Lindsey Lou On The Move: Standing Rock and Beyond

beauty

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On the Struggle Bus today?

Feeling overwhelmed? Covid gotchu on the Struggle Bus? This Corona Spring continues to be an immense lesson of Mother Earth’s.  She reminds us that it is not she who is dying, rather it is we, the most peculiar (in our potential and also blindness) of her children who are not only dying but killing ourselves!

The state of our human world is a reflection of exactly where we are within – confused about Who We Are, distracted. We’ve come to the place that we are, not for lack of practical, easy-to-implement solutions but because spiritually and therefore mentally and physically and therefore socially and politically – we are a mess.  

[If these words bring discomfort, please know, for my part, I have no judgement; my pure intention is of compassion and love. In digging to the root of my own discomfort and need to judge, I discovered a deep mistrust of other humans. It is not an original, natural paradigm, rather a great misunderstanding that I’ve since given myself permission to let go of – I trust my brother and sister humans to take their own journey toward healing and Love, as I trust myself to take mine…it is a work in progress!]

We are helped along in this by our exceptional power of rationalization, a gift which was never intended to guide us, rather to support us; as imbalanced individuals we sure can overcomplicate things to the point of paralysis. 

This overwhelm cannot be ‘overcome’, rather relaxed into with awareness and healing time – we are what we eat, we are what we buy, we are what we do. We become how we think, we exist as we believe. 

He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself; and if thou gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into thee.

Nietzsche

The implications of this are simple because in each of these things We Have the Control [firstly to stop fighting/conquering/’overcoming’ in general, rather relaxing into and healing]…

Undoing the corruption which has infected our democracy, taking power from the Corporations driving ‘the 9 to 5’, ‘data bundles’, ‘cool’, ‘30-year mortgages’, ‘ownership rights’ and ‘costs’ of water, food, shelter, health, ‘retirement’, ‘tax monies’ which ‘fund’ ‘the dark web’ and ‘gun production’, etc. etc.  is merely to choose differently.

These are systems, merely systems we created to serve us and which no longer do in many ways, for many people….[and it is critical to distinguish that it is the systems we participate in and perpetuate (right down to something as ubiquitous as a smart phone which carries within precious metals fought and died over as savagely and systemically as blood diamonds)  that no longer serve – that is our way forward, rather than fighting (i.e. struggling) some self-sabotaging, endless maze identifying and targeting some ‘inherent evil’ which is rooting, lurking and presenting within some ‘inherently evil human’. It turns out, what I do for/to me is that which I am doing for/to you and … 

The way you see people [you] is the way you treat them [you], and the way you treat them [you] is the way they [you] become.

Goethe

So here we are, full circle… I am what I put into my body, I am what I put into my mind and my spirit, I become as I do with my body, mind and spirit.  May it be Truth and Beauty then. Love. Thank you Creator for my healing – that I may Love and be Loved!

Of course, doing the work to get to the root of Why we choose to eat poisonous food that is fast and made by Corporations, why we choose to commit entire lifetimes to careers for retirements into death, why we choose to become indebted to a single, built structure of one place at the sacrifice of an entire world of communities which welcome contributing, open-hearted guests, why we choose struggle … is a good bit of hard work. Hard not complicated though, and actually, we quite love and thrive on purpose-driven (…that Truth and Beauty and Love stuff) days of good, hard work!

Divesting then is quite straightforward. Simply divest from the things that no longer serve you, things that no longer bring you joy because they literally harm you or they literally come at the expense of another living being. When it comes down to it, no matter which of the many brilliant lenses you see with: your life is still just made up of many simple choices that You have the say in! 

Power to you – in creating the more beautiful world our Hearts Know is possible! (Indeed, yes! It was a choice to use the Vimeo version of this video rather than the YouTube version.)

Resources

The book The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, by Charles Eisenstein

Divesting stuff

‘Divestment’ as an activism strategy has gained strength in recent years particularly to affront the fossil fuel industry (system!), though also the larger toxic aspects of the industrial revolution (system!); however, you remember the good old stories of ‘bus boycotts’ affronting racism (system!), the Underground Railroad affronting slavery (system!), and further back than that, the ‘Boston tea boycotts’ affronting imperialism (system!), similar in another part of the world to Ghandi’s spinning wheel and food fasting for independence from British goods, affronting that same imperialism; all the way back to indigenous warriors affronted with mortality, the strategy of selfish, savage colonization (system!)…  

Alas, this has all been a work in progress for many lifetimes now!  

