Preface

Freedom is one of the most cherished words in American life—and one of the most contested. Rev Tim Boeve looks beyond freedom as private permission or national mythology. In this guest reflection he draws from the Declaration of Independence, scripture, history, and the voices of contemporary public figures, and asks what freedom requires of us where we are now. The gratitude we feel for what we’ve inherited beckons responsibility for one another’s dignity, safety, belonging, and human expression for all.

We just watched a film depicting Eleanor Roosevelt’s deeply humanitarian leadership in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, it became a foundational bill of rights for people around the world. May the United States remember now what the world affirmed then.

--Colleen Akiko

True Freedom: What We Owe One Another

by Rev Tim Boeve

My hope is to say something about freedom that is relevant to this moment—and also to all times and places.

Patriotism and the Promise of Liberty

While thinking about this subject over breakfast, I read a Fourth of July column by former CBS News anchor Dan Rather. He described patriotism as a deep love of country joined to civic duty and a commitment to foundational ideals, especially freedom and liberty. He also made an essential distinction: patriotism does not belong to one political party, one region, one voting bloc, or one president.

That understanding matters. The signing of the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago was an act of enormous courage. Fifty-six delegates placed their names beneath a claim that challenged monarchy and inherited rank: human beings possess rights that no ruler may rightfully take away.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson has called the Declaration an astonishingly radical document because it asserted, in a world long organized around wealth and status at birth, that no man was born better than another. Yet the document’s promise was larger than the men who signed it—and far larger than the society they were prepared to create.

We can recognize the limitations and contradictions of the founders without denying the magnitude of what they began. They were people of their time. But the principle they set down was capable of judging their time—and ours.

The Promise Was Incomplete

The Declaration proclaimed that “all men are created equal,” but the political freedom its signers sought did not include enslaved Black people, women, or Indigenous peoples. Thomas Jefferson himself enslaved human beings while writing words that would eventually be used to challenge slavery, exclusion, and second-class citizenship.

Their language of equality may have been shaped, at least in part, by religious ideas familiar to them. Genesis says that human beings are created in the image of God. In Galatians, Paul writes that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for all are one. Even so, the nation required a Civil War, constitutional amendments, sustained organizing, protest movements, legislation, and generations of sacrifice to extend its stated ideals more fully.

We can recognize the limitations and contradictions of the founders without denying the magnitude of what they began. They were people of their time. But the principle they set down was capable of judging their time—and ours.

Freedom is not only something we inherit. It is something we practice and protect.

Freedom Can Move Backward

The rights won through struggle are not self-maintaining. The freedoms of people across race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and identity can be weakened when fear, resentment, or power goes unchallenged.

Many Americans felt deep pride when the country elected its first Black president. Yet history does not move forward in a straight line. Progress can be followed by backlash. The moral arc described by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. bends toward justice only because people take hold of it and bend with courage, discipline, and love.

Those of us who seek to live by faith and conscience must therefore ask what this moment requires. What actions can we take? What letters can we write? What communities can we strengthen? What leaders committed to justice can we support?

Freedom is not only something we inherit. It is something we practice and protect.

No One Is Free Alone

The familiar claim that no one is free unless everyone is free expresses a difficult truth: liberty is both individual and collective. When one group is oppressed, everyone else’s freedom becomes more fragile and morally incomplete.

Across spiritual and ethical traditions, freedom is inseparable from how we treat people made vulnerable. In the Christian Gospel of Matthew, Jesus identifies himself with those who are hungry, thirsty, estranged, unclothed, sick, and imprisoned. Other traditions likewise teach compassion, hospitality, shared responsibility, and reverence for human dignity. The measure is not what we profess, but how we respond. In our own time, that circle of care must include LGBTQ+ people and all others whose dignity, safety, or equality is threatened.

To honor freedom, then, is to care for people who have less access to it. It is to feed the hungry, tend the sick, welcome the stranger, house the unhoused, visit the imprisoned, and make room for those pushed to the margins.

... Domination violates the deep pattern of life.

The Seed of Freedom

There is also an impulse toward freedom at the core of human life. Perhaps that is why we delight in birds in flight, animals running freely, and children absorbed in carefree play. The old song “Born Free” gave language to this intuition: freedom feels like a birthright, a movement of the heart toward life.

That desire has animated social movements across generations. It is one reason caring people cannot remain indifferent to oppression—whether human or animal. Something in us recognizes that domination violates the deep pattern of life.

Freedom separated from responsibility easily becomes license. Privilege without conscience becomes another form of captivity.

Freedom Under Unequal Conditions

Many of us were born into conditions that allowed the seed of freedom to grow: safety, medical care, loving families, education, and opportunities to create and thrive. Many others are born into circumstances that constrict freedom from the beginning.

Poverty, violence, racism, abandonment, addiction, and untreated trauma can narrow a person’s sense of possibility. Our prisons are filled with people whose early lives offered little room to become, create, or belong. Incarceration then removes what little freedom remained.

And yet inner freedom can emerge even in confinement. People behind bars have discovered dignity, spiritual awakening, accountability, purpose, and love in places designed to restrict nearly every choice. That does not excuse injustice or erase harm. It does reveal how persistent the human longing for freedom can be.

At the same time, some people with enormous privilege use their freedom not to widen possibility for others, but to accumulate more than they need and exploit those with less power. Freedom separated from responsibility easily becomes license. Privilege without conscience becomes another form of captivity.

Love tells the truth. Love refuses exclusion. Love remains present long enough to repair what is broken.

Patriotism Without Pretending

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered another vision of patriotism in remarks marking the nation’s 250th birthday. He argued that love of country does not require pretending the country is flawless. Patriotism can be expressed through righteous dissent, marches, protests, and the refusal to abandon the nation’s unfinished promise.

That is the kind of patriotism this moment asks of us: not blind praise, and not cynical rejection, but committed love. Love tells the truth. Love refuses exclusion. Love remains present long enough to repair what is broken.

A New Dawning of Freedom

May we use the freedom we cherish to work for the freedom of all people. May we help build an America in which every person is treated with equality and justice; the hungry are fed; the sick are cared for; the unclothed are clothed; the unhoused are housed; the isolated are welcomed into community; and everyone has a place of belonging.

And may the dimmed hopes of so many brighten with a new dawning of true freedom for everyone.

About Rev. Tim Boeve

Tim is an ecumenical minister presently serving at Olympic Valley Chapel in North Lake Tahoe. He was also a director in the nonprofit sector and chaplain for Sonoma Raceway in Northern California before moving to Mexico in 2018. Offering an open, personable style and non-dogmatic approach, Tim is most keenly interested in evolving his own spiritual growth and nurturing that impulse in others.

Postlude (Colleen Akiko)

Freedom becomes real through practice. This week, let’s consider one concrete way to widen another person’s freedom: make a call, write a letter, support a trusted community organization, welcome someone who feels outside the circle, or listen with a heart wide open. The work does not have to be grand to be faithful. In the words of Mother Teresa:

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

Source Notes

Dan Rather and Team Steady, “America,” July 4, 2026:

Steady

America

Patriotism can mean different things to different people. For me, patriotism is a deep love for one’s country, rooted in civic pride and duty, coupled with a commitment to uphold America’s foundational ideals, chief among them freedom and liberty…

Read more

23 days ago · 2611 likes · 316 comments · Dan Rather and Team Steady

Heather Cox Richardson, “July 3, 2026”:

Office of the Mayor of New York City, “Mayor Mamdani Delivers Address Marking America’s 250th Birthday,” July 3, 2026: https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/07/remarks-as-prepared--mayor-mamdani-delivers-address-marking-amer

Leave a comment

Recognized by Forbes as one of the pioneering “10 Women Driving Growth in Wealth Management and Investing,” Leisa spearheads “The Mindful Millionaire” and “Art of Abundance” podcasts, the Mindful Millionaire Youtube channel, and she also writes a compelling Substack blog called Equal Stake that speaks straight to the moment we’re in now. In fact, we dive straight into a post of hers, titled, “They want us fighting each other forever. “

In this first episode, we name what’s been quietly shaping so much of our stress and division: a scarcity-based trance that keeps people reactive and exhausted. We talk about paradox—how to hold fear and still move forward, how to seek unity without losing boundaries, and what “transcendence” actually means in real life.

Colleen: I feel so delighted to have Leisa Peterson with me. We’ve known each other for years, and I’m so grateful you’re here with us. I resonate so much with what you’ve been writing this past year, and I couldn’t not invite you to come share.

I don’t want to get too goopy about how much I admire you, but I felt prompted to reach out right away after I read a recent post — I don’t even remember the title — but it started with: “They want us fighting each other forever.” You wrote about becoming aware of patterns and looking at the structure of what’s happening. There are so many quotable lines in what you wrote.

It feels like a hurricane right now. I guess we dive in, swirl around, and find our footing. And sometimes when we talk about it, we realize: this is what’s happening — but this is not who I am. What a relief.

Leisa: So true. Thank you so much, Colleen, for having me — and thank you to everyone listening.

I think being in community, connecting with each other, is really important — even when we don’t have words or we don’t know what to say. I don’t always talk about this with people because I don’t know where to start, and we don’t always know where someone’s coming from. I don’t want to add to anyone’s suffering or burden.

So maybe it’s healthy for others to listen to this conversation, because we’re both saying: it’s okay. It’s safe to have this conversation. It’s safe to go there.

How do we become more educated about what’s happening? And even more important: how do we take good care of ourselves while we’re learning about it?

As you know, I started my business twelve years ago when I was living in Truckee. It came out of a desire to help people understand the conversations that weren’t happening around money — conversations I knew needed to happen. I’d been in financial services for more than two decades, and I wanted to help people feel more empowered around money and all that it means in the society we live in.

What’s interesting is: all that I learned over those years still didn’t quite give me permission to open the conversation I started writing about about a year and a half ago — the things we’re going to be talking about today. It was scary to open it up because I worried I might upset people or make them uncomfortable.

But inside myself, I knew I couldn’t hold back. I’ve been writing on Substack for over a year now, and it’s coming from this place of: do the research, get educated about what’s going on, don’t be reactive — learn how to be responsive inside a situation that I could feel in my heart was wrong.

Not because I have all the answers. Not because I know what we’re “supposed” to do. But because I’m deeply interested in: how do we become more educated about what’s happening? And even more important: how do we take good care of ourselves while we’re learning about it?

Colleen: I love how holistic your approach is. And the very principles you started with around money apply to everything. That’s an “acid test,” isn’t it? If something is true, it doesn’t only apply to one corner of life.

You’ve traveled from one awkward spot to another in these conversations. Honestly, when I first started reading your posts about what was happening in our country — and in leadership — I was surprised at first. But then I thought, well of course. It’s the same principles, just seen from another angle.

Could you share those basic principles to get us started?

Leisa: Yes. The lens I look through is scarcity — and what’s actually happening in a society that is one of the wealthiest in the world.

On average, per capita, we have a lot of wealth — and yet we live in a culture where there’s never enough. Throughout my life, including my own situation growing up, it felt like there was never enough, and I was scared about being okay. My parents didn’t have college educations. They were working class. They weren’t well educated about money, so they got into debt — and I became the kid who would answer the phone and tell bill collectors, “They’re not here.”

That was my foundation. So I probably paid more attention to these issues — even after I got a college degree, my MBA, and worked in higher-paying finance roles. I’ve always watched how people live, and I kept wondering: why is there such massive poverty in the United States? Why is this happening?

This isn’t simply about how hard someone works. It’s deeply rooted in the formation of the United States — patterns of control and manipulation that benefit the “haves,” the ones who have the most.

For a long time, I believed the narrative: people just need to work harder. And even though I knew racism was a problem, I didn’t understand the deeper ways it operates — because these things aren’t regularly taught. In my MBA program, they didn’t talk about economic disparities. Unless you go down that rabbit hole, you don’t learn what’s going on — especially if you live in your own bubble, like I did, in an upper-middle-class bubble.

The more I learned through research, books, conversations, and paying attention, the more I realized: this isn’t simply about how hard someone works. It’s deeply rooted in the formation of the United States — patterns of control and manipulation that benefit the “haves,” the ones who have the most.

And it humbled me. Because twelve years of helping people with their relationship with money — in all fairness — didn’t change systemic issues. I helped individuals, yes, but I didn’t change the underlying machinery. And instead of things getting better, it’s been getting worse and worse.

I’ve wanted to look at all of this through spiritual understanding ... how do we transcend? ... Transcend means to come out of a trance.

And I want to say something clearly: someone could hear what I just said and assume I must be living in deep suffering because I’m empathetic to others. That’s true — I am empathetic — and at the same time, for the past twenty-six years, I’ve been on a deeply spiritual journey of awakening.

I’ve studied every major religion. I’ve sat at the feet of incredible teachers — some who are no longer alive — and it feels like I was supposed to meet them before they passed. That wisdom showed me a completely different way of living than a conventional model.

So I’m both. I understand capitalism. I don’t think money itself is “bad.” Making money, saving, investing — those aren’t the enemy.

But I’ve wanted to look at all of this through spiritual understanding. That’s where the most interesting revelations have come. My writing is practical, but it’s also deeply spiritual. I’m looking at: how do we transcend?

And we hear that word, but we don’t always know what it means. Transcend means to come out of a trance.

And what I hope is happening — and will happen for more people — is we come out of a trance around capitalism. We come out of the trance that says there isn’t enough for everyone to have food, to not live in extreme poverty — not just here, but around the world.

I think it’s time to come out of a trance that we’ve been trained in, but that isn’t actually the truth of life.

What I hope is happening — and will happen for more people — is we come out of a trance around capitalism. We come out of the trance that says there isn’t enough for everyone to have food, to not live in extreme poverty — not just here, but around the world.

Colleen: Mm-hmm. I was thinking of something I believe is from Sandra Bloom — that real problems are denied, and therefore conflicts can’t be resolved.

I wonder if your twenty-six years of spiritual teaching served to dissolve the screaming illusions of our day — the stories that demand our attention. They’re blaring, and lately they feel foul. Part of us wants to cower away from them.

But when we’re rooted in what’s real — what’s unaffected by the noise — we can stay humble, because we know it’s all gift. And yet the illusions can scream in our face, and they still aren’t what’s real.

Without at least a glimpse of awakening, it can feel like we’re cornered. I read part of a The New York Times piece recently about people feeling shellshocked — literally shellshocked.

When we’re in that knowing place — when we’ve transcended what’s false — we can recognize: this is a scary movie. And part of me is grateful I’ll walk out of the theater eventually, because it’s doing a number on my nervous system.

There’s so much day-to-day trauma. We’re tripping over it emotionally, but we don’t always know what we’re tripping over — what’s happening around us, what’s being activated inside us, or both.

Right now it can feel like there’s a scarcity of peace, truth, wellbeing. And when we’re in that knowing place — when we’ve transcended what’s false — we can recognize: this is a scary movie. And part of me is grateful I’ll walk out of the theater eventually, because it’s doing a number on my nervous system.

I printed one of your posts and highlighted it all over. I’d love to shoot out some quotes and let you unpack them, because there’s so much here.

Leisa: Before you do, let me add one thing, because I think it gives context.

I’m white, and I’m speaking from a white woman’s perspective. In the United States, many of us haven’t been forced to live in paradox at the level we’re being asked to now.

Paradox is the “both/and.” Not either/or.

...feel fear and still move forward — not telling ourselves fear is wrong, but letting it inform us. If I wasn’t afraid, I might not take action. So: fear and action. Both.

I wrote a post today about the idea that we’re in training. Everyone is in training right now. We’re going to be living in a future world that isn’t the same as the past, and we need to understand paradox in many situations — and feel comfortable enough not to be frozen by paradox.

That’s a high level of consciousness: to feel fear and still move forward — not telling ourselves fear is wrong, but letting it inform us. If I wasn’t afraid, I might not take action. So: fear and action. Both. And it’s okay.

A lot of what I write, I think, people sit with for a while — because it’s hard to get our heads around: what do we do next?

So — bring your questions.

Colleen: Thank you. And yes, we could do podcasts on all your posts. They’re meaty.

You talk about paradox like: I believe in unity, and I also believe in boundaries. That dance feels real. And to even engage the dance, I feel like I have to take off the heavy coat and boots — all the weight that drags me down — so I can stay fluid enough to move through the valley we’re in.

It’s the dance of being an eternal being with physical feet walking through the mud. How do I not get stuck?

Unity doesn’t mean every box needs to be checked. We need a hierarchy: what are the top issues we’re working toward?

Leisa: Right. And that unity and boundaries piece is huge. In the past I thought “like-minded” meant: we agree on a lot of boxes, so of course we enjoy each other.

But that can be a blessing and a curse, because if we’re trying to come together — with hundreds of millions of people — we’re never going to come to perfect agreement.

Unity doesn’t mean every box needs to be checked. We need a hierarchy: what are the top issues we’re working toward? What do we want?

And then we have boundaries — like: it’s okay that we don’t agree on everything. We can’t even always find agreement with our partners, much less strangers.

We need to learn how to work together. Any change we want on the planet won’t be one person. This is the time of large groups learning how to work together.

Thank you and stay tuned for Part 2 of this series with Leisa Peterson, Coming Out of the Trance. Find more about Leisa at wealthclinic.com, And discover more resources and your invitation to the free Bowl of Light Café community at SongRise.live.

Remember, as Leisa reminded us, “Love is who we are at the core, but it takes nurturing over time.” Take good care.

Leave a comment

With the United States at war again, public conversation tends to split into two exhausted lanes: headline reactions and helplessness. Dan Strawn offers a third lane: memory, context, and moral clarity.

Dan is an 87-year-old American citizen who offers an elder’s long view. He voted for the first time in 1959. He writes not as a pundit, but someone who has watched our country repeat the same moves for decades—and who still believes citizens have a responsibility to look straight at what war costs.

In his first guest post of his series, A COLLAGE OF WAR, Dan turns to President Dwight D. Eisenhower—war hero, president, and unlikely critic of war’s real price tag. You might notice how Eisenhower’s words don’t soften what’s true -- they sharpen it. He emphasizes that war drains the human future, and examines the moral threshold for starting it.

Read Dan’s reflection as an invitation to slow down, ignore drive-by opinions, and sit with a hard question: what are we sacrificing—without noticing—when war becomes part of the routine?

THE POST:

I couldn’t vote until I was twenty-one. That was the law in the 1950’s. I turned twenty-one in August of 1959, which meant I could vote for the first time in the coming November if I registered in time. After my birthday, I registered as fast as I could get to the registration office.

I registered as a Republican mostly because I admired President Eisenhower for his contributions as both supreme commander of the allied armies in western Europe in World War II and President of the United States for the past two terms.

Out of curiosity, I wondered what President Eisenhower would have to say about our current president when he attacked Iran in mid negotiation. So I looked on the internet. Here are two quotes of the many I found:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.”
—(speech in Ottawa, Canada, January 10, 1946.)

“War is mankind’s most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is black crime against all men.”
—(emphasizing the moral responsibility to avoid war.)

I couldn’t agree with him more.

Eisenhower held a deep conviction that war is both morally wrong and strategically dangerous. He felt that peace, preparedness, and moral leadership are essential to safeguarding freedom and human dignity. My impressions from reading his multiple quotes about war made it clear that his only justification for waging war was in defense from an attacker.

No caring person can honestly disagree with Eisenhower’s convictions about war. Why then, I wonder, is Congress sitting on their hands while our president commits piracy on the high seas, and attacks Iran Pearl-Harbor-style in the midst of negotiations?

Something to think about—that’s all for today. I’ll be back in a few days to talk about other follies Washington D.C. is committing with total disregard for the Constitution and—based on the current ratings of Congress, the Supreme Court, and President Trump—the obvious will of November’s electorate.
—Dan Strawn, American patriot working to Make America Good Again.

A closing note from Colleen:

Thank you for reading. If this stirred anger, grief, agreement, or pushback, recognize that any of these are normal human responses to abnormal times.

If you’d like a free, relaxed place to slow down and reflect with others—without having to feign certainty—you’re welcome in the online Bowl of Light Café.

Visit SongRise.live and use the Bowl of Light Café link at the top. See you there!

—Colleen Akiko

Leave a comment

PROLOGUE (Colleen):

This guest post is written by 87-year-old American citizen Dan Strawn—an elder with a long view and no appetite for theatre.

We’ve all heard plenty of “qualified opinions” about this non-war war. So why read one more?

Because in a political dust storm, we can lose our bearings without noticing. Blind spots don’t show up with sirens; they quietly become “normal” — especially when the news keeps kicking up fresh debris.

So here’s the question I hold as I read Dan’s words: Am I more devoted to defending my stance -- or to seeing the truth through the lens of historical fact?

Dan isn’t selling a side. He offers a wider frame—one that asks us to slow down and consider what history reveals when we allow our hearts to settle long enough to actually see.

Here is Dan’s perspective — elder-clear and citizen awake.

(Dan Strawn):

Today I want to talk about war.

I was 64, soon to be 65 in March of 2003 when I penned the following poem just prior to the invasion of Iraq:

A Patriot’s Letter
© Dan Strawn 2003

Dear Mr. President:
When you embrace Saddam
In that
Grave Dance of Death
When you and he
Wage war
Remember this
Blessed are the peace makers
From High on Mt. Olympus
The wails of mourning mothers
In Bagdad and Boise
Sound the same

Now I’m 87, soon to be 88. My old eyes see clearly. What I see is reinforced by the wisdom that comes by living a lifetime of doing some things right counterbalanced by some other things that were, in retrospect, foolish.

My view of our present national status is bleak, our future is dismal, and our stellar reputation in the world is diminished. The direct cause is President Trump’s obvious lack of character and compassion, poor management skills, apparent inability to avoid lying even when telling the truth would benefit him, and a host of other low caliber traits.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, he started a war.

He didn’t declare one, since doing so requires an okay from the House of Representatives. He just attacked in mid-negotiations with Iran, which was a complete surprise to them as well as the rest of the world.

Surprise attack. That’s not the kind of thing nations do to countries you’re negotiating with. Historically, it more often ends up with the attacker on the worst end of the outcome.

Japan learned that the hard way when they attacked Pearl Harbor while we were negotiating with them. They had intensions to declare war before the attack, but their five-thousand word declaration of war was delivered too late to their embassy in Washington D.C. The Japanese ambassador delivered the decoded declaration two hours after the attack. The Japanese intention was to have it delivered about the time their planes were flying off the decks of the aircraft carriers.

Tension was high. We had solved the Japanese code and knew something was likely to happen but had no idea when or where. But neither we nor they had fired a shot until Japan’s surprise attack. The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war.

A declaration of war. That’s yet to happen in the war Trump started.

Think about this: What President Trump is bragging about is how we have supposedly neutralized Iran’s ability to fight back. Weeks have elapsed; the state of Trump’s war is now being negotiated. It is a long way off from being resolved. The World Waits—Despicable!

Trump has gotten himself in a real pickle and sullied the world’s respect for what we in America spent two and a half centuries to establish.

