September 11:
Events occur right here in our country and we stand in terror and in awe.
How has it come to this we wonder to ourselves? How have we created this in our world? And where is it leading us to? Why, we cry. What will be next?
This last question is the one that is now up to YOU. It is up to YOU. What will be next? Will we 'get those bastards' as Senator Hatch has said. Will we 'hunt them down and punish them' as our own president has spoken?
Will we pull phrases from books we call holy and quote them to suit our own personal fears? "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord" or "an eye for an eye". Revenge is a human endeavor, not a holy endeavor. Can we admit this to ourselves?
We can CHOOSE to do something different.
Can we see this crisis as an opportunity to reach deep within ourselves and open our hearts? Can we remember that in other countries scenes like this are occurring regularly? And often due to the powerful military and high tech weapons that we, here, in the USA, possess and choose to use against them. Can we feel their pain when they have suffered? Can we see that today's events are only a culmination of what we have put forth in many parts of the world? Can we admit to ourselves that lives lost here are not worth more than lives lost anywhere else on this planet of ours? Can we feel the pain that we are feeling and know that it has been felt so many times in other places? It is no different for a Yugoslavian or Iraqi mother to grieve her lost child than it is for an American mother to be wracked with pain. Are we all not humans? With hearts that are broken so easily?
Today, I ask you to open your heart, even if just a little. Feel your pain and anguish. Feel all the fear. And do not REACT.
Be with your pain but do not hold the requirement that someone else pay for it. Like energy draws like energy. Retaliation will only draw to itself retaliation in kind. Someone must stop the revenge, the desire to 'even it up'. Where there is one terrorist, there is another right behind him waiting to take his place. Must we perpetuate this kind of behavior and endorse this kind of pain again and again? Are we not feeding the monster of anguish by being so reactionary? What are we teaching our children? And how ignorant do we choose to remain to all of the world events we have brought to pass that have caused this kind of pain in places other than here?
Can we take this golden window of opportunity and open our hearts? Can you sit with your pain and your fear and not feel the need to harm anyone else? Can you let go of your fear long enough to not need revenge? If you can find this within yourself, then I ask you to share it with one other person. And ask them to share it with one other person.
It is our choice as individuals of what we choose to do now. I ask you to choose love. I ask you to choose healing. I ask you to choose to open to the opportunity you are being presented with right now. Open yourself. Feel it. And make yourself part of the chain.
If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always gotten.
Well, I don't like what we have gotten. And see that I must do something
different. It is not enough to sit and talk this way. Instead, it becomes
necessary for me to envision what my alternative choices are. And then to
choose. It may seem farfetched in that it has never been attempted before.
The reality is that we have MANY, MANY CHOICES. We should consider them all
before doing what we, as a species, have always done.
Today we see the changes taking place. While we see troops being deployed, ships are dispatched and strategies are being refined.
And while this occurring, we hear more and more people searching within themselves for better and more peaceful solutions. The looks on faces are not the dazed looks of days gone past. Everything is changing. Today, they are expressions of hope and of thoughtful progress.
Literally millions of people around the world -- of every color, every race, all religions and all countries --have contributed to the the changes we are in the midst of right now. Strong and positive changes. Many who initially sought revenge and harm are opening more and more to what it might mean to create a world where we will know peace. Many of us who felt the shock and confusion now are looking within ourselves and asking the questions:
What have I done to contribute to this?
AND
What can I do now to create the world I hold in my heart?
When this terror originally came it seemed the most likely Probability was that we would retaliate without much thought for the people it would affect, the reprecussions we would experience and the cycle of pain and suffering we would continue to perpetuate. The general feeling was one of RE-ACTION. But we did not do this. WE did not do this. The millions around the world who chose, instead, to give their energy to a different solution have now created the beginning, a Genesis, of something different. Can you feel this?
Everything will not go the way I want it today. Given the choices, I would not be doing what is being done right now in the world. However, given the choices that we felt a week ago, I am thankful for the shift, however grand or minute it appears, that has brought us this far into the depths of another Possibility.
To continue to build the momentum we have set in motion, we must continue following and trusting our hearts.
One word, one sentence, spoken with or without thought, can change the course of events in our lives, in our nation and on our planet. If I know what it is I desire then I must dedicate myself to it’s fruition. As the changes begin to occur I will appreciate them with gratitude. I will look into my heart and listen to what it tells me. Even if my mind attempts to justify something else. Things may not be exactly the way I want them, but I open again to what IS. I see the changes brought forth and restructure my thoughts, my words and my actions. From there I am able to continue to create the world I hold in my heart.
