fear

Time to Harness the Wind

In my book, Fallen, after many of the leaves in the Dreaming Tree fall into their collective dream, they wind up in the Boggy Marsh of Fear. In this blog series, I have been writing about how conditions there are reflected in our current political circumstances. Today I want to look at what this allegory says about escaping the Boggy Marsh of Fear.

Our two protagonists, Alora and Blaze, are discovering that they do not have to stay stuck in the muck. Blaze, the more adventurous of the two, decides to try and harness the wind. Alora is gobsmacked by the idea, because she has felt, until now, that she was at the mercy of the wind. It had always just blown her around on Lake Sojourn until finally it had landed her here, with the others, in this disgusting and frightening swamp where the leaves are trampled and preyed upon by Moose and Raven. Most of the leaves feel like that’s just the way things are and there’s nothing to be done about it – except to complain and wring their hands like helpless victims.

But Blaze has had enough and he’s determined to learn how to harness the wind so he and Alora, and anyone else brave enough to join them, can set out in search of a better way of living. Through much trial and error, Blaze figures out how to use his own body as a sail so he can ride the surface of Lake Sojourn, much like a wind surfer does. It doesn’t matter which way the wind is blowing; he can adjust himself to steer his own course while using the energy of the wind to propel him. He teaches Alora to do the same, while the others look on with derision and even hostility. Hand in hand, Alora and Blaze set sail for better shores.

What does this have to do with our current politics? Well, there is plenty of fear to go around and an awful lot of hand-wringing. If you want to think about our political parties and their policies as the wind, there is also a lot of blind devotion to blowhards who we often feel at the mercy of. We get all caught up in inconsequential, and often made up, scandals that spread like wildfire on social media while ignoring the very real dangers we face. If anyone dares to think differently, the immediate response is derision and hostility.

What does it mean to harness the wind and steer our own course? It means:

• Focusing on facts rather than the latest (and possibly baseless) sensational scandal
• Facing our real problems head on
• Choosing the future we want and deserve
• Taking action to create that future

What kind of action can we take?

• Speaking out about the real threats and abuses of power we face
• Supporting the causes and candidates who will work to address the issues most important to us
• Working to make sure that everyone’s vote counts and is counted – today and into the future
• Doing whatever we can to fix corrupt systems that no longer work for the good of ALL the people, but only serve the rich and the powerful
• Voting with our children and grandchildren in mind

I don’t know about you, but I’m with Blaze and Alora. Time to quit this noxious swamp of fear and set sail into a brighter future.

Next time we’ll look at the difference between love and fear. In the meantime, here are a few Deep Ponderings for your consideration.

1. What’s the last thing you saw on social media that got you all riled up?
2. Do you know for sure that it was even true?
3. Was it an existential issue? Something of life or death importance? Something that could have true impact to your well-being?
4. What are the most important issues to you? The things that will impact your life and well-being? How might these issues effect your children and grandchildren?
5. Which candidates or causes are working on those issues and how can you support them?

~~~

When I wrote Fallen, The Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, I wasn’t writing about politics. Or even thinking about politics. But lately the story has been popping back into my brain and feeling very relevant to the political landscape we find ourselves in today. And not in a partisan way, but in a human experience way. I keep being prodded to write my thoughts down – and to share them. This is the fifth in an on-going series of blogs I’m writing in response to that prodding. Here are links to the earlier posts:

1. https://claireperkins.com/stuck-in-the-muck-of-political-fear/
2. https://claireperkins.com/helping-others-as-a-way-out-of-political-fear/
3. https://claireperkins.com/shocking-events-in-the-boggy-marsh-of-fear/
4. https://claireperkins.com/three-steps-toward-leaving-the-boggy-marsh-of-political-fear/

~~~

Want to know more about Alora’s journey of self-discovery and self-empowerment? Order your copy of Fallen today!

Order the Full-Color Hardback Collectors Edition here.

Also available in paperback (with black and white illustrations) and Kindle format.

Three Steps Toward Leaving the Boggy Marsh of (Political) Fear

While trapped in the Boggy Marsh of Fear, Alora’s friend Blaze takes three actions that begin to change everything for the two of them:

1. He pays attention to the habits and patterns of the Raven and Moose that have been putting everyone in danger and keeping everyone in fear. He notices what time of day and from which direction they tend to arrive. This helps him to see that the danger isn’t completely random, striking out of the blue with no warning. He realizes they aren’t helpless victims and there are ways to stay safe.
2. He uses this knowledge to help keep Alora safe, too. He doesn’t keep his knowledge to himself. He shares it freely and unselfishly in order to protect those around him. He remains calm while others around him are panicking.
3. He recognizes that it is foolish to stay in the path of constant danger. He is determined to take control of the situation and find a way to leave the Boggy Marsh altogether.

