what is dying to be born 6

8/3/2019 What is Dying to Be Born 6

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What is Dyingt be Born?

A compilation of

womens wisdom,vision andimagination


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Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.

On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

- Arundhati Roy


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constellation of contributors

MarthaBeck Kelly

McGoniga l

J a nPhi l l ips

Anne Jackson

LindaStone

Margaret

WheatleyDanielle

LaPorte

TaraHunt

KellyDie l s

DeannaZandt

Melvina JohnsonYoung

Leah

P ikenKol idas

SusanWooldridge

AndreaLearned

KyraGaunt

BrenBrown

ColleenWainwright

M a r l e n eSch iwyPatti

Digh

LauraBermanFortgang

ShiloSh ivSu leman

Jane

Fu l tonAl t

MayaSte in

MelanieSchambach

CherylSorg

PamelaSl im

AnneMaiBer te l sen

PamelaTannerBol lDoriMaynard


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contents

introductionstories

world-healershomo sentienslisteninghealth care

courageauthenticityripple effectmysticism

possibilityofferingrealized selfpresence

compassionthe same

mischiefbelieve

human valuessustainabilityabandon

transparency

onenessgoodconnectionre-configuration

conversationworkgenius heartrenewal

deep feminine


5/38

is book was dying to be born.

e idea for this book came to me on New YearsEve 2009. I was immersed in reading the responsestoe Edge Annual Question and a few daysearlier Seth Godin had just released an ebook

entitled What Matters Now. I found myselfwondering how some of the women I admire andlook to for leadership would respond if they hadbeen asked these questions.

e thought popped into my head: Why dont Iask them my burning question - what is dying tobe born?

Who, me? Are you kidding? Im no Seth Godin-why would anyone answer my question?

But the question wouldnt leave me alone. It hadfirst come up in a gathering of women at aworkshop in Vancouver when the facilitator askedus why we were there. I commented that I had

been feeling drawn to these gatherings of greatwomen because something is dying to be bornthrough us. en Kelly Diels, one of the women Imet that weekend, picked up on the idea andwrote eloquently about it. at piece of writingnow opens the book.ntro

du

ctio

n

Lianne

Raymond

So pretending to be Elizabeth Gilbert overcomeby her muse, I composed an email explaining myidea and asking my question and I sent it to everyamazing, wise, wonderful woman I could think of.e only way I found the courage to hit the sendbutton was by being fully prepared to receive noreplies. For the idea to be a complete flop.

To my complete amazement and delight theyresponded. I mean, they responded.

e result is this juicy, wise, poetic, thoughtful,

heart-felt, smart, crazy, luscious book.

A labour of love for all involved, I am deeplyappreciative to all the women who gave their gisto make it happen. Each piece is a treasure andtogether they are a rhapsody.

I completely fell in love with this book as I put it

together over the last couple of months. I hopeyou do, too.

Lianne Raymondis a personal coach, high school teacher and yogini.

You can find her on Twitter @Lianne_R
http://twitter.com/Lianne_Rhttp://twitter.com/Lianne_Rhttp://lianneraymond.com/http://lianneraymond.com/


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Something is dying to be born.

It seems such a female thing to say: the flesh poetryof experience. A secret language traded betweenintimates of the violence of birth and glory ofdelivery. e wrenching of asunder and the joy ofembrace. A story beaten in the pulse of mundaneresponsibility and cosmic love. Goddesses andbitches and sisters and women. We know thisstory.It is the story of generation.

It is the story of Kali, goddess of destruction, eaterof time, protectress and creatrix.

It is the story ofEve. Of Lilith. Of my feministfriend, Ronna Detrick, who walked away from a

church and a marriage but knows with her body,her mind and her faith thather leavings have led toprofoundfindings.

It is the story of money. Of power. Of God.Hewho giveth, taketh away.

It is the story of sex and passion and love, all ofwhich can destroy lives and create them. Womenthrow themselves on the pyre of love and of lossand cry, burn me up.s

tori

es

Kelly

Diels

It is the story of Bertha, the seemingly mad wife inJane Eyre who burns downornfield, and ofthehaiku necessity of ember, flame, and ash:

barns burnt downnow i can see the moon -basho

It is the story of cold,clear winter moonsand oftruths washed clean by icy, white light. It is thestory ofFoucaultandforgiveness, of brooms andbrushed floors, and revolution.

Revolution: 360 degrees: all the way around.Return. Circles. Cycles. Seasons.

It is the story of winter and of spring, too.Ofyears, too, for as Zora Neale Hurston insists,thereare years that ask questions and years that answer.Seasons, years, questions, loss, faith, creation,

dancing with answers and answering with dance:these are the stories of generations.

Kelly Diels is a writer.
http://www.kellydiels.com/http://www.kellydiels.com/


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All traditional cultures recognize certain people asnatural-born mystical healers (shamans, medicine

men, pick your label).

Modern Western culturehas no category for such people. But that doesntmean they arent here. Right now, everywhere,ordinary people born to the archetype of theshaman are feeling compelled to begin finding oneanother and fulfilling their inborn purpose.

e great challenge of the 21stcentury is to wage

peace on a globe full of humans while repairing theunintended damage weve inflicted on ourselves,other beings, and the earth.We need modernshamans to channel ancient technologies ofmagic like empathy, creativity, art, and spiritualinterconnection, through magical technologieslike medicine, computers, and satellites. atmarriage of ancient and cutting-edge genius can

heal hearts, minds, beasts, plants, ecosystemsalmost anything.

w

orld

-heale

rs

Martha

Beck

If you feel something stirring in your heart at thethought that you may be shaman-born, pay

attention.

is is not an accident.

Some as-yetunexplained force is calling you to join in ahealing of unprecedented scope.And though thathealing will, of course, follow the laws of science,doing it will feel like pure magic.