Getting to the Roots

Each of these artificial and arbitrary systems required us to change Who We Are to fit into them… we had to learn to choose struggle (“discipline”, “sacrifice”) as the “selfless” path, the “righteous” path, the “practical” path, the “respectable” and “honorable” path, in order to spend entire days/lifetimes running the systems of the industrial revolution – otherwise facing (self)judgements made to be negative, wrong, “evil” such as “lazy”, “selfish”, “savage”, “Godless”, “eccentric”, “crazy”, “idealistic”, “feminine”, “emotional”; similarly, we had to learn mistrust to learn judgement to learn inequality to justify the superiority, ownership, conquering which enabled the systems of racism, slavery, imperialism and colonization.

We are Not evil. Rather, with that precious, unique gift of rationality (that great existential, bitter/sweet, double-edged sword of our human experience)  as our (mis)guide we taught ourselves to serve systems.

Going forward, we may give ourselves permission to let go, to pause and get to the root of anything ‘demanding’ our energy and which feels like ‘struggle’, to be aware and scrutinizing, i.e. guided first by spirit (feeling) and then supported by our gift of rationalization: of the things which may be systemic, no longer natural but contrived, and which feel different than love, beauty, courage, compassion, wisdom… Truth and Beauty! 

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My Life is My Message – Commitments

Life. What I’ve distilled so far is that my great bird spirit continually guides me to living in service. I’ve synthesized from much meditation and prayer, reading and gaining support and wisdom from every experience, every lesson I’ve received from every interaction I’ve ever had, that my service must begin within myself and must always be centered in Love; it shall be a contribution to the great healing and learning of this time, that it may describe Truth and evoke Beauty.  

To remember Who One Is… as I understand it, is a process of getting to the bottom of one’s humanness, understanding the place of things like the anger and frustration that come when ‘arguing’ with someone coming back at you aggressively, even mildly, in their different prerogative; understanding the overwhelming pain that comes of ‘loss’, and the avoidance of that feeling in the cases that we perceive we have control of it; the stuckness of wanting to do something good in today’s world but feeling conflicted with things we perceive we ‘must’ do.  It is the patient, hard work of eventually coming to the place in which one finally feels…This Is Me, I Know Who I Am, I Must Be Who I am and I Must Do This with whatever time I have here and… I Am Entirely Fulfilled and At Peace with Who I Am and What I Am Doing; and… I Love Myself as I Love Creator as I Love My ‘Enemy’, I Am Love.

So far, I feel learned and committed to the following:

I commit to living my Truth and Purpose of embodied Creation.  

I commit to openness toward my own continued healing and learning, to remembering Who I Am.

I commit to describing Truth and Evoking Beaty with my life.

I commit to a life in service from a place of Love.

As a woman, I commit to answering Mother Earth’s call for help through my clear wisdom, courage and compassion.  

To fulfill this, my spirit has guided me to become Independent from the systems and means which would steal this from me outright or by subtle conditioning; and I must serve, with love, to provide healing and education to others whose Truth and Purpose is in jeopardy as such (this comprehensively encompases all the forms of embodied creation). 

Government, Money and Insurance

I commit to earning less than what is considered the federal poverty guideline annually as I wish to be outside of the:

  • motivation of money – unbuyable, free. 
  • mandatory contribution via federal taxes which fund many unacceptable things the government directs and perpetuates: the dark web, military wars, the ‘war’ on drugs, fossil fuel energy development, Corporate Profit over People and Planet, etc. etc.

The implications of this guide the simplification of my life and commitment in other things, for example, I do not actively partake, or intend to, in the benefits of the social programs funded by the tax system such as the modern healthcare/insurance system, Disability, Unemployment or Social Security.

A different kind of ‘economy’

The natural reaction to this in many cases is fear-driven… How will you retire??!?  What if something happens? Why don’t you work? How do you pay for things?

Actually, I do work, a lot, just not for money…rather, I create value through service. Now I live Fearlessly. I’m no longer fearful of the future because I am free to create it… I experience the freedom afforded by living my purpose fully each day, as if perhaps there won’t be another just like it or at all. I’ve found, while living in service I have more than enough to meet my needs and those of my little Cricket.

