July 18, 2011
Connection with the Motherland
Summer Solstice this year was special. On this day I met and spent time with Max Dashu, the creator and keeper of the archives of The Suppressed Histories Archives, where she is “restoring women to cultural memory.” For several decades she has pioneered education about women’s spiritual roles through history, and has gathered a remarkable archive that is the basis for her current project “Woman Shaman: The Ancients.” (She is raising funds for the project here.)
We traveled to the Pinole Shoreline Park, situated along the northern section of the San Francisco East Bay. Walking across the hill and through the fields toward the shore, I felt the spirits of those who had walked the land before me. As the waves gently lapped the shore’s edge, we separated and spent time in silence.
Pebbles and shell fragments littered the beach. Then a pine cone glistened in the sunlight as the seafoam nudged it ashore.
A log jutting out from the hillside was the perfect place to stop and deposit my treasures. As I placed them, I became aware of being on one shore, here in California, and my family’s motherland far away in the Philippines, another shore, one to which I will always be tied.
At that moment, the clamshell broke in two, each half an individual piece of the whole that cradles me. I had a strong sense that we have traveled a long distance — from home, to home. We have landed on new shores, and found our way in a new land. We have brought our music, our dance, our culture, our food, our values, our very beings to these new shores. We have mixed with the prevalent culture, yet have never lost our ties, have never lost our Filipino soul.
The warm sun invited me to stretch out, to feel the sand beneath my feet. And then I began to move. Slowly at first, tracing patterns with my toes. Then the rhythm took over, and I danced. Here I share what I experienced and heard.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Here at Pinole Shores, where so many Filipinos live, I feel the pooled connections, the tides that continue to ebb and flow, unceasingly moving the flow, reshaping the rocks and the land, the ocean floor, the soul.
We come to the water and remember… we are a seafaring people, a land-based people, separated by land and water and experiences in life.
I don’t wish to focus on struggle. I wish to focus on triumph over them. Ancestors, please help me to properly honor those who have paved the way to today.
… And the ocean’s swells as we journeyed to another land, a new home, were like the feelings that welled up and rolled through unceasingly, without relenting, tears of pain and sorrow, loss and longing… when will I return to my land? My loved ones? All that has been so dear in my heart? My people, my food, my dances, my music — the smiles, oh, the gentle smiles so quick to appear. My mother, my father, oh brothers and sisters — I go so far away, yet my heart is still with you, will always be with you… as I remember your voices, the laughter, the warm embrace of home…
I am so far away, yet I hear your whispers on the water. I see your arms reaching across the waves.
We come to you, you whisper.
We love you.
We have never forgotten you.
Come home and taste the sea air,
Feel the sun on your skin,
Hear the sellers in the market.
Bagoong and bangus, lechon and pinakbet,
Sinigang and kutsinta, bulalo and
Sampalok, pusit and paksiw… we
call you… to nourish you.. body and
soul sewn together.
The water laps the shore unceasingly, over and over softening the hard edges, moving across the vast ocean. Through time, through space, across generations, the movement continues, traveling back and forth along ancient lines that tie and bind heart and soul.
June 27, 2011
On Wealth and Spirituality and Future Generations and Shining My Light
I’ve had many recently people bring to my attention different attitudes about wealth, and about being rich. Several years ago I attended a 3-day Millionaire Mind Intensive with T. Harv Eker in Seattle. He teaches in a no-nonsense, straightforward, practical, loving way about changing your Money Blueprint. He was about to publish his book, “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth,” and had us vote on which cover image to use.
NOTE: If you have a chance, go to one of these. They are life transforming. (Here’s my affiliate link: http://www.peakambassador.com/cmd.php?af=165295&p=1 or go to Peak Potentials’ website.) At the very least, go to a bookstore and check out his book. It includes his very practical “wealth files” that explain the money belief system that many of us grew up with, and shows how to shift them. That alone will change your life.
