The center of WHAT we do, is WHY we do it.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Marianne Williamson
Years ago as I was pondering world peace I knew that we would never have world peace when we cannot have peace and acceptance with our neighbors, or even with those we say we love. As I studied systems thinking I found that it tells us that change from the bottom up; not outside in, but inside out.
Why am I writing this? Because once I believed that world change couldn’t happen until I changed I made the commitment to God to boldly make the changes in myself that the world needed. At one point I thought I was almost there and asked God to take me to 100% of who I came here to be. Of course, the joke was on me because I was probably at 65% instead of the 95% I thought I was at.
We all have an unimaginable power to change; to act differently, to try new things, to be different with others. I have the personal experiences to verify that belief. It’s time for the world to change, and you are the one that gets to help make this a change towards love, joy, peace and acceptance. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We have the power to change the world to a better place. We have the authority, and the responsibility. There isn’t a more important time than right now to step up and become the powerful being that we are meant to be.
I started to discover this for myself as I saw how my actions can change what is happening around me. As I slowly started to take on my authority and responsibility more than just my own life began to change.
I believe that all of the hard and painful things we are going through right now is our wake up call. Our call to action. Our call into BE-ing the BE-ings that we are meant to BE. It’s an exciting time in the midst of the fear, pain, grief and loss. Because right now God is calling us to be transformed. To participate in the transformation of our planet.
I love the work of Phyllis Tickle. She calls this age; the Age of the Spirit.[i] An age when the changes we will experience will be greater than the changes that happened 2000 years ago. Individuals are having profound personal spiritual experiences as they receive the Holy Spirit. She talks about how each age has to define the meaning of their experiences. That the authority to define meaning in the past came from “the top”; our authorized religious leaders, government, the expert at the top of the hierarchy. Today, as the Holy Spirit comes into us, the authority and responsibility move to each of us- to me, -to you.
I yearn for all of us to express the unique ways that we are “powerful beyond measure”. In this book are practical ways to co-create a small group, team or community where we invite each other to be powerful. They work. Using systems thinking I provide the tools and practices that will change HOW you are working with each other and they will change WHAT is happening.
The response the world needs right now is YOU. You being the person you long to be. With this work you can create the support team around you to make that possible. How will our communities be transformed if they can be places where we welcome our differences? Where we can listen and learn from one another? Where we utilize the unique wisdom and brilliance of our diversity? Where we can collaborate and cooperate with each other to participate with God and create a new world.
That is the world that I want and I want to co-create it with you. It’s all about love.
[i] Tickle, Phyllis. (2014) The Age of the Spirit; How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy is Shaping the Church. Baker Publishing Group. Grand Rapids MI.