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“The world is going to hell in a handbasket and there’s really nothing I can do,” are the words I often heard my grandma say when life felt overwhelming to her. Those words might be tempting to use today as one worldwide crisis after another unfolds. For example, headlines read: “Climate Tipping Points Are Closer than We Think, Scientists Warn Abrupt and Irreversible Changes Are Imminent.” Pile that on top of everything else in the news, there may be days when we just feel like crawling under a rock. If we stay there long enough, we might even convince ourselves that there really is nothing we can do. That we’re powerless.
But American novelist, poet, and activist Alice Walker says: “The most common way that people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” On the contrary, we are far more powerful than we even dare to believe. If we don’t believe this, it’s very possible we’re breathing in the fog created by a generations-old consensus trance designed to keep us small and consequently stuck in the outdated ways of the 20th century. The biggest myth of this trance is the idea that we don’t have the ability to create, as Charles Eisenstein says, “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”
Not only is this possible, it’s inevitable. Buried underneath all the current mainstream news is the fact that the human species is on the threshold of the greatest transformation we have yet to experience. And I’m not talking about extinction! Some believe this transformation is akin to a quantum evolutionary leap, a dramatic advance in our ability to progress to a higher level of consciousness. We are waking up. We’re on the verge of becoming fully conscious of our immense power and learning how to use it in a wise and compassionate way for the highest good of all. Once we fully realize this power, heaven on Earth will be commonplace.
It’s possible to see the fullest expression of this transformation in our lifetime, but even if we don’t, we have enormous sway in how it will eventually unfold. Today everything is in flux. It’s as if someone gathered up the entire contents of the world and threw it up into the air. How things will land has everything to do with the actions–no matter how big or small–we take today.
With our every thought, word, and deed, we have enormous power to increase the light on this planet or not. That’s a lot of responsibility and creative power! Almost feels overwhelming! No wonder Oprah declared that “speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” When we have the courage to speak up for a friend, a stranger, people in harm’s way, ourselves, animals or Earth, and literally stand up for what we believe in, the world begins to dramatically change. Even tiny actions have great significance.
Don’t believe this? In his wildly acclaimed bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes a tipping point as “a place where the unexpected becomes expected, where radical change is more than possibility. It is—contrary to all our expectations—a certainty.” Because of the instability and unrest we currently face, the world is ripe for tipping points. Radical change is a certainty. What this radical change will look like is up to us.
But what creates the tipping point? It’s the consistent incremental actions, words, and thoughts by everyday individuals like you and me. When Tarana Burke sent out that first tweet with the hashtag @metoo she had no idea it would spread to 85 countries and create a worldwide movement. No one anticipated the Berlin Wall would fall with such speed. We all carry the potential to be in just the right place, at just the right time, saying just the right thing, or doing exactly the right thing that creates the tipping point that brings all of us one step closer to the world we know is possible. We are walking tipping points, moment to moment transformative agents that have the ability to shift and change reality with every choice we make. That’s how powerful we are!
And at the quantum level, we’re all intimately connected inside a collective field of infinite possibilities. I see these connections as golden threads of light that weave us together. With every thought, word, or deed aligned with our innate light, the shared tapestry of light grows brighter and more resilient. Who knows? Your next action could be the one that reverberates out into this collective field like a string on a guitar plucked with such kindness, generosity, and wisdom that it inspires someone you’ve never even met. Don’t underestimate the influence you have on others through the power of your own light. Dare to shine! Be the light!
Would you like to take these lofty ideas and make them real? Click on the video above to join me in an easy qigong exercise called Pebble in a Pond that helps us to live and embody these words. This shore ten-minute video concludes with a simple movement to us help align and center during these stormy times.