Lynn Serafinn's Cosmic Journey

Moving into the Storm – from enslavement to freedom

The following blog post was originally written for Transition Bedford site at http://www.transitionbedford.org. I decided to include it here on my own blog because, although it makes references to working within the Transition Network, the key points are relevant to everyone who wants to understand more about what it means to be free at an inner level, and to understand more about why they may not always be creating the impact in the world they desire to create. I welcome your comments and feedback, as I spent  significant amount of time writing it, lol! Hope you enjoy it. –Lynn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whether we are aware of it or not, the members of the Initiating Group (IG) at Transition Bedford are now evolving from the “forming” stage into the “storming” stage. Can you feel it? Entering the storm means we are making real progress, even if it seems unclear right now. So, at this important juncture, in hopes of taking us even further into the eye of the storm, I’d like to share some ideas which have been swirling about in my mind ever since my Transition Training in London. It has to do with media, our responsiveness to it, both conscious and unconscious, and our role as leaders in the community. After much reflection, I believe in our work within the Transition network, it is essential that we bear in mind

1. That we as an initiative will need to understand and address public emotions that may be stirred up by the media in all its forms (TV, film, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, pop culture, music, advertising, Internet, social media, etc)

2. That we will also need to become acutely aware of how WE ourselves are impacted by media, whether consciously or unconsciously

3. That we will need to know how to protect ourselves against succumbing to any unconscious unwanted impact, so we do not become “reactionary machines” instead of creative, resilient human beings, both individually and collectively.

4. That we will also need to become acutely aware of our own impact upon our community as we reach out to them.

5. That we will also (and most importantly) understand how to avoid unintended impact upon the community.

It is important to understand that these statements do NOT mean that we, as part of the Transition Network, are not entitled to our emotions. It would be an unreasonable expectation to think that we as humans should never feel angry, overwhelmed, grief-stricken, bitter, hopeless or cynical, especially when we are facing issues of such importance as climate change. Nor is it true that, by being part of a Transition Town initiative, we are expected to become super-humans or non-humans.

In fact, the truth is exactly the opposite.

We have to become human, pure and simple. And human means to understand emotions and how they impact us, so we can use them for our own expression, rather than feeling used by them. To be human does not mean controlling or suppressing emotions. Rather it means learning how to express them openly so that others also feel safe to express their own emotions in our presence. For in this process, trust is activated. And if our ultimate goal is to create community, trust is the most essential ingredient. Without it, there can be no community. Without community there can be no consensus. And without consensus, there can be no effective transition.

So if trust is the move essential ingredient, what does it mean to “protect ourselves” against unconscious impact? Doesn’t this sound like the opposite of trust? Not at all. Protecting ourselves means to be able to trust our own selves—our instincts, our feelings, our thoughts and our actions. It means knowing with certainty whether our actions are true responses to what is needed, or simply autonomous reactions to our own fears. And when we are able to make this distinction, and be truly confident in our self-trust, we have found the difference between enslavement and freedom.

But that works at an individual level, but what about at a community level? How does a community learn to trust itself? I have spoken with many other TT groups, and the question always comes back to, “How do we convert the unconverted?” In other words, “How do we get one part of the community to trust and believe another part of itself?”

If we ourselves are, consciously or not, enslaved by our own emotional reactions, caught in a web of our own fears, anger and frustrations over the state of the World, we would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would wish to come within 10 paces of our energetic range. And really, why in the world would they? If we flood people only with urgency, they will either swing towards us in a panic, or they will swing away from us in a panic. But if we stand powerfully within our own peacefulness combined with passion, love combined with laughter, optimism combined with sense of ongoing purpose, chances are far greater that people will learn to trust us just enough to listen to the more “urgent” message we might also wish them to hear, so they understand the matter fully. The answer to the question of converting the unconverted therefore is simply this: we will create precisely the energetic reaction in others that we ourselves project. If we wish to bring people into our wonderful vision of the future, we must first and foremost create the energy of that vision within ourselves. But if we are holding only the vision of what we wish to avoid and fear most, it will only drive people away from us. If we TT groups end up frustrated, wondering why we are having so much difficulty expanding their community, the first place to look should be our own emotional state. Within that lies the seeds of the impact we are creating in our community, whether intended or not. Our first responsibility, therefore, is to cultivate our own self-awareness. Without this, no action can take root in any lasting, effective way.