Time is sometimes a nemesis to me. I want everything NOW. And I want it the way I want it. In my impatience I sometimes thwart the very Possibility I had hoped to bring into creation. Today I practice patience, with myself and with you. I know that in my patience, holding the knowing of what could be, the Possibility continues to grow within us. Together, in alignment, we can grow anything we choose. It is up to us. To you and to me. What next would we like to create? To experience together? To share in? And what are we willing to do to create it? Swallow some pride? Step back up to the plate that now has a clearer picture imprinted upon it? Knowing now,even more, the Possibilities we desire. We know of them because we can feel them inside of ourselves. More than we could before. We move with them.
It might be that a choice I had aligned myself with before, now needs to shift yet again. It sometimes means changing myself to accept the way things are and then, adjusting myelf to that new reality. Now, I can choose yet again: What do I choose to create from this point forward? It continues to build upon itself again and again. Life is a process, not a fixed essence.
It sometimes means being honest with ourselves and with others about who we are and what we desire. And listening to them doing the same. And, through this mutual understanding, trusting ourselves enough to do what is right…..for ourselves and for them. If we trust our hearts, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two. Although, it isn’t always easy. To keep a heart open and focus clear. We are often tempted to do what we know is not right for ourselves or for others. Just because it is easy, doesn't make it right. It takes courage to continue. I remind myself again of the power of choice. Stay true to your desired world.
Accepting what IS today and knowing that my thoughts, my words and my deeds will carry that process forward in a specific direction is a big responsibility. And it takes courage and compassion to do this. I remain flexible and open to any and all Possibilities. I put the Probabilities upon the shelf because history has already told me the ending to that sad tale. I open to all Possibilities because I, as one mere human, cannot possibly imagine ALL of the possibilities inherent in any situation.
As I adjust myself, as I continue asking the questions and finding new answers, as I listen to you tell me who you are and what you desire, as I give my heart to you and to myself knowing the joy and the pain we are both no stranger to……..I remind myelf that we are the creators of our destiny today.
So, now Probabilities once again stare us in the face. What we have learned thus far in our process together is that other Possibilities do exist. And we can influence them with our thoughts, our words and our actions. And that we have, indeed we have, influenced the process already. Probabilities that were, did not occur. Possibilities that were, are now occurring. There are more where those came from. We can choose to continue building upon the foundation we have laid with so much passion. It only requires your energy.
We must remember that this is a process. A collective process, influenced by you and by me. By all of us. It is the concept of critical mass or the hundreth monkey. We have begun. We will, together, continue.
Today, reach again into your heart and find the place of future Possibilities. Live from that space. We all hold it within us. Open yourself to new words and to new realities. Open yourself to new thoughts and new actions. Share those with others. Claim your words and your actions, for if you are to live your life from them you need not be shy or mistakenly humble. They tell the world who you are and the Possibilities you hold within you. Stand up.
A new world is not built in one day. Or even in one week. It is built in steps. Sometimes very small but deliberate steps and sometimes in great quantum leaps. Put yourself in this new world and live in it.
Since September 11, 2001, each one of us has had at least one thought that began with,
"Well, what we need to do is __________________!" OR
"It seems to me that we should think about ______________________ ".
Today I ask you for 100 words. Your best and highest thought. This isn't a test as every answer will fit into the puzzle. Everyone has one, and I want to hear yours. You don't have to figure it all out, just take 2 minutes and share ONE thought. ONE idea. Your ONE piece of a very large puzzle. Write about anything. Simple or complicated, it doesn't matter. Just write it down and send it back. Thank you for your help.
There are some very fitted pieces of the puzzle in the responses already received and, I hope, by posting a web page WE can encourage MANY MANY more people to share their 100 words with all of us. My desire is that you will join with me in gathering people together to voice their ideas. WE HAVE TO BEGIN SOMEWHERE...........communication is always a doorway to collective understanding and forming mutual intent. I ask again for you help.
I am open to any and all suggestions on how to make this a more open and positive forum to lead us to collective, active solutions. Don't hesitate to offer suggestions......this is a WE project and I need your assistance to make this a valuable tool for all of us. I really feel like it can make a difference. However great or small feels irrelevant right now. Any difference is of value right now.
For everyone who has already sent me their 100 Words and 2 Minutes responses -- I extend deep gratitude. For those who are still giving it some thought, I express my gratitude to you now for the response you are preparing to send.
Meanwhile, the responses I have been receiving are much too significant to keep to myself. These are real people, expressing their ideas, their truths, their feelings, their thoughts. I cannot allow them to sit on my laptop any longer. I feel they are truly of great value to all of us. Therefore, I have constructed a web page, which is at
and I invite readers to post their 100 words/2 minute contribution of their highest and best thoughts.