If you watch  this video, you might ask why put this under a title as Changing the World?  What could change with this 5 minutes? This is just some prank. Or is it? What a wonderful way of stopping the "busy" in our lives and making space for something new?

Life changing moments. They may be very brief, but how long does it  really take to make a right turn, instead of a left? 

 

one moment...



you're riveted to the spot.
some beauty,
some song,
some thought,
some moment
has captured you...
willingly.

You feel an inexpressible essence you can not define.
It astonishes you
and arrests your actions.
You stop.
Everything around you
seems to
Stop
in a timeless space.

"Where did that come from?"
Your surprised self asks.
And you reach out for it again with your mind, with your heart,
for a second or two
an eternity,
stopped amidst the current
of deadlines and responsibilities.

You search without realizing you are,
for it's source
in that breathless moment and wondering space.
Instead you find emptiness where something should be,
something so important
that acknowledgement of the pain of it's absence
terrifies you.

That feeling...
What were you doing when it hit you?
Did it come out of the blue?
The smile of a child
The beauty of a sunset
The comraderie of friends
a painting
some music
a meditation?

You hesitate to break the "spell"...then...
you take another breath, and it's gone.
You didn't realize you were not breathing!
Like a wafting breeze from some direction you cannot discern,
it is ethereal
but saying something you know is so important
that you strain to hear.

Staring off into space,
unaware that the traffic light of your life has turned back to green...
you hear the horns honking behind you.
Someone repeats the question they asked,
maybe taps your shoulder,
maybe calls your name...
calls you back from that space.

The clock hands move
And you put your foot back on the pedal of your life once again.
Disoriented, a little confused maybe.
back into the fray.
back into "real" life you go,
as you again don your roles.
Leaving with the sound of something you can not define
echoing like the distant
end of a ringing bell.

We describe what we see to each other,
we explain what we feel and ask,
"Did you ever......?"
And the poets write, "Yes!"
And the painters paint, "Yes!"
And the musicians thunder, "Yes!"
All sharing life, experiencing, togetherness, differences,
and those moments.

No one else can feel what you feel.
Only you stand behind those eyes.
You are unique.
You alone are the One
who experiences this,
somewhere inside of you.

That experience unique to us,
totally different,
and totally the same.
Next time, it happens, be brave.
Look into that space where it hurts.
It is not so much about what was lost
but what is there to be found
somewhere inside
of you.



originally posted on Sep 9th, 2006 by lightenup on zaadz.com (all rights reserved.)

Leader?

Of what?

Of whom?

to where?

All questions that are relevant to all who follow

and All who lead.

I put that designation  on my icon here, and replaced my original "role" when zaadz/gaia was rolled out. I considered myself a leader in pointing out a direction that the community was being taken in that I didn't agree with so I changed it. Now, I still like this "role".  It feels good to me. I am an aries after all.

  A flock of Canadian geese fly in a V formation during migration, all going in  the same direction with a bird flying the point position. This has been scientifically studied and it has been found that this is the most efficient way for the flock to conserve energy. This leading bird changes over time as they tire and another takes over. Looked at from a single point of  reference  from below, a sort of snapshot in time, there appears to be a leader and followers.

In the same way, there are those who go first into different areas, blazing trails that others also may choose to take. You could look at these as "leaders" but  everyone that decides to "follow" has decided  within themselves to go in that same direction. Some just happen to be going first, and when they tire, maybe others will pass them.

Looked at in this way, "followers" are not dependent on a leader, they may just be taking an easier path than they would find if they were blazing their own trail to get to the same destination. They are still truly leading themselves. Does that mean they couldn't get off that particular path and that if something caught their fancy, they couldn't just turn and go a different way? As a free being they would be, and are, perfectly free to pick and choose when, how, where, why and who they want to follow.

I don't mind being a leader and I don't  mind having followers, but I sure as hell won't take any responsibilty for them. If they want to let me go first and they want to follow, that is their choice. On the other side of this I also don't mind being a follower of someone going where I'd like to go and who seems a bit farther on the way.


 *thanks to greg7 at flickr for use of this creative commons licensed photo Some rights reserved

 

The fountain of youth

The guidance of sages

blessing of life

secret of ages

 

J

   O

       Y

 

Find your way here

 

See everything

 

Clear.

 

    *

here is the original comparison of zaadz tou and the gaia one that went up first.

here is the wording from the terms now (bold mine)

This does not feel better to me.

 

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"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." The above speech by Nelson Mandela was orignally written by Marianne Williamson who is the author of other similar material."

Parts of this quote I feel are transcendent. But I don't agree with the deepest fear part. I think our deepest fears are that we really are all the negatives that our lives have "taught" us to think about ourselves, so we're afraid to look at ourselves deeply. Of course, none of them are true. We are beautiful brilliant sparks of creative genius, every single one of us. Now, our light may be shining or, not so much, but that doesn't change who we are. Just like putting on different clothes can make us feel different, more desirable, more succesful, etc. It's the same us, underneath. We just feel differently about ourselves because of changing the circumstances we are in.

So take a look. Feel the fear, work your way all the way through it, and guess what you'll find? Creative Genius. Every time.