In this current high tension election season, we too can follow Blaze’s lead.

We can pay attention.

We can pay close attention to the words and deeds of those who aspire to be our leaders.

We can be mindful of the information sources we choose to follow and believe, recognizing that there are often agendas and spin attached to those sources. We can follow the news and social media – AND we can do our due diligence in seeking to untangle truth from lies, plain facts from hyperbole, and reason from rumor.

We can educate ourselves about history and historical patterns and understand that this moment in time did not arrive from out of a vacuum, but grew out of tensions that have been at play for the entire history of our nation. And even longer. We can learn more about our own founding documents – what they say and what they mean and what they ask us to aspire to.

We can learn more about how our government is intended to work so that we can make a rational assessment about how well or poorly it is currently working. We can also try to think rationally about the outcome of any changes to how our government works that our aspiring leaders are proposing.

The more aware we become, the less gobsmacked we’ll be when things unfold in exactly the way these patterns predicted. More importantly, we can keep ourselves safe from the worst potential outcomes by taking wise action now. Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes.

We can share what we know.

In the Boggy Marsh of Fear, tensions are at a breaking point and civility seems to have flown out the window. Each “tribe” seems to all think, speak, and act the same way. It can feel scary when the way we understand things goes against the grain. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak up and speak out. We just don’t have to be jerks when we do.

We can share what we’ve learned and what we know with others, calmly and rationally, and with the intention of keeping them safe and/or making their lives better. This means doing our best to communicate truth, not spreading rumors and conspiracy theories. It means sharing in a way that might be helpful rather than derogatory or belittling. It means being open to disagreement and dialogue, and doing our best to keep the discourse civil.

In this 280-character, text-speak, 20-second sound-bite world, it’s all too easy to toss memes around and to let them speak for us. And while memes can do a good job of capturing attention and distilling an idea, often with humor and equally often with barbed insults, they don’t excuse us from thinking and speaking for ourselves about the things that are most important to us. I’ll admit I’ve been accused of being too wordy, but I feel like the issues we face right now are far too complex to be minimized in this way.

Let’s relearn how to have a meaningful, substantial, and respectful conversation.

We can get the hell out of the Boggy Marsh.

While we need to stay informed, we can recognize when we’re too far down the rabbit hole and dropping into a fear spiral. We can take a break from the 24/7 news cycle, get off social media for a while, go outside and interact with our friends and neighbors. We can take a deep breath, go for a walk, head to the gym, listen and dance to good music, read a book, make some art, watch something funny on TV. Anything healthy that will move us out of the Boggy Marsh, if even for a moment.

Ultimately, we can learn to harness the wind of change and steer our lives and our world toward the future we most desire. But only if we can shift our focus and our energy from fear to hopeful action.

More on that later. For now, here are some Deep Ponderings for your consideration:

1. Where do you go for information? Who do you trust to have the facts? Are you aware of any bias, agenda, or spin there? Are you willing to fact check and/or look at the same topic from the “other” point of view?
2. How much do you know and understand about the way our government works? How much do you understand about U.S. and world history? Are you willing to learn more?
3. Are you willing to speak up for what you think is right in a calm, rational and respectful way? Are you willing to go beyond the meme and engage in deeper civil discourse?
4. What can you do for self-care when you find yourself getting sucked into fear and/or anger over current political situations?

~~~

When I wrote Fallen, The Adventures of a Deep Water Leaf, I wasn’t writing about politics. Or even thinking about politics. But lately the story has been popping back into my brain and feeling very relevant to the political landscape we find ourselves in today. And not in a partisan way, but in a human experience way. I keep being prodded to write my thoughts down – and to share them. This is the fourth in a series of on-going blogs I’m writing in response to that prodding. Here are links to the earlier posts:

1. https://claireperkins.com/stuck-in-the-muck-of-political-fear/
2. https://claireperkins.com/helping-others-as-a-way-out-of-political-fear/
3. https://claireperkins.com/shocking-events-in-the-boggy-marsh-of-fear/

~~~

Want to know more about Alora’s journey of self-discovery and self-empowerment? Order your copy of Fallen today!

Order the Full-Color Hardback Collectors Edition here.

Also available in paperback (with black and white illustrations) and Kindle format.