Category Archives: Living Consciously

Courage over Comfort

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Brené Brown researches courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. The about page on her website says, in part:

The bottom line: I believe that you have to walk through vulnerability to get to courage, therefore . . . embrace the suck. I try to be grateful every day and my motto right now is “Courage over comfort.” I do NOT believe that cussing and praying are mutually exclusive. And, I absolutely believe that the passing lane is for passing only.

She elaborates in this video: Brené Brown on Courage, Vulnerability and Living Whole-Heartedly.

We are going to transform. Period.

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I haven’t written about death since the coronavirus descended upon us. Yet death is relevant in several ways right now.

Not just that death is the possible outcome for a few of the people who contract COVID-19. Not just that death hovers closer in our awareness than ever before.

But also because death is part of transformation. Think back to the caterpillar—it must completely disintegrate in order to provide the necessary material for a butterfly to come to life.

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There’s got to be a better way.

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As I described last week, a butterfly forms from a caterpillar because the caterpillar contains imaginal discs that are the blueprint for the new form. I also indicated that there are forward-thinking citizens who have developed models and projects that are the imaginal discs for society as we move forward from the intense disruption we’ve experienced.

Today I’m introducing one of those imaginal discs, but first let me summarize why we need to imagine a better way.

The topic is our economic system…

If you don’t need this background information, scroll directly to the video. It’s not to be missed. Continue reading →

Metamorphosis

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In school, I learned a simplistic version of how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly—it hangs from a branch, spins a cocoon, and then a butterfly comes out after a process called metamorphosis. I took this description at face value and didn’t think much more about it until I became interested in transformation.

Butterfly

It’s actually much more magical than I was told…

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Beautiful & Hopeful

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The unrelenting upheaval around us has finally got to me. I am aching for something, anything, that is beautiful and hopeful. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one feeling this way.

Two images stay with me…

Two images have been with me since 1994 on my first trip outside North America. I landed in England, made my way south to the city of Exeter, and took a walk to orient myself. Continue reading →

With fresh eyes…

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When I taught consumer issues, students did a discovery exercise that elicited insightful observations about the consumer culture.This was the task:

Imagine you landed here from another planet. You know nothing about this civilization except that it is populated by beings that are called humans. You are able to be invisible and observe their daily life without disturbing it.

Your home planet has sent you on this mission of discovery so you can report back about what kind of beings these humans are—what they do, how they spend their time, what seems to be most important to them, what personal characteristics are most evident.

The familiar blunts our perspective…

We get so used to how we live that it seems normal.

Seeing with fresh eyes…

We can interrupt our habitual patterns of thought by seeing our society through other eyes. Filmmaker Meghna Gupta gives us a chance to do in her video, Unravel from Aeon Video on Vimeo.

P. S. Did you notice this video isnʼt really about recycling clothes?

So I wonder…

What would you report back if you were that visitor from outer space?

I just want this to be over.

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I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. Many of us are experiencing fatigue from the extreme degree of adjustment and adaptation that has been required of us as we learn to shop differently, work in unfamiliar conditions or not at all, and socialize in new, less satisfying, ways.

Last week I shared some soothing techniques from ACEP, the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology. Today I have something from the HeartMath Institute.

The video below describes a quick way to reset your system when you’re reaching the limit of your ability to cope. It can be done anywhere, several times a day. Although they refer specifically to health care workers, this simple action can help all of us deal with the daily grind of this on-going pandemic. Continue reading →

The Trauma of Our Time

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This is a difficult time, the kind that can cause us to store trauma in our bodies as we try to cope—with new demands, with the loss of our sense of autonomy, with the anxiety of not knowing what’s coming next…

Trauma is the response of our nervous system to an overwhelming situation. It is not the event, it’s how we deal with it.

Trauma lives on…if we let it.

What we don’t process at the time it occurs will live with us in our energy field, where it interferes with our ability to function well as life goes on.

The problem is, we aren’t given the tools.

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