Now back to where I was going with this:
Over the years I’ve embraced the perspective of Abundance and Enlightened Wealth. The other day I was reading Harv Eker’s book again, and thought I’d share something he included:
“In their outstanding book The One Minute Millionaire, my good friends Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen quote the poignant story of Russell H. Conwell in his book Acres of Diamonds, which was written over a hundred years ago:
‘I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich. How many of my pious brethren say to me, “Do you, a Christian minister, spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to get rich, to get money?” Yes, of course I do.
‘They say, “Isn’t that awful? Why don’t you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man’s making money?” Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel. That is the reason. The men who get rich may be the most honest men you find in the community.
‘ “Oh,” but says some young man here tonight. “I have been told all my life that if a person has money he is very dishonest and dishonorable and mean and contemptible.” My friend, that is the reason you have none, because you have that idea of people. The foundation of your faith is altogether false. Let me say clearly… ninety-eight out of one hundred of the rich men (and women) of America are honest. That is why they are rich. That is why they are trusted with money. That is why they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them.
‘Says another young man, “I hear sometimes of men that get millions of dollars dishonestly. “Yes, of course you do, and so do I. But they are so rare a thing in fact that the newspapers talk about them all the time as a matter of news until you get the idea that all the other rich men get rich dishonestly.
‘My friend, you…drive me… out into the suburbs of Philadelphia, and introduce me to the people who own their homes around this great city, so beautiful homes with gardens and flowers, those magnificent homes so lovely in their art, and I will introduce you to the very best people in character as well as in enterprise in our city… They that own their homes are made more honorable and honest and pure, and true and economical and careful, by owning them.
‘We preach against covetousness… in the pulpit… and use the terms… “filthy lucre” so extremely that Christians get the idea that… it is wicked for any man to have money. Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it! You ought to because you can do more good with it than you can without it. Money printed your Bibles, money builds your churches, money sends your missionaries, and money pays your preachers… I say, then, you ought to have money. If you can honestly attain unto riches…. it is your… godly duty to do so. It is an awful mistake of these pious people to think you must be awfully poor in order to be pious.”
Later in the book he touches on the issue that I see a lot, and that I have looked at for myself == that of having money and being a spiritual person.
“If I can be an example for anything, it would be that you can be a kind, loving, caring, generous, and spiritual person and be frickin rich. I strongly urge you to dispel the myth that money is in any way bad or that you wil be less “good” or less “pure” if you are wealthy. … being kind, generous, and loving has nothing to do with what is or isn’t in your wallet. Those attributes come from what is in your heart. Being pure and spiritual have nothing to do with what is or isn’t in your bank account; those attributes come from what’s in your soul. To think money makes you good or bad, one way or another, is either/or thinking and just plain “programmed garbage” that is not supportive to your happiness and success.
“It’s also not supportive to those around you, especially to children. If you’re that adamant about being a good person, then be “good” enough not to infest the next generation with the disempowering beliefs you may inadvertently have adopted.
“If you really want to live a life without limits, whatever the situation, let go of either/or thinking and maintain the intention to have “both.” “
Several years ago I reached a turning point in my life (one of many), and I had to look at myself. My life was less than happy and fulfilling, and I was not showing up as who I really am. I asked myself, “What am I teaching my daughter about the way life could be? What am I teaching her about what to expect in a relationship and how to be in the world?”
I’m still learning new ways of being a woman of substance in the world, thanks to mentors like Vangie Buell, Gina Ratliffe and Elizabeth Genco Purvis. I have broken through and ended the cycle of abuse, however subtly it shows up, through my involvement in the first all-Filipina “Vagina Monologues” presented by the Filipina Women’s Network.
I continue to learn how to BE from Janet Attwood, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Wayne Dyer, and a host of others. I connect with Spirit, my angels and guides as I continue to understand and act on what being a healer means in this life cycle for me. I am continually learning and having the courage to Feel. I continue to step forward on my path.