Martha Beck, Ph.D., is a coach, writer, and columnist for O, the Oprah Magazine.

Her most recent book is Steering by Starlight.
http://www.marthabeck.com/http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Starlight-Find-Right-Matter/dp/1594866139http://www.amazon.com/Steering-Starlight-Find-Right-Matter/dp/1594866139http://www.marthabeck.com/http://www.marthabeck.com/


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Whats dying to be born? Homo sapiens. Dying tobe born into the next iterationthe homo sentiens,

perhaps. Homo sapiens knows, but look wherethats got us. Brains without a heart. Homosentiens will have bridged the brain-heart gap andcompassion-- feeling with will be their modusoperandi.

e homo sentiens will usher in economies ofequity, politics of collaboration, triple-bottom line

businesses. ey will rise up from the ashes offallen institutions and imploded religions,bringing with them new myths and stories thatheal.ey will honor art and see that every day is acanvas for every living being.ey will benotorious for displays of adoration and awe,famous for crying at the drop of a hatmale andfemale bothand they will declare war obsolete

once and for all.

h

omose

ntie

ns

J a n

Phi l l ips

Homo sentiens will revere the young and the aged.ey will create communities where extraordinaryeducation is common, where people learn manylanguages, where food and care and support areeverywhere to be found.ey will havetranscended religions and committed themselvesto the common good with the greatest of faith.Children will be encouraged to make music, makeart, and make culture. ey will know their valuefrom an early age as they will see this value

refl

ected in every communitys choices.

Homo sentiens will understand birdsongs, walkwith lions, listen to trees. ey will be aware oftheir oneness with all creatures and they will notdistinguish between sacred and secular. All thingswill be holy in the eyes of these beings who are ourdescendants. I will come back one day as a homo

sentiens and will cry for joy. Alleluia!We see thelight!

Jan Phillips is the author ofe Art of Original inking -e Making of a ought Leader

and several other books.
http://www.janphillips.com/giftshop.htmlhttp://www.janphillips.com/giftshop.htmlhttp://www.janphillips.com/http://www.janphillips.com/


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listen

ing

Leah

Piken-Kol idas Leah Piken Kolidas is a mixed-media artist living near Boston, MA with herhusband and their four cats. Her work can be viewed atBlue Tree Art Gallery.
http://www.bluetreeartgallery.com/http://www.bluetreeartgallery.com/


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health

care

Lets get something straight for once and for all:Disease care is not health care. As Dean Ornish,M.D., recently argued to the U.S. Senate, we have a

system of disease care. No matter what kind ofreform we get, it is still going to be disease care.Actual health care is up to you.

e World Health Organization defines health asa state of complete physical, mental and socialwell-being and not merely the absence of disease orinfirmity.is definition has not changed in 60

years. Logically, then, healthcare should care forour holistic well-being. But when was the last timeyour insurance company paid for something thatmade you happy? With few exceptions, our so-called healthcare system only throws money atwhat is already killing or disabling you.Even what the system calls prevention is nothealth-promoting. Cancer screening doesntprevent cancer, it just finds it. Cholesterol testsdont prevent heart disease, they just identify risk.Asking your patients if they are depressed doesntprevent suffering, it just helps you know who towrite the prescriptions for.

None of this creates health.

ere are, of course, things you can do that both

create well-being and prevent cancer,cardiovascular disease, and depression. You canexercise, meditate, and eat a plant-based diet. Beactive in your community. Even getting a goodnights sleep may ward offloneliness, diabetes, andthe flu. We just dont have a system that wants toor knows how topay for this kind ofmedicine.ere is no reimbursement code for

filled with joy or gave a sense of purpose in life.Its up to you to create a life that sustains youphysically, mentally, and socially. Yes, doeverything you know you should do to take care ofyour health. en give yourself permission to dothe thing that makes your heart sing, or that quietsthe suffering in your mind. Remember to look atsomething green and living, or pet something soand furry. Stay connected to nature, and to others.Feed your spirit with gratitude, compassion,creativity, and the satisfaction of hard work.is is what real health care reform looks like, andfor now, its up to you.

K e l l y

McGoniga lKelly McGonigal,PhD, is a health psychologist at Stanford University and the

author ofYoga for Pain Relief. She blogs atPsychology Today.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpowerhttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpowerhttp://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Pain-Relief-Practices-Chronic/dp/1572246898http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Pain-Relief-Practices-Chronic/dp/1572246898http://kellymcgonigal.com/http://kellymcgonigal.com/


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Have you ever wondered whos behind that littlevoice in your head that tells you, youre in this byyourself, one person doesnt make a difference, sowhy even try?

His name is Fear. Fear plays the role of antagonistin the story of your life. You must rid yourself of

him using all necessary means.

Were oen impressed by those who appear to befearless.e people who fly to the moon. Chasetornadoes. Enter dangerous war zones. Skydive.Speak in front of thousands of people. Stand up tocancer. Raise money and adopt a child that isnttheir flesh and blood.

co

ura

ge

Anne

Jackson

So, why are we so inspired by them?

Because deep down,we are them. We all share thesame characteristics.

Were all divinely human.

Until Fear is gone, (and realize he may nevercompletely leave) make the decision to becourageous.e world needs your story in orderto be complete.

Anne Jackson blogs, tweets, and writes books. Her most recent work, Permission To Speak

Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace, will be available in August.
http://permissiontospeakfreely.com/http://permissiontospeakfreely.com/http://permissiontospeakfreely.com/http://permissiontospeakfreely.com/


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e Audacity of Authenticity

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go ofwho we think were supposed to be, and embracingwho we are.

