, turmoil and peace. I recognized that I could grab the ball and stop on either side of the net. Choice. I knew what I wanted to choose, but how would I maintain it?

I spent time in the woods and on the land that lies between the woods and the valley below. I walked and shed tears in the labyrinth out back. I hopped onto a Zoom session with a group of caring explorers from around the world and heard the kind of words of leadership that are so desperately needed right now: governance that listens to the planet, the need to understand links between the climate crisis and violence, a reminder that borders are of human doing not the planet’s being.

My colleague’s words and deep, integral thinking were just the salve I needed to anchor me in the optimism, appreciation, love, understanding and peace that I was choosing.

We have work to do dear ones. Inner work and work in the world, a world that needs our thoughtfulness and care.

As I have said before, and will no doubt repeat (hopefully not ad nauseum) as we navigate our individual and collective paths ahead …

… 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 (click here to read that post)

May we take each step forward with the self-leadership and keen awareness that everything we think, we say, we do is contributing to the quality of life on the planet. The darkness calls us. May we be the light that we are.

Day Breaks in the Sacred Sangres

Mitigation with Love - Round Two

Mitigation with Love - a great crew of professionals caring for the land

Pivoting from fear to love, from resistance to acceptance, from grudging to gratitude are acts of personal mitigation that start within and grow to impact all that is around us. 

Shortly after I purchased the Dragonfly House almost six years ago, I had some mitigation done on the property and shared the experience in an early post of The Zone. You can read it here.

Mitigation is on my mind once again this week as I engage in another round of stewardship to protect my home and the old growth trees of these woods I love, and, to ease the touch of angst I feel about drought conditions and this year’s early start of ‘fire season’.

As I discovered six years ago, mitigation is both personal and impersonal, internal and external. This week’s events reminded me that it is also a path of discovery and personal growth.

Defined as ‘lessening the force or intensity of something unpleasant’; ‘the act of making a condition or consequence less severe’; and ‘the process of becoming milder, gentler, less severe’ (thank you dictionary.com), life presents many opportunities for us to engage strategies of mitigation.

We mitigate numerous forms of danger, pain, pressure, tension, unpleasantness in every spoke of the wheel of life. In doing so, either love or fear is usually our incentive, and that incentive lives in the background as the foundation of our strategic choices, whether or not we are conscious of it.

Mitigation can start as a fearful reaction to an event or condition. Fear and its allies (anger, victimhood, etc.) generate resentment, resistance, confusion, and stress. Love, on the other hand, generates appreciation and acceptance and allies like creativity, ease, and flow. I experienced this difference contrasting two events this week. It was palpable.

I consciously took the property mitigation project on with love: a healthy respect for the drought-enhanced potential for wildfires, along with my love of all nature, especially these woods where I’m blessed to live. Despite loving each tree and wanting no harm to any, I accepted the reality of the fire danger and that sacrificing young trees would protect many older ones. I spoke my appreciation to each tree before the sawing began.

Although my heart held some sadness, I was at peace. I soon discovered that with love and care as motivators, the noise of the chainsaws was not as jarring as it might have been. Later, as I took my first look at the altered landscape, I felt an unexpected lightness and openness rather than the shock I expected. I was reminded that clearing creates space and opens the way for the new. The mitigation experience was becoming deeply satisfying, serving as a reminder of the beauty and power of action grounded in love.

In stunning contrast that I didn’t see until afterwards, the second event did not emerge as an expression of love. I found myself reacting unlovingly to Zadie Byrd exhibiting extreme fear as a thunderstorm approached. I reacted to my seeming inability to ease her discomfort as well. Double trouble! Although I love this new canine companion dearly, I allowed fear to take the wheel. The resentment, frustration, and stress I felt was painful for us both. In loosing awareness of my love, I was unable to accept her experience and meet her there with an open heart. 

Have I mentioned that our animal companions are amazing teachers? Be a student!

Only in hindsight did I realize that I could choose differently with love and acceptance of the reality of her experience. In that pivotal moment, I knew what to do, who to call for support, and, most importantly, how I needed to be with her in stormy weather. From that place, a plan is forming for immediate support and to mitigate her fear response in the future.

