Don't Give Up on Hope Just Yet!

“To change the world, you must first believe that it is possible and embrace a vision for a brighter future." Fran?Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer?at Cisco

As the Strawberry Moon of June rolls in on this May 30th's Memorial Day new moon, I'd like to remind you (and myself) that we can still choose to believe that there is sweetness and joy ahead, even when it feels so very bleak.

Just like that guy in the old Monty Python skit, we can hold on to the fact that, well, we aren't dead yet.

Where Are We Going?

Seems like a lot of things are going to hell in a handbasket. Globally! Or at least it certainly feels this way. 3 am disaster mind can be pretty intense. I know!

My heart breaks for the folks in Buffalo, Uvalde, and of course Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and beyond.

From the person-on-person violence of mass shootings to the hateful speech we see so frequently in the media, to the mindless capitalistic violence on the ecosystems we all depend on, to the food scarcity riots in the streets, to rising inflation?

It's bad.

In the face of all of it - they're banning books. Not guns.

Honestly, I don't know what to do to help.

Sometimes I feel a bit impotent over here trying to cultivate beauty. It feels... selfish. Especially when so many are hurting. Talking about personal change and inner optimization can seem a bit glib in the face of the rapidly scaling disasters we are facing globally.

I'm sure many of you probably feel the same way.

But they say the night is always darkest just before dawn.

Maybe all the pain we see surfacing in the world is just a symptom of us shedding our old collective skin?

We're at a point where everything has gotten dull, ugly, fragile, and if you don't know what is going on... scary!

As a snake approaches ecdysis, the skin pattern becomes dull and dark. A milky appearance is seen on the belly scutes of some species and the spectacles become milky white, obscuring vision. A snake in this condition is said to be “opaque,” “pre-shed, or pre-ecdysis.” During this time the old layer of skin is fragile and tears easily, but the new skin underneath isn’t mature yet. To avoid damage and possible scarring, handling should be avoided and care should be taken to be gentle if handling becomes necessary.

To paraphrase - it is usually at the point right when everything looks the worst that things start to turn the corner and start improving.

Don't Give Up on Hope Just Yet!

If you're not a math geek, you might not be familiar with the term "inflection point," but this phrase is used to describe where the curve in a graph starts to turn. Where it goes from concave to convex, or vice versa, it's literally the turning point.

Imagery shows that this is NOT the bottom of a trough or the peak of a wave - but rather somewhere slightly ambiguous in the middle of a curving line. Like so...

So while things look like they might be descending into chaos, with the proper perspective you can zoom out to see the bigger picture. Maybe now is really just the beginning of an upswing into a new part of our collective journey.

Things will probably appear to get worse in the coming years. It's not going to be a quick fix. But hope is going to be essential for us to make this Great Transition. If we give up on hope, we're unlikely to make it.

I don't see the climate, the economy, or our stunning lack of empathy for one another going away tomorrow, or even next week. I doubt, as much as I want to believe, that we've seen our last senseless mass shooting.

The most privileged among us will still be prey on the less privileged - whether intentionally, or through willful ignorance. And as the systems of the world collapse under their own weight, we will have to be strong to hold up the scaffolding of the new story in the midst of the storm.

So, why be hopeful?

What Place Does Hope Have Right Now?

I believe the secret lies in both where and how we choose to look at the world. And also how we choose to BE in the face of the great challenges of our day.

There are a LOT of people who are DONE with the crazy train of disaster, doom, gloom, and violence. Look in the right places and you can see positive and healing momentum starting to pick up steam. Here are just a few recent examples.

• Many ecological systems are showing positive responses to our efforts to heal past harms - like this, and this!
• A growing number of people are starting to make more conscious choices in their personal lives regarding what they eat, where it comes from, and how these choices impact the larger whole.
• LinkedIn has become a veritable rainbow of folks in the business world that want to combine their personal passions with their professional platforms. Some of these folks have been working for DECADES on their equity projects, but now a kind of global community around these efforts is really starting to coalesce. New definitions of professionalism, Unicorn Nuggets, podcasts about a People Powered Planet? On LinkedIn? How cool is this?!?
• Prominent white men like Steve Kerr, Matthew McConaughey, and Beto O'Rourke are very publicly?speaking truth to power and calling out the discrepancies between what elected officials are doing vs what they're saying in the face of rampant violence. We need more of this. Especially from everyday white guys in the business world, if I can be blunt. And I'm starting to see it.
• And corporations are finally really starting to put their money and means behind activists the world over.
• The quiet corners of the world where work has been going on quietly, under the soil as it were, are ready to bring their knowledge about the healing of love to the masses.

Nature Knows What to Do

I was reminded of the wisdom of nature when I saw my friend Festus repost this old NatGeo video describing the miraculous regeneration that happened when 14 wolves were released into the Yellowstone ecosystem back in 1995.

These wolves not only had immediate impacts on things like the deer population. In the end, the wolves actually changed the physical geography of the riverbanks in the park!

Everything is Interconnected

The wolves lived according to their nature. They were neither good nor bad. They were just wolves being wolves. And they reintroduced balance back to the ecology of the park.

I'd like to think we can do the same thing for the world at large.

If you're subscribed to this newsletter, there's a good chance you're probably one of the wolves. Maybe you have snake medicine. Or turtle medicine? Or maybe your medicine is in the cultivation of the plants, or the plant teachers? But I guarantee you, you have medicine to bring to this world. Just by being your best you.

And if you're not subscribed yet and this resonates with you, what are you waiting for?

It is time to cultivate beauty. It's time to cultivate hope. It's time to remember that we are part of a larger whole, and that balance CAN take root again if we make space for it to grow.

We just need to realize that now is NOT the time to give up. Now, more than ever, it's time to keep our heads up and keep going.

Your Question for the Strawberry New Moon

How do you work to keep your eye on the prize, and bring your unique gifts in service to the emotions of hope?

I want to hear your stories!

Many blessings on this Memorial Day of 2022. While I honor all the warriors of our history that we honor on this day, I also call on the warriors of the future to stand up and be counted. We are being called.

??Kaia Tingley 30 May 2022 on the Strawberry Moon

Snake Image by BettyKuffle from Pixabay