Choosing authenticity means:

Cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to setboundaries, and to allow ourselves to be

vulnerable;

Exercising the compassion that comes fromknowing that we are all made of strength andstruggle and connected to each other through aloving and resilient human spirit; and

Nurturing the connection and sense of belonging

that can only happen we believe that we areenough.

authenticit

y

Bren

Brown

Authenticity demands wholehearted living andloving even when its hard, even when werewrestling with the shame and fear of not beinggood enough, and especially when the joy is sointense that were afraid to let ourselves feel it.

Choosing authenticity is not only an act ofcourage; it is an act of resistance. Youre going toconfuse, piss-offand terrify lots of people including yourself.One minute you'll pray thatthe transformation ends and the next minuteyoull pray that it never ends.But, if we want toengage in our lives from a place of worthiness,authenticity is not an option. We have to wake up

every morning and say, is is who I am, this ismy story, and . . . I am enough.

Bren Brown Ph.D., is a researcher, professor, and writer. Her most recent book is The

Gifts of Imperfection (2010), and she blogs atordinarycourage.com
http://www.ordinarycourage.com/http://www.ordinarycourage.com/http://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Imperfection-Think-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849Xhttp://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Imperfection-Think-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849Xhttp://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Imperfection-Think-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849Xhttp://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Imperfection-Think-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849Xhttp://www.brenebrown.com/http://www.brenebrown.com/


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14/38

We are entering the era of the Divine Feminine---the birth of a new spirituality.e effects of themale-dominated, competition and fear-basedsociety is crumbling (although it will fight the

good fight for some time to come). Our planet,our children our establishments, our organizationsand our businesses depend on this evolutionaryshi in order to be ushered back into prosperityand health.

e spiritual work at hand is that of the mystic.e mystic, peppered throughout history andseveral ancient traditions, has been subject toridicule and sometimes exile, but that is the riskshe has to be willing to take. e Jews hadKabbalah, the Muslims had Sufism and theChristians had their desert mystics, the Gnostics.ey were the outsiders of their time, but onlybecause they claimed direct access to the collective

consciousness o

en called God.

e mystic, thenand now, maintains a receptivity to source thattransforms them and all who they come in contactwit

Laura

BermanFor tgang

e word mystic derives from the Greek ---mystes,which is also related to the Greek mystikosmeaning seeing with eyes closed. e mysticknows through feeling not just through visual or

intellectual means. Just as a woman can sense herchildrens needs, or someone can measure theirsurroundings or size up people, the mysticsconnection to wisdom is not limited to their fivesenses. He or she receives their clues from ahigher vibration of knowing that is not necessarilyproven. It is this ability to connect to the unseenthat is going to help in healing the world.

We are growing to understand and embraceONENESS. As our global economy ties us closerto a bigger world than generations before, theneed to think about how our impact affects othershas become more critical. We can no longerfunction in an every man for himself model. e

connectivity this requires is ripe in each personand ready to be harvested. e spiritual work athand becomes integrating this truth into daily life.Remembering who we really are, nurturers ofconnection and fighters for Truth, is our charge.Infinite wisdom is our source.

Laura Berman Fortgang, MCC, is a coach, author and a

contributing editor at REDBOOK Magazine. Her latestbook, The Little Book On Meaning, is a finalist

for a Books for A Better Life Award.
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Meaning-Crave-Create/dp/1585428027http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Meaning-Crave-Create/dp/1585428027http://www.laurabermanfortgang.com/http://www.laurabermanfortgang.com/


15/38

When I was at the height of what felt like a

powerful rebellion, my friend Marvin asked mewhy I was railing so raucously against, well, justabout everything. I explained that I felt confinedby so many aspects of the mainstream culture, thatsome days I didnt know where to starteverythingneeded fixing, everythingneeded tearingdown.

He asked me what would happen if I just imaginedthat the systems that were confining me didntexist. Impossible, said I, they dictate everythingthat we do. But if youre constantly focusing yourenergy on breaking down a system, he said, yourestarting offby first admitting that its true, and thatit holds power over youthis gives it its power.How about starting from a place where none of

those systems exist, and we can define for ourselveswhat we think is important?

possib

ility

Deanna

Zandt

at conversation happened years agoenough

so that my hair, for example, has been through anentire rotation of colors, but almost every day Imreminded of its unique possibility, especially whentraversing conversations on online socialnetworks. More than ever, we have theopportunity to reject prescribed identities andsocial structures, and to connect with others doingthe same.e more there are of us doing it

together, and as many kinds of people as we canfind, the better offour brave new world will be.

Sometimes change takes anger; it oen requiresbreaking apart social structures and barriers fromthe outside in. But just maybe if enough of ussidestep those barriers and use our ever-advancingsocial tools to create space for a future where

power, tradition and hierarchy are not requiredelements for success.

Deanna Zandtis a media technologist and author ofShare This! How You Will

Change the World with Social Networking(Berrett-Koehler, June 2010).
http://www.amazon.com/Share-This-Change-Social-Networking/dp/1605094161http://www.amazon.com/Share-This-Change-Social-Networking/dp/1605094161http://www.amazon.com/Share-This-Change-Social-Networking/dp/1605094161http://www.amazon.com/Share-This-Change-Social-Networking/dp/1605094161http://www.deannazandt.com/http://www.deannazandt.com/


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Dying to be born

I used to worryabout making something bigand importantand beautiful

and necessary

e greatest story ever toldor song ever sungor line ever drawnanywhereby anyone

So brightit would shine a lightclear to the other sideof eternity,and cast a shadowmy shadowuntil the end of timeor at least as longas the shadowsthat had walked with mefor as longas I could remember walking.o

ffering

Colleen

Wainwright

To pass the timeI lived a lifeas best I could,full of kisses and homework,faucets and game shows,

glasses and ice creama thousand projects lostfor every lesson learned,and more recidivismthan you could shake a stick at.

