Archive for July, 2011

As our elected officials continue to struggle with the futility of attempting to apply depleted energies to problem solving rather than embracing spiritually-based, co-creative thinking…each of us must hold onto the core belief that we can directly influence the outcome of unfolding events by how we think, speak and act individually.

It’s my favorite saying:  “There is only One of Us”

Once you surrender to this concept, choices become clearer.

“Surrender” being the operative word here.

Generally, we are pretty adept at seeking a higher power. It’s surrendering to it when we encounter it that trips us up.  It’s one thing to yearn.  Many of us do that in our personal lives. We yearn for relationship…we yearn for a partner…we yearn for love. Then, when we find those things, we spend the rest of our lives resisting surrender to the very thing we sought and, miraculously, found.

We are no different when in search of a Higher Power. Of Source.  Of God.  Of The God Within.  We seek and yearn and explore all sorts of avenues to find that connection that will bring us inner peace and give our lives profound meaning. Then, on those occasions when we get a glimpse of such Power, we manufacture all sorts of reasons why it cannot possibly be as we experienced it (a/k/a/ denial) …or… why it just makes more sense to go on our merry way living life as we always have (a/k/a ego- directed).  And so we wind up back where we started and the merry way of the merry-go-round goes… yes…’round and ‘round.

How do we get off this ride?

Surrender!

Surrender does not mean relinquish your individuality. Nor does it mean relinquish power (with a small “p”) over creating your best life.  Surrender means letting go attachments and outcomes. Instead, leaning to accept and receive what life brings you in each and every moment with certainty that whatever that may be it holds the potential for your highest good.  The key to getting there is being fully conscious and fully aware in the present moment so that you can access inner guidance to handle that which is in front of you.

You’d be pleasantly surprised at what you can know when you are present and aware. Knowing is certainty… and certainty creates reality.

So while the politicians fiddle as Rome burns… know that The Phoenix rises from the ashes…and so to shall We…  All of us because …wait for it…

There is only One of Us.

 

It isn’t that I think that our Representatives…The President, Senators and Congressman… should never be able to smile or enjoy themselves.  It’s just that while unemployment is at 9.2%, 31% of the houses are underwater (the value of the house is less than the outstanding mortgage), and the world is holding its breath awaiting resolution of the U.S. debt ceiling deadline on August 2^nd … it’s sort of disconcerting, if not at times infuriating, to see photos on the nightly news, or on major news websites, of all of them sitting in some situation room in the White House smiling.

You know that “good time” I think they are all entitled to …well this isn’t it.  And those photos just make me think about how they all have jobs and houses that are not under water…which makes me think they still don’t get it.

How is that possible?

You and I know how difficult and uncertain the economy is.  You and I know the future looks fraught with all sorts of problems we definitely didn’t anticipate.  You and I know how hard it is each day to care for ourselves and our families…just get through each day, really… while dealing with the stress of worrying about where all of this is headed and what’s in store for us when we get there.

I think it’s possible because they do not, in fact, get it.  And even if they do, they are clearly clueless about what to do about it. Their time is up.

We are headed into new and uncharted territory.  So it’s up to the explorer in each of us to blaze new trails of innovative thinking in our own lives. All change starts with the individual, an individual, actually.  That individual may be you…or it could be the child who is watching how you handle change and its accompanying uncertainty.

So as we’re blazing new trails, let’s make two course corrections that our political leaders seem unable to make. First, let’s tell the truth. Always. To ourselves and others no matter how painful. Second, let’s accept responsibility for the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves and, if we’re caught smiling on the job, let it be because we’ve figured out how to get ourselves out of this mess.

It’s bad enough when sports figures and actors turn out to be sad excuses for role models… but it’s completely something else when it turns out to be our teachers. So, the unfolding story out of Atlanta Georgia is particularly shameful.

In excess of 178 teachers and principals, and perhaps Superintendents, are being accused of cheating and tampering with test scores of elementary and middle school students in order to continue receiving funding under the No Child Left Behind Act.  The educators (I use the term loosely) actually held “cheating parties” where they got together after school hours and doctored the tests by erasing wrong answers and substituting correct ones.

I think Congress needs to pass a supplemental act titled “Leave Corrupt Teachers Behind.”  While it’s a tongue-in-cheek statement, I do think that the complete breakdown of ethics in our society has reached a dangerous level when those responsible for molding the minds of the future exhibit such reprehensible behavior evidencing a complete lack of conscience.

What were they thinking?  Obviously something similar to what the teachers in Wisconsin were thinking when they marched before the State House picketing the Governor’s budget plan which included prohibiting teachers from collective bargaining practices. Those teachers encouraged their students to have their parents or doctors write fraudulent absence notes to their schools so the students could picket alongside the teachers.  Most of the students I saw interviewed didn’t even know what they were picketing for… but were delighted it had gotten them out of school!

In this most recent and troubling example of the ethical and moral “pit of despair”in which this nation finds itself, let us each personally vow to begin to make own lives a breeding ground for truthfulness, integrity and ethical example.

When Moses and the Israelites were standing seemingly trapped at the Reed (Red) Sea, Moses plead to God for help. The unsung hero of that moment was Nahshon, Israelite brother-in-law of Aaron, who took the first step into the waters and continued head deep before they parted.

We are at such a moment in our ethical lives.  Be a Nahshon in your own.  Walk into this culture of deceit, up to your head if necessary, with faith that doing the right thing will bring the highest outcome… or at least model something worth emulating.