these truncated lines
are built with the spines
of words meant to stand
in the liberated land
between your ears
beyond your fears
through your tears
can you hear?
a call to More
than the media's roar?
if we only read what was
rather than write what can be
who really controls
our destiny?
not a blue, or a red
a cop, thug, or fed
your future is YOURS,
made with the thoughts
in your head.
the thoughts in your head;
what are they making?
are they carrying their weight?
or are they just taking
up precious space
behind your face,
causing you worry,
and hiding real grace?
they are ABLE
to change material circumstance
without the old school song and dance.
so would you try, and take a chance
on envisioning more beauty,
don't just count dead bodies.
makers ain't morticians. 
we don't embalm.
we psalm.
we bomb
with words
written in a certain way
to change the direction
of co-opted ways. 

All tied up, at my first bungee jump at Paradise Acapulco!

My friend, LeAnne, dove in like a fearless pro.

I, on the other hand, required a 6-minute pep talk, lots of deep breathing and, ultimately, a gentle push. I was soooo frightened, and nauseous, and I really thought I was going to fold and just turn around. Or vomit. Or worse.

Sometimes help is needed. That was one of those times, and I wasn't too proud to ask for, and receive, it. Next time, though, I'd like to squash all that at-the-edge hesitation. There's a big difference between leaping, and limply falling.

​Graceless starts aside, I went head-first 164 feet, and felt what it is to plummet. And to "bounce back." I will hold that embodied metaphor a good, long time.

With the help of Google Translate, I asked him (he was sitting upright then), for pemission to photograph the painting behind him. He smiled, raised a finger to ask for a minute, and proceeded to spread himself out for a nap. -- Calinda B​each, Acapulco

Hi! I am having a three-month exploration in Acapulco! I'm exploring personal freedom, and am healing and restoring myself from a brutal Western conditioning that -- temporarily -- disconnected me from my own wisdom and power. Okay, that's enough background for now.

Moving on... to the floor-length window in my bedroom that OPENS. Yet, I've been in this space for a week without realizing that! Because​ I come from a strange part of the world where​ many windows are not intended/designed to be opened! Fresh air? Who wants to be bothered with the nuisance of a natural breeze​? No, we prefer our enviroments as artificial as possible.

And so, due to a repeated occurrence in my life (windows that don't open) I wrongly presumed the window in my room was just for show.

Here's the exciting (to me) part: WHAT CRACKED THE CONDITIONING OF MY MISTAKEN PRESUMPTION was being in my roommates' bedrooms, and luxuriating in the wonderful cross-breezes flowing through. So it occurred to me there was no justifiable reason why my room shouldn't also have windows that open! And sure enough, nearly effortlessly, it slid right open.

With a single finger, I had access not just to the most amazing breeze that makes AC absolutely unnecessary (average temp is 85F + sunny), but I also get a gorgeous soundscape of a water fountain and bird songs. This is a very mundane example, hopefully making it even more useful:

1. We all have beliefs that limit us.
   
   
2. They persist because, typically, we hang around other folks who share similar limiting beliefs... so limits get reinforced, and come to feel normal/natural... eventually expected.
   
   
3. But we can risk social diversity. We can be open to others outside our usual sphere. We can cross-pollinate our life experience with others.
   ​
4. And, ultimately, we can see how easy it is to open our own window... with the inspiring evidence of others who have opened their window.

Love + Liberation,
from Acapulco,
​Erika ♥

These ladies, strolling down a busy street in Acapulco, sure make their loads look easy to carry. One even keeps both of her hands free.

I giggled as I compared their poise to my recent, and graceless, wrestling with suitcases and stuff. It's easy to get bogged down, but buoyancy is possible!

Which brings me to the important question about your freedom I'd like to ask you. But first, let's be clear and precise with our language:

Freedom is defined as "the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint."

And, for our purposes, those last 4 words do not include hurt or harm to another. So, my question to you is, how much of that power or right do you exercise in your life? How often -- in your relationships, in your work, in your daily decisions -- do you exercise your power and your right to act, to speak and to think as you want? If not very, very often, WHY???

