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Valentines Day 2009: Healing Times Special Edition
February 2009: Healing Times
Monday, March 9, 2009
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Valentines Day 2009: Healing Times Special Edition
February 2009: Healing Times
Sunday, February 8, 2009
It's Always Darkest Just Before the Dawn, by Emmett Miller (Healing Times Feb 2, 09)
One thing is certain, there will be many losses: to ourselves, to those we care about, and to strangers who compel at our human compassion. We need to properly grieve these losses, and help others grieve as well - lest we fall into helpless depression. We need to learn to "let go," in more ways than one.
Not only must we release our losses - we must embrace our power. We must express ourselves with passion and inspiration, for these will sustain us through the lean times to come.
Most of these unhappy changes will seem to come from the "outside," making us to feel overwhelmed and helpless. It is essential, therefore, to remember our problems may come from "without," but our solutions come from "within."
We are NOT powerless! Our job is to maintain control of our thoughts, feelings and images. You and I have as much power as we choose to assume, but to access the full extent of it, we must remain in nurturing and supportive relationships with like-spirited groups of people (who may or may not overlap). We must learn how to pool and draw upon our vast social resources. We are not alone. We access our power through togetherness.
Coming Together
Togetherness brings harmony into your most intimate relationships, such as your family, work team, and friends. By relinquishing (letting go) old paradigm thinking, you release resentments and anxieties. You give up the isolating "I" mode and embrace the inclusive "We" mode.
Similarly, your survival, and that of those around you, depends on learning how to contribute to "distributed leadership." Instead of waiting to be told what to do, realize that you have a voice, and you have something to say.
We now have a government that truly seems to support the distributed leadership paradigm and believes that many of the answers we need are already out there - among us! The government is listening - to us! Now is the time to speak up!
If you clear your mind and body of unnecessary stress, access your inner wisdom and creativity, and facilitate relationships that lead to collective wisdom, you just might discover you possess a crucial key to resolving a major problem in your family, community, work, nation, or world.
The Power of Belief
But this can only happen if you are willing to let yourself believe that you really do have the power to make a difference. By now, you are probably well aware there is something greater than ourselves at work in the world. You may have already realized you are not a random event in the universe.
You have a purpose, perhaps even a mission. And this mission may (and probably does) involve the subordination of your purely self-serving motives to serving the greater good of the human condition. That greater good could be your family, your service club, your football team - or the fellow soldiers in a rifle company.
We are more than the sum of our parts. However, it is often most difficult to actually define what exactly it is that we are all part of. Yet the feeling persists: "It's not just about me. It's about all of us." The more you pay attention to the feeling of "we're all in this together," the more obvious and powerful that feeling becomes.
We experience it whenever we are in close community. This is when we are really able to experience the beauty of each other's being, and to feel the power of that bond. This is such a powerful creative force that can transcend our personal differences and weaknesses - and harness, instead, our strengths and common purpose.
Our collective power is ineffable, but nonetheless palpable. It reveals reserves and talents we were unaware of, yet we can feel them, as in this poem I learned in grade school:
The strength of the team or nine or crew
Is not the strength of the star.
It's what the body together can do
That carries the victory far.
So you shall give your might to the rest
To bring the whole team through
And then at the time of your single test
They will give their strength to you.
Awakening The Leader Within
The power to survive and thrive in these tangled times comes from within. You must access your deepest self-wisdom, and then use that wise guidance to discern and choose the safest and most productive path for you to forge ahead.
Can you let yourself believe that perhaps if you enhanced your ability to communicate clearly with those you care about, especially with regards to the things that really matter, that your communication might be of crucial value to that community?
First, you much establish your inner base. This will enable you to better recognize those with whom it is best for you to work with. You must find and define relationships that possess a harmony that fits the true task(s) you are committed to.