When you accept the reality of what is you increase your capacity to deal with it creatively. Myra Jackson

And, it seems that my pivot to love is already having an impact. The weather began to shift while I was writing this post, so I took a break and moved into action. Although my actions weren’t that different from the earlier event, I shifted my way of being to act from love and I accepted the reality of Zadie Byrd’s rather than resisting it. We weathered several hours of dropping barometric pressure and stormy conditions much more peacefully.

Pivoting from fear to love, from resistance to acceptance, from grudging to gratitude are acts of personal mitigation that start within and grow to impact all that is around us.  Indeed, our animal companions, along with the trees and all of nature, do teach us much about life. Be a student!

Storm? What Storm?

Tapping Into Essence

Morning Trail - Heading for Home

Within any amount of knowledge is essence. It is the essence that produces wisdom, and it is wisdom that registers in consciousness. You are worth more than you or I can ever describe in human terms. You are irrepressible and invincible. Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: The Nature of Feminine Truth – March, 2011)

Gregge’s quote has been with me since yesterday morning when its wisdom leapt off the page and pulled me into the muse. (Yikes! “It’s only Wednesday”, I thought.)

On each walk with Zadie Byrd (yes, ‘Sadie’ has a new name that seems to perfectly fit her essence!) I looked deeply into the mountains, the trees, the rocks, and the vast valley recognizing the beauty that is nature’s essence. A neighbor called with produce to share, the essence of love.

Later ‘essence’ popped into a conversation with a colleague and friend as she updated me on her book, sharing that she is aiming to share the ‘essence’ of the women she’s profiling in the project, not long details of their stories.

Except perhaps when I was focused on organizing info for my tax return, the ‘essence muse’ was with me throughout the day. Perhaps on some unconscious level it was there as well.

In the evening, as I read several chapters of Rivera Sun’s prescient 2013 novel, The Dandelion Insurrection, with its underlying theme of love and the movement’s motto, “Be kind. Be connected. Be Unafraid.”, I saw more clearly than ever that love is the essence that weaves us together as humans on this planet. Indeed, love weaves the fabric of the Universe.

I surrendered to slumber knowing that ‘love is our essence’.  I woke this morning with a deep sense that love is our core. Not just mine, yours, our friends, family and those who share our views, EVERYone’s.

This isn’t a new idea of course, but the muse invited me to feel it more deeply, to embrace love as the essence that breathes worth and value into each of our lives, to more fully BE the love that makes us irrepressible and invincible. The muse reminded me that love is the essence of the Universe of which we are each part and parcel. What is true of the whole is true for its parts. That’s you, me, everything, and EVERYone.

I began to see love even at the core of fear and of hate, but that’s a musing for another day.

For now, look deeply into what you know. Look until you see the love embedded there. Use what you know with the love at its core, the same love that is your core as well. Love is my experiment for the week. Join me?

Zadie Byrd Marching Home with her Antler Find

Tending the Creative Tree

Sunset in the Woods Out Back

You need to prune often especially after you have gone through a significant experience. … The whole object of pruning is that improves your growth, it regenerates your brain, and it opens up new opportunities. Experiences that are no longer being used in a positive manner should be cut from the creative tree inside of you and taken away. Gregge Tiffen (Lessons in Living: Give Nothing, Get Nothing)

Pruning is an apt description for how I’m feeling now in the wake of Luke’s passing four weeks ago. It also describes what I feel guided to do and how I want to be in this cycle of creating life anew.

Although I experienced a gigantic wave of grief and tears earlier this week, the sadness is waning. A sense of new growth and new possibilities lies beneath the surface. While not quite ready to burst forth, the creative tree has my attention and, as Luke often did, guides me to the care that it needs, IF I dare listen.

Pruning heads the list. My personal drumbeat is ‘marching’ me inward to identify and prune habits of mind, body and spirit that no longer serve my highest good.   In another verse that same beat calls me to look beyond my energetic body to the ‘stuff’ in my environment and to examine what is meaningful and useful to maintain. It is a time to cull, inside and out, preparing the field, my field, for what is to come.