I’m connecting to my spiritual roots through my connection with the Center for Babaylan Studies and its global community, and through individual spirit connections with others. I’m connecting with my cultural roots through the Filipino American National Historical Society, CfBS, and Gawad Kalinga.
And I am bringing myself more fully into the world through my business – WLA Global and White Light Associates. I help others shine their light in their life and their business.
Although the road has been bumpy, and I’ve made my share of decisions that could have turned out much better, as I’ve gone on to figure out the many ways that I bring Baylan into the world, I am often reminded of that time of my life when I realized my responsibility to tend to myself first — out of self-love and self-care. I remember the talk they give you at the beginning of an airplane flight — in an emergency, secure your oxygen first, THEN help others.
In order to “Help Others Shine Their Light,” as I say through White Light Associates, I have to shine mine, too — in every area of my life.
Wow — I’m quite a wealthy person already!
In taking care of myself, I empower others to do the same — those around me and those who come after me. And that empowerment leads to wealth in all its ways that are appropriate for your path at the time.
I am reminded of Marianne Williamson’s piece from “A Return to Love” made even more famous by Nelson Mandela :
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
‘We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
So go out there and shine your light — You’ll be amazed at how much light shines back at you!
P.S. Oh! And check out my new site at http://www.whitelightassociate.com/blog In a few days this will migrate to my main site, http://www.whitelightassociates.com/, but I thought I’d share it with you now. Seems appropriate!
June 16, 2011
What Are You? “Roots” Part 1
The other day I was part of a discussion that looked at “Filipino” versus “Filipino American” as an identity, an identifier. The discussion will be an ongoing one – internally and with others. I’m sure I’ll share more.
My cultural heritage is rooted in the Philippines. I am 3rd generation on my mother’s side (meaning, my maternal grandmother was the first to set foot on U.S. soil in the mid-1920′s), and 2nd generation on my father’s side (dad came over after World War II).
Angeles Amoroso and family gathered in La Paz, Philippines
My grandmother was from Jaro, Iloilo. In the mid-1920s she came here as a schoolgirl at the request of her bachelor uncle Fred Grecia – a request that would lift her out of a difficult life in Iloilo with a stepmother who treated her like Cinderella before the fairy godmothers arrived. I can’t imagine what it was like to leave her home country as a teenager, and to decide that once she left that she would never return. Yet, that is what my grandmother did. She turned her back and resolutely looked to her new life in the United States where the only person she knew was her uncle, and where she did not speak the language.
Luis Megino Family 1940s in Manila
During World War II my father was fortunate to be visiting relatives in Pangasinan when the letter calling him to duty arrived at the family’s home in Manila. He escaped to the mountains around Baguio and joined his uncle in a guerrilla unit. Most of his neighbors did not survive the war, and perished in Corregidor. After the war, he joined his oldest brother Patricio Megino in California, and continued his college studies at San Francisco State. Ultimately he received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of California in Berkeley, where he met my mother, Elizabeth Mendoza.
There were few Filipino families in the East Bay when I was growing up. That all changed in 1965… but I am getting ahead of myself.
In early 1996, I was part of a cultural exchange tour from San Francisco to the Philippines. Excerpts from my travel journal were published in 2002 in “Seven Card Stud, Seven Manangs Wild: An Anthology of Filipino American Writings” edited by Helen C. Toribio. Entitled “Roots,” it was the first story included in the first half of the book under the group title, “What Are You?”
It’s a question I was asked often as I grew up in California. No, I would reply, sometimes impatiently. I am Not Chinese. Or Japanese. Or Korean. Or Mexican. Or Hawaiian. “I am Filipino. My family is from the Philippines.”
My answer often prompted looks of puzzlement. Some even asked, “Where’s that?” or even “What’s that?”
Others said, “Oh, my dad/brother/uncle was there during the war,” or “I passed through there after the war.”
And yet others would say nothing and walk away, convinced that I was trying to trick them, and no matter what I said that they had identified me correctly, or that “Filipino” was some strange thing they could not understand (and did not care to). Still others would nod and say, “You’re my little brown sister!”
A few sneered, or shooed me out of the area away from their kids.
I was lucky the first 12 years of my life. I grew up in a multi-ethnic neighborhood of East Oakland. Living one block from the railroad tracks, I grew deaf to the rumble of the trains passing in the night. My classmates at St. Louis Bertrand Elementary School were Mexican, Black, Irish, Polish, Italian, and Caucasian. A handful were Filipino. No on was really considered “different.” I lived a colorblind childhood. I truly did not know what discrimination was until I left this neighborhood.
“ROOTS”
“9:30 p.m. Finally, we were on our way. As the city slipped into slumber and crystalline lights faded behind me, I realized that to get on this plane the last thing I had to do was to strip away all my non-essentials – the extra baggage that would not fit on the journey from America to my cultural homeland, the Philippines. As we traveled from the rush of San Francisco to the tropical rest stop in Hawaii, I sank into my seat to travel back in time.
“On the plane I read a tiny article about the awarding of “Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims.” A total of 23 CADCs had been given to indigenous tribes for a total of 376,540 hectares, or 930,430 square miles. I wondered if these CADCs were based on anything like American Indian reservations in the U.S. What place and level of respect within society are given to these peoples? I wondered about the peoples in these areas – Kalinga, Puerto Princesa, the Mangyans,Zamboanga de Norte and del Sur, Basilan, Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Bohol, Lanao del Norte and del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Kasibu, and Quirino. What determines their value?”
~ * ~
December 8, 2010
Northside Community Center in San Jose, California
“Change the world for the better.” This is the undercurrent for all that I do. For most of us, this takes form in our daily lives with our families and work. Some are able to affect the wider circle of their communities. A few are able to create change at the highest levels, and therefore affect us all.
Over the past years have been looking into assisted living facilities – small multi-unit facilities, as well as large multi-phase communities. The wide range of service combinations is staggering, and the service provider model is the key determinant of the “feel” of the delivery of services. As a result each facility is unique.
When looking for communities with a new vision, I was encouraged to speak with Ben Menor, former executive director of the Northside Community Center. In this award-winning senior housing complex, Mr. Menor created a beautiful community space that integrates low-income senior housing with a community center.
http://www.dbarchitect.com/words/press/35/Builder%27s%20Choice.html
http://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/115/Northside%20Community%20Center.html
From a development standpoint, more important than the actual design of the physical space and programs is the thinking behind it that incorporated the inhabitants, the space, its programs, and its surrounding community into an interrelated whole.
In conceiving the Northside Community Center and Mabuhay Court, Mr. Menor drew from his many years working with several cultural communities locally and nationwide. Well respected as a business and organizational consultant, he understood the value in connecting the Center to the rest of the community.
Research has shown that people who are physically active, are allowed social interaction, and are part of a larger community are those who thrive well into their later years. The Center’s programs were designed to provide a caring, empowering environment that allowed each person to experience a fulfilled life of joy, comfort, rejuvenation and security.
Social interaction and physical activity was facilitated through daily programs and the flow and interface of the space design. The meditation garden created a space of beauty and peace for all to enjoy, while still aware of the community beyond. Art was strategically placed to draw people from space to space. Separate entries were reminiscent of neighborhood front stoops. Balconies and porches allowed privacy and limited interaction, while the community center served as dining facility and gathering space. Color and materials were carefully chosen to enhance the overall effect.
The spectrum of seniors being served in the facility and through its many services included Filipinos, Chinese, Indo-Asians, and veterans. Northside became a main provider of senior services for these communities. The strength of its infrastructure was flexible and resourceful enough to be able to respond quickly and efficiently when certain incidents resulted in a sudden influx of veterans in need of assistance.
