From My View

Struggling to find balance...

2011-09-04T04:47:00.001-07:00

I’m hearing more and more people talking about feeling out of whack, struggling to find balance, losing their ‘mojo’ and so on. These feelings are informative and indicate something isn’t right. Overload is common, stress is showing up in new and uncomfortable ways, old unresolved issues are resurfacing and biting people on the bum, and there is a general sense of ‘stop the bus for a minute!’ for those out of step with themselves. Maybe its just my age and stage in life but I seem to hear the words ‘historic’, ‘once in a lifetime’, ‘unparalleled’ on a regular basis these days whether in relation to the speed of change in the Middle East, extreme weather events, political shenanigans, youth suicide, or the extremist behaviour of individuals (among a raft of other things as well).We could be forgiven for wanting to put our heads down and focus on our own personal lives and leaving the rest to sort itself out these days. Focusing on what we can control or influence is the key to staying sane and enhancing the quality of day-to-day life. The only thing is, as sociologist Paul H. Ray said “The world is getting better and better, and worse and worse, faster and faster, and we are all in it together”. It is this idea that ‘we are all in it together’ that we seem to have the most trouble with. We really are being drawn towards consequences faster and faster and many are overwhelmed in their attempts to keep their eyes on all the balls in the air.Balance can only be found by ‘tuning in’ to what it actually is for you individually. What that is changes as we grow and evolve through life. I used to be so uncomfortable with my own company that I couldn’t be alone for five minutes without getting on the phone, going somewhere or having visitors. My own company was too uncomfortable to share with myself - I had very low self-esteem in those days. It seems strange to see myself that way now - much is different and my life has been through several transformations - thankfully! Balance for me now is very different than what it was in the past. Now I enjoy alone time immensely so I can explore the relationship between my inner and outer worlds and attempt to make sense of it all or just accept life is what it is. Balance is being able to easily make time to read. It is having full-on work commitments that make me dig deep, and challenges that stretch and grow me. Balance is about creating ‘head space‘ so my mind can let go and wander towards new understandings and possibilities that could help others have better quality lives whilst I enhance my own.I highly recommend having a think about what balance is for you. If life was balanced, or closer to balance than it is now what would be different? How would you love it to be? Aim in that direction and even if you don’t get there you will be closer than you are now. If you are headed where you want to go when you look far down the road and you are experiencing challenges, remind yourself of their purpose and re-engage in your activities with joy - after all, today is your future history. These are the good old days. Make them brilliant so you can look back and be glad for how you lived and what you contributed to the world. Be true to you and you can be confident you are on track. We all evolve throughout our lives…here’s to consciously co-operating with that evolutionary impulse in us all. And that’s it... from my view.Amanda

What’s going on?

2011-06-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

If you have worked with me or follow my blogs you know I usually like to take a long view, a big picture look at things, an evolutionary view. So tempting it is to be swallowed by day-to-day events and activities calling our attention this way and that, endlessly thrown around by circumstances…I had this experience last week having flown Air NZ to Brisbane to attend the World Happiness Conference. Knowing I had a teaching commitment in Auckland the day after I was due back, I found myself increasingly worrying if volcanic ash was going to thwart me (I was booked back on Qantas and they were not flying). This made it challenging at times to stay present where I was, listening to speakers with great messages, including His Holiness The Dalai Lama. It was a wonderful learning experience for me given I had a front row seat from which to observe my own rolling responses. Fascinating! I guess I will probably always fret when I feel powerless to affect my own circumstances but being open to the learnings always present in such abundance in day-to day life makes it so much easier to navigate. Suffice to say reflective practise works!

In noticing my own personal challenges and responses, I am also increasingly aware of the bigger challenges and our collective responses. The earth is grumbling, the weather is wilder and many long held human beliefs and attitudes, views and perceptions are being challenged to the point of collapse. It’s almost like a mass collapse of old ideas and ideals is occurring and new ones are racing ahead. This crumbling of power structures shouldn’t surprise anyone. Our desire to express ourselves is a deep impulse arising from our ultimate programming. We are designed to learn and grow and cannot help evolving because we are all part of a much bigger and mysterious process. While we humans continue to play in the slow lane, posturing for power and control of resources, while we continue to marginalise and alienate those ‘unlike’ us (however we judge that), while we continue in combat mode and believe that might is right, while we struggle for certainty in an uncertain world, we miss opportunities the likes of which have never been before.

An abundance of knowledge and wisdom is available now that is pervading our species at an unprecedented rate. Knowledge only multiplies and expands the more it is shared – and the spread of knowledge is now viral. No-one human can stop it nor should they want to. Attempting to stem this tide is futile because it is emerging from our very natures. The grass really is growing through the concrete as it always will given enough time. We are wired to be curious, to learn, to discover and to express our potential just like every other living thing. Our huge difference is awareness and the power to direct our will consciously. The tree that grows wherever the seed landed cannot voluntarily move to find a better more nourishing spot – we can.

We have so many powers yet we are still immature in the ways we use them. Isn’t it obvious the dictator’s days are numbered – whether lauding it over a whole nation or within the walls of the family home? Isn’t it obvious women ought to be equal in all human affairs? Isn’t it obvious the environments baby humans grow and learn in set them up for life? Isn’t it obvious combative politics punishes us all? Isn’t it obvious we are not yet mature enough to depend on everyone to ‘play by the rules and do the right thing’?

Such potential we have! Such suffering we are inflicting when we could be doing so much else. It’s time for more awakening, big dreaming, lots of faith in our positive potential and a willingness to grow into it.

And that’s it from my view.
Amanda

2011: The year to think for ourselves

2011-01-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

There is more pressure today than ever to follow the herd, jump on the latest bandwagon and get sucked into hype from all quarters about everything from what the global economy will do, terrorism, climate change, the degradation of natural resources that cannot be replenished as fast as we use them up, the end of the world as we know it in December 2012, the threat of becoming wholly insignificant if we are not centre stage for internet search engines and so on. We are bombarded with reasons to be afraid from media, politicians and religious leaders, extremists and doomsdayers. We seek advice from self appointed gurus and experts on pretty much anything you care to mention. I am astounded at how many online ‘secrets‘ and information sharing is about how to make more and more money. How much is enough doesn’t seem to come into it - all we are told we need is MORE. We humans really do seem to be obsessed with abdicating responsibility and finding others who will tell us what to do, and even what to want.

These are issues we can all consider for ourselves but many of us seem to have no confidence in our own ability to trust our own wisdom or think for ourselves. Day to day rushing about, attention monopolised by immediate concerns like how to pay the bills or who will win an Oscar are manifestations of our priorities. To think for oneself requires the head space to pause and reflect on the bigger picture we are all painting for ourselves and future generations. Make no mistake, we are painting that picture without much of a clue of what we want it to look like due to a current lack of global visionary leadership. This is not a judgement. It is a matter of us never having been here before - so connected, so interdependant, so influencial in some ways, so powerless in others. We have no experience of dealing with the complexities we are faced with so that makes it even more vital to recognise there is no one Guru with the all answers.

In my view we must do our own research, sift through the hype and find trusted sources of information. I believe this is a niche that is woefully bereft of unbiased seekers of truth since genuine investigative journalism struggles to get through the filters of self interest of those who control what we get to see and what is kept from view. Mainstream media appears to be being progressively dumbed down and filled with the most unbelieveable nonsense in the name of ‘news’ and the collective intelligence and wisdom of the masses is insulted every day.

