Becoming Brilliant!

Facing Forward

Its official. The "economic crisis" has come to my home town of Beacon, NY. In, "A Town Reborn Faces a New Threat", The New York Times reports that business is dwindling and shops are closing. This sucks. I love my town, and I want it to thrive. No one seems to know what the next move is. We're in the dark here, as towns are all across America, and around the world.

It seems like a really bad and scary thing. Particularly since the institutions that have illuminated our lives for so long-like banks and schools and the government-admit to being just as stumped as we are. There appears to be very little light at the end of the tunnel.

What we're seeing (or not seeing), though,  may be more a function of the direction we're facing than of the problems themselves. In the throws of these unprecedented challenges, it no longer works to face backward, to practice historical thinking. We're experiencing a discontinuity, where our returns are diminishing, even as we put more and more energy into our existing systems. We've reached a place, pretty much across the board, where the old ways of doing things no longer work, and the new ways of doing things haven't shown up yet. Some call it "the void", a good name I think, and it's a tough place to be, especially with kids to feed and a mortgage to pay.

I'd to wave a magic wand and make it all better. But since this is unlikely, my next question is, how can we reposition ourselves to respond in new ways? How can we use the darkness to our advantage, and how can we use uncertainty as the energy to ignite our success?

Let's start by turning  to face forward. Let's assume that our answers lie ahead, in the direction of where we want to go. What we need now is innovation on a Copernican scale,  ideas that rock our world and change everything. Quantum ideas. They need not be big, but they must be powerful. Let's start with a whopper:

We have everything we need.

And another:

There's enough to go around.

Now, quick, before you get all rational on me, try this. Make a list of all the things that could and would change in your community, beginning now, if everyone believed these statements to be true. Include everything you can think of, regardless of whether it's "practical" or not.

Now make a list of things that you could do personally, however small, to reflect your belief in these statements. How would you behave differently, and how would your behavior benefit not only you, but your community as well? Maybe you'd leave a bigger tip for the waitress at the diner. That would sure make her day. Or share an idea for a joint marketing plan with your fellow store owners.

Last, but not least, make a list of no more than three things you will commit to doing in the next week that reflect these statements. Is that light I see over yonder? Yep, keep going!

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."
                                                                  - American Proverb

Seems like awful folksy wisdom for such a big void and such high-tech problems. But think about it. As we turn to face the future, toward uncertainty-and therefore toward possibility-we have so much more to work with. As community development expert, Peter Block, says, we want desperately to take the uncertainty out of the future. But when we take the uncertainty out, all we have is the present projected forward. And none of us wants more of what we've got now; that we know for sure.

I want my dear town to bustle with robust businesses and happy, productive citizens, who welcome brisk  trade to our many shops, galleries and restaurants. I want to contribute to my community in joyful ways knowing that I'm cared for by those around me.

When I turn to the past, I see an old manufacturing town taking one step forward and two steps back. When I face the future I have the choice of what to envision, and a choice of how to participate in creating whatever is necessary to make that vision a reality. It's not magic, and it's not rocket science. It's a matter of being bold enough to imagine the light, and then stepping toward it, one choice at a time.

What's up with the holidays?

 

Here it is again, folks, the season you've all been waiting for...or not. Everywhere I go, minds are whirring and tongues are wagging; everybody's  writing the script for Holidays in Hell. Jeez, like we need another scary movie!

Maybe there's another option.

Maybe this season offers a wonderful opportunity to experience the magical moments that make life a joy! How's that for a subversive thought?

While it's true there's a lot of weird stuff going on out there, it's equally true that our real power lies inside. So no matter what's hitting the fan, know that you have everything you need not only to survive, but to thrive in this season and beyond.

What's inside that's so powerful? It's the ability to focus our thoughts and emotions.

When we use the immense power of our thoughts and emotions to align with what we want, we're creating the conditions for those things to manifest in our lives. Like two instruments resonating with each other, we're becoming a vibrational match to our highest future. The Universe is all too willing to help us create more of whatever we put our attention on. When we focus on war, we get war; when we focus on peace, we get peace. When we look for lack, we find it; and when we focus on the abundance in our lives, we find that too. The skillful direction of our attention is all it takes.

Here's a cool story:

One day I started thinking about an old friend,  who I'd known practically from birth, and who I was very close to through grade school. We saw each other on and off after that and lost touch just before college. Well, almost 30 years later, I Google this guy, find out  he still lives in our home town, and spend a couple of weeks screwing up the courage to call him. I don't know why it feels so important; it just does. I keep thinking about how much his friendship means to me, and the wonderful adventures we had together.

One day, I'm driving my son to his father's house and think, This is it!..the minute I get home, I'll make the call. When I get back in my car after dropping my son off, I notice there's a message on my cell phone. Yep, you guessed it, it's from my friend. I pick the phone up right then and there, call him back, and we've been experiencing the delight of rekindling our friendship ever since.

We're powerful creators; and we're just beginning to truly understand the mechanism for wielding our power. When we learn to take responsibility for our thoughts and emotions, and focus them in the direction we want to go, there's no end to the joy, abundance and well-being we can create for ourselves and for others. Even now. No, especially now!

Here are some ideas for getting started...

