“It’s been raining for four days here in New Zealand and with Christmas coming up and the economy bleak, there must be millions and millions of people in the world, suffering and afraid. It’s easy to get pulled down into negative thinking, limitation and a spiral of disempowerment. As an evolutionary and new culture maker, I know that no matter how precarious my own life situation appears to be, I am still one of the most privileged people in the world, and one of the most vital services I can offer is to keep holding open the space of possibility and trust. I can choose where I put my attention and intention.”

I would add to that now, that the space of possibility has to be held from a place of clear open eyed and awake seeing of the dangers we are all in. We need to deeply and courageously know the gravity of our global crisis so that we can respond appropriately. There is no place for denial or complacency.
I’m holding together this need for the shedding of illusion with a deepening insight into the interconnectedness, and abundance of the universe. Even though the universe may appear to be an impersonal force, I had strong sense of being take care of in a personal way throughout the disaster. In a way that is quite difficult to put into words I experienced the place where the personal I and the universe intersect and influence each other. A friend referred to this recently as mystical physics. A movement arises from this meeting of little mind and Big Mind. Any sense of separation I had before the flood has been replaced by a knowing that I am interwoven with all of life. And so are you.

I know I am not separate from nature. This was not something nature did to us, rather nature is responding to the imbalances caused by the unsustainable practices of humans, so human and nature are one movement of cause and effect. Similarly I don’t see myself as separate from the generosity of people and the universe, I understand that I am creating my reality each and every moment by the thoughts and intentions I choose to have and the actions I take. I know now I am much stronger and have more resources to draw on than I thought and that reality is more mysterious than I knew. You could say that my connection with life has deepened.

I am still in the midair of transition. I know everything has changed but I’m not sure what that means in terms of actions I will take. Being homeless is “inconvenient”, it upsets one’s plans, illusions, certainties and sense of being in control. Yet it offers amazing lessons in being in the flow of an ever changing reality, in holding the complexities of life in both hands and learning how to keep finding an ever deepening truth to align with within the paradoxes. I am learning how to stand on my surfboard and ride the slipstream. Wanna join me?

I felt all of this and yet I also knew that as a white westerner I am one of the most privileged people in the world and I knew I would be taken care of. I thought of all those millions of people all over the world who are made homeless by natural disaster, or war, or other forms of social injustice, and who are forced to leave with only what they can carry, with no certainty of finding food and shelter.

I am sure this flood was caused by global warming, by our human inability to live in harmony with nature, and these disasters are happening in all countries. Our disaster was too small to make international news and, compared to the floods in Queensland or Pakistan or parts of Europe, or the tsunami in Japan it was a relatively gentle wake up call. I became aware how much we are all suffering from compassion fatigue and unable to respond to disaster. Over the days as I met people on the street I told them that our home had been destroyed and most people looked blankly back at me and quickly changed the subject. I began to better understand the massive denial we mostly live with in response to our global environmental and humanitarian crisis, and the fragile illusion of solidity that is our “civilization”. I also came to see how essentially the whole shebang is only held together by human and universal love, a force much bigger and more magnificence than little “me” .

For 3 weeks we had no internet access and very little phone access and yet we managed to reach out and find the help we needed.  The community of Golden Bay and the universe came through for us big time. Whilst we carried boxes, sorted stuff and sat in the uncertainty of where to from here, we were showered with abundance.  It was nearly Christmas and summertime when accommodation is at a premium in Golden Bay, and yet we were never without a place to stay, and it all fell into place effortlessly. We were treated to eight days in a fabulous cliff top luxury holiday home , completely free,  and from there to another beauty spot, and yet another. This gave us a sense of expansive possibility and deep gratitude which kept us buoyed through what was also a demanding process. Whenever we thought we had reached a place where we could rest another challenge arose.  For Maggie, one such challenge was securing all her art work, and for me, it was discovering that my computer had been attacked by viruses and needed to be completely deconstructed and reconstructed.

