New Story

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“Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and simple, in itself an ecstasy.”

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

A friend shared this video with me on Facebook. Such powerful truth, spoken so eloquently. What do you think?

photo: Big Bubble by h.koppdelaney

“Change, like sunshine, can be a friend or a foe, a blessing or a curse, a dawn or a dusk.”

~ William Arthur Ward

Spring is a time of new beginnings. Flowers begin to bloom and we emerge from the cave of winter reflection. I am feeling the stirring of the Fool… archetype of new beginnings, breakthroughs and adventures.

Read more about my Foolish journey here…

The past several years have found many of us dealing with the adversities of the old breaking apart as we dealt with economic downturn, housing crisis, education cuts, lay-offs… etc. It has been quite a wave to ride. The dissolution of our old stories, our old structures have led many of us to question the foundations of our faith and many of the things that we hold dear.

It is natural for us to feel fear… our familiar anchors, not so certain, our values challenged by our experiences in an environment of heightened tension.

But through the tension, something is emerging, cracks in the proverbial shell of culture, art, science and belief. We are talking to each other across what were once insurmountable barriers. Artists, creative entrepreneurs, philosophers, activists and poets are generating amazing innovation across platforms of cross-pollination. This is you, me… all of us.

We come from a long line of creative, hard working humans who innovated and shaped their world- rebuilding and improving all along the way. Our ancestors created the means and very structures that allow us to live this modern life.

And, now, we find ourselves a generation at the cross-roads. We are the heroes of a new age. The decisions and actions or lack thereof that we make today are the seeds of the new emerging story for our families, communities, nations and world. Let’s make it a good one. For this we were born.

Here are a few tips for you:

1. Are those your thoughts you’re thinking? Examine your thoughts and beliefs.

One afternoon a few weeks ago, I was walking and a thought crossed my mind, more of a judgment. I stopped, asking myself, “do I really believe that?” I realized that I did not and that this “belief” emerged out of my subconscious, impressed there by life and culture. Why do you believe what you do? What really is ‘reality’? Turn off the media, unplug and contemplate what is true for YOU.

2. Change things up.

It is easy for us to become creatures of habit. It makes life more simple in a complex and quickly shifting world. You would be surprised how simply reading a few new magazines; going to bed 20 minutes earlier or trying some new dinner recipes can give you a different perspective and spark innovative thinking.

3. Learn your own stories.

I have a friend who has a great gift at researching genealogy and connecting with the stories of our ancestors. She has taught me the power in knowing our family histories, in understanding why we believe what we do. A few hours of research can give you deep insight into yourself.

I once had a client who was a top executive for a large national retailer. Every time she was up for promotion, she would get sick and feel unsafe to move forward. We came to find that the very beliefs and skills that helped her Polish immigrant grand-parents survive in a new world were now hampering her ability to take this next step in her life. They had become the straight jacket keeping her stuck. We worked there, at the place of biogenealogy and helped her write a new story that enabled her to take her next steps to great success.

4. Take to your path like a warrior.

We have years of change and cultural flux ahead of us. Our ability to find and hold our own center; expand our world-view and be creative + innovative are important now more than ever. If we are to write and live the new stories, we need to be able to sense them emerging in and through us. If you don’t have a set of generative, living spiritual practices that you are committed to doing on a regular basis, begin now.

Namaste.

“The warrior’s approach is to say “yes” to life: “yea” to it all.”

~ Joseph Campbell

photo by Andreika

“It is all a question of story, we are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are in between stories. The old story, the account of how the world came to be and how we fit into it, is no longer effective. Yet we have not yet learned the new story.

Our traditional story of the Universe sustained us for a long period of time. It shaped our emotional attitudes, provided us with life purpose and energized action. It consecrated suffering and integrated knowledge. We awoke in the morning and knew where we were.We could answer the questions of our children. We could identify crime, punish transgressors.

Everything was taken care of because the story was there. It did not necessarily make people good, nor did it take away the pains and stupidities of life or make for unfailing warmth in human associations. It did provide a context in which life could function in a meaningful manner.”

- Thomas Berry

Many thanks to Cindy Wigglesworth of Deep Change …

“Follow your bliss… When you do this, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.

When you see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and doors open to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”

~ Joseph Campbell

photo by alicepopkorn

“The most secret, sacred wish that lies deep down at the bottom of your heart that seems to be so far beyond anything that you are or have at the present time is the very thing that spirit is calling you to become.”

~ Emmet Fox

… Or How One Word Can Change Everything.

photo: hand lines by Bill Rhodes Photography

“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

In the class I am teaching on Sacred Archetypes, we explored  the archetype of the Fool the first week. The Fool is that part of us that says YES!! She is available to us all the time. The Fool launches out on her new adventure  and the unexpected regardless of what more “reasonable” minds may tell her. She steps out over the cliff of what she has known to boldly explore and say YES! to whatever may come.

YES!