What every one of us can do is join the dots ourselves and make choices from there. We can bemoan the idea that climate change is being accelerated by our own efforts. We can strive for changes in thinking and behaviour, search for new technologies and minimise energy waste and hope some bright spark thinks of a solution. At the same time we can also learn to read the writing on the wall. The facts apparently show the planet was warmer by .5 degrees in 2010. When you put that information together with that which indicates the planet has been gradually warming for the past 30 plus years, we must accept that extreme weather events such as those we have experienced this summer in Sri Lanka, Brazil, Australia and Indonesia will likely become more frequent and it is us who must adapt. What we have seen this summer (and winter in the northern hemisphere) so far are loud messages - they are shouts to our consciousness to adapt to new conditions. Calling them one in one or two hundred year events amplifies their power but I suspect we will see more rather than less of these centenarians in years to come. “Were the floods of 2013 as big as the floods of 2014?” we will ask....never mind 100 years ago. We won’t have to look far back at all for the most powerful events in recorded history because they are happening now. It’s time we realised King Canute’s belief in his own power to send back the tide was fantasy, and so is ours. As so many have said before, the earth would be fine without us but our precious planet is what we all arise from so we must respect the nature of that relationship or we will become just another transitory species that failed to adapt and died out. We do not have ultimate control, not even of ourselves when push comes to shove. The narrow band of comfort we strive to preserve is as fragile as a bubble blown with dishwashing liquid through a bent wire coat hanger.

Let’s hope the lessons being learned from recent climate events will be heeded in the inevitable future scenarios we are likely to see as global weather patterns continue to wreak havoc on human and animal life. The very least we can all do personally is embrace the idea that extreme weather events are growing in frequency (whatever the reasons) and ensure we are prepared to take care of ourselves at least for a few days if the worst happened in our own neighbourhoods. Australians are now largely educated in the need to be prepared for bushfires - it has become habit as a response to what is known about the risk and whole communities get involved in planning and preparation. Let’s do the same regarding education about what our most likely scenarios could be - maybe earthquake, storms and floods? A TV advertisment now and then won’t do the job.

Let’s make 2011 the year of thinking for ourselves and intelligent preparation (without getting paranoid). You may not be able to google what to do after the fact so give you and your family a break and at least have a conversation, make a plan for yourselves and organise some sort of emergency kit if you don’t have one already - make sure you include a battery operated radio. Go through the same process in your workplace and with your neighbours. As businesses in Brisbane found out recently, emergency plans cannot just be filed away or not considered at all these days. Everyone needs a plan B for when things don’t go as normal and everyone needs to understand the benefits of having a plan even if you never need to use it (the ideal scenario). This level of basic responsibility frees emergency services and civil defence angels to offer help where they are needed most when crisis hits.

And that’s it from my view.
Amanda

Forgiveness is a powerful healer.

2010-12-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

I know I am not alone in feeling so very saddened by the apparent disregard some humans have (one would hope only a tiny minority) for other creatures that share our environment. The recent slaughter of seals on the Kaikoura coast leaves the vast majority (I hope) incredulous that anyone could kill so many (over 20 and counting) so cruelly and for no apparent reason.

Wild creatures going about their business already have to live the best they can whilst we influence their environments and sometimes even destroy them completely for our own benefit. Most don't have the capacity to adapt to change as fast as we do. "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." Charles Darwin.

Companion animals like dogs, cats and many others too serve humans in an exchange every animal lover values deeply. To cut off a puppy's ears with sissors or to burn a dog alive in it's kennel as happened in Tauranga recently too must surely be a sign of ignorant people who have no understanding or awareness of the responsibility they have that goes hand in hand with freedom to choose their actions. Our visceral anger and the upset this behaviour has evoked is a great sign from my view. The emotions are indicative of the affront to our values as a society. Our outrage probably won't transform the perpetrators though. Do you think they can even care what we think and feel?

Whilst our responses to each other's actions help us define or confirm what we personally believe and value, we must acknowledge that it is parents and caregivers that are raising our children, raising the seedling children that will one day have the power to deliberately choose their own actions in life. Clearly some are growing up without the necessary brain connections that come from the healthy attachments that create deeply embedded connections in our developing brain. These form the foundations of our capacity for empathy, respect and compassion in our psychology. Maybe these people are conforming to some other driver - peer pressure, twisted logic or some other unfathomable motivation. If so, they won't be feeling too good about themselves and what they have done. If it was funny at the time I bet it isn't now. If they were egged on by others maybe now they are wondering at their actions. I truly hope so because if they are they can change, make different choices.

We humans make mistakes. Period. We also learn fastest by imitation. When we know these things and accept them - like Emma Woods did when her 4 year old was run over in front of her - we can make a choice that uplifts us and minimises suffering. Woods has been named NZ Herald New Zealander of the year - because she forgave the young driver who killed her son. Her demonstration to us all of the power of forgiveness and her acknowledgement that it is simply the way that has worked for her, is powerful testimony to emotional maturity and conscious awareness in the face of the worst heart and gut wrenching experience.

How tragic the people who walk a path of cruelty and the relationship with life that goes with that. It can't be pleasant deep down. Imagine having to live with yourself knowing you had killed those seals or harmed those dogs. We have likely all made choices we came to regret, especially in our youth.

I guess its up to us to realise we can choose in any moment to use those choices, who we have become and what we have experienced as a platform to stand on going forward - to redeem ourselves and find our way to our own blossoming - even if the growth comes as a result of our own worst mistakes and choices.

Forgiveness is a powerful healer. Whilst our behaviour can be deemed inexcusable at times, our forgiveness can melt the hardest hearts and repair damaged souls. Thank you Emma Woods for showing the way.

And that's it, from my view.
Amanda

The birth of a ‘Super City’ - an evolutionary view on the positive potential of a community

2010-10-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

The new Auckland ‘Supercity’ entity, birthed after a long and sometimes contentious gestation is loaded with positive potential. It is uncoordinated yet - just like a newborn and the quality of ‘parenting’ it gets in these early days will set the course for a generation (and more).

Those who voted and those who didn’t have in truth co-created the team that will lay the foundations and facilitate the unfolding future of the Auckland region. Everyone of voting age is responsible for who will now serve the community going forward - we have expressed ourselves. If we are truly to take responsibility for our choices, the consequences are now ours to keep. For better or worse, the new team is now in place and the accelerated evolution of the Auckland region has begun. There is a great mix of talent, experience, knowledge, skills and passion present in abundance on the new council, along with youthful exhuberance that will hopefully have the courage to call a spade a spade when crusty old thinking threatens to inhibit wisdom based progress.

Like cells joining together to create a whole new more complex and cooperative system (as life has done countless times from the very beginning), we in the Auckland region have the chance to see ourselves in a fresh new light, to expand our identity - led by the new council. Just like the great Kiwi traveller who begins with identifying with a small area of the country, once overseas we relate to the whole - we are Kiwi’s. If we were far out in space our nations would dissolve and we would become earthlings - members of a whole species living on one home planet. This expanded view of ourselves as Aucklanders is something we must come to grips with going forward - even as we rightly retain our smaller community identities and sub cultures. Let’s have decision making based in wisdom and forethought and what is sustainable and good for the whole instead of scrapping over the parts. Those who fear the ‘loss’ of local community identity are missing the chance to not only retain and enhance that identity but to connect, coordinate and collaborate with other ‘sibling’ communities and see ourselves as one family expressing all parts fully, being MORE of who we are, not less.

