The Great Silent Summer Sabbatical

Earlier this summer I decided to just disappear...

...to quietly go off social media, to unceremoniously stop sending emails, to silently make a new website, and to just get quiet overall and turn inward. I didn't feel the need to make some big announcement or outline my plans and broadcast them. I just simply got quiet. And it was the best gift I ever could have given myself. This healing journey I'm on has required more of me than I ever imagined it could. My strength, my courage, my patience, my humbling, and most of all the transformation of my fear.

My body could no longer handle the pace at which I was living or the choices that I was making. My soul was starving and crying out for attention. So I stopped. I let go. And I had no choice but to say "ok." Lead me. I'll turn the bulldozer off. I'll DO LESS, and BE STILL MORE. I'll make it my new mantra. Instead of pushing, hustling, visioning and scheming I had to humbly put everything on pause and just walk away. And truly take to heart the adage, "if you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans." I had to open to receive what I need most instead. And that was some time to just disappear, without any plans or agenda, just silence…

And a curious thing has happened during this time.

Everything I needed still came to me: opportunities that I would have previously sought out showed up at my doorstep instead and everything FLOWED with ease, almost effortlessly. So I said yes, and thank you, and more please. Like the news of my first RETREAT this fall! Or opportunities for affiliate promotion like my dear friend Jen & her Manifestation Masters Program. Or speaking gigs, like the Sacred Stories Summit. Any of these would have been amazing on their own, but they're just glimpses of the bounty that has arrived. I've super powered my gratitude practice because of this, and also because never knowing how I'm going to feel causes me to REALLY appreciate the days I feel good - and can function almost normally.

There are also opportunities that have crushed my heart to say no to as well, because I just don't have the same bandwidth as before. My yes must now be a screaming HELL YES for me to proceed. There must be total alignment, both internal and external. Though there are a lot more NO's that are happening than I would like, I have to be extra discerning at this time.

This great silent summer sabbatical has brought piercing clarity and discovery, but also deep grief and loss. It's helped me to truly see what's serving me and what's not. And it's forced me to make difficult decisions (like moving, and changing the way I'm working with others and finding a diet and home that truly nurtures me from the inside out). I've been shown in technicolor the old patterns that are still holding on in my life, both behavioral and karmic. It's forced me to look at the choices I've made in my life up until this point (with the help of the Supermoon this weekend) and to take a hard look at my motivations. To see the places where my soul has been buried and bulldozed in favor of ego or unconscious motives.

As Mark Nepo says in his brilliant & poignant book Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, "Unless rooting and opening, unless listening to what is near but beyond us, we will forgo the soul's birthright to blossom." I have been challenged to listen deeply now to that part of me that life is trying to awaken, the soul's intimate yearning.

And so things are going to be changing around here...

...For the better. I wanted you to be the first to know. You can expect not only a new look, but also more of my blazing brave he(art) to shine forth in the months to come, a massive increase in value, a greater level of service, and lots of authentic soul expression, from art to poetry to prose when I am able to give it. Because I am no longer going to hold back. I have been humbled and ravaged and worn down, but it's left me with the sparkling core of what matters most and the work I was put on this earth to do: bringing light & healing to the broken places (and people) in our world.

I want to take the opportunity to tell you now that I am so grateful for you, your support, your love, your courage and your sparkle. I hope you stick around for the ride, dear heart. I promise that it's going to help us all to Sparkle Shamelessly & shake the world together.

We Have an Epidemic on Our Hands...

I am no stranger to feeling unsafe in my own skin.

I’ve personally experienced bullying almost every year of my existence on this earth. At first it was in school, before the Internet really took over and bullies could hide behind a screen and IP address. Whether it was being called a “fatty” (since I grew up as an obese child), or a “freak” (since I used to style myself in outrageous clothes borrowing from my mother’s fab 70’s wardrobe she had abandoned), I was used to the abuse. And this was just the gentle jeering. It happened again as a young adult when I moved to New York and used to go out on the town with my creative partner, all dolled up in our latest self-created avant-garde fashions. We would experience bullying that ranged from laughter and pointing to straight up violence and anger for our difference. Finally, I was jeered at in the queer community for choosing to marry a partner who was a biological male.

For some reason, certain people always make it THEIR concern, the way I appear on the outside and how I carry out the affairs of MY life. 

We live in a country where fat shaming, gender shaming, and generally shaming people for who they truly are runs rampant. We are so busy trying to look like celebrities in the magazines that we’ve forgotten how to show gratitude to our bodies, the beautiful vessels that allow us to walk on the planet. We are so trapped in the illusion of separateness that we miss the basic understanding that I am you and you are me, and that we need this dichotomy to survive and thrive in our world. We have moved so far away from our Oneness that all we see are the blinding dividers of perceived ‘difference.’

