What We Can Do

Aside

What can we do?????

guys sitting on curb by grungy streetIf you feel uncertain about politics, violence, economics, the environment, or any other current issues, global and personal, you may also feel a tad helpless about “things.” Perhaps as a reader or follower of Spirit Moxie, you’ve forgotten that there really are little things we can do to change the world. Or maybe you’ve never really thought that little things might work to affect big issues.

But little things do make a difference. First consider energy. Yup. Consider how you’re feeling right now. Energy spreads. Think of anger and how it can morph into a riot. Well, it works the same way with peace and calm. Think of a meditative space such as a cathedral or even those quiet spaces in airports. You walk in and can feel your whole body relax because of the energy of others who are there or have been there. At a recent Corner of Calm, a half hour virtual event where we simply share calm, I talked about this. You can hear this reflection on YouTube. Perhaps monitoring or changing your emotions doesn’t come easily, but meditation, exercise, and multiple basic exercises can help. What energies do you want in your world? List them.

Moxie Moves on coffee tableThen go back to those little things we talk about in Spirit Moxie. If you have a copy of Moxie Moves: 10 easy ways to make a powerful difference, go look at that list. It really is a start! Below I reiterate the 10 easy ways—but in an order different from that in the book. (The number after a Move shows its order in the book. If there is a highlighted link, it goes to a Conversation post on the same topic.) 

Smiling (1.) at people and things is a way to positively change energy as we go about our day. Being grateful (2.) is another way to make it easier to have positive emotions. 

“You can’t change the world unless you are willing to engage with yourself as well as whatever is around you.”* Remember this engagement is all catching and a stronger you gives you more power. So, love your body (7.), whatever it looks like or feels like. We are bodies and yours is worth love and care. With this, remember the importance of sleep (3.) which actually affects those around you as well as yourself. There are other Spirit Moxie Conversations not in the book that relate, such as brushing your teeth and washing your hands, which we are constantly reminded are things that affect more than ourselves. There are two other chapters in the book that are more cerebral. Learn (5.) and play (10.).  These two activities keep our minds active and curious, informing both our being and our doing.

Hand inserting ballot in ballot boxThen there are the concrete actions that make a difference as we can we clearly see. An area without litter (4.) is healthier and safer as well as more attractive (back to emotions!).  Keeping your word (8.) presents a world that’s trustworthy. Plus lying has a negative effect on your body so it, too, circles back. Listening (6.) and really, really hearing what others are saying rather than plotting our witty responses, whether we agree with them or not, lays a needed foundation for a better world. Plus, it circles back to learning and, for me, being grateful. Finally, there is the one thing that I’m assuming is completely obvious. Vote (9.) In the chapter on this action there is one more suggestion. Vote for yourself. Everyday. As someone who  matters. Let’s start the Make a Difference party.

What you do matters.

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* Moxie Moves: 10 easy ways to make a powerful difference, p. 56

Images from the top:
Despondency    Jessica Watkins DeWinter
Moxie Moves on table  Mary Barr Rhodes
Voting  Spirit Moxie

Welcome 2024

Remember who you are. 

upside down one way signThis year I struggled with a post about the new year, which is why this post is early in the year, but not at the very beginning. I reread all the former end of/beginning of year Spirit Moxie Conversations. (I suggest the core 1916 post “Dream” and last year’s “Foundations.”) I wrote a lot of rough drafts about “unease,” which is hardly the most positive word for 2023. Plus, it wasn’t entirely true. Then, on a New Year’s Eve flight to visit my son and his family, I understood. Besides wondering why travel always freed me, I realized I’d stopped claiming who I am at my core. And that was the source of the unease I felt.

Have you forgotten who you are? Has the chatter in your head become so loud that you’ve also forgotten your beauty, resilience, and general fabulousness, which, by the way, are three things I know are true about you? 

The first clue I had that I’d forgotten was my reaction to a challenge from Amanda Fuel as part of a finance game in which I’m participating. What percentage of my life is determined and guided by me and what percentage is guided or manifested by the magic of the Universe/God/Chance (choose your phrase)? She was working on a 55%/45% relationship for herself. I’ve heard 10%/90% as well and vice versa. If you find these percentages useful, play with them. How much of the determining factors do you bring and how much do you want to happen to you through forces outside of you?

Thinking about this, I realized that what meant the most to me wasn’t percentages, but recognizing that there is a partnership between the two. Somehow, for me, that partnership had been shaken and become unstable. While I have had dreams and goals, somehow they had become just words I’d written. In other words, to be effective, I needed to actively remember who I was and who I am so the Universe (or whomever) could do its magic.

clouds from plane windowThe second piece to help you remember: I kind of dare you to try. It is an exercise I love that apparently pushes people’s buttons. Ask someone — using these exact words — “Tell me how I’m fabulous.” You can ask me that question when you see me in person. Or, send me a private message. There’s two parts to this apparently very vulnerable question: 1) You learn things about yourself you’ve never noticed before and  2) It’s a gift to the person being asked. To look at you that way and share is exciting, interesting, and bonding for the person responding. We love the challenge to ourselves to look at you this way. Plus, we’ve  been wanting you to know! So my request to ask me is pretty much all self-interest!*

Who you are at your core is what to bring into 2024. Your own greatness. Your job, if you will, is to remember that that greatness is  there. Yes, include those dreams. Use the word “goals” if you prefer. It’s fun if some of them are huge and some are tiny. Share those too.

The world needs you exactly as you are right now. Yes, you’ll change. But breathe into now, the you of early 2024.  And, in the next step you take, breath into that you too.

Thank you!

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*I I know I got this exercise from someone else, but haven’t been able to find it again.

All images by Spirit Moxie:
Upside down sign: Is this how the end of the year felt?
View on the New Year’s Eve flight