When a cycle ends space is created. Often we rush to fill that space, especially when a cycle’s end is the passing of a loved one (human or of the furry kind). Several people have inquired if I have a new dog yet? No. I’m finding value sitting with the emptiness, even when it hurts like hell. Others want to know what I’m ‘doing’ and/or going to do? Not much that’s visible (at least for now); I’m allowing time to ‘be’ with no pressure to ‘do’. ‘Doing’ self-care and the tasks required prepare for winter in the woods is enough.

In the spaciousness of no pressure, insights come to guide me in tending my creative tree. I’m reminded that speed is not the issue; learning is.  After all, the pines in the woods out back have been growing for hundreds of years. They remind me to operate at my pace, on my frequency, just as they do.

At my pace I walk in peace, with loving gratitude for my life here in the mountains. On my walk this morning, I found several (okay 13, to be precise) heart rocks. I’ve found a few almost every walk these past four weeks. I recalled someone recently sharing that they never found heart-shaped rocks, and while we were talking, I reached down and picked one up on her driveway.

As I walked through the woods toward the labyrinth, I thought about the differences in how (from my perspective) that person and I approach life. I didn’t realize until that moment that these days I’m not looking for heart rocks on my walks, I’m looking AT love and loving all the beauty of my surroundings.  The heart-shaped rocks reveal themselves.

That’s not always been the case. In the past, I along with others, like the person I was talking with, looked for heart-shaped rocks much as we may look for love, abundance, success – without recognizing that we are swimming in the midst of all that and so much more.

From that experience and insight, I’m inspired to prune more. What habits of thought is it time to retire? What ‘stuff’ in the garage (and a few other places around the house) needs to be re-homed?  

“Inward, outward, forward march!” The creative tree needs pruning to burst into bloom.

Heart Rocks on the Trail

Adaptability: A Pot of Gold!

There is definitely a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow!

In this planetary school where adaptability is one of the key teaching assignments, making adjustments is a constant demand.  Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Cycles – July, 2009)

This 313th post begins a new annual cycle, year seven for The Zone. I wonder what adjustments are ahead in this new cycle?  This week also finds me in the midst of adjusting to life without the heartbeat of my canine companion nearby.

My capacity to adapt is being engaged once again. Adapting to ‘life without Luke’ has evoked tears and laughter, sadness and relief, the stillness of reflection and movement into action.  As with all events in life these days, I aim to see my journey with Luke and this loss as an opportunity to learn and grow.

A beautiful rainbow here in the mountains late last week, reminded me what a blessing the need to adapt is. In the stillness of reflection, I came to see making adjustments, adapting if you will, as an abundant pot of gold, IF (and only IF) we embrace it with love, not fear.  For, if we face change with fear, it will be a molten pot of lead, heavily weighing us down, evoking struggle and pain.

In the presence of love, I discover that laughter accompanies tears and that sadness lives concurrent with relief. In the presence of love, the stillness of reflection brings clarity to the rearranging needed – inside and out.

In the presence of love, I discover that rearranging is mostly an inside job. I allow waves of sadness to wash over me as they appear and let them find their expression in tears. I want grieving to have its time, though I won’t allow it to drive the bus. I smile at a moment when some past time playing with Luke crosses my awareness. Without guilt, I embrace with gratitude the sense of relief and freedom I now feel. 

In the presence of love, I’m simply being with what is. I open myself to new possibilities and questions: what’s next? how do I want life to be now? what changes will serve me?

In the presence of love, being gives way to doing: putting away things not currently needed, packing some up and delivering to canine friends nearby, rearranging furniture, reviewing a manuscript, attending to projects set aside while Luke was ill, planning a short trip away.

In the presence of love, I experiment with new routines, allowing old habits and paths to give way to the new.

In the presence of love, I experience the grace of ease in the flow and I find heart rocks most every day.

Mined with love, I know that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow brings forth abundant blessings. What else could be at the end of such beauty? Love Lives!

This week’s heart rock finds!

Cycles, Symbols, & Letting Go

Love, Light & Treats - Honoring My ‘Ol Buddy, Ol Pal’ Luke

Cycles produce constant change. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Cycles  – August, 2009)

This 312th post marks the completion of the sixth annual cycle of sharing these weekly mystical musings, a ritual that is one of the great joys in my life.

This post also marks a new cycle: the first written without the gentle, patient physical presence of my beloved canine companion, Cool Hand Luke Skywalker Reinhardt.  Last Thursday afternoon CHLS rested his head on my lap one last time.

