“You start dying when you have nothing to live for.
You start living when you find something worth dying for.”

– Mark Batterson (author, Wild Goose Chase)

Whew! I’ve been absent for a stretch. I don’t know about you, but my life has been spinning at creative warp speed. It has been said that life is a banquet. Well, my plates are very full!

I have at times felt that my life is split. I feel pulled between the needs of my grandkids (one boy with autism, two with ADHD, and a 7 month old grand-daughter on the brink of crawling, all living in Los Angeles). Then there is my passion for developing my work and sustainability in a way that is congruent with who I am and in the service of women and making the world a better place. Of course other worldly demands are clamoring for my attention. I miss my friends in Port Townsend, WA and others scattered around the globe.Don’t forget my longing for stillness to connect and settle into my spiritual core to rejuvenate. Sound familiar?

What if  I took a deep breath and dared to tweak my vision to see this as a whole, rather than divergent parts? What if I shelved any resistance and opened my arms to what is, seeing it all as an invitation, rather than an inconvenience? I actually do pretty good. Practice makes imperfect perfect!

Happiness calls us. It is a constant, just like the sun, even when sometimes hidden by the clouds. It is not the circumstances that matter most.

To expand my happiness, this week I will practice opening my arms to it all that feeds my intuition rather than my logic. I seldom slide into feeling a slave to it all, although I can get a bit weary. I just wish each day had more hours. But really, what if … what if it were all as it is meant to be? What if these compartments of life are not cages? Who would I be if my energy did not fight what seems to be unfolding and instead expected miracles? What if the adventure is to opportunity to see the blessings in the cracks in the sidewalk and the calling to access all that we are?

I am most alive and joyful when I stretch in reply to an inkling, following an intuitive call into the unknown in a way that defies logic, but feels right.

I don’t see life as the pursuit of playing it safe. Some people really cling to their comfort zone. I have expanded my ability to live everywhere and travel life with a loose grip. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate a chance to rest and retreat from time to time, even hide out, but I know not to get attached to the predictable. Passion and growth come from stepping into the unknown, listening within, welcoming the adventure, and trusting that all is well.

I love when synchronicities find me. I consider them miracles that I have magically attracted. They are a delightful delivery form of the next pieces of the puzzle.

A dear kindred friend and life-coach, Shannon Bruce, referred me to a wonderful book, Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. I decided to download a sample chapter from the author’s website.

After being drawn into this tidbit with no time to spare, I felt soothed and relieved. I am OK. It’s all OK. My Renaissance spirit is OK. Life as it is is OK.

I suggest you run, don’t walk, to download your chapter of Wild Goose Chase, too. I love the way Mark Batterson writes. The description and story of a Wild Goose connected with me in a powerful way.

So, what used to feel like being pulled in too many directions now feels like an adventure (so many women I know are on). I feel reasured that I am most certainly on the road of conscious happiness, flying in formation and sharing the draft of wind with others who enjoy flight.

Engaging in a dialogue with Cass Warner of Warner Sisters, and Laurie Meadhoff of Chat the Planet, moved me deeply. It was the kind of conversation I crave, in which awake women leaders gather together to discuss issues at the heart of humanity and what it takes to connect us as global citizens. As earthlings. It’s not a word we hear often. Yet looking at any photo of our “blue marble” spinning through space brings the sobering truth home: if we are to continue on our evolutionary path around the sun with human beings on board, we need to design a paradigm shift to global consciousness. It’s women like Cass and Laurie who have embraced this idea, summoned their courage and creativity, and stepped out in front to lead us toward a world in which we can understand, despite our differences, that we are ultimately, one global self.

Getting to this unified state requires a continuous flow of creativity. Creativity is a power that offers each of us a way to speak our own truths. It is paradoxical by nature, deeply intimate and yet infinite, unique and universal. Creativity is a life force, an energy of pure potential that flows through all of us. All we need to do is allow it, respect it, direct and harness it, and be grateful for it. Everyone defines creativity differently, from the origination of ideas, to intentional change, to bringing form out of chaos. Perhaps it’s life’s longing for itself to be realized.

When I asked Laurie Meadhoff to define creativity, she quoted Nietzsche: “One must have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star.” And that’s exactly where her global dialogue company, Chat the Planet, lives in the midst of chaos in the Middle East, in an effort to give birth to peace. Paradoxically, Laurie leads by listening and letting go. Inspired by deeply relating to young people at the epicenter of conflicts, she gives them “an innovative internet platform that transforms the way they engage globally and transcends both cultural differences and long distances.” And while they’re talking, so far, 350 million homes are listening as “humanity walks through the door.” Laurie explains, “The essence of this kind of work is shared humanity. It becomes impossible to throw bombs on each other once you realize the oneness between us. That’s the drive and potential in the media market and dialogue movement.” Geraldine Laybourne, Oxygen Media’s President, writes, “People say that a true mark of a brilliant person is her ability to make connections. If that’s true then Laurie is a modern-day Einstein.” This is how Laurie draws us all into one orbit, by being in a dance with the stars she is helping birth. Perhaps to truly explore our planetary consciousness, we’ll need to reorient ourselves, not only to our terrestrial sphere, but within a greater celestial context.