Anyone who has had the joy of being part of a truly high performing team knows that the key to success is all about robust relationships and alignment on a common purpose, vision and values. A skilled team of champions doesn’t often win over an equally skilled champion team - the joy that isn’t shared gets lonely too. The quality of relationships in our new council team will lay the foundations for relations with all the other players: Iwi, central Government, the CCO’s, Community Boards, the people, and other life forms that live here. There is right now a genuine opportunity to model what excellent teamwork in community looks like and what is possible as a result. And therein lies the evolutionary challenge of the new council - to quickly align as a united team and to grow through any individual limitations. The current ‘moment’ of opportunity is potent!

Call me Pollyanna but I see a wonderfully attractive future potential of One Auckland flourishing, and serving the whole country in that.

I believe in the new teams’ capacity to engage in the process. They are now forever the first ‘One Big Auckland’ Council. Their legacy is in their hands and hearts and heads - the spirit of a united region is what they will seed, set on its way towards a future we can only dream about now...

If this council can align on a common purpose, vision and values it will have a better foundation than many countries and by understanding the transformative process itself, they will be much better equipped to serve the community. If council can demonstrate its’ willingness to find the truly collaborative ‘super council’ inside them as a team, it will be easier for the community to understand, support and cooperate with the process simply because it will be clearly in the interests of everyone to do so. This has both individual and collective components - personal and group transformation. Yep - call me Pollyanna but I see this as our positive potential. We are the species that can choose our own destiny - we can consciously respond to our environment.

Mine is not unlike many visions of a better future but the signposts to it that I am seeing point to a path that is profoundly challenging and utterly compelling at once. Willingness to grow as individuals and as team is at the heart of it all.

The new council leadership team with Len Brown and Penny Hulse at the helm have a range of great gifts around the table that can compliment their own. Their faciltation skills will be needed to harness and shepherd the talented ‘starter pack‘ they have been gifted to work with. I for one believe that between them, with the support of each other, their loved ones and a decent bunch of us backing them up, they absolutely have a shot at co-creating something very special. There certainly seems to be a clear intent to unite.

Change is challenging, exciting and can be as stimulating as hell if it is well understood and communicated about. Sure we will all need to let go of some things in order for the new to emerge - just like pruning a fruit tree, but that shouldn’t worry us, if we understand what is happening and that’s why effective communication with the community will be vital.

The One Auckland example reflects the wider challenge we face in today’s New Zealand and the world at large. If we can foster individual brilliance and collective teamwork we can set a wonderful example for others to follow - this is what true leadership is all about - modeling the way. Yes - the community has birthed a baby with unlimited potential - one that can (if we cooperate) grow us as we grow it, towards a more co-creative future worthy of our greatest aspirations!

May the new council transform our address to One Auckland - Planet earth. A universal destination, a source of inspiration, a true model of collective leadership in human affairs - one that calls forth the very best of our natures and our individual and collective genius.

My view is an ideal, a personal dream on the level of dynamics - and - if we even lumbered slightly in that direction, meeting the challenges and seeing them as the grit that makes pearls rather than something to avoid, we would manifest our dreams whatever they may be, and enhance our quality of Life. Politicing and power struggles are handbrakes - we have a chance to do things differently so here’s hoping the chance is grasped with all hands! Remember Pollyanna did manage to melt the stingiest heart - eventually.

And that’s it, from my view.
Amanda

The 'Why' of joining sites like 'Linked in'

2010-07-12T20:15:00.001-07:00

Don’t know about you but I am feeling the world hoofing it ahead of my current technical skills and understanding. I am 51 years old, passionate about my life and work (same thing really) in the domain of the ‘conscious evolution’ potential of our species and I am rapidly realising I need to learn to embrace a new type of relationship, one I have only ever been on the fringes of. I’m calling it ‘the e-rel’ and it spans the spectrum between the most superficial of connections, to the deepest ‘soul connection’ with those you may never ever meet in person, yet deeply connect with via a passion or interest you share. Cyber space relationships are creating many many opportunities on many many levels - the ones that interest me are those we can use for the purpose of being part of the conversations and actions that are shaping our world.

‘Linked in’ for example is a platform to join groups and observe or participate in conversations that interest you - for the purpose of learning new things and connecting with like minds - and hearts. It is a platform that has primarily been used as a recruiting tool but is fast becoming the professional person’s networking site. It gives people a place to play and practise and learn from others and there is so much to learn! It’s pretty easy to get started - just google ‘linked in’ and from there you can join groups in your areas of interest. I hope you will want to ‘link’ with me there as well!

So go get some learning - locally or via the net, or on a course if you like group learning. Do what works for you - there are some great resources on the internet in video and audio as well as written form. Do what works for you. But do it. Even if you are hanging on by your fingernail (like I often feel), at least you are in the game. We have such huge potential as a species - let’s get the best of our natures working in alignment!

And that’s it, from my view.
Amanda

The Uncommon Path: Awakening the Wisdom within

2010-07-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Amanda has recently finished Mick Quinn’s excellent book "The Uncommon Path". It is a truly growth promoting offering for the serious student of higher learning. Mick Quinn, Irish-born author of Amazon #1 Bestseller - The Uncommon Path; 2009 WINNER - National Best Books Award - Spirituality. Website: www.mickquinn.com.

Check it out here >>

When the Collective gets a bee in its bonnet about something

2010-04-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

It is fascinating to me to track what happens when the Collective gets a bee in its bonnet about something. When a nagging feeling spreads, if there’s legs on the issue, if there is an integrity involved that stirs us deeply and nudges consciousness along, it multiplies...when the matter is unresolved it won’t just go away. Take the case of baby twins Chris and Cru Kahui who were killed in June 2006. The collective integrity senses there is something deeply troubling about a group of adults closing ranks and protecting themselves when a terrible terrible thing has occured - two innocent babies, victims of the ones they were most dependent on to protect them are dead. To date the case remains unsolved, largely because no-one in the family will talk about what they know about what happened to Chris and Cru. How could this happen? How could something so disturbing be allowed to occur? How can the adults be protected at the expense of justice for the babies we wonder?

Surely we all know deep down that rearing humans is the most vitally important job on the planet. It is sacred work. To take on the responsibility of shaping a new centre of consciousness, a human child, is a mighty privledge (one I never had the guts to step up to), and a huge repsonsibility in truth - one we can take on from an infinite range of possibilites and styles, and it takes no particluar state of awareness to procreate. There are basic essentials that seem to contribute to the Whole Health of a child and they are pretty obvious. Things like a safe environment, loving care givers, loving interaction, attachment, structure and routine, emotionally mature parents and so on. The form these environments take can be in all sorts of weird and wonderful permutations - still with the basics intact. It doesn’t need to be perfect - we all need a little adversity to build our resilence and equip us for life in the world, and parenting is certainly an ‘on the job training’ experience. Humans are at their most vulnerable when they are babies - they are completely dependant and they stay that way for longer than any other species. They rely on others to provide what they need and they have only the basics in terms of communicating what those needs are. They are also pretty robust when you think about how powerful the life force in a baby really is.

The nature of us too is that we are brilliant learners and we learn fastest through imitation. If we grow up in an abusive environment we will either perpetuate (adapt) or rebel against (break the patterns) of our foundation learning. Whether we grow to repeat the past or break free from it - we all seem to do a little of both along the way as we become equipped to find our own way in Life.