As a commitment to engaging my inner Fool, I decided to say YES! to whatever came my way. This was inspired by the Jim Carrey movie, Yes Man, a beautiful representation of the Fool’s journey. Almost as if on cue, a friend invited me to visit a large African American church the following Sunday. I gulped and said yes… not very enthusiastically. You see, I haven’t stepped foot into a church other than New Thought since I was a child. Sunday came and I attended as promised. It was wonderful. The congregation was friendly. The gospel choir was ROCKING and the minister and sermon were inspiring. It was a wonderful experience.

My YES! on that day opened something quite unexpected  in me. You see, I was raised Jehovah’s Witness. By the time I was 6 yrs. old, I could not wait to grow up so that I would not have to endure what felt to me like torture every Sunday. As soon as I was old enough to stand my ground as a teenager, I refused to go. Jehovah was NOT a God I could endure. So I began my own journey.

As the years went by, whenever my mother would attempt to minister to me, I would cut her off and change the subject. Even after my brother went into “the Truth” I kept my distance and made it clear that I wanted to hear nothing of it. Intellectually, I respected their decision to serve God as they chose and could give you a list of the value of this religion in the lives of many. It simply was not for me. My own journey has been rich and deep…  I never gave it another thought.

A breakthrough

Then on that beautiful day last month at church, I realized that I had rejected the God of my ancestors and in doing so, I had rejected a part of myself, of the story that is part of my very foundation. The realization was stunning to me. Though I was not in a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall, I was experiencing the God of my ancestors, who were mostly Baptist. I realized that my childhood rejection cut me off from something vital to me. In that moment, at that church, I understood that I was and am free to express my faith as appropriate to me, however, I could do so without dismissing the gifts of this particular expression of the Divine.

In that moment, I could see how this expression of faith has sustained my people through the countless indignities of being enslaved; of life-sucking Jim Crow institutions; of economic hardships; and of the social pressures that come with being human made more difficult by living in a society that regarded them as 2nd class citizens.

In that moment, something powerful shifted and I made peace with Jehovah God. Tears began to roll and people around me thought that I was being called to join the church. This was not what I was feeling. I was overwhelmed by the emotions running through my body as I silently expressed my gratitude to my ancestors, to the way they worshiped and to God for bringing me this healing. I began a conversation with Jehovah that day and realized that He is different than I remembered. I could hear a loving and benevolent Being whispering in my ear, very UNLIKE the angry and vengeful God of my childhood.

The prodigal daughter comes home

A week later, I called my mother to tell her that I respected and loved Jehovah in my own way. She almost burst into tears and told me that I had given her a very great gift. I could feel the ground of my being shift during that conversation. Somehow, I felt more solid. My relationship with my 83 yr. old mother shifted, deepened. What I had not realized was how deeply my life-long stance affected her and our relationship. In gratitude, she invited me to come to Passover, which was last Tuesday. In that moment, I thought “Yikes!”. I was ready to make peace, but NOT go to the Kingdom Hall.

All kinds of thoughts ran through my head… “I don’t want to do this… but, I made a commitment to YES!… how do I get out of this now?” Thinking out loud, I said “Okay…” she said, “great, see you on Tuesday.” After hanging up, I was regretful. I wanted to make peace not attend. I remembered my FOOLISH spiritual practice and decided to do it.

Tuesday came and it was very much as I had remembered it, however, this time I could sit in appreciation and respect. No, it was still not for me, but now I could truly appreciate how they found and nourished their faith. Just like the church I had visited the week before, I saw people doing the best they could with what they had been given. What more can any of us do?

Ground of being

Something powerful continues to stir in me. It feels like a brick that has been missing from my foundation for 35 yrs. is suddenly back in place. I feel greater access to the wisdom of my ancestors and a greater appreciation for the struggles they endured so that I could have THE CHOICE to “reject” their religion and choose my own path. But I wonder, can we really reject something so integral to ourselves without denying something that is foundational to who we are?

We all have to make our own way and create our own relationship with the Divine as we understand It. This is the gift of our times, hard-won by the sacrifices, blood and tears of countless generations before us. And today, many people around the world still do not have religious freedom.

And so, on this day, I say thank you to my mother and father; to my grandmothers and grandfathers and ancestors… all my relations, as our Native American sisters and brothers would say.  I say thank you to you for your journey, which enriches my own, and all those who went before us…. all our relations.  We are the farthest point of evolution for them. In many ways, we are their dreams made manifest. As my mother and grandmothers cooked and cleaned houses, they dreamed that their children and grandchildren would have more choices born of greater freedoms. As my grandfather drove that truck, he imagined a world where a college degree would be a real attainable goal for his children.

So here we are. Let’s honor them, their journey and legacy even as we further it with our own lives and our own relationship with a living and evolving God/Jehovah/Great Spirit/Universe/Divine… and may we be good ancestors.

Namaste.

photo by ChrisK4u

“Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.”
~ Jonas Salk

“For a long time, it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life! But there was always some obstacle, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

~ Alfred D. Souza