Have you ever experienced this too, that a time of crisis can present the most wonderful and unexpected riches in the form of new insights, overwhelming feelings of love and gratitude, or simply recognizing the generosity of the human spirit? Can you relate to this idea of being a container for the complexity of human experience? There is a challenge in seeing both the horror and the beauty of experience all at once; holding our fear and our courage and hope, and taking the next step into the unknown.

There can’t be many people alive on the planet just now who aren’t touched by crisis is some way, whether that’s a personal healing crisis, financial crisis, relationship crisis, or being hit by a “natural” disaster as a result of climate change. My own experience has revealed  so much that has deepened my understanding of healing, creativity, the soul journey and our collective evolution. I am looking forward to sharing much more with you and growing with you through 2012.

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Realizing the impermanence of everything

The morning after the flood we awoke. The rain was still falling but more lightly now. The campsite and streets were a sea of mud. Our neighbour had already been out on a reconnaissance mission and reported that our house was still standing but probably uninhabitable. A sixty meter wide landslip had completely obliterated their garden and their house would probably also be uninhabitable. I felt keenly for them in that moment. Only a week before I had stayed in their house looking after their dog; Maggie and I had marveled at the exquisite beauty of their house and garden, both of which were works of art, lovingly crafted over a decade. Here was the sand mandala of the Buddhists, symbol of impermanence and non attachment, the work of art once completed is destroyed and offered up, and the work begins again anew.

Over the next days we heard similar stories: some friends lost their veggie garden which kept them in food all year, others lost their house, a whole street was filled with mud, an elderly man was swept right out of his front room. But miraculously there was no loss of life. The damage was caused by landslip when the earth reached saturation point and could absorb no more water, and by log jamming from unsustainable forestry practices, so the losses were random. In our street and surrounding area only two houses were damaged beyond repair: ours and our neighbors.

On that first morning and thereafter, Maggie and I were certainly shaken but we felt so glad to be alive. Right from that first moment when the land slid, we had both known this was a transformational opportunity, an opening for radical change and possibility, which we had both been waiting for. Maybe it is just the human need for meaning which leads me to believe that I was there, and Maggie and I were in this together, for a reason.  Certainly, in the aftermath it was those who could see no meaning in it and therefore felt victims of the flood, who suffered the most.  I discovered that as long as I kept surrendering to what was happening in each moment and didn’t try to resist it, even though the circumstances were frequently demanding and stressful,  I was mostly able to maintain a positive state of mind.  Whenever I attempted to resist suffering quickly followed.

This may sound very simplistic but think about it. How often do you complain or feel resentful about your life? Even when it comes to something as basic as the weather we all continually complain: it’s too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. That’s resistance to what is. Moaning and complaining about the weather doesn’t change anything, taking action does: putting on a warm sweater or a raincoat or going for a cool dip in the heat changes circumstances and experience.

Empowering ourselves for positive change

Of course we all feel grief when we suffer a loss, and crisis is the harbinger of loss. Feeling and expressing grief in all its stages, and letting it go, is vitally important.  I am talking about something else here.  We humans seem to be conditioned to complain and suffer passively without taking the action that will bring about change. We can get stuck in the rut of our familiar discomfort and become disempowered. Surrendering to what is doesn’t mean being passive, it means accepting the reality we’re faced with, conserving energy that would be dissipated in complaining, using that energy to make a conscious positive choice and taking inspired action to mobilize the resources we’ve got and create something new.

The first step in transforming our reality is to see every situation, however inconvenient, uncomfortable or not to our liking, as an opportunity for positive change and to make a choice to do everything in our power to uplift our situation and those around us. In each and every situation we can choose to be an evolutionary catalyst: through putting out good vibes or inspiration, making someone smile, challenging abusive behavior or dysfunctional ways, or going to help shovel mud from the driveway or garden.  We can each make a positive difference in so many ways and it’s a moment to moment conscious choice.

