Love centers every interaction with calmness. When you love everyone, it changes how you think of them.
Say yes to Abundance.
The world is full of abundance and anything you
can wish for is available. Believing in
abundance gives you abundance.
Commit to challenging and changing beliefs that
limit you.
Say yes to Honesty.
Lies are obvious, you have to be in denial to
believe them. It is hectic and stressful
to sustain lies, even if you are the receiving party. Honesty is easier and healthier.
Say yes to Responsibility.
Responsibility will bring you security. When you decide on responsibility, you give
yourself a home and something to build upon.
Say yes to Action.
Procrastination stops you from accomplishment, why
indulge in procrastination?
Say yes to Boundaries.
When you work, work.
When you play, play.
Circumscribe your activities with purpose.
Consciously choose what you absorb.
Focus on the moment, in the moment.
Say yes to Relaxation
with a purpose.
Find your relaxation response, explore meditation,
or yoga, or massage and acupuncture.
Whatever your relaxation response is, find it and use it.
Say yes to getting rid of your mad.
One event deserves only one mad: spend it
wisely. Don’t regurgitate your mad over
and over and over again. Once you have
completed your mad, find a way to solve your feelings and be committed to your
resolution.
Where your attention goes, energy flows.
Say yes to Self
Love.
Be loving to yourself in thoughts, words and
deeds.
Do whatever it takes to remind yourself, that you
matter and deserve love just for being you.
Don’t deny your true worth.
Do what you know is best for you.
Say yes to Respect for yourself and others.
All interactions become positive with the addition of respect.
Say yes to Oneness.
Allow yourself to see that your spirit is a part of the whole, when you see this, your place in the universe becomes infinite.
Say yes to Non-Violence.
Violence can be verbal, physical, mental or emotional. Leave violence behind to live longer and to keep your loved ones close. Violence separates humans from each other.
Say yes to Imperfection.
Perfection will cost you your peace of mind. Allowing yourself to embrace the ups and downs of life will give you freedom.
Accept that you are perfectly imperfect.
Say yes to Integrity.
The definition of integrity is the state of being whole and undivided. How wonderful it is to be clear and purposeful about your decisions in life?
I studied inherent
value as an undergrad, so it is a concept that has been around for eons, I’m
sure.
It is this idea
that living things have value unto themselves. There is no need for
performance, no need for earning money, no need for work, just a belief that
there is value because you are alive.
It’s a difficult
concept for me to wrap my arms around for myself. Since I can remember,
my parents drilled into my head that hard work is rewarding and
self-sustaining. Those who do not work are “lazy” and
“irresponsible”. I lived in a time and place that did not have
the luxury of financially supporting anyone. All had to work.
Finance became the measure of value, those who made $5.00 an hour were less
important than those who made $10.00 an hour.
Those who are
educated are more valuable still and society rewards them for their
education. The more education, the better a person could be. The
other option for people included, beauty and wealth. The beautiful could find usefulness
by attaching to wealth, either through matrimony or work.
Adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, puts her shoe back on after passing through a security screening, as she arrives at federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, April 16.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
On the non-financial side is parenting. There is very little that is more gratifying than a young one who needs you desperately. Small children look to their parents for everything. Mothers and fathers often measure themselves by the satisfaction of their children. They feel their worth increases with happy children.
When faced with the
concept of inherent value, as an undergrad, I failed. It was hard for me
to understand and to believe that the value is in being alive. I kept
wanting to assign value based on work and performance. I was chided by my
professor, but he realized the concept was obscure for most. The exam
question was about the intelligence of dolphins and the ethical obligations of
humans to protect them from extinction. I kept coming back to the
dolphins’ value to humans. “No”, my professor iterated, they are valuable
unto themselves without humans.
A belief that I am sorry for…Each person has their own possibilities, not to be judged by others.
And so, it goes
that such beliefs touch every single part of any life. Believing in work
as the redemptive human quality means that those who do not work have little
value as humans. It creates exactly the kind of staircase of values that
I am stringently opposed to. I vehemently believe that all are equal.
So how do I maintain two opposing beliefs? I probably do it the way that
most people do, and that is to ignore one of the beliefs when the other belief
is dominantly active in my life. In other words, we all change our values
and beliefs in our lifetimes depending on circumstance.
Now, I am not
working. I was forced to take a retirement based on my illness. I
don’t have the money to retire so I depend on my husband for my
livelihood. This is exactly the kind of life that I sneered at when I was
in the throes of a successful career based on my own hard work. I
believed everyone was capable and should be working and working h.a.r.d.
Full circle.
All people are equal and have a right to life and living. Our way of
living is our own private decision and not to be interpreted by the beliefs of
others. As a human, I have the right to be. I may not perform, I
may not work, I may not earn money, these facts do not change my fundamental
right to live.
Men sometimes do not understand the
consequences of the economic inequities of power. They sometimes believe that
being dominating is just part of their own personality and therefore cannot
realize the effect on others. While women, not only recognize the power of
economic inequity, they become hyper-vigilant because the chance of surviving
the inherent difficulties of economic deprivation are better with vigilance.
Here is my story that illustrates
the blindness that can occur on both sides. This story takes place in the
1970s, I had no phone, but I worked long hours and people often called me at
work.
I lived in southern California with
my brother and my sons. I was a waitress in an American restaurant, the kind
that served breakfast 24 hours per day. I was 19 years old. My brother and I
moved to California because, at the time, junior college was free of charge for
California residents. My brother played football and attended college, and
though I wanted more than anything to go to college, I had not found a way to
do it while working and taking care of my sons. For a long time I worked two
jobs just to get by.
