Dear friends,
The past few weeks have been too intense. From the COVID-19 cases increasing worldwide, the terrorist attack in Vienna, the war in Armenia, and the deadly coup in Peru. But I have found that although fear is everywhere, courage is making its stand.
It looks like our collective mindset is shifting, and some ideas that could not stick a few months ago, now they can. Is it possible that the uncertainty we experience is helping us to find different outlooks? Is it true that now we see that some of our beliefs make no sense any more?
Steve Aish answers: Are our fears real?
In the second part of my interview with Steve, coincidently, and following the previous paragraphs, he tells us that we create the monsters that limit our development capacity. He shows us a creative way to identify when a monster is real or just an overblown thought.
Audio:
Video:
To me, and each time to more of you, the disfunction of the systems that support our civilization became impossible to hide. The consequences of inaction are bigger than our natural propensity for resisting change. We are in front of a unique opportunity to connect young, middle-agers, and elders. "A change is gonna come"
But progress can only happen when we realize that you have the power to decide that you can.
Today I can
I picked my camera, called my dog, walked beside the creek.
I walked with my back straight, against my body curling down.
I found a big shiny drop floating on a leaf, floating on a puddle, living on the tractor's truck.
I stopped by to ask you, what can you do today?
And with the intention of warming up your heart, let me share with you a poem; you can press play and listen while reading. Enjoy:
WHAT YOU NEED TO BE WARM
by Neil Gaiman
A baked potato of a winter's night to wrap your hands around or burn your mouth.
A blanket knitted by your mother's cunning fingers. Or your grandmother's.
A smile, a touch, trust, as you walk in from the snow or return to it, the tips of your ears pricked pink and frozen.
The tink tink tink of iron radiators waking in an old house.
To surface from dreams in a bed, burrowed beneath blankets and comforters,
the change of state from cold to warm is all that matters, and you think
just one more minute snuggled here before you face the chill. Just one.
Places we slept as children: they warm us in the memory.
We travel to an inside from the outside. To the orange flames of the fireplace
or the wood burning in the stove. Breath-ice on the inside of windows,
to be scratched off with a fingernail, melted with a whole hand.
Frost on the ground that stays in the shadows, waiting for us.
Wear a scarf. Wear a coat. Wear a sweater. Wear socks. Wear thick gloves.
An infant as she sleeps between us. A tumble of dogs,
a kindle of cats and kittens. Come inside. You're safe now.
A kettle boiling at the stove. Your family or friends are there. They smile.
Cocoa or chocolate, tea or coffee, soup or toddy, what you know you need.
A heat exchange, they give it to you, you take the mug
and start to thaw. While outside, for some of us, the journey began
as we walked away from our grandparents' houses
away from the places, we knew as children: changes of state and state and state,
to stumble across a stony desert, or to brave the deep waters,
while food and friends, home, a bed, even a blanket become just memories.
Sometimes it only takes a stranger, in a dark place,
to hold out a badly-knitted scarf, to offer a kind word, to say
we have the right to be here, to make us warm in the coldest season.
You have the right to be here.
Each week we are more persons Deconstructing Fear, I appreciate your support and kindness. I still have some amazing interviews to edit and publish, please stay tuned. I wish you a warm and positive rest of the week!
Sincerely,
Jose Antonio Morales.
Deconstructing Fear with Steve Aish, part 2
That was a profound insight! Thank you for bringing this to us, Jose and Stephen.