Which Systems Still Work And Which - Still Need Work.
The Network of Self
I have pushed hard throughout my life, in different environments and settings, to be a catalyst for change. Perhaps it is because I was allowed to as a child, or because my parents recognized the need for me to continue to question almost everything. But perhaps my line of questions was pointed at something more than change. Perhaps my line of questions were driven by an undeniable need to stay in the flow of all things — to not be stuck in one understanding but remain fluid to new realities. As my teen years rolled into choosing and dedicating myself to a profession, I chose to become an artist — to continually instigate an evolution toward self-awareness, compassion and cultivating a greater curiosity and better understanding of our shared reality and the world we live in — here on earth — through my art form.
I’ve also grown to be my own worst critic — playing devil’s advocate for myself when no one else would. I’ve learned no matter how hard you might try, almost nothing is ever perfect, or finished — for that matter. In this recognition, there is complicity with the notion that everything is uniquely flawed. This is our life’s challenge, to reveal the cracks and disconnections with ourselves and most likely, the circle of people we live in and with. These short comings will lead us to strength through humility. In order to participate fully in the greater dialog, one must practice humility — recognizing short comings, our mis-steps and sometimes even seemingly insurmountable, monumental mistakes. It may be too late to apologize, but it’s never too late to learn from your mistakes, forgive yourself and stay open to the possibilities of growth in a new direction.
Every expression of energy — be it a thought, a breath, a word or action — has a consequence, especially the ones we recognize consciously — before or after they happen. In this age of our great collective mind working together to solve our shared problems — we have yet to tap into our truest potential by recognizing the importance this personal work plays in our personal and shared lives. Work is work, internal or external. Expression or intention can not and should not be born of a vacuum. This is the crisis we face today. Too much water has gone under the bridge. To much time has transpired for a growing generation of humans, without our being conscious of our actions and expressions. If we can each, manage to do the internal work necessary to relinquish the hold our greater subconsciousness has taken upon our lives and the slow dissolution of our culture and humanity, everyone and every living thing will benefit — and we may be able to pull back from the edge of an environmental crisis that will mean mass destruction for millions of innocent people. Our well being will be secured and tethered to something fluid and infinite. Our personal happiness assured, as long as we do the necessary work. So wish us luck, because when the average human think of the meaning of the word ‘work’, it does not inspire. Yes, ‘work’ — like ‘help’ — is a relative thing.
The reality of this moment is that the roles we play in the lives of one another are much more consequential than anyone could possibly imagine. Therefore it is necessary to share time, space and energy in a way that is mutually agreeable. We must ‘work’ to adopt an implicit contract with one another — one that is forged within our capacity for compassion, understanding and the boundaries of our humanity. The extreme of this concept is made evident when you have the privilege to witness how people who are compassionately #Connected share the last years, months, days, hours and moments together. Cultivating this type of presence takes a lifetime of practice, and yet we almost always forget that we humans are born with this type of openness to the moment when we are born to loving, secure, informed and nurturing environments. (All the science fiction space movie screenwriters and directors who envision robots taking our dying hand and saying goodbye to the human inside would agree with this fact, even if begrudgingly so. Most of these ‘I Am Robot’ movies are written from a place of abandonment and longing for something that never transpired in the writers life.)
#Fact. No one can fully understand what you are going through, except you. Committed or compassionate hearts can reflect their perceptions of what is happening in your interior world, but only you can fully grasp or make sense of the balance between your outer world and your interior world. This precipitates the necessity to #DoTheWork, as an associate of mine would say #EveryDamnDay.
We, as in peoples of the world, face a #NewParadigm. We must come up with a way to live with the earth and in harmony with one another. This means, we must act not only on behalf of our neighbors, but even more importantly — ourselves. Mother Nature calls us to come together and behave as one big family. Most importantly, this means we MUST learn to live with ourselves. You don’t have to like yourself, but trying to be kind — first and foremost — wouldn’t hurt. We don’t even have to like one another, but we do have to acknowledge and respect our differences — as there are as many as there are peoples on the planet. While we share the same home, the same building blocks of our being, the same air and water and compassion — is there is no one other person like you in this world. It is necessary that your uniqueness be recognized, cherished and perhaps even shared if the rest of us are lucky enough and present enough to share it with you.