Next, commit to learning how to nurture those relationships in new, perhaps unfamiliar ways. It may require that you abandon your highly conditioned, primitive logic of "What's in it for me?" and/or "Greed is good (or even God)." For resources and tools that can help you develop new ways to develop co-creative relationships, visit www.theworldcafe.com and www.berkana.org.
Apply the Serenity Prayer liberally, accepting peacefully what you cannot change, and courageously changing what you can. Now is the time to start creating the positive future that you can imagine; the default alternative is the negative one you fear. Yes, we can!
You who have dreams
If you act, they will come true
To turn your dream to a fact
It's up to you
If you have the soul and the spirit
Never fear it, you'll see it through.
Hearts can inspire other hearts with their fire.
For the strong obey when a strong man shows them the way.
From Stouthearted Men
(
Not only must we release our losses - we must embrace our power. We must express ourselves with passion and inspiration, for these will sustain us through the lean times to come.
Most of these unhappy changes will seem to come from the "outside," making us to feel overwhelmed and helpless. It is essential, therefore, to remember our problems may come from "without," but our solutions come from "within."
We are NOT powerless! Our job is to maintain control of our thoughts, feelings and images. You and I have as much power as we choose to assume, but to access the full extent of it, we must remain in nurturing and supportive relationships with like-spirited groups of people (who may or may not overlap). We must learn how to pool and draw upon our vast social resources. We are not alone. We access our power through togetherness.
Coming Together
Togetherness brings harmony into your most intimate relationships, such as your family, work team, and friends. By relinquishing (letting go) old paradigm thinking, you release resentments and anxieties. You give up the isolating "I" mode and embrace the inclusive "We" mode.
Similarly, your survival, and that of those around you, depends on learning how to contribute to "distributed leadership." Instead of waiting to be told what to do, realize that you have a voice, and you have something to say.
We now have a government that truly seems to support the distributed leadership paradigm and believes that many of the answers we need are already out there - among us! The government is listening - to us! Now is the time to speak up!
If you clear your mind and body of unnecessary stress, access your inner wisdom and creativity, and facilitate relationships that lead to collective wisdom, you just might discover you possess a crucial key to resolving a major problem in your family, community, work, nation, or world.
The Power of Belief
But this can only happen if you are willing to let yourself believe that you really do have the power to make a difference. By now, you are probably well aware there is something greater than ourselves at work in the world. You may have already realized you are not a random event in the universe.
You have a purpose, perhaps even a mission. And this mission may (and probably does) involve the subordination of your purely self-serving motives to serving the greater good of the human condition. That greater good could be your family, your service club, your football team - or the fellow soldiers in a rifle company.
We are more than the sum of our parts. However, it is often most difficult to actually define what exactly it is that we are all part of. Yet the feeling persists: "It's not just about me. It's about all of us." The more you pay attention to the feeling of "we're all in this together," the more obvious and powerful that feeling becomes.
We experience it whenever we are in close community. This is when we are really able to experience the beauty of each other's being, and to feel the power of that bond. This is such a powerful creative force that can transcend our personal differences and weaknesses - and harness, instead, our strengths and common purpose.
Our collective power is ineffable, but nonetheless palpable. It reveals reserves and talents we were unaware of, yet we can feel them, as in this poem I learned in grade school:
The strength of the team or nine or crew
Is not the strength of the star.
It's what the body together can do
That carries the victory far.
So you shall give your might to the rest
To bring the whole team through
And then at the time of your single test
They will give their strength to you.
Awakening The Leader Within
The power to survive and thrive in these tangled times comes from within. You must access your deepest self-wisdom, and then use that wise guidance to discern and choose the safest and most productive path for you to forge ahead.
Can you let yourself believe that perhaps if you enhanced your ability to communicate clearly with those you care about, especially with regards to the things that really matter, that your communication might be of crucial value to that community?
First, you much establish your inner base. This will enable you to better recognize those with whom it is best for you to work with. You must find and define relationships that possess a harmony that fits the true task(s) you are committed to.