It will be a fascinating study to observe the Kahui dynamic as it evolves. Someone is responsible for two baby’s deaths. The people who know what happened are keeping silent. Money has now been introduced - contributed by a wider community who stands for the innocent children (or maybe is hell bent on bringing the ‘criminals’ to justice from a righteous place inside) - the community integrity is activated and it is spreading. There is a will for the pressure of money, to crack through to the truth. Will greed overcome whatever is maintaining the silence? Will someone out there be exploring their minds right now for how they could justify to themselves that it is now ‘right’ to tell the truth and collect? Are they bargaining inside to come up with a figure that would allow them do it - that would be ‘enough’? And if one is thinking this way, maybe others are as well - and will that provoke competition for who can get to the money first - a gamble to get the money - loyalty now out the window in an effort to ‘save one’s own skin’? Or will none of that matter and the truth will stay buried? Will the threat of it all coming tumbling down be enough to unite the players in this awful drama?

Yes it will be fascinating to see how this completes - I get the sense this matter will not rest until it is resolved. How can it?

When I attempt to move beyond my own sense of rights and wrongs and judgements that are pretty compelling and I attempt to make my own meaning of the deaths of those children (and so many others who have suffered and still suffer at the hands of terrible abuse), children who were and are part of my wider community as New Zealanders, when I look with evolutionary eyes, I can see only that they were and are angel children who gave their lives that we might open our hearts a little more, that we might learn something important - about ourselves. Those two souls, born into that family were and remain a gift to the whole whanau, and to all of us if we care enough, if we let it matter to us that there are people out there not well enough equipped to manage the sacred role of nurturing and growing baby humans, not mature enough to accept responsibility for their actions.

In my view it is inhumane to perpetuate the hate and derision for those who do not have the resources to do things differently. If the solution to child abuse is to build more prisons to house the perpetrators, are we not being deluded if we think this actually works to lessen or eliminate the problem? Doesn’t that just salve some part of us that wants retribution without dealing with cause? In my view the solution lies in education.

The current mentality - the punative response - seems to only breed more violence and hate and resentment - every which way we look. When we humans make mistakes and feel attacked (even if we ‘deserve it’), we can find it too hard to ‘own’ those mistakes and we instinctually defend instead. Who hasn’t defended themselves against the uncompromising nature of the truth at some time in their lives? We deny, justify, rationalise, attack and otherwise do psychological gymnastics in an attempt to suppress our conscience.

I can only feel compassion for the ones who carry this burden of knowing what they have done (and maybe continue to do), in the face of the visceral hatred of a community that supposedly knows better. It takes awareness of wrong doing to own up and face the music. It takes courage to be aware and own up in the face of one’s own fear of the response (in the Kahui case it would no doubt be the rejection of a whole country). How much courage and humility would one need to acknowledge what you know, live with yourself and feel the full force of community derision? I bet that family think of those babies every single day - how could they not?

Damage done, too late now to change it so how about spending the next multi-million dollar prison budget on educating parents and would-be parents en mass, assisting them to grow through their own unresolved pasts so they model something new to the next generation. There are brilliant organisations out there with the programmes that could really help that could reach so many more if they had the resources. If we want to stop the problem rather than create employment for more under-resourced prison officers and social workers, we are the ones who need to face the music and stop being distracted by seeking out who is to blame. It’s our community - it’s our responsibility. We all do our best with the resources we have, so let’s stop judging others for not having the resources we think they should have, and provide those resources in ways that are easy to access, hold no stigma, and learn from the deaths of all the abused babies - make their tiny lives meaningful, let them help us co-create stronger more healthy communities. All it would take is the vision of a new possibility and the will to make it manifest in our community.

And that’s it, from my view.
Amanda

Consciousness is expanding all over the planet

2010-03-16T00:35:00.000-07:00

Consciousness is expanding all over the planet - we are waking up to our potential to profoundly influence our experience in numbers we have never seen before and its happening really fast. The shackles of dominator structures are falling, the systems that maintain the masses as powerless victims are crumbling.

Cconsciously evolving ourselves as individuals, communities, nations and as a planet beats swapping time for money in a thing called a job any day! Conscious evolution is the most exciting, stimulating and satisfying adventure in town. It’s a transformation from the old ideas of victim consciousness, powerlessness and suffering. It fosters great communication and relating to others, wonderfully exciting teamwork and purposeful, meaningful leadership. Visions everywhere are becoming more and more life affirming, meaningful and uplifting....we live in such exciting times!

Surrender the old and outmoded and get with the programme....the future is a moment away and we can all co-create it together - we are already so why not be part of a future you feel excited about - not just for yourself but for the whole planet? And why wait for a crisis to push us to it - we can tune in and co-operate with the impulses inside us in ways that help us survive...or we can co-operate with the flow, really go for it and thrive...one view has its roots in fear and one has its roots in love. Which I wonder would give us an evolutionary advantage? If you want an example to study how this is operating at a national level there are probably few as profound as Rwanda right now...so recently a nation in turmoil, the people have lived through incredible pain and suffering and are now a nation largely united, on the road to reconciliation and healing, and forging their way to a new tomorrow. Watch that space. Go Rwanda!

Natural disasters bring out the best in us

2010-01-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

Call me ignorant but does anyone else find it weird the way natural disasters bring out the best in us - the world unites to help survivors rebuild their lives with the massive mobilisation of resources and logistics support - even as somewhere else on the planet - many places in truth - there are people from the same countries willfully killing and destroying the lives and property of others in the name of war - only to have to use even more precious resource to help them rebuild again? Surely this is madness? How can it be that innocent people are killed in a war and it’s called ‘unfortunate‘ (followed often by an apology at a political level) and yet all over the world we are so touched by the miracle of an 8 year old boy and his 10 year old sister surviving eight days trapped in a building (and what a victory for hope that was!).

Our Humanity drives us to keep searching and hoping and praying and fighting to help one child live... whilst we destroy other children, other desperate innocent children in places where there is conflict over who has the ear of the real God, who has resources coveted by others, who are bonafide humans, who owns bits of the planet and so on. What a species! We have the knowledge and awareness and power and ability to create another way for ourselves, to consciously evolve, yet we still get stuck in religious, political, cultural, egoic bogs that inhibit us and even threaten our own demise. I know, I know ‘it’s complicated’ and I just don’t understand the realities of the global village....maybe none of us do. All the more reason to pursue real solutions to our problems.

Haiti has suffered an utterly devastating and catastrophic earthquake. I have blogged before about my vision of transforming the ‘armed services’ into simply ‘The Services‘ - highly organised professionals from all over the world who can be mobilised at short notice to go where they are needed and provide food and water, shelter, medical aid and infrastructure support, along with empathy and compassion and emotional support. I predict we are going to need more capacity for responding to large scale natural disaster as (especially) storms and floods occur as a result of climate change (regardless of what is causing it). Surely we have enough on our plates to manage without adding war to the mix? We still don’t have everyone on the planet fed, housed and educated by a long shot. Wouldn’t people serving in ‘The Services‘ get more job satisfaction from saving lives and empowering people and communities rather than destroying them?

As help flows more effectively to survivors in Haiti and they begin to rally and support each other in their grief; as time ticks by creating some space from the shock, death and destruction, the stories of community unification are now emerging out of the chaos. Haiti faces a new reality and will adjust to it in time - the people are a lot tougher and more resilient than perhaps we might be given a similar event here in New Zealand. And, unlike the massive earthquakes in Pakistan and China in recent times, we are up close and personal with Haiti because every news agency seems to be there with cameras - we are having a CNN survivor reality TV show - the media is doing its ‘media thing’ and we seem to be addicted.

