Lots of Inspiring Words

Mon Nov 1 12:05:34 PST 2004

Thanks, Anne, for sharing these words from Clarissa Pikola-Estes with us! I
was deeply moved when I read them. They describe beautifully what I feel
like facing the elections tomorrow. As a German citizen I cannot vote - at
the same time I feel deeply affected by the politics of the U.S.. A friend
of mine asked me today, how I handle this powerlessness and my answer was
the following:
I try not to be discouraged by the things happening far away from me. I try
to make a difference for the people around me, "to stand up and show my
soul", to listen and serve.
And although most of the people in this list are far away, I feel a strong
connection with you all -  which gives me hope and confidence!
Thanks to all of you,

Mayke
___________________________________________
essence - Beratung, Training, Coaching
Mayke Wagner
Hanser 3
88279 Amtzell
GERMANY

mayke.wagner at t-e-a-m.org
Tel (+49) 07520 / 9232 02
visit us:  <http://www.t-e-a-m.org>

Von: anne stadler <annestad at nwlink.com>
Antworten an: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Datum: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 11:34:13 -0800
An: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Betreff: [OSLIST] Lots of Inspiring Words

Do Not Lose Heart
by Clarissa Pinkola-Estes
author of Women Who Run With the Wolves

Do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have
heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered.
They are  concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now.

Ours is a time of almost daily
astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest
degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris
some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children,
elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is
breathtaking.

Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit
dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most
particularly because, the fact is, we were made for these times.
Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and
just
waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.
I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy
vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have
never been more able crafts in the waters than there are right now across
the world.  And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as
never
before in the history of humankind...

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of
righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your
veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that
the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater
forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold
together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.
We have been in training for a dark time such as this,
since the day we assented to come to Earth. For many decades, worldwide,
souls just like us have been felled and left for dead, in so many ways, over
and over brought down by (word missing here), by lack of love,
by being ambushed and assaulted by various
cultural and personal shocks in the extreme.
We have a history of being gutted, and yet remember this especially, we have
also, of necessity, perfected the knack of resurrection.

Over and over again we have been the
living proof that that which has been exiled, lost, or
foundered can be restored to life again.
In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward
fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world.
Do not focus on that.
There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by persevering
on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there.
That is spending the wind without raising the sails.

We are needed, that is all we can know.
And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great
souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when
they
appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to
listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember
that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Understand the paradox: If you study the physics of a
waterspout, you will see that the outer vortex whirls far more quickly than
the inner one. To calm the storm means to quiet the outer layer, to cause
it to swirl much less, to more evenly match the velocity of the inner core -
till whatever has been lifted into such a vicious funnel falls back to
Earth, lays down, is peaceable again.

One of the most important steps you can take to help
calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken in a
flurry of overwrought emotion or desperation, thereby accidentally
contributing to the swale and the swirl.

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at
once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is
within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another
soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help
immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause
the
critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic
change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more,
continuing.

We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring
justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up
during the first, second, or hundredth gale.
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do
to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on
deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks,
can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch
fire.
To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be
fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery
and
greatest necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are
fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this
is
one of the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I
too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair
for it; I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The
reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is
that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth,
who you serve, and who sent you here.
The good words we say and the good deeds we do
are not ours: They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here.
In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall:
When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe,
there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.

This comes with much love and prayer that you remember
who you came from, and why you came to this beautiful,
needful Earth.

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