I knew we were going to war when President Trump changed the name of The Department of Defense to Department of War.

“That’s a sure sign he intends to negotiate with power rather than negotiation,” I said to myself. “I wonder how long it will be before we are at war with somebody.“

It wasn’t long—a month? two? certainly no more than three!—and Trump had the United States Navy blowing defenseless boats out of international waters off the coast of Venezuela.

Folks, I have studied our country’s history for seventy-seven of my eighty-seven years. In our country’s infancy, we sent the Marines to the shores of Tripoli, Libya. Yes, it is the Tripoli in the Marine Corps hymn. The Marines’ mission: stop Libya from attacking our merchant ships in international water.

Doing what the Libyans did to our ships back then was piracy. It is piracy today, no matter who chooses to do it. We shouldn’t be surprised that Trump became a pirate by using our country’s armed forces. A trait of his business negotiation style was to bully the little guys, knowing they lacked the ability to hold out — Shameful! Cowardly!

Never mind the fact that killing combatants unable to defend themselves flies in the face of our Navy’s attack protocols. Never mind the fact that we have values that say all people, not just American citizen’s, have a right to a trial before we kill them, unless of course they are trying to kill us, which was hardly proven when they were blown out of the water by those carrying out President Trump’s orders — Despicable!

In my seasoned-by-time mind, there is only one reason for a nation to go to war with another nation: the other nation attacked them first.

Accordingly, nations who attack first without positive proof of their adversaries’ nefarious intent have never justified the lives wasted and human-progress stalled by waging war. Hence the poem I wrote at the top of this essay.

So what are we to do? We have a chief executive who is in over his head in a war he started by attacking in the middle of negotiations. His only defense is laughable: “In my opinion,” he said, “we had to attack first because they were going to attack first,” or words to that effect.

Huh…

In my career in business management, an opinion was nothing more than a verbalized wish unless it was backed up with facts.

Trump, for the record, was informed by our own experts that Iran had neither the intent now nor the capability to attack us in America for an estimated ten years. So his opinion falls in the wish category .I wonder how he can sleep at night, knowing that the realization of his wish—just for starters—cost at least 150 Iranian girls their lives in the war’s opening hours.

It doesn’t matter which country directed the missile, or why. Those precious little girls were murdered inside their elementary school. It would have never happened if Trump had stashed his wish and focused on negotiating — Shameful! Disgraceful! An Unnecessary Tragedy!—that those little girls became what the military calls collateral damage instead of growing up, falling in love, raising children, and…and…living long lives! — Indefensible!

War should never have been waged.

I’m not here to tell you what to do in November. But I know what I’m going to do.

I’m going to vote for the party that will disable President Trump by: (1) holding him to the terms of the budget The House of Representatives built, and (2) checkmating him and any future presidents from unilaterally waging war.

Rest assured, I will vote for the party that does the most to neutralize Trump. I hope you see why and I encourage you to do likewise.

I’ll be back soon with a collage of war-poems and prose that speak to why we humans, not just we Americans, have to put war in our past.

Don’t forget—

“Blessed are the Peace Makers!
for they will be called the children of God
--Matthew 5:9

From High on Mt. Olympus
The wails of mourning mothers
In Bagdad and Boise
Sound the same

These words were true when I wrote them in 2003,
they are true today, and were true
when Zeus and Hera ruled on Mt Olympus.

So, there you have it. I’ll be back soon,

--Dan Strawn, an American who is working to Make America Good Again.

Thank you for reading. If you’d like, share your thoughts on this post in the comments. And if reflecting feels easier with company, you’re welcome in the Bowl of Light Café — a free online space to rest, refuel and reconnect, together. You can also find your invitation at SongRise.live.

--Colleen

Subscribe now

Leave a comment

Share

Preface:

In these tumultuous days, we may feel we are faced with only two choices: a bad one and a worse one.

The necessary gift we offer in this world is our attention. Since attention takes time, that, too, is part of the gift—or, to some, our currency. Keeping up with intense news stories can feel relentless: one tragedy demands our attention immediately after another.

So where do I place my attention? Do I scatter it widely, or do I find—perhaps pray for—a cause worthy of my deeper attention, and get more thorough with understanding it?

Going wide and shallow feels like surrendering my attention without intention.

What if there is a third choice beyond the bad choice and the worse choice: a deeply true choice? A choice willing to get down to the under-layer, to lift the edge of this heavy rug and look directly at the lump we keep pretending isn’t there?

That’s what I believe Leisa Peterson is doing. By telling us—in plain citizen language—what she sees, she’s holding a flashlight to what’s been swept under the rug: naming patterns and origins plainly, without trying to weaponize them.

She advocates taking a long moment to turn our attention inward, regularly. There, we can tune into steadier clarity and become familiar with it. Then, with Leisa’s light still trained on the “lump,” we can stay present long enough to see what’s actually there—together.

This is the beginning of seeing what’s been covered up—and revealing a sturdy, beautiful floor that’s been there all along, waiting to hold us.

Below is Leisa’s piece—an unflinching look at the patterns shaping our moment, where they come from, and what it takes to stay human inside them.

--Colleen Akiko

Originally published April 15, 2026 on Leisa Peterson’s Substack, Equal Stake:

I want to ask a question that most political writers won’t ask because the answer is too uncomfortable.

What if the United States government cannot be fixed?

Not because the right people haven’t tried. Not because we lack good ideas or policy solutions. But because the system was never designed, not even in its most idealistic moments, to produce the future most of us actually want.

Think about what that future looks like. A society where women and men of every race hold equal power and equal rights. Where healthcare and housing are treated as human needs, not market opportunities. Where the planet is governed with the urgency it demands. Where no one is imprisoned for being poor or sick or different. Where political power cannot be purchased. Where children inherit a world worth living in.

Now look at the document the system is built on.

The Constitution was written in 1787 by 55 men, all white, most of them slaveholders, designing a government to protect their property, their class, and their power. They feared monarchy, yes. But they feared popular democracy just as much. The Senate, the Electoral College, lifetime judicial appointments, the amendment process requiring near unanimous agreement — these were not bugs. They were features. Friction built in to slow change. Moats dug around existing power.

They could not have imagined a multiracial democracy. They were not trying to.

So when we ask why healthcare isn’t universal, why the racial wealth gap persists, why climate legislation dies in committee, why women’s equal rights are still not in the Constitution, we keep looking for the malfunction. The broken gear. The corrupted actor.

But what if there is no malfunction? What if the machine is doing exactly what it was built to do?

I went to Claude.ai and asked it to help me think through this. First I asked it to name what the system actually is and we had some back and forth conversations because it didn’t give me what is below at first - it was very sterile and what you would expect but I pushed back for the story under the story and even more.

SO, then I asked what it would take to change it. The answers were clarifying in a way that unsettled me, not because they were radical, but because they were so plainly, structurally true.

Here is what it said.

Part One: What Is This System, Actually?

Here is what I asked:

“What are the components of governance that apply to the US system — representative democracy, the judiciary relying on interpretation, a police state, racism — what is it?”

And here is what Claude said (after some back and forth):

The US system is a constitutional federal republic with several interlocking governance components.

The Formal Structure. The US is built on a separation of powers across three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Add federalism, meaning power is split between the federal government and 50 state governments, each with their own laws, courts, and enforcement.

The Electoral System. A two party duopoly, not written into the Constitution but baked in through winner takes all elections, ballot access laws, and campaign finance structures that squeeze out third parties. The two parties function more like coalitions than ideologically coherent parties.

The Judicial System. Courts, especially the Supreme Court, have the power to strike down laws based on constitutional interpretation. Nine unelected justices hold enormous political power. Law is not fixed. It shifts based on who holds the court.

The Enforcement Architecture. Over 18,000 separate law enforcement agencies operating at federal, state, county, and municipal levels with minimal unified oversight. Paired with the world’s largest incarceration rate, this amounts to a carceral state embedded inside a democracy.

Structural Racism. Not a bug but a founding feature. The Constitution itself encoded racial hierarchy. What followed — Jim Crow, redlining, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, voter suppression — represents racism institutionalized through law, not individual prejudice.

The Missing Term: Plutocracy. Wealth translates directly into political power through lobbying, campaign finance, regulatory capture, and revolving doors between industry and government. Political scientists Gilens and Page found that US policy tracks elite preferences, not public opinion.

So what IS it? The most accurate composite term is a constitutional oligarchy with democratic features, or what scholar Robert Dahl called a polyarchy: a system with competitive elections and civil liberties, but where actual policy power is concentrated among elites, shaped by racial hierarchy, and enforced through a sprawling carceral apparatus.

It is not a pure democracy. It was never designed to be.

**

I want you to sit with all of this now… because that was a LOT and I had to sit with it for several weeks before I could continue writing this.

The US has not ever been a pure democracy. There are exceptions worth naming. Social Security. Medicare. Women’s suffrage. Civil rights. Each one genuinely disruptive. Each one bitterly fought. Each one either under threat today or still incomplete. The system does not give ground easily. And it works to take it back.

I knew this but I hadn’t really understood how it wasn’t broken. How it was very cleverly designed to keep the powerful in power.

If that is true, then everything changes. Not just the strategy. The whole premise. Because you cannot reform your way out of a foundation. You have to decide whether to build a new one. What would it take to design something genuinely different? Something built for everyone? The answer surprised me in its clarity and its size. I will explore that in Part II.

—Leisa Peterson

Thank you for reading this vital post. How is it landing with you? You can find the subsequent parts to this vital message on Leisa Peterson’s Substack, Equal Stake.

If you’d like a free place to slow down and practice presence, reflection, and restoration with others, you’re welcome in the online Bowl of Light Café. Come through the back door by visiting SongRise.live and click the Bowl of Light Café link at the top. —Colleen

Leave a comment

Forgiveness can feel like betrayal when the harm is real. If you’re feeling resistant, you’re not broken—you’re human. As you read Sue’s guest post below, notice what and where your body may react with tightening, heat, numbness... Know that you are invited to hold two truths at once: we can work wholeheartedly for justice AND refuse to let hatred take over our inner life. Forgiveness is NOT approval, and it doesn’t replace action. If you’d like, share in the comments: what part of forgiveness feels impossible right now—and what kind of support could make it even slightly more doable? —Colleen

Introducing Sue Pipal:

In this tumultuous moment of history, we’re grateful to offer this guest post by Sue Pipal. Sue has been a student of A Course in Miracles since the 1980s, and has spent decades turning the idea of forgiveness into something you can actually practice—especially when it’s the last thing you feel like doing.

After years of experimentation and daily application, she developed grounded, practical ways to forgive difficult people and painful events without bypassing reality.

She’s the author of Forgiveness Is the Key to Happiness (2013), writes at forgiveandbehappy.com, and facilitates spiritual study groups through her local Centers for Spiritual Living community. A former UCLA student with a career background in advertising and interior design, Sue has lived in Lake Tahoe since 1997—where the mountains remain part of her medicine.

THE POST (from 1/31/2026 on forgiveandbehappy.com)

For those of us who practice forgiveness regularly, it often settles into a familiar routine: forgiving the same person over and over again.

That person is usually someone we spend a lot of time with. A spouse. A family member. A friend. A coworker.

People’s quirky or unconscious behavior can be annoying. And yes, it can be challenging to forgive them sometimes, especially when they do things that cause suffering for us.

But honestly, this kind of forgiveness is fairly run-of-the-mill compared to what is going on in the larger world around us today.

Right now, there is all kinds of “big” and frightening behavior that calls for forgiveness. Some of it requires what I would call expert-level forgiveness.

And for many of us in the United States, over the past months, we have been given a true Black Diamond assignment: Forgiving ICE.

What We Are Witnessing

We have watched agents mistakenly haul citizens into custody. We have seen families disrupted. Children arrested. People sent to war-torn African countries where they are promptly jailed. Due process ignored. Legal protections removed. Green card holders detained.

People disappearing, while families have no idea where they are.

And now, in some cases, we are witnessing protesters — people within their lawful rights to observe and record — being shot and killed.

It is frightening. It is terrible. And we are all watching it.

As a nation, we are uncomfortable. Upset. Tense. Traumatized. Confused. Angry. Heartbroken.

So the question becomes: What do we do with all of this? How do we even begin to process it?

What Will Not Heal This

First and foremost, anger, fear, and hatred are not the solution.

In fact, they are the greatest hindrance to any real solution.

They poison our minds. They harden our hearts. They block our connection to Spirit. They separate us from our own peace.

And as shocking as it may sound…

We must forgive ICE.

The idea of forgiving major trespassers is often completely contrary to logic. It feels like we are rewarding bad behavior. Like giving the school bully a hall pass.

It feels like we are rewarding bad behavior. Like giving the school bully a hall pass. Like excusing cruelty.

Why Forgiveness Feels So Wrong Here

The idea of forgiving major trespassers is often completely contrary to logic.

It feels like we are rewarding bad behavior. Like giving the school bully a hall pass. Like excusing cruelty.

It almost feels irresponsible.

But forgiveness is not a reward we hand out to “bad guys.”

It is something far deeper than that.

What Forgiveness Really Is

Forgiveness is a spiritual act.

It is how we affirm our love for all of humanity. It is how we recognize the great Oneness of the collective. It is how we stay connected to God.

It is how we express gratitude for the gift of life and love given to us by a Creator who made each one of us in His image — and loves us all equally.

Even when what we do here on psycho planet looks, to human eyes, like “bad behavior.”

In God’s mind, it is not “bad.”

It is unconscious.

It is free will being exercised without awareness.

God does not judge. God is always love.

Suffering must be forgiven. Not excused. Not ignored. Not justified. Forgiven.

When People Forget Who They Are

Sometimes we come here and forget who we are.

We forget our innate goodness. We forget that we are cherished. We forget that we are safe in God’s love.

We get caught up in fear, power, control, systems, and ego. We forget our truth.

And then we do selfish things. Stupid things. Harmful things.

Nobody is denying that real suffering is caused.

But what is undeniable is this:

That suffering must be forgiven.

Not excused. Not ignored. Not justified.

Forgiven.

Seeing With God’s Eyes

God sees the highest potential in all of us. He does not fixate on our worst moments. He does not define us by our lapses.

And that is what we are being asked to learn to do.

We can know that certain behaviors are wrong. We can work to change unjust systems. We can vote. Advocate. Speak. Act.

And at the same time…

We must forgive.

Because forgiveness is how we stay free.

Forgiveness is not about letting injustice continue. It is about refusing to let injustice destroy our souls.

Why We Must Do This for Ourselves

When we hold hatred, rage, and bitterness in our hearts, we suffer.

We lose access to Spirit. We lose clarity. We lose peace. We lose joy.

Our nervous systems become overwhelmed. Our minds become trapped in fear loops.

Forgiveness is not about letting injustice continue.

It is about refusing to let injustice destroy our souls.

(If you’d like to explore how forgiveness restores our connection to love, you might find this helpful: Unblocking Our Connection to Love)

The Spiritual Challenge of Our Time

This is not easy work.

This is advanced forgiveness.

This is where spiritual teachings become real — or remain theoretical.

It is easy to forgive people who apologize. It is harder to forgive people who don’t think they’ve done anything wrong. It is hardest to forgive institutions that cause widespread harm.

And yet…

This is exactly where forgiveness is most powerful.

Our Invitation

We are being invited to see deeper. To love wider. To forgive harder.

To hold this truth:

Every person involved — even when unconscious — is still created by God. Still loved. Still capable of awakening. Still more than their worst actions.

We can work for justice. We can pray for change. We can support the vulnerable.

And we can forgive.

All at once.

That is the hard work.

And that is the holy work.

--Sue Pipal

Gentle Next Steps -- from Colleen

If you’d like some nourishment for your next step, you can receive your free eGuide, Out of Your Head, Into Your Light, by simply typing “gift” in the simple form at the bottom of any page at SongRise.live.

And if this kind of inner work feels easier with companionship, come visit a free virtual space called the Bowl of Light Café—a relaxed place to gather and practice reflection, restoration and resourcing together.

Leave a comment

Thanks for reading WeBeTheChange! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome back to WeBeTheChange. In this third and final segment of the Coming Home to Soul series, I’m joined again by Tessa Lynn Alburn for an insightful conversation focused on developing a deeper connection with your soul. Together, we explore how to recognize all the patterns, form new habits, and honor the whispers of the soul. You’ll discover how to form lasting positive habits, manage discomfort, and balance holistic self-care by listening to small urges and making incremental changes. After all, it isn’t about striving -- it’s about remembering. (Transcript of S01 E24 of the WBTC Podcast)

Colleen: I restrained myself from reading your whole résumé—years in the corporate world, your work in music, and the healing modalities you move in so expertly and sensitively as a genuine, real person. The world is blessed to have people like you—rooted in service, helping people, and bringing frayed ends together so we can discover our wholeness and beauty.

Tessa: Thank you. Years ago when I was teaching scientific scuba at UCLA, I knew Dr. Glen Strom, who led the applied kinesiology department. I’d heard him teach techniques for preventing diving accidents.

Applied kinesiology research indicates it takes about 18–20 repetitions done correctly in a row for something to become a habit. If you do it five times and then panic or slip, you start over.

It sounds like a lot from one angle, but from another it’s encouraging: That’s all? If I’ve been suffering for years, doing something correctly 18–20 times feels doable—especially if we build it in small increments. We tend to attempt a “long jump” and expect 20 feet on day one. Not happening. But baby steps done over and over—suddenly you’re at 18, 19… and it’s not a big deal.

We want healthy, accountable choices at a pace that serves us, so we can reconnect with the part of us that wants to guide and love us through the rest of our lives. When that connection lands, moods and perceptions can shift profoundly in a moment of inner peace.

Colleen: And the tools don’t have to be painful. I once took one advanced yoga class while visiting Truckee, thinking, “I do a little yoga; I’ll be fine.”

I was sore for days. It wasn’t my practice. What we’re talking about here is different: holistic and humane.

Tessa: Exactly. A holistic approach cares for the whole being while making incremental changes. I used to coach inside the old “no pain, no gain” model—get out of pain, get to the good place.

But we can redefine “pain.” Sometimes it’s simply stretching into a bit of discomfort—not beating ourselves up or over-exercising to exhaustion.

We want healthy, accountable choices at a pace that serves us, so we can reconnect with the part of us that wants to guide and love us through the rest of our lives. When that connection lands, moods and perceptions can shift profoundly in a moment of inner peace.

Just asking begins a meaningful dialogue with Soul and reduces the brain’s vigilance.

Colleen: As you talk, I picture taking off a heavy backpack after a long trail. At first, that relief can be uncomfortable because my body had adapted to being compressed. When we’re used to constriction, spaciousness can feel unfamiliar, even “unsafe,” until we adjust. That’s why increments matter—we widen from this to this, just a little, and the total experience of life changes.

Tessa: Beautifully put. A couple more helps for deepening Soul-connection:

• Listen to the calling. If you feel drawn to oil paints, to bead furniture, to plant a garden your way—follow the small urges. When we give ourselves permission, Soul says, “Yes—finally.” That’s how we develop the muscle of inner dialogue.

• Ask better questions. We’re programmed to ask, “What’s wrong with me/them/this?” Instead, ask: “What could I learn here?” Your brain may protest—“That’s corny; stay with me; I’ll keep you safe”—but notice the protest and ask anyway. Just asking begins a meaningful dialogue with Soul and reduces the brain’s vigilance.

Colleen: Maybe we tell the busy mind, like a child in a forest: “I’m going to sit in that clearing for a few minutes. You’ll be fine on the log; we can see each other.” Years ago, the only quiet space I had as a mom was the bathroom—with the door locked. A few minutes was enough to touch base with what mattered. Sacred time.

Tessa: I love that. And yes—self-care isn’t only surface-level. It’s the inner care of listening and honoring what we’re feeling with kindness. We don’t need to beat ourselves up to motivate change. That model doesn’t work.

If we’re locked into defensive energy, we’re not listening deeply yet. Stay open to something you haven’t heard before.

Colleen: Our quota for self-punishment is full.

Tessa: Exactly. Try this reframe:

• For 15 minutes, no vigilance. There’s no fire, no bear. Just know, “I’m safe.”

• Then acknowledge: “I have uncomfortable feelings; I’m going to explore them and see what I can learn.” That’s curiosity without pre-loading an answer.

Here’s an example of what not to do: someone has a competitive kerfuffle at work and goes home to “learn the lesson,” sits down, and hears: “Those guys are jerks; avoid them.” That’s still protection, not Soul. If we’re locked into defensive energy, we’re not listening deeply yet. Stay open to something you haven’t heard before.

Colleen: Yes. That openness feels like stepping into the clearing.

Tessa: Right. And if you practice Reiki or prayer or breathwork—use a two-minute sanctuary wherever you are. Short sacred touch-points shift the day.

Colleen: You’re one of those rare guides who meets people where they are—helping bring the picture into focus so they can recognize, “That’s me. That’s beautiful.” Your clarity from the corporate years and instructional design shows up in how digestible your teaching is.

Tessa: Thank you—that means a lot.

Colleen: If anyone wishes to connect with you, they can reach out through the contact form at the bottom of any page at SongRise.live. We’ll round up some bonus resources as well, for those who want to go deeper.

Tessa: Fantastic. Thanks again for having me.

PROLOGUE

What if change isn’t about fixing, but listening? As we close this series with Tessa Lynn Alburn, make a little space to notice what your Soul might be saying beneath the noise of the day.

Quiet nudges and small yeses—this is how we “be the change” -- by returning gently and consistently to who we’ve been all along.

Access resources and the free e-guide, Out of Your Mind, Into Your Light at SongRise.live

I’m Colleen Akiko, wishing you warm connections as we all make our way home, together.

Leave a comment

Thanks for reading We Be The Change! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

Join this deeply practical conversation with Spiritual Guide and Soul Connection Coach, Tessa Alburn as we explore moving from fear-driven survival into sovereignty.

PROLOGUE:

Welcome to WeBeTheChange. This episode is part two of a very special interview with Tessa Alburn in the series Coming Home to Soul. This nourishing conversation opens the way for safely working through our emotions into an uplifted perspective. You’ll hear how grief can open the gateway to wisdom and how the brain’s fear programming can be gently rewired.

If you’re longing for a deeper sense of belonging, I invite you to listen with your heart for practical insight, encouragement, and soul-level truth in this episode, From Survival to Sovereignty. Visit and bookmark SongRise.live for fresh resources, supportive bonus content, and the free e-guide Out of Your Head, Into Your Light.

I realized in that moment I was connected. That was a connection to everything. I received this moment of bliss and complete connection and feeling like, “I am loved. I’m accepted by nature. I’m accepted by the planet. I’m accepted as a human. I belong. Yes, I belong.

Tessa: I’d love to address a few things that I think would support people coming into greater connection with their soul.