Haiti’s earthquake is a teacher for us all. The question is, are we willing learners? What would happen if we had to deal with a ‘biggie’? Are we ready? Info for Kiwis is at www.getthru.govt.nz - check out your own local authorities plans and information. If it doesn’t give you the info you need contact them and ask for it. We may never need to put our plan into action...and...be like a girl/boy scout and be organised at least minimally for a crisis - that is what real ‘insurance‘ is - conscious preparedness for the worst scenario without obsessing and living in fear of ‘what if...’. I call it being practical and sensible and taking personal responsibilit.

I find myself personally challenged by Haiti to consider how I can contribute in an emergency rather than assuming I will be a victim someone else will have to take care of. We can all do our bit to be as ‘sorted’ as we can so the resources can be deployed where they are really needed in a crisis - for the young, the old and the vulnerable.

Returning to Haiti, there are certainly plenty of ways you can help, - one organisation is www.Avaaz.org. Avaaz is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva. To support the people of Haiti via Avaaz go to: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_haiti.

I stand with the millions all over the world who are holding the people of Haiti in our hearts as they navigate thier way through this devastation.

Cranking up your Conscious Evolution - Seeds for 2010

2009-12-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

Because of the risk (for me) of ‘banging on’ till the cows come home, herewith a very few little ‘seeds’ for your ‘consciousness garden’ going forward.

The usual New Years resolution list has never really worked for me on its own. I operate much more effectively with intentions. Goals are time bound and measurable (and a fantastic way to take action) whereas for me clear intentions relate to a bigger picture and leave me more room for serendipity to help out! To stay focused on the ‘what‘ seeded from a clear ‘why‘ means the ‘how‘ can be supported from unlimited quarters.

Dare yourself to have an intention that is very clear at an emotional level - how do you want to feel in 12 months time for instance - about your life, your work, your contribution, your happiness....really imagine into what you’d love to be able to say about the past 12 months - as if it was already December 2010...build in the potential for great stories of miracles...ham it up...”You wouldn’t believe the amazing things that happened to me....” you don’t even need to know what that ‘thing’ was - it doesn’t matter because what you want to go for is the feeling. If you really want to go for it - write it down...”Reflections on 2010”...make it a backwards glance and summarise the quality of the past year. Werner Erhard once said “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”!

What happens next is truly miraculous....your Universe starts aligning with that feeling state. Stay conscious and notice the signals you get - like in that childhood game of hot and cold....notice your responses to the things you get to decide about. One choice takes you towards what you say you want and the other takes you away....what do you want? Choose it. It’s that simple. Then actively move towards it because it wont come to you, it will meet you on the road. So stay present to your own experience and notice what you notice.

Along the way there will be obstacles - challenges to respond to. Seeing these obstacles and challenges as part of the trip is vital if you are not going to fall into despondency. The obstacles can help us ‘compost’ any residual ‘handbrakes’ on our personal evolution.

If you really want to accelerate your growth, bring together some like minds and hearts - co-create a group of conscious co-creators. 4 - 6 people is good. The purpose is to meet regularly (about once a month - six weeks) and each have a ‘space’ to share over a meal or drinks/snacks. The point is to offer each other an opportunity to share your truth - express your feelings, and attempt to view your life and the goings on in the world with evolutionary eyes - the small number means you can consciously communicate and hear each other, empower each other, offer different perspectives with a view to increasing your awareness of your potential growth in your life and where you are being directed. You will grow as an individual - guaranteed. It can be helpful to the process for your first get together to be about your process - just to get clear on people’s needs and values, how they want to be treated etc. Over time you will learn to move beyond the judgements of what is happening to an open enquiry as to what creation itself is seeking to serve - and co-operating with that impulse.

I am in such two such groups and have been meeting for many years and the dynamic just keeps evolving as we all grow and our needs change and evolve. The main benefit for most of us seems to be the space - a neutral oasis that is also biased towards personal responsibility, growth and evolution - open hearts and minds in other words. We swap information about things of interest going on or that we are reading or seeing on the internet and we all have a chance to share where we are at - how we are traveling and seeking wisdom if required. It is not a therapy group and it’s not a social thing other than that we are together. It is a purposeful gathering to enhance conscious evolution on the planet...our contribution in the scheme of things may feel small - and - we trust it is nevertheless significant!!

Lastly, intend to become more conscious of your use of language. How we use language impacts actions and feelings...I frequently hear the words “I don’t care “ when the person really means “I don’t mind”....consider the difference in both statements. There are squillions of examples of this where we get sloppy with our language - so say what you mean and mean what you say. The quality of your communication will go through the roof!

Finally finally...continue (as I am sure you do now) to find more and more ways to add more love to the world rather than more fear.

SUMMARY - SEEDS

Create clear intentions that align with your deepest motivations for your ‘wild and glorious life’.
Notice what you notice - and take action that supports your intentions.
See obstacles with ‘evolutionary eyes’ - ie: is the feedback from your environment indicating you are on track (hot) or off track (cold)? Be vigilant with your own truth and integrity - they are your guides. Compost your crap (with expert help if necessary).
Get together with like-minded others as conscious evolutionaries and have conscious conversations that expand your current perceptions.
Stay conscious of your language.
Add more love rather than fear to the Whole.

Conscious Evolution is the best adventure in town. As we learn more and more about our own real story as an ever-evolving species, we humans are getting to write and live our own fairytale - consciously.

Let’s go for a happy ending for each and every Soul.

Leader as Facilitator, Coach, and Servant

2009-08-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

Listening to conference speaker Matt Church, an Australian “Thought Leader” (see www.thoughtleaders.com.au) a few weeks ago, he made it very clear that Leadership and Innovation are currently the key topics organisations are convinced are the most valuable lever points for flourishing in our rapidly evolving environment. This is not a matter of legislating ‘thou shalt now step up and be more creative’. The unlocking of human potential requires an environment that promotes these things rather than stifling the flow. To truly allow the creative to manifest itself we need environments that foster the flow - where the environment is stifling, talented people move away. For organisations this is critical. Visionary leadership, solid teamwork and a nourishing personal and professional environment are all highly relevant and within every conscious individuals influence.

Conscious transformation is the most exciting game in town and the game is now to co-create with the many rather than rule via the few. That means we need to be great coaches for each other and we need to foster excellent facilitation skills so we can best serve our teams and organisations in the achievement of their purpose for existing.

So, a few questions to ask yourself:

Does the environment you work in have a vibrant creative feel to it?
Is there a system in place to generate creative ideas that everyone in the team/organisation understands and can contribute to?
Do you have a process in place to test out new ideas for robustness?
Does your organisation facilitate change well?
If you are a Leader in your organisation, do you find you need to ‘pull rank’ to get things done or are you able to truly coach your team to success?
Are you confident in your ability to facilitate team meetings and activities?
Are you a Leader as Coach? Or a leader as ‘Ruler/Dominator’?
Do you feel inhibited in expressing your creative ideas in the environment you work in?

To move in the direction that seems to be emerging more and more, here are a few ideas to help.

Facilitate a team get together and discuss all the things you can think of that make a good team great – that cannot be bought with money
Create the space for you and your team to have an open conversation about how everyone is doing.
Be open to ideas from the team as to how you can be more effective in ensuring your team has the resources it needs to get the job done without compromising health and wellbeing.
Check out whether team meetings have a clear purpose that everyone understands.
Establish ‘vital signs’ that are relevant to your team that everyone can align with and use as a check in periodically to keep you on track.
Ensure your team has a clearly understood purpose that aligns with and contributes to the organisational purpose, vision and values.

