Taking Back Your Power

“The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.”

~ Edgar Allan Poe

There is much talk right now of awakening, of becoming empowered, of changing the world. 

Depending on what you read and what floats your boat, you might have read about ascension, or planetary shifts, or public uprisings against governments, or a rise in peaceful protests, or dark nights of the soul, or facing your own shadows to become whole and healed.

I’ve read a lot about many of these things. We know it’s not okay to push back when pushed, because all that leads to is a fight. But it’s not all peace and love either. Nor is positive thinking on its own a magic wand that can right all wrongs.

Much of it is about balance, and much of it is about presence. Or rather, being present. When you are present, you can look more constructively at your scenario, without letting your emotions, your patterns, your ego, run away with you.

You come to realise that you just need to let go, and surrender.

Sometimes, it’s all about saying fuck you… and being okay with that.

Sometimes, it’s all about stepping back, and being at peace, and not having to be right or have your opinion heard… and being okay with that, too.

You can’t have your light without shadow. They co-exist. They are one and the same, because they combine to make all of what you are.

“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

- Carl Jung

Being powerful isn’t about power. Being powerful is about being empowered. Desire to seek power over something or someone stems from fear and a need to control. But empowerment is freedom – it is about letting go and surrendering and tapping into your core self – delving into every part of you and returning to the surface, knowing yourself well enough to know what you want, and who you are, and then going out and doing what it is you want to do, and being who you truly are. Living and speaking your truth is the greatest empowerment of all, and by doing so, you empower others by inspiring them to do the same.

“When Nike says, just do it, that’s a message of empowerment. Why aren’t the rest of us speaking to young people in a voice of inspiration?”

- Naomi Klein

You can read a million books and take a million workshops, but eventually there comes a point where you have to trust YOU. Listen to YOU. Your soul knows. You just have to go inside and find it. You come to realise that those million books and workshops are, in essence, all saying variations of the same things. Just as all stories stem back to one of a handful of universal archetypes, so too do the wisdoms of life all stem back to a handful of fundamental truths.

Similarly, you can repeat the same life lessons over and over, remain stuck in the same patterns for the rest of your life. Or you can choose to learn what you are being taught, and have the freedom to let go, and move on.

“There is progress whether ye are going forward or backward! 
The thing is to move!”

~ Edgar Cayce

It’s easy, oh so easy, to stay stuck in those comfy habits, and patterns, and comfort zones. But we will never achieve our dreams if we stay there. We are energy. Everything around us is energy. To get in the flow, we need to get that energy moving to us, and from us. We don’t achieve that by sitting around thinking about things, although that can help us reach the realisation in the first place. We achieve what we want to achieve by taking action.

Just do it!

“Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.”

~ Carl Gustav Jung

We are all born with an innate gift that we can bring to the world, and that can change the world too. Whether that be the entire world, or the world of one single person, it doesn’t matter. Everything we do as an act of love is vital and important.

The reason so many people never seem to achieve their dreams or realise their talents is because they spend all their life planning and thinking and dreaming, but not doing. There is no reason to put it off until tomorrow, or keep on practising in secret until perfect. Don’t focus on the goal, because that just turns it into something far away and often seemingly impossible. The truth is that nothing is about the goal. It is all about the journey. That is how you fail and learn, and grow and come to create something even more wonderful, even more powerful, than you originally dreamed.

Every day, we are giving our power away to fears, doubts, lack, excuses, ego, other people, and those with false power.

No more.

Embrace the journey. Take action right now. All you need to do is to begin, and allow yourself to go with the flow of where life takes you.

Let’s start taking back our power, today. 

The Peaceful Activist

"I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." 


~ Mother Teresa

Activism. Now there’s a word that can split a room. There are those who are willing to put themselves out there to fight for what’s right and just in the world, and others who believe that the law is the law and people should just put up and shut up.

“In this world hate 
never yet dispelled hate.
 
Only love dispels hate.
 This is the law,
 
ancient and inexhaustible.”



- Buddha

However, much like Buddha taught of the Middle Path, so too is there a middle way for activism, and more and more people are coming to realise that.

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,

but a means by which we arrive at that goal."


~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Recent peaceful activism has grown out of the roots of the likes of Egypt and spread across the world. Whether you look to Occupy or Tar Sands or other similar protests, people are waking up to the fact that you can’t fight violence with violence, and war does not end war.

“Peace is your natural state, 
it is the mind that obstructs the natural state.”

- Swami Turiyananda

The best indication that peaceful activism is a “threat” to those in corrupt power is the fact that more and more laws, regulations and injunctions are coming into effect to prevent protests (even peaceful ones) from taking place near certain people, places and companies.