One of the first things we need is we need to know that we’re safe. Because if we’re not—whether that’s environmentally, emotionally, mentally, or some other way; certainly physically—if we don’t know we’re safe in the moment, that we’re not in immediate danger, it’s really, really challenging to go any deeper and feel and rest into the place of the soul to meet her.

The soul energy can be felt as a sensation. It can be heard. It can be known. Some people will feel it through their senses—“Oh, that’s what I feel like when I’m connecting with my soul.” But we don’t know what that way is going to be until we’ve experienced it.

Colleen: Yeah, it could be audible--I hear “sparkling.”

Tessa: Yes. So safety is first: actually slowing things down enough to go, “Oh, I am safe, so now I’m going to deepen.”

I think for a lot of people, connecting with nature can really help—one, to be in a place of feeling safe, and also connecting with intelligence outside of the ego, right? Being in the spirit of the forest or the sea or the ocean, or the magic of watching a school of tens of thousands of fish go by and create incredible shapes and light.

An Underwater Connection

One of the pivotal experiences for me happened as I was on my healing journey—I was still in a very delicate place where I was suffering with depression, on-and-off depression, and that had started at a very early age. But I was in my mid-twenties to mid-thirties then, and I had become a scuba instructor. And I found that once I stepped outside of the paradigm of the scuba instruction—having to be concerned about risk and all the stuff with people and making sure everybody in my classes and on boats were safe—then I gave myself the luxury of just going into the water myself and doing solo dives.

If we can’t be with our feelings, we can’t access the soul. Pushing away the feelings is going to push away the wisdom of something greater that’s beyond the feelings.

At first, what would happen was my deep grief would arise. I would just be down there swimming around looking for something cool, you know? And then as I paused and I really became present to nature, my feelings would come up. And this is an arena that many people don’t want to experience.

But the problem is: if we can’t be with our feelings, we can’t access the soul. Pushing away the feelings is going to push away the wisdom of something greater that’s beyond the feelings.

And so for me, I went through grief processing.

I remember one specific time I was underwater and I’m sobbing through my scuba gear and I’m like, “I guess I’m okay—you know, I can still breathe,” keeping my mouthpiece in my mouth and continuing to just cry and cry and cry.

And then my breathing regulated and I was done with my cry. You know, just the loss in my life and the feelings of isolation and aloneness and the too-much moving and everything going fast—and I needed to slow things down for me to be able to digest and receive, because I was a very sensitive being.

After the tears I was just, “Ah—thank you.” I was so grateful for having moved through me. I continued my dive and I was just floating, hovering. And I thought, “I’m just going to stay here. Maybe something will happen.”

I was in about 60 feet of water, about 10 to 15 feet off the bottom. I was floating and I thought, “I’ll go up a little bit more,” and so I was looking down on the reef. Suddenly this beautiful light came in through the kelp forest and some bat rays came by down on the bottom, and the kelp was swaying like this, and the light beams were coming through and it was like heaven—one of those heavenly sunrises.

The fish—suddenly there was this little symphony of fish happening over here, and a school came in over here. Above there were bait fish, really shimmery and shiny, and there were orange fish—some garibaldi—over here. I was in California if anybody recognizes the garibaldi.

Oh—and I realized in that moment I was connected . . . to everything. I received this moment of bliss and complete connection and feeling like, “I am loved. I’m accepted by nature. I’m accepted by the planet. I’m accepted as a human. I belong.” Yes, I belong.

We must work through our emotions and then allow our perspective to shift. So to get that to happen, we’ve got to remove fear. And fear is what is gripping so many people right now.

The Moment That Stays

I’d had another experience similar to that years before, but not scuba diving. The scuba was much deeper and struck me on all levels. I was able to float and—yeah—very soothing. And so all those things came together and then I was just like, “I don’t want it to end.”

And then I went up and—of course—it’s clambering up onto the boat and whack, whack with the weight belt and dumping that thing and heavy tank and suddenly re-enters humanity and all this stuff. Thankfully that moment has stayed with me because it helped me to know—and I think we can all hope for that kind of moment. It doesn’t need to be on scuba. It can be sitting under a tree. It can be watching a sunset.

But what happens is we must work through our emotions and then allow our perspective to shift. So to get that to happen, we’ve got to remove fear. And fear is what is gripping so many people right now.

This is the thing about the brain: the brain generates fear to try to keep us safe. It’s one of its jobs.

We hear it all the time: “I don’t know how I’m going to deal with this. . . This is going on and that’s going on . . . I might have to this and I might have to that.”

It’s extreme. I’m not even going to get into the examples, but it’s a lot, and it’s very intense for many people.

But this is the thing about the brain: the brain generates fear to try to keep us safe. It’s like one of its jobs, I think. And it is like a computer—very much like a computer. It does not perceive beyond what it’s already been taught. So everything from the past is just like ones and zeros that you put into software.

You know, I use a Mac right now and I have Pages. Pages is never going to learn to edit videos until they put some sort of video-editing software in it. It’s just not. I can want it to; I can ask it to—it’s just not going to happen. No matter how much I try,

So the brain is like this: it can only do what it has been taught. And what it’s been taught is “keep us safe, keep us safe, keep us safe.” Whether it’s from ancient times—put your back to a wall so the bear doesn’t maul you; you’ll see the tiger coming—or whatever it was.

We had to learn to keep ourselves safe until we didn’t have to focus on that. “We’re together in our tribe tonight; we can sit around and enjoy the meal. Maybe there are a couple people out there watching out for the tiger; we can trust them.”

So we need to learn when to trust and build trust. And the person we need to know how to trust the most is us.

But we’ve got to teach our brain to slow things down and not be on high alert all the time, because it’s irrelevant. And it will keep us from connecting to our heart. It will keep us from connecting to our intuition. And it most definitely will keep us from connecting with our soul. So we need to learn how to do that—know when to trust and build trust. And the person we need to know how to trust the most is us.

“I can trust that I’m safe. I can trust that I will be able to take care of myself. I can trust I will feel something if something’s off, or I will know something if it’s askew. I will make a different choice.”

This is the only way we can come into being sovereign beings. We have to take away the onus of others to take care of us in all ways, shapes, and forms.

Colleen: Yes. Fortunately, there are people like you—and I also am a transformational coach. Often a client will come who is like a rock skipping over the waves--trying to stay above the waves but floundering.

And in the background of many people, there’s dense trauma they have experienced. Sometimes we get so used to something that we kind of know it’s there, but we really don’t want to deal with it because it could make it worse.

There are, thankfully, wonderful resources. I know you have great tools--and I do as well, to teach people who just need a little extra—which I similarly came upon out of dire need myself, because I was one of the rocks skipping over the waves, not doing very well, as in “Help, I’m going to drown!”

Remembering and Reconnecting with Soul

Help is there in so many forms, so many different ways. I’d like to let whoever might be listening right now know that you have wonderful—tools, empowering simple things that can be easily done to assure us of the truth that we are safe. Because as you say, the brain is nonstop running the stories that we’ve got to be vigilant—“you don’t have what you need to deal with that; you’ve got to pay the rent; you’ve got to keep the household calm,” or whatever it might be.

It’s a story. And the truth is that we are whole and complete. It’s just a matter of coming to that place where that is realized. Don’t you have something called The Realized Soul?

This isn’t an airy-fairy process. It’s based in techniques that ground us, techniques that calm the brain, techniques that help us become present—even when we’ve been through significant trauma.

Tessa: Yes. Well, that was a brand of mine for many years—I still use that email. Realizing Soul—it’s like remembering the soul, reconnecting with the soul, remembering who we really are.

And this isn’t an airy-fairy process. It’s based in techniques that ground us, techniques that calm the brain, techniques that help us become present—even when we’ve been through significant trauma.

I’m not saying I am a trauma expert for every single person in the world, but I have helped hundreds of people to move past that moment of trauma activation into something deeper and be able to access neutrality or calm.

While the tools themselves or the processes are not complex, they do require consistency—and time. Consistency over time.

Colleen: We’re retraining ourselves. Which can feel, in and of itself, like very good medicine: “Oh wow—I’ve been suffering this way since I can remember, and now I am doing something that is alleviating that and making space for something so much better in my life.” It’s very motivational in and of itself.

Tessa: Yes, it’s a positive motivational aspect. When one commits to the practices, then you start to see the results—and they build over time.

EPILOGUE:

Thank you for joining us in this episode, From Survival to Sovereignty, in the series with Tessa Alburn, Coming Home to Soul. Join us in the next and final segment called The Practice of Becoming, where we’ll explore soul habits, brain retraining, and inner trust.

What were your takeaways?

If you’re feeling a nudge to go a little deeper, consider accessing your free e-guide, Out of Your Head, Into Your Light. And watch for more resources that are landing soon on the Bonus Content page at Songrise.live.

This is Colleen Akiko🪶 wishing you warm Alohas and Namasté.

Leave a comment

It’s been a heavy few weeks since I’ve posted on the WeBeTheChange blog. On October 21st my stepmom, Anne, abruptly passed. 15 days later, my dad peacefully followed.

In a daze of shock and grief, we made two trips to their home in Southern Illinois, tending to the many pieces left behind by their unexpected departures. We recently drove our vintage camper from their land of lush fields and forests back to our home beneath newly white desert mountain peaks.

We’d had a sweet, traditional memorial service for Anne in late October. Friends and family--including Dad, came out on a rainy day to honor the passionate artist and animal lover she was.

Dad, on the other hand, had become reclusive in his latter years. Since those who endeared him are spread across the country, we’re now preparing a Zoom gathering to celebrate his life--including some concert footage from his earlier years.

My father, Richard “Dick” Strawn, was a contemplative man of the mountains. This contrasted with the public life-long maestro who, from many stages, poured hold-your-breath beauty from his violin fingers into listening hearts. Though understated socially, he was brilliant musically--and warmly regarded by his students and peers.

For years, I ritually called Dad on the phone when walking in our nearby mountains. And now, with other beloved family mountain men in my family who’ve passed, he calls me as I walk through the sagebrush.

He reminds me to lift my eyes, to open my heart, to come up higher.

Together we breathe the beauty of life unending.

Forever and always, love you, Dad.

When I opened our greenhouse for the first time in a month, I was surprised by dazzling nasturtiums that had spread out to greet me from most of the greenhouse. They beamed pure joy!

Nasturtiums were my Grandma’s (Dad’s mom), favorite flowers. Two years ago I planted a handful of Nasturtiums in her honor. They bloomed heartily. Then after clearing the planting bed for winter, I saw a broken stalk left on the soil. So I put a little rock on it in case it wanted to root somehow. It did--big time!

Hence, the profuse love blossoms. Beholding them, I felt my beloved Grandma’s delight in welcoming her son back home. And there was Dad, too, nodding a smile.

Grandma was also a violinist, and her instrument now beckons from my closet.

Full life circle. One in the all. All in the One.

A surprise bouquet of joy in this tender time.

--Colleen Akiko

Share We Be The Change

Leave a comment

Have you ever longed to be in love with your soul?

Hello, dear ones. This is Colleen Akiko. Welcome back to We Be The Change, where we explore illuminating from within, to transform without. If you’ve ever longed to be in love with your soul, to trust yourself again, to reconnect with that wise, whole, untamed part of you that knows--you’ll feel deeply seen here today.

This conversation is one I feel truly honored to share. I’ve known my guest, Tessa Lynn Alburn, for more than a decade, and admire how she walks the mystical path with grounded, soul-centered grace.

What unfolded in this episode is less of an interview and more of a soulful remembering. So I invite you to let this conversation be a gentle, loving invitation from your soul to simply, come home.

“A big part of my journey was recognizing that I had partial soul loss, and I needed to call those parts back. . . I was like, there’s a deep grief here. And that’s what it was. I needed to get those parts back and start to really love myself.”

Introducing Tessa Lynn Alburn: Spiritual Guide and Soul Connection Coach

(FROM PODCAST EPISODE 22):

Colleen:

I am blessed and delighted to be here with my friend Tessa Lynn Alburn. Tessa is a spiritual guide, energy mentor, author, Reiki Master and Soul Connection Coach. And for more than 25 years, she’s supported women consultants and entrepreneurs to live an ideal life through a system of reigniting soul, embodying their feminine power, and raising their energy into the highest vibration, to live authentically, walking the mystical path with practical feet and making a lasting contribution toward the highest good of all.

Thank you, Tessa, for being here on We Be The Change.

Tessa:

You are very welcome. I’m really honored to be here. Thank you for thinking of me. And I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting conversation.

Colleen:

It always is. You always surprise me, every time I talk with you--and we’ve touched base with each other over many years.

Tessa:

Many years, yes, that’s right.

Colleen:

You are one of those people in my life who, no matter where I am, you are able to show up and truly be there with me. You have a really wonderful gift that way, and I know it didn’t just kind of hop on your shoulder. I know you earned it. Thank you.

The Journey of Self-Discovery: From Hurt to Wholeness

Tessa:

You know, that’s a funny thing because in my current coaching practice, every now and then one of my clients will say, “But it’s so easy for you,“ or something like that. And I’m like, I think it’s time for a story here because I want you to understand where I began.

I began the same as you, or before then even. And it took many, many years to learn. And we didn’t have the internet back then, so we were reading books, right? And talking to people and going to gatherings and trying to find mentorship and healing in ways that we could access, so we wouldn’t just be charlatans out there. Because certainly we run into those as well.

“My soul was fine. It was more than fine. I just wasn’t able to connect with my soul in a way that made sense.”

Colleen:

Yeah. I began with, How do I make sense of what I’m experiencing? I’m upheaved and unsettled, and yet there’s some exhilaration there, and I feel like, I want to be in love with my soul, and what’s that about? Yes, way back then we couldn’t find a YouTube. What was YouTube?

Tessa:

That’s an interesting question you just asked. I think it was a statement in the form of, “I want to be in love with my soul.” And that’s a thought that wouldn’t even have occurred to me years ago. I knew there was a soul, and I could feel my soul, but I felt like my soul was hurt.

My soul was hurting. It was hurt. It was sad. And I had over-identified the hardship of my life with my soul, and it took me a long time to get to a place of understanding my soul enough to know that she actually wanted good things for me, and there was nothing wrong with my soul.

My soul was fine. It was more than fine. I just wasn’t able to connect with my soul in a way that made sense. And there were aspects of my soul that weren’t talking with me because they had, in fact, gone to other realms--the non-ordinary reality we speak of when we’re talking about shamanism, to protect themselves from chronic situations. And so that was a big part of my journey, recognizing that I had soul loss, partial soul loss, and I needed to call those parts back. And that might have been my sadness, right? I was like, there’s a deep grief here. And that’s what it was.

I needed to get those parts back and start to really love myself--regardless of all the programmed beliefs that I had about who I was supposed to be in the world, who I was supposed to be, and how I was supposed to serve and sacrifice myself and suffer. I had a big paradigm around, I had done something bad at some point, and therefore God abandoned me and needed me to pay penance most of my years.

Colleen:

Yeah. I better make something really good out of my life, ‘cause I messed up badly—really badly. Yes, I know that story. And now you are a Soul Connection Coach. I love that.

On Defining the Undefinable Soul

How do you talk about the soul? Because the soul is so undefinable, and yet, we don’t want to put it in a box of words or put us in a box of words. So how can you describe for someone who’s just coming into, “Oh, a soul? Hmmm...”

“People have been asking since the advent of existence.... What is my purpose? Why am I here? Do I exist afterwards? And there are all kinds of faiths and religions that try to quantify it, that try to say, “This is the only way. This is the way it works. Therefore, you should not ask any more questions.”

Tessa:

Well, I think most of us go through life, and then at a certain point, we’re like, “There’s something more.” And not that there’s something more in terms of what I can have or buy or all that stuff, the luxury stuff. There’s that too, but there’s a deeper purpose. People have been asking this since the advent of existence. You know, what is my purpose? Why am I here? Do I exist afterwards? And there are all kinds of faiths and religions that try to quantify it, that try to say, “This is the only way. This is the way it works. Therefore, you should not ask any more questions.”

Colleen:

The end. Yeah.

Tessa:

And that’s the thing with soul. It is never the end. (Right.)

I think of the soul like a container of growth, and also wholeness, and connection to Source. And I think we tend to forget that. When we’re thinking about a soul, many people are sort of coming from more of an ego place, like, “I need a soul. My soul says this. My soul says that. I don’t feel it in my soul. I need a soulmate.” You know, a specific ego thing.

We think if we have something like a soulmate, then our life’s gonna completely change, and we have come to Nirvana, and we’re special, and aren’t we great? And everything is beautiful; it’s all beautiful. And look at that--my life just fits together. You know--one glove, two gloves, there they are. Beautiful.

But we can have many soulmates. I do believe we have many soul friends, soul groups, soul family... that are perhaps similar enough at one point that maybe we’re next to each other in the oneness. I don’t know how it works, but at some point we said, “You know, we get each other. We’re kind of on a certain level, and we wanna help each other grow.”

And then there are other souls out there who are on a completely different journey, who show up in our lives to really teach us. And usually these are the antagonists, the ones we don’t want anything to do with. There may have been some kind of agreement on the other side to help us learn and grow.

I think that’s really what it’s all about: learning and growing and knowing we’re never without our soul, our soul’s love. We’re never without her love. Sometimes we can’t feel it, but it is there--it’s in the ether. You can’t not have your soul.

If we didn’t have a soul, as I like to say, we would just shoosh! into a burning bush. That would be it.

Colleen:

We just wouldn’t have a body.

Tessa:

Yes, exactly. We just wouldn’t have a body. But the soul--there’s something, some great intelligence. So if I could pick two words that it’s closest to, it’s that: “Great intelligence,” and then I’m gonna add a few more, “with love.” (Yes, always love.) Always love; care, love... And with all that comes acceptance and patience. And you know, they’re not in a rush. Our souls are not like, “Hurry up and get this.”

“...we’re never without our soul--our soul’s love. We’re never without her love. Sometimes we can’t feel it, but it is there--it’s in the ether. You can’t not have your soul.

Coming Home to Your Soul: Union and Intimacy

Colleen:

Thankfully! I love what you were talking about towards the beginning, about our soul being that part of us that blends and connects with Source. The words definitely fall short. And yet we can have a sense of that. We’ll use words, like, “Oh, this aspect of me that is connecting and blending with That which brought me forth somehow…”

I’m finding for myself personally that this blend place, you know, this sacred blur. (I like that.) I just spoke about that in a group and it almost seems silly to even find words, because it’s more of a deep “coming home” sense when we are resting in the love of our soul, and our soul is delighting that, “Oh, you see me! We love each other! We are here. We’re together. We’re breathing together. I’m breathing you. You’re breathing me.” You know? This union, this intimacy that is, I don’t know what to call it. Coming home?

Tessa:

Yes. I think coming home is, I mean, I hear those words and I connect. I think of Sandra Ingerman, who wrote a book called Welcome Home, about soul retrieval and retrieving parts of the soul that had fragmented soul loss. That’s been a big part of the work that I’ve done over the years--helping others to retrieve soul parts. It is like coming home. It’s always there for us, but we need to learn to trust it. We need to learn to listen to it and feel it. Because it doesn’t always speak in words like we’re expecting.

Approaching Sacred Union with Peace

Colleen:

Yes. How does a person who is feeling drawn to come into that sacred union with all the parts together, how does a person approach even moving that direction in a way that feels safe and secure and just saturated with peace? Because in a sense, I believe that all parts are never totally gone, and they’re connected—and yet not close sometimes. That’s how it feels for me.

I remember many years ago, I found a book on soul retrieval. I took it up camping in Idaho and sat by a river and did my work with the book. And it didn’t feel like I was doing the work apart; I wasn’t separate. It felt like I was being helped in the work. It helps to have a guide, and in that case, the guide was whoever wrote the book. I know you and I have had sessions way back when--so helpful. And the sense is that we’re never separate and alone when we are feeling drawn towards experiencing wholeness

EPILOGUE:

Thank you so much for being with us today. Whether it’s feeling your emotions fully, reclaiming soul fragments, or just finding safety in your own presence--Tessa reminded us that our soul has always been with us and is always ready to reconnect with us wherever we are.

What part of today’s conversation spoke to you? I’d love to hear. Reach out, leave a comment, or share this post with a friend who might need it. Let’s keep this soul nourishing dialogue going.

You can connect with Tessa and discover her current offerings at withTessa.com

And you can enjoy some great resources, bonus content and a free eGuide, “Out of Your Head, Into Your Light“ and more at SongRise.LIVE.

So until next time, may you trust and enjoy your soul’s quiet voice within, and know: You are already whole. You are already enough. You are already home.

Lots of love,

Colleen Akiko 🪶

Leave a comment

"It’s crucial for us all to have support systems. Yeah, I don’t know what I would have done without the monks when I was going through some of those vicious samskaras and patterns of intense darkness."

PROLOGUE:

Thank you so much for joining us in this We Be the Change segment: Walking With Our Ancestors—A Journey of Surrender and Support. In part four, we open with the mystery of surrender and feeling the unseen support of our ancestors. We’ll conclude by naming some topics we’d like to explore in the future—like how to connect with the right mentor, as well as the energetics of music and the body.

"It’s very easy to get mixed up and lose the foresight—or the higher perspective—of things. So having touch points… a lot of people see that as a weakness. No, it’s actually absolutely crucial. That’s where the whole guru tradition was born from. Otherwise, you get caught in the maya, you get caught in the thorns, and it’s a big thing to walk through all that."

The Mystery of Support

Colleen: Can I share an experience I just had a couple of weeks ago? Chris and I were next to the ocean, near some very sacred Indigenous burial grounds.

We walked out, and there was a labyrinth. I don’t know if you remember the labyrinth we used to have—it was much bigger than that one, and it took some time to walk. But we had the time, so we started.

I walked in. It was contemplative, sweet, calming. There were people on the outside saying things, but it was okay.

I came into the center of the labyrinth, and this was good. The doorway in is the same as the doorway out. So I’m walking back the opposite way along the outside, and suddenly I have this sense: a myriad of beings—ancestors, helpers—people who are with me, who love me.

They weren’t leading me so much as following me. They were behind me. And I just teared up. I was overwhelmed by how many there were, and how supportive and loving they felt.

Part of me was crying out, like a little child who doesn’t even know how to walk yet. And then—the word that came so clear for where I was in that moment, and that I still feel now—was surrender.

That’s what I came out of the labyrinth with.

The Call to Surrender

Colleen: To my mind, surrender is counterintuitive. My mind says, “This is a crazy time. You need to do one, two, three, four, five. Be vigilant. Be prepared. Anything could happen.”

I’m not saying we shouldn’t operate on that level. But for me, surrender is the word of the hour.

Matthew: Beautiful. The sacred surrender.

Colleen: Yes. It feels so different from the kind of surrender I grew up hearing—“Give your heart to Jesus.” This was something else. This was surrender with this infinite number of beings.

Matthew: With your tribe.

Colleen: Yes. It was, we’re all in this together. What’s my part? My part is surrender. For me, that translates into dissolving the illusion that I have to be a certain way to receive the help that’s here—the support, the accompaniment, the grace, the connection.

