Transition on Purpose ...

This morning I've spent some time contemplating the events of the week. Saturday mornings are often like that for me.

In many NH towns, this is the week of town meetings and deliberative sessions over budget issuse. In a nearby town, there was a major incident that clearly demonstrated the agenda of elected and appointed officials that was not in support of the voters in the town. The issue was the school budget. The voters overturned the budget committee's decision by a landslide. The process involved an intentional and deliberate campaign to inform students, parents and voters about the issues. Facebook was used as a means to "go viral" with information about the impact of the proposed budgent as well as organize action teams to explore the issues around the cost of education in the school district.

Without going into detail, the meeting was an interesting demonstration of a two sided issue. There was no middle ground. There was frustration and anger. There was compassion and understanding. And the outcome was clear. Transformation happened. The community came together and it's priorities were clearly established. There will be no turning back to old ways of doing business. Change is underway.

It was truly amazing to witness.

This morning, I'm also thinking about similar times over the past several years where similar transformation have begun.  It is becoming clear that many of our systems are inefficient and ineffective in serving the majority of our population. Some of them are beginning to crumble and suggest that our sense of physical and financial security is false.

Although a difficult question, is this a time to focus on fear and lack? Or a time to experience these times as an opportunity for amazing transformation and abundance? The middle ground appears to be shrinking and it seems that we are being nudged to choose a perspective.

A friend shared a bracelet he had received at a 12 step meeting. It said, "Let go or get dragged". Recently I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Evolve or die". The middle ground is seemingly hard to find now.

I am reminded of the words of a Robert Frost, the famous poet, that inspired me as a teenager, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by ... and that has made all the difference." Unlike my teen years, it seems that the road I am traveling is a more popular road.
 
It is a road of amazing transformation and abundance! I'm going with this because of what I'm observing in all the environments of my life, in the people I'm connected with and in some of the natural disasters as well as man-made catastrophies we have experienced over the past several years. My students are not the same students they were 10 years ago ... even two years ago. My interactions with colleagues are at a whole different emotional level. My personal relationships have transformed. The Internet now gives us the power to connect, spread information, positivity, hope, compassion and love, as well as take action at a level we've never known prior to this time in human evolution.

Does it have to do with the Mayan Calendar? Or the rotation of the earth? Is the world coming to an end? Is it the beginning of a new age? A new way of thinking, being and connecting? Are we at a tipping point where the scale is about to tip in a whole new direction? What is the purpose in all of it? What's our role in it all?

My sense is that we are moving toward authenticity and transparency and honest expression of who we are, what we know at our core and what we've come here to accomplish. My sense is that the new research around the subconscious mind and the power we now have to reprogram old, limiting beliefs is huge in human tranformation. My sense is that this transformation is happening faster and faster and over a wide range of communities and cultures. My sense is that our old attitudes around what provides us with security will be less about money and possessions and more about human connection and discovering and expressing our authentic selves.

Whatever is happening, a practice of daily gratitude helps me stay grounded and keep things simple.

Today I am grateful for:
-my support systems who allow me to share my hopes, dreams and fears
-my students who challenge me to open my heart and mind
-my pets who supply both comic relief and effective stress management
-my home which provides me comfort and peace
-my Rossi Z-9's which provide me iwth a fun way to get to the top of a mountain, take in the beauty, connect with like-minded others, connect with my body and experience the fullness of being alive!