Instead, we are busy filling our bodies with metal, needles, rat poison, silicon and more instead of loving them and feeding them nourishing substances that will heal the body naturally. Even the recent lack of indictments in the case of Eric Garner & Mike Brown are a form of body shaming, making black individuals feel less than, unworthy and worst of all UNSAFE in their own skin.

What we HAVE is an epidemic of body shaming, but what we NEED is an epidemic of acceptance. (tweet it) 

We’re taught to stay in our lane, to color in the lines and to do our best to look like everyone else. Just go into any chain store around and you’ll find the same mediocre, styleless clothes reproduced thousands of times over. But I get it. That’s safe. By wearing them, you don’t put yourself at risk to the bullies of the world who haven’t learned the art of acceptance, of self or other. Taking that harder path is painful and often times traumatic, but for me worth the priceless experience of getting to be fully me each day.

But the truth is that we each have a soul expression unique to us: like a snowflake, it is entirely original and impossible to reproduce. Each of us living our truth is needed to complete the intricate web of humanity in which we co-exist. (tweet it)

We are at a time where moving towards acceptance and overcoming our obsession with form is crucial for our survival and health as a species. We must re-learn that it is the formless that matters most: the formless: our Spirit, our comfort in our own skin, that which is immaterial.  What we create with our hands and shape into the reality of the fabric of life, our great work.

So get over your tendency to shame yourself (and others) and start focusing on YOUR gifts instead. Why you’re here at this most crucial time in human history. It’s time to unleash your true self!

Let’s end this epidemic of shaming together!

Action Steps for greater acceptance in our world:

Immediate Actions You Can Take For Social Good & World Change

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – Alan Kay

It was a true honor to participate in the Social Good Summit LIVE this past weekend in NYC. Hosted by Mashable, the UN Foundation, Ericsson and more, it was the first event of its kind: an epic 3-day global conversation with participants from more than 163 countries, including over 200 meetups all focusing on how to use technology for social good and world change.  Film company One Day on Earth even set up a studio in the art gallery of the 92Y, splicing videos from various countries in real time to accompany the heavy hitting lineup of global leaders, visionaries, artists, celebrities and more.  Overall, the common goal at the Summit was to shorten the distance between identifying the world’s problems and implementing creative solutions for sustainable change.

What was clear is that a great many people are moving more towards their heart centers & embracing radical empathy. They WANT to do GOOD! They just need the tools, platforms, connections & buttons to click in order to do so.  There are those individuals that are still in ‘professional denial,’ though, fueled by the industries that want to keep the status quo – and they continue to destroy our planet and the reality of a sustainable future in the process. Don’t be one of them! Below are some highlights from the Summit & ways that you can easily get involved. The idea is to not just uplevel your own life, but the life of all beings in our global village. Geographical divides are no longer a barrier to unified action. With technology and social media, anything is possible!  And as Maggie Fox from @ClimateReality stated, “You’ve got your Time, your Dime & your Voice. Use all three all the time.”

Climate Change

Social movements are essential for political change and climate change is still the #1 issue facing our planet today. The cases of extreme weather and its effects are all around: natural disasters, rampant storms, flocks of birds falling out of the sky dead & everything you see around you each day. If things don’t change, our species could be extinct in 200 years. Increase the noise around the country about climate change. Learn the realities of “Dirty Weather’ that is being caused by all forms of unrenewable energy.

Actions you can take today

Modern Day Slavery

We just passed the 150 anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, where we truly became a free country & stated that slavery would no longer exist. But the reality is that there are more slaves in the world NOW than there were in 1862. Transnational organized crime brings in 820 BILLION DOLLARS each year, with human trafficking pulling in 32 BILLION of that total.  Slave labor & human trafficking are a global dilemma. These horrible practices have permeated every continent and could even be in our neighborhood, but we often fail to see them.

Actions you can take today

Poverty

“Every country can develop. Every country can end poverty.” – Jim Yong Kim @Worldbank (click to TWEET)

Mobile devices are one of the top 5 advances in the world to lift us out of poverty. Technology is helping to foster equality.  Through companies like mPowering, women and young mothers in developing countries are using cellphones to empower themselves (see more at their web site, http://mpowering.org/) . The potential of every young girl needs to be realized in our world.

Actions you can take today

  • Enter the mWomen design challenge to benefit and break down barriers for millions of poor and marginalized women (www.designchallenge.mwomen.org)

  • Join the @Worldbank campaign #Whatwillittake to end poverty and boost prosperity. Send ideas via Twitter. Help bend the arc of history to end poverty much sooner than predicted.

Foster Peace

“Over 1.5 Trillion is spent on armaments right now & 700 Billion for military, yet only 300 Billion on peace.” @JeffDSachs

You must connect with people and their stories so you can relate on a heart level. We all have hopes, desires, dreams aspirations, loves. Open your eyes to what’s going on right in front of you. Your empathy and connection will grow. You can’t forget to see yourself in others.