Matthew: Yes.

Ancestors, Elders, and Our Light Tribe

Matthew: What you shared is so important—that vision of the team of beings, the ancestors. That’s true for each of us.

We all have this light tribe of elders and ascended masters and our seven generations. And they want to support us.

They can support us when we open to willingness. But it often takes surrendering our constant need to hold onto the steering wheel—for their presence to really come in and support us in a big way.

Colleen: A big way—more than the mind can comprehend.

Matthew: Yes.

Connection Points and Future Conversations

Matthew: I feel complete with our time today. And yet I’d love to have more conversations with you—about your music, how embodiment is expanding into your music, and other offerings you’re putting out there.

What we can do is put this out in some podcast episodes, and I’d invite the listeners to respond with how it resonates.

Colleen: Would you be alright if we hear from people who’d like to suggest conversation topics, or even aspects of your story they’d like to hear more about?

Matthew: Of course. I love sharing. My truth isn’t just my truth—because of the way my path has unfolded, it aligns with universal principles.

That’s the beauty of a personal story. It gives us relationship and connection points. And when we talk about surrender, I’m right there with you. These are principles of the path. Sharing them brings me joy. Yes—I’m here for it.

Colleen: I love what you just said—connection points. That is my hope and prayer for this podcast: that it be a connection point.

What you’ve expressed, and the place you’ve expressed it from, is so vital right now—offered as connection points.

And you are one human connection point I deeply appreciate talking with again.

Matthew: Same, Colleen. Back at you.

Colleen: Thank you. I’d like to segment this conversation into a few episodes and include some of your music at the end, if that’s alright.

Matthew: I love that.

Colleen: It would give people processing time.

Some traditions push away or dishonor the body. But in the yogic tradition, we embrace it. The body is the temple—from the feet to the crown. The crown resides in the heavens. The feet root into the mother. The full spectrum is right here. The more we tune in, listen, and provide what the body needs, the rest happens naturally.

Opening to Grace Through Music

Matthew: Yes—because there’s such a beautiful dynamic there. We share words, stories, principles… then we open to grace through music.

Music holds truth in a different vibration—one the body can receive more deeply. The mind gets its appetizers, but what’s important is the assimilation that happens in the body.

Colleen: Yes—receiving it in the body. I know that’s what I need. If I stay too much in my head, I don’t sleep. I feel the tension. I can function, but I’m subpar. And it’s not so hard to be in a better place.

Matthew: That’s the gift of the body. It responds, it lets us know. Some traditions push away or dishonor the body. But in the yogic tradition, we embrace it. The body is the temple—from the feet to the crown.

The crown resides in the heavens. The feet root into the mother. The full spectrum is right here. The more we tune in, listen, and provide what the body needs, the rest happens naturally.

Colleen: Yes. That’s We Be the Change. Just being who we truly are, in the body. Nothing is more change-making than that.

Matthew: Totally. Walking luminaries.

Colleen: Victory to the luminaries!

Matthew: Victory to the luminaries!

Epilogue:

This concludes our series with Matthew Hara. As we ended this conversation, we named some possibilities for future episodes—like feeling music in our bodies, building supportive networks, and other explorations.

So what would you like to hear? What would resonate with you in a We Be the Change conversation with Matthew Hara?

We’d love to hear from you. Your reviews, subscriptions, and engagement mean so much.

You can reach me, Colleen Akiko, through SongRise.live — where you can also access your complimentary eGuide: Out of Your Head, Into Your Light. And you can find more of Matthew Hara’s content on our bonus content page. To connect with him directly, visit matthewhara.com.

Leave a comment

Welcome to Episode 2 of "Seeing the World Through Old Eyes."

Some of you may wonder what is so special about looking through old eyes. The answer lies in how old eyes filter today's events in different ways than they would have in their twenties, forties, sixties, or in any of the ages in between. Those who make it to old age will come to understand that. Metaphorically, I refer to it as "seeing the world through old eyes."

The result for you who hang with me will be a new and perhaps credible way of looking at current events.

I hope you captured the intent of Episode 1 of my Seeing Through Old Eyes poem. If you haven't read it yet, it is still available on the WeBeTheChange Blog on Substack and right here at Songrise.LIVE

I invite you to read Episode 2 to the bitter end because it deals with ways we voters can get the people elected who will perform their congressional duties with the hutzpah to live up to their oaths of office.

Of course, I have no expectations that you will agree with all of my views. After all, we each have unique experiences in our lives. Nevertheless, I hope these reflections on my life will allow you to improve your own in ways that enhance the chances for peace in this troubled world.

Take Note:

I'm covering a lot of ground in episode 2, and for the first time, the discussion gets into politics. With that in mind, you should know a bit about my political life before you dive into such a long dissertation.

I have voted in seventeen presidential elections over the years. My candidate/party of choice won eight times and lost nine times. I voted for a Republican nine times and a Democrat eight times. When I voted for a Democrat, my candidate won six times. When I voted for a Republican, my candidate won four times.

My philosophy of voting is always about winning for democracy in all cases. That happens when we voters evaluate the candidates on the bases of (1) they possess the character that — when elected—they will defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, which, after all, is required by their oaths of office, and (2) possess the experience to do the work required for the office they are seeking.

Lacking those attributes, you should pick another candidate. I've done that five times over the years. Consequently, on these bases, I have never lost an election; although when my alternate choice lost in four of those elections, we all paid a price to one degree or another.

I have never run for a political office of any kind and have no plans to do so.

I am neither a Republican nor Democrat, but by choice in the last twenty-five years a contented independent voter.

My political life revolves around my duties as a voter to know the issues and candidates before I vote.

On occasion over the years, I have debated with others and written to my state and federal representatives.

Except for two local elections in which I had no interest in the outcomes, I have voted in every election (local, state, and federal) since I became old enough to do so in 1959.

Episode 2—Yesterday's Americana— Hutzpah: What's it all about?

Words to ponder from the pen of an elder patriot (me)

Random observations about growing up in the forties and fifties:

In 1939, I was a year old when my Uncle Glen's Navy Transport was lend-leased to the British, our way of helping them fight the Nazis before the United States had declared war. My Uncle Glen resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy to volunteer with the Canadian RAF and go with his plane.

While I was an infant learning how to walk and talk, he, his crew, and his plane transported war goods manufactured in Detroit and Toronto to England. In England, he loaded up his now empty plane and transported soldiers to North Africa at first, and then other places when the battlefields shifted. On his return to England, his plane was loaded with wounded or dead soldiers. He would drop them off in England and return to Canada for more supplies.

In April of 1945, his plane was sabotaged and went down in flames shortly after takeoff in Quebec. He survived, but I didn't get to meet him for the first time until months after the war was over. It was decades after his death that the Royal Air Force finally caught up to him and presented his widow, my mom's youngest sister, with the medals they had been holding for thirty some years.

On a school day during November 1944, a Navy officer showed up in my first-grade class at Lowell Elementary School in Boise, Idaho. His purpose: to tell us the Japanese had launched weather balloons designed to come to where we live. 'Under no circumstances," he said, "should we go near one or touch one because they will explode and burn you."

In August of 1945, I was spending a week on my grandparents' farm outside of Boise when a man came to tell them my dad's younger brother would be coming home from Italy in a casket.

...Hutzpah -- Boldness, Confidence, Self-Assurance, Gall, Cheek, Nerve, Impudence, Fearlessness.

In the early fifties, one brother and then the other served in the Korean War, one in the Army the other in the Air Force.

Me? I was too young for Korea and too old for Viet Nam.

In the sixties, I was mowing my front yard in Riverside, California, close to March Field Air Force Base. I stopped mowing and watched when a blue Air Force sedan pulled up in front of the house across the street. Two sisters and their preschool children shared the house while their husbands, one a sergeant and the other a fighter pilot, were in Viet Nam. Two officers climbed out of the car. One was carrying a briefcase. This doesn't bode well, I thought. Which one will it be?

It was the pilot. Like my dad's brother, he would come home in a casket.

A year or two later, I read in the Sunday paper about a Riverside soldier, an Army medic posted in Viet Nam. I knew the name. I was his den father in Cub Scouts when he was ten years old. His country, our country, awarded him two medals for bravery, the second one was awarded posthumously. In the nineties, my wife and I found his name on that long wall in Washington D.C.

...Character -- loyalty + honesty + reliability + doing what's right no matter what the personal risks might be + helping the less fortunate + working to make the world safe for today, and even better tomorrow...

Now, less than a month away from my eighty-seventh birthday, I see how those scattered memories of war in my earlier life launched my lifetime of being an American who enjoys his freedom because of those selfless souls with hutzpah who put their lives in jeopardy by signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia two-hundred-and-forty-nine-years-ago.

There are lots of synonyms for Hutzpah, but these that follow are the synonyms for Hutzpah that count in this essay: Boldness, Confidence, Self-Assurance, Gall, Cheek, Nerve, Impudence, Fearlessness.

Hutzpah is what rallied farmers and townspeople to unite behind George Washington and persevere until our freedom from a king was won and our Constitution was written and made the law of the land. Hutzpah is what has sustained our leaders and millions of hutzpah-driven American patriots over the last 249 years to sustain our Constitution, therefore our freedom, at the risk of their own lives.

Hutzpah in tandem with individuals' imbued with character, that is—loyalty + honesty + reliability + doing what's right no matter what the personal risks might be + helping the less fortunate + working to make the world safe for today and even better tomorrow—these are the driving forces that embolden all the American Patriots who have kept our Constitutional State afloat since 1776.

September 1953

I started the ninth grade at Central Junior High School in Riverside, California. This was a formative year in my growing up. I finally met my match when Misses Smith, my no-nonsense math teacher, almost flunked me before I understood success in Algebra required students to actually do homework.

Our president in 1953 was Dwight Eisenhower, one of my teenage heroes and one who I rank in the top three of the presidents we've had in my lifetime.

In that early September, while Misses Smith was laying out the rules of success in my Algebra class, President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren, California's Republican Governor from 1943 to 1953, to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Eisenhower saw Warren as a centralized Republican like himself; however, Warren had shifted his view over time. At the time of his appointment, he saw the Constitution as a living document, therefore subject to change rather than the fixed document that was in Eisenhower's mind.

Before Warren became Chief Justice in 1953, the Supreme Court Justices issued a split decision on the issue of equal but separate education in public schools. Two years later on May 31, 1955, Justice Warren announced the justices in the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous decision that equal but separate education was unconstitutional.

(That, readers, is what hutzpah and great leadership are all about. Warren knew what was right and he knew his oath of office. Regardless of any differences he might have had with President Eisenhower and the waffling among his justices, he used well-honed leadership skills to get the job done.)

The Court was of a mind to let desegregation take its time. That went well with Eisenhower who felt like the individual states should be given time to end segregation in schools without interference by the executive branch of the federal government.

In time, the Supreme Court ran out of patience and Justice Warren ordered the states to desegregate with urgency. (Hutzpah—Acting on his oath and doing what is right.)

September of 1957

By September, the country was in racial turmoil over the desegregation of schools.

The decision to let the states integrate schools at their own pace came to a head in Little Rock, Arkansas when nine black students attempted to enroll in Little Rock High School.

On September 2, 1957, Governor Faubus of Arkansas called out the Arkansas National Guard to surround the school and prevent desegregation.

On September 3, 1957, Federal Judge Ronald Davies ruled that integrated classes would proceed as the court ordered. (A man who has Hutzpah—Acting on his oath and doing what is right.)

Chaos ensued at Little Rock. What followed were riots and several weeks of verbal conflict between Arkansas Governor Faubus and President Eisenhower.

From the time he was appointed a cadet at West Point to when he became president, Eisenhower's career was punctuated with incidents where he was to declare his oath to honor the Constitution of the United States.

Regardless of his personal views, he knew his duty when it came to defending the law of the land as determined by the judicial branch of government. Like Chief Justice Warren, President Eisenhower possessed outstanding leadership skills, knew his duty, and possessed the Hutzpah to act on it.

On September 24, 1957, he issued Executive Order 10730, which sent one thousand soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock and placed the Arkansas National Guard under the command of federal authority.

The Democrats, particularly the ones from southern states, were incensed by Eisenhower's response while the Republicans, for the most part, approved of it.

Eisenhower went on television. His address can be summarized with his own words:

"Our enemies are gloating over this incident and using it everywhere to misrepresent our nation. Mob rule cannot be allowed to override the decisions of the courts."

Earl Warren and Dwight Eisenhower both had the hutzpah and skill to uphold their oaths to protect the Constitution of the United States.

Thanks to these two men, progress has come a long way since they shut the door on segregated public education. More has to done if those wishful words of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness put forth in the Declaration of Independence are to become reality for all Americans.

Where there is smoke there is fire—three telling stories of party loyalty over devotion to facts:

Section 4 of Article II of the United States Constitution states,

“The President, Vice President, and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Constitutional oath of office for Senators and members of the House of Representatives:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

July 27, 1974, Judicial Committee, House of Representatives:

Seven of seventeen Republicans side with all twenty-one Democrats to proceed with impeachment of President Nixon. As it turned out, it wasn't necessary to proceed because Nixon resigned.

December 19, 1998:

President Clinton is impeached on one count of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury. The Senate vote to convict had to be two-thirds majority. The counts were as follows:

Obstruction of Justice: Democrats' vote for conviction was zero

Perjury: Democrats' vote for conviction was five

February 13, 2021:

President Trump's impeachment trial after January 6^th

Republican votes for Conviction were seven

COMMENTS:

In all three of these impeachment situations there was plenty of indisputable evidence of guilt.

Remember that according to Section 4 of Article II of the Constitution, "The President, Vice President, and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

In the three aforementioned presidential impeachments, the votes of yes by voting members of the impeached party's president was nineteen out of a possible 167 votes (11%). It follows that those voting members of the impeached party's president who voted no for impeachment were more than enough to preclude getting a total Senate vote of 67% for conviction.

What these lopsided, fear-born numbers tell us is the majority of both parties’ Congressional electees (both House and Senate) won't vote yes for impeachment or, (for many) no or yes on a bill when they fear doing so could put their reelection at risk.

In other words, if they might not be reelected, regardless of their oaths to defend the Constitution of the United States, they don't give a damn about doing what character demands when the chips are down.

They have neither the hutzpah the framers of the Declaration of Independence had when they signed that hallowed document nor the fearlessness of those ordinary people who answered their country's call— farmers and townspeople at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Iwo Jima, and…; nor the cheek of my two uncles; nor the confidence of my two brothers; nor the nerve of a pilot whose wife and child waited for him in vain; nor the gall of a cub scout whose name is inscribed on the wall in Washington DC; nor the millions of ordinary citizens who risked more than a job with prestige and good pay for serving their country.

The seventeen Republican heroes who put country above party by voting yes on Trumps impeachment process:

Voters, the task before us is not easy, but no one else can do it. We must find the candidates with hutzpah and pick them as our candidates of choice. We Must Do It Now In Time To Have An Impact On The 2026 Election!

Here, for the record, are the seventeen Republican heroes (seven senators and ten representatives) who put country above party after January 6 by voting yes on Trumps impeachment process:

Senator Richard Burr North Carolina; Senator Bill Cassidy, Louisiana; Senator Susan Collins, Maine; Senator Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Senator Mitt Romney, Utah; Senator Ben Sasse, Nebraska; Senator Pat Toomy, Pennsylvania; Rep. John Katko, New York; Rep. John Kinzinger, Illinois; Rep. Jaimie Herrera Beutler, Washington, (it was my honor to vote for her for the first time in 2020 and again for a State office in 2024. Her Hutzpah trumped her politics, no pun intended); Rep. Dan Newhouse, Washington; Rep. David Valadao, California; Rep. Peter Meijer, Michigan; Rep. Tom Rice, South Carolina; Rep. Fred Upton, Michigan; Rep. Anthony Gonzales, Ohio; and Rep. Liz Cheney, Wyoming.

My thanks to those of you who finished reading my words. This is all for Episode 2.

I have attached a list of axioms I've put together to keep my own candidate vetting on track.

I wonder what I'll write about in Episode 3.

Stay Tuned.

Voter Axioms

1. First and foremost: Honor and defend the Constitution

   1. Know when an unconstitutional event occurs by knowing what the Constitution says.

   2. Protect the Constitution even if you have to put your life on the line

   3. Do everything you can to protect your neighbors', friends', and families' enjoyment of their rights as well as yours.

2. Don't ever vote for or reelect candidates for political office who—

   1. Offer simple solutions for complex problems

   2. Promise results on day-one during the election

   3. Do things on day-one of their election they never promised to do on day-one

   4. Show no respect for all of the checks and balances inscribed in the Constitution—Free Press, Executive, Legislative, Supreme Court

   5. Say what they want you to hear with no regard for the hard truths you need to hear

   6. Promote falsehoods about their political opponents

   7. Lie consistently.

3. Recognize the fallacy of the notion "My country right or wrong." Our country has done a lot that is wrong. That said, it has done a ton of right. Not until we own our wrongs can we deal with overcoming them.

4. Educate yourself on the issues before voting.

5. Acknowledge that the democratic process only guarantees the majority wins, not that theirs is the best choice, therefore

6. Respect election outcomes peacefully. Doing otherwise violates honoring and defending the Constitution and the rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence.

7. Treat your political opponents with respect. Derogatory terms are off limits. Rino, Woke, Redneck, Libtard, and any others that too often replace respectful terms like neighbor, co-worker, friend, teammate, or classmate.

   ©August 15, 2025, by Dan Strawn

   ---

EPILOGUE (Colleen's):

Dan has started a worthy conversation here--one that is crucial and timely. I appreciate that it's centered on noble values, granting all sides the same level on which to meet. Looking forward to seeing who will respond with hutzpah and let their voice be heard.

Leave a comment

Share We Be The Change

“The word guru means “the weighty one”—the consciousness that has come into the feet. The Universal has come down, and we’ve provided a temple space within our own body and consciousness for the Universal to reside, meet earth, and have a living revelation."

PROLOGUE:

What if your feet could teach you how to come home to yourself? I’m your host, Colleen Akiko, and this is the third segment of the series Individuality and Universality with spiritual teacher and yogi Matthew Hara.

In this soulful episode, The Wisdom of Embodiment, you’ll hear gems around the essence of yoga, the power of grounding, and how being in presence transforms everyday life into sacred practice.

Reflect with us on how spiritual depth isn’t found in escape, but in grounding, in surrender, and in the simple act of just showing up in your body.

Exploring Spiritual Practices

Colleen: I love what you said just a moment ago—about coming into the place where you can now listen and now respond. It seems like my mind says, Oh, that’s not physical. That’s more spiritual.

So much under the guise of spirituality is the mind. Dressing up the mind with spiritual words. And maybe taking a teaspoon full of something and saying, Yeah, that was a great meal.

I’m wondering—whatever the practice is… Yoga... With Chris, we still do the Tai Chi Chih, and same thing as what you’re saying—instead of trying to squeeze in all the moves, we may just do a handful.

That’s a practice that I’m very regular with, so I can speak from there. It’s also physical—the breathing involves the body, involves the balance. There are moments in that practice where, even though it’s very physical, the physical somehow seems to dissolve. I forget where I am. I forget that I’m in the room. I know my feet are on the ground...

Matthew: Yeah.

Colleen: It’s very important so I don’t fall over, but something happens where I just experience this effervescence. It does feel like coming home, but I don’t stop and say, Oh, I feel like I’ve come home. It’s not like that. It’s just such a peaceful, wonderful…

The Essence of Yoga and Unity

Matthew: It’s the unity. Yes—that’s what yoga means, right? It’s to yoke or to unify. And it’s that alignment of when body, mind, and spirit come into greater harmony.

Then all of a sudden there’s that feeling of coming home. In the yogic tradition, the goal ultimately is called Samadhi, which is absorption—absorption of the individual, or your sense of individuality, into the universal. It’s a great marrying of those two dynamic forces, which feels like coming home because we’re not just individual.

If we are universal, and the magic is only in the heart, can those two dynamic forces come into communion and online ? That’s the point. There’s this misconception in pretty much most spiritual traditions that we are on an ascension path—that we are here to go up and out of this earth.

The yogic tradition is the opposite, actually. The word guru means “the weighty one”—the consciousness that has come into the feet. The universal has come down, and we’ve provided a temple space within our own body and consciousness for the universal to reside, meet earth, and have a living revelation.

Colleen: So beautiful. Yeah. I wrote a song once called Grow Me Down—with that sense of being the tree. “Grow me down like the roots of a tall standing tree... take me down from the sky of my star-seeking pride... grow me down…” and it feels so good to go down in the earth.

Matthew: Yes.

Colleen: Just take-in that life that the earth holds for us, and that’s it.

Matthew: That’s it. Then we’re actually affirming embodiment. We’re affirming the goodness of this life. We’re affirming that it’s intelligent, actually, to be birthed. And yet there are so many traditions that shame the body, shame physical desire, shame lovemaking.

Like—it’s an affirmation of the goodness of life, in so many ways. And it’s learning to come into a place of feeling good within your own body because we’ve resisted, chastised, and condemned all parts and parcels of our own body and self.

We used to share this practice in some of our retreats where we’d literally give each of the participants just a mirror, and just watch—from a witness place—what your mind is going to start saying about yourself. And we are all the harshest critics on ourselves.

Yes. But in a way, that’s all life is teaching us—through our relationships. Everything is trying to help us look at ourselves and cultivate more acceptance.

Whether it’s tightness in my right hip, or resistance in this relationship with this person who brings up this energy in me—it’s cultivating a potential for us to see, to embrace, and therefore grow. Our roots grow deeper, and our consciousness is able to expand. It’s nature’s way—it’s how it’s all designed.

Colleen: Yeah, it’s so beautiful. And I’m so grateful that wherever we are in our knowledge of this embodiment, we don’t have to be so far along before we start plugging in. We can be at the very beginning of, “Oh, you mean… that’s okay?”

We can just start there. And wherever we are is a perfect place for us to start to say, “Oh… where are my feet? Oh, my feet are right here.”

It doesn’t matter how far along we come in this life. We always start with our feet.

“Anything done with presence is a spiritual practice."

Matthew: I’m so happy you said that! Literally, that’s every physical yoga class I share. I always start with the feet. It’s the part we forget first—because we go to our head. And most of us hate our feet. “Don’t look at my toes. I’m going to paint those things.” But there’s also a lot of neglect in the feet. We forget about them—especially certain dudes, right? Big, long, coiled-over toenails… roll it however you want, but…

Awareness in the feet is crucial for embodiment.

It’s one of the most fundamental and powerful principles. And just being on yoga for a second more—yoga is not about being on a mat or doing the official pranayama. It can be done in the supermarket when you’re standing in line. Literally, it’s a presence practice and that’s all it is.

And all of these great embodiment traditions are that—Tai Chi, Qigong, surfing… whatever it is, anything done with presence, it’s a spiritual practice.

