Evolutionary biologist Elisabet Sahtouris has written that stress is what creates evolution in nature: Plants grow through pruning. Human beings grow the same way. When we’re faced with a situation that we can’t control or change with our current level of understanding and skill, evolutionary stress arises and impels us to question, seek, practice, and eventually take a leap outside of our comfort zones into higher levels of awareness.
From Quantum Leap, by Sally Kempton for Yoga Journal.
Someone shared this with me the other day. I had to change a few lines so they better applied to my own life, but man, I’m trying to make this my daily morning read.
Call in, not out. Filed under: reminders to self.
“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.
When I am disturbed,
It is because I find some person, place, thing, situation —
Some fact of my life — unacceptable to me,
And I can find no serenity until I accept
That person, place, thing, or situation
As being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in this world by mistake.
Unless I accept life completely on life’s terms,
I cannot be happy.
I need to concentrate not so much
On what needs to be changed in the world
As on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.”
While I value autonomy and one’s ability to find the path on their own, I also think that what’s going on in the 49th district is important and if you live in the area and don’t know what I’m referring you, you should reach out. Learn more. Because primaries are in June. And there’s four democratic candidates running for congress; two are billionaires that are essentially looking to buy their seat (democracy? What democracy?), one is a master manipulator who’s been handed over to the ethics committee via a Supreme Court Judge, has a DUI on his record, and had two temporary restraining order from his ex-wife, and one is an environmental attorney – endorsed by the California Teacher’s Association, the National Organization of Women, and several others – with a clean slate, a solid grassroots campaigning effort, and a pretty good agenda. His name is Mike Levin and he’s also the only candidate that’s proactively met with other congressmen about moving the nuclear waste at San Onofre. Happy to share more with my friends and neighbors in the 49th district who are lookin’ to flip the house. Feel free to reach out.
Any many thanks to the many who volunteer their precious time and energy so that people like you and I can stay informed and stay motivated to be a part of the change.
“We are mothers. We are caregivers. We are artists. We are activists. We are entrepreneurs, doctors, leaders of industry and technology. Our potential is unlimited. We rise.” – Alicia Keys
“If we — the millions of Americans who believe in common decency, in the greater good, in justice for all — if we fall into the trap by separating ourselves by our causes and our labels, then we will weaken our fight and we will lose. But if we commit to what aligns us, if we stand together steadfast and determined, then we stand a chance of saving the soul of our country.” – America Ferrera
“Remember, the Constitution doesn’t begin with, ‘I, the president.’ It begins with, ‘We, the people.'” – Gloria Steinem
“Once the heaviness [of the election] began to subside, an opportunity has presented itself to make real long-term change, not just for future Americans, but in the way we view our responsibility to get involved with and stay active in our communities. Let this weight not drag you down, but help to get your heels stuck in.” – Scarlett Johansson
“A movement is much more than a march. A movement is that different space between our reality and our vision. Our liberation depends on all of us.” – Janet Mock
January 20th, 2018 | Santa Ana, California