An Open Letter To Align With Your Greater GoOD
What a wonderful time to be alive. I am the eternal optimist and I truly believe that. I believe that because I feel optimistic. I do not allow myself to get swept up in what is and instead can look upon this experience we are collectively having as an opportunity to take a stand for something greater than what is being experienced. This is what has kept my heart open to love and open to the presence of GoOD in all things. I simply know and whole heartedly trust that there must be a purpose and a greater GoOD that is coming from this experience no matter what is happening.There have been complaints of complacency in our community, this I have heard talk of even in my own circle. I have heard complaints that once the civil rights were over we as a people, especially African American have become complacent with what we have been given, what civil liberties and rights we gained from the activity of our ancestors and friends alive and passed on. This complacency wasn’t just from African Americans, it was from our Caucasian sisters and brothers and friends of all nationalities that marched with us. We stood in harmony arm and arm. When we reached a certain point, the fighting and marching and taking a stand stopped, we began to resume our lives. We ignored what small disregarded liberties remained. We ignored them and little by little more infringements began to filter their way back into our life. What effect one effects all. This last election has given us an opportunity to embody, embrace and create a new civil rights movement into a catalytic affair. We have been given a gift of magnificent proportion. We have the capacity to get involved with life once again. Not just our life but all life for truly no one is free until we are all free.
I can’t say for sure what to do, although there is plenty to do. That isn’t my speciality. My speciality is helping you turn that frown upside down. Helping us all to see that this is an opportunity of a magnitude we in our life time have yet to see. Truthfully I have had my moments of tears and fears. I have used it not as a place to wallow like a grave yard for my hopes and dreams. I have used it as a wading pool, walking through it to get to the other side; the side of action. My first action was to find the energy that motivates me. My motivation is joy. What brings me joy? Sharing a kind word, and uplifting thought and supporting others in their journey fills my heart like nothing else. So I suppose I do have a “you can do this” suggestion. I can say what to do as my suggestion and contribution to alleviate the feelings of stuck-ness that can happen when there is so much to do. My “what to do” isn’t for everyone nor is it all there is to do. It is just one branch on a tree filled with life giving opportunities to continue our connection as a human family. Find what is yours to do. Prayerfully it brings people closer together and is empowering. If what you are doing generates life and life more abundantly for all then keep at it. If what you are doing is only saving you and your immediate family stretch yourself a little further out there because each one needs one…….another to survive.
Today I allowed myself to tap into the presidential drama going on. I did so mindfully, as a tool to be able to stay connected with my fellow Americans. I used it like the side and rear view mirror in my car, not as the destination but a tool of discernment to see what steps I need to take to get to my destination, to orient myself to see with more focus what I want to create. Have you made hate your destination? Are you dragging it along with you toward love? Have you made fear your destination? Are you carrying it with you in your actions? Have you made separation a part of destination on your way to creating world peace? When you get caught up in the whirlpool of mayhem that is ensuing in the media stop for a moment and ask what results you really are looking for? If your desire is peace then what you do must come from a place of peace. If your desire is love what you do must be birthed from a place of love. Think of Ghandi or Martin Luther King. They effected great change without using hate, fear, aggression, anger, judgement or blame. They used love, hope, faith, peace, discernment to be the foundation for the change. We must come to the problem from the eye of the solution which is to say not using the same techniques utilized in creating the problem.
Today, reach out, connect with a neighbor, a family member, a friend or a long lost aunt. Connect, reach out and touch someone. Speak to the person in the grocery line. Say hello to the cashier and share a smile. Let people know you care. Share your love. The more we reach out to others the more we continue to grow in awareness that we are ALL in this together. Practice non-judgement. This means be more open to compassion and understanding others and less preachy about how you got to where you were so they can change too. We each are given the capacity to become our greatest selves. What supports that isn’t criticism or complaints and while that will make things grow, kinda like manure, it stinks. Try a sunshine of complements and a rain fall of “you can do its.” I know you can!
I know you can find something positive about this election. I know that you can utilize what we have been given as a catalyst for transformation in our world. Whether it is opening your doors for more community events, becoming involved in politics, taking a bike to work, using public transportation, carpooling, supporting your local something, I don’t know exactly. What I do know is that you should allow it fuel your connection to each other and to life. Be committed and determined to see what ways you might, even in the littlest way, separate yourself from someone else then find, seek and see the commonality of us all. Truly We are ONE and in our ONENESS We Shall Rise Above!
With so much love,