Colleen: I love that.

Feet . . . Major Access Point and Power Spot

Colleen: When you’re talking about the feet, I think it was back in 2011—out of my own personal need I launched into Reiki certifications and transformational coaching, because I needed it myself.

I set up a practice at a little side office at a chiropractor’s. He graciously let me practice on him and have my little room.

And my first client—her mother came to me and said, “Oh, she’s bipolar. The police are always over there. Nothing’s working. You’re probably not going to work either. She’s willing to come ‘cause no one else has done this.”

I’m like, “Okay…”

And though I was advised otherwise, I felt like, “I think I need to do this.”

And I really didn’t know what I was doing—which is the best place to be, I think. I might not have figured it out otherwise.

So I had a massage table, and she didn’t want coaching. She just wanted Reiki, and I was brand spanking new at this.

I discovered that when she came, she was working on her feet all day. And when she came, her feet really stunk—really stinky feet. And all I could think of was, “You go to a Japanese restaurant, they give you the hot cloths, you clean your hands, and then you eat.”

So I said, “Alright, we need to work on your feet, and I’m going to give you the special Japanese restaurant treatment. I’m half Japanese—this works. There’s a connection here.”

So I’d go in the bathroom with these white Costco rags, heat them up as much as I could, put them in a container, and wrap her feet with hot cloths. Then I’d just Reiki her feet.

If I did nothing else, she improved drastically. And if there was nothing else on the body that I could come near to, the feet would be enough.

Matthew: Okay. That’s the major access point, right? The most nerve endings in the body are there. Chinese medicine, of course, focuses so much on that.

In the Vedic tradition, the feet are the most sacred part of the body in the guru—because their consciousness has descended so much into the body. Most nerve endings are in the feet, therefore they’re a power spot.

So they’ll touch the feet of the guru—or, of course, in reverence also to their parents.

For someone who’s not a guru or an awakened being, the feet… they actually make sure not to point them at people, because your density—what you haven’t worked on—can be shooting out of the feet, at least in that tradition.

So it makes so much sense that you went to heal that part of the body, because everything can be accessed there in such an impactful way.

Colleen: And, of course, I didn’t know that, and I didn’t do it for that reason. I just did it because she had stinky feet.

Matthew: That’s the beauty of the universal intelligence, right?

It can show up in the most practical or mystical ways, but it has a bigger plan.

Colleen: There’s always a bigger plan.

Matthew: Always a bigger plan.

Colleen: Oh, if we ever had a sense of that, we’d be walking up above.

Matthew: Seriously. Absolutely.

“All spiritual growth is an unlearning process."

Matthew: I just wanted to… you said something about your little Reiki story that I feel is so important to highlight.

You said it was your first official person, and so you went in just not knowing—and you thought that was actually better. That’s why it was so powerful.

That is exactly right. My teacher in India used to say that all spiritual growth is an unlearning process.

Colleen: Yes.

Matthew: We’re unlearning. And this spiritual path is not about building achievements. There are definitely milestones as far as energetically embodying certain things—but it takes one moment to get there.

It is an ever-present invitation to come back. And the moment we are back into that spot, we’re in full alignment with the universal.

We are already awake.

“We can make our spiritual path into a never-ending shopping cart of “I need to keep looking for something,” when it can be as close as one moment of letting it go.”

Colleen: That’s what came to mind when you said that. Chris and I had an opportunity years ago to be in some Native meditations that came through our friend.

I don’t think he was bringing forth a long-time tradition so much as, “This is what I feel is needed.” He’s a Native man, and here’s how we do the meditation.

There’s a Native word for it, and the translation of that word is, “It is already done.”

Of course, he’d have the drumming and the singing as part of the meditation. And it was a lot like yoga nidra in some respects.

That’s a touchstone for me, because it affirms timelessness.

That presence—there is no time. So the truth that I experience and that I know—when the illusions have been dissolved—if it happens next month or next year or whatever, it’s not really of any consequence.

Matthew: Yes, exactly. It’s very common for even spiritual people to cultivate this concept that they’ve really “gotten somewhere.”

You know what I mean? I watched it, because I was going to the school in India every year for so many years, meeting people who’d been consciously on the path for 40 or 50 years, studied with this teacher or that teacher—yet they were still seeking for something.

There wasn’t the fulfillment. There wasn’t an unconditional space of fulfillment. There were still struggles, still conflicts.

There’s always room for growth—always. But we can make our spiritual path into a never-ending shopping cart of “I need to keep looking for something,” when it can be as close as one moment of letting it go.

That’s the freedom of stepping into the heart. And Jesus put it best: “You must become like a child to enter the kingdom.”

The moment we drop any concept, any conclusion, any identification with what happens—if we can learn how to do that—we’re automatically already there. And that is the awakened state. It’s immediately there. It’s how we’re intrinsically designed. It’s not for a select few. It’s a cultivation of being able to step into that space.

And it doesn’t have to take 14 more lifetimes. That’s the beauty and the magic—especially, I think, of this time on earth. There is so much grace available.

There truly is. There are hundreds of thousands of people consciously walking this path—more than ever in the history of this planet—from all corners of the world.

I’d watch it day in and day out at the school. We’d have up to 2,000 students from all over the world, sincerely going through their processes. That’s so amazing. And that was just one little school. There are so many schools, traditions, and yogis. The energy is here. It’s time to do this now.

Colleen: Yes—it feels like wherever we are, whether we’re in school or in the school of life, having to do the eight-to-five or whatever…

Matthew: It’s totally become eight-to-five, hasn’t it? It’s not nine-to-five anymore. Definitely eight-to-five these days.

Colleen: Twenty-four seven—the workdays are getting longer.

For me, it’s knowing I have a choice in any given challenge or stressful moment. I can either think, “Oh, I’ve got to make this better,” coming from a place of, “If I only have this, everything will be fine…”

Or—I have the freedom to say, “There’s a completeness I can come from.”

It’s like that third point you mentioned earlier with yoga. After feeling this, experiencing this, I can be knowing: "I come from this place."

And when I come from there, the matter could be resolved or not resolved, but I am embodying a state of peacefulness in that moment. From that state, I’m more useful to the people in my life. I function better.

Matthew: I drive the car better.

Colleen: Yes—the benefits are across the board.

Matthew: Exactly. And it comes back to the space of non-resistance.

And that’s the internal world—a space of not resisting what’s there. When we’re not resisting, all of a sudden we are in alignment with what’s happening. Whatever’s happening, then we can respond to it intelligently.

Or—we can just soak it up and enjoy the heck out of it, which is, 95 percent of the time, what’s called for.

Of course, there are times when we’re called to action. But if I make the decision to walk over and get water, then I should enjoy the walk over to get the water—and enjoy drinking the water.

We don’t need to pick up the phone, don’t need to be thinking about what’s next. That’s the state of living without resistance inside—because then the body’s online, and we’re able to be present and enjoy the journey from moment to moment.

Colleen: Enjoying the journey—yes. I know there are days when it’s like being on a boat, just sailing in the sun. There may be crazy stuff going on in the day, but it has a certain open, expansive feeling.

And then, the next day, I can notice something happening that’s really irritating me. And if I have the presence of mind to ask, “Why is that pissing me off so much?”—

Or, “Ooh, I don’t want to listen to that…”

Just the other day, I was here working on something and someone was talking on the phone. I didn’t like the tone. I could either say, “What’s going on with that person to have that tone of voice?”—and immediately this resistance comes up—or I could say, “Huh, I hope they feel better soon. I’m just going to close the door and turn on some music.”

It didn’t make any difference to the actual situation—except how I felt. I didn’t have to be wrangly toward the person with the tone, because that closes up my heart.

I’m sensing more and more—when I feel resistance coming up—what is my heart doing in that moment?

And obviously, if there’s some distressful situation going on, I need to leap in and take action. But I’m still learning.

Matthew: We all are.

Colleen: At least I’m starting to discern when I am in non-resistance—because it feels really peaceful and light. Resistance is not comfortable.

Acceptance and Spaciousness

Matthew: Yeah. Sometimes it’s not fun to notice our resistances. But I’d also love to affirm—that’s okay to not feel good.

Sometimes there are things we’re called to engage with, explore, and discover inside ourselves that don’t feel good—because we’ve created and held so much resistance for so long around certain aspects or experiences, and locked them away.

And so sometimes to get to that place of acceptance and spaciousness, there’s an unwinding that’s called for.

I remember—that started to happen really intensely for me after I got back from India that first time. They call them samskaras—emotional trends or grooves or blocks that want to start opening.

There were lots of releases, cries, fears for no reason. All of a sudden, I was seeing intensely through a lens of fear—especially around the concepts of good, bad, and evil.

I realized I’d had that locked in from when I was a kid in church, when they talked about the devil and evil. I formed this lens of trying to discern good and evil all day.

It was really just an intense emotional pocket I ’d stuffed somewhere in my body or consciousness.

That’s why I think it’s so important to have the courage to confront our resistances from a space of loving embrace.

Don’t expect them all to pop right away and go into bliss. Sometimes it’s intense—but that’s what spiritual warriors are here to do right now: to look at the truth, even in its dense spots, and help heal it through courageous embrace. To shine light on it through attention.

Colleen: Yeah. And also—those samskaras…

When you were talking about that, it reminded me of when I was physically giving birth. You have the contractions—they’re intense, they’re difficult.

And then, just before the baby is coming into the final stage of birth, there’s this time they call “transition.” You don’t know up from down, nothing makes sense, everything’s crazy. It’s the most awful feeling in one sense—except, the baby’s coming, so it’s okay.

Someone told me, “You’re going to go through this transition time, and it’s going to feel really unnerving at every level.”

That’s what happens before the baby’s born. And our being—our full expression of who we are in this body—is like a birth. We’re so different before and after.

It’s like we talked about at the beginning—stepping out of the black-and-white world into technicolor.

Matthew: Yep. It's so beautiful that you brought that up. That’s the process of transformation--to move into a space of awakening or, enlightenment's such a heavy word.

My teacher used to call it a neurobiological shift. It happens within ourselves first. We start to look at our resistances consciously. The witness consciousness is born more—we’re able to create space, to discern.

That breeds the cultivation ground for awareness of presence. As that comes online, literally the brain starts to change. The energetics, the intrinsic design of our chakras, our energy systems, our nadis—start to come back online.

It’s the caterpillar-to-butterfly effect. It's a big deal! It's not all pleasant, like giving birth, right?

Colleen: In the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, the caterpillar has to become mush—completely losing its past form.

Matthew: Exactly. I love that you said that.

That’s the unlearning process—the unlearning of resistance, of ideas, of identities. We can be so sure about something… but do we really know?

If we’re truly present, we must meet the moment in the unknown. That’s the state of the child, like Christ talked about—they don’t meet the world with identifications. They meet it within the realms of the unknown, then dream their experience from their heart’s joy.

Colleen: Whoa. There we go—dream your experience from your heart’s joy.

Matthew: We have to be “mushy” for that to happen. You don’t come in with a bunch of tools and ideas and plans. It’s tossing all that aside.

And it comes down to a space of surrender. The monks used to say—chakras from here up, it’s all about surrender. Down here, in the lower chakras, it’s individuality. We’re learning discernment, learning how to operate and use our will.

But up here—it’s “Thy will.” It’s trusting in a bigger intelligence we’re connected to.

EPILOGUE:

Thank you for joining us on this We Be the Change journey. Today, we explored the wisdom of embodiment—surrendering into what already is, without dressing up the mind with spiritual words.

I’m curious—what does non-resistance feel like in your day-to-day? How do you connect with "The Wisdom of Embodiment?" Feel free to respond in the comments section, or just drop me a note on SongRise.live.

Remember you can see more of Matthew Hara's content and offerings--including journaling prompts and supportive resources on the Bonus Content page at Songrise.LIVE and on his website at MatthewHara.com

Interested in continuing this conversation in a small group? Consider joining a "Continuing the Conversation" SuppGroup.

To hear the above conversation as an audio podcast episode, simply click HERE.

We have a free eGuide you’ll enjoy, called Out of Your Mind, Into Your Light right here at SongRise.live.

Until next time, I wish you the blessings of walking rooted in the sacredness of your body. May you be in that feeling of coming home—with body, mind, and spirit in harmony—in that "unlearning experience" we call spiritual growth. 🙏🏽💗

Leave a comment

In the internal world, we have to learn how to experience life, which is dependent on whether we're resisting our experience--or not resisting it.

PROLOGUE:

In part one, we heard how Matthew Hara, as a sensitive soul, moved from addiction to awakening.

In part two, we explore the nature of the mind, the illusion of separation and how identification with the mind leads to suffering. We learn how presence, non-resistance and practices like yoga ultimately reconnect us to truth, to our heart and to embodied presence.

Enjoy this nourishing We Be The Change podcast transcript of our conversation about the mystical nature of being in the body without identification with the mind, with Matthew Hara and host Colleen Akiko, titled, "Come Home to the Body."

To HEAR this conversation on the podcast, search for "We Be The Change" on your favorite platform, or click HERE.

“It was amazing to me to start to learn about what this mind is and how it affects us, and why it's ruling us, and why that makes us suffer. And it comes down, actually, to our identifications. The baseline of why we suffer is any moment we identify with the mind's interpretation."

Colleen:  I'm so glad you brought up the mind because when you even mentioned the mind earlier, I felt like--there's a stopping place there, the mind . . . because that can be a big scoop that a lot gets lumped into. And maybe it all belongs.

And then we hear about the ego and it gets confusing, and the mind starts trying to figure out the mind.

We need the mind, I need the mind to figure out how to make a morning smoothie, drive the car. So, we're not talking about that mind.  We're talking about something a little different. Can you break that down for us--from your perspective?

Understanding the Mind and Consciousness

Matthew: Yeah, I'll do my best. I think for me, the key way of explaining it is--The Mind: the contents of the universal mind; it's like an operating system and we're all tuned into it, whether we like it or not.  And when we get mixed up in it, we really start to have identification with it.  

My  mind, my thoughts, my this or that, is actually when you start to isolate yourself. And that's actually a cutoff from truth, because in reality everything is sharing everything all at once.

So for me, going to India and why I went back every year for 17 years is because the masters, the teachers over there, they're very clear about the mind. They've been studying it for thousands of years.

That was amazing to me to start to learn about what this mind is, and how it affects us, and why it's ruling us, and why that makes us suffer. And it comes down actually, to our identifications. One of the first big experiences I had in India was I was literally taken into such a space where I could see my own mind working for the first time, with a big gap in between it.

I could see that I was not the mind; that the mind was thinking and working automatically.  

“I could see that I was not the mind . . ."

Colleen: So you were observing the mind . . . 

Matthew: For the first time I went into a very deep witness state. Yep. Observing the mind and for hours on end, my energy had ignited enough to where I could stay steady in watchfulness of the mind. And when that happens, it's like a flashlight turning onto a snake. And it slowly, it starts to become a rope, actually, because you start to see what it is. So instead of this kind of fear-based way of thinking and isolating, trying, needing to understand, it starts to expand.

You start to see the mind for what it is. You start to allow it. And consciousness then can expand outside the parameters of your own ideas of reality.  

Colleen: Yeah. I love that metaphor. The flashlight on the snake, because that's sounds what was happening when you came back from your first trip to India and started sharing with your friends. You were putting the flashlight on the snake.  

Matthew: I think so, inadvertently though. Yeah.

Colleen: It was not intentional to try to hurt the snake.  

Matthew: That's true. Yeah, I never really thought about it like that, but that is what was happening.  

Colleen: I know there are sacred texts that talk about, in terms of light and darkness, darkness cannot comprehend the light. 

And that, there is some connection there, some interplay. But I love that you are open enough even after these initial experiences of not being understood and maybe experiencing some rejection and et cetera, judgment--a lot of judgment. A And yet you went back for more of what gave you life and has kept bringing that life back as who you are in all these situations that you were born into-- your family your friends, where you were living, et cetera. 

Matthew: Yes, thank you. Like I said, after that first experience on the beach, I finally had a vision. So from a young age, I was watching my parents, I was watching my aunts and uncles, I was watching what the teachers were telling me--and none of it really grabbed me like, why are you actually doing what you're doing?

I don't see really any of you happy, for one thing. I see a lot of people caught up in responsibility, and attempting to create more security for themselves and their life and their 401k, their retirement, your college fund--all these things that for me was just throwing more and more rocks in my backpack every time I thought about engaging in them. So once I had that experience, and then when I went in and met my teacher, my guru in India after that first experience. This is all that had ever literally made sense to me-- as far as why we're here. Everything else was meaningless.

Colleen: Like coming home. This is some transitory place; when you experience being where this is how it is, you're home,   And now you're home wherever you are.

To have that initial experience that, no you weren't crazy. You weren't insane for not feeling okay with the insanity

Matthew: Yeah,  I'm grateful because I was stubborn enough to not give in to it.  You know, I did—here and there where I had to. School was a prison for me, like literally. Getting up every morning... I wasn’t someone who just dropped out and ran off--I made myself go. But then, once I was out of high school, I couldn’t not allow my spirit to follow its guidance.

Colleen: I wonder if there are people listening to this conversation who are currently feeling like that—like the old Wizard of Oz, where everything was black and white and dull and drabby, la-di-da—and then she pops out and there’s technicolor and sparkles.

Matthew: Oh wow, that’s a perfect metaphor.

Colleen: And that is, fortunately, what we’ve never really been disconnected from.

I love what you were saying before about the mind—that it’s our identification with the mind as who we are, and especially that “this is my mind,” that just aggravates this inner despair that we all have—until we don’t. When we experience that there are no separations...

Matthew: Yes.

Colleen: Then we’re stepping into that technicolor—of life.

Matthew: Yes, exactly.

Matthew: I would love to share a little bit more on this topic because this is the meat of it. So I had that first big experience in India where I had this gap—I was seeing the mind for what it was. And literally, consciousness, intelligence, grace—however you want to call it—it showed me all the way back to when I first started getting identified with the mind.

And it went all the way back to Disney cartoons, actually—straight into Mickey Mouse. That was the last scene I saw. I think it was... is it Anastasia or Fantasia or whatever it’s called? Where he’s got the wand and he’s dreaming everything?

And so I watched the mind’s mechanism for so long. It went all the way back to there. All of a sudden, I’m watching this scene with Mickey Mouse and the wand. It was a full mystical experience by that point. I’m watching it and just—ah, wow. This is what the mind is. And I realized I was trapped in this.

It started back there, where I started to identify with myself and the external world—right? Individual and other. And then it popped. All of a sudden, everything went to pure silence.

And such an interesting thing occurred. Each of us—the participants there—had a monk who was our personal guide. Someone we could go to, lean on, get support, ask questions.

He literally walked in the moment after that happened—after I’d been in silence for about three seconds. It felt like some kind of huge breakthrough. He came in the door right away and said, “It’s time to go for a walk, Matthew.” And it was such a trip. It’s like he’d been watching my process that whole time.

I’d been lying in my bed in Shavasana for about three or four hours at that point. “Let’s take a walk, Matthew.” So we go outside. It’s beautiful in South India at that time of year—very jungly.

All of a sudden, I’m witnessing everything: the trees, the jungle sounds—everything is so rich, so full. Because now the senses are online.

When those senses are online, we’re experiencing life for what it is—in the moment—without the interpretation of the mind. Life is so fulfilling. Just to take a walk, to look at a tree, to take a breath—moment by moment through the senses.

So I’m having this experience really powerfully. He says, “Do you want to get something to eat at the cafeteria?” And I was actually really hungry by that point. I said, “Sure.” So we go. He says, “Go get some watermelon.”

I go get some watermelon. I sit down. I’m eating it. Best watermelon ever. My senses are on fire. Watermelon is so good in South India. I’m sitting there for 10 minutes enjoying it.

Then a friend from Scandinavia—who I’d met—walks into the cafeteria. I’m in there alone at that point. And I’m in such a state that when I put my attention on him, I can literally see exactly what his mind is doing, what his thoughts are saying.

And one of the biggest lessons of my life happened. I could see, as he walked into the cafeteria, he identified for a second where his body was, where the food was. Then he started walking toward the food. He got to the watermelon dish—it was empty, because I’d taken all the watermelon at that point. And the story in his mind was like, “Oh, it’s empty.” And he started to suffer.

So I’m watching all of this happen in his mind. It was so clear to me that the baseline of why we suffer is any moment we identify with the mind’s interpretation. The moment he identified, “The bowl is empty. I don’t get watermelon,” he started suffering.

And that was such a lesson. Because I could see—all of a sudden—it’s identifying with anything that gets in the way of experiencing life for what it is, in the moment.

Colleen: Is that the same as attachment to outcome?

Matthew: It’s the same thing. Yeah, same thing. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. This is the mind. This is how we’re designed. But I was just so clear—he started suffering.

And of course I was like, “Oh wow.” I had some more watermelon on my plate. I said, “Hey brother, I have some watermelon. Come.” And he got so happy. And that’s what we did. This is our life. We go through these ups and downs—“Oh, I got what I want.” And then the next need of the body or desire or life or whatever.

But it was so clear to me: the moment we start suffering is when we get attached to a story and we identify for a moment. But what’s happening in the body—I could literally see that his body was functioning automatically. Breathing was happening automatically. All life was so connected. But the moment we identify with any interpretation of life, we create a separate entity.

“When we’re aligned with truth, we’re connected. If we’re resisting the truth, we’re cut off."

Colleen: And I know you’ve spoken and written about the concept of non-resistance. Hearing what you’re saying—it’s like, no matter who we are, our calling is to non-resistance. But not in a way that says, “Oh, I’m going to surrender and now I’ll be tortured and suffer,” which is what the mind tells me. “If you don’t resist, they’re going to walk all over you.” Because maybe I have had some of those experiences.

Matthew: Totally.

Colleen: But I can just really experience—like you were describing—the presence in the moment, and knowing not only is all well, all is beyond words: amazing and wonderful.

And in that moment—I am free to not have to resist. I have a choice. I can resist or not resist. In that moment of being and knowing—being part of... what I don’t know how to articulate—I would just say: the truth.

Matthew: Yeah. It’s beyond.

“This is one of the biggest areas that I feel like we lack in our modern educating of the human being: . . . How do we engage in the internal world? . . ."

Colleen: Then non-resistance is fine. It’s not a problem.

Matthew: Exactly. And I think it’s super important. This is one of the biggest areas that I feel like we lack in our modern educating of the human being—which the East has really focused on: How do we engage in the internal world? And how do we engage in the external world? What are the different modalities that we need to learn? What are the different strategic ways of traversing those worlds? Because they’re very different.

In the internal world, we have to learn how to experience life, which is dependent on whether we’re resisting our experience or not. The internal world is crucial. We must cultivate the ability to not resist what’s happening. Therefore, we’re then connected to truth, which connects us to our body, which connects us to higher consciousness. When we’re aligned with truth, we’re connected. If we’re resisting the truth, we’re cut off.