Rather than excluding the youth from the project, Mr. Menor was able to include them by building in intergenerational programs. Families were encouraged to participate with the seniors, and elders were valued for their wisdom and experience. Activities with a culturally aware foundation created seamless support for engaging life, and continued many of the life activities residents most enjoyed while living outside the community.
Upon occasion the greater community was allowed to use the space for meetings. Through some of these events, the seniors were able to participate in the larger community in ways that were not otherwise easily accomplished.
For example, when former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos is in town, Mr. Menor is the person asked to host and organize international community forums for Philippine-based and Filipino-American-based concerns. Northside has hosted these forums as well as other meetings held by the business community, local cultural community organizations, the Human Relations Commission of Santa Clara County, and organizations addressing broader community issues such as domestic violence. These meetings generated the revenue needed to allow Northside to sustain the great variety of programs and services offered, and to supplement its funding.
It’s clear that the Northside Community Center was the product of progressive thinking with a global, culturally sensitive view. As a result, when Mr. Menor headed the Center the senior residents enjoyed a vibrant community life that allowed them to thrive. This is an assisted living development model that holds great promise for the growing elder communities around the world.
Northside Community Center and Mabuhay Court received the following awards:
– 2004 Maxwell Award of Excellence from Fannie Mae Foundation
– 2004 Gold Nugget Grand Award for Best Senior Housing/Active Adult from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference
– 2004 Gold Nugget Grand Award for Best Affordable from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference
– 2004 Builder’s Choice Grand Award from Builder’s Magazine
– 2004 Builder’s Choice Project of the Year from Builder’s Magazine
– 2004 Merit Award for Design from the California Council of the American Institute of Architects
– 2004 National Award of Excellence from National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
– 2003 Meritorious Achievement Award from the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies HOME Awards Competition
June 8, 2010
Veterans Benefits, Claims and Appeal Process Explained
Veterans have many benefits available to them through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Looking for information can take time.
I created a blog series that explains what is available to Filipino WWII veterans. More generally, the last post explains The Appeal Process, which currently takes 700 days with the Bureau of Veterans Appeals.
Read more at http://www.BaylansFilAmNews.wordpress.com . This is meant to be a resource — please share!
March 9, 2010
Empowerment in Times of Change
I look around today and on the surface I see unemployment, empty storefronts, budget cutbacks, failing companies, foreclosures, crushing debt, monumental natural disasters.
I look deeper and I see opportunities to change what we do for financial support, people opening their own home-based businesses, opportunities to really look at what is essential and hopefully create a stronger foundation from which to support the less fortunate, the transitions of old to make way for the new, the harsh lessons of being over-extended, and finding the ability to help wherever we can, because in the end we are all in this together and we are always, in even the smallest of ways, more fortunate and able to help another.
I see Change. And, yes, at all levels change is necessary to live. We have to change our physical state to stay alive — breathe, or don’t breathe. We have to change/maintain our environmental state to live — food, clothing, shelter for the basics of living. We have to connect on some level to be reminded of our connection to humanity and perhaps to something larger than ourselves — a touch, a word, a prayer, an affirmation.
We are enriched and expanded when we connect, when we feel a part of a relationship, when we are part of a community. In these situations, we are empowered to be all we are — whether to give or to receive.
(It’s easy to give, isn’t it? It’s just as important to receive. But that’s for another post.)
We are changing, and the world is changing with us. The earth has shifted its position! New foundations are being set for future generations.
The world is changing, yet certain things remain the same.
Spring follows Winter.
Day follows Night.
A seed becomes a plant, lives, and dies, then is absorbed into the earth to become life in another form.
We are responsible for our own empowerment. Those are fighting words for some, I know. I’ve been part of community work for big chunks of my life, and this has been a piece of wisdom that has been hard to embrace.
Other ways of saying it are, “Take responsibility for your life” and “You create the world you live in”, “You are your thoughts”, and “As above, so below.”
For those who are embroiled in the hard struggles of life, those who are more able are empowered to help.
For those who are able to help, they are empowered to bring the best into the world.
So I ask you:
What is important to you to bring to the world?
What of Life do you want to experience in your life?
How are you showing up?
What are you creating?
What do you want to leave behind for future generations?
Dig deep and find what gems and jewels you have inside. And let us all enjoy your brilliance.
October 16, 2009
Baylan on Showing Up in the World
Here’s one of my stories about showing up in life:
Janet Attwood stood on one side, and Marci Schimoff stood on my other side. Two powerful women who know what it takes to fully be in the world as who you truly are. Janet was creating her Masters interview series, while simultaneously developing a workshop with Chris Attwood that was designed to help create the life of your dreams. (Janet and Chris already had written “The Passion Test” together.) Marci had just finished her Chicken Soup book and was writing her own about being Happy. Dan Kuschell was popping in and out of the room before it was his turn to present.
It was an October morning, and this workshop was starting out as more than I could ever have imagined. I’m usually the one who sits in the back half of the room, buried in note-taking, trying to keep a low profile, chronicling more than participating. Janet had chosen me to be one of three participants in this particular exercise.
I think we had just written about what we wanted to have in our lives – how we felt about our world when it was as we dreamed. I looked around. The cameras and audio recorders were running, and the room was full of people who were open and expectant. There I was at the front of the room, and Janet asked us to SING what we’d written. Sing!?! Me?? The other two were incredible, singing with full voice and confidence. Then there was me.
I stood in front all alone, and just shook. My body was rooted to the ground, and my entire brain had scrambled. I looked at all those faces so soft and ready to hear whatever came out of my mouth. And nothing.
Tears started to roll down my cheeks. For the first time in my life, I was terrified. Janet waited, and I felt her encouraging me to rise, to meet myself, to … something. But I was just a puddle of tears. The confident Baylan was nowhere to be found, feeling naked in front of these loving strangers.
Tell them about my dreams? Share my inner thoughts about how my life could be? Tell the world who I am? There would be no hiding.
What felt like several minutes passed. No sound came out. I needed help.
Janet walked to me and tried, gently reminding me of what I was there for, trying to help me get back on track. I barely registered her words. My legs were getting weak, and I could barely feel my hands. I was paralyzed.
Then she asked the others to wait a minute while she took me aside. The cameras and recordings paused. She turned me away from those gathered. “Can I share a secret with you?” she asked before whispering something to me. “Ah!” I thought. I can do THAT.
“Would you like me to stand with you?” she asked. A glimmer of hope shone in my brain, and another thought came to me. “Yes, please — and can Marci stand on my other side?” She looked a bit surprised, and Marci quickly came to my side. “Of course!” she smiled.
Take a few breaths, I told myself. Breathe. (That’s what I always tell others – now it was my turn to remind myself.) And on the out-breath, I started to sing. Quietly, almost shyly, I heard the words come out. I felt their meaning as I painted my picture, and my voice grew stronger. My song started to fill the front rows, and then the rest of the room with my dream life. I looked out and saw eyes shining back at me. It felt like my heart had broken open and I had wings. I was received.
Thinking of that moment today, I still feel chills run up my spine. Sometimes I think of it when talking with someone at the precipice of trusting that it’s okay to show up in the world, to share your gifts. Sometimes I remember it to be reminded that it’s okay to show up in a new way, to go into a different area, to explore the world and how I choose to be a part of it.
Breathe your world into existence. With conscious thought and intention, create your world as you wish.
Oh, the crap will come up. This stuff is seldom easy. So keep your bigger picture in mind. “Hold fast to dreams,” Langston Hughes said. Because the world will test your resolve. Your world will, in its own way, ask you, “Are you sure you want this new thing? We really like it the way it is.”
And if you keep your dream uppermost in your mind to guide your steps, your world will recalibrate to meet the new, emerging you. In the process, ways that you have not been true to yourself will come up.