Truly understanding the facilitation of process and change requires personal work. The theory is not the application. To be successful we need to ‘Be’ safe and model the values and behaviour we are seeking – otherwise we will communicate incongruently and we won’t be ‘walking the talk’. If you are seeking to build your own confidence as a Facilitator, find an organisation near you that offers this education - you will find it useful for Life!

Whatever we do for the Whole, we do for ourselves.

2009-08-05T15:58:00.001-07:00

Your contribution in every moment is to a world you are part of, so contribute to the world you truly want to see and experience. The mission is then to follow your own whistle and choose powerfully in the direction of your bliss. Choose any direction that calls to you – social justice, economics, science, health, education, environment, animals, the arts…. where are you called to play? Does what you are doing make your heart sing? The new age weight given to having to figure out some huge world-beater purpose for one’s life has stifled so many people’s progress. It can make us hang back as leaders and instead seek out who to follow. Where once we might have had such creative thinking and big ideas, believing we could do something special with our lives, it can be tempting to sink into a malaise of ‘what I do doesn’t make a difference’. This is depressing and debilitating.

None of us exist in a vacuum. We all have control of our responses. We all have brilliant emotional and intuitive guidance systems. Follow your heart - powerfully follow your heart and allow Creation to work through you for the Universal good. We are all making a difference every moment of our lives. What sort of difference is up to us.

My vision...

2009-05-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

As I watched the Pope visiting the holy land as a pilgrim standing for peace recently, a fantasy was born in my imagination. I’ve had wishes and hints of this before but never as clear as when I saw the Pope praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

Clear as a bell I had a Vision of the leaders of all the world religions coming together to broadcast their unitedness in bringing peace to the world and calling to their followers to do the same. They modeled unity. It was all over the internet, television, radio and so on and it was all people were talking about all over the world. This gathering changed things overnight – the world was transformed!

In my vision I saw the Dali Lama laughing so delightfully as he does, together with the Pope and all the others we don’t see much in the western world as they acknowledged each other as Spiritual Directors standing for peace. I saw them profoundly forgiving each others religious history and genuinely seeking ways to work together for the good of the world from now on….this was a public reconciliation for the whole world to see…all of a sudden the rigid thinking was gone and the willingness to move forward profoundly and rapidly was born. It was like using a plunger on a blocked sink to clear the pipes so everything could flow again. Beliefs that have for years and years repressed, oppressed and suppressed women were flushed away and we came fully into full collaboration in the affairs of the world on all levels. True partnership between the genders became ‘normal’.

I saw these (men) open and genuinely interested in learning about each other’s faiths, the roots of those faiths, and seeking the common ground among them. I saw them taking responsibility for the behaviour of their predecessors, followers and any policies of their own religions that sought to dominate the spiritual scene on earth.

I watched fascinated in my Vision as these leaders of the worlds religions laid down their weapons of dogma and sought to embrace each others Humanity. In acknowledging the sun shines for everyone, they all acknowledged the common source energy of all of life was also freely given to all. Vitally, they all acknowledged how perilous our survival on this planet really is right now and how important it is to stop fighting and warring with each other and instead fight the very real challenges we face.

I saw them calling on world leaders to stop budgeting trillions to cause death and destruction and the squandering of precious resources. Instead they called for solutions to the most basic of
human needs - to feed and house everyone, and to empower all people to express their brilliance in the world.

I saw soldiers everywhere walking away from the weapons they dropped on the ground. That’s how easy it was to stop war. Everyone just put their guns down and went home. No more bullets were ever used to harm another human.

My vision went on and on….it was like a rush releasing of creativity that was the end of something and the beginning of something new. Yes we had to die to old thinking but the rewards were great!

From my view the problems we have to deal with are largely of our own creation and we are the source of the solutions….if we can just stop fighting each other long enough to experience something entirely different, to look to the systems that inhibit us, to continue to discover and use creative solutions that transform our experience….. My experience was powerful…”you may say I’m a dreamer…but I’m not the only one….”

…and that’s it from my view.

Have a great month

Cheers,

Amanda xx

Talking of sacred cows

2009-04-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

….a recent example (albeit a little stale) of how easy it is to get stuck to a ‘position’ happened right here in New Zealand recently. Did you notice the “Edmonds Cookbook Hot Cross Bun broohah”? It’s certainly a wonderful example of the dynamics we live in. Here’s what happened. The Establishment (Edmonds) has a cookbook. It is iconic. Many Kiwi households have one and it has helped countless students and other households feed themselves. So all in all it’s a good thing…until it isn’t. If you haven’t seen the story, Edmonds has a hot cross bun recipe that doesn’t actually work – unless you somehow know that because fruit releases sugar when it is mixed into the rest of the ingredients you shouldn’t add it until the end otherwise the yeast won’t do its thing properly and you’ll end up with hot cross rock cakes.

Well known and much loved New Zealand celebrity cook Jo Seagar tested the recipe and found it wanting. Edmonds said they tested it three times and it’s fine. The public tested it and found it wanting. Edmonds isn’t going to change it and stands by the recipe. A former employee who was a test baker told the Edmonds marketing department several times while he worked there some years ago that the recipe needed to be changed. Edmonds says it’s fine. So, Edmonds has a recipe they say works. The environment says it doesn’t. Edmonds says it does and that people are just not following the instructions properly – they have taken a position.

The funny thing about all this is that it’s a great example and reflects the world we live in. So what can we learn from our teacher Edmonds? The Establishment has problems to solve (even if it doesn’t acknowledge them). The solutions are all around in the community already. Rather than adopt these solutions, the Establishment is closed to feedback and keeps doing what it does. The question is WHY? Why do we continue to do things that don’t work and make our problems bigger and harder to solve – especially when there are solutions already sitting there? Think alternative energy, child development, sustainability, the idea that one size does not fit all and so on… Why can’t the guy with the hugely long lasting car battery get any market share? Why is the research and development money so much less than defence spending? Why in this day and age are we still so influenced by rules made by a very few (sometimes just one individual) hundreds and hundreds of years ago for reasons that related to that time and place and no longer ‘fit’ our modern reality? Why is it when we have technologies that can improve people’s lives en mass, that we do not use them – have we not a responsibility to the planet and each other to move forward?

You thought this view was about a hot cross bun….well, I might not be a bun…but I can get hot (possibly menopause) and pretty cross when we shut our eyes and block our ears to feedback that could contribute to increased success – it seems plain silly! Come on Edmonds – set pride aside and just say thanks for the feedback, launch a nationwide competition for the next iteration of ‘the best little hot cross bun recipe in town’ and thrive on the renewed enthusiasm for New Zealand’s most iconic cookbook?’ You could call the new recipe ‘Humility’ after the guy whose death those buns are supposed to honour….

If the Establishment can’t change a hot cross bun recipe for the common good – how I wonder is Obama going to get on ridding the world of nuclear weapons that are so prolific that we could destroy ourselves thousands of times over? Humanity is revolting…(pun intended) in our own big and little ways. Make it a revolt that counts for the good of the whole – with no-one and nothing left out.

And that’s it from my view.

Cheers,
Amanda

The power and value of the Mother

2009-04-26T19:00:00.001-07:00

One role in life I have never felt capable of attempting but one I remain in awe of is that of the MOTHER. Today I want to acknowledge the power and value of the Mother. All of us had one. Some are one. Some yearn to be one. Some like me have long known we are not cut out for it. I really do stand in awe of the women who create human life and then go about nurturing that life to independence and a full contributing life of its own, so often whilst juggling the challenges of adult relationship and work. Some mothers are ‘naturals' and they make it all look so easy, some struggle hugely and have to work at it, others are just not suited to it at all and suffer through it, but all are huge influences in a child's life. Further, I believe all mothers want to do a good job and to say someone is ‘a bad mother' is probably one of the worst things a mother could hear - she does her best even if she is under resourced herself. (Note: I know men also have a huge role to play in the raising of children and they are often under supported, misunderstood and under acknowledged but that topic deserves it's own attention in another issue!)

