I have been spending a little time going back a re-reading posts from my retired professional blog The Riley School of Integrated Somatic Bodywork (RSISB). I feel that there is some good information there that I will bring forth here as quoted re-posts.

This one is from April, 2013.

“New Age, Old Age”

Hmm, it’s been a long time since I have written.  I apologize for leaving with such a sad note as my last post.  Summer turned to winter and we witnessed another tragedy that ended the lives of much younger children (for in fact, no matter what age, we are somebody’s child and parents mourn their children with the same broken hearts).

It’s spring now, and the garden calls to me through my constantly open window.  I have been spending time planting new things and seeing what comes forth from last year’s plantings.  There has been rain (finally!), announced by thunder and lightning; so unusual for Northern California.  Beautiful clouds gathered in the sky from three directions and danced in their different layers and shades, blending at last into the deluge that soaked the all-too-dry earth.

I have been reading more than writing.  Most of what I read is hopeful and touches the spirit of those of us who hold the Earth as sacred.  There is kindness out there; there are many who spend their lives maintaining the cultures of the indigenous and disseminating the knowledge that will help to keep us all healthier and safer.  We just need to listen.

There are people who put forth great amounts of energy to bring an end to senseless and violent rampages against the innocent; there are people who are working hard to keep our food from being irreversibly adulterated without thought for the consequences; there are those who seek justice for the rape of the earth and the terrible travesty of broken pipelines, lives ruined, and animals murdered with oil sludge; there are those who bring awareness in to the common culture, and the legal system, so that the products we use on our bodies and in our homes are safe and not cancer-causing.

The writing I have been doing over these past few months has been in support of these groups and the causes that they represent.  There is so much work to do; we must all do our part.  No longer can we wait and let someone else take care of the problems that surround us.  They are not far off in another place where we can put them out of our minds and continue on as usual.  The problems are right here, and the time is now.

I have written previously about making changes one step at a time….wanting to help people slip gently in to a better way of living.  The time has come for positive, forward-thinking, and active change. A lot of it. The First Peoples spoke of living for the seventh generation to follow them.  There is not time enough anymore to think that far ahead.  Our actions, our daily decisions about what we eat, what we buy, and how we live, have a direct effect on the present moment in lives that span the globe.  People that we will never see, but are living right now in this moment, are at the mercy of decisions we make each and every day.  We need to think about those who are seven time zones away. Or, seven thousand miles; or seven hundred miles; or seven minutes.

It’s overwhelming.  I know.  I have been feeling the effects of the overwhelm for a year or so, and have had to withdraw a little in order to deal with it.  But like the volunteer seeds from last year’s flowers, I, too, feel the surge of new growth and strength. I wanted to stop.  I truly did.  I felt that 45 years of activism was enough and that as I get older I could rest and let others take over.  Others have taken over, and yet I still feel the need to carry on.  Rest is not what’s needed now.  Action is what’s needed.