Many of the questions mentioned above are driven by the fear-based systems which sell solutions like, by investing your time into work and Social Security you’ll ‘retire comfortably’ and protect your family, by investing in healthcare you’ll be taken care of when you get sick. One could read a newspaper on any day to find stories which punch holes in these and many other false claims as the reason for doing anything for the majority of one’s life, like working for someone or paying into something over a lifetime. 

The Truths I’ve learned are that when you grow food, you have food; when you catch rainwater, then you have water; when you build a house (tiny, natural, temporary, etc.) then you have a house; when you do healthy things, then you have health; and when you gift health, freedom and love, that is what you receive in abundance! 

Naturally then, my actions are proactive, ‘preventative’; I reduce my own risks by the choices I make each moment.   I have control over the things I put in my body – on a physical, mental and spiritual level; and I have control over the things I do with my body, mind and spirit – for example…

  • Beyond bucking the pretty big modern norms mentioned above, I no longer rely on a fossil-fuel powered personal vehicle… I walk or roll on human-powered wheels just about everywhere. This has enabled me to divest from the car insurance and the fossil-fuel industry effectively reducing my own risk, decreasing my footprint, and exponentially increasing my health, happiness and freedom by traveling at the speeds my body is naturally built to go.
  • Eat mostly whole, organic, local (in-season) food 
  • I definitely avoid eating processed things, this includes refined sugar and most packaged items with long ingredient lists which include sugars, gmo’s and preservatives (and wasteful packaging of course)
  • I buy from the bulk sections in stores like Sprouts, reusing my bags and tags many times
  • If not growing food or getting it from farmers market, or rescuing it, I’m helping people to find a good CSA to join – the benefits of this are abundant, one example is the reduction of our footprint even further by taking the individual weekly travel to and from stores/markets out of the equation, as one part in a whole membership base in which delivery is focused to one delivery truck per many households, for example.
  • When I eat meat or eggs, I avoid those that have not been raised free and natural, therefore my diet is mainly plant-based as that level of quality is cost-prohibitive in many places
  • Usually, I eat congee for breakfast, a midday big salad (cooling) or lightly baked veggies and soup (warming) with some beans, quinoa, lentils, tempeh or tofu.  Fav toppings are a little salt, pepper, sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast with a small drizzle of oil. Again, all based on produce in season.
  • I try to catch my water and filter it 
  • I drink two big glasses of neutral temp water first thing and throughout the whole day
  • Fasting is a consistent, regular part of my life
  • Try to get in 8oz of homemade kombucha per day
  • Spending a good long moment of awareness with each bite, with each sip 
  • I strive to grow my own, free, clean food wherever I am/help those whom I serve to do so
  • I limit time on technology, on it or near it – for example, screen time ends a couple of hours before sleep (ideally before sunset), fully shut down and kept in separate space than where I sleep
  • I give much time to reading, writing, creating, learning, practicing skills, yoga, and teaching
  • I touch the earth with my bare feet daily
  • I stretch and play daily, with Cricket and usually with a pack of dogs – dance, run, jump, swim, roll, stretch, yoga, bike, hike – on natural earth and barefoot as often as possible
  • I wear zero drop shoes
  • Cold last minute (in the shower) or natural shower even better!
  • I meditate each morning, at least, filling myself with great gratitude and receiving it abundantly, returning to the Oneness of all things, as I often slip outward according to my bossy ego humanness throughout the day
  • I use the word LOVE freely, even with strangers, humans and creatures alike, who are not quite strangers but those I’ve come to know as my brothers and sisters, no matter their color or beliefs; to experience love is to feel the highest human experience – I work each day to heal so that I may know Oneness and when faced with sadness or anger, for example, I can remember the peace within the circular relativity in all things of this world; when I feel something less than, I go inward trying to find the original source as, for myself, it seems awareness precedes understanding which precedes healing and then change/evolution, elevation
  • I ‘buying’ from thrift stores or play-it-again sports stores
  • I avoid feeling overwhelmed with the world, my own health and what to do by letting nature guide my balance 

…On my best day!

Of course I’m human and so lots of days don’t look just like this! This is when I’m reminded about forgiveness, the impossibility to judge anyone, unconditionality, love, patience, prayer, gratitude and so on. 

I always have more than enough. When you are truly giving of yourself and your gifts, people, Earth and the Universe reciprocate with all that they have been gifted in return.