The systems in place around us now, are all but broken — or perhaps they never truly worked in the first place. If nothing else, perhaps the original intention has been lost in the many years of use, mis-use and now ab-use. You are a product of your environment, but you are also a child of Nature.
The Network Within Which You Live
Throughout the ages, there have been very few women who have successfully done the things they were driven to do — perhaps only in ancient matriarchal cultures and yes, the church. Julian of Norwich, 13th c. Anchoress, who lived almost the entirety of her life during the European Pandemic we commonly refer to as the Black Plague, speaks of our humanity in terms of our Nature and how the presence and recognition of this wildly unique spirit within each of us is the presence of connection and all that is good. This genderless, colorless, ageless concept is what she understood to be “God”. Regardless, it is time to give credence to and place the required value on what is needed — internally — for you to function with the rest of us. This idea of spirit and how it charges us all with divine spark is a broadly shared concept. Every culture on the planet has an origin story with this ‘spirit’ at the center. We all have it in our cultural DNA, the time has come to address it collectively. (More cogently stated:) It’s time to address your fears, doubts and shortcomings. The tipping point in the ecology of our human existence has long past arrived. If you don’t, it may very well mean the end for of all of us — or at least many, many more. The consequences of the broken systems and our inability to recognize our truest value, may be our undoing and a hellish future for those being born — unknowingly and incapable of adapting quickly enough — to our utter disconnection, with ourselves and the rest of the world.
As you learn to come to terms with your unique role in the bigger picture, do not think small. #ThinkBig. If you are able, think about the multitude of system(s) of one giant organism living in harmony. I have found as a student of time, space and energy — to think about the many systems of the human body; the reproductive, digestive and renal systems, the respiratory, circulatory and lymphatic systems, the thyroid and lower brain stem, and the miraculous network of your entire nervous system — being in concert with the ebb and flow, the dance of all living things. It’s a lot to think of, but if you focus repeatedly, systematically and regularly on bringing your awareness and understanding of your own body’s inner workings — piece by piece, you can better understand and draw the correlations to those systems outside yourself that function as part of a greater whole — as a child of Nature, or as Julian of Norwich spoke of and called this divine spirit — God.
If in your explorations and correlations you recognize differences or disconnects that seem too great to overcome, do not despair in your discoveries. Rejoice in the revelation! Acknowledge and celebrate what works, what has come to light and begin the idea of addressing what does not and remains hidden. The greatest part of this type of self exploration, revealing and acknowledgement is that truly — there is nothing to fear. The discovery of your personal truth will set us all free. It will take work and some degree of effort, but trust that it is a worthy use of time, space and energy. It is in the change or the redirection of our intentions where we may encounter the difficulty. If you’re relatively well connected to those around you, you may find that you are not alone in the reassessment of your internal dialog. There may be an even greater shift you may be dancing around or preparing for. With grace, you will find compassionate and committed hearts around you to support you with setting new or different intentions. Do not avoid, dismiss or bury these discoveries. Take time to grieve, to mourn and try to move on. If you find you can not move on, listen intently in the deep well of silence or loss of intention or motivation, as the case may be. Spirit will emerge to guide you.
Embrace the notion of timelessness, of placelessness, of nothingness, of #Everythingness where there is no separation and the all-powerfulness of your breath — the breath, being — mind and movement of one. Only in the recognition and sure execution of your whole will we make the hurdle and successfully run the gambit before us. I know it may be the hardest thing that’s ever been asked of you, but I know you can do this. We all know it. Being is everything. Be still, breathe and know. #PracticePresence so you can be a better participant in the greater dialog.
~ One of cyberLOVEjunkie’s favorite pass times is a somatic dance practice called chromatic dance — where the different systems of the body and their movement is made visible through movement and expression of intent.
Find more about chromatic dance on Twitter @move_chromatic and Instagram @move.chromatic.
