We are the problem

Holy shit, we are the problem. Those of us in middle-age. We are the consumers, we are the ones whose minds and attitudes and behavior must change. Not someone else, somewhere else.  Us, here, now.

And, we cannot do it by force, it must be revealed and followed through peace-power. Force is what got us into this mess. Let me repeat myself: Force is what got us into this mess.

As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

There is another way: the way of peace-power.

We. Are. The. Problem. As we transition from the hard-working years to the years of wisdom, the years of leading, the years of sitting by the fire and sharing our experience with the warriors, we must adopt, embody, the ways, in which we wish to live, to lead, to grow and change.  To release the ways of force, and adopt the ways of power. Because doing anything by force contains within it the seeds of force, denial, resistance.

As the Lakota have long said, “Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.”
There is no such thing as “giving something up,” that simply doesn’t work. That entails force, which begets resistance. There is only a brighter and more inspiring vision on the horizon. Moving toward something so inspiring and sparking and catalyzing and exciting that the other falls away naturally. That is power.

When we are in our power we have everything we need, naturally.  We want for nothing, especially dominion over another - even an inanimate object.  Even nature.  To take something at the expense of another is always unnecessary.

But HOW?  Here is an exercise in experiencing our own peace-power:

• As we enter the woods, drop awareness down into the heart.
• Set the intention to know our true nature, and to know the true nature of life.
• Walk.  Everything slows down, everything touches, everything interconnects, everything is complete.  Exactly as it is.  This feeling will re-orient one towards life.
• And then, when the mind begins to feel anxiety, or a disturbed sense of peace, release it.
• [See 6/6/2019 blog on peace-process for detailed instructions.  It's easy!]

Releasing these ancient, glacial, energetic patterns feels unfamiliar. It is easy to confuse a feeling of unfamiliarity with being “wrong.”  It is not wrong, it is simply unfamiliar.  By simply recognizing that peace feels unfamiliar, or a little more spacious than is normal, or comfortable, it can be allowed to simply be.

Just allow the discomfort of the unfamiliar. Our culture validates certainty, knowing things that we could not possibly know. Allow this peace to simply be as it is.  To paraphrase the words of Mary Oliver, allow the soft animal of your body to simply rest in this peace.

We need to stop asking things, people, men, power structures, etc to change, and we need to change ourselves.  We need to stop being the problem.

So, if these words speak to you, then the woods speak to you.  This was written in the woods, and the nature within these words speaks to the nature within you.  That is the energy contained within this.

So, try something.  Just for today.  Practice the way of peace.  Every time the feeling of peace is disturbed, release it.  [Specific instructions on 6/6/2019 blog.]  Release the force, and revel in the revealed power.​

And see if it doesn’t rock your world.