If you’ve never been to California,
you’ve missed some of the most beautiful scenery there is in America. I would
often drive into the mountains on the odd day off just to look at the streams
that bubbled throughout the rugged rock formations of the hills and mountains.
The water was perfectly clear and clean, cold and crisp. When you looked into
the streams you could see the rocks and pebbles at the bottom of the flowing
surge as the water rushed over them in a hurry to the floor of the valley.
Photo
Credit to NOAA
On one such trip I planned on
staying over night with friends who lived north of Los Angeles. My brother was
keeping my boys over night and so I took off after work for those beautiful
mountains. As I traveled the Pacific Coast Highway, I hummed and sang to the
radio, elated to have a moment of free time that was just for me. It is a
thrilling journey, the mountains soared to my right and in places, the beach
dropped down off of the mountain as if placed there by a giant hand. The
beaches lay flat against the soaring vistas of the mountain. It was amazing to
see both the beach and the forested mountain at the same time. I am Gulf coast
born and bred and had never seen land that reached higher than an ant hill, in
Florida.
And then…my tire blew out. I was an
intrepid explorer, think “seventies” when people were still hitchhiking to get
from one place to another. I felt safe, secure and happy. A young man pulled
over to help me with changing my tire. We found that I had no spare, my brother
had already used it to replace a rear tire that had gone flat. (Had donut tires
been invented yet?)
The young man was very generous and
offered to help me. I only had enough money for dinner, I had no money for a
flat tire. He paid for my tire, and by the time we were able to get it
arranged, it was late and I was forced to spend the night where we were. With
the tire being incomplete until morning, I welcomed the young man’s offer of
shelter for the night. He was an attractive man and we had sex that night. I got
my tire repaired the next day and drove home.
No one could have been more
surprised than me, when a week later, the young man called me at work.
Apparently, I had told him where I worked. I answered the phone somewhat
confused. He said that he wanted to see me. I didn’t know why? He heard some of
my surprise and said “I thought we shared something special.” In my mind, he
was a man who had taken advantage of a situation that I had no control over. He
wanted to help me, but for a price. He was not altruistic, kind or even
generous (as mentioned earlier) he was just someone who would take advantage of
a lone woman in a bad situation on the side of the road. I had zero interest in
seeing him again, why would I? He saw himself as a rescuer and someone who had
done something well and good. He saw himself as someone who liked this girl who
was economically disadvantaged.
No, I don’t think so. He wasn’t
happy when we hung up.
Wow, what a misunderstanding…my
picture of him was of someone who had taken advantage of me in a bad situation.
His picture of himself was someone who was generous and good and had met this
nice woman on the side of the road.
I’ve seen this kind of
misunderstanding one million and one times since then. I saw it within my
leadership group when we were given instructions to sell a product to a
stranger, and told NOT to engage in selling to waiters, waitresses or anyone in
a serving position. Several men in that leadership group ignored those
instructions and directed their efforts at selling, only towards those that had
no choice but to listen to them: waitresses. When they were called out by the
leadership group, those men got angry that the group didn’t understand their
efforts.
Are you kidding me?
Lecturing someone who is forced to
listen to you is not the same as selling something to a stranger, how do you not
know that?
Economic inequity creates power
inequity. Strength of body creates power inequity. Women know this, why don’t
men?
Please be aware that you are standing at the threshold of
being viciously attacked. No one likes a
beautiful woman who is smart and powerful.
It’s just not done.
You may think that our society has progressed past the point of keeping women in powerless positions, not so. While our society boasts of breakthroughs inequality, you must understand that they are Madison Avenue constructs and contrived,but not real. This country is expert at marketing. We look good, but we are incredibly shallow. We haven’t done the,real job of creating equality, so instead, we are at Door #3: let’s make a reality that LOOKS like equality.
Millennials are clearly aware of this. They know that equality is an elusive concept that has not been actualized in America. Alexandria you are a millennial, and so you know how shallow America’s promise of equality has been.
by Kurt Meske Thank you
What I am concerned about, is the amount of hatred and vitriol
you will be faced with as you speak your truth in the hallowed halls of the
United States Capitol.
I wish you the best and so do millions of other
Americans. We love you and we see hope
and brightness in your presence. Remember
this when others are attempting to hurt you and when the oligarchy attempts to
damage you in a way that will have you questioning humanity.
Alexandria, you are the chosen one, you are the speaker for those
who do not or can not speak for themselves.
You are right! They need your
voice. This country needs life, not the
death that the war machine
manufactures. I love your rationale for
your program ideas: “why doesn’t anyone question the cost of war, but only
questions the cost of healthcare-for-all?”. America does actually have plenty of money to
take care of people. We don’t use it in
the right places. We must begin to question
the status quo in order to take care of the people of America. Alexandria, you state that beautifully.
Your statements are so simple and so elegant and YOU make Americans
think about how humans should treat each other.
Thank you.
Don’t forget, you are aligned against the powerful and you
stand on behalf of the downtrodden. It
will appear that the oligarchy is winning many times over, you may despair, you
will be angry. Please, don’t give up and
don’t give in. You have the right of it
and there will be few who see the truth and can help you. Those who see the truth, can’t or won’t help
you and support you. Be careful!
You are in the biggest game with the biggest players. They are serious and deadly. You’ll need every bit of smarts that you have. Continue what you have been doing and keep staff
that are smart and loyal. Be aware that
loyalty can’t be valued enough! You will
need it so much in the coming months and years.
Please don’t forget, we love you. You inspire us and we really, really want you
to help change America. We want equality and you are part of that
future. You are part of the movement
that will move this country forward.
Finally.
You can get discouraged, angry and sad. Don’t ever, ever give up. You are doing the work of the weak and, and
disenfranchised, you are doing the work of equality, the work of Americans.