The key now is for activism to not lose its way. To not lose steam or motivation or effectiveness, despite the onslaught of both court of law and divided public opinion. Now is the time for it to evolve, focus, and walk the talk. The time has come to stop wasting energy and time and resources on fighting losing battles. The time has come to stand up, lead by example, and set down the foundations for a new way.

But who will be brave enough, and bold enough, and love enough, to do this?

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, 
there is a field. I will meet you there."

- Rumi

If we value ourselves, and our world, and our fellow humanity, then we all should.

This is our time.

Nothing to Give?

The Only Person Who Can Save You...

IS YOU

 

Sure, there are plenty of people to blame out there. Friends, family, enemies, councils, corporations, entire governments.

You can be angry, you can be resentful, you can hold a grudge.

But all that really does is hurt you.

“You are not what you think you are.
 

But, what you think ... you are.

”

- Norman Vincent Peale

Let go. Surrender to the flow.

See everything as an opportunity to learn a lesson, and grow.

Go deep within you, and find your shadow side. Accept it. Don’t hide from it. Heal it, and bring it into balance with the light of who you are.

Be passionate about life, and go for it.

Sure, get angry about injustices. But use that anger to birth something new and beautiful, rather than harbouring a rage within.

Don’t fight a losing battle. Create a new beginning.

Lead by example. Be what you want the world to be.

Love yourself, unconditionally, and do the same for others.

Change yourself, and change the world. 

No Compromise

Every Little Helps… The True Meaning of Giving

‎"Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the humblest imaginable."



~ Mahatma Gandhi

Just because times are hard, it doesn’t mean everyone should be out for themselves. It doesn’t mean that we should turn our back on others in need.

Just because we don’t have enough money for ourselves, let alone a charity, it doesn’t mean we can’t still give something.

"In this life we cannot always do great things.

But we can do small things with great love." 



- Mother Teresa

Even when we have nothing, we can still give something. Time costs nothing. Love costs nothing. An idea, some reassurance, a helping hand, a sympathetic ear, a kind word. These things all cost nothing.

“What you do today can improve all tomorrows.

”

-Ralph Marston

We can still give, even when we have nothing. Pennies saved in a jar will eventually amount to a donation that can make a difference. Old clothes that no longer fit or suit, can keep a homeless person warm. Blood donated at the hospital, can save someone’s life.

“When we are no longer able to change the situation,
 we are challenged to change ourselves.

”

-Viktor Frankl

There may literally be nothing physical that we can give. But that doesn’t mean we can’t give something non-physical. Change your perspective. Open your heart. It is the giving and receiving that counts in the flow of all things. Money is just one form of energy exchange – there are plenty of others. Love, kindness, help, support, inspiration, a moment of our time – giving these things freely and joyfully is of equal, if not greater importance.

"The difference between comfort and nurture is this: if you have a plant that is sick because you keep it in a dark closet, and you say soothing words to it, that is comfort. If you take the plant out of the closet and put it in the sun, give it something to drink, and then talk to it, that is nurture."

- Clarissa Pinkola Estes,

Women Who Run With the Wolves

Similarly, there is plenty to be done for the causes of this world aside from giving financial aid. If we want to continue supporting our favourite charities or causes but can’t afford to donate, help in other ways. Raise awareness. Lead by example. Volunteer. Teach. Inspire. Nurture. All the money in the world can’t change some grievances in the world, the only way to change them is to change the way we think.

"If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace."


~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Give freely what you can, with love and joy. Give energy supporting what you believe in, rather than wasting energy fighting against that which you don’t. Work on changing yourself, in order to help change the world. That is one of the greatest gifts we can give. Imagine if we all gave that!

Finally, remember this.

“No one ever really knows how much anyone else is hurting. We could be standing next to someone who's completely broken and we'll never know, but if our own heart is full of love and compassion we could be that person’s saving grace.”

- Michele Burnell

If we have love, then there is nothing that we cannot give. 

Standing on the Edge

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other” 
– Mother Teresa

While no apocalyptic-style occurrences have yet gripped the Earth, in the spirit of those fear mongering 2012 prophecies, you could be forgiven for feeling that the world is somehow sinking into a dark, bottomless pit of no return.

Top of everyone’s mind right now is the global financial crisis, which sees more and more American and European families sliding into poverty every day, to the point where we were reading about Greek mothers leaving their children on orphanage doorsteps because they simply could no longer afford to feed them.

Which undoubtedly suits those in power. I am no political expert or psychoanalyst, I am just a thirty-something mother who wants to see the 99 percent look within themselves and find empowerment, in order to make the world a better place again for my child, and for future generations beyond her. But it is not hard to read between the lines when you look out across the world right now.