Whether you are restrained by:

*  a tyrannical national government;
*  a tyrannical negative inner voice; or
*  more likely, both of the above!

... you can regain and enjoy more freedom. But there is some honest and daring work required. Here are three things I've been practicing:

1.  Be quick to question. Any person, organization or system that tries to rule over you, should quickly be scrutinized... and likely, rejected. Would you ever consciously give your consent to another to rule over (e.g. master) you? Then don't do so, unconsciously.

2.  Be slow to judge. Every person, without exception, knows something useful that you do not. Stop dismissing people based on shallow presumption and prejudice. Go deeper. Listen harder. Learn something amazing from an unlikely teacher.

3.  Be intolerant of oppression. Anarchy -- or voluntaryism -- is a supremely ethical and philosophical ideal that CAN be lived into. When freedom is pursued, and traced to its utmost, you will find humans co-existing without compulsion and coercion. (Or, at the very least, working toward that end.) In a world that seems intent to domesticate, dominate, colonize and modify all life forms, anarchists steadily hold and develop strategies for personal sovereignty.

Freedom is not an imaginary unicorn. It is an innate birthright, that is too often infringed upon by inner and outer bullies. I'm grateful to be at Anarchapulco, surrounded by so many bold, brave, lovers of peace and freedom.

This wordcloud is in response to Bruce Rauner's oppressive reign over medical marijuana. His leadership is willfully keeping citizens in needless states of suffering. Why?! How is this possible?! His administration's hyper-regulation will surely strangle the poorly supported medical cannabis pilot program this state rolled out in fear and hesitation... and has now progressed to blatant obstruction and sabotage. Seriously makes me want to bounce... and roam about where wellness and freedom is not infuriatingly kept beyond reach. Because after all, we are each THE ULTIMATE GOVERNOR of our own bodies and minds!

A few years ago I wrote and published an essay titled "The POWER of Your Intense Fragility: What Culture Hasn't Told You About Being Sensitive AND Strong" (available on Amazon.)

A kind reviewer described it as "less self-help for your inadequacies and more of a call to action for your special gifts."

And another said it "illuminates the power of your nature in such a way that you can begin to envision yourself as having a significant role in creating a kinder and more sustainable world." 

I'm grateful to those readers for getting my message, and I'd like to share a little of it with you here. This is section 11:
                  ________________________________________________________________________

We are facing more crises now than have been faced in the last 5,000 years of recorded history. We have to think differently and act quickly. We have to return to good sense and sanity, rather than normalizing the absurd. Indifference is possibly the most harmful threat we face.

Ecocide. Attachment to privilege, comfort and convenience at any cost. Disregard for the health of this planet, and the life-forms on it. It is time to live the wisdom that indwells each of us.

Mothers' breast milk should be pure and powerful... instead it is loaded with dioxin and many other toxic contaminants.

Forests -- literally, the lungs of our planet -- should be large and thick... instead North America has less than 4% left, and we are quickly slicing through everyone else's trees, too.

Oceans, topsoil, air, 100+ endangered species a day, as well as our overall sense of well-being and contentment are all vanishing under the deadening weight of chronic materialism.

Please consider the following words (which I have shared many times elsewhere), written in 1955 by marketing consultant Victor Lebow, and carried out every minute by most industrialized people:

"Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumptionÉ We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate."

Lebow's mandate disconnects us from ourselves, each other and the ecosystems that make Life possible. We should be angry that these tender webs of life are being carelessly swiped away. Alarm! Outrage! These are appropriate responses.

Empathic writers have long sent letters to editors, senators and representatives to voice their concerns. That's good, but this revolt demands more of us. Seeds of sanity -- freedom from mental derangement -- must be embedded more deeply and more broadly throughout culture.

Consumerism is not a viable way of life. Opposition to that murderous death-style has got to turn way up if it's ever going to be properly challenged and changed.

Many of the doctors in the Nazi death camps tried to help the imprisoned Jews by giving them, from time to time, an aspirin to lick. Can you see the littleness of that gesture, however well intended?

Socialized craziness requires radical revolt and resistance. Aspirin-licking won't relieve this planetary migraine.