How do we start building this self-awareness? One way to start is simply by observing the energy shifts that media and other influences create both upon the public and upon ourselves. For instance, I notice that since I stopped watching television in Feb 2008, my anxiety about the economy has decreased radically, while many others around me (who watch the news on TV regularly) appear to be more stressed than ever. Of course I am not suggesting that everyone stop watching the News; I am merely noticing the impact. And in this noticing, I have valuable information upon which I can base my decisions for how I wish to communicate with others, and respond to the issues around me.

That is a very simple example, but the deeper we look, the more subtleties we will find and the more aware we will become. And as we become more aware, we become better at standing neutrally within our circumstances without impulsively reacting to them. By observing, we eventually will come to know what needs to be done and when in order to make the system work. With time, we will learn that it is sheer futility to try to nullify negative energy by pushing against it, and that if we do, we are only allowing our own energies to be drained away in the process. For the secret I have learned over the past months is this—the Transition Town movement is not only about creating sustainable energy for our technologies; it is also about creating sustainable energy for our hearts and minds. It is about creating a World and a lifestyle in which we ultimately feel more alive.

And what we might find in our quest for aliveness might surprise us. Falling back on the old “familiar” systems of fund-finding, establishing registered charities and other bureaucratic models may or may not result in breathing life into our community. We may feel these work well for us, or we might choose to toss them out altogether and create entirely new models. In the words of Buckminster Fuller, “You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” So the really important question for us now, as we begin to start the process of change together, is this: “How much fear are we ourselves holding onto that is preventing us from diving fully into the chaos of true creation?” It is vital that we deeply understand our own self-imposed limitations before we attempt to go out into society and expect it to change.

With regards to taking action, it was emphasised in the TT training, and I agree 100%, that while it is an easy temptation for us in new Initiating Groups to default into “jumping into action”, the more important thing is to understand ourselves first. If we jump into action primarily because our anxieties are being triggered, then we are simply reacting as a means to remove or avoid a discomfort. While emotions like anger or fear can stir us into action in the short term, they are not sustainable sources of energy. We risk burnout; and when we do burn out, we will find ourselves at the other extreme of passivity and apathy. When we simply react to stimuli, we get caught in the relentless pendulum swing between passive and aggressive. And we all know that a pendulum just keeps going over the same ground again and again, never really moving anywhere. It’s just like political systems that move continuously between Conservative and Liberal year in and year out. Reaction is not action, because it doesn’t take us anywhere.

To be effective as a Transition Town, we must learn deeply about the inner mechanisms that propel us to act or to react, both as individuals and as a community. It is only via this understanding that we can begin making a real “transition” away from the old paradigm and into the new. Our TT trainers stressed this over and over again and I would be remiss, especially as a life coach, if I didn’t hold the stake for this vital point.

And while I agree that “talk is cheap” if not backed by action and commitment, it is also not enough for us to jump into action, even if these actions bring about some degree of good. Everything we do inevitably creates an impact both in our local communities and on our Planet. Let us choose our impact carefully and not be satisfied merely with an endless stream of reactions. Let us create a legacy that results in the long-term transformation we envision.

So, as we begin our journey together into the eye of the storm, I encourage us to take time and care to really “land” this concept. If we want to make lasting change—and I know we do—we must first learn to operate within a new paradigm wherein we no longer simply react to stimuli, but we understand our own inner workings, and create vibrant solutions to the problems we may face. Ironically, to do that, in the beginning it will actually be necessary to take our focus away from the issues of climate change and peak oil for a little while, and to look first at who we are as human beings and what intrinsically joins us together beyond the “crisis”. This is not merely my own belief. Our trainers Nick Osborne and May East made expressed similar beliefs during our TT training. I don’t think I would be here at Transition Bedford if this were not the underlying ethos of the Transition Network.

I know some of my points may sound like “waffle” to some people. I know it might even create impatience, restlessness and irritability. And that is ok. All of that is symptomatic of the “storming” and “chaos” (to use M Scott Peck’s term) in the inevitable evolution of Transition Bedford becoming an actual community. I have faith in the process. I hope you do too.

Earth ~ Humanity ~ Connection

Warm wishes,

Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
Author, Transformation Coach, Trainer and Speaker
“Turning up the volume of the music in your heart!”

Lynn Serafinn’s Cosmic Universe (main site)
www.lynnserafinn.com

Training for the Inner Transition:
www.lynnserafinn.com/transition-trilogy-2009.html

Tags: Awareness, bedford, Climate change, Community, media, reflections, Social Reform, sustainability, Transition Town, World