This is a Call to Imagine

Posted on August 18, 2012 by AlianaAlani

FOR SOME PEOPLE, 2012 is a year of monumental possibilities, a time when things truly change and humanity reaches for the stars of its own heart, ushering in a new way of being and a harmonious life for us all. For others, it’s a walk in the park, business as usual, the status quo. There are those who consider it all a roll of the dice no matter which way you look, and then there are the rest who aren’t really thinking of it at all.

LIKE IT SAYS in John Lennon’s amazing song, Imagine – I’m a dreamer. And I’m not the only one.

SO THIS CALL IS TO YOU – OH DREAMERS OF OUR WORLD.

CREATORS, storytellers, artists, doctors, educators, lawyers, tribal elders, one and all – whatever your role may be, this call is for you. We stand at the precipice of possibility. It’s time to tip the scales. To do so requires focus, daring, passion, and most of all, love. It requires imagining.

SO WHAT IS YOUR IMAGE of our world? What is its story? Where do you want us to be?

I CARRY WITHIN a remembering, a heart song like a beacon that won’t let go. It speaks of a time of harmony, beauty and love. A time of abundance, serenity and joy. Being a remembering, you could say that it speaks of a time past, but I know it also speaks of a time that is coming into being, here and now.

SUCH A TIME requires our active participation. To decide, once and for all, that this is the way we want it to be and in it is where we intend to live. It asks us to dive deep into the ocean of love, to shed the skins of yesterday and be born anew. It calls on us to script the story, frame by frame; to vividly colour it with expectation and delight, and daily sing it into being.

YES, OUR WORLD APPEARS fraught with escalating chaos and destruction. Old ways of being are crumbling and with them comes wave after wave of anxiety, doubt and fear. I know that world, I’ve walked it, and I know how devastating it can feel. How hard it can seem to step out of the mire and reclaim the power and light of who you truly are. But the truth is it is only one picture, one story.

SO DREAM THE NEW DREAM, you dreamers of our world. Hold its picture in your mind and heart. Write about it. Paint it. Make a video. Put it on YouTube. Share it with your friends. Encourage others to do the same. Listen to their picture of what it looks like and find the common ground. Celebrate your dreaming into being. Celebrate it now.

REMEMBER, whether you see yourself on a Polynesian island, midst a pine-filled forest, an amazing city, surfing a wave in Bali, a vineyard in the Mediterranean, a boat in the tropics, in the land of OZ, or where you are right now, it’s about harmony, beauty and love. And it’s about us all getting along, finally.

SO GO ON, IMAGINE – A WORLD OF PLENTY, A WORLD IN PEACE, A WORLD OF RADIANCE AND LOVE.

If this resonates with you, if it touches your heart, pass it along to as many people as you can think of. Aloha, and may we meet in the world of radiance; our version of Shangri-la.

An Eden Thought for the Day

Posted on August 6, 2012 by AlianaAlani

“…but this is it. This is Eden. When you see the kingdom spread upon the earth, the old way of living in the world is annihilated. That is the end of the world. The end of the world is not an event to come, it is an event of psychological transformation, of visionary transformation. You see not the world of solid things, but a world of radiance.”
Joseph Campbell – The Power of Myth

Two Great Storytellers have left

Posted on August 2, 2012 by AlianaAlani

Two of our great storytellers left us this week. Perhaps different in perspectives, styles and genres, still in their own unique ways they each intricately wove the magic and power of word, and in so doing, captivated our hearts and evoked thought within. Gore Vidal and Maeve Binchy. They will be missed.

In a world that frequently looks chaotic and often profoundly dysfunctional, it may seem difficult, if not impossible, to find a tale within that tells of possibility, of beauty, harmony, and love. To step outside of a world story rife with melancholy and fear is a daring task. A hero’s journey, as Joseph Campbell would have said. Believe it or not, we all carry the opportunity of being heroes. It’s in our genes. And heroes and their journeys come in many packages. Not all are rescuers of damsels in the night or hobbits carrying a magical ring to its fiery destination. Some seem to be here and gone within the breath of a moment, others take a lifetime to travel.

Yet each of us weaves a story, consciously or not – the story of our life as it merrily bumps and puffs along, the story within that calls for us to be who we truly are; to dare to sculpt our world with new colour and new light, and then to open our hearts and love it into being.

Two great storytellers have left us.

It’s our turn, our time, to pick up that proverbial pen and write a new tale, be it epic, short, poetic, passionate, inspiring or just plain full of joy. Make it a walk in the park or a cargo ship journey along the North-West passage, an idyllic stroll along the beaches of Hawaii, or a candlelight dinner with the person you love. Just maybe it becomes your very own version of Shangri-la. Imagine that.