Nature is intimately partnered with us in this physical experience, and that is perhaps the greatest boon of our incarnate existence, as nature is directly connected to and informed by the Universe. … Some of our most endearing partners are our pets. … they are there waiting for us, ready to fulfill our desire to feel all-giving and unconditionally accepting energy. Isn’t that what love is all about? They accept our tears, soothe our angst, and make us laugh. … Animals are here as companions and stabilizers. Having a direct connection to the earth, they serve the important function of being able to ground and stabilize our energies by taking our excess energy and feeding it back into the earth. They – along with plants – absorb a lot of negative energy. As we nurture and care for them, they leave us calmer in the midst of our sometimes chaotic incarnate experience. … When they die, all elements of nature are returned to the nature pool, where their energy can be used for whatever needs to be generated.  Gregge Tiffen (Life in the World Hereafter: The Journey Continues)

In my almost nine years with Luke at my side (or leading the way on a trail through the woods), he demonstrated nature as Gregge describes it. He was (and IS!) one ‘helluva’ teacher.

Leading the Way - One Last Time

Like his human, Luke was private and stoic. When our vet discovered a large growth on his spleen in mid- May, he asked that I share the news sparingly. I honored his request, sharing only with a few close friends (“No mopers!” he directed.) and subtly suggesting that I was facing a ‘personal challenge’ in some recent posts.

Committed to knowing and honoring what Luke wanted, I reached out to Miranda Alcott, the Animal Communications Counselor and medical intuitive who helped us several years back.  (https://mirandaalcott.com/).  Agreeing with our vet’s recommendation, Luke didn’t want to fight with surgery or aggressive treatment. He needed relief, and was open to ‘seeing how alternative treatment would help.’  The protocol was effective, easing his discomfort and increasing his energy. We were blessed to have two and a half months to walk daily, take a few short hikes, play, laugh, and hang out. 

During that time, Luke let me know that maintaining dignity was important to him. Both Miranda and our vet suggested that he would likely ask for help leaving his body before it seemed like the ‘right’ time (little did I know that this is common in dogs, a sign that we humans often miss in our quest to cling for life).  As best I could, I prepared to ‘hear’ and to honor the request when he made it. I was as ready as I could be when he asked to move on to the adventures in the nature pool across the rainbow bridge. Summoning all the conviction and courage I could muster, I wanted to show my love by letting go.  

Nature’s beauty is infinite, but the trail is empty without CHLS.

Symbols serve as a true roadmap to assist us in getting through life with the minimum amount of difficulty and upset. Gregge Tiffen (Do The Angels Take a Vacation? – August, 2007)

Although my heart is heavy, I’m filled with love, peace, joy, and gratitude for the love, lessons, and laughter that we shared in our all too short (at least for me), yet divinely perfect, time together.  And, although this cycle is complete, Luke’s lessons and gifts live on.

After our final ‘goodbye old buddy, old pal’, the dear friend who accompanied us on that final journey and I decided that we needed to eat and ground ourselves for the hour drive back home. We went to a burger stand nearby, ordered burgers, and chose a remote picnic table. As I approached, I noticed something lying on the table and, when I arrived, I found a heart-shaped rock at the place where I planned to sit. LOVE lives! The table was damp, and we blotted it with a paper towel. When we turned it over, we found the image of a paw print. LOVE lives!

Parting is sweet and sacred. Luke is free from pain. And, I’m free from the worry and anticipation of saying goodbye.  The cycle of physical presence is complete. Yet, my learning from Luke continues since, in spirit, there is no end. LOVE lives!

Symbols - LOVE Lives!!!

Keep Your Faith!

And there was light!

Evil thrives in darkness. We must let our courage and conviction shine, so that not even the smallest shadow shall find a doorway in which to hide. … No sacrifice is too great. No undertaking is too demanding. No commitment is too excessive, in order to maintain faith. Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime: Flow With The Power of Nature – March, 2007)

Light! Light! Light! The world needs our light, the light of our faith, the light of understanding, the light of knowing that we are here in this moment in time as a small, yet integral, part of an unfolding Universe. The darker the world seems, the more brightly our light is needed. The more we sense fear, the greater we need to love.

