A new era

These past year or so we have seen the beginning of a new era.  The opening of a new consciousness.  Funny thing is, we have seen this opening before.  I am referring to the call to stop living in fear.

Living in fear

When any being is living in fear it is impossible to grow.  As we live in fear we do not have the space to learn, only the space to survive.  Our highest thoughts of love, peace, joy, harmony and prosperity are shoved into a deep, dark dungeon as our instinct to survive rises to the top.  When we are in survival mode we do not plan ahead, we exist moment to moment.  I use the word “exist” because living in the moment is a wonderful thing.  We appreciate the beauty all around us when we live in the moment.  Our awareness of how wonderful our lives are disappears when fear causes us to simply exist.  We become distrustful of everyone around us.  Even those we might normally trust are viewed through a veil of suspicion.  Our physical health declines as well with the constant angst of fear swirling around us.

What is old is new again

I am old enough to have first-hand recollection of the love-ins, the civil rights protests and the women’s rights marches of the 1960’s.  The result of these tremendous grassroots movements were profound changes in our entire society.  What I see around us right now is a replay of these same cries to overturn the status quo.  The “Me Too” movement, the “Enough is enough” movement and the “Take a knee” movements reveal real sources of fear existing in our society today.  Each and every one of these current call to actions has a direct correlation to what has happened before.

Dismissing the call to action

Many people dismiss these movements because they are comfortable living with their existing level of fear.  They have walled themselves off from the reality of what is going on.  Their fear does not come from concern about guns in schools (no matter who holds them), their fear comes from change.  Those who would have “Those people” shut up and not challenge their acceptable level of fear.  We dismiss these calls to change at our own peril.

Making the change

In my book It’s All About Me I explore ways to address change by recognizing what scares us.  Click the cover below for a sample, then get your own copy at Amazon.com

The Involved Observer