Being a Contemporary Shambhala Warrior

The other night I had the opportunity to hear a talk by Bill McKibben for maybe the third or fourth time. This man is one of my heroes, a true Shambhala Warrior. He stays awake and engaged with compassion and fearlessness even in the face of all he knows and has seen in the world. He never gives up or gives in. He doesn't pull any punches in his articulation of the gravity of our global situation, yet he keeps his heart wide open and he wears his love for all of creation on his sleeve. I know he must have his moments when he wants to throw in the towel, but he's been doing what he does for years with, thankfully, no end in sight. I think this is because he embodies what I believe are three essential qualities:
Wakefulness: the ability to be present to what is happening in the world around you
Groundedness: the ability to hold that wakefulness in such a way that you don't get lost in it or consumed by it (often through a spiritual practice), and
Action or service: the ability to creatively respond to 1 & 2.

Take some time to explore those qualities within your own life, as I will. Leave comments and share what comes up for you. Also, take a look at Bill's work and how to get involved at:
350.org
billmckibben.com

Losing My Head

One of the practices I use for seeking spiritual guidance or discernment is shamanic journeying. I've been trained in this technique by both Dream Change and The Foundation of Shamanic Studies. With the aid of drums and rattles, I open myself up to the possibilities of other realms besides my own limited ego. The result is always a story:

I traveled to the upper world in the rising smoke of a campfire. I kept getting stalled and couldn't progress. Self-judgments kept coming at me and I would grab them: you're not worthy, you have nothing to give, it's too late, no one wants you, and on and on. I would grab them and drop them into the fire far below, and each time I became more weightless until I was effortlessly ascending. I came to a place where I just floated for awhile.

 I asked for a helper or teacher to come to me. The first thing that came was a lion that later shifted into a mountain lion. There was also an old woman. More self-judgments came that I taunted the lion with, basically saying I'm not worthy, you're wasting your time. The lion promptly ate me and traveled out of the floating place to the top of a mountain, where he just as promptly shat me out.

I again asked for a teacher and an eagle soared overhead. I found myself lamenting that I can't see what I'm supposed to do; I can't figure it out. The lion then bit off my head and spat it out, and I "watched" it roll down the mountain. So I just sat there for awhile, my headless self, with the mountain lion on one side, the old woman on the other, and the eagle soaring above. I realized I was looking over all the world without my head. My heart sometimes seemed to be beating with the drums: call-ing, call-ing, call-ing.

As the journey was ending, eagle flew down and stood in front of me. We gazed at each other for some time. Then I got the sense that he was going to grab my heart and fly away with it. Instead, as the drums started calling me back, he retrieved my head and I journeyed back home.

What Do You DO?

Last night I was at a fundraiser at a local eatery when a person I had just met asked me what I do. Oh, Lord, the little dance that goes on in my heart whenever I get that question! Will I get the wide-eyed, smiling, resonating nods or the deer in the headlights, oh-that's-nice blank stare? My husband says, tell them you're a poet. That will impress them. I told him that wasn't exactly a goal of mine but I have to say, I struggle with a gamut of feelings around this issue.

The reality is, what I DO doesn't fit into neatly definable sound bites like "I'm a doctor" or "I'm a teacher." And the reality also is, that's going to be true for anybody trying to forge a new path into our unknown future. It's both unsettling and exciting. It's unsettling because, in the old paradigm, the oh-that's-nice reaction can feel demoralizing and even demeaning. It's exciting because it's simply good information and an opportunity to engage more deeply. At the very least, it's a lesson in letting go of what others think as well as the temptation to put oneself in little boxes.

My husband likes to joke that I'm a prophet - and you know what they do to prophets. They're ostracized, vilified, and sometimes crucified. Oh boy. While those are strong words, at times I feel some measure of all of them, even from my own self-talk. You know. "That's crazy." "That's impossible." "Who do you think you are?"

And I think that's one of the keys - knowing who you are and doing that. Not proselytizing, not apologising. I really believe in the BeingChange work even though it's messy and meandering. It feels right and that's good enough for me.