That is how we change the world. That is how we learn and grow.

Reversing its letters, ‘evil’ becomes ‘LIVE’. LIVE! Live is life. Life is light. In Universal terms, life is also abundance, beauty, harmony, joy, love, peace, power.

Evil is none of these. Indeed it is their absence. From ancient times to this moment, history is replete with the horrors of evil. Hence, the conviction of faith and strong beliefs along with courage are necessary for us to say ‘no’ to evil and ‘yes!’ to live life in its truest sense.

History is overflowing with examples of this choice as well: the love exuded by the man known as Jesus; the sage wisdom of the Buddha; and in more recent times the sacred, loving activism of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and elders who the peaceful ‘Water is Life’ movement at Standing Rock.

While we know these names, it is wise to remember that throughout history countless others have taken a stand for light as well. You have. I have. Each of us in our unique ways dared to shine a light to break the darkness where evil dwells. 

Daily we have innumerable opportunities to do the same. We do so when we choose kind thoughts and speak words that match them. A patient smile while standing in a slow moving line radiates light as does a sincere, quiet ‘Thank you’ when we are served.

We shine light in the darkness when we receive and return the love of our pets and of all the flora and fauna of nature. And, who among us has not experienced the shift of a good belly laugh (or, even a slight chuckle)? We shine light when we sing, whether alone in the shower or in harmony with others.

These seemingly small acts are, in fact, huge. When taken collectively, they have the power to crack open hearts and shift mass consciousness to a higher vibration from which evil gets no support.

Up close and personal, choosing light is important as well. Each of our seemingly small acts of light strengthens our personal capacity for compassion in the face of evil. Each builds our conviction and our courage to be bold in choosing light, to keep the faith. We hold the power to shine the light of life in the darkest shadows where evil dwells. May we do so moment to moment, step by step.

Need of a little inspiration to shine? click here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yUK0S_cEXY     

Morning Light Filters Through the Woods

Love, Love, Love

What’s not to love?

Love is long suffering and kind. Suffering does not mean endurance but rather the willingness to permit and allow the kind of person someone is. Love recognizes individuality and respects individual freedom. If I love who I am, then my love for you will include the tolerance to let you be yourself without censure or critique. … Love seeks not its own. Love is not possessive or selfish. It revels in freedom. Like a beautiful flower it asks no additional adornment.  Gregge Tiffen (The Numerology of Love – February, 2007)

 Not one effort toward love is ever lost in the record of the Universe. It goes on imprinting into the hearts of total strangers, carried like a spark into generations untold. Rivera Sun (The Dandelion Insurrection) - a story of revolutionary lovers and love-in-action transforming the landscape of their world.

 On this day of roses and chocolates and romantic dinners for many, I’m reminded of the importance of feeling and expressing love in all that we do. Love is the most potent, powerful force on the planet. It is a characteristic of the Universe. Love’s power can guide us to create a world of peace and plenty. And, as history shows us, love misplaced or misunderstood, begets fear, fighting and scarcity.

In forgetting that we are each created as unique individuals with our own characteristics, strengths, foibles and lessons to learn, what have we lost in terms of awareness of the individual contribution we are each here to make? Have we forgotten that every ONE has THEIR story? That we are all different and we are all the same?  Especially those with whom we disagree.

Across the ages, right up to this very moment our ignorance has led us to fear the ‘other’ and to engage in cruelties beyond my comprehension. And yet, in quiet, reflective moments I wonder ‘is there a line, some circumstance or event that would provoke me to physical violence?’ I pray that the answer is ‘no’, but I know that I am capable of thinking and speaking harsh words and that I can suddenly find myself in a stream of consciousness that is far afield from recognizing and respecting the individuality of those with whom I disagree. That is especially so when their decisions appear to have the ability to impact my choices, my lifestyle.

However you celebrate this day (or not), give yourself the give of love and few moments to reflect on its power in your life and throughout the universe. Imagine a world where we practice love in all that we do and deepen your love of YOU so that you can pour that love into all that you do. 

This is what love looks like!

YOU Are Important!

A last bit of fall color before the snow.