Until one day(or was it a month?)

when I sat down to rest(or was I driving?)and heard the smallest soundimaginableand for once(or was it just the first time I heard?)I saw that the lightcould be a soundand a Great Workas small as a salted peanutoffered upin the right way.

Colleen Wainwright is a writer-speaker-illuminator. You can find more

of her poetry and writing at her website, communicatrix.

Which is goodbecause while Great Worksof the traditional sortare marvels of time and space,life offersfar more opportunitiesfor the sharing of peanuts.

You will, of course,spend your own daysas you mustfor your path is not mineand your gis yoursto do withas you will.

But you are everything you need to beright nowand have everything we needright there

What that is

or how it will change both of uswhen you dowe cannot know.

Only that it willand you must.
http://www.communicatrix.com/http://www.communicatrix.com/


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Shilo

ShivSu lemanShilo Shiv Suleman is an artist and book illustrator.
http://bonifisheii.blogspot.com/http://bonifisheii.blogspot.com/


18/38

I am vigilant. I value competence.

I strive to be ontop of everything. I am a woman who has climbedthe corporate ladder at two Fortune 100companies. I am a woman who had to advocatefor myself through a serious illness.Vigilance wasmy ally.Or was it?

Even as my steel-toed boots vigilance has navigatedlifes land mines, it is also blinding, lackingperipheral vision, lacking in any real sight.Vigilance shows us only what we think well find.People can only be who we know them to be. Nopossibility.No surprise. e knowing of vigilancestrangles.

Presence is dying to be born. A universe unknown,right here, in this moment, is dying to be born tome, to you, to all of us.

pr

esence

Linda

Stone

A letting go, as if in totally restful sleep, yet all thewhile fully awake there is nothing to do, no oneto be, no effort, senses engaged.A moment is aneternity its all there is.

Presence is where the world meets us where weare.Without pushing, without striving.

Presence is where we can welcome another, with

love, present for whoever they may be, opening usto a journey into new landscapes.

Vigilance has its place. Presence is dying to beborn.

Linda Stone is a former Apple & Microsoft senior executive who blogs, speaks,

consults and serves on advisory boards.
http://lindastone.net/http://lindastone.net/


19/38

An ethic and practice offierce and fearless compassion ispushing to be reborn.One which would let us tear downour fears about human difference and bridge the sociallyconstructed chasms carved into our essential humanity bythe social and historical forces of economic exploitationand gender, class, race, religious and sexual oppression.

While this may sound like a worn and weary ideal whose

time will never come, we have several historical models forwhen human beings were moved to act for justice onsomeone elses behalf and reaped the harvest of their ownliberation - both in material terms and in the joy of beingof service to one another.We only have to look to them.

Perhaps the most widely recognized incarnation of thisethic offierce and fearlesscompassion manifested in the

modern Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.African-Americans, whites, Jews, Christians, atheists, gaymen and lesbian women of all colors, rich and poor - allhumans of good conscience - were compelled to answerthe call put out by Martin Luther King, Ella Baker, BayardRustin, Gayle Jenkins and other civil rights leaders. eyaverred that God's law and all that is worthy in humanismdemanded that the immorality of racial oppression

inscribed in American law be confronted with the poweroffierce and fearless compassion.

In answering, they put their livelihoods and even theirlives on the line. Yet while the social and economic

penalties of that compassion cost them, it bought us all somuch more.com

assion

Melvina

JohnsonYoung

As these individuals struggled along in mass movementopposing racial injustice, they began to formulate widerunderstandings of human freedom and equality.

Building analogies between women's oppression and blackoppression, white women who spent a generation in civilrights initiated thesecond wave of feminism.

Understanding the interconnectivity of race, class and genderoppression as it worked in their own lives, black women(straight and lesbian) workedin both civil rights and feministmovements to push for wider human rights.

Having grown with their activities in the Civil Rightsmovement, gay men and women began to build a criticallyself-defensive gay liberation movement.

e Civil Rights movement for black freedom was the "birthmother" of those modern freedom movements and that vitalethic offierce and fearless compassion.

Where can fearless compassion start now?

With me.With you.With all of us choosingto be thebirthmothers of a germinal compassion that we raise to full

fearlessness.

For whose freedom will you put something on the line?

For whom will you practice fierce and fearless compassion?

For its pushing to be born. Again.

Melvina Johnson Young has taught and published on race, history and

social justice.She has also contributed as an opinion columnist for theKansas City Star and is currently working on her first novel.


20/38

Imagine our shock when Tess handed us thisdrawing she had done aer dinner one night. Aperfect Venn diagram that sprung from the head of afirst grader. She had puzzled it out, circle by wobblycircle.

Have you studied thesekinds of pictures inschool? John asked.

What do you mean? shesaid. I just drew what Isaw.

Looking at these two

circles of difference, andthe smaller but importantplace where they overlap,we realized what discoverylooks like.

We lose our sheer exuberant delight in those bigcircles of difference, dont we? WOW! YOURE A

FROG! IM A TOAD! We lose the ability to talkopenly about how we differ, we Frogs and Toads.YOUR SKIN LOOKS LIKE COFFEE ANDMINE LOOKS LIKE BREAD! We confusenoticing difference with making a judgment.th

esame

Patti

Digh

FROGS ARE JUST DIFFERENT FROM TOADS,NOT BETTER.

We ignore that what completely rocks our world is howthose Toads on the other side of the planetor in thenext cubicle--are fantastically different from us Frogs.

We dont speak aboutthose differences. Wepretend we dont seethem. We even try tomake them lose theiraccent, their dress code,their ability to marry.

