“The quieting of our mind is a political act.” -Jack Kornfield, author, Buddhist Practitioner

These are wild, chaotic, and tumultuous times filled with eruptive energy.

There are thousands of troubling and often horrific stories unfolding across the planet everyday including natural disasters, wars, famine, acts of terrorism, impacts of the pandemic, mass shootings, an unstable global economy, and climate change. It’s difficult to remain hopeful and positive.

When we live life from the Outside In, our focus is on what is happening external to ourselves and our energy, emotions, and physical bodies are directly impacted by what we see and experience around us. Living Outside In is not healthy as it can increase fear and dis-ease and cause mental and emotional paralysis. Watching the news, we are bombarded with information and images of violent and destructive acts toward people, animals, and the planet, engaging us in fear. Its challenging to divert our attention from the noise, color, and drama associated with these external events.

Living Outside In means we look for power outside ourselves through the accumulation of money, property, social status, or fame. We measure our success by the contents of our portfolio and the number of likes in the contrived world of social media. When we derive our power from external objects and sources, we are giving our power away to things outside of our control. For instance, if we measure our power by how much money we have in our retirement funds, then when the market takes a dive, we automatically see a decrease in our own value.

Conversely, living Inside Out means we’ve turned inward for our source of power as we focus on our breath and vibrational frequency. It is by turning inward that we create stillness and presence, and this is where our power lies. By turning inward, we become centered and anchored in our power and able to beam it back out into the world. We see ourselves as separate from external activity and can remain at ease even during periods of chaos. This state can be achieved several ways including meditation, mindful breathing, mindful walking, yoga, qi gong, relaxation techniques, sacred dance, chanting and prayer. Turning inward calms our fears, quiets the “I know” mind, and improves the immune system which helps the body repair itself and prevent further damage from stress and anxiety.

Turning inward, we no longer see ourselves as victims. By reclaiming our power, we recognize that we create our own reality everyday through our thoughts, emotions, and actions. We understand that having a healthy internal life is the foundation for a healthy external experience.

“It’s about quieting your mind and getting into certain states where everything outside of you doesn’t matter in that moment. There are so many things telling you that you can’t do something, but you take those thoughts captive, take power over them and change them.” -Russell Okung, American Football Player

During this volatile time in human history as we witness the crumbling of old ways that no longer work, remain in your power, and focus on the new ways of being and the innovative systems that are emerging. One example is the “Peoples Health Alliance” which began just months ago in the UK and is gaining international traction as an “organic, people-led grassroots organization creating an integrative healthcare model to heal, support & empower the people.” They have a vision of removing the control from entities like Big Pharma and returning the power to the people to create their own path for health and well-being. They also encourage us to take responsibility for our health. To learn more, check out their website https://the-pha.org/ . They are one example of a group of people who have taken back their power and focused on building community, collaboration and new systems that are healthier for people and the planet.

A local example is the Conscious Alliance which is a group of creative people including artists, musicians, and fans who collect and distribute food to needy communities. Their distribution center is in Broomfield. Their vision includes empowering young people to make a difference in underserved communities. Hunger impacts one in six children in the United States and the alliance sends food directly to economically isolated communities in need including Native American reservations. These folks took back their power and used it to come up with an innovative way to address a serious problem. https://consciousalliance.org/

Taking on a big challenge like eradicating hunger can feel overwhelming and infeasible. Where do you begin?

By focusing inward and creating a quiet, sacred space within yourself, you take back your power and let go of fear and anxiety. This is how we begin our journey of stepping into a new way of being which organically flows to new systems replacing the old ways of living on the planet and with each other which are no longer sustainable.

Live Inside Out.