Courage is the tipping point. It is the eye of the needle, the fulcrum point between the downward suction of debilitating emotional states and the upward spiral of life. If you were to ask people randomly on a street corner if they are familiar with the experience of one thing going wrong and then a 'mud slide' of things in their life falling apart, most people would immediately, triumphantly list to you a litany of examples. If you were to Continue Reading
Why Courage? – Part Two
Yes, we all have courage in some areas of our lives. Quite specifically, our courage lies in areas that we feel confident in. So what about the other areas – the topics and territories we’re less familiar with? We (our egos) show up shy there. We (they) doubt that we can respond without falling flat on our own faces. And so we back away. We turn our head. We avert our eyes. We ‘pretend’ that we’re not noticing. We pretend that nothing is Continue Reading
Why Courage? – Part One
A number of years ago I had an insight that I will play a part in mapping humanity’s journey out of fear. When this insight occurred, it took me by surprise. What did it mean? How would this unfold? And … why me? Many years have passed, and clues to this have been popping into my awareness. ‘Why me?’ Because I am willing. ‘Why me?’ Because I am strong. ‘Why me?’ Because I care. I care so much about humanity’s evolution out of darkness – pain, Continue Reading
Giving Thanks
Hello URLight Friends, As we prepare in Canada for Thanksgiving this weekend, I am reflecting with much gratitude. This year, for the second time in my life, my husband and I have participated in a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture. Simply put, earlier this spring we purchased shares in a farmers’ summer crop. Each week we’ve received a ‘surprise’ variety of freshly picked produce. We’ve met the farmers themselves and socialized with Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage – The Practice – Part 3
Last evening I joyously found myself in the opening pages of Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love. Marianne affirms that ‘nervous breakdowns’ are gifts allowing what is not working to no longer endure. I often call this ‘cracking the egg’ – something no longer allows the ‘same old’ responses. In short, they are revealed (what a relief) to not actually work. What this requires – what this invites of us – is courage and faith that there is a Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage – The Practice – Part 2
So what are some ideas – that I’ve tried and can guarantee work – that might start you on your way of ‘cultivating courage’? Here are a few that I’ve chosen in my first week … Leaving clothes unfolded in my pack sack when I knew they’d be going straight into laundry when I got home from my camping trip. (I’m typically a very neat person.) Repeating the same the next day – this time with the Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage – The Practice – Part 1
I heard a few years ago – and this amazed me and ‘struck me between the eyes’, for it is so profoundly true – that the primary reason why people say ‘no’ to invitations that would nourish and inspire them is that they haven’t figured out how they can say ‘yes’. They haven’t figured out how it can work for them. Simply put, they need a map. They need to ‘see how it is possible’. They need a way-shower, someone to demonstrate or Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage
I had a recent visit with family in which I realized how little courage I have developed as part of our co-dependent culture. I am and have been courageous in remarkable ways in my life – solo dance touring, spending 7 ½ months alone attuning to the great mysteries of the world, launching companies and non-profit societies, backpacking alone in the wilderness … And yet, there are great gaps. And so, I Continue Reading
Gandhi – Self-Reflection as a Way of Leading (Part 2)
In 1992, when I returned to my then-home of Vancouver, Canada following my participation in the UN Earth Summit’s Global Forum, I began meeting a quick succession of highly influential people – people who were leaders and initiators of powerful movements. One afternoon I was sitting in a quiet seniors learning centre by the sea (a beautiful heritage building), having tea with one of the founders of the Vancouver Peace March – one Continue Reading
Leaders and Followers – Part 1
It was as I was flying home from the UN Earth Summit – twenty-eight hours in flight – that I received this, amongst many, insights: Most people are followers; few are leaders. This revelation dawned in my awareness – not as criticism, rather as a necessary fact to be recognized, should I wish to truly participate in affecting any real and long-lasting, beneficial change. The minority are leaders. What does this Continue Reading