There are weeds in the garden...

There is a saying that the difference between a weed and a flower is a judgement. To a degree that is true, although what is considered a weed in one context might be considered an asset in another. Often though, we call something a weed because it undermines the garden by preventing diversity, beauty and nourishment, and stifles the growth of more desired vegetation.

In looking with evolutionary eyes at the political 'moment' New Zealand finds itself in less than three weeks out from a general election, there is plenty to see. If New Zealand was a garden, we have discovered some ‘new’ weeds. If we ignore them they will take hold unchecked and this will make them much harder to eradicate later. The weed in question is corruption and wherever it came from, it would be a great shame if it grew unchecked.

It appears that the weeds of cunning and stealth employed with dark intent and self-interest have been growing here in li'l ol New Zealand, a country that prides itself on being less corrupt than anywhere else on earth. We may play right up to the rules in this country but in our guts we stand for playing fair. This shows we have a level of integrity as a country that we pride ourselves in. If that is true, anything that doesn't fit that image must be shown up, burned off, snipped or ‘weeded’ out. In so doing we affirm to each other and ourselves what really matters to us. To keep ourselves ‘weed free’ we must know what these weeds look like and dig them out wherever we find them, especially as it relates to our political environment. If we don’t, the rot of corruption can get a toe-hold and set in and our way of life is compromised.

We have so much to be proud of regarding our way of life (and of course there is always more we can do). Each and every person has a part to play. To cause harm we have to not care. It is hard to harm something we care deeply about. Deciding what to care about, what we want to grow in the garden, is pivotal to what will grow. It is up to us to hold ourselves to account, take responsibility for the country we enjoy and contribute what we can to its healthy continuance. Corruption is a weed – whether in business, sport, politics, or any other domain, Kiwis don’t like cheating. We CARE about that.

In my view we will look back on this time as a ‘moment’ the nature of our political process hit a bump in the road. We discovered a weed of corruption in the garden, we got rid of it, made the requisite corrections to prevent it recurring, and moved forward in better shape than before, because WE CARE.

We stand for fair play so lets clean up the garden and get on with enjoying it – after all, we are the envy of many living where we do, with all that we have and all that we are. We really are blessed – let’s work to make that true for everyone. There is work to do!

And that’s it, from my view.

Amanda 

TIDE IS COMING IN - THE FEMININE IS RISING

Are you noticing (if you look with EVOLUTIONARY EYES), that the tide of the essential feminine is coming in fast and lifting us all up to new ways of seeing ourselves and the world we live in? Just as the horizon of our entire Universe continues to expand away from us faster and faster, so too is human consciousness expanding faster and faster, and more and more creativity pours forth as a result…the container is growing and is now big enough to hold everyone and everything – if we keep our minds open!

Examples on the world stage are the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis. Both these men have popped through the ceiling of their own religions and seem 'big enough' to embrace everyone's 'right' to their own faith because they see beyond the separation of their own set of beliefs. Growing numbers of 'ordinary' people also see this bigger unified picture in which the illusion of our separateness dissolves.

Those who find this incoming tide scary are fighting a timely, necessary, and inevitable rebalancing between head and heart in the world. Some seem to be drowning as they struggle to enforce old and outdated ways of thinking, especiälly about women and our role in sociëty. The days of minimizing the value of women in all matters of human affairs are OVER (even if some people don't realise it yet). It is hard to believe that even fifty years ago the prevailing thinking and corresponding sociäl frameworks were so obviously biased towards guys in many ways we don't even think of day to day. The tide is coming in and washing those ideas away – but not without struggle.

