"Transform Yourself, Transform the World"

Zen poet Thich Nhat Hahn was asked, ‘What do we need to do to save our world?’ His questioners expected him to identify the best strategies to pursue in social and environmental action, but Thich Nhat Hanh’s answer was this: ‘What we most need to do is to hear within us the sounds of the Earth crying.’ (Macy, 1998, p. 91)*

If you feel sadness, frustration, guilt and anger from what is happening to our planet, allow yourself to feel it. Doing so not only helps us heal, it also has the potential to heal the planet as well. We won't fight or care for something that we don't have feelings for. When we repress our feelings, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to evolve and heal. In my opinion, this is one the deep roots of our environmental crisis. Not only have we lost our connection to our Mother Earth, we often repress the feelings we have about the destruction of our home.

Our way of life has simply disconnected us. Most people don't think about where their water comes from when they turn on the faucet, where their food is coming from, where electricity is coming from and what powers it, or where all the pollution and garbage is going and its chemical effects on the entire Earth system. Learning all of this information is difficult, it can make us feel guilty and ashamed of our actions. We can't ignore it either, which is actually the more destructive of the two options. If we allow ourselves to feel emotion towards these things, it will most likely be what pushes us to change. Once we realize that we are part of the problem, a problem that we care deeply about, then we will become called to act and to change our own behaviors.

We have a lot of things going against us, but that just means we need to fight harder. "In American culture, we are conditioned to try to keep a smiling face and remain chipper at all costs. A lack of optimism somehow indicates a lack of competence. Feelings of despair are treated reductionistically as a function of personal maladjustment. This doubles the burden individuals carry. Not only do they feel bad about their world, but they feel bad about feeling bad." ~Joanna Macy

Allowing ourselves to go into our deepest emotions is very powerful. It's a place many of us don't like to explore. However, going there fosters a movement of emotion within us. When we allow ourselves to stir things up, the emotions begin to shift. They begin to teach us, if we pay close attention. The exploration of pain, sadness and anger is necessary for healing and transformation. If we don't begin a paradigm shift with evolution of the self, where else does it begin? The key is to allow that transformation to take place at the individual level and then take that a step further and do something about it. Each person has their own gifts, not everyone has to be an activist, find your own unique gift and give it to our planet.

http://www.personaltransformation.com/Macy.html

*Macy, J. & Brown, M. (1998). Coming back to life: Practices to reconnect our lives, our
world. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.