But for the external world, we do need to learn how to say yes and when to say no. The no’s are as important as the yes’s. So it’s very important that we learn about those worlds.

Colleen: For me, what comes to mind right now is the watermelon story. Our lives are just filled with these little stories. That’s a perfect illustration.

We can just be in this state of constant surrender. That’s the word that’s been really relevant to me lately: surrender. So in a constant surrender and knowing the “I Am that I Am,” I don’t have to say, “Oh, this person needs this—shall I give it to them?” I don’t have to go through that process. I can just let my heart flow and move however is best for me to move in that moment. I’m both guided and supported—and led at the same time.

It’s really... I guess there are all kinds of ways to describe that flow—Life living us in some way.

Matthew: Yeah. And you said it also—heart. The heart flow. It’s the heart’s intelligence. Exactly. When we step out of the mind’s mode, the heart comes online. And the heart is connected with higher intelligence, which is connected with everything and everyone. Then it can flow more serendipitously.

Colleen: Just lead.

Matthew: Yeah.

Colleen: You say the first part, I’ll say the second.

Matthew: Perfect. Harmoniously. It’s in alignment with that which is bigger.

Colleen: Yeah. And that is when—boom—we’re back in Wonderland.

Matthew: Yeah. We’re connected to that.

Colleen: And the...

Matthew: Magic.

Colleen: What’s the last word you said?

Matthew: To the magic.

Colleen: When the heart’s online—life is magic. It really is. And it was designed to be that way. “As above, so below”—that is true when the heart’s online. It’s not true when we’re living through the frameworks of the mind, because then we’re only seeing yes and no’s, good and bad, right and wrong, left and right. Binary.

This is relevant to me, and I guess it’ll be perpetual until I go somewhere else. I find I have to use my brain a lot. Right now I’m working on putting things together to launch this podcast. And so I have to learn video editing and all kinds of technical things. The little surface part of me says, “Just go get a root canal instead.” That’s not appealing at all.

However, I say to that part, “Oh wait a minute, okay. Your voice has been heard, and you can go to this corner. You can still hang out, but you are not what my heart is hearing right now.”

It’s such an interesting journey, isn’t it? I’m finding that I shut down my awareness too easily—on what’s going on in my body. I’m just rediscovering that my body, including my heart—my heart physical and my heart beyond physical—is on board to help me out. If I only listen.

I have a hard time getting still. And so I appreciate your yoga practice, for instance. You mentioned that we each are so unique. So we find those ways that help us strategize how to stay in this connection. We’re always in connection—but not to be obstacled by the illusions.

Matthew: Yes. Yeah. Beautifully put.

Colleen: I don’t know if “obstacled” is a word.

Matthew: I think that was perfectly clear to me. I thought you expressed that well.

Colleen: Oh, thanks. So with yoga, I start every day with a morning sunrise salutation. Of course, I’ve customized that with other practices that have been meaningful for me. But beyond that, I don’t have a whole lot of experience in yoga.

My best friend, who passed a couple of years back, used to talk with me about that. She knew me really well. She would say, “As that is for you, yoga is for me.” And so I knew that was very clearing for her—and obviously for you as well.

Could you describe that a little, and your journey with yoga?

Yoga and Spiritual Growth

Matthew: Sure. So I was always super athletic, as I mentioned, from when I was a kid, and I was also very connected to nature.

I was a snowboarder, a surfer, a backpacker. My family used to hike a lot. So being in the body was something I was used to from a young age. It probably got me through my childhood—being able to play sports, be outside, and stay healthy—even though I was ravaging myself with substances.

But the body was still strong and healthy and very capable. I think yoga acted as one of the main initial bridges for me—a spiritual practice that I could really apply in my life. And of course, many of us start with the concept of yoga as just postures, right? We learn sun salutations, go to some classes, try hot yoga, this, that, and the other.

“. . . it’s actually a technology—from the densest levels of physicality to the subtlest levels of consciousness."

This technology is powerful. It’s so intelligently designed when you learn the full spectrum of it.

Once I started going to India and learning about different branches of yoga, visiting traditions, diving deep—I started to see that yoga is so much bigger than that. Yes, my body was healthy and yoga was helping me get more flexible and strong, but it’s actually a technology—from the densest levels of physicality to the subtlest levels of consciousness.

“I just knew I was on the path to

This technology is powerful. It’s so intelligently designed when you learn the full spectrum of it.

So I just knew—this is critical for me to apply every single day because of where I’m going. I didn’t know what that was going to look like, I just knew I was on the path to freedom. That’s all I cared about. And if I was going to do that, I knew I was taking my body with me. My body needed to be at a certain level.

“It’s actually a process of going through our past “filing cabinets,” which are all stored in the body."

The monks over there—we’d have long conversations about this. The body, if it can’t hold a vibration, it’s like a power plug—you’ll blow a breaker. And because I wanted such a state of freedom, I knew I had to be able to hold that kind of charge. That made sense to me. Basic, practical sense.

I think this is critical—and often overlooked—especially in the portrayal of yoga in the West. It’s mostly glamorized on a surface level. Yes, it’s beneficial. It helps people feel good. But if we approach it with the intention that our consciousness stay at a higher level, maintain a higher frequency—gosh, that gives us even more drive to stay with it. And it’s not just that.

It’s actually a process of going through our past “filing cabinets,” which are all stored in the body. So yoga is a pathway for that—if used that way.

“Yoga certifications are given way too quickly. There are too many teachers who haven’t deeply applied this science in their own body and being—for transformation—and to truly honor this great lineage."

It’s just been a huge part of my path. I’m passionate about bringing more light to it—especially for Westerners—because I feel like it’s mostly poorly portrayed and not generally used for its full potential. Yoga certifications are given way too quickly. There are too many teachers who haven’t deeply applied this science in their own body and being—for transformation—and to truly honor this great lineage.

Colleen: I’ve heard that from another yoga teacher in Southern California as well. I haven’t met him in person, but we had a deep Zoom conversation a few months back. He said that many people would be surprised that colonialism is part of westernized yoga.

And sadly, I wasn’t shocked. Colonialism seems to leech into so many aspects of everything. That energy of “got to have it, got to control it.”

Matthew: Yeah.

Colleen: But from what you just shared, the wisdom of the body can come through so beautifully and clearly through intentional practice.

It’s not a practice I’ve gone very far with, but even in just a few minutes each morning, I’m starting to tune in more and more to the sacredness of being in the body. There’s something about that.

We get that concept in Christianity, right? The incarnation of Christ—the son of God, in a body. And I love Jesus.

But the concept of non-duality is one of the hardest things I’ve experienced as a Christ follower—because I wasn’t taught Christianity that way. I was taught the opposite. That kind of perspective would be considered blasphemous.

In fact, it took me about a year and a half—going out at dawn or pre-dawn—working this out in my mind and in my being.

And finally, I said, “Okay, I’m going for it. I’ve got to make the shift.”

Matthew: Yeah.

Colleen: And I said, “If I die...”—because I knew if it wasn’t right, I would be committing blasphemy. But I was shown very clearly in that moment—and in a vision, actually—that no, as in the Sanskrit chant: “I am in the divine, and the divine is in me.”

In my understanding, I came to experience the truth of that. And when I have my little yoga time, I feel that in my body.

Matthew: Yeah.

Colleen: When I’m stretching and moving, sometimes I feel, “Oh, it’s best to move this way today and not that way. I need to stay here longer. What’s happening here?”

“Oh wow, my heart was so closed—it needs to be open. So I’m going to stay here longer.”

“Oh, I need to breathe. I need to breathe deeper.”

And sometimes emotions come out.

Matthew: Absolutely.

Colleen: And as long as I don’t judge the emotions, they feel good. If I judge them, I go into that suffering place.

Matthew: Yes.

Colleen: This podcast you’re now speaking on—the idea for it germinated in that quiet moment with my body was just trying to calm down the chatter. I’m a little chatterbox. But I showed up—just being still. No agenda except: I need to be in my body.

Certain moves help me. “Oh, there’s my foot. My left toe joint is feeling a little crotchety today. Maybe I need to move this way so it doesn’t hurt when I walk.”

Little things like that. They seem so simple—not very impressive to my mind, honestly.

My mind is like, “Are you in pre-kindergarten or something? Come on.”

“Tuning into your own embodiment, meeting yourself where you are, deeply listening from that place. That is the path of yoga. And through that, an intelligent evolution happens within the body."

Matthew: No, but that’s it though. That’s how I often see yoga mis-portrayed here. You go to a class, and they take you through 30 postures in an hour.

Often people don’t initially like my classes—because we might do seven postures in an hour and a half. But it’s that tuning into your own embodiment, meeting yourself where you are, deeply listening from that place.

That is the path of yoga. And through that, an intelligent evolution happens within the body. We can tune into the heart, and an evolutionary process unfolds.

That’s the broad path—at least from my perspective—of what yoga is all about. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be rigorous.

It’s like going overly feminine—flexibility—and lacking masculine stability. Or vice versa.

“If you don’t balance flexibility with strength, then you don’t build balanced action."

It doesn’t have to hurt.

In fact, a lot of people get injured after doing yoga—especially over a number of years in an imbalanced way. All of a sudden, they become too flexible because they didn’t cultivate the other half—stability and strength.

There’s this idea that yoga is about flexibility. It’s not. That’s one aspect. But if you don’t balance flexibility with strength, then you don’t build balanced action.

It’s like going overly feminine—flexibility—and lacking masculine stability. Or vice versa. Males generally need more feminine energy—more flexibility. But it’s the balance of action that yoga is about.

This intelligent, balanced action—while embodied—brings online higher consciousness more frequently. It’s about an embodiment practice.

EPILOGUE:

Thank you for joining us for Come Home to the Body, part two of the We Be the Change series with Matthew Hara: Individuality and Universality.

I hope this brought a real richness to you in savoring the question: How can I trust my body’s wisdom over my mind’s story?

Make sure to see more of Matthew Hara's content and offerings--including journaling prompts and supportive resources on the Bonus Content page at Songrise.LIVE and on his website at MatthewHara.com

If you'd like to explore continuing this conversation with friends, you might consider a "Continuing the Conversation" SuppGroup.

Thanks for listening and please share your thoughts! Again, if you'd like to hear the above conversation as a podcast episode, simply click HERE.

P.S. Your FREE eGuide, Out of Your Mind, Into Your Light awaits you at the bottom of each page at SongRise.LIVE

Aloha and Mahalo 🌺

Colleen Akiko

PROLOGUE:

After years of depression and addiction, Matthew Hara’s life changed with one unexpected moment of meditation. In this powerful episode, he shares his raw journey from inner darkness to becoming a global spiritual guide, mentor and yoga teacher--offering insights on sensitivity, awakening, and living from the heart.

(Colleen): Matthew Hara is known globally as a spiritual guide, songwriter, musician, yoga teacher, and craftsman, who emerged 24 years ago from the depths of lifelong depression and severe substance abuse to follow an unwavering spiritual path in raising human consciousness.

And I now want to just welcome Matthew to We Be the Change. Thank you for being here, Matthew.

(Matthew): Ah, thank you so much, Colleen. Grateful to be here.

(Colleen): You are such a rich, varied smorgasbord of embodied life experience from many years of deep study and spiritual service in ancient wisdom traditions and different cultures. I'm wondering—did you just naturally ease into this path, or was it more of an abrupt beginning for you?

Matthew's Abrupt Spiritual Awakening

(Matthew): It was quite abrupt, actually. Yeah, I was still in my party mode phase—20 years old, living in San Diego County. Surfing a bunch, going to school a little bit, but surfing was taking over, and partying was my evening activity.

And then I picked up a book—I forget how it came into my hands—but this book came into my life. Then, combined with my first yoga class, which was on the beach with a friend I had met. She put me into meditation afterward, and I just went somewhere else. Maybe 20 or 30 minutes later,

I opened my eyes, and she looked at me. She said, "You just went somewhere, didn’t you?" And I was like, "I did." That just kickstarted it. It was a spark that lit the fire.

(Colleen): Did that feel connective inside, or was it like you left your body and went somewhere? What was that like?

(Matthew): It started from inside, but I went into an effortless space because I didn’t know what meditation was. I didn’t have any preconceptions or ideas of what I was doing. I just did the postures for maybe 30 to 45 minutes, and then sat down and just... expanded. The expansion happened, and thoughtlessness happened.

I remember those two attributes were clear. I went into timelessness, and she actually touched me on the shoulder eventually. She said it had been 20 or 30 minutes—whatever it was. It felt like 30 seconds to me. I just went somewhere.

(Colleen): And you’ve experienced that thousands of times since then?

...That, I think, was the foundation of a lot of my depression: I didn’t have a vision. I didn’t have a passion.

(Matthew): Definitely, yeah. Because then I had a taste for what I now knew I wanted. That experience literally gave me a vision for life, where I never had a vision. I was just drifting. And that, I think, was the foundation of a lot of my depression. I didn’t have a vision. I didn’t have a passion. Yeah, I was good at sports and athletics, and I loved nature, and I had good friends—but nothing I was passionately living for.

Early Life as Oscar the Grouch

(Colleen): I remember you saying when you were growing up, your nickname was Oscar the Grouch. What was that like on the inside?

(Matthew): Yep. From the earliest age I can remember, I just remember feeling heaviness and coldness and anxiety and stress. And that could have been because of so many factors—the family situation, those first formative years up on Donner Summit, where it was literally cold. Those were huge winters in the early '80s. That was intense living. But I wasn’t a happy kid,.

(Colleen): You have described yourself in your early years as being very sensitive. You’re just designed as a sensitive person—as many of us are—and empathic.

And when we are sensitive and empathic, and there are intensities going on around us, we have to take care of ourselves somehow.

Do you feel like that is what caused you to go into that deep depression from an early time?

You don’t know that because you’re sensitive, you’re feeling everything and everyone. You’re hyper-alert, you’re hyper-aware.

(Matthew): Definitely. Of course, you don’t know what it is. You don’t know that because you’re sensitive, you’re feeling everything and everyone. You’re hyper-alert, you’re hyper-aware. Even back then, I was very sensitive to spirits and entities. I had this spirit—this female—she tortured me when I was in my room at night alone. From a very young age, like two, three, four years old.

My first memories—I remember just being frightened to go to sleep because I knew she was going to come and torture my mind. So I think it creates this shutting down. You try to shut it down. And then, of course, you try to tiptoe around people. You want to make as little impact as possible.

So then you’re not being your full self. You’re not able to just express.

(Colleen): You know, that is something that is not talked about a lot. And yet, people feel things that they don’t know how to describe. They are very constrictive. They’re very frightening. I know I have felt that many times myself, growing up as well.

And you don’t want to talk about it because it seems weird, and people don’t want to be around weird people. And of course, you want to feel connected. And so many of us take the route that you did—you just deaden it down. And medicate yourself so these things are not so painful. And so you survived childhood and adolescence. I’m glad.

(Matthew): Yeah. All my physical needs were provided for. Of course, my parents split up, so not having my father around very often—that was what was not provided for, and that was painful. But everything else was there. I was healthy. I was athletic. I connected with other kids easily. Yeah. But yeah—the internal world was just dark.

(Colleen): As it is for so many. So many. We have no idea. And here you are, being a bright light, and I’m so grateful. I have witnessed you really connecting—not just one-to-one, but in group situations.

And I’m amazed at how transparently you can show up, both with your words, your stories, your songs, your chanting. Leading meditations—I hear you’re leading a retreat, and you’ve done that all over the world. So I feel very blessed, very honored, that you have so much to pull from in your personal experience.

It’s not head knowledge. And it’s so timely that you’re here in the world now—because we have enough head knowledge. And I know you’ve studied a lot—with many gurus, many teachers, many cultures—which is unique in and of itself. To have someone here who is embodying and sharing, not just in a Western way.

And yet here you are in the West. It’s almost... I seem to use the metaphor of food a lot. . . . But it’s like, instead of the cheap powdered spices, you go out in the garden, and you grab herbs, and you grind them up—and they’re very authentic and fresh.

And that’s how you strike me as a person.

The Journey of Self-Discovery

I'm wondering, after this experience—was it about 24 years ago, when you found yourself on a clear, distinct path. Wherever that came from, that’s where you were going—with all force. How was that shift on the outside and the inside? Because that was huge.

(Matthew): Yeah. Oh man. On the outside, to my friends at first, they were taken aback. They’re like, "What do you mean you’re not going to drink tonight?" Or, "Why are you reading so much all of a sudden?" And I didn’t stop drinking or partying immediately, but it completely shifted to where now, I was focused. That stuff started to fall away rapidly. And after about a year, I quit pretty much all of that.

The people around me—my old friends—they didn't really appreciate it. Because the mind itself doesn’t appreciate change, generally. Its first response is: change is a threat. Because it’s not known. The mind is designed to know things. It wants to understand. So when a person changes, generally people don’t appreciate it at first. Then, the ones who deeply care for you—and if you have the time to converse and communicate what you’re going through—then generally they’re happy and supportive. But sometimes not. I had family members . . .

I literally couldn’t find anyone to have a conversation with that felt like it could be a give-and-take. It was either "they’re telling me"—or a shutdown. . .

And the conversation didn’t really work.

I started to chant, I started to read all these books, I started to want to pick up conversations. Especially with my aunts and uncles who were very spiritual and religious and inquiring, in certain ways.

Inadvertently, it felt like I was testing them—and their faith and their tradition. Because I was suddenly reading Eastern tradition books from all kinds of different religions and spiritual paths. And I wanted to have inquiry—outside of these surface-level "work-school-sports" conversations.

And I started to discover rapidly what a tender zone that is for people. And how much insecurity there is. Or how much arrogance there is. I literally couldn’t find anyone to have a conversation that felt like it could be a give-and-take. It was either they’re telling me—or it’s a shutdown thing. And the conversation didn’t really work. So I found that very interesting. And it actually made me fascinated. I wanted to look more.

(Colleen): What was behind that? Do you feel like those kinds of conversations, in this day and time, are easier to have in general in our society?

(Matthew): In general, they’re easier, for sure. I wouldn’t say we’re in the clear. Of course, it depends on the community and the people. For some people, you don’t even have to say anything. You can sit down together and—boom—hearts are online. They’ve applied and understand the principles within themselves.

They’re not trying to splatter it on someone else. And therefore, you can just connect. And that’s the best. That is happening more and more—I see that for sure.

Everything comes down to communication—from the cells in our bodies to our consciousness, from the individual to the universal—on so many layers and levels.

(Colleen): And one thing I appreciate about you is the embodiment that you offer. You’re not showing up as a talking head, wanting to teach somebody about "this brand of yoga" or something like that.

You’re showing up as an expression of love. So wherever that person or group is, there’s a connection that can be made at whatever level the person wishes to connect.

You are a spiritual guide as well as a teacher—a spiritual guide. And in these times, that can be one-on-one. And you are expressing that also through your music—through various creative expressions that I’d love to hear more about. But I know I’ve segued a bit. I apologize. These things just come up as you’re talking—because even though they’re part of your story and your backstory, they’re so relevant—to all of us. And I know, myself included.

How do we talk about these things? How do we be real with people who don’t really want to be real? They want to protect something else—because that’s what they feel familiar and safe with. And yet... our times don’t feel that safe right now. And so this is a prime time for us to root deeper and find our anchor. And you’ve been doing that all along—or at least for the past few years.

(Matthew): I’ve been doing my best. And especially—I love that you brought up the communication piece—because that is one of the biggest parts of bridging this new consciousness. Everything comes down to communication—from the cells in our bodies to our consciousness, from the individual to the universal—on so many layers and levels.

Anything that’s an outside threat to a person who’s not consciously aligned with growing—with being receptive to life, to being on the path—anything different is going to feel like a threat.

But especially in my family. My parents—at least from my perspective, and I say this lovingly—but their communication was extremely shut down. And then, as I reflected and got older—through my whole family. I had one side of the family where it was very normal to practice the silent treatment. If you were mad at someone, you literally wouldn’t talk to them for months—or sometimes even years on end.

(Ouch.)

Yeah. One of the most fascinating and also painful experiences I had was after my first trip to India at 23. I went over there and had completely life-changing experiences. I came back wide open—my heart more open, happier, more inspired, more alive than ever. And I remember trying to share with my first friend when I came home—and they immediately shut down. Then the next friend—they’re like, "Yeah, that’s cool," and then changed the topic.

It was blaringly alarming to me. It was like, oh my gosh, whatever I’m doing is threatening them—but I’m coming in with such innocence. I’m just trying to share my story. It’s not "come to India." It’s, "This is what happened."

And again—learning about the mind and the mind’s nature. How it wants to stay in safety. It wants to stay in understanding. And anything that’s an outside threat to a person who’s not consciously aligned with growing—with being receptive to life, to being on the path—anything different is going to feel like a threat. And they’re going to close down.

EPILOGUE:

I am glad you were able to join us for this first segment with Matthew Hara. I’m wondering how what he shared about his self-discovery journey might be resonating with you. Please let us know. And tune in next week for the second segment with Matthew Hara. You can find out more about him, his songs, and his ministry at matthewhara.com.

Leave a comment

How many times is there someone sitting right across from me, who has the same feeling I have, and I don't know it yet, because I haven't realized my own fear, or joy--or whatever it is. And so I don't recognize theirs.

PROLOGUE:

In a world that feels more and more unpredictable, how do we stay grounded?

How do we say Yes to growth and transformation when uncertainty is what's showing up first? Join us in this conversation, Fear: A Stop Sign or a Doorway?

We talk about embracing the unknown with heart, humor and depth, finding grace in our moments of fear, and through all, experiencing the quiet power of connection. If you've ever felt like you're in over your head, this episode will remind you: you are right where you are meant to be. And we are glad you are here!

... What sometimes seems a little too much for any of us--professionally or personally, is there so that we can see the peace in it, and see why we're here.

Colleen:

You have obviously found yourself wearing all kinds of hats. You remind me of a house for sale not too far from us. Maybe the seller of the house was a hat manufacturer--there were hats hanging on every wall in the house! I'm sure that you have a lot of hats you have worn, and I'm wondering, in the variety of expressions that you have been as a human, what backstories helped you to step up to wear yet one more hat and be one more expression?

Donna:

By the way, when you said all those hats, I remember my grandmother used to read a story to me when I was very little about a guy--I think it was a kid, not an adult, whose name was Bartholomew. He had a lot of hats and every time he'd take one off, there was another one. . .and another  one. And I hadn't really thought of it, but I think I've become Bartholomew.

I retired. No, I didn't. Now I'm doing this other thing. So maybe I've become him.

What backstories about myself or what backstories that have inspired me?

Colleen:

Well, the ones that you hold dear, that, let's say you're in a position, which I'm sure you will be, where you're faced with yet another opportunity to take off the hat and see what hat is underneath that hat.

What do you fall back on to know, Yeah, this is okay--because such and such has happened.