We cannot legislate care and trust and universal respect, and we cannot legislate love. We cannot legislate perceiving the entire world as a living system but we can continue to educate and with today's technology this is easier to do than ever before. Women and men everywhere are calling more loudly than ever to stop violënce towards women and children, end child poverty and hunger, make education a human right, respect other species that share the Earth, understand our relationship with our environment and the biosphere, learn to live more sustainably and in harmony with our planetary home… The list goes on. It is a long way to the next planetary watering hole…

If you read my blogs you will be aware that one struggle close to my own heart regarding this necessary rebalancing is about the way we raise baby humans. Women (mostly) are working at the coal face, parenting, caring for developing babies as nannies and in-home educators where secure attachment relationships (a foundation of healthy brain development) are formed. In my experience, these highly UNDER valued stalwarts operate from vocation. They certainly don't do what they do for the money because our western sociëty has diminished the role of mother, carer and nurturer in favour of more material things like growing GDP.

Mental and emotional health issues are on the rise…I wonder why? There are many 'reasons' but if we look to our beginnings and revalue what women need while creating human life, and what babies need to get the best start, we would shift resource in that direction I'm sure. Healthy brains accentuate all our human advantages, like empathy and compassion, generosity and gratitude, responsibility and contribution. Without these embedded in the foundations of our developing brain, we can end up with difficulties down the track that are challenging to correct – and they affect everyone (like inappropriate relationships, antisociäl activities, crime and violënce).

The success of our species depends on the strength of our relationships, our capacity to collaborate when problem solving, the co-creative possibilities that come with excellent teamwork, and slowly but surely growing out of the egoic and primal motivations deeply imbedded within us all. Even the way we make decisions as adults has its roots in our early years...surely it is in our collective interest to cultivate wisdom based decision making from the get go?

The dedicated people who enable the best of us to flourish deserve far more credit and must be valued highly in any healthy sociëty. To all of you who strive every day to help raise baby humans in ways that enable them (therefore 'us') to flourish, I say thank you for the contribution you are making to the human future. You really do shape human destiny - there is nothing more important than the way we raise babies. We diminish the role of growing baby humans at our peril.

The tide of the essential feminine is coming in. It will lift us up, all of us, if we just go with it and even contribute to the swell. To those of you who are gifted in raising baby humans and 'called' to serve in that way, you are leadërs, facilitators, and coäches. Your heart is your most powerful asset when you give it to a baby. One more time….The feminine tide is coming in. Make it a 'Queen Tide' that washes away our separateness and unites us in the common cause of our flourishing continuance in harmony with our planetary home.

…and that's it, from my view
Amanda

BIG dreaming time is NOW

So many people are making their own dreams come true these days, its really truly wonderful. It is a great feeling getting your own life sorted out, figuring out what you want, trusting your own process and backing yourself so you are motivated to work towards what calls you forward. It's a great feeling to stand back and feel good about what you create in your life, that deeply satisfying feeling that 'fills the void'. If you have cracked your own code, you will no doubt also feel very, very grateful indeed – no matter what it took to get you to that place.

If a significant part of our own enjoyment involves being of service in some way that resonates deeply within, we can also enjoy helping others grow towards their own version of a wonderful life.

The space is there for dreams - right now. The energy is there for really big ones that will shape our minds and hearts and inform the direction we take for the next hundred years, the ones that whisper in our hearts and call to us across the decades. All we need to do is cooperate with the impulse to grow beyond our perceived limits, beyond the seemingly impossible. If you told a caterpillar it was going to grow wings and fly one day it might läugh. If it said "I'm afraid", you might say 'Trust the process, everything is handled!'.

Have enough of us seen what lies further down the road ALL of us are on right now? Can we choose away from our fear and rage and separation and greed and lift ourselves out of our combative ways? Can we step beyond egos and pride and fear of humiliation? Can our dreams get bigger now? Can we dream up a human story future students of history would be inspired to read? Can we expand our own dreams to include the dreams of others – all others?

Conscious Awareness is the illuminator, the stepladder that enables us to get up out of our own muck and see new visions of the future. It is a human superpower. The more conscious we become, the easier it is to see what isn't working and work towards transformation.