While we aim resources at more prisons, boot camps for troubled teens and so on, why are we not looking more closely at giving mothers what they need to create environments for their children in which they thrive and flourish? Instead we seem to pile on the pressure to be in the ‘workforce' so there is enough family income to survive - and pay for others to care for their children, (often in large groups). Sure, many women I know who are mothers feel they would go mad without the adult environments they work in but somewhere things have gone out of whack. Women need better quality support across the board, especially in the first few years of their child's life.

Parenting is arguably the most important role on the planet. We have enough research now that tells us what we intuitively know, that the very early stages of life set the foundations for the child going forward (a child learns more and faster in the first 18mths of life than the rest of the life put together according to the experts). Why are we not focusing more resource on this period? What’s more, why not give mothers the personal development education they need to work through their own ‘leftover issues’ from childhood so the models they offer their children are even more effective than the ones they had?

Remember the old saying “Educate a woman and you educate a generation”? We have come a long way in educating women for sure, but there is more education needed about the dynamics of child development – every mother is an early childhood educator but some educate from ignorance. Rather than blaming women for not knowing any better why don't we support them to learn and value themselves and their role more. Surely we can all help with that by the way we treat mothers?

Mothers raise boys, who grow into men. Mothers raise girls who grow into women. Mothers teach boys how to treat women and girls how to be women. Children either adapt to what was modeled to them, or rebel against it. To grow into healthy adults with a sense of esteem and worth, children ideally need someone to love them, like them and believe in them. All children love having someone to look up to, to aspire to be like, to ‘show them the way'. With these things intact in the family (whatever form that family takes - and there are many), the whole society can grow in diversity and tolerance, compassion and respect.

While we need to find solutions for our current troubled youth and adults, surely it is worth some forward thinking to consider the future societies we are creating every day that babies are born - every day a baby is born, so the future is born. We will not eliminate the problems on this one until we eliminate the kinds of role models and environments that create them.

“We tell children how to be and they keep mirroring what we are. Children learn by example. If we are to raise happy, intelligent children we must bring to wholeness the models they are following.”

- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Making resources available for parents to provide those environments that help children flourish could be a helpful (for the individual and the whole) focus of our attention, not from dogma or rigid applications of self righteousness but from principles that can be used as pointers on a path. Parents can be guides on a path rather than enforcers of rules.

One key in my view is to educate parents, help them ‘compost the crap' from their own histories and thereby interrupt the patterns that foster dysfunction and low self esteem, and to teach them what builds a robust and resilient fully expressed contributing human that uses the best of themselves to serve the wider community.

I dream of a day when all parents know who they really are and how the human development process works. Everyone does the best they can with the resources they have. If we want that ‘best’ to be even better we need to add more resources. My moot is that those resources would over time lead to us needing less and less prisons, less and less need for money to deal with social problems, child abuse would be an anomaly, a thing of a distant past…every child sacred, every one a gem, and the responsibility of parenting seen as the most valuable role on the planet (which it undoubtedly is!).

To all the mothers out there I honour you. To my own mother I say “Thank you (again) for having me!” Don't wait for Mothers Day to pause and consider all your mother did for you. Appreciate her for what she gave you - whatever her resources…she did her best in her circumstances and likely deserves a medal!

And that's it….from my view.

Make it a great month,
Amanda xx

PUT YOUR SEAT BELT ON!

2009-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

What can happen in a month or so these days? We celebrated our national day with more harmony than for a long time. A new President in the US took office, there's a miracle on the Hudson River where everyone survived and a tragedy in Buffalo where no-one did. There's been the Aussie open tennis – thrilling to say the least (for the men's anyway), a war between Israel and Palestine and elections in Israel and Venezuela. Mugabe finally makes a show of sharing power with Morgan Tsvangirai, London has been snowed in, Wellington hosted the 7's and a new season of American Idol has begun and BIG things are having prangs – space stations out there and submarines down here! And that's just all off the top of my head as I write! All of this without even mentioning the devastating Australian bushfires and floods.

In times of crisis we have the opportunity to separate and go for ‘every man/woman/family/organisation/country for themselves' but we also can choose a truth that 'we are all in this together' as a whole planet, foster healthy connections with others and be of service wherever we can. Crisis can split us asunder as fear provokes survival based behaviour, or we can move towards each other to support each other through the tough times.

This is evident in Australia right now in the aftermath of such terrifying bush fires (and the danger still lurks as summer continues). Yes, there has been unimaginable tragedy…and…all over the world human beings are intentionally creating very similar results for so many people by actions motivated by dynamics of power and control, resource scarcity, religious dogma and rigid adherence to outmoded beliefs. Does that seem completely senseless to anyone else out there? There is an economic crisis and yet how much is spent on bombs and guns and soldiers soldiering and the consequent rebuilding of communities in the aftermath? We live on an amazingly abundant planet with the potential and wherewithal to ensure that we flourish for as long as the planets life cycle can sustain us (potentially thousands and thousands if not millions of years). We are behaving like children who see their parents as bottomless money machines – it is not realistic or sustainable. Are we not being challenged to ‘grow up'?

It seems certainly time for different behaviour and to foster that we need new thinking that focuses us on the whole rather than just the parts. When we eat we don't just feed the stomach – we feed the whole body. We need more wisdom based decision makers. I am reminded of an old Greek proverb “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in”.

I dream of a day when the ‘armed services' have transformed into simply ‘The Services', as Army, Navy and Airforce become the organisations with the resources to go anywhere on the planet and assist in times of inevitable natural catastrophe as weather systems become more extreme. It seems absurd that NGOs that do Humanitarian work seem to always be struggling for money and resources. New Zealand is a peace loving rather than aggressive country. We can't afford to be aggressive. Given our size, our small, smart little country has had to learn how to negotiate to get our way – to compromise, communicate, cooperate and collaborate. We simply don't have the military might to impose our will – and long may that be so!

What would it be like if all over the world, those who could were given the opportunity to serve in one of the ‘services' with the purpose of educating and giving people the skills to handle themselves and be of service to others in a crisis? Imagine how many different careers one could pursue and the work that could be done. Australians are now considering education about bushfires as a compulsory topic in schools now – isn't it obvious how valuable it is to know your environment and how to safely live in it and with it?

I believe it's time for some central government leadership on this one. We are all capable of learning how we can move beyond donating some money, food and clothing – and yes we still need to be generous in those ways but could you look after yourself and your family for a couple of weeks if you had to? We don't need to resist planning for disaster, we just need to be confident we will be resilient if the time came that we needed to really dig deep. Don't leave it to Civil Defence and other services to rescue and sort us out, let's make it ‘normal' to know what to do.

And that's it from my view.

My very best to yours,

Amanda xx “With beauty and goodness all around may you walk” (Old Navajo saying)

The gift of George W. Bush and the potential of the new world?

2009-04-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

So it’s done. George W. Bush is gone and Barack Obama is the man of the moment. He and his family are already being mythologised as the world craves a new saviour.