Donna:

I won't say that every time anyone asks me to do something, I say yes. It's not quite that I say yes to everything. But there are so many things that people ask me to do that I've never done that before.

I've never performed Peter and the Wolf before. I've never performed Casey at the Bat before. I'm going to say yes! And then I say Yes--and I did say yes to both of those. Then I say yes, and then I say Oh my God, what did I do? And I feel completely like, Oh, that was the biggest mistake I've ever made.

I don't know how to do this thing. I don't know. But I've been doing that for so long that now I know that I can say yes. And it's true, I have no idea what to do, but I will find out. I will find out what to do. I will figure out how to do it. I will learn to do it. And I mean, I know intuitively and internally what I'm going to be good at and what I'm not.

If you ask me to run a budget for an organization, I'd say, no, no, no, no, no. But there are other things that I know that I can be good at once I get rid of the fear. And once I learn a little bit more about it. I always feel like I've taken on more than I can handle. And I know that's not really the case. I know what I've really taken on is exactly what I can handle. And usually I think it's exactly where I should be.

Colleen:

Isn't that interesting that both sides of the opposites are right there at the same time. And it's okay. It seems like for me, when I'm faced with taking off the hat to see what other hat is underneath, I'll only take off the hat. And, and this is when I'm calm and able to breathe and not be reactive, I'll have a sense of this being where the peace is, even if it's an exhilarated peace, And it's a very bubbly peace, It's still peaceful. It's still life giving, and it feels like I'm going to be okay--even if I feel like I'm going to throw up at the same time; that this is where I'm meant to be.

And for you, it seems like this has been your lifestyle. So this is what you're most familiar with-- this kind of feeling because you had it every day in all that you delved into--difficult stuff.

It opened me up because it stripped me down. . . What if I could be so open every day that I would truly, really hear and see everyone who's around me? What could we all get from each other if we could do that?

Facing and Overcoming Fear

Donna:

Yeah, sometimes it's stressful for short periods of time and sometimes it's fearful..

Just when you think you have your act together and then somebody comes along and says, blah, blah, blah, and you say, Oh, no. I didn't know that about myself.

Somebody told me something recently that ignited a fear in me. It took me a couple of weeks to look at the fear, get over the fear, and move beyond the fear.

And then I just felt so good. Just, I am so glad that terrible thing happened, because I needed to look in the mirror and see that. And that's sort of how I feel with what we're talking about now, that sometimes I think I've taken on a little bit too much, but it's exactly what I need, because of what the process is, or because of the content of what I'm writing about, or-- yeah, in addition to all this other stuff we've talked about every couple of months I'll write an article for one outlet or another that is somewhat of a profile of someone. But in that profile, it's something we can all do a little bit better and learn from. Yes. And so writing those are very fulfilling. And when they pile up and I say, I don't think I can do all of this! Oh no, I need to interview that person because he or she has something to tell me that I haven't seen before.

So that's the blessing of it, maybe; that's the high side of it is that what sometimes seems a little too much for any of us professionally or personally, as you said, it's there so that we can see the peace in it and we can see why we're here.

Colleen:

Yes, I just had an experience yesterday with technology-related stuff. And I'm like, Why am I so triggered by this? It just shook me to the core. And I feel like perhaps I needed to be reminded, maybe I have a team of angels and helpers on the other side of my physical veil. Maybe they're saying something like, "Oh, she thinks that she can pull this off as a a mere human without anything beyond her talents or knowledge, and she needs a little bit of a nudge over the edge. Let's make everything go off at the same time so she can realize how supported and loved she is. Yeah. And that she doesn't need to do anything from that (reactive) place.

And when I open, and just take a breath--or whatever that looks like, I'm reminded there's this freedom that wells up, which I think might be what you were talking about at the end of your working through the fear, you know, for a few weeks.

I didn't know I needed to be free of such and such a thing. And yet I do need to be free of that. And so everything falls apart. I feel totally overwhelmed. I want to just crawl under the coffee table and hide for a while.

And then I realize, what I need to shuck off is just an illusion of a story of things and not really real. Then there's this freedom that sets me on my way. I'm sure you've been through your version of that many times.

Donna:

Well, the most recent thing was that there was a person who kind of held my hand and said, "Okay, let's just talk about this a little bit." But that was just a sort of a brief moment in these weeks of being afraid.

But the other thing was that from that moment for two weeks straight, I never revealed to anyone what the fear was; never said anything about it. These people started coming out of the woodwork, coming to me and saying, "This weird thing's happening to me and I've been so afraid and I don't know where it's coming from." And it was exactly the same stuff I was afraid of.

There were like six or eight people in two weeks who showed up and told me their stories that were almost a match to what I was feeling.

The interesting thing about this is that, of course, those people were always there. They always had that fear. They always told somebody about it, it just wasn't me.

How many times is there someone sitting right across from me who has the same feeling I have and I don't know it yet because I haven't realized my own fear, or joy, or whatever it is? And so I don't recognize theirs.

But It opened me up because again, it's stripped me down. It opened me up to the point where I could really hear them and know that I wasn't alone. Wow. What if I could do that every day? Not about fear, but maybe about something else.

What if I could be so open every day that I would truly, really hear and see everyone who's around me? Yes. What I could get out of that, what we could all get from each other if we could do that!

The Dune Litany

Here's something that I found in that two weeks I didn't know about that I really needed. It's a piece of paper. Do you know about the Dune litany? I have heard about it. I have not read it. I don't know if it's longer than the piece that I found, but I'm going to read you the few lines that I found from the book, Dune. Yes. It's about fear, and it goes like this.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain." --Dune; Litany Against Fear

Colleen:

Yeah. And the beautiful sense that every once in a while I get a glimpse of, is that it has already happened and it is already so.

It has already happened. It already is. A friend of ours, he's a tribal leader, and has led native meditations. And the translation is, it is already done. That has been home base. I could feel those words you were reading coming through and moving in certain ways, but it wasn't taking me away from where I am--right here.

So beautiful.

Donna:

And I ended up walking through those past those two weeks, and at the end of it saying, I'm not afraid and I will not run away, because as you said, it is already done.

Colleen:

It strikes me sometimes to just remember in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures that when angels appear, that's the first thing they say, it's like, I know this is really different, but Don't be afraid.

Donna:

You haven't seen a lot of angels in your life, but it's okay. Everything's going to be all right!

Andrà Tutto Bene

That's another great phrase I picked up. I have limited language skills, but there is a phrase that's popular in Italy that became especially popular during the beginning of COVID when northern Italy was hit really hard. But it's just, you know, part of the lifestyle.

It's Andrà tutto bene: everything will be alright. And what a nice way to be, because it's already done. So of course everything's going to be all right. Everything's already all right. We just haven't seen it yet.

Colleen:

Underneath these stories of what's going on, everything is fine and there's no thing about it. It's just only fineness, wellness.

How about if I decide that I will always make that person feel like they're the smartest, most important person in the room.

Donna:

There was one other little backstory that I thought of as we were talking. I mean, we all have a zillion of them, and not a lot of them are coming to mind right now, and if they did, it would take all day. But I think by far one of the most enjoyable interviews I've done was with Madeleine Albright.

It was like a year and a half before she died. When she died, somebody on her staff was interviewed on Morning Edition, and she said, The thing about Madeleine Albright was she always made you feel like you were the smartest person in the room.

But really, she was the smartest person. And I thought, well, I can't fulfill the second part of that. Why not go for the first part of it? How about if I decide that I will always make that person feel like they're the smartest, most important person in the room.

What if?

The other thing was something that one of my teachers gave me. That whenever I'd say, I don't know, that's hard, he'd say, what if it isn't? What if it isn't hard? What if it's easy and you just haven't looked at it that way before? That changes everything. That's more of that quantum theory. When you look at it, it's not the same. So once you look at it as easy, Oh, yeah, okay.

Colleen:

"What if the (computer) program that I thought I lost yesterday isn't really lost, and I found it last night?"

Donna:

See?

The Power of Perspective and Connection

Colleen:

Along the lines of how we are all connected, and we're all free to help each other along, whoever that teacher is--in my mind I call him "Mr. What If," the first time I heard you speak publicly you referred to him, you shared the stories of But what if this... what if that?

Donna:

Yes, I remember that now. Yes.

Colleen:

And I had actually years prior to that written a song called What If? And I was like, Hey, I have a song about that. I better check into it a little more. And as I did, that has become a foundational part of everything--that perspective in whatever comes my way, to be seen and dealt with and whatnot, 'cause stuff can seem hopeless. It can seem beyond repair.

But what if it's not? What if this horribly wounding thing is actually part of the medicine?

The what if question itself, it's like a portal of words. And I have come to appreciate that so much. And you were the vehicle, the human, the channel that brought that back into my life.

And so I guess it comes back to being willing and open to share what's come our way--grace in all its forms, what has helped us along. And when we share it and we're open to just be open, all these people come into our lives to tell us that they're afraid of the same thing that we're struggling with, and things like that--which is so remarkable.

"SEEMS": A Flashlight Word

Donna:

It's that balance. I'm going to struggle on one day, but then I'm going to see it and I'm not going to struggle the next day. So it's that balance of knowing that everything that's happening is leading us In some other direction.

You used the word seem somewhere in that sentence.. It seems to be... And every time I hear that word, I think, Oh, that just means I haven't looked at it right. It seems to be this. If I look at it differently, it'll be something else.

So that word is a nice one to listen for and do something with.

Colleen:

Yes. I'm hearing myself sometimes making these horrible declarations, about myself or about a situation and I'm like, Whoa--rewind, delete. That's not what I want to declare at all. And not that I want to be just some robot about it, but I can feel it in my words, when I'll say something that just is mean or wrangly or judgmental and I'm like, Did that just come out of my mouth? Whoa; I need to step back a minute and see what's up with that. And it doesn't disempower the intensity of what needs to be conveyed, if I just put the word seems in there,. That puts it in the proper perspective; that's where I need to live.

Donna:

Yeah, it's like getting out your flashlight and shining it on something.

Colleen:

Yeah, we can do that. I think that's why we're here.

Donna:

That's the amazing part of it, that we have the capacity to do that. We don't as often as we can, but now that we know it, we can.

Colleen:

Yeah. Not because we have to, right? But in some essential way, it's who we are. And that feels good; when we do it, we feel good. There's an inner recognition that happens, right? Hmmm, I like that. Like finding a new little flavor of dark chocolate that we never tasted before.

Must be getting close to lunchtime. I better let you go. I hope we get to do this again. This is so, so nice.

Donna:

Me too. It's been a wonderful conversation. It's always a wonderful conversation with you. Even if we're not recording...

Colleen:

Likewise; it is. Yes. After we have these conversations, I just go around smiling for a while. It's very uplifting.

Donna:

Isn't it? That's what I feel when I interview people and now, you know. With more and more people, you know what that feeling is. It's good.

Colleen:

It's a good connection. And it's one that is limitless. Whoever hears this, whenever they hear it, wherever they are, in some mystical, wonderful way, it'll come to them. And they'll just be eating the chocolate with us.

Donna:

It is already done.

Making A Connection with Donna:

Colleen:

It is already done. Yes, indeed. Donna, before we close this, would you please spell out the best way for people to connect with you? And I will say also that anyone who wants to know your latest and greatest, or find how to connect with you and all these different expressions and courses and books and podcasts, etc. Let's let them know how they can make that connection. So your website is...

Donna:

My website is my name, DonnaApidone.com which has a contact page. You can send me a message any time you want. It has information about what I've been writing lately, about TransForMission-- there's a whole page about that. There's some information about Drive-Time Meditations, and there are recordings of interviews and things that I've done over the years--sort of a look back as well as a look at what's going on now.

Yeah, I would love for people to contact me.

Colleen:

I've enjoyed your website. It's thank you. It's simple, but it's artsy; I like it.

Donna:

I'm glad to hear that. I appreciate that feedback. Yeah.

Colleen:

Well, again, Donna, we'll look forward to what unfolds from here on out, but this was really rich and delicious.

Donna:

Thank you so much. Delicious for me, too.

EPILOGUE:

 Thanks for listening to this episode about navigating change, embracing uncertainty, and finding peace on the other side of discomfort. What has your experience been in saying yes to unexpected roles? I find it comforting to know that reinvention isn't just possible, it's often necessary because what seems overwhelming may actually be our greatest teacher.

This series Making Connections with Donna Apidone has highlighted how when we open up, the world opens up to meet us. And we would love to connect with you.

Reach out to Donna Apidone directly through her website, and to either or both of us through SongRise.Live. And by the way, the Bonus Content page for subscribers has a special Journal waiting for you with reflective prompts from each podcast episode, including this one. And if you are interested in a Continuing the Conversation virtual group, just put CTC on the contact form at Songrise.Live.

Here's a tasty morsel to close this special series from Donna's Drive Time Meditations*. The actual meditation is three to five minutes long. Enjoy. This is Colleen Akiko, wishing you many blessings and many loving connections.

* (To hear this via the podcast episode, click HERE)

Leave a comment

They cover all parts of life--they cover feeling happy one day, they cover feeling awful one day, they cover the day I saw a zebra on BBC, they cover the day a hawk flew and almost went into my windshield... just all the different things in life that we feel, that we experience, that we see, looking at them and saying, "I wonder what that was."

PROLOGUE:

When was the last time you asked: What’s next for me?

Aloha. I'm Colleen Akiko, welcoming you to the fourth segment of the series, Making Connections with Donna Apidone. In this episode we'll discover some of Donna's non NPR roles, including author, speaker, and teacher.

We explore TransForMission—a five-step framework for personal transformation that Donna began in the wake of loss. This class and book have been guiding seekers and lifelong learners toward meaning and purpose for over 20 years.

Hear what happens when a room full of people are committed to the sacred work of becoming who they really are.

We also learn about the uncanny evolution of the popular book and podcast, Drive-Time Meditations--perfect for setting a centering tone during commutes.

If you've ever wondered about transformation that lasts—what it takes, what it gives, and why it never stops deepening, this episode will speak to you.

Colleen:

I'm thinking about another unfolding--a book and course you started before you retired--TransForMission.

Donna:

TransForMission started in 2005--long before I retired, and long before I was ordained, anything like that.

Colleen:

Really? Okay, I had not put that together. That's interesting. So, after your ordainment, ordination, (laughter). . ., did you find that what you had written before still held water? Or was it different?

Discovering the Transformation Path

I can handle five steps right now. Maybe not any more than that. But if I can just put my foot in front of me five times, maybe I'll be walking.

Donna:

The way this whole thing started was from, I mentioned earlier, a loss in my personal life and trying to figure out who I was after that. And I asked, How do I go about this? How do I sort of start all over again? How do I put the pieces in order, and put one foot in front of the other?

For many years I have used a communication theory tool called Monroe's Motivational Sequence. It's really Persuasion Theory. And I turned to that because it's five steps and I thought, I can handle five steps right now. Maybe not any more than that. But if I can just put my foot in front of me five times, maybe I'll be walking.

So I used that tool and just applied some other criteria to what Persuasion Theory is. And came up with The Transformation Path. It is a five step process to find your purpose.

I didn't do this for anybody else. It started out being, I need to find my purpose. And I was in a group who said, "Well, why don't you show us what you figured out there?"

And they started talking to more and more people about it, and it became a class. And then eventually somebody said, "Why do you give us handouts every week? Why don't you just write all this stuff down and put it in a book?"

Oh, there is an idea. So I did. It's like 113 pages. It's a tiny, tiny book, but it lays it all out. What I never said in the book was, I never explained how it was associated with Persuasion Theory. And I also never said in the book that it came from a personal loss. Those were like, I don't know, maybe people won't resonate with that.

So, I'm not just not going to say those two things, but it does. It still holds up. I started this 20 years ago. Wow.

Teaching and Expanding the Transformation Path

They're all kinds of people who just don't want life to pass them by. Who want to know what their purpose is. Who feel like they have something to offer on some level.

It still holds up and it gets richer and deeper every time because I'm still learning from it. I'm teaching it. But I'm in front of the room going, Oh my gosh, listen to what that person just taught me!

Oh, listen to what that person just taught me . . . It's a very interactive class. I've taught it at congregations for all these years, and just a couple of years ago started teaching it at the Renaissance Society at Sacramento State University, which is a set of classes uniquely cultivated and offered to people who are roughly over 55, 60 years old.

These people walk into the room and at first I thought, Hey, I'm at a university. I'll bet these are all really highly educated people. They're not. They're all kinds of people who just don't want life to pass them by. Who want to know what their purpose is. Who feel like they have something to offer on some level.

Most of them are retired, but at all ages. And I think a couple of them aren't quite retired. They walk into this room, and they sit down, and I start going through, you know, how my expectations are--we'll be respectful, we'll just talk one at a time, we won't interrupt . . . Oh, they're way beyond that. They're way beyond that. Yeah, we know. We got the drill. Okay. So what do you do?

In the first session, they realize that they have to be vulnerable. They realize that in order to find out who they are and find that purpose, they have to be really open with everybody in the room.

And in the first session, they realize that they have to be vulnerable. They realize that in order to find out who they are and find that purpose, they have to be really open with everybody in the room. It's very interactive.

The last group I had, I was so blown away. I never let more than 20 people in the room because then the dynamic is too much. And I try to make it not fewer than 10 because then there isn't enough of a dynamic. The last group came in and it was supposed to be a six week class.

And after the first three weeks, they said, "Would you continue for 12 weeks like the full semester instead of just six? Would you give us more than that?" And I thought, Well, okay. I know we all get something out of this, so I'll do that. And then they said, "Well, we want to take a few weeks off during the summer, but will you come back just with our group? Don't let new people in, but just come back with our group for fall semester too, for another 12 weeks?"

This is the most amazing group of people, really. I say the most amazing group of people and I realize it excludes a lot of other people--that's not fair, but they are; they're extraordinary. I mean, we have bonded in a way I didn't expect.

There are no recordings of those sessions because people are speaking so deeply and so openly that I will not allow recordings. Nobody can come visit us. If you don't start with us, you certainly can't.

A beautiful, beautiful group of people who look at themselves so deeply, it has been a spiritual experience to be with them. I know other groups will not be quite like that. Other groups will be wonderful, but this, this was unique--and it taught me so much. And one of the things it taught me, by spending a year with them, is what is possible if we do this work for more than six weeks. It also taught me new ways because I had to go from six to 12 to 24 weeks now--that's half a year included in one year.

What's the best way for me to lead this group? What's the best way for me to continue to make them productive? Still learn from them, but carry out what I'm learning for them in real time? It's been extraordinary.

We left each other on December 6th, and we were crying. What are we going to do next Friday? It's, yeah, it's hard. Class reunions in the future. So, that's it in a nutshell.

We're opening up ourselves to ourselves--to find out what's really deep inside, and find purpose.

It's a five step path. When I say it's based in Persuasion Theory, it's because we're opening in persuasion. You open up so much that you find yourself doing something different. Maybe I'm persuading you to take out the garbage, but eventually you open up to that and you accept it. And that's sort of what's happening here.

We're opening up ourselves to ourselves--to find out what's really deep inside, and find purpose.

The book has held up for 20 years. I just talked with a doctor I've gotten to know recently, a couple of months ago. And I said, "I'm wondering if I should do a sequel." And he said, "I can't think of anything that you would add except maybe new case studies." He said, "Everything you've laid out is just as it needs to be. I'm not sure you can do anything more with it." So I guess it's holding up.

Colleen:

That is really, really neat because it sounds like there's a structure or a framework in what came to you back in 2005. And isn't it beautiful that when we're raw and bleeding, and we need to bandage ourselves, that we reach out and we find these

tools or modalities or teachings that are life-giving to us. And then, when we're not bleeding anymore, and we're healing up, we share them--and they're life-giving and helpful to others. I found that out as a coach and a friend, in different roles.

That's where the life is, you know, when we are so raw and on the edge and it's sharp and we're still getting cut as we're trying to take care of ourselves--and then we find something that holds us together. Which of course, we're not separate from all these who are also cut and raw and having a rough time. And so we offer, and here we are.

It sounds like this group you're describing, maybe they were providentially gathered up in the corral called the class because they were ready. They were ripe and ready. Well, you all were; you were all ready together. And I feel this when I speak or share music with groups, when I come very--oh, I don't even know what the word is, I feel very raw sometimes. But we all attune with each other and the dynamic in the group has its own life form. I don't know what that's called exactly, but it is really mystical.

We're entering into a room with the purpose of finding purpose.

Donna:

It's mystical and it's magical. It's never ending because it's about purpose. You know, we're not just going into a room and having counseling or something. We're entering into a room with the purpose of finding purpose.

It does end up being that old Buddhist saying, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Yeah, they were all there.

It's life-giving because in some way it is

Colleen:

You had a class full of teachers appearing. Yes, it is really wonderful that when we drop the agenda and show up--and it does help to have a worthy framework, which you've put together, we don't know what happens, but it's life-giving because in some way it is life that is showing up and breathing us and moving us to share in this and that way and to hear in ways that we have never heard before. Kind of like the inner Star Trek, right?

Donna:

Where no man has gone before! The Inner Star Trek--that's so good! Yeah. I love that. Yeah. And you just never know.

Drive-Time Meditations: A Creative Journey

Colleen:

It does remind me a bit of also your Drive-Time Meditations. As a music person, I love how you put out some distilled words, and they have life. Each word has its own frequency, its own vibration. And so, the word kind of goes out in a very easy way, and there's a little music so we can just kind of process it all the way through our bodies.

That way for me is beckoning some personal exploration in what I do, and what I share also--and maybe even in this podcast, to use the music. The waves go in and out a little bit, and then, something else. It's really beautiful. I like them a lot.

Donna:

I like them too. We should explain it. It's a book called Drive Time Meditations, but there are recordings too.

Colleen:

I haven't seen the book, but I have heard the recordings.

It occurred to me that if I was waking up and writing them, if a person were to wake up and listen to one every day, maybe on their commute, maybe before they got in the car or on the bus or on the subway, that

Donna:

They're all one page long. There are 183 of them.

I started writing them during COVID just sort of as, I didn't want to write a traditional here's what I've done today kind of journal. So, I started writing these things and I'd write them as soon as I woke up. I figured that that was when those thoughts and that heart was in me, and I was getting up early to go to work at the station at the time--which meant that I had to get up at like 1:30 in the morning to write these things. But that's when it was so clear and so real.

And I stopped writing when I ran out of things that I wanted to say. When I ran out and stopped writing, I had reached 183 meditations. I looked at that number and I said, isn't that interesting? So if you go through the book twice, you've got leap year--wasn't planned that way, but if you read one a day.

So I recorded them, I set them to music--music that comes from just an adorable musician who I discovered who lives in Scotland. And I don't know how I came across his work, but he provides all of the music for these recordings, and they're on Substack; you can find them there pretty easily. They're all one page long in the book, and all two to three, like less than five minutes, maybe two to three-ish minutes as recordings.