Cass Warner grew up within a celebrity family, her inheritance the Warner Brothers legacy that reaches far beyond celluloid stardom. “Educate, entertain, and enlighten” are words that serve as her creative inspiration, spoken first by her beloved grandfather and now an integral part of her work at Warner Sisters. She reminisces, “I grew up with very caring, worldly-conscious people, sitting around the dining table talking about what was happening and how to make it better.” Today Harry Warner’s granddaughter continues to promote justice, human rights, and ethical responsibility. Cass finds new ways to use independent films as a tool for building social awareness, deepening our understanding of each other, and sharing viewpoints while making no apologies for her own. Cass leads by encouraging people to manifest their dreams. To her, there is no greater tragedy than an unknown, abandoned or forgotten dream. Cass concurs with L. Ron Hubbard that “a culture is as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.” Cass fans creative visions into earthly fires with kindness and conviction, taking a stand for the artist inside each one of us. This is how Cass Warner summons a slumbering world to awaken and act, by urging us to dignify our dreamtime, and optimize our earthtime as one global family. Perhaps for all of us to co-exist in this planetary home, we will need to become masterful in transforming our reveries into a life-sustaining reality.

The Greek name for Mother Earth is Gaia. It translates to mean Goddess or Creatrix, the feminine form of Creator. Laurie and Cass are Creatrixes, women leaders who cultivate their creativity in powerful, positive, planetary-changing ways. Using film, television, and interactive media they share a commitment to co-create with this awakening world. How our world evolves is a direct result of our creative inspiration and creative acts. Each creative commitment we make individually evolves us all.

Join us! Tell us about your creativity. What sources your creative inspiration? How are you acting creatively? How are your creative commitments evolving our world?

Lauralee, Laurie and Cass,

In listening to your conversation on creativity, I was struck by the idea you all shared that creativity is a force in all of us, and that its key lies not in its mastery, but in opening ourselves up to it. Allowing it.

We live in a world where everything is quantified, a world in which the worth of our effort is all to often measured solely in terms of the bottom line. You three are all very successful. Your creativity aspires to fundamentally change the world in which we live. It must be a constant tension for you the need to turn a profit and the need to be true to your creative vision. How do you reconcile that? And how do you keep yourselves from becoming too disillusioned and discouraged to keep trying? 

After meeting Teresa, I thought a lot about the nature of who we are — the people, the events, the circumstances good and bad, that influence the course of our lives and determine the people we become. To some degree, we are inevitably and inalterably the products of our environment, profoundly effected and shaped by our world whether, in the end, we embrace or rebel against it.

I feel so privileged to have met Teresa Mejia because she is an inspiration to me, a testament to the power that lies in each of us to go beyond acceptance or rebellion. At our best, we not only survive the world but change it, improve and evolve it. Teresa epitomizes the idea of rebirth, not only in the way that she’s created for herself a new life that is vital and full, but in the way she has rebirthed her world, first in Puerto Rico and then here in the United States. We are all, I think, reflections of the world in which we live. The challenge is to make that world a reflection of the best in us.

I hope you will take a few minutes to share with Teresa and all of Offerings your questions and thoughts, your own experiences of loss and rebirth, your (marvelous, scary, bold) intentions to change, improve and evolve your world.

It is with great pride and humility to be in conversation and in co-creativity with young women like Celena and Dakini who are living their lives and messages out loud! We open here yet another door, another opportunity to start a dialogue within and across the generations. After listening to the podcast, I am left with many questions.

What is the true nature of this new generation of young women? What are they moving towards and what is moving them and through them? How well am I/are we listening? What are we missing when we are running too fast or our plates are too full or our fears too high to pay close, non-judgmental and learning-oriented attention to the gifts of our young women?

Dakini and Celena are also here to share this reflecting and dialogue space with us and post, answer or mull over questions with us! Talk to us here, ask your questions…we’re listening.

Welcome, everyone, to the first blog chat with our In Good Company guests, Christie and Mary Sarah. We are so grateful for the chance to have listened in on their conversation, for their sharing with us the experience of birthing their music and, subsequently, themselves. Their music is unique and inspiring & we hope you stopped to listen! Please join us now in conversation with Christie and Mary Sarah. Ask questions, share your story and let’s get to know one another. The conversation is open! Enjoy!