As this crisis deepens, creating more and more of a chasm between rich and poor, it becomes more than just a chasm of financial means. It becomes a chasm between power and helplessness, a chasm between love and fear.

As the powerful have reached a point of breathtaking exploitation and corruption, the world has finally begun to wake up to the fact that things are not changed with vengeance, anger and war, but love for their families, their country, themselves – leading to peaceful change through non-violent protest and leading by example.

This makes the powerful afraid, and so they seek to cling on to their power by spreading more fear, and thus more feelings of helplessness. They keep us embroiled in wars so that they can continue to profiteer. They bring in controlling laws and regulations to stay in control of the masses. They make us believe they are trying to help those in need but never actually do it. They exploit our planet at the expense of life, including ours, be it driving people out of their homes to line the pockets of frackers or allowing oil companies to endanger the beautiful wilderness that regulates our climate. Global warming and climate disaster will no doubt be further means of exploitation by these people, profiteering to the last while bringing misery to the masses.

And to combat the growing uprising they seek to gain even more control, through new laws that suppress the right to protest or that can have you humiliated or thrown in jail indefinitely, for no good reason. They disguise these disgraceful elements of dictatorship under the banner of protecting the people from terrorism. But who are the real terrorists here? The only people they are seeking to protect are themselves.

And all the while, the real people of this world continue to suffer. The more we are suppressed, the more we are broken down, piece by piece, the more we fall into victim and survivor modes, worried only about ourselves and our very nearest and dearest. To hell with the rest of the world, what about me? In creeps the mindset that the media and the governments want us to have – what is the point of protesting? Unlawful action against corporations is wrong, it is breaking the law (never mind that those companies are being even more immoral and unlawful). Occupy is a waste of time, those people should go get a job. We can’t change the world, so we just have to put up with it and leave everyone else behind to survive. Screw humanity.

“Divide and conquer” springs to mind. But such a vision did Julius Caesar no favours, and it is time that people united again to put an end to this unjust power before it grows even more powerful.

We need to stop feeling afraid. Stop feeling angry. Stop feeling guilty. What do we want to be, truly? What do we want the world to be? Neither will be achieved through negative feelings. Nor will they be achieved by burying our heads in the sand. And most of all, they will not be achieved by blame.

Sure, it is easy to say that the powerful elite has caused all of these problems. But the truth of the matter is, they took advantage of a world that let them, and we have to face ourselves, to ask ourselves why.

We allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking materialism was what made us happy, complete, whole, important, whatever. We allowed ourselves to become self-absorbed, lulled into a world of commercialism, celebrity and little or no responsibility. We fell asleep, in effect, and woke up to find the world had changed for the worst.

These curses of commercialism and consumerism have permeated every area of life. Technology means we are bombarded with so much information and so many choices on a daily basis that we have forgotten the true nature and meaning of things.

Even charities have taken the stance of marching up to you in the street and making you feel guilty. What, you can’t afford to give £20 a month to us? But look at you, with your nice clothes and your bag of shopping and your cup of Starbucks coffee! You’re a disgrace to humanity!

Think what you like of controversial comic Frankie Boyle, but you cannot deny he makes many valid points in his open letter to the BBC. He ends it talking about a documentary on life in Palestine. A doctor is asked what he thinks will be achieved by highlighting the plight of a child who cannot be treated because they don’t have enough supplies, and his response is that people will do nothing.

Boyle’s response is equally harrowing. 

“I cried at that and promised myself that I would do something. Other than write a few stupid jokes I have not done anything. Neither have you.”

Such words are harsh. The truth is harsher. We have become indifferent to the world. We turn the other cheek, look away when we should be looking harder, pretend that the stuff out there isn’t happening.

There is a theory that the people or things that make us upset or uncomfortable in our lives are actually our mirrors, to help us change and grow.

The state of the world right now is a mirror to our mistake. Right now we feel like those who have control - the governments, the world powers, the banks, the rich, the elite – all of them are indifferent to us, our needs, the needs of the people.

But are they are a mirror to our own indifference? Yes, and that indifference has brought us to our knees.

Only by awakening and feeling, truly feeling, for ourselves and others, can we begin to restore balance, harmony and justice to the world. It is not the responsibility of a few, it is the responsibility of us all. So ask yourself, what am I prepared to offer? Indifference and self-misery, which will sink us further into a suppressed and broken nation? Or love, positive action and regard for humanity, which can only cause us to soar?

We are standing on the edge of a society falling apart. When you get to the edge, what will you do? Because even then, even when you are forced into stepping off that precipice, you still have a choice. You can fall. Or you can learn how to fly.