With all the vitriol about Bush I found myself feeling (along with what feels like the whole world) much relieved in watching his departure after Obama’s inauguration…and, attempting to view the whole process with evolutionary eyes, I can’t help feeling that without Bush and his agenda there would be no Obama. George W’s legacy may be that he operated from a world view that is no longer (if it ever was) relevant to the shared planet we call home. His decisions though have inadvertently released boundless energy for change (I’m sure it wasn’t his conscious intention!). In pursuing his agenda of domination in the name of freedom, believing God and might were on his side, he created consequences that increased rather than decreased human suffering (wars, economic meltdown, denial of climate change and so on…). I believe history will say that Bush’s greatest achievement was to create a climate in which Obama could rise. The pain and suffering of so many along with our instant access to what’s happening in the moment due to the wonders of technology have been the accelerators for a quantum shift in thinking all over the planet.

If everything was rolling along well for the US when election time came in 2008, do you think the Senator from Illinois, with his youth and inexperience (let alone racial mix) would ever have had a chance against the Clinton machine? As it was, the people had to choose between the McCain/Palin fear based rhetoric or take the risk of going for hope. Obama’s timing was impeccable and his communication skills struck chords around his own country and the world. Many see his whole life story being divinely orchestrated so as to bring him to being ‘the man of the moment’ living in the White House. He is a man with very different views, values and beliefs than his predecessor and large numbers of people feel those values ‘fit’ with the momentum gathering all over the world. He feels like ‘a man of our times’ who actually has the power now to make fundamental changes to the way the US operates, to have a different sort of influence.

So before you write off George W. Bush completely, consider sending him a blessing, (this is not to excuse any of his choices) for paving the way for the people of the United States to choose a new style of leadership that embodies a very different consciousness that what came before it. Without George W. Bush, would American’s have heard Obama’s voice and elected him President? We will never know what might have been but I wonder….is this is a classic example of crisis driving human evolution?

And that’s it, from my view,
My very best to yours,
Amanda xx

An Introduction to Conscious Evolution

2009-04-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

We all know what happens when you drop a pebble in a pond…there are ripples. Imagine what happens when a larger than life avalanche leaps into an ocean….seas rise and there are much bigger consequences.

What we see in the US right now is such an avalanche, for consciousness … and the ‘seas’ will rise, all over the world. This is a very exciting gear change and a dynamic evolutionary step for Humanity that I don’t believe we have even begun to see shake down yet although it is more and more evident in cyber space as people all over the world seek to connect with like minds and hearts. This rising of the collective consciousness will unleash enormous creativity, the emergence of new solutions to our problems and new and bold views of possible futures that are worthy of the becoming Humanity. No doubt as well, there will be the inevitable backlash of fear of letting go of what we know and have been used to (or ‘the devil we know’ as the saying goes). I am thrilled to see and experience this massive shift in my lifetime as are so many others who have been working to raise awareness in our own small ways for many years. Transformation is happening from the ground up and it feels like a highly significant moment indeed. I don’t believe we can even comprehend just how significant from where we sit right now.

Future generations will study these days and know they heralded a turning point for Humanity, not just in politics but in the sense of possibility such transformation can inspire, in any area of life. Individual stories of inspiration are beginning to emerge very fast now - watch for the books and movies! When change occurs there is always the potential for things to ‘change back’, like water can turn to ice and back to water again. With transformation there is no going back…it’s a long road for wine to turn back into grapes again, or for the butterfly to reappear as a caterpillar.

Anyone who watched the moment when Obama’s election was secure will have seen the rawness of feeling in the faces of people of all ages and races. There was something profoundly right about it. Something fell away and something new was fertilised. I believe it was the face of a new resonance and all over the world including right here in New Zealand we tuned in to that resonance. Humanity took a significant evolutionary step on November 5th, 2008 - a step I believe is towards a more universal species. If we ever had an opportunity to consciously evolve our identity out of ‘victim’ and into ‘co-creator’ that opportunity is here, now! And it’s not about one human ‘fixing’ everything, if we think that’s how it is we will be disappointed. The call is for us all to step up and take more responsibility for our own destiny - together. As Buckminster Fuller once said - “There are no passengers on spaceship earth – only crew”. Every one of us has a purpose.

Many many people are now at a point where they can more deeply embrace the idea we are all co-creators of our own realities. The challenge now is to choose to be conscious co-creators. In other words, to become the conscious creators of the future human history book - not from unconscious individual survival based motives, but from wisdom and an impulse to discover what really works for the whole planet - the conscious application of our intelligence and our compassion. Instead of fighting for our own separate interests and lives, we are now challenged to see a new world view of ourselves as a whole species living on a whole planet, and not at the expense of the individual either. The mindset of life being about either/or is being replaced rapidly as we seek to live with the mindset of both/and. The individual and the collective need to thrive in order for us to experience ourselves as whole.

When we are lifted by our own efforts and those of others to see new horizons of possibility and potential, we can also see a clearer view of what bought us to this point. For humans, our evolution is most often provoked by crisis. Crises drive evolution. To see crises this way is a new view for many and yet how many times have we all experienced the truth of this? It seems to be part of the human condition to stick with ‘what is’, to maintain the status quo until there really is no other option but to change, before we will change. And yet we are so good at it! Humans are incredibly resourceful and we can choose to do and be pretty much anything we decide, as long as it is sustainable and in alignment with our own potential (there’s not a lot of point using up the planet’s resources faster than she can replenish them or wanting to be an ‘Idol’ if you weren’t gifting with singing!)

To consciously engage in our own evolution we need to see ourselves as central to our own lives regarding our creative power. There is in every one of us, an intrinsic impulse towards the expression of our particular version of individuality. To learn to cooperate with this impulse consciously and contribute it to the whole is to become a conscious co-creator of our lives, or as Barbara Marx Hubbard says a ‘conscious evolutionary’. We all have incredible powers, gifts built into us that are our best resources…all free to use in abundance. We have free will, the choice to act or not in any circumstance. We have the extraordinary gift of intuition, a built in guidance system. Obvious too is our impulse to grow and unfold that we need only to tune into in order to cooperate and reap the benefits. We have imagination and an incredible capacity for learning…and, we have the ability to make meaning of our experiences, self reflective consciousness. This last gift is a real ripper – we can choose to make meaning that assists our evolution, or we can allow our minds to hold us back by rigidly holding onto unhelpful ideas of who and what we are - often based on early conditioning that is no longer useful going forward.

I choose to believe we are all local separate seeming (but not really) expressions of the divine creative impulse that powers the entire universe…we are this divinity, with a mind, with a heart and with a body – all of which we get to use to manifest the creation we are on this earthly plane. A pretty amazing creation are we not? Think of the path….billions of years of creation and here we are, homo sapiens sapiens, only 25,000 or so years old and the potential jewel in Creations crown. We are the ones with the ability to self reflect, to know our own powers and potential. What a difference we have made to each other and our world thus far and it's very obvious we have not seen the best of ourselves yet!

Where we go next is up to us. We have the power to shape our world, we have plenty of evidence of that! We are now getting very clear messages from our environment. We are being called from unconsciousness to consciousness, from autopilot to manual control, from “I don’t make a difference” to “Everyone makes a difference”. What difference we choose to make remains our choice and our responsibility. We have all the tools, we just need to keep learning to master them and use them in service to the whole rather than solely for our own individual gratification. I believe when we do that in numbers, we will reap the rewards in abundance and truly be conscious partners with Creation. As Alice Walker says “We are the ones we have been waiting for”.

We can all contribute starting at home base, our own individual life. By tuning in and examining our own personal evolution, how we have been shaped and molded, we can move beyond our conditioned limitations and become conscious co-creators of our future. Conscious evolution - a more exciting adventure I cannot imagine!