Look at that middle part,

where we are the same.We lose that toosometimes by denying it,sometimes by creating agated community out of

it, sometimes by assuming it is much smaller than itactually is.

Finding and embracing that place where we are allsimply, fully human embracing and walking into thedifferences without judgment, but with a childs senseof observation and wonder instead.ats what is dyingto be born.

Patti Digh is a writer, speaker and co-founder ofThe Circle Project. Her latest

book is Life is a Verb: 37 Days To Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally.
http://37days.typepad.com/http://www.amazon.com/Life-Verb-Days-Mindful-Intentionally/dp/1599212951http://www.amazon.com/Life-Verb-Days-Mindful-Intentionally/dp/1599212951http://37days.typepad.com/thecircleproject/http://37days.typepad.com/thecircleproject/http://37days.typepad.com/http://37days.typepad.com/


21/38

m

isch

ief

Melanie

Schambach

Melanie Schambach is a Colombian/Canadian Community Engaged Artist who

challenges painting into activism by encouraging critical thinking and discourse

through participatory painting.
http://www.melanieschambach.com/http://www.melanieschambach.com/


22/38

Maybe the camera crew is at someone elses house,

a spotlight haloing over anothers fleshy story.

Maybe the mailman is delivering the good news

to your neighbor, or a different city entirely,

and you come home to a rash of catalogues,

the second notice for a doctors bill, a plea

from the do-gooders for whatever you can spare.

Maybe you havent cleaned your kitchen floor in weeks,

forgotten to nourish the front garden, spilled too much

coffee in your car, weaving through traffic.

Maybe you are 10 pounds heavier than last year.

Maybe your skin is betraying your age.

Maybe winter is ravaging your heart.

Maybe you are afraid, or lonely, or furious, or wanting out

of every commitment you entered with vigor and trust.

Maybe youve bitten your nails down to the quick,

chosen your meals badly, ignored the advice of those

who know you best. Maybe you are stubborn as a toddler.

believe

Maya

Ste in

Maybe you are clumsy or foolish or hasty or reckless.

Maybe you havent read all the books youre supposed to.

Maybe your handwriting is still illegible aer all these years.

Maybe you spent too much on a pair of shoes you didnt need.

Maybe you le the window open and the rain ruined the cake.

Maybe youve destroyed everything you wanted to save.

Still.

If anything, believe in your own strange loveliness.

How your body, even as it stumbles, angles for light.

e way you hold a dandelion with such

yearning and tenderness,

the whole world stops spinning.

Maya Stein is a writer and owns a small catering business. She has self-published

three collections of poetry and personal essays.
http://www.mayapapaya.com/http://www.mayapapaya.com/


23/38

ere is a re-birth that needs to happen as we gointo the future. And that re-birth is one of humanvalues.

e shi away from human values and towardssomething that is more akin to an industrial way ofthinking began pre-Industrial Revolution. e

shi occurred as science gained popularity overfaith. Religion had been the dominating answer toall that is true, but religious institutions, run bymen, had let people down. Corruption andexploitation in the name of their God had led to adecline in trust. So when science showed up withlogic and indisputable fairness, people embracedit.

Science was not without its biases, though, as whatis researched and what questions are asked is stilldetermined by the people who study it. Posing aquestion that cannot be scientifically proven, suchas "What is love?", becomes problematic. In thisway, under science, soer more feminine valueslose value.

e Industrial Revolution took this further. Profitsand mass distribution became worthier pursuitsthan love, family, knowledge and beauty.e valueof human beings declined as efficiency was neededfor growth.

h

umanvalu

es

Tara

Hunt

Machines replaced human tasks. People worked indangerous conditions for pennies a day in order tokeep their jobs. It took unionizing andgovernment regulations to slow humanexploitation, but these negotiations involvedhaving to balance the need for profit with that ofhuman lives and livelihoods.

Over time, the attitude of profit over peoplebecame more taken for granted and as industryevolved and grew, most believed the mantra thatprivate business was the bastion of our freedomand the core to our actualization as human beings.Who cares if people die, if the planet suffers and ifthe very world we operate in will disappear as longas corporations turn a profit in the next quarterand the DOW continues to rise? Even a majoreconomic upheaval like the housing market crashdidnt deter this attitude. It was human greed, notthe free market. Dont regulate!atsCommunism!

e fact is that humans DO run industry. And in

honoring the human values of compassion, love,family, knowledge and beauty, we can stop theunfortunate decline into human worthlessness.

We need a return to human values.

Tara Huntis a speaker and a writer. Her first book is The Whuffie Factor and she is

currently working on her second book.
http://www.amazon.com/Chalice-Blade-Our-History-Future/dp/B0016JC2GY/http://www.amazon.com/Chalice-Blade-Our-History-Future/dp/B0016JC2GY/http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Social-Networks-Business/dp/0307409503http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Social-Networks-Business/dp/0307409503http://www.horsepigcow.com/http://www.horsepigcow.com/


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What is human and natural is an awareness of thelong-term interconnectedness of what you do,whom you interact with, and the plants andanimals you come into contact with along the way.Yet, the full comprehension of this truth is stilldying to be born for many people.

Materialism has long tapped into our greatesthuman insecurities and we are buying on massscale to feed a beast that will never be sated.Frantic 24/7 ties to technology and urgentmessages leave our brains no space to ponder,reflect and connect with our closest loved ones, letalone our local or global communities.

But, what is that shi that occurs when a baby isborn or a pet passes away? ose are brick wall lifeexperiences that stop us in our tracks.We areforced to step back and think again about whatreally matters. So now - a flailing economy,overwhelming public health issues and seriousenvironmental problems have swirled into aperfect storm. It is the twenty-first centurys brickwall.

s

ustaina

bility

Andrea

Learned

How we got here is pretty clear, but how we getout is the ultimate but extremely rewarding -challenge.Will we choose to accept responsibilityand live and work with more intention?Will wemake decisions that keep in mind the needs offuture generations as well as our own: air tobreathe, water to drink and supportivecommunities?