Believe you and we can. NOW is the time to dream BIG and long, and it's the time to believe in our capacity to transform ourselves (as we have in the past). It's time to awaken to what else we can be and midwife ourselves to become fit for emerging purpose. Change is in the air we breathe...let's make changes for the good. Yes we are perfectly flawed but our flaws can become the platforms we launch from – towards a new future. Let's be brave and look in the mirror. It's time to own our shadow selves and illuminate them. I am a believer in the positive potential of the human species – are you?

And that's it, from my view.
Amanda

Facing the unimaginable

The terrible tragedy of missing flïght MH370 highlights some important lessons to be learned, not least of which is how to respond in a truly global way to such a mystery. As it is, there has been an unprecedented level of cooperation and coordination required to find anything of the aircraft and passengers. It will be a long haul to uncover what exactly happened and why but more global cooperation and coordination and technology will surely come out of it.

What we don’t know we are compelled to make up (a function of our brain) and in the absence of facts, the flïght MH370 story still has a long way to go. When something out of the box happens, it takes us by surprise and the reaction of regular people follows a pattern. When reality shifts, we have to shift too, and that is hard for most of us. Our values can be challenged, our beliefs can be too and our emotions can take over for a time. We can deny, avoid and try to bury it but the new reality will settle in.

I have experienced this first hand. On July 10th 1985 I had just started night shift in the Auckland Central Police Control Room when I took the first 111 call telling us the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior had sunk following an explösion at Marsden Wharf downtown. As a 26 year old paid up member of Greenpeace at the time (I didn’t know any other cops who were members in those days), my response to this was very different than my colleagues. As more calls flooded the control room, the general tone of the comments was ‘serves them right – they have been making bombs and blown themselves up’. There wasn't much sympathy. These comments came from complete ignorance of what Greenpeace was about therefore there was no recognition of any possible motive for someone to sabotage the ship. My first thought was just that – sabotage, for me it had to be. I turned to my immediate colleague and said so at the time and tried to point out motive to everyone; that the ship was due to leave on a protest voyage to stop France doing nuclear testing at Muroroa, and that we needed to at least consider the implications of sabotage. I was obviously not very convincing - I was almost laughed out of the room. It was such an outrageous thing to say in those days and I copped lots of flack. I still thought I was right and I sort of wasn’t surprised it had happened. The scant facts went out on the news wires in the middle of the night, just as the other side of the world was getting into their day. Things were about to escalate.

Once the BBC and the Canadian Sun (Greenpeace originated in Canada) and numerous other news agencies in the northern hemisphere started calling us, things heated up and the incident began to attract more and more attention. Apart from drafting the earliest press releases, one of my jobs was to call out a senior CIB guy – there were still crew unaccounted for at that time. I woke him up, gave him the basics – the Greenpeace ship had sunk, there were people unaccounted for…it could have been sabotage. I was told ‘you have a sunken boat and a possible drowning – nothing to do with me’, and on no uncertain terms was I to bother him again – no evidence of a crime. Did I get an earful for waking him up! Again, he had no awareness of potential motive. Of course it wasn’t long before he was out of bed on someone else’s orders along with other senior staff. Thankfully the Sergeant who interviewed the RW captaïn and other crew discovered these were good people and there was nothing that could have caused an explösion on board that ship. This started a shift in attitude. A giant step towards the new reality came again a bit later when navy divers were finally able to go under the oil slick and actually see the holes. From then on, it was all systems go. My colleague and I set up the speciäl ops room and ran it for the rest of the shift – we were now all on the same page and the investigation took off.

I share this because the immediate and reflex denial of something we can’t imagine happening is completely normal. When things out of our control rock our world right down deep and change the landscape of reality dramatically, it takes time for us to adjust. Our brain uses memories and patterns and predicting to help us feel some semblance of control. To be faced with just how out of control we really are, how our ‘civilized selves’ are often only a thin veneer, can be frightening. The Rainbow Warrior bombing was our first attäck of that nature here in New Zealand – we hadn’t conceived of it in a meaningful way at that time so to start with it simply couldn’t be true for Police.

