As I emerge from some very interesting activities over the last three weeks, I marvel that I haven’t sat down to record my thoughts for so long. First I attended the Demartini Institute Facilitator Certification Class over the labor day weekend.
It was wonderful to connect with old friends and make new ones. It was inspiring to watch a young woman of 19 break free of six years of drug addiction and blossom into a beginning facilitator of this work. I had the gift of coaching her through her first phase and now get to watch her expand into a productive, contributing, inspired citizen of the world.
I watched people look at their myths and face that those fantasies are the source of their depression and feelings of hopelessness. As long as we keep measuring ourselves against unrealistic expectations of ourselves and others, we keep the cycle of elation/depression going in our lives. Facing the myths and breaking them down is an important step toward reality based thinking. That doesn’t mean we give up our dreams–but we can create dreams with measurable and achievable outcomes!
I went to this class right after returning from a trip to Europe, and came home to find a fascinating politial environment. These are all things I plan to write more about, but want to jot down some thoughts that are running through me at this moment.
Protesters–that’s what we were called back in the sixties when we tried to stop the Viet Nam War and open admissions to all learning institutions to people of all colors. Now I find that the Protesters are on the far right–raging around about the politics of the new administration and Congress. This seems so strange to me! First they are angry that Obama makes a speech to school children to stay in school and get an education, calling it leftist, liberal dogma. I remember when President Kennedy launched the President’s Fitness Program. Everyone got behind it–whether they liked him or not (and believe me, in Dallas, TX, the majority of people did NOT like him…..) because he was the President and there was inherent respect for the office.
Then they march and picket over expanding health care accessibility to the whole population. Amazing!
I believe this is all based on fear. In the sixties we were afraid of living lives like our parents, afraid to conform to what we considered the status quo. This new group of protesters seem to be afraid to lose what they see as their status quo. But are they losing more than they are gaining? Does it really benefit society as a whole to have millions of uninsured people using locally funded emergency rooms for their main source of health care? Aren’t we paying for that with our tax dollars? And if they are like me, no longer covered by a company health plan and “high risk” (having an ankle joint replacement put me in that category) then do they actually have the over $15,000 a year to pay for high deductible, high risk health insurance like I am required to pay?
I know my personal experience heavily influences my opinion on this subject, but I never before dreamed that I would be counting the years until I qualified for Medicare. Instead of being dismayed about getting older, I’m wishing those three years were up and I could qualify today!
We have serious problems in our world to deal with, and what I find so interesting is that those of us who already had the experience of thinking that taking to the streets and shouting about our opinions have, for the most part, chosen much more “system” oriented methods to achieve our goals. We built businesses that took into account the personal lives of our employees, not just the bottom line. We became teachers, leaders, political in our daily lives by living and raising families with our values. And what is even more amazing is that we seem to be in the majority for the first time. Not just as party members (many like me still eschew identification with any political party) but as citizens of the world who see that we are in a continual transition to a different form of society–and we’re figuring it out as we go along.
I don’t love everything that is happening in the government, so what else is new? I do love that we are all having to learn to adapt to change and keep growing.