1. Find the Good Stuff

Make a list of the things/people/experiences that bring you joy. Put it in a prominent place and read it often.

2. Envision Your Best Life

Make a vision board where you assemble images of the things you love and would like to attract into your life. You might include pictures of your family and friends, places you love to visit, items you would enjoy owning and service you would like to offer to the world. Study it several times a day, and focus on how you feel as you imagine yourself enjoying the radiant experiences depicted here.

3. Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Ask what's going right. In every situation, there's always something that works, a valuable lesson to be learned, an opportunity to be had. In every person, there's beauty, if you know where to look. If you don't, just close your eyes for a moment and say, Show me what's right about this; show me what's good. Then open your eyes. You'll be amazed at what you see.

4. Focus, focus, focus!

Help others to direct their focus. Design holiday activities that bring attention to what you and others want more of. Host a gratitude party; ask everyone at your holiday table to talk about something or someone they love, or the most wonderful thing that happened that day. As you shift the conversation to what is good, what works, you're connecting with the awesome power of the Universe to deliver those things right to your doorstep.

So here's to a happy ending. Whadaya say? Let's go for it, shall we?

Some excellent resources:

The Teachings of Abraham

The Trance of Scarcity a book by Victoria Castle

Here's a story for ya.

From my friend, Jan Phillips, a Brilliant! story teller and someone you should know:

I asked my neighbor Marge today if she thought a good Christian could vote Republican. She was just trying to unwind the cord on her electric lawnmower and I think the question took her by surprise. I asked her because she's a good Lutheran, the widow of a career Marine, the mother of four and grandmother of several. Like Sarah Palin, she's had her share of mothering challenges-kids with drug addictions, unmarried pregnancies, grand-daughters gone astray. In the forgiveness department, Marge has come a long way. She's one of the least judgmental people I know.

"I don't know," she said. "I haven't been keeping up with politics much. I know everyone in my church is going to vote Republican, except maybe me. They hand out a piece of paper that tells us who we ought to vote for, and most people just go with that."

"What issues do they base it on, the things Jesus talked about or the things he never mentioned?"

"Whadya mean?"

"Well, he never said anything about homosexuality, except love everyone all the time; he never said anything about abortion, but he did say we will be judged according to how we judge others. He never said anything about gay marriage but was fierce in his condemnation of divorce. 'Let no man put asunder--" Seems like a good Christian would want to take a stand for what Jesus took a stand for---peace instead of violence, dignity for everyone, caring for the poor. Don't you think?

"Well, yeah, that makes sense, but it doesn't work like that. The church cares about the issues he didn't talk about. They're against gays and abortion, not war. My sister is a Christian in Texas and when I told her I was all for getting out of Iraq fast, she couldn't figure out why I cared about Iraq. 'What's that country got to do with you? Why do you even care about it?' She couldn't  understand why it hurts me that all those soldiers have lost their lives."

"How's she voting?"

"She'll vote for whoever her husband is for. It always goes like that. Whatever he believes, she believes. So they'll go for McCain. She likes Palin, too. Feels good about having a woman in there."

"Yeah, I'd like a woman in there too, but Sarah Palin kind of scares me. She doesn't believe in global warming, she doesn't want gun control, she's against reproductive rights and sex education. Yesterday I saw a clip of her talking about how the Alaskan pipeline is God's will. And today she's talking about maybe going to war with Russia. That's not the kind of leadership that inspires me."

"Me neither. I have another sister who used to live in Alaska. She likes Alaska so she'll be voting for Palin just because of that."

"Wow, does that make sense to you?"

"Nope. But it's true. I think you ought to talk to some more people in the neighborhood. Give 'em something to think about. Like I said, I haven't tuned in yet. I don't know if I'm going to go for Obama. I know darn well I'm not going to do what the church says, just because they say so. And I've never liked McCain, so who knows?"

"OK, Marge, keep me posted," I say as I head back over to my yard.

"OK," she hollers back, "and keep those questions coming. I'll be thinking about it all day: can a good Christian vote Republican? Let me know if you find out!"

I went back into the house wondering if we'll ever figure out how to think our own thoughts, or if we'll just keep voting the way our churches tell us, or our spouses, or because we like the state the person came from.

As for being a Christian, I have to vote for the "we" not the "me." My faith calls for me to care about all of us---the poor, the immigrants, the refugees, the families in Baghdad, Afghanistan, Bosnia. I have to say NO to war, and not just this was, but all wars. Today the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen admitted that "we can't kill our way to victory." Not now, not ever.

War is an obsolete solution, as was slavery, as was child labor. It's time for us to ban it, like we banned cigarette commercials on TV. It's not healthy for us. I wonder if Christians really gave some thought to what their  teacher said about non-violence, about the poor, about what we do to the "least of these," if they wouldn't cast their vote for the person who took time to remind us at the national convention that "we ARE our brothers and sisters' keepers."

Trance Dance

An interesting quote from The Trance of Scarcity, by Victoria Castle:

"Bernard Lietaer, author of The Future of Money and co-designer of the single European currency system, has studied and operated in the international currency system for decades. He says, 'If a society is afraid of scarcity, it will actually create and environment in which it manifests well-grounded reasons to live in fear of scarcity. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy!' Might you be familiar with such a society?"

Hmm...