For the last soon-to-be three years, I have watched in grief and shock at the reprehensible and intentional ‘disappearing’ of a way of life, in my own country, that I never dreamed would be so easily surrendered. The mouth of one becomes a channel for the voice of another. What is presented turns out to have been but a cloak of deception for what continues to unfold in space/time.
As one lone person, I can easily feel powerless and helpless in the face of such a seemingly weighty and oppressive ‘reality’. And yet, in spite of it all, I know that I am whole, unique and essential to my world – and so are you. In THAT, I know, lives that which is required for me to make a difference.
I choose to be the foot in the door that will not allow it to close on the potential of my children and grandchildren. Their right to have the freedom to choose their own path is far more than a legislative guarantee – it is the inalienable right of any and all sovereign Beings.
I choose to allow the uniqueness of my Being to emerge and present… to intentionally choose… and to embrace fully the Life that awaits my expression.
Will it change the world? I don’t know. What I do know is that it will change MY world! And in truth, what other world is there?
I, like you, am the last stand against the imposition of a world that I fully reject; a world that does not represent who I am and how I choose to design my reality. I have no idea where that will take me and I know, without a doubt, that to do otherwise would be a massive betrayal of all that is authentic to my being alive.
I can rail against the world, in general; at the corporate insanity and frenzied consumption that brought us here; at the unfettered greed and avarice that have fuelled the entire process. But to what end? I choose instead, to focus on my life and its expression from this moment forward…. fully in the recognition and ownership that we are indeed, a species on the edge of massive decline. It is not ‘if’ – it is now, how much?
How else might I choose to live MY life, today?
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Manifesto for Meaningful Moments
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- I choose the moment I’m in. For that, I must live in that ever-unfolding moment and not lose myself to the past (coulda/shoulda/woulda) or long for a future that does not yet exist. Only in the moment I am in, am I able to receive the intelligence that can guide me to shape and define a powerful choice for my own wellbeing.
- I choose to own what I can do rather than lament what I cannot. Consumption has lost its appeal, resulting in my significant reduction in participation with the long list of suspects grabbing at my wallet. That includes the little things (like another pair of shoes) to the bigger things (like trips to Hawaii and holidays abroad). I have made peace with my choosing to find joy in my neighbourhood.
- I choose to act in my own small and seemingly insignificant way rather than seek to convince others to act. I continue to believe: if we stop buying it, they will stop making it. In a consumption-driven society fuelled by debt, it won’t stop until we do.
- I choose to live from this mantra: think globally, act locally. In that, I watch for patterns and make choices for my personal experience in recognition of those larger patterns. Looking up is making looking down far more potent.
- I choose delight! Every day, I catch myself in a moment of loving my life! The way the clouds move. The colour of the sky. The life-giving breeze, following days of oppressive heat. A visit with my precious grandsons. Sharing a meal with my sons and daughters-in-law. Conversation with my dearest friends. Every day, my life makes me smile!
- I choose grace in the face of my own mortality. It’s not like it’s a surprise! I’ve known for a long time that this body – this device that permits the Force of ‘me’ to move through space/time in this reality – is on loan. Its inevitable demise was a given from the moment of my birth. Rather than choose to direct my efforts at extending this corporeal journey, I choose to recognize imminent departure with grace: with acceptance, appreciation and a sense of delight at the next leg of my journey. It will be as I anticipate, given the Force of creation that I know mySelf to be.
- I choose silence. I choose to slow down; to breathe deeply and frequently into the base of my spine. I choose to stop… look up… and watch the world around and above me, rather than seek to look elsewhere to avoid tripping over the impediments I may have placed in my own path.
- I choose the truth of my own experience. In the moment that I’m living. Not good/bad, right/wrong – it just ‘is’ as a legitimate and compelling platform from which I choose to design my life.
- I choose the solemn and sovereign journey of my unique existence. I cherish the precious moments shared with others for whom a deep connection resonates… and I also cherish the deep and great undulations of my own ‘oneness’. That there is no one here with me in this moment in no way diminishes or denigrates the majesty of my own Presence. Although I have been ’trained’ to be a creature of pack-thinking, I have discovered that it is not the essence of my Being… as I have been lead to believe. The only way I can intimately know that – in the very cells of my being – is to live it.