Malaysian Airlines were not prepared for the story of MH370 to be anything other than a routine flïght. Neither was the Malaysian Government, nor all the families. In this age of instant, we ask too much at times. Apportioning blame serves no purpose yet we are compelled to do it when feeling so powerless to change the realities and implications of such loss. These days it seems like information should be at our fingertips but we still have our limits, as we have seen in recent weeks.

We cannot predict everything and be ready for it. To live life on red alert and ready for anything isn't my idea of fun. We cannot live in fear and enjoy life at the same time. What we can do is make sure we do our best to keep our minds open. I do hope the focus regarding MH370 is on understanding, so that the lessons learned help prevent anything like this ever happening again - without ratcheting up more fear.

This world of ours needs more love. At times like this an outpouring of that can help the wounded hearts of strangers. Take a moment and think of them, the living and the dead. Send them love. We can all do that intrinsically. We make a good difference with our intentions for the wellbeing of others. We can all soothe a soul. And that’s it, from my view.
Amanda

THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL

"I believe the children are our future..." sang the late Whitney Houston, "teach them well and let them lead the way..."

All children hold the future in potential and just like any living thing they (we) are programmed with a deep impulse to express themselves (ourselves) in the world. How our babies are nurtured matters a great deal to the human future and the quality of an individual's lifetime.

Baby brains grow rapidly after birth and the environment a child finds her/himself in is like a seed finding itself planted in a gärden. The nature of the ground we grow in and the quality of care we get when we are small, vulnerable and highly impressionable can help or hinder the growth of a raft of things like self esteem and trust, the ability to form healthy relationships and feel empathy, the capacity to love and be loved, self belief and more. Without these ingredients a person is disadvantaged with regards to human affairs. Science now tells us more than ever about how profoundly we are 'set up' in those early years. I do wonder why we do not focus more attention on - and VALUE - the way baby humans are set up for life - especiälly in those vital few years after birth.

How come it feels like such a privilege these days to be free enough to be a 'stay at home mum or dad', even as sociëty in general seems to devalue this? When did we decide "I am a stay at home mother" was somehow less worthy than "I am a corporate high flyer making lots of money"? I would argue the former has the more vital job. Many women I have spoken to feel conflicted about having to work while someone else cares for their child. They feel torn. Others are incredibly grateful to be able to pursue their own passion while some care is provided by those very speciäl people that know what hard work raising babies is, and are compelled to do it anyway.

Economies depend on workers and consumers. Societal spend is huge on social issues like crime and mental health services, anti-social activities and so on. I am convinced it makes economic sense to make it easier to raise children in the home. Why not make it easier for parents to be supported in this vital work. Why do we not also invest more in those who nurture baby humans as a profession (and a very noble one indeed). Those who nurture baby humans shape human destiny. Teaching THEM well is the key to our success. Societal devaluing of childcare is a BIG mistake. Did you know that in some states In America prison building is forecast based on how many children cannot read by the 4th grade? Surely the most absurd 'ambulance at the bottom of the cliff' thinking...? Crunch the numbers and the return on investment will be obvious.

Back to Whitney: "Teach them (children) well and let them lead the way...". This is important. Let's not confuse classroom learning with teaching here. Children learn through imitation and the programming that will deeply influence the lifetime is in place long before we go to school.

The neuroscience is there backing up what is intuitive knowing for anyone who is 'called' to nurture baby humans. The trend towards putting babies in group care settings where those important loving relationships are very difficult to build because of the numbers involved, seems counter intuitive to building healthy brains that are wired for healthy life. When did we decide it was a good idea to create 'baby farms' where Australian parenting expert and author Steve Biddulph proposes the average one to one time with each baby is 8 minutes per day? Baby brains do not develop best without relationship. Having our basic survival needs met is not enough. Will a baby brain develop properly on 8 minutes (or even an hour or two) a day?

