Create a personal revolution

I live in Michigan and lately the news hasn’t been good this past month.   From the national stage that told us of death, riots and torture to the local reality of Michigan defunding schools to fund roads and then telling us that anyone can claim religious freedom for a reason to discriminate.  I am frustrated, dismayed and feeling a bit hopeless.

The conversation turned to national and local concerns, no surprise there.  I talked about the astrological influences on our culture and that this is where we are testing our resolve.  Another Mom talked about her frustrations and worries around her son.   Then another mom (one of my favorites) shared a quote with us from an up and coming religious leader.

"Fundamentalism is a reaction to progress" Reza Aslan

Mr Aslan is a writer and a scholar of religious studies and a Muslim.   Many of us Americans want to cringe and discount and berate Muslim teachings, but when you peel away the extremists, it is a very peaceful and beautiful collection of spiritual teachings – but I am not here to talk about that.  I want to talk about how that quote and then looking up the author of that quote inspired me.  It inspired me to create a personal revolution.

You see, I can be a fundamentalist who is reacting to progress – even within my liberal views.   Mr. Aslan so eloquently captured our human response to life changing faster than we can assimilate – we regress to a simpler place.   That is usually power over another. It is also a place where we get to break it down to black and white, the personal version that is not interested in the comfort of others.

When my daughter was young and misbehaving it was easier to LAY DOWN THE LAW rather than take the time to uncover the real issue.  When I gained 20 pounds through stress eating it was easier to crash diet than take time to deal with the real issue.  When my staff was not performing up to par it is easier to create more rules than see what needed to be fixed.  

All of these issues are around growth and my struggle to keep up.  My daughter was figuring out who she is and how the world word works around her.  My stress eating was about the uncertainty of changes I was making and my staff issues were around growing product demand and outdated procedures.   Life is nothing but change and evolution and if we stop evolving we die.

So here is my personal revolution in my journey of evolution:

1 – I am kind to myself.  That doesn’t mean eating bonbons while watching the latest episode of The Voice.  This means that when I find myself turning inward and feeding my starving soul with junk I stop and ask myself what is wrong. Then I take care of it by whatever means necessary

2 – I make one person’s day just a bit better. Just one person is my quota and just a bit better is my goal.  Maybe only 10% better.  I figure it will only take 10 days to make the world 100% better in some way.

3 – I ask to remember that everyone is working from their own pain.  I don’t always remember this and often my pain reacts to your pain and then we are an angry mess. I ask myself to remember we all have our own perspective and needs that help us cope with whatever pain is in charge of the moment.   When I do this, I can stop the cycle and help bring healing.

4 – I smile at everyone I can smile at.  

This is not a huge revolution, it is not perfect, it is not a revelation in the moment but it does change me.  When I change, when I find happiness, when I share that happiness my world changes too.   When my world changes, it makes room for the whole world to change.