And they cover all parts of life: they cover being happy one day, they cover feeling awful one day, they cover the day I saw a zebra on BBC, they cover the day a hawk flew and almost went into my windshield--just all the different things in life that we feel, that we experience, that we see, and looking at them and saying I wonder what that was. I wonder what that was.

They're only called drive-time meditations because I worked in drive-time radio for so long. And it occurred to me that if I was waking up and writing them, if a person were to wake up and listen to one every day, maybe on their commute, maybe before they got in the car or on the bus or on the subway, that it would set a tone for the day.

Colleen:

Setting a tone. I like that. And it seems for me that it gives my mind enough to center on without the pressure of, Oh, I've got to stop all my thoughts. You know, that's very stressful for me. But it's good--my mind is given a worthy thought to just contemplate--turn it over and kind of feel it out, breathe a bit. And then there's another one. That's so simple, but it feels like, more and more, that's what I being drawn back to. Maybe it's my second childhood or something, but it's simplifying, you know, things being more distilled, more simple. And this simplification is by no means making it inferior in any way--if anything, it's making it more clear. And it's helping me be more effective with a hundred and eighty things.

Donna:

They're on an app that is for families with trauma. An organization that I became aware of was putting together this app, mostly for teens and young adults with trauma. But it turns out to be for families in general, who have been experiencing some kind of trauma--young people who are going through what is called social and emotional learning, SEL.

How can they get some courage? How can they be a little lighter? Because when I was 14, walking around like this (slumped) and everything was a bummer. So every one of these, without saying, "Yeah, get up and go!"--every one of these is meant to be a little bit motivational to take you, as you said, from where you are to where you can be.

And it's like--in the Wizard of Oz where they open the door and everything's in technicolor all of a sudden--from black and white to color? That's what I wanted each one of these meditations to do--to just let you see through that door what the possibilities are. And then, maybe eventually, you might step over that threshold.

Colleen:

Well, you make it feel very safe. And I like it. It would be a really good thing to step through that door. I like it because I'm starting to feel it a little bit already. I appreciate that so much.

Donna:

Oh, I'm glad. I'm glad. Thank you for saying that.

EPILOGUE:

Inspiring, isn't it--to learn and hear how Donna's class, book and recordings materialized? Here's something she said that I especially loved:

We're opening up ourselves to ourselves, to find out what's really deep inside, and find

I hope that's how this episode feels for you.

The podcast recording closes with a teeny tiny clip from one of her brief drive time meditations. To hear the complete episode, click HERE. You can also access more info about these on her website, donnaapidone.com.

For additional resources, including a FREE eGuide, Embracing Your Evolutionary Luminary, click HERE. And fresh, delicious Bonus Content awaits Subscribers, too!

Make sure to catch the fifth and final segment of Making Connections with Donna Apidone called Fear: A Stop Sign or a Doorway.

Until then, love and grace to you as you center on your purpose. ​

Leave a comment

Award winning author Dan Strawn shares a poem about how seeing with old eyes brings a fresh call to unity, real patriotism and purpose.

Introductory Note:

Dan's second "Elders Hearth" guest blog post is hot off the press . . . or perhaps the night stand. Consider indulging your imagination to visualize Dan thoughtfully unrolling this poetic gem, as you relax and listen alongside him--both in your favorite chairs. Feel its elderly drawl flowing deeply and clearly from a vibrant heart of wisdom. Its history somehow lands right here in the present.

--Colleen Akiko

Seeing the World With Old Eyes

I had my cataracts removed at eighty-three

and see pretty good for eighty-six

Except for seeing double

which makes doing things difficult

The double-vision thing hit me

when I was seventy-six

two lanes turned to four

While driving

I closed one eye and saw only

two lanes to drive on

Since then

I wear special glasses

—

The closing one eye routine

got me thinking

about time wasted while

looking back at my life lived

What if I toyed

with this closing-one-eye metaphor

and looked mostly at tomorrows

and hardly at yesterdays

Would that give me more time

to focus on where

the rest of my life

beckons

I have since acted on

this closing-one-eye idea

So far

I am pleased with the results

—

Like I said

I am eighty-six now

I have slowed up a lot

learned a lot about

living a life

getting old

knowing good ideas

from bad ideas

and

wearing special glasses

to avoid

Seeing double

I put them on the nightstand

when I go to bed at eight-thirty

and answer my bladder's call

At one a.m. and again at three-fifteen a.m.

Closing one eye I sit up and

grab a cane that keeps me upright

My walking reminds me of

my great grandson’s gait

I can't remember if he is two

soon to turn three

or already three

Time flies fast at eighty six

Anyway

we have a lot in common

even with him being two or three

and me for sure all of eighty six

Like him

I wobble when I walk

Like me

his bladder has its own schedule

Unlike me

He doesn't feel aches and pains

because

His parts are brand new

My left knee grinds when I stand up

One leg drags after a two-mile hike

My once-broken ankle rebels

when I climb stairs

Trigger fingers take turns

disturbing my nighttime sleep

Both thumb joints take over

when the fingers lose interest

My shoulders ache

on alternate days

likely because

of youthful ventures—

Jumping out of trees

Bareback horse rides

High school football

Bucking summer hay

Surfing Pacific waves

Cycling cross country

down mountain paths

or off wooden ramps

Now and then

a new pain pops up

It hurts a little bit

then lays low and

picks a time to ambush me…

The day after tomorrow

when a week slides past

or next Fourth of July

Was the old-age price too high

for those audacious memories

of yesteryears gone

Hell no

—

Sometime between seventy-six and eighty six

I began to see some truth in that

Getting-Old adage —

It is not for the weak of heart

Seeing the world through old eyes

Life slowing to a crawl

A daily litany of new aches

Life slowing to a crawl

Tying my shoes becoming a chore

Life slowing to a crawl

cat naps lasting until sunset

Life slowing to a crawl

Grappling with all these

Hence the Old Adage

Hence the regrets

About Life slowing to a crawl

—

Metamorphosis

A caterpillar grows wings

and flies

The change certifies

the grandeur of a power bigger than us

I know in my soul my actions can't

compare with the

crawling caterpillar who one day

soars in the air as a butterfly

My Metamorphosis

Old age making life slow to a crawl

My mind seeing a path forward

that certifies our planet is a tiny bit better

for me having lived on it

This clarity inspires me to quit crying

about old age and look to the future

I know…

I don't have much energy

But I have found ways to make a difference

I have ideas to share and time to do so

I look forward

where change happens

I see clearly through

old eyes riveted on my tomorrows

I am making plans about

what to do with my life

—

I grew up knowing Jesus

said it is better to give

than to receive

or words to that effect

When old age slowed me down

and gave me time

to reflect on that notion

I discovered

the concept of giving

is fundamental to

almost all societies and religions

Be they advanced or primeval

I began to see

why other versions of Christ's words

of giving were scattered among

other cultures and doctrines

This commonality occurred

because old people

were the thinkers

in primitive societies

They were also the ones

tending to children while

parents delt with survival's demands

That makes perfect sense to me

The building blocks of my ethos

came for the most part from

my grandmother Higgins

who spewed out vignettes of wisdom

While thrashing me in checkers

or some other thinking game

during my early

adolescence

The wisdom she departed while

teaching me humility

typifies why cultures

honor their elders

Sharing with others

the wisdom of lives lived

is the primary value

the older generation contributes

Sharing what I've learned

in my life

with younger generations

gives me purpose

Doing so teaches me

what they already know—

Doing so

brings us close

—

This day

I want to share

what my old eyes see needs attention

— NOW —

We

Americans

Are all of one mind

when it comes to what matters

We may have different origins

look different

talk different

dress different

We may work different jobs

worship in different ways

or don't worship at all

We may be different in all kinds of ways

We are

fathers sons

mothers daughters

grandmothers grandfathers

We are

neighbors coworkers

classmates teammates

and friends

Whatever

we are Americans

We are Patriotic

We are there

for each other

TODAY

WE

ARE FAILING

WE ALL SAY WE ARE

PATRIOTIC

BUT WE ARE NOT ALL BEHAVING

LIKE PATRIOTS

American Patriots

honor the diversity among us

We understand our system underwrites

the power of disagreement constructively discussed

We can't have constructive

discussions with our compatriots

If we hurl demeaning epithets

at each other

We slander We-the-People when we demean people

They are family and friends

neighbors and coworkers

team members and church members

We call them

Rinnos Libtards Trumpites

Wokes Red Necks and other unsavory labels

that brand them as less human than our worthy selves

Those who debase

FELLOW AMERICANS

often do it from afar—the safety of a social network

a political meeting or a group of like-thinking friends

This idea of dehumanizing human beings

is a product of war strategies that likely

go back to when Alexander the Great

conquered his known world or before

The British came up with Yankee Doodle

to tease our Revolutionary soldiers

about their warrior

naivete

In more recent times

The British and Americans

doubled up

in World War II

They called Germans Krauts

or Heinies

and Japanese Japs

or Nips

North Koreans

were Gooks

in the

Korean conflict

and so on

through

our numerous

conflicts since Korea

The warring purpose through

the centuries—

Dehumanize the enemies so soldiers

don't hesitate to kill them

Think about that

the next time

you tag someone

as a Woke or a Redneck in lieu of their name

—

Do not look to DC to amend this travesty

They are among those who started it

If a leader is rousing your support

by calling the other side crude names

Know you are being

swayed

by the leader in

ways

That run counter to what

We-The-People is all about

regardless of what she or he

promises you

LOOK ELSEWHERE

This is a grassroots problem

It's up to you and me to fix it

****

Me

seeing the world with old eyes…

I wonder

what I will see next

Stay tuned

© May 25, 2025 by Dan Strawn

Leave a comment

A lifelong Catholic believer, Bernice was blessed in her last hours to receive the Pope's Easter Blessing through the mass on her hospital room TV.

Prologue:

I first shared this on the We Be the Change podcast, not long after Easter. We'd been enduring one of those challenging road trips that leaves you physically tired and emotionally raw. While we were driving to southern Illinois, we got word that Aunt Bernice, my second mom, had passed. The next day, we heard the news about Pope Francis.

Grief doesn’t care if you’re on the road. It comes along for the ride.

Now that we’re home and I’ve had a little space to reflect, it feels right to share this here too. Some stories need room to settle in. And maybe, if you’re carrying something too, this will meet you where you are.

Inspired by the timeless words of Saint Francis of Assisi, I offer this song, Peace Prayer, as a musical healing balm in the earthly loss of Pope Francis. May his radiant example of kindness, compassion and true leadership continue lighting our way through the volatility of our times.

Easter was my Aunt Bernice's last earthly day of life. She was 95 years young; a beautiful artist and the matriarch of our family. I'll be soon be sharing an animated conversation with her that I recorded for the We Be The Change podcast and blog.

A lifelong Catholic believer, Bernice was blessed in her last hours to receive the Pope's Easter Blessing through the mass on her hospital room TV. The poignant, sacred timing holds my heart in awe. As one cousin puts it, "Pope Francis and Bernice left on the same flight."

May we honor the Christ-ness of Pope Francis by embodying his inspiring Easter blessing's words of peace, freedom and compassion. May we live in utter gratefulness as instruments of God's peace.

Like Bernice

I Am Thy instrument of peace

Where there is hatred, I sow love

Where there is injury, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith

Where there’s despair, hope

Where there is darkness, light

Where there is sadness, Joy

O Divine may I not so much seek

To be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love

To be love, to be Love

For it is in giving we receive

It’s in pardoning we are pardoned

And it is in dying we are born

to eternal, eternal

Life

adapted from the Prayer of St. Francis

copyright © 2024 by Colleen Akiko

Leave a comment

PROLOGUE:

Aloha, Colleen Akiko here. Welcome to episode eight of the We Be The Change Podcast, Create Change by Hearing the News With Compassion. This is part three of the series Connecting with Donna Apidone. In this conversation, you'll hear how Donna cultivated real connection with her NPR Morning Edition guests, even when she thought she didn't like them. That purposeful compassion also infuses how and why she still listens to a lot of news every day.

How much of myself can I give? I think I can give all of myself and more that I didn't know I had, when I hear those news stories. Rather than burn out on them, for me, if I am truly compassionate, I can give everything. 

Colleen:

Would you put some words around the connection that happens between my head, my heart, my deeper self, that enables me to have that connection with one other person, which can then be multiplied exponentially. How do we self connect in a way that enables us to show up at that level?

Donna:

It's bigger than what I'm going to say, of course, the two things that come to mind are, well, the biggest one is just connection. The other one is opening up, maybe. If I'm willing to be vulnerable, then you can feel comfortable with me. If I'm willing to be enthusiastic, then you might mimic that too.

You know, we're always sort of mirroring each other. So I have to be open and set a tone that you would want to follow--If you want to follow it. You could disagree with it, too, but it's something you can relate to positively or negatively.

So there's that connection. I think that's the biggest part of it. I said it was going to offer two things, but I think they all rolled into connection. Yeah. That openness is directly related to connection for sure. You know, without that openness, there is a blockage--yeah., that willingness, I think more than anything else.

For me, it had to be intentional. There are other people, you know them, I know them--you're actually one of them, Colleen. There are some people who don't have to be intentional about it.

It's just so naturally a part of you to connect with other people and to relate to them, and so they warm up to you immediately. I had to learn it. It was a process for me to learn it. Now it feels very comfortable, but it didn't always.

Colleen:

Well, it is just a constant fascination, isn't it--all the different ways that each person is designed, And without me feeling a wholeness in myself, I don't notice it. I'm just too wrapped up in my own stuff and I'm like, Okay, this is my stuff; that's your stuff; let's just go on through the day. And then we have pretty shallow lives.

But that's not what the times are calling for now. And that's not why we're here.

Donna:

You know, there's something else that was true on air and it's true when I speak to groups now, too., (and I speak to groups, not just in congregations, but other places as well). Just every once in a while, say something to throw it off kilter a little bit.

It was really easy to do that on air because I was only talking for 30 seconds at a time and I could always throw in a long line that would make people say, "What?!" So it would show them a sense of humor. It would show them, you know, I'm not stuffy, you don't have to be either. You know, show all of those things.

And the same thing happens in person in presentations too. Just that one little thing. It's not authentic like, Oh, here I am. I'm so open. It's not that. It's authentic like, Hey, you know what? I'm a smart-ass. Okay, I just gotta tell you this one. And then you say, Oh, yeah, I am too. All right. Yeah.

Colleen:

I'm picturing as you're talking, kind of doing a little elbow jab in someone's side, you know, a little wink... And that's very connective, isn't it? Because our guard is down and we're like, Oh, again, you know, you are me and I'm you, and here we are together having this conversation.

The Role of Compassion in Journalism

Donna:

It's all through compassion. And that was part of the intentional change in my profession that I had to make, and it's extending to all other areas of my life, too. It's so easy. I hear people all the time say, I can't listen to the news. It's too sad. It's too ugly. It's too awful. I've got to turn that off.

I never had that opportunity. I had to stand in that room for six hours every day with headphones on listening to the news. Couldn't turn it off, couldn't walk away from it, five days a week. And I didn't want to become numbed by it. I didn't want to mentally tune it out if it was too hard to listen to.

So I just said one day, What if I looked at that person, who I think is a jerk, who's a newsmaker--could have been any number of people; I'm not naming names. But what if I look at that person with compassion? And what if I say, It's a rough day for him or her, or that was a big decision he or she had to make. What if I look at it that way and see that that person is just like me, in some way-- if there's no other way than a child or a parent or a person trying to find a way in the world,.

Maybe it's just one thing that we have in common. And maybe that's kind of thin and thread bare, but it might be one thing. So that helped me get through that job. But it also helps me get through life now that I don't have that job any more

Donna's News Consumption and Perspective

Colleen:

Do you still listen to the news a lot?

Donna:

I listen to different news. Mm hmm. I listen to different news. And that started because when I left Morning Edition, I knew that show inside and out. I knew everything about that show so intimately that if I had continued to listen to it, I just would have heard the mechanics of it. And I would have heard anything that I thought my successor was doing wrong, I would not have been a news consumer, I would have been a critic.

So I stopped listening to that. My news consumption now is more national and international than it is local, but I do consume a fair amount of regional news too. I watch and listen and read BBC and the German news network as well. And PBS. So those are the primary places where I'm finding news.

A lot of it is online, but carefully chosen online. Not just everything gets thrown in front of my face. So yeah, I'm still very interested in it all.

When I left, in my farewell interview, I said, I will never be as well informed as I have been for the last 22 years. And that's true. There's no way I can keep up with what's happening in the world at the same level that I heard it. But I'm still very interested in it and follow it fairly closely.

Colleen:

I remember a minister saying, listen to the news as if you are putting together a prayer list--a list of what you want to pray for. Okay, and so I do keep that in mind as far as why am I giving my time and attention to this horrible thing?

Just yesterday, actually, my husband was reading an article out loud that was starting to get into the details of this and that, and I had to leave the room. I didn't want to be too abrupt, but I guess I was just at my saturation point. And I wonder if it's internalizing what we hear if at some point, we need to know--and yet how much of myself do I give to getting the nuances of the complete picture? And knowing how it affects this, and the connections to that, and at some point I lose myself in it. And so I have to be really careful and yet compassionate.

. . . if I were that person in that war zone, whose family just died, and I knew that you turned me off-- "too much for you," that would be a very bad thing. So I never want to disconnect. I never want to let that person down by saying it's too much for me. That's a first world problem. I will never let it be too much for me.

Donna:

I hear that from people a lot. and not being you. I can't, I can't say anything about how you handle that. But here's how I handle it. And here is something that I ask people to consider.

You said, how much of myself can I give? I think I can give all of myself. And more that I didn't know I had, when I hear those news stories. Rather than burn out on them, for me, if I am truly compassionate, I can give everything.

As regards to the prayer list. I think that's true. I am a person who doesn't do prayers in a pre-written way. But I do believe that we have a collective consciousness, and so when we pray or meditate or, you know, whatever word you use for that, we're creating a space that's bigger than us, the more of us who there are in that.

So the minute I walk away from a news story, I've taken myself out of that collective. I'm not part of that collective, and who suffers because of that? And who on the other side of that prayer, good wishes, energy, doesn't get as much as they could have if I would stay in it with them?

It's like a friend who's in crisis. You don't walk away. Stay with them. And so I look at everything in that cycle that way. Not that it's going to deplete me, but that I am adding to myself by being part of the collective and being part of everybody else's energy. It's feeding me as much as what I'm giving out. And I also think if I were that person in that war zone, whose family just died, and I knew that you turned me off-- too much for you, that would be a very bad thing.

The minute I walk away from a news story, I've taken myself out of that collective. . . And who suffers because of that? And who on the other side of that prayer, good wishes, energy, doesn't get as much as they could have if I would stay in it with them?

. . . And so . . . I am adding to myself by being part of the collective, and being part of everybody else's energy. It's feeding me as much as what I'm giving out ... I will never let it be too much for me.

So I never want to disconnect. I never want to let that person down by saying it's too much for me. Oh, yeah, that's a first world problem. I will never let it be too much for me. If I don't hear or don't listen because I don't quite understand them, or I went shopping that day and missed the news or, you know, for some other reason I don't connect with it or don't have access to it--those things happen. But for me, I, I don't turn it off, not because I want to be inundated. I've never felt burned out by what I hear on the news. I always feel myself putting energy in it that will improve someone's circumstances.

Colleen:

Yes. Yeah. I totally agree with that. And I don't mean to be walking away as if I'm not responsible. I have to walk away sometimes to get my bearings so I can totally be present with that horrible thing that's going on, and know that at some core level, I am responsible, as you said, in the collective. I have found ways to feel that pain and trauma that is going on and, I can offer the compassion that goes where it's needed. I feel, and I love, and yet, it just floors me sometimes, honestly. I have to go pick myself up off the floor and say, Whoa, what happened here? What have I experienced on a minuscule level that I resonated with that just kind of hit me out of nowhere? I need to address that and we're all together in it. Somehow we all help each other out.

Donna:

it may not be that it's too much for you. It may be that it hit you in a way that you can appreciate them a little bit more and be present with them. Maybe they're being present with you in some energetic way. You know, maybe that's when it feels like too much. Maybe that is just enough.

Colleen:

I feel like if I listen to the news with just my head, it's almost degrading to the people that are in harm's way. I can't show up that way. And so if I can't show up in a deeper way, then I need to go do what I need to do inside myself, so I can.

Donna:

Exactly. And you used the term earlier, being present with that person, that situation--and that's really what it is.

Colleen:

There's a lot to be present with these days. Are you finding it more intense these days than when you started in this realm, or is it just more exposed?

Donna:

Having been with NPR stations for so long, like since early 80s, in one capacity or another, there was always in depth news there.. So it's coming at us from a lot of different sources now than all those years ago. But you know, you can go back to Adam and Eve, you can go back to dinosaurs, you can go through history through Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan, and always, there have always been people in the world who are nasty, who are doing stuff that we consider wrong. It's just that we didn't know about them.

We didn't hear it, it wasn't coming at us from all angles. So yeah, some of the things that are happening in the world now seem like, that's never happened before. But maybe it has, and it just wasn't public. Maybe these things have always been going on, and we, or the people before us, just weren't aware of them.

Finding Quality News Sources

That's part of it too, you know, finding a quality news source. And there are ways to find quality news sources. Not just finding what you agree with, but finding sources that are considered credible by scientific standards.

Colleen:

I like the media bias chart--is that what it's called? Media bias chart, yeah, that has helped me a lot. And I even find that sometimes there will be a news source that has several different outlets, and the different outlets are in different parts of the chart. And so, it calls on me to just notice these things, but still tune in, if it seems like this is the flavor of the day, when there's a purpose in listening to or reading from this source that is not exactly where I am personally, but they're all part of the family. Or, as I remember someone saying, everybody has their place at the table.

Donna:

Yeah, exactly. For somebody who's listening, who doesn't know, if you Google or research media bias chart, just those three words, you'll come up with it.

And it's interesting. It is literally a big chart with all the little names and logos of pretty much all the news organizations. And it is more than just left to right, which is liberal or conservative left or right, but it's also top to bottom. Are they considered very credible by fact-check, or by other standards,? Then they're close to the top.

And if they're way, way down on the list, then it's probably more of a gossip column than it is a news source. It's invaluable.

And there are always surprises there. I've never shown that chart to anyone that they haven't said, Oh, wow, that's who's front and center. Never would have thought there were surprises in there. But surprises that benefit our knowledge.

Colleen:

Yeah. I'm grateful that we have tools like that, because there is so much to filter through and only so many minutes and hours in a day.

EPILOGUE:

I am glad you could join us for this great conversation Create Change by Hearing the News With Compassion. Coming next week is the continuation of this series with episode nine of We Be The Change, a delicious podcast segment called TransForMission and Drive Time Meditations: Centering on Your Purpose.

Again, we'll close with a tasty morsel from one of Donna's brief Drive Time Meditations*. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you again soon!

✨ (To listen to this podcast episode, click HERE)

Leave a comment