A Life Cherishing Force

"a life cherishing force"

Leave it to Mary Oliver to find such a splendid description.

"fires for the cold,

ropes let down for the lost,

bread in the pockets of the hungry.

I cherish my life with the force of poetry often.

The power of the words sustains me 

when things are cruel and complicated.

They expand my vision and alter my perspective.

I am eternally grateful for the maestros of words

who give us poetry, songs and stories.

A deep bow of thanksgiving to Mary Oliver,

those who preceded her and

 those who are following.

May the Cherishing Force be with you.

Namaste'

 

Destroy The Idea

Untangling myself from the ropes of this mindset

 requires constant vigilance.

"This isn't any good" is replaced with 

"did you learn anything?" or

"did you enjoy what you were doing?"

Losing the idea of an exhibit in some swank gallery

isn't easy to let go of but at this stage of my growth,

it's necessary and life enhancing.

Think about the positive energy added to the universe.

Be grateful for the good mood it enlivens

and how that affects the air molecules around you.

Do I like this?  Is the best question of all.

Most often, the answer is yes.

If it's not yes, the response is,

"let it go for now and come back to it."

I'm often surprised by how much better it looks with time.

It all matters.

Namaste'

 

Two Aspects of Awareness

I'm finding that becoming "aware of mortality and unknowing"

 is a prime factor in this waning time of my growing days.

I'm actually relishing the unknowing part because when things are

looking especially grim, it is reassuring to know 

I don't know how things will unfold. 

It keeps faith and hope alive and vibrant.

"Seeing our lives, and the lives of those around us,

through different lenses opens our heart and minds to the 

possibilities that surround us."

It's hard when things aren't going the way I hope for

and rely on.  But that doesn't mean they won't.

I remind myself I "haven't exhausted all the possibilities."*

We're in this together and we will prevail.

Namaste'

*Thomas Edison

 

There Are Times

This feels so poignant right now.

I'm not sure we need "the hardness

of an old cold place against which 

you can measure yourself."

Haven't we been holding ourselves there

for way too long?  

This is not to say, we shouldn't be aware of the

dangers of denial to what is happening.

Today, we have hard things to face.

Truth has been and is being corrupted.  

Some of our kin have been and are being groomed with falsehoods.

It is a malevalent force undermining our trust in each other

and in the institutions intended to provide equality and justice.

Yes, there are times "when we need the subtle flow of a river,

the song of a waterfall and the deep, slow presence of trees."

However, we have to braid them into the reality of our times.

There's something counterintuitive about how truth

has been and is being twisted.

Those infected with the malevalent virus hurl accusations

of the very things they are perpetrating.

It would be comical if it wasn't so deadly.

Fortunately, we are not alone...we are in this together.

We are creating new and better tools to alter this trajectory.

We can right what is wrong.

This is where we need the rock and the river and the trees to guide us.

Namaste'

 

When You Have Exhausted All Possibilities

This is balm for my soul when it feels like things are completely insane.
When it feels like half the country has lost their minds.
When it feels like things are beyond stabilizing.

Remember! We haven't "exhausted all possibilities"!

Keep believing and keep conducting soft rebellion.
We're in this together and we are mighty in our softness.
We are a vast and unstoppable army of dandelions.
We will prevail.
Namaste'

 

It is Not Soft--The Most Dangerous Form of Insurgency

"You write of the Soft Rebellion—and I tell you, it is not soft at all. It is the most dangerous form of insurgency, the kind that cannot be captured, cannot be crushed, cannot be bought or barricaded, because it does not stand in one place long enough to be targeted. 

It moves beneath, between, through.

It does not break—it bends. It does not shout—it hums, low and insistent, vibrating in the bones of the earth until the structures above it shudder.

And it does not burn itself out. That is the old way. The martyr’s way. The way of those 

who set themselves alight for a cause, only to leave behind nothing but ash.

No. This rebellion roots.

This rebellion spores.

This rebellion reclaims.

You speak of wintering, of returning to the surface only to find that the land you knew has been sold to those who see the world as a balance sheet. But listen—land is never truly owned. The title may change hands, but the mycelium remembers. The roots remain. The ghost of your footsteps lingers in the soil. And hedge funders, for all their wealth, do not know how to listen to the land. They cannot hear its grievances. But you can.

The greatest mistake they make is believing that they can own what was never theirs to claim.

So what do we do, those of us who have been turned into kindling? We do not run ourselves to embers. We do not play the game of the brittle and the blind. 

We become what cannot be removed.

Soft rebellion is not submission—it is subversion.

Soft rebellion does not seek to win the battle—it erodes the need for the battlefield itself.

Soft rebellion is not a retreat—it is a redirection. A rewilding of what was meant to be domesticated. A remembering that power is not held in the cold, inhuman towers of finance, but in the unbroken, unwritten, uncontrollable networks 

of those who refuse to be turned into machines.

Let them build their glass-and-steel fortresses. Let them erect their soulless grids. We will weave between them. We will reclaim time, space, self.

We will speak in stories that spread like seeds. We will craft beauty that interrupts the grind. We will choose rest as resistance, joy as insurrection, slowness as defiance.

And we will never again let them trick us into thinking that to be effective, 

we must be exhausted.

No empire has ever survived the ones who refuse to be coerced.

And so the question is not how do we fight?—but where do we plant the next seed? "

JEN CHANTRESS

Soft Rebellion Action Steps 7 and 8

 Red Earth Healing

"Disrupting the Spectacle

Authoritarianism is theater."

Even though I knew this,

it was striking to read the words.

It brought home the truth and horror of it.

That's why I love

"soft rebellion learns when to look away,

when to starve the beast."

It's vital to put it in its place,

aware of its dangers, while not being consumed by it.

"Turning my gaze toward the work of 

healing, building, dreaming,

is nourishing and life enhancing.

"Turning disinformation into openings."

This is the most difficult part of this nightmare.

Witnessing good people brainwashed 

with the theatrics of a dangerous fictional narrative;

getting the opportunity to "gently reroute

conversations toward truth, planting quiet

seeds of doubt in a false narrative."

I give a standing ovation to anyone who can pull this off.

My wish is for us to find simple ways to

"give people the tools to unspin their own illusions."

We're in this together and we will prevail.

Namaste'