Rob Wisdom

For further reading, I have loved and gained MUCH from Rob Greenfield’s Journey. For more full and comprehensive insights on these topics, he is an excellent resource for the people regarding many of these things. His experience and teachings have empowered much of my own development in thought and practical application.

He has also posted wonderful commitments and vows, many of which my path has also aligned me with…

Aligned Commitments 

I vow to donate 100% of my earnings from media to nonprofits

Agreed, if/when I get those, yes committed.

I vow to earn no more than the federal poverty threshold per year.

Agreed, committed, fulfilled since September 2016

Others paying expenses on my behalf

My mission involves being present with a lot of people and that takes a serious amount of my time and energy. As I have said my income is capped but my aim is to increase my ability to affect positive change with these guidelines, not hinder it. So I will allow for money to be spent on my behalf under the right circumstances.

Agreed, committed. 

Non-monetary gifts and sponsorships

My policy is that I support the gifting economy and will gladly accept small gifts. On the larger end of gifts and sponsorships I will at the very least be 100% transparent with what I accept and will aim to keep what I receive to necessities. If a large gift is sent my way I will likely send it to a nonprofit that can use it to make the world a better place.

I will likely work with financial sponsors at times to help me complete my missions. I will aim to always work with sponsors who share my ethics and morals.

Agreed, committed. 

I vow to own a minimal and reasonable value of possessions and financial assets. 

Agreed, committed. Still working on this, this is truly a process, it has taken revisiting many times to continually have less each time and I still have further to go!

“Rather than make formal, taxable organizations” I will be partnering with other nonprofits to carry out my work. 

Agreed.  There are enough orgs in the world to collaborate with, saving resources and amplifying the impact of a shared missional goal.  Committed. 

Financial transactions

I bank with a local credit union (Mission Federal Credit Union) and no longer have any credit cards (A few years ago I had about five credit cards). Credit unions are nonprofits and invest their money back in the community and often give the money to good causes.

Agreed, I divested from corporate banking and moved to a credit union; I still have 2 credit cards on which the balance is $0, have yet to cancel them.

Charging for my work

There are many things that I think should be free in a just and intellectually advanced society. Some of these include air, water, food, simple housing, education, reasonable levels of health care, and access to all nature. Those are just a few things but there are many more. I think information on health, sustainable living, and how to be good to the earth should all be free too. In my mind, it makes no sense to charge people for health and happiness. Maybe at times it makes sense in our current society but that is not the society I am functioning on. So because of that my work is free to access and free to redistribute under a creative commons license. This includes all the content that is on my website including my photos, videos, and blogs. Simply put I will not personally charge for my work unless it is also available for free. In this manner, it is the choice of the person paying because they want the information in a more special manner rather than the free version I have available.

Simply put I will not personally charge for my service unless it is also available for free. In this manner, it is the choice of the person paying because they want the information in a more special manner rather than the free version I have available.

If you are deeply analyzing this philosophy you may find that it’s not perfect. It’s a heck of a lot better than what’s currently going on though.

Agreed, committed. I’ve also found that many still wish to Donate funds to the mission. 

Advertising

My policy is to never advertise for a company or product that I do not strongly believe in. And by “believe in” I don’t mean that I just like them or they are my friends. I have committed to not advertise for anything that causes destruction to the earth even if it is to take the money and give it to a good cause. 

Agreed, committed. 

Sponsors

I will only take on sponsors if our messages are deeply inline.

Agreed, committed. 

In summary I vow to:

Practice financial transparency.   

Agreed

Earn no more than the federal poverty threshold per year. Donate rest.  

Agreed 

Own a minimal and reasonable value of possessions and financial assets.

Agreed

Timeline

These vows begin today on 04/08/2015 and I am taking these vows initially for four years. Too often I see people make lifetime commitments and all too often I see these “lifetime” commitments last a fraction of their life. The frequency of priest celibacy scandals and the high American divorce rate are two examples of that. So because of that, I am making this vow for four years until 04/08/2019 at which time I will be 32. I chose four years, the length of presidency in the USA, because I wanted to feel how long that is so I can understand how so many of them break their promises in that time. I would imagine that I will renew these vows after four years but only time will tell that.

  • Agreed, committed. Today 3/24/2020. To assess and renew 3/24/2024 🙂

Here are some more Excellent Rob Resources: 

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