Occupy Movement

I've been seeing people making statements around a "lack of direction","lack of focus", or "lack of a plan" of the occupiers and must state that this is not true.

Why are people coming together in this historic movement and moving us all forward?  Because there is an overwhelming consensus that we, the people, have been and are being and without intervention will continue to be exploited, imprisoned, abused, and abandoned by the dominant culture.

It's not true that they don't have a goal.  It's actually been clearly defined as starting the conversation.

Our world is full of problems,  like poverty, inequity, suicide, and environmental destruction.  It's vitally important to point out that government and big business have no idea how to solve these problems but you'll never hear that from them.  The occupiers may not know how to solve these problems,  but they do admit that,  and they want to have a conversation about it so that we can find solutions together.

As Peter Senge said in The Fifth Discipline:  "'Don't Know' is the heart of joining together to learn and co-create."

The Power of Disbelief

 “ Re-examine all you’ve been told, dismiss what insults your soul.”- Walt Whitman

It doesn’t cease to amaze me how beliefs hold people captive, and conversely, how people hold beliefs captive. There’s a flavor of fear of the unknown, or should I say the known. What would truly transpire if people suspended their endeared beliefs and risked knowing something different?

Beliefs are interestingly generated in families and society based on hearsay, dominant ideology, conditioning, and social control. Through classical and contemporary literature, film, and other cultural media in society we can see the construct of the hero and the villain. And so, in our families there’s a tendency towards a similar narrative. The question is, who holds the conch?

Who holds the dominant narrative, and who are the heroes and the villains in your family? And who has the power to say so? Who has permission to emote? What emotions are acceptable? Which aren’t? Who gets to decide? Who gets all the space in the family? Who gets none?

A desire for security plays a central role in shaping peoples perceptions as does a basic need for survival. One does not preclude the other. We depend on the people around us to ensure our survival as we grow from being babies. The beliefs of the people around us are beliefs we often assume for ourselves, out of necessity, survival. However, as we emerge into adulthood—a re-evaluation of what we’ve been told is relevant.

In my own understanding of how narrative works I see that people seem to prefer to believe something that isn’t true simply because it’s easier rather than to experience the discomfort of knowing they’ve been mistaken. To be mistaken can lead to change, and change leads to discomfort— threatening the status quo.

Functionally, our society is limited in its capacity, ability and willingness for wellness, wholeness, and inclusion—that is not to say that a drive for healing does not exist- it’s omnipresent—inherent in the fabric of our lives. Generational issues are manifest and people are lost in a sea of beliefs, buoyant on the status quo, rejecting growth and a progressive narrative driven by the principles of love, inclusion, acceptance; healing, balance, awakening, renewal and consciousness.

In experiencing my own family- I’ve seen the functional limitations of who gets to define the family and the role of the status quo in defining the narrative. Power dynamics inherent in who holds the conch and defines the narrative astounds me. How the status quo insists in maintaining itself, yet how this drive for healing and renewal persists in itself.

Our people are a sick organism living in a toxic habitat. And families, being the microcosm of this toxic habitat are susceptible to this chronic dysfunction of the macrocosm.  Where families should be a place of renewal, regeneration, community, acceptance, respite, and growth, we all too often have ongoing conflict, toxicity, gossip and hearsay.

Knowing, based on experience is where our power is, and truly where our hearts are. Examining all one’s been told. Defining one’s own narrative. There-in lies the capacity for growth, healing, renewal, and the story of one’s life. Regenerate, a new generation—let’s start now.

Evolution Resolution

A new year. There is something so powerful and momentous about this time. Fresh in its promise of new choices and opportunities to do the right thing. I'm not one to make resolutions; from my experience personally and socially, resolutions are often strict and judgemental, and I don't particularily respond very well to that type of system. Instead I'm relishing in the freshness and promise of a new year, in its simplicity, sacredness, and fullness of promise.

Being things I want to work on, I know what they are; with that I am gifting myself of grace, knowing that everything works out in its time. Granted, what I focus my intention on expands, so my responsibility is to stay focused on my potential.

I don't spend money on this enterprise, but am enriched by the resource of spirit. I think I can accurately reflect that New Year's resolutions can often require financial resources in dominant, mainstream society of the resolver, issuing bundles of bills to big business for the promise of a better self. Accumulatively, so much money spent on the application of a potential band-aid approach to something that oftentimes needs TLC; and it requires a judgemental, superfical asthetic to a longstanding, deeper wound. Something a stricter resolution (this time!) will not promise to fix, and can alternately serve to exacerbate. 

Recognizing the necessary flexibility to navigate this life course, choosing a much friendlier and economically sound approach in how I "deal with myself",  inspires empathy and nurturing in how I approach and reproach myself. In my experience, compassion relieves a host of "problems".

Our len's colored by the world we live in, I reflect on the words of the Talmud, "We see things not as they are, but as we are." Principally, this reflects my worldview in that practicing conscious awareness lends itself  to evolving in a way that humanistically supports my growth. Pivoting from various standpoints I can see that we are much more than we often limit ourselves to be, and/or are limited by the various sociological constructs in dominant mainstream society.

This new year, I want to say, "Yes!" to change, and growth at my own pace, with the right timing, whilst nurturing, compassion, acceptance, and love be my guiding pinciples. Resolving to focus on the potential that this attitude manifests, subsequently leaves me with abundance of spirit and monetary resources. Here's to doing the right thing. Cheers!