We *have* to come together and shut the sick show down. United in sanity. Bonded in our knowing of Life. Committed to act, and to cause acts. The redeeming kind. The saving, correcting, game-changing kind. We are homo sapiens, not homo consumericus.

Start with your Burn, your holy indignation, and craft from there: songs, movies, books, articles, public service announcements, plays, TV shows, business plans, small farms, urban homesteads, community gardens, workplace outings, birthday celebrations. Allow sanity -- sound, healthy thought -- to pervade all that you create.

Embrace the pain or burden that gnaws at you. It entrusted itself to you. Your particular area of care is just that. YOUR area of care.  Own it. Then assert your creative, sensitive influence into that space.  Accept this match made in heaven, and express it here on earth.  Let your ink flow into the very dry parts, and create, author. Citizen. Lovely, lively human.

Cultural conventions that cause cancerous, disastrous consequences have been masquerading as normal. When do we stop pretending that bagged and boxed crap will make us happy? Will we mindlessly shop 'til everything drops?
 
Remember how thrilling it was to play outside? To make discoveries in the natural world. To watch the flight-pattern of a bumblebee or red-breasted robin. To get splashed by fresh water from a lake, or salt water from an ocean. To eat berries and pears straight from a tree. To get breathless from a mountain hike. To get romanced by the silver light of a full moon, or energized by the golden light of the sun. To get quiet and still from the closeness of a deer. To get drunk from the scent of honeysuckle. To feel your skin extend to the green land around you. To remember when you preferred a monarch butterfly to a manic mall.

Start there.  From the place of your deepest care.  And write as if your life depended on the blossoming of your words, because it does.

Our sensitivity is tied to our highest calling. I believe we are neurologically-wired to lead the way in personal and planetary upgrades. Our special nervous system uniquely equips us for the global tasks and issues that require unprecedented delicacy in all of the realms that affect every living creature -- social, political, economic and environmental.

Heightened perception is both a privilege and a responsibility.  Societal power structures are drastically shifting, and more and more empowered Sensitives will be needed to come forth to serve as humanitarian and visionary leaders.
 
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.  You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand." (Woodrow Wilson)

* Get the full essay HERE. *

Stay tuned for "Sativa Yoga: Two Steps to Sanity" which is about freeing yourself, and being yourself. We'll talk candidly about the blessedness
of cannabis, and how incredibly effective it is at exposing and healing
lack and sickness in our bodies, minds, ecosystem and social systems.

The cannabis "industry" talks about what we DO with it.
That's cool. I'm just more interested in who we can BECOME with it.
What are its transformational effects? Let's have some real talk, friends.

When you think about it, life is just a series of meetings.

Some make your heart race with giddy anticipation, like auditions, interviews, new client pitches, dates... You want these to go well.

Others make your neck and shoulders tighten, because you dread the people, the purpose, or both. But since your presence is somehow required, you want those to go well, too. For either type, here's a fun and easy experiment to try:
​

1. BEFORE the meeting, see/imagine the person/people you are meeting with.
   
   
2. Now, see/imagine them happy and fulfilled. Wish it for them like you would wish it for yourself, your lover, your child. This is the entire practice. Doing it will cleanse and enlarge your heart. Uncover aversion. Remove resistance. It will make you a better artist, businessperson, and human in general. It will also make you feel fantastic. Because it reinforces the wonderful idea that you've got so much GOODNESS to spare, you just splish-splash it all around you... wildly and without measure! You identify more as fountain, than sponge. The truth about you is that you do have goodness to spare!
   
   
3. AFTER the meeting, continue to do this as often as they return to your mind. If their face pops in your thoughts, make it an automatic response to see them happy and fulfilled. If they persist in your thoughts, send them a quick note or call of care.

Since practicing this as a habit, I've noticed:

• a much higher quality of connection with people;
• a fuller and deeper understanding of success;
• MORE desired meetings fill my calendar;
• FEWER dreaded meetings make it to my calendar; and
• when you genuinely want to see someone else's garden flourish, your own tomatoes get juicier and bigger than ever!

If you are in my network, or on my radar, know that someone is rooting for you... hoping for your expedient happiness and success. ♥

#wordcloudwednesday
#businessasbeing