Evolving Voice and Viewpoint

It’s amazing where this heart-centered life continues to lead me. These are the last sentences written in “A Little Background” when I launched this blog site on August 7, 2015:

This blog is about me building my brave while navigating into this next phase of my life. A life aimed at broadening beyond a growing dissatisfaction with my job. One where I get to create a beautiful home while discovering my mission in order to live from it! A journey home to my authentic self, living from my heart which I believe will lead me to a bigger, more open life. I hope you come along for the ride.

Back then I had just started attending classes as a student at Bright Yoga and this blog was a platform for my emerging voice as a writer and viewpoint as a woman. I was still working to complete a Mission statement for my work and my life.

Today I am training and studying to be a yoga teacher at Bright Yoga. And while I haven’t regularly posted blogs from Build Your Own Brave since YTT started in July, my voice as a writer and viewpoint as a woman is no longer emerging. It has evolved. The completed Mission statement for my work and my life is to communicate, facilitate and inspire healthy meaningful connections with or through spirituality.

I don’t believe this is new to anyone who has followed my blog here, but lately, my heart has been drawn to and caught up with the many and varied social injustices happening in the world. To be sure, they are not new injustices, but the frequency and severity of their occurrence are alarming. Social Media has given us an unprecedented amount of information with the ability to provide relentless attention and scrutiny. The marginalization of women’s issues such as rape/sexual assault prevention and persecution, racial injustices such as police brutality/outright murders and systemic institutionalized racism, reneging on sacred treaties with Native Americans for the profit of Oil & Gas conglomerates and the imbalance of power within our Democracy and Political Processes in the form of corporation interest vs. the people & societal interest.

The election and rule of our first African-American Presidency for the past eight years and the reality of the next eight years ushering in our first female Presidency has spewed forth a veritable shit-storm of blatant, unapologetic racism and misogyny! It would be fascinating if it wasn’t so terrifying and demoralizing. We have elected officials publicly calling for our President to be lynched, a political office seeker calling him a gorilla and being asked by The GOP to drop out of the race because of it. We’ve had the Republican Presidential nominee (whose name I refuse to type in my blog) twice call for the NRA to “do something” about Hillary Clinton trying to take away their 2nd Amendment rights. As I said earlier, racism and misogyny are not new nor is it getting worse. It’s now getting filmed and uncovered. The veil of status quo hasn’t just been lifted, it’s been ripped off like a band-aid and we weren’t ready.

What does all of that have to do with my evolving voice and viewpoint or my yogic teaching path or my Mission for work and life?

The yoga path that my heart is leading me along is one of Karma Yoga, The Yoga of Action. It is the path of selfless devotion, right motive, duty towards God/Higher Power, Self or Inner Teacher who teaches through all the specific circumstances of my life. It is doing my best and detaching from the results of my actions.

This means I speak up and act on injustices within my abilities to do so but detach from any result. I’ll write about it from time to time here. I’ll pass along articles, memes, and calls to action on my Facebook page. I will engage with anyone who wishes to have a respectful, honest dialogue in the interest of understanding each other better and coming together whatever our beliefs may be. I’ve had quite a few encounters on Facebook and in real life with mixed results. What those experiences have taught me is that the result is not up to me, the act of engaging in an honest, respectful way is.

As for my Mission for work and life, right now I am facilitating and inspiring healthy meaningful connection with myself with the spirituality of yoga and my 12-step program. Eventually, I want to work with using yoga therapy for trauma victims. First responders, military personnel who are treating their PTSD, domestic violence, sexual assault and childhood trauma survivors are those I hope to help communicate, facilitate and inspire healthy meaningful connections with themselves through spirituality.

As I evolve I continue to answer His call and stay willing to follow His path which remains ever inward towards my heart and my gifts.