Next, commit to learning how to nurture those relationships in new, perhaps unfamiliar ways. It may require that you abandon your highly conditioned, primitive logic of "What's in it for me?" and/or "Greed is good (or even God)." For resources and tools that can help you develop new ways to develop co-creative relationships, visit www.theworldcafe.com and www.berkana.org.
Apply the Serenity Prayer liberally, accepting peacefully what you cannot change, and courageously changing what you can. Now is the time to start creating the positive future that you can imagine; the default alternative is the negative one you fear. Yes, we can!
You who have dreams
If you act, they will come true
To turn your dream to a fact
It's up to you
If you have the soul and the spirit
Never fear it, you'll see it through.
Hearts can inspire other hearts with their fire.
For the strong obey when a strong man shows them the way.
From Stouthearted Men
(
An Inauguration Day Challenge (January 15 Newsletter Article) by Emmett Miller
Inauguration Day is not usually considered a national holiday – but, to my mind, perhaps this year it should have been. Not simply because our country has made bold new steps toward equalization of all races but also due to the mantra of the man poised to become president: Change. Never before, in my lifetime, has there been such universal agreement that change is necessary.
Of course there are those who feel that some of the choices he is making are mistakes, while others applaud his trying to forge a coalition from a team of rivals, each of whom will strive to best the other, while still committed to supporting truth, justice and a spirit of respect, wholeness and oneness. There is also a large faction of the population that fear that Barack Obama has sold the nation on pretty words that sound without action. They point to past leaders and their failed promises. They look at the sweeping changes Washington and Lincoln brought to the nation as relics of a romanticized past. They will sit back with folded arms and watch, confident that we will continue in this tailspin, with no awareness that theirs is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But there are others who believe America can be saved, but only if enough of us do our part.
Lets face it, we have become a nation of spectators! We have been taught to let the men in Washington decide our taxes, laws, and marriage rights. We have grown accustomed to lazy finger pointing and a comfortable lack of responsibility. In America we have the lowest election turn out among all industrialized democracies; our default behavior is to sit back and see if President Obama can get us out of this mess. But, as President Washington needed the backing of the newly-born U.S. Congress and Lincoln needed the support of the Northern states, Mr. Obama needs us.
To inaugurate is to initiate a certain plan or course of action. On Tuesday night we are not inaugurating a president or an administration; the will of the American people is to inaugurate a new way of being in the world. We are inaugurating a deep hope, the kind that comes from collaboration not only of friends and like-minded colleagues but also of sworn enemies. We are inaugurating a way that is sustainable, that overcomes the petty jealousies, conflicts, and arguments of the past and truly serves that whole of which we are all a part. And, finally, we are inaugurating healthy, wise choices not only for our government but also for the leadership within ourselves. This is not the next installment of Batman; no superObama is going to swoop in and save us. But he can inspire us to greatness. There is a new way we need to be, and there are new responsibilities waiting. Because the old system can still drain a few more dollars out of us, it will continue to tell us that our economy is sound enough that we can sit back and “let George do it.” But if we are wise, we will realize that our potential is far greater than our past – but only if we recognize that what we have done is to elect ourselves as the next leader.
Are you willing to do your part? We will hang together, or we will hang separately.
Ask yourself: how can I help in the crucial task of healing my nation and what should I be inaugurating in my life? All of us have a part to play in evolving our collective future, what’s the right role for you?
Is there a new way you would like to be in the future? Which of your gifts, skills and talents would you like to feature in this next exciting phase? What behaviors would you like to let go of, and which would you like to see more of? If you don’t know where you want to go, any path will take you there.
Look at the past not to linger or mope but to see where you have been misled so that you can gain wisdom from those mistakes. Examine how you are investing your energy. What are your values, and what practice keeps you on course? Can you see a better way to invest your life energy? How do you want to participate in the new Distributed Leadership model in your work or your personal community? In what way do you feel called to serve?
