June 3, 2020
Friends, we are in the midst of revolution. Not as we have imagined it, because how could we have imagined this place we now are?
The work of the Women’s Sanctuary is in flux as the world changes. I remain steadfast in my commitment to the work of women who are navigating their own revolution. I am here, holding space, praying, weeping, laying on Mother Earth, resting and watching. If you need support, please message me.
And as I watch, my vision and my heart become clear.
I have come to see so clearly that no one holds all of The Truth. Many groups hold part of The Truth, but no one holds it all. The thinking that “we are right and everyone else is an idiot” is a story.
Whether you identify as conservative or liberal or libertarian, if you tow a party line…I ask you to take a breath, step back, and look at our world with fresh eyes.
Read an article from the “other side” as if you were from a foreign land. Read with curiosity. Curiosity is the antidote to judgement. If you are safe and smug in your judgement you might as well sit down, stay safe at home and wait for death.
But if you long for understanding, long to see what is true amid the chaos, long to know how we transform this broken system, you have to start within. To find The Truth, go within. Find your values, reaffirm them, and then look to live them. Support others who align with your values and work, contribute, speak up and fight for the values you hold.
I have been wildly liberal. No more. I have given up labels. I am living my values. I don’t see anyone holding the whole story about this time on our planet. Multiple storylines are happening, and for sure the Democrats or Republicans have no idea what is going on. They are trying to play their agendas out and failing us all in the process.
I can no longer believe everything I see or hear or read. I bet you’ve had the experience in the last week of doubting what you were seeing, questioning what you were being told, or fact-checking information. I hope you were and are questioning everything. The will to deceive and the technology to do so are everywhere now.
Confusion and chaos are being used as tools to keep up from using our inherent power as a people to affect change. Be attentive to the events happening quietly in the background. That is where the real action is.
So now more than ever it is imperative that you stand rock solid on your values and live them. Otherwise, you may see a world come to be you don’t want and didn’t even imagine was possible. Your dreams and imagination matter, for they inform where you place your energy and effort.
Black lives matter? Do something. Are your personal freedoms important? Do something. Feeding the hungry or tending the wounded? Do something. Feel called to prayer and holding vigil for peace? Do that.
In the stillness and clarity of your heart, you may be able to discern the truth or falseness of what you see around you. You may be able to see clearly those who are working for justice and those who are working to harm others.
As for me, I will no longer support a system that has oppressed people of color from its inception. I stand for justice and equality for all humans. I will no longer support the values within myself that I’ve been given by the broken system. I am doing the work to dismantle my internal racism. I am angry and humbled by my own complicity and active support of a broken society.
I return to my broken heart to find what pieces of my own truth remain and start again, to live from there. I find the truth in the swaying trees, the birdsong, the busy ants, and the stillness. I find inside a fierce love of all of creation even as I recognize the harm humanity is inflicting on itself, and those who are perpetuating the harm.
In my clear seeing of those who are choosing harm and those who are choosing healing, I bow in gratitude for all, for the process of being human and recognizing that I hold my own capacity for harm, thus if I extend compassion and forgiveness to myself, I extend it to all humanity.
Even so, I declare my autonomy from the inhumane system around me and choose to work alongside those who are actively working for change.
Everything matters. Your silence matters. Your voice matters. Your actions matter. Matter as a noun is everything around you. Your actions create everything around you.
Do you believe in love and justice and integrity? Then live it. Show up for yourself, your family, your community and the planet.
If we listen to all the external voices, we will be buffeted by fear and chaos. We will be distracted out of the real work of creating a new world.
I continually seek and affirm my own Truth. I live that out loud.
So many blessings to you on your own path.