Love grows. It’s a commodity that expands once you start to use it. @ForrestWhitaker(click to tweet) – Artist and UNESCO Goodwill ambassador

“Together we can solve the problems and educate the world.”

Actions you can take today

Youth Education

There are 61 Million kids not in school around the world. Every youth in the world should have access to the same learning materials. The Global Give Back Circle, sponsored by the Gates Foundation, is helping to bridge the occupation gap and give youth in developing countries access to learning opportunities.

Pregnancy and childbirth is the #1 cause of death in teenage girls around the world, largely due to lack of knowledge & access to education. Child marriage is also an issue. Allowing a girl to learn about her health and wellbeing can change the future of our globe.

Actions you can take today

  • Follow and engage with @10x10act, an engine to educate girls throughout the world with a full-length film coming soon.

  • Support the Connect to Learn program as part of Ericsson’s sustainability initiatives.

  • Be the spark of change for a youth. Visit www.giveforyouth.org

Empowering Women & Girls

When you see how a country is treating their women and girls, you’ll know how likely they are to prosper.” Holly Gordon of @10x10act (click to tweet)

There are 600 Million adolescent girls globally. A large majority of those girls is seen as a liability and not an asset. Healing gender roles is one issue, but if you start with educating, empowering and connecting girls it will serve the future overall by providing stronger families, communities and a planet. There’s a huge value proposition at the end. Educating & empowering girls & women sets off a ripple effect. When you’re helping one woman, you’re helping every woman.

“We also need enlightened men around us to change the discourse.” @AmericaFerrera @ONECampaign

Actions you can take today

  • Engage with The ONE Campaign supporting economic empowerment for women

  • Tell a girl in your community or family about GirlUp – a “for girls, by girls” organization that’s part of the UN Foundation

  • Message from the teen advisor for GirlUp – @SofiaCSnyc “Help my generation find their voice and use it so we can create huge change.”

  • Developing countries like Honduras want more collaboration than charity. How can you help generate collaboration?

Child Mortality

19,000 Children are dying a day.  Join the www.apromiserenewed.org campaign, whose goal is to reduce child deaths worldwide.  146 countries have already committed to helping every child have a 5th birthday.

There is also the issue of Stunting, which afflicts over 160million children. When you go without proper nutrition before the age of two your brain can’t develop, and these children don’t have a chance of reaching their full potential.

Actions you can take today

Nutrition

1 Billion people in our world today are hungry. 2 billion people are malnourished. Poverty, lack of access & deficient knowledge are just a few of the causes.

Actions you can take today

Obesity

Today’s children are the 1st generation to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Ironically, as middle and low-income countries become more economically developed, we’re increasing our mortality rates thanks to modern “conveniences.”  Technology can enable the solution, along with making physical activity a priority on a social level.

“The next generation should demand the ability to reach their full potential. Greatness can be found at every level of the human spirit.” – Charles Denson @Nike #move

[youtube]http://youtu.be/JGskDRV4t0g[/youtube]

Actions you can take today

  • Make sure you (and your friends, family, and colleagues) engage in 60 min of physical activity a day and begin teaching the value of being active.

  • Inspire others to #move

Global Health: Fighting AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

One death is too many. The love of human[ity], us caring about each other makes all the difference @jimmy_wales(click to tweet)

@globalfundnews is working on an incredible campaign called #thebigpush to help end deaths from these three diseases.

Actions you can take today

  • Become part of the Big Push – Click HERE to visit the site, donate & post your picture to join the ranks of people globally

Spirituality in the Digital Age

“Action without love is irrelevant.” @DeepakChopra (click to tweet)

Social Media is influencing the brain and our evolution, raising human to a critical mass. We must think wisely of how we will use it. Social networks regulate the energy of the Universe and are spurring the evolution of the human identity into a global identity. We are laying the foundation for a global brain.  Technology is our creation. Let’s use our creation to bring about healing. At-one-ment. We are not just connected, we’re inseparable. Let’s help everyone increase their capacity for happiness and wellbeing.

Actions you can take today

  • Ask yourself. What kind of world do I want to live in? How can I make that happen?

Take ACTion

This is just the tip of a massive iceberg, but it’s never too late to join the action & help change the world. The key is to not get overwhelmed. Empathize and prioritize.  Advocacy starts at home – do what you can from where you are. Amplify your voice. Connect your brain to your heart. Utilize your creativity to change lives. Think of happiness and wellbeing for ALL instead of just 1%. Get out what you want to say and create a call to action.  Generate conversations. Take leadership. Engage in thoughtful empathy. The world needs you. NOW.

“Give me 1000 inspired people and we can change the world.” – Paull Young @Charitywater (click to tweet)

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