Now turn off your default button and take action so that we can all use our strengths together as one. It has been apparent for the last eight years that without involvement we have very little to protect our rights or guide our government’s choices. But the opportunity for change has arrived. Seize it.
The program Awakening the Leader Within addresses many of these issues in the context of a Heart-to-Heart Talk and a set of deep relaxation and guided imagery experiences. It is available as a CD or direct download.
Guidance in ways you can participate in the larger community can be found at such sites as: The World Cafe, Gather The Women, Humanity Unites Brilliance, and Pachamama.
Of course there are those who feel that some of the choices he is making are mistakes, while others applaud his trying to forge a coalition from a team of rivals, each of whom will strive to best the other, while still committed to supporting truth, justice and a spirit of respect, wholeness and oneness. There is also a large faction of the population that fear that Barack Obama has sold the nation on pretty words that sound without action. They point to past leaders and their failed promises. They look at the sweeping changes Washington and Lincoln brought to the nation as relics of a romanticized past. They will sit back with folded arms and watch, confident that we will continue in this tailspin, with no awareness that theirs is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But there are others who believe America can be saved, but only if enough of us do our part.
Lets face it, we have become a nation of spectators! We have been taught to let the men in Washington decide our taxes, laws, and marriage rights. We have grown accustomed to lazy finger pointing and a comfortable lack of responsibility. In America we have the lowest election turn out among all industrialized democracies; our default behavior is to sit back and see if President Obama can get us out of this mess. But, as President Washington needed the backing of the newly-born U.S. Congress and Lincoln needed the support of the Northern states, Mr. Obama needs us.
To inaugurate is to initiate a certain plan or course of action. On Tuesday night we are not inaugurating a president or an administration; the will of the American people is to inaugurate a new way of being in the world. We are inaugurating a deep hope, the kind that comes from collaboration not only of friends and like-minded colleagues but also of sworn enemies. We are inaugurating a way that is sustainable, that overcomes the petty jealousies, conflicts, and arguments of the past and truly serves that whole of which we are all a part. And, finally, we are inaugurating healthy, wise choices not only for our government but also for the leadership within ourselves. This is not the next installment of Batman; no superObama is going to swoop in and save us. But he can inspire us to greatness. There is a new way we need to be, and there are new responsibilities waiting. Because the old system can still drain a few more dollars out of us, it will continue to tell us that our economy is sound enough that we can sit back and “let George do it.” But if we are wise, we will realize that our potential is far greater than our past – but only if we recognize that what we have done is to elect ourselves as the next leader.
Are you willing to do your part? We will hang together, or we will hang separately.
Ask yourself: how can I help in the crucial task of healing my nation and what should I be inaugurating in my life? All of us have a part to play in evolving our collective future, what’s the right role for you?
Is there a new way you would like to be in the future? Which of your gifts, skills and talents would you like to feature in this next exciting phase? What behaviors would you like to let go of, and which would you like to see more of? If you don’t know where you want to go, any path will take you there.
Look at the past not to linger or mope but to see where you have been misled so that you can gain wisdom from those mistakes. Examine how you are investing your energy. What are your values, and what practice keeps you on course? Can you see a better way to invest your life energy? How do you want to participate in the new Distributed Leadership model in your work or your personal community? In what way do you feel called to serve?
Now turn off your default button and take action so that we can all use our strengths together as one. It has been apparent for the last eight years that without involvement we have very little to protect our rights or guide our government’s choices. But the opportunity for change has arrived. Seize it.
The program Awakening the Leader Within addresses many of these issues in the context of a Heart-to-Heart Talk and a set of deep relaxation and guided imagery experiences. It is available as a CD or direct download.
Guidance in ways you can participate in the larger community can be found at such sites as: The World Cafe, Gather The Women, Humanity Unites Brilliance, and Pachamama.
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