Weve lost our way by focusing on short-termpersonal gain, which only leaves us empty anddefeated.A sustainable perspective is the key to

countering much that ails us. rough that lens,we will always see the long-terminterconnectedness of the decisions we each make.Why waste any more time on the alternative?

Andrea Learnedis a Gender, Consumer Behavior & Sustainability Expert.
http://learnedon.com/http://learnedon.com/


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ab

and

on

Margaret

Wheat leyMargaret Wheatley is an organizational consultant and speaker. She foundedThe

Berkana Institute and has written numerous books including Leadership and theNew ScienceandTurning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope

to the Future.

Raven, teach me to ride the winds of change

Perch where the wind comes at you full force.

Let it blow you apart till your feathers fly offand

you look like hell.

en abandon yourself.

e wind is not your enemy.

Nothing in life is.

Go where wind takes you

higher lower

backwards

e wind to carry you forward will find you

when you are ready.

When you can bear it.
http://www.amazon.com/Turning-One-Another-Conversations-Restore/dp/1576757641http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-New-Science-Discovering-LEADERSHIP/dp/B001TM9ZMMhttp://www.amazon.com/Turning-One-Another-Conversations-Restore/dp/1576757641http://www.amazon.com/Turning-One-Another-Conversations-Restore/dp/1576757641http://www.amazon.com/Turning-One-Another-Conversations-Restore/dp/1576757641http://www.amazon.com/Turning-One-Another-Conversations-Restore/dp/1576757641http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-New-Science-Discovering-LEADERSHIP/dp/B001TM9ZMMhttp://www.amazon.com/Leadership-New-Science-Discovering-LEADERSHIP/dp/B001TM9ZMMhttp://www.amazon.com/Leadership-New-Science-Discovering-LEADERSHIP/dp/B001TM9ZMMhttp://www.amazon.com/Leadership-New-Science-Discovering-LEADERSHIP/dp/B001TM9ZMMhttp://www.berkana.org/http://www.berkana.org/http://www.berkana.org/http://www.berkana.org/http://www.margaretwheatley.com/http://www.margaretwheatley.com/


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Race may be a pigment of our imagination, but inconversations that offend people, you get stuck.First, you begin to devalue what was said and thenyou avoid any offenders claiming they are racist.But, who was the separatistthem or you?

In 2009, I taught my first racism course at a diverse

business college in NYC. Around midterms, in aten-page document, a white, male student claimedthat I said all white people should be killed,adding that Ia black, female, Associate Professorinsisted the course be required as reparationsfor past racial injustices.

ings escalated into six weeks of brazen

discontent. He colluded with other studentswhite and blackwho had grown tired oftalking about race/racism following Obamaselection.en a belligerent outburst led to amediation with the Omsbud the day before classesended.

I heard him outlistening without interruption

to his concerns. By meetings end, he was stillthreatening to sue. Shaken, I rushed to catch a cabto a rehearsal. One driver--locking his doors andcracking his window--tried to refuse my fare toSoho at three in the aernoon.is stayed undermy skin.tr

an

sparency

Kyra D.

Gaunt

During the final class, I could barely speakwithout crying. I shared, not about the student,but about the taxicab drivers crooked admissionwhen I forced myself to ask, You werent going topick me up because I was black, were you? Ishared that I le a tip for his honesty.

To my surprise, the student raised his hand toshare. He offered, I think everyone should havethe opportunity to face their oppressor and if theydont, Id apologize to them. Everyone should havethat opportunity.

In that moment, we were eye to eye with theremarkable oneness of humanity withoutchanging a thing.e transparency of race wasavailable and any conversation about bigotry,prejudice, or discrimination seemed a superstitionof the past like the earth beingflat.

Get rid of racism and we get rid of the nextopportunity to agree to be offended and stayconnected. Racism can be a resourcefor beingcourageous and compassionate, but it begins withtransparency.

Kyra D. Gaunt, Ph.D. voices "the unspoken" through song, scholarship and social

media; she is a singer-songwriter, prize-winning author ofThe Games Black GirlsPlay: Learning the Ropes from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop, anda 2009 Long Beach

TED Fellow (Twitter: @kyraocity)
http://www.amazon.com/Games-Black-Girls-Play-Double-Dutch/dp/0814731201http://www.amazon.com/Games-Black-Girls-Play-Double-Dutch/dp/0814731201http://www.amazon.com/Games-Black-Girls-Play-Double-Dutch/dp/0814731201http://www.amazon.com/Games-Black-Girls-Play-Double-Dutch/dp/0814731201http://www.amazon.com/Games-Black-Girls-Play-Double-Dutch/dp/0814731201http://kyraocityworks.com/http://kyraocityworks.com/


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Today by the creek I pretend Im the Dalai Lama. Idont know enough to get it wrong. e robes,white and golden. e smile, serene, the walk likean animal Ive never met, feline, perhaps, Persian,with a hint of bobcat.

I breathe myself in, exotic scents of Tibetancologne. My breath comes from the belly, sanctifiesplants that sway on the out-breath, the spring seedsreleased by my presence. My imagined tatamimatt-like sandals lined in crisp black cotton treadlightly. People smile, they Namaste, they bow withtears in their eyes in tribute to the soul inside

them, quivering to spill up and out

As Dalai Lama I eat lightly. I forego coffee, sharemy morning oatmeal, split my chocolate Enviro-Mint Bug Bite with Rose at Chico Natural foods. Ibestow smile aer smile, hands raised in blessing,and I feel the sun bless my eyelids, the frog blessmy ears, a twang on the base fiddle, a strum on a

steel guitar. I notice small beetles spinning as theymate, tail ends merged, pulling one another alongbackwards in bug ecstasy and as the Lama, celibateas a leaf, myself, I smile at them.o

neness

Susan

Wooldridge

One water strider jots back and forth wondering,no doubt, is it she? Is it really she?Our lovely,kind, neutral, enlightened Dalai Lama? Its thesame question the Kingfisher asks, and otherbirds, I can hear it in their calls, Is it he? Is it he?