It's a bit of a no brainer really - I am repeating myself but the way we build baby brains is hugely significant so let's focus much more attention on how we do that. Babies need adults capable of loving them. THAT is the secret sauce for healthy human development. We know it so let's act on it (if we want to contribute to more loving and harmonious societies).

Let's get real about what babies really need in order to thrive and meet the needs of the human future. THAT is an investment worth making. The price of neglect is too high. Will it take a shift in attitude towards childcare? For some, yes. Will it take political will? For sure. Is it worth the trouble? ABSOLUTELY! Take a stand and speak up for our babies and those parents and other speciäl humans who are called to care for and help babies develop into their best selves. Let's find ways for them to have their real needs met in loving environments with people who have the desire to get to know them and the time to follow their leads. The human future might just depend on it...

One little tip anyone can engage in is this: "Always smile back at little children - to ignore them is to destroy their belief that the world is good".

And that's it from my view
Amanda

THE YEAR OF...? ( YOU decide)

Choosing a theme for a whole year is a great way to focus your energies. Whether you consult some sort of mentor or oracle to give you pointers, or you listen to your own inner guidance, FOCUS is the difference between being on target or off. Whatever helps you focus, now is the time to use it. Creativity is speeding up and all manner of opportunities are there to make a difference this year if your target is clear. Are you up for it?

If you feel a little adrift or confused or wondering what to pay attention to this year, here are three ‘themes' from different perspectives that might help. Reflect on them and see if anything is nudged awake… It's the Chinese year of the Horse… so with that thought in mind 2014 is set to be all systems go. Harnessing the power of the horse as partner requires relationship and teämwork. When those two are present the horse provides great leverage for us…speed and load carrying, companionship, competition, fun and thrills. The teämwork is lost if there is no trust, working together becomes hard and unpleasant - even dangerous. Stay mindful of the power of healthy relationships, trust and teämwork this year and notice the results you get when you do.

In the world of Numerology, 2014 is a ‘7' year (add up 2+0+1+4). The qualities most often associated with the 7 are inner work and self-examinätion. Seven calls us within and challenges us to stop looking to the outside world for what will satisfy us and make us happy. Self-reliance and reflection will be most helpful this year. Self-reflection can herald fresh starts as things that are worn out (especially beliefs and attitudes) start falling apart under the scrutiny of our own truth. Any illusion we live with might dissolve this year as our personal truth comes to the fore more boldly than ever. Inner niggles and funny feelings won't be easily dismissed, and backing ourselves will be easier.

Of course we must balance introspection with action - no point sitting around naval gazing for a whole year - the world will pass you by and you will be out of balance. 2014 is going to be a good year to pay at least a little attention to your interior life, kick out old beliefs that drag you down, transform attitudes that perpetuate unpleasantness, and take action towards what you want to do and be and have. Do your best to simplify your life. It will always be complex but it doesn't need to be complicated.

In consulting the Rune Stones (a Viking oracle), this is a year to pay attention to what makes us Whole. A prayer to the sun known as the Gayatri is offered. Its one of my favourites and it goes like this:

"You, who are the source of all power, Whose rays illuminate the whole world illuminate also my heart So that it too can do your work."

It might feel silly to talk to the sun of a day but the Gayatri is a prayer that affirms our connectedness to each other and everything. The sun shines for us all. We are reminded that how we think and feel, and what we do in every moment influences us and everything around us… just like the sun.

With just a little effort, 2014 could be the ‘year of relationships' - with ourselves, others and the world around us.

My wish for you this year is that you will heed the call to self-reflection and Wholeness, and in so doing, further activate your human powers to mature ‘ädult' functioning SUPERPOWERS (Awareness, Imagination, Intuition, Reason, and Will), and in so doing help lead us from the unconscious irresponsibility of an innocent but immature species to the positive potential we truly have. May 2014 be YOUR BEST EVER!

Cheers,
Amanda