Did I really want a big house on a big lot? No, I wanted a home where I could gather with friends.
Did I really have to be so anal-retentive about the details and blast my team about the smallest slip? No, I wanted to trust that they would take as much care about our creation as I did, and forgot that I too am imperfect. And I wanted to be a good communicator and leader.
Not.
So I had to forgive myself for doing those things, and resolve to be clearer in my creating as I stepped forward. I knew I would stumble as I walked along, yet I had decided that I would walk nonetheless.
I had to remember to ask myself the most important question, “What did I learn about myself?” And to follow that up with “How do I want to show up and serve?”
Standing in front of that room, afraid to show up as the imperfect me, I did not realize the courage I had to muster just to make a sound, and to string those sounds together to make a song. In those moments of paralysis, I did not know how many other people were as afraid as me, yet crying inside to break the chains and run free.
What did Janet share with me? She told me that it wasn’t about me. Not really. It was about what I could do for them.
It really was a moment when I was living Marianne Williamson’s words that Nelson Madela spoke out to the world as he officially took the presidential reins following the abolition of apartheid. They begin with “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.” In that moment, I was living the last two sentences:
“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
So go on out there and shine your light. Breathe. We’re all waiting to experience what only you can bring to the world.
September 30, 2009
Philippine Floods – Information Website
Philippine Disaster Relief information websites: The hardest thing to find after a disaster is information. So much is coming out, it’s good when you find one place that consolidates what’s relevant.
Check out this site, which is updated regularly: http://www.naffaar8.com
Also, check my FilAm blog for updates: http://www.baylansfilamnews.wordpress.com
August 11, 2009
Henry Gates and me
Henry Gates: A man who was prominent already now has taken on a whole new dimension.
I will admit I don’t like to watch the news. Too much doom and gloom. Well, sometimes it seems the only thing out there is negative.
The best news, I think, is news that prompts us to think about how we see the world. Maybe even leads to a clearer understanding of what we’re creating.
When it came to the Henry Gates event, I looked at some of the reporting. I listened to some of the editorializing. I even had the opportunity to speak with someone who also taught at that illustrious learning institution and was aware of Professor Gates’ persona.
On the other hand, I used to be married to someone related to law enforcement, so I know how officers can think and act.
I’ve been a victim of racial discrimination, and seen some of the many places it subtly lives.
And I saw President Obama’s comment. The power of the president is clear when whole populations debate about the use of one word.
It’s been more than 40 years since the Civil Rights Movement started breaking down barriers. Yet today people are surprised to see incidents that can be seen as racially motivated or related — even here in “liberal Northern California”.
Societal Change takes Time — whole generations will pass. For YEARS people have fought for a substantial change in our communities. In the process, many of our children have grown up in a world that has less overt racial discrimination and they have learned to coexist in a multiracial population.
Just writing that last sentence, I was struck by the word “coexist”. It wasn’t my first choice. Initially I wrote “accept”, but then realized that not everyone accepts these differences.
Which brings me to a moment a few days ago. I was speaking with a friend who lives with constant pain. We were discussing the deep meaning of “What you Focus on, Grows”. If you focus on pain, then you feel more pain. If you try to ignore the pain or to push it away, you actually still are focusing on the pain, so it is given more energy. Hence, more pain. Flip the coin over. Accept that you have pain, then Focus instead on physical ease. And breathe.
Over time what you focus on will grow, and that other thing will decrease in proportion, and maybe even disappear.
So let’s keep the snowball growing that Empowers everyone.
What about focusing on similarities rather than differences? How about looking for what we have in common rather than where we diverge? Why not build new things rather than tear down old things?
Some people have accused me of being Pollyanna, seeing the bright side in everything, perhaps even at the expense of seeing “reality”. I see it as using a different lens. My lens sees possibility and commonality.
Henry Gates has given us the chance to decide which lens we use to view the world.
Which lens do you use? What do you want to see grow?
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