Is it she? Is it he? She she she she she chi chi chishe she?..

I bow my head in gratitude toward the pill bug inmy legs shadow. I love it unconditionally. I lovebeing Dalai Lama. I cant wait for the night withDalai Lama dreams. On my knee one of thosemini firefly looking bugs with orange eyes and

black wings is stretching in a bug yoga of oblation,wings opening in sun salutation as if in honor ofmy presence, antennae atwirl.As Dalai Lama I amone with it.

And, today, just today, as Dalai Lama, I declare, inspite of everything, in spite of villages in flamesand warring in the streets, I declare it, I am Dalai

Lama, today, here by the creek, and all is well.

Susan Wooldridge is a poet and a writer and she presents writing and creativity

workshops around the U.S. She has published two books on unleashingcreativity: poemcrazy andFoolsgold.
http://www.amazon.com/Foolsgold-Something-Nothing-Freeing-Creative/dp/0307341488http://www.amazon.com/Foolsgold-Something-Nothing-Freeing-Creative/dp/0307341488http://www.amazon.com/Poemcrazy-Freeing-Your-Life-Words/dp/0609800981http://www.amazon.com/Poemcrazy-Freeing-Your-Life-Words/dp/0609800981http://www.susanwooldridge.com/http://www.susanwooldridge.com/


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When I was growing up, no one wanted to begood. It wasnt cool or fun. It wasnt radical orrebellious. It was boring and pass; average andordinary. Downright, schoolmarm-ish.

Now, thankfully, good is making a comeback helped perhaps by the endless scandals financial, political, marital that shook our

economy, our institutions, and our beliefs. And,the Good that is re-surging is the good of beingmorally admirable: of people leaving Wall Streetjobs and bonuses to build schools in Tanzania; ofstartups that help enable ordinary citizens to bringabout extraordinary social change; of businessesdoing well by doing good; or of raising incredibleamounts during the worst economic time to

help a country devastated by an earthquake.

goo

d

Anne

MaiBer te l sen

But, good is still in its infancy. It hasnt grown upto reach everyone yet.We can help. We can takethose extra minutes to help a child; put a few moredollars into the donation can; volunteer a fewmore minutes for a cause. And, we can encourageour friends, our families and our professionalcolleagues to join us and be good.Good is dyingto multiply and infect us all. Lets help her. Its

good to be good.

Anne Mai Bertelsen is a Mother, Gardener, Aspiring Do-Gooder. She is

the Founder and President ofMAi Strategies and Principal atCauseShift.
http://causeshift.com/http://causeshift.com/http://maistrategies.com/http://maistrategies.com/


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Women understand, on a visceral level, that life is

change and that we are dependent on one another.We cannot remain in one role throughout ourlives-- we get stuck. We need to allow ourselvesand each other the freedom to change andhopefully, to grow from our experience.

We need to be truly open-hearted, to approach theworld, and our own lives with courage-- to not

hold on to the familiar and the the safe. Everysingle moment is a possibility to open your heartto another person, to open your heart to your life.

Women understand that life is change andinterconnectedness, because we experience somuch of this in our bodies-- puberty,menstruation, giving birth, putting the needs ofanother human being before one's own. eexperience of mothering feels like the baby's needIS one's own. No separation.

con

nec

tion

Pamela

TannerBol l

Mothering gives us the great lesson of

interconnectedness-- the lesson the world refusesto learn at it's peril. We are connected to eachother and to the earth. is is the wisdom of themothers. Mother--mater--matter

And it is a wisdom that has helped us thrive as aspecies, but one whose message we can no longercontain in the private realm of home and family.

is wisdom must be brought to the publicrealm-- before it is too late.

Pamela Tanner Bollis an artist, writer, filmmaker, activist and mother of

three sons.She directed the film Who Does She Think She Is?

She alsoco-executive produced the Academy Award winning film, Born into

Brothels: The Kids of Calcutta's Red Light District.
http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothelshttp://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothelshttp://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothelshttp://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothelshttp://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/http://www.ptboll.com/http://www.ptboll.com/


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-configuration

Cheryl

SorgCheryl Sorg is an artist. She is currently working on a project, Under No Ones Thumb,

to help abolish the global sex trade.
http://www.cherylsorg.com/under_no_ones_thumb.htmlhttp://www.cherylsorg.com/under_no_ones_thumb.htmlhttp://www.cherylsorg.com/http://www.cherylsorg.com/


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We need the courage and patience to fill the deadlysilence brought on by words like terrorist, hetero-normative, ghetto, white privilege, gay lifestyle,illegal worker.

Lets begin to fill that dead zone with words likefrom my perspective and why do you believethat? And then lets meet those words with whatthe academics like to call active listening, but whatis really no more than simply really listening toanother persons point of view.

But as we will fill that cold place with our newwords, we must stand there rooted in the promisethat we will stay at it until we sort this through andhave begun to understand what others are sayingto us. By no means are we required, or even urgedto push for some sort of new found agreement.Simply understanding, though there is nothingsimple about understanding, will be victoryenough. Besides, I may never be able to agree withyou but I sure would like to understand you.

c

onvers

atio

n

Dori J.