Life As Pilgrimage

Bottom line: I'm finding living within our current paradigm of injustice, unsustainability, and outright insanity increasingly excruciating. My heart breaks a little more each day as I witness to the suffering and violence we visit on each other and our Mother Earth.


I ask myself every day: How can I unplug? How can I live according to my vision and values, as well as creatively midwife a new paradigm, when there are such strong forces wanting me to keep towing the line? This is a very big question with no easy answers.

So I frame my life journey as a pilgrimage: each day, each step, each choice is dedicated to living these questions. Every day, I become more aware of the radical changes that are required of me and I relish the challenge and the opportunity for boundless creativity regarding these changes. I'm also in good company. There's amazing stuff going on out there with MILLIONS of people asking these same questions, people who have the courage and compassion to say no to what keeps us small and disempowered while saying yes to what calls to us most deeply.

I'd like to share with you one such person. Her name is Lynne Twist. www.soulofmoney.org
ONE of the ways Lynne is challenging the status quo is through shifting how we think about money from a paradigm of scarcity to one of sufficiency. The implications of such a shift are profound. I highly recommend her book The Soul of Money. It's a beautiful example of what's possible and empowering.

I'm so grateful to be on this journey called life, this mysterious spiritual pilgrimage. Every day I ask Pachamama: What can I do for you today? It helps me unplug. It helps me remember who I am. It helps give me courage and compassion for the road ahead.

A New Focus For This Blog

In my garden

Dear friends of BeingChange,

I have been playing with a couple of options for sending people on my email list periodic newsletters filled with BeingChange news, up-coming events and resources. I have decided to try a free service called Comm100 and will begin crafting the first e-news shortly. You can subscribe through the form provided in this blog or on the web site.

Therefore, I have decided to use this blog as a container for the telling of my personal story of being in this transition time and my visions for the future. I would love to create a conversation with you all, so please leave your comments. Share your stories. Stay tuned. The next post will be along soon!

Personal Guidelines for the Great Turning

From www.joannamacy.net

To good not to pass on!

Come from Gratitude
To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe--to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it--is a wonder beyond words. Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the mystic, the source of all true art. Furthermore, it is a privilege to be alive in this time when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.

Don't be Afraid of the Dark
This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don't be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, for these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings. To suffer with is the literal meaning of compassion.

Dare to Vision
Out of this darkness a new world can arise, not to be constructed by our minds so much as to emerge from our dreams. Even though we cannot see clearly how it's going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.

Roll up your Sleeves
Many people don't get involved in the Great Turning because there are so many different issues, which seem to compete with each other. Shall I save the whales or help battered children? The truth is that all aspects of the current crisis reflect the same mistake, setting ourselves apart and using others for our gain. So to heal one aspect helps the others to heal as well. Just find what you love to work on and take joy in that. Never try to do it alone. Link up with others; you'll spark each others' ideas and sustain each others' energy.

Act your Age
Since every particle in your body goes back to the first flaring forth of space and time, you're really as old as the universe. So when you are lobbying at your congressperson's office, or visiting your local utility, or testifying at a hearing on nuclear waste, or standing up to protect an old grove of redwoods, you are doing that not out of some personal whim, but in the full authority of your 15 billions years.

A Circle of Friends

Recently, my family went through a crazy, stressful experience. We were having to make a very difficult decision in a very short time. By the end of a week of this, we no longer knew if we were thinking straight and whether or not we were capable of discerning the best way forward.

We called together a group of four couples, very close friends, and asked that they hear our story and feed back what they heard from their different perspectives. We were very open and honest with details that we certainly wouldn't share with just anyone. But there was a precious level of trust and safety in that gathering that moves me no measure.

This is circling at its best. The depth of both sharing and listening empowered everyone in that room to gain in wisdom, creativity, and solidarity. That's the magic of the circle - all participants benefit in ways that are most meaningful to them.

I encourage anyone who is going through a difficult or overwhelming situation to call a circle of trusted friends and open yourself up to asking for help out of those stuck places. And let me know what happens - send me your story.