<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [OSLIST] Lots of Inspiring Words</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
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:<BR>
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.<BR>
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!<BR>
Thanks to all of you,<BR>
<BR>
Mayke<BR>
___________________________________________<BR>
essence - Beratung, Training, Coaching<BR>
Mayke Wagner<BR>
Hanser 3<BR>
88279 Amtzell<BR>
GERMANY<BR>
<BR>
mayke.wagner@t-e-a-m.org<BR>
Tel (+49) 07520 / 9232 02<BR>
visit us: <http://www.t-e-a-m.org><BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<B>Von: </B>anne stadler <annestad@nwlink.com><BR>
<B>Antworten an: </B>OSLIST <OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU><BR>
<B>Datum: </B>Mon, 1 Nov 2004 11:34:13 -0800<BR>
<B>An: </B>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>
<B>Betreff: </B>[OSLIST] Lots of Inspiring Words<BR>
<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT COLOR="#40007F"><FONT SIZE="4">Do Not Lose Heart<BR>
</FONT>by Clarissa Pinkola-Estes<BR>
author of Women Who Run With the Wolves<BR>
</FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have <BR>
heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. <BR>
They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now. <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Ours is a time of almost daily<BR>
astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest <BR>
degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.<BR>
<BR>
You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris <BR>
some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, <BR>
elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is <BR>
breathtaking. <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit <BR>
dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most <BR>
particularly because, the fact is, we were made for these times. <BR>
Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just <BR>
waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.<BR>
I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy <BR>
vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have <BR>
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 <BR>
before in the history of humankind... <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of<BR>
righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your <BR>
veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that <BR>
the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater <BR>
forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.<BR>
We have been in training for a dark time such as this, <BR>
since the day we assented to come to Earth. For many decades, worldwide, <BR>
souls just like us have been felled and left for dead, in so many ways, over <BR>
and over brought down by (word missing here), by lack of love, <BR>
by being ambushed and assaulted by various<BR>
cultural and personal shocks in the extreme. <BR>
We have a history of being gutted, and yet remember this especially, we have also, of necessity, perfected the knack of resurrection. <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Over and over again we have been the<BR>
living proof that that which has been exiled, lost, or <BR>
foundered can be restored to life again.<BR>
In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward <BR>
fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. <BR>
Do not focus on that. <BR>
There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by persevering <BR>
on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. <BR>
That is spending the wind without raising the sails. <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>We are needed, that is all we can know. <BR>
And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great <BR>
souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they <BR>
appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to <BR>
listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember <BR>
that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?<BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Understand the paradox: If you study the physics of a <BR>
waterspout, you will see that the outer vortex whirls far more quickly than <BR>
the inner one. To calm the storm means to quiet the outer layer, to cause <BR>
it to swirl much less, to more evenly match the velocity of the inner core -<BR>
till whatever has been lifted into such a vicious funnel falls back to <BR>
Earth, lays down, is peaceable again. <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>One of the most important steps you can take to help<BR>
calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken in a <BR>
flurry of overwrought emotion or desperation, thereby accidentally <BR>
contributing to the swale and the swirl.<BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at <BR>
once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is <BR>
within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another <BR>
soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help <BR>
immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the <BR>
critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic <BR>
change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, <BR>
continuing. <BR>
</B></FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#40007F"><B>We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring <BR>
justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up <BR>
during the first, second, or hundredth gale.<BR>
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do <BR>
to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on <BR>
deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, <BR>
can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. <BR>
To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be <BR>
fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and <BR>
greatest necessity.<BR>
<BR>
Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are <BR>
fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is <BR>
one of the strongest things you can do.<BR>
<BR>
There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I <BR>
too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair <BR>
for it; I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The <BR>
reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is <BR>
that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, <BR>
who you serve, and who sent you here. <BR>
The good words we say and the good deeds we do <BR>
are not ours: They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. <BR>
In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall:<BR>
When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, <BR>
there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.<BR>
<BR>
This comes with much love and prayer that you remember <BR>
who you came from, and why you came to this beautiful,<BR>
needful Earth.<BR>
<BR>
</B></FONT><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
* * ========================================================== OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist <BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
</BODY>
</HTML>
*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist