Think of one thing that breaks your heart open, and act upon that.
This is the way we will change the world: one loving act at a time.

I just had the opportunity to spend 3 days with child right’s advocate, Kimmie Weeks.  I’d like to share my gratitude for the blessing this simple man brings to our world with his message, and with his peaceful, powerful Presence.  Especially during this week of Thanks Giving for Americans, it feels important to SHINE this message out to others.

I’ll admit that it’s not easy for me to hear & see much of what Kimmie has to share.  My normal Way is to look at the joy & beauty of life, and to turn people toward the positivity and the Light side of our world … and I don’t expect to change that.  Indeed, Kimmie Weeks is one of the great Light workers of our time.

It’s not easy to hear his story of being torn from a normal middle class life to face the ravages of war, of being left on a pile of dead bodies when he was just 9 … it’s not easy hear of the devastation he experienced during the 14 year civil war in his home country of Liberia … or to hear of the pain & suffering he continues to see as he commits his life to creating a new story for our world.

While these stories can be heartbreaking, they also demonstrate the power of the human spirit and an uncommon faith & forgiveness that most of us won’t ever have to endure.  Kimmie shares some embarrassing statistics about where the general population is focusing attention & spending dollars.  He believes (and so do I) that if just a fraction of those spending choices are changed, we CAN have a world where no child dies from hunger, lack of clean water or medical attention … this is truly possible in our lifetime.

Kimmie encourages us not to feel guilty about the simple blessings of our own lives … but to be thankful for these blessings, and to consider, every day, how we might share a few of our blessings with others … not just in our own families & communities, but around the world.  We create a world that works for everyone ONLY when we remember we are ONE world community. As my dear friend Pat McDonald sings, “whenever one of us is suffering, none of us is free … a world that works for everyone, is what is meant to be.” (Listen to United in Brilliance, by Pat McDonald)

Kimmie talks of giving until it hurts, and I say, “Give until it STOPS hurting.” Let us GIVE until the only stories we hear are those of a world that truly is working for everyone.

May your heart break open with compassion as you Give Thanks for your blessings.

With Great Gratitude, Sor’a

This is a photo of the baby at the top after just 3 months with adequate nourishment.

Check out THE SERVICE CONNECTION “Virtual BIG GIVE” Event

$20 pays medical care for a child.  If 9 people give just $11 each, a child can go to school.  Most of us can find a way to re-direct this level of funds, and when our giving UNITES, we  spark expansive change for our world.

Listen to Kimmie’s story as he accepts the prestigious Brick Award for his humanitarian work.

Tags: generosity, Humanity Unites Brilliance, Kimmie Weeks, thanksgiving, world peace

“To find our calling is to find the intersection between our own Deep Gladness and the world’s Deep Hunger.” –Fredrick Buechner

I recently attended a “Fierce Light” workshop where we were invited to share our boldest visions of how we’d like to serve the world. I shared two recurring dreams I’ve had over the past 10 years. In the first dream, I’m casting a golden net around the earth, shining light into the darkest corners by simply connecting the multitude of already existing brilliant sparks. In the second dream, I’m sitting around a table with a group of women joyfully giving away money to help people fund their ideas (and we’re all wearing nametags that say, Abundance Angel). I rushed off from the workshop for my grandson’s 2nd birthday party, feeling there was something not quite complete.

A few mornings later, I awoke at 3am with a fierce energy running through me and the message, “it’s time to step into your greatness…no more playing small!” Tears started flowing as I connected with the full scope of these two important dreams, along with a fear that I somehow wasn’t big enough. Then a sense of radiant peace washed through me as I realized I have everything before me, and within me, to create what I’m now calling my “Fierce Light Vision.” The peace turned to excitement when I realized that everything I’m doing is already in support of this vision but that the energy is just ready to amp up…and that I’ve created an amazing web of support to help meet the fullness of this vision in a new way.

When I planted the original seed of The Service Connection a little over 3 years ago, it was actually another version of those original two dreams. I envisioned women gathering in small circles around the world…stepping into our collective Greatness…receiving the courage, inspiration & financial support to live our boldest dreams…and doing this WHILE creating a stream of philanthropic funding for causes we care about.

I was fortunate that my partner Vasi, along with a circle of significant believers, stepped in to help ground the initial vision. For two years we planted, cultivated, watered, and in some cases tried to force the seed to bloom. This past year, we’ve been “incubating” as we explore and allow space to see where the vision wants to be planted. This has been a very challenging time for me, and often I’ve wanted to let go or give my vision to someone else. I now realize the importance of this time of allowing. I’m much more ready to step into the vision now than I was when it originally came through.

Tags: inspired service, sacred activism, The Service Connection

…let’s create an Arc of Love

As 2009 turned to 2010, I set an intention to be fully alive and more in service than ever before.  So far, the world has presented many opportunities to step into a fast-flowing current of doing.  In some ways, the needs of the world seem overwhelming, and it’s easy to get pulled into over-doing and giving until we’re exhausted.  For me, ‘riding the YES current’ is a reminder to rise from joyful inspiration in everything I do … to follow my passion, allowing natural exuberance to help choose where I give my time & talents … to remember that my body is simply a vessel.  When I allow the divine current to flow through me, I stay renewed & ready for whatever comes.

There are abundant opportunities to give, and many of them are right next door. I love that so many are called to help the people of Haiti, but I’d really prefer us to find ways to build infrastructures that will allow that support to be more ongoing.  Natural disasters will continue to happen, and there will likely always be people around the need extra support.  In the end, that’s probably why we’re here: to learn to give what we have to give, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to open to receive the giving & the loving so that it expands.  Perhaps what we’re being asked to build together NOW is an expansive Arc of Love that will move us into a new phase of humanity.

Tags: activation, inspired service, sacred activism, we are the ones

It’s time for boldness of being and doing.
Difficult times call for asleep people to wake up
… and for awake people to take action.

There’s an increasing urgency in the world these days, and it’s not just because so many of our systems are being broken apart for us to re-create. While the restructuring of these systems is indeed a wake-up call for many, it is also a catalyst for the already awake/awakening individuals to come to terms with how we are directing our precious resources.

You might think I’m referring to our time and financial resources, and it’s true that many of us are re-thinking where we’re spending our hours and our money. But how can we more effectively tap the precious resource that lives within each of us…our human potential?

There is so much brilliance in our world, and everywhere we see individuals giving from their hearts and doing their best to transcend the harsh conditions of these changing times. There are so many pockets of positivity & stories of support…everyday heroes finding new ways to overcome hardship and to create a world that is better for all of us.

Much of my life has been devoted to helping individuals discover and share their brilliance, but there’s a new sense of urgency, and I know others are feeling it too. It no longer seems enough for us to SHINE as individuals. We must find ways to collaborate and to more fully access the diverse gifts we each bring to earth. It’s time to activate the unseen energy that has the power to SHIFT the world…it’s time to Unite as a common force of Good.

In The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist speaks of the “alchemy of collaboration.” I love this phrase. It speaks to me of the amazing catalytic potential that happens when we bring diversity together with intent to create. A true commUnity is formed as the elemental brilliance of each is combined to create something more than the sum of the parts.

Imagine a world where every individual is respected…where each is inspired to share his/her natural gifts…a world capable of receiving what we each have within us to give. What might we create by fully igniting the unlimited resource that lives within each human? How might we access our elemental gifts to create a new society that works for all?

The alchemy of collaboration may be just what we need.

~Sor’a

*****************

Tags: activation, awakening, co-creation, collaboration, enlightenment, Humanity Unites Brilliance, inspiration, sacred activism, service

“What are you going to do with your one wild and magnificent life?”

I’ll just launch right in and say it: the world needs our magnificence more than ever right now. It may not be easy to SHINE in these days of depressing news and impending doom, but it’s more important than ever to pull out all the stops and remember who we really are. And we are talented, intelligent, brilliant wo(men) who have an array of gifts to give and solutions to offer.

We really ARE the ones we’ve been waiting for, and it’s time to give ourselves completely to this ‘one wild and magnificent life’… it’s time to truly SHINE.

If you don’t know how to do this, ask yourself a few simple questions: What brings me joy? Where do I find sustenance? Which of my talents come most easy and naturally? How might I share more of these natural gifts with the world?

When you enter a dark room, all you need to do is flip the switch and the darkness disappears. What if WE are the switches bringing light to the dark areas of life? Perhaps if we each click ON and give of our radiance in a hundred simple ways each day (rather than being dulled to sleep by the negative news), the world will become ablaze with solutions rather than burned out by problems.

It’s time for boldness of being and doing. Difficult times call for asleep people to wake up, and for awake people to take action. As someone who’s passionate about creativity and always looking for the silver linings, I know some of the most innovative solutions come during hardship. So let us create!

Take a look around you. Where can you bring a little more light to someone’s day? How might you help a friend shine more brightly? What simple, significant things might you do with your one wild and magnificent life?

Find something to believe in, and turn UP the light. Let yourself shine.

~Sor’a

*****************

Tags: awakening, collective giving, empowerment, ending world poverty, enlightenment, Humanity Unites Brilliance, inspired service, personal and business training, sacred teleCircle, we are the ones