Maynard

Lets also remember to take baby steps. is maynot be the time for finding the right words tostring together to form world peace. is may justbe the time to get used to having conversationsacross the fault lines that divide us. And lets begentle with ourselves and each other.

Were new at this. Were bound to make mistakes.eres a good chance that not all our words willbe properly polished. We may also find that thewords we speak may not be the words that are

heard. And, inevitably there will be times thewords will hurt.

ats when we need to face the speaker and ask, is that what you meant? Why does my generation,gender, race, class, geography or different opinionmake you want to use hurtful words. Or was it anaccident? Did you misspeak? Did I mishear?

It wont be easy, but if we stick with it, perhaps wecan create a movement where we replace thedueling monologues with conversations that fillthe dead space with the warmth of humaninteraction.

Dori J. Maynard is the president of theRobert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism

Education where she works to help create a multi-cultural multimedia thataccurately and fairly portrays all segments of our society.
http://www.mije.org/http://www.mije.org/http://www.mije.org/http://www.mije.org/


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Ruthless compassion.

A spirituality that makes way for rage.

A body politic that can forgive.

A generous commerce.

A unified diversity.

Its feminine-fire-fuelled. Its round like eggs. Itsspine roots back to the beginning.

A tree will conspire to speed the death of its ownbranches as symptoms of disease surface. Its howsome of us vote, or yell on behalf of the silenced.Its how we call crazy on its shit, and declare withhollers, and touch, and laughter that,e heart issane!

geniusheart

Danielle

LaPorte

e beauty of our DNA is dying to be born: anacceptance of the order of chaos; the reverence ofHigh Priestesses in the grocery store; the force ofincredibly tender men; the critical necessity ofsenses that transcend technology.

We can speed the dying (it can hurt.) Karate-chopgreed. Puncture silicon. Carve up pretense andprinciples too small for how big we really are. Let

the heart make the way -- she will anyhow, by plowor by whisper, by angst or by grace.

e genius heart is being born.

She loves fiercely, wholly, and now.

Danielle LaPorte is the creator ofWhiteHotTruth.com... because self

realization rocks. An inspirational speaker and strategist, she helps

entrepreneurs light up their career with her signature Fire StarterSessions. You can find her on Twitter @daniellelaporte
http://twitter.com/DanielleLaPortehttp://twitter.com/DanielleLaPortehttp://whitehottruth.com/http://whitehottruth.com/


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renewal

Jane

Ful ton Al tJane Fulton Alt is an award-winningfine art photographer.

While accompanying restoration ecologists onprescribed prairie burns, I am drawn to theephemeral quality of a single moment when lifeand death do not seem opposed to each other, butare parts of a single process to be accepted as awhole.

Controlled burns imitate naturally occurringfiresby removing accumulated dead vegetation andreleasing seeds from dormancy. By opening thewoodlands to more sunlight, the fires prepare thesoil for new spring growth, and the cycle ofrenewal continues.
http://www.janefultonalt.com/http://www.janefultonalt.com/


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As Vancouver emerges out of the 2010 WinterOlympics, I am filled with many emotions. Citius,Altius, Fortius the Olympic motto proclaims.Faster, Higher, Stronger. And what a spectacle itwas a magnificent and thrilling display of Yang

energy, spilling into the streets of Vancouver withunbridled celebration and joy.

What now? A natural progression would have thependulum swing in the direction of Yin. If wecould cherish the cyclical rhythm of life, we mightwelcome the Slower, Deeper, Gentler qualities ofthe archetypal feminine that holds the world in

balance.

Following the adrenalin rush of speed, we wouldhonour the desire to slow down and sit by thewindow, breathing deeply and savouring thefreedom simply to be alive in each passingmoment. Having scaled the Olympian heights, wemight sink back onto the ground and lay there

awhile, feeling the earths heartbeat and the realityof all that nourishes and sustains us. Havingdemonstrated our strength, we would cherish thegentleness and vulnerability in ourselves andothers that make us human.

d

eep

fem

inine

Marlene

Schiwy

Aer focusing long and hard on outer goals, wemight turn our eye of longing inward toilluminate the dark glow of our own unknowndepths. e thinking heart and the feeling mind.e dancing soul and the yearning body. Poetry

and passion in our everyday lives. A grounded,reality-based, earth-loving honesty, and a wise andhumble sense of who we are.

e Olympics are over and the streets are quietagain. Vancouver is awash with cherry blossoms,and the world is made new. e rhythm of lifecontinues. e Deep Feminine is dying to be born.

Marlene Schiwy, Ph.D., is a writer, university instructor, workshop leader, and Jungian

counsellor. Author ofA Voice of Her Own andSimple Days, she is currently working ona new book that explores the archetype of the Dark Feminine in women and men.
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Days-Journal-Really-Matters/dp/1893732304http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Days-Journal-Really-Matters/dp/1893732304http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Her-Own-Journal-Writing/dp/0684803429http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Her-Own-Journal-Writing/dp/0684803429http://www.marleneschiwy.com/http://www.marleneschiwy.com/


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credits

Cover painting Ovulation byCharlotte Hood-Tanner.

Contributions by Anne Jackson and Martha Beck were originally

published inWhat Matters Now bySeth Godin. Used with permission.

All copyright is retained by the individual authors and artists.

Project initiated, collated and designed byLianne Raymond.

Please share freely with love.
http://lianneraymond.com/http://lianneraymond.com/http://lianneraymond.com/http://sethgodin.com/sg/http://sethgodin.com/sg/http://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-Now-Seth-Godin/dp/0557255767http://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-Now-Seth-Godin/dp/0557255767http://www.bohoarte.com/http://www.bohoarte.com/


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The future of the world depends on women.

- Margaret Wheatley

what is dying to be born 6

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