In the face of worry or fear; despite uncertainty; regardless of a multitude of unknowns; here’s what I love about the world right now…
There’s a shift happening. A veering. An altering. A re-jigging of sorts. It’s been happening for a while and it’s getting stronger. Can you feel it?
There’s a change in the collective consciousness, specifically brought about because of recent history’s accumulated wrongs; the injustices, the threats, the abominations, the intolerances, the inconceivables, the unimaginables.
What I love about the world right now is that when tragedy happens in one part of the world, mass humanity is altered – for the better.
News of events travel at lightening speed resulting in an immediate conjoining of our collective hearts.
There’s an influx of compassion and shared desire for betterment.
There’s a stronger defining of what we, as a conglomerate of global souls want, and will no longer tolerate.
There’s a unifying of values. An amalgam of hope. A fusion of fundamental needs and wishes.
We’re beginning to take ownership of WE. We’re acknowledging our part in our world drama.
We can no longer turn a blind eye. And we are no longer willing to turn the other cheek.
We’re in this together, for better or worse, and we’re choosing “for better” – we’re fed up with “worse”.
There’s a mindfulness that we are failing the visions our ancestors held for us.
We’re not supposed to be in this state by this time of evolution. Yet here we are, with the same problems we’ve had – some slightly improved, many drastically worse – but none, it seems, effectively solved.
On a social scale, there’s still poverty, war, neglect, hate, and violent crimes against innocent people.
On an environmental scale, we’re still ingesting poison, killing our lands and oceans, and creating devastating lethal droughts, storms and floods. Yes, face it, we created many of those.
What I love about the world right now is that we haven’t given up.
We still believe in ourselves, in our capacity to care, to help one another.
We are coming together in unprecedented numbers and standing up and speaking out because if we don’t, who will?
We are standing with and for instead of against.
No longer are we willing to believe we are more different than we are alike.
If history is the lens through which we are supposed to learn from our mistakes, we must acknowledge that we are creating history every day.
The history being written now is OUR history – yours and mine – the era we were born into and get up each morning to live until we die – the one we are all playing a part in writing.
What I love about the world right now is that we are not allowing years of hindsight and scholarly exploration to show us where we went wrong.
We have reached an accumulation of knowledge that allows us to realize the lessons as they are happening and foresee where certain paths may lead.
We are looking backward and looking forward with equal clarity.
We are reshaping our vision as we create our reality.
This is OUR chapter. We want it to tell that we were the ones who understood.
We understood the path that was laid out before us, and we reshaped it with peaceful collaboration.
We understood the lessons previous generations wanted us to learn, and we applied them.
We understood that we affect our future and it’s our actions and choices that get us where we want to go, so we chose and acted deliberately, with care, caution and an eye on the outcome for generations to come.
We want our chapter to say that we were true visionaries mixed with equal parts gumption and fortitude. Gumptitude.
No longer are we content with the adage “that’s the way we’ve always done it”.
We are the rule-breakers, the disrupters, the change-makers, the rebels with a cause.
What I love about the world right now is that we’ve stopped waiting for someone else to right the wrongs.
We’ve become the action-takers, the inspirers, the make-a-difference-doers.
We’re positively shaping our shared futures.
It happens when we take a stand for what we believe in – not what we’re against.
It’s the peaceful global climate marches that show our leaders we WANT clean energy.
It’s the petitions for stricter gun control because we WANT a safer world for our loved ones.
It’s taking ownership for the health of ourselves and our children because we WANT all of our years to be active and free of pain and disease.
It’s supporting fair-trade, fair-wages, fair-conditions, fair-rights because we KNOW there should be no other option.
It happens when we acknowledge injustices.
It’s owning the truth that our human evolution includes numerous acts of discrimination, intolerance, maltreatment, de-humanizing, brutality and segregation based solely on race, religion, sex or skin colour which may once have been thought of as just and which we now know (and have known for some time) is fundamentally and unequivocally wrong.
It’s acknowledging that this still goes on today.
It’s recognizing that though we are not who we once were, the vibration of past beliefs and actions are still echoing around the world.
It’s understanding that it will take more and stronger voices with continuous messages in support of human rights, just treatment and equality for all to create new, more vibrant sound waves that calm down, drown out and shift old and stagnant beliefs to become the reverberation that flows forward into time.
It’s learning to stop looking backward with regret, blame and hatred and instead learn the lessons we were meant to learn and move forward with renewed determination not to repeat them.
It’s owning the shame we all feel as equal members of the genus “human” for the treatment our brothers and sisters received for the benefit of some who lived at a different time.
It’s knowing that now is the time to end the pain.
It’s going to the table with open ears and open hearts.
It’s allowing each other to be seen and heard with equal respect.
It’s having a will on both sides to make amends because until we do, we cannot hope to move forward effectively.
It’s wanting to do better today and tomorrow because that’s the only place where change can happen.
It’s knowing it will take time, and mistakes will be made but it’s trusting they can be corrected.
It’s acknowledging that it will not be easy, and maybe we don’t yet know how to do it competently, but we are willing to try, and keep trying until everyone has equal rights and equal opportunities.
It happens when we acknowledge that we are in this together.
It’s in helping others recover from a loss, no matter how small or great – be it from storm damage, wild fires, the loss of a loved one from violence, illness, accident or age.
It’s in acknowledging that “their” way may be just as good as your way. It’s being open to the possibility that it’s actually better, or at least has some better components.
It’s in helping a stranger find their way.
It’s in a smile, a friendly comment, a helpful gesture.
It’s in being kind to one another, as a rule, a way of being, a habit, a way of life.
I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t pretend to. But I do know this: it begins with each of us.
It begins by thinking about what YOU want deep-down – really deep – in the soul of your soul, in the heart of your heart, in cells of your cells; not what you’ve been told or taught to believe but what is in YOUR soul, YOUR heart, YOUR cells and no-one else’s.
Then ask yourself:
What example do I want to be for my children? Am I doing that?
Am I proud of my choices? If not, they are only choices. Make new ones.
Are my beliefs aligned with my inner knowing? If not, create a new belief because a belief is nothing more than a perpetual thought. Think a new thought. Believe that.
What can I do today, right now, tomorrow, next week, to make the world a bit better for me and my children’s great-great-grandchildren? Do that.
What I love about the world right now is that we are capable of so much good.
There has never been a better time to parlay our knowledge, talents and experience into creating sustainable practices and positive social change for the betterment of us all, and from which our offspring can spring forth and enhance and improve.
What I love MOST about the world right now is that we are in a time of important transition.
There is an awakening in our collective psyches.
An opening of our collective hearts.
A new and stronger desire for a better, more just, more tolerant, more inclusive, more balanced, more compassionate, more loving world.
There’s a shift happening. Can you feel it?
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(published Nov 2017)