We either recognize our importance by living an important life, as we see it, or we don’t. … Every word you have ever uttered, every move you have ever made and every thought you have ever had never dies. Gregge Tiffen (An Empty Heart Makes An Empty Purse – November, 2008)

If you don’t see your life as important, STOP. Reconsider. The Universe does not agree with you (although if you continue that point of view, the Universe will accept it and give it right back to you, magnified).

In Universal terms, terms of the flow of energy, there is no thought, word, or deed that does not matter. The Universe does not look at your thoughts, or hear the words you speak or observe the action you take and judge it (or you) as better than or less than any the thoughts, words, and deeds of anyone else.  The Universe does not compare, contrast, or choose.

The Universe receives, reflects back, and magnifies: EVERY thought from each and every one of us; EVERY word, and EVERY act.  It does so without regard to the tone of your skin, the language you speak, where or how you live, etc. The Universe doesn’t care how much money you have, how many hours you work, how much you give to others. It receives, reflects, and magnifies with no judgement.

The Universe does not categorize our thoughts, our words, or our deeds. The Universe does not care who wins the next election. Those choices are left to us and our free will to choose.  A Cherokee elder’s story to his grandson seems apropos to the power of our choices:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.  One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."  The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Whether you see this time as one of doom and gloom or one of opportunity, the Universe will respond in kind. THAT is how important you are.

Let’s rise to the challenge of feeding the ‘good wolf’,  choosing thoughts, words, and actions out of love not fear, light not dark, abundance not lack, harmony not discord. Let’s lead where our so called ‘leaders’ don’t. We ARE that important!

SNOW DAY! Let’s Play!!!!

Peace, No Matter What

I think of this spot as a Portal to Peace.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. Albert Einstein

… cause peace by becoming peace – not just being peaceful temporarily. To become peace requires embracing a mindset that recognizes all of creation as one organism expressing in myriad forms and committing to treat all others (human, non-human, animate and inanimate) with kindness and respect, no matter what. Rev. Trish Hall, founder Way2Peace (https://way2peace.org/)

The idea of ‘peace, no matter what’ is an ideal of the highest magnitude, or so it seems in a world hell-bent on destruction. Peace seems out of reach until we bring it home, seeking to maintain our personal sense of peace and making a commitment to peace in our hearts, minds, and homes. We do this moment by moment, choice by choice, conversation by conversation. Some are easy, natural, and effortless. Others choices call forth our conviction, invite us to step into the unknown, or even to swim upstream counter to friends, neighbors, or social norms.

That is way the way of change. That is way of creating peace. Those are the individual choices that we must make collectively if peace and love are to prevail on our precious planet.

Recently just such a choice presented itself. In the midst of reflecting on somewhat disconcerting conflicts and reactions in my community – events that have resulted in some friends deciding to arm themselves and others considering doing the same – these words came to me crystal clear as if someone was in the room speaking:

Disarmament of nations will only come when individuals shed the fear that has us keep weapons for our own protection.

While I wasn’t considering arming myself with a gun, a friend currently living in my home voiced that possibility for herself. Given the events, I understand why one might consider this choice. Yet, my initial reaction was ‘no!’. And after a day of thoughtful consideration, I was clear that this choice would stand. I was also clear that new criteria for sharing my home had emerged: no guns, no weapons – no matter what.

I feel a deep sense that my personal safety, like peace, comes first from within. The cause of war and violence in any of its forms is fear. Fear is the absence of love. The path to peace collectively is to expand and deepen our individual capacity to make choices grounded in kindness and respect – love, if you will – not in fear. I have work to do to increase my own capacity for kindness and respect to myself and to others, especially those with whom I disagree.

Too often we think of peace only as the business of nations. Governments engage in war to ‘win’ peace. Do you notice how broken this model is? Fear and dominance have had their time. Their time is done (though letting go for some will not be done without fight).

The time is now to end violence and to call forth peace, the peace that is our business – yours and mine – to create. The time for simple kindness, respect, and relationship is upon us.  Let our love shine light in the dark corners of fear. Let us each become portals to peace, putting our attention on the work that needs doing to build that peace – moment by moment, choice by choice, conversation by conversation, and even social media post by social media post.

Blanca Peak, a place of peace to indigenous peoples for generations. Do you see the bear?