Very soon, on February 11^th I’m starting a new series of interviews with people who are bringing about positive change and creating new ways of living in their local communities and beyond. We’ll be exploring new economic systems, sustainable ways of living together and the nuts and bolts of creating a resilient new culture. I’ll also be delving more deeply into how we can mine the gold from the heart of crisis, whether that is a personal or a global healing crisis.

For information about this series,  If you haven’t already signed up for the A Whole New World newsletter, you can sign up on the top right hand of this page. Go sign up now.

One month ago, on December 14th, after 3 days of torrential rain, our beautiful small community of Golden Bay was overwhelmed by flood and the home I shared with my soul friend and co-evolutionary, Maggie, was damaged beyond repair by a landslide.

It had been a good day. I was excited about being very close to launching the next phase of  A Whole New World.  After supper Maggie was standing at the kitchen window washing dishes when she called out, “The ground is moving” and sure enough the steep bank directly behind the house was slipping and creeping fast across the lawn, bringing with it trees, bushes and rubble.   We grabbed our computers, stuffed a few things into a bag and within minutes we were outside seeking refuge in our cars. It was the kind of rain that drenched to the skin in minutes even through raincoats, and Maggie who has a heart condition was struggling to draw breath. The only thing to do was to be in a state of calm alert presence, right here, right now, taking the next step.

Our next door neighbors invited us in. Their driveway was thigh deep in water so we had to clamber across a high fence. There we found two others who had just fled their beach cottage wading through water up to their chins. Everybody was amazingly cheerful.  We were making up beds for the night and getting cups of tea when we realized we had to leave there too. The same steep bank backed their property and some big trees were swaying dangerously at the top of the hill. We drove down to the village hall through streets which were now rivers, covered in mud and boulders,  strewn with potholes and trenches. From the hall we were then billeted to the campsite for the night. This worried me as the camp is right behind the beach and it was high tide that night but everyone assured me we would be safe.

The torrential rain continued unabated all night. They called it “weather bombs”. To be at the mercy of such an uncompromising, unstoppable force of nature renders one intensely vulnerable and humble.   At 2am I was shouted out into the torrent to move my car. The water in the campsite was now knee high. I couldn’t hear what was being shouted at me above the din and visibility was negligible. I had to turn my car into the flood to get out. That was a terrifying moment. Back in the relative safety of my bed for the night, I surrendered to whatever might come, including the possibility we might lose all our possessions or even our lives.

I’ll share more of our story next time and how we learned to find the gifts within crisis. For now, I wonder how this strikes a chord in you? Maybe  you have been in a natural disaster yourself, or suffered other unexpected loss and upheaval? This is my particular story but it is not just my story, for we are a species in transition. Our old world is crumbling through natural disasters, economic crisis and political upheaval. Perhaps parts of your life are melting just as is happening in the world at large?  Maybe you can relate to the need to surrender and you’ve learned that surrender does not mean being powerless or passive. Like the snake shedding its skin or the butterfly emerging, the process of transformation and renewal renders us vulnerable. And being vulnerable is a good thing. Crisis, loss and sudden unexpected change rip open the veils of illusion with which we normally shroud ourselves, allowing us to see more deeply and clearly and sense into the  soulful interconnectedness of life and the mysterious intelligent, energetic web which holds and directs us.

I will be exploring over the next weeks both through the blog and a new series of tele-seminar interviews, or Deep Discovery Conversations, practical ways we can stay empowered and support each other through this exciting and perilous passage of transition.   As we create a whole new world we become the whole new human and as we become the whole new human we create a whole new world together. Please join me on this journey of discovery. To stay in touch and informed go to the home page at www.awholenewworld.net and sign up for our newsletter now.

Each one of us makes a difference and together we can do what seems impossible.

A Whole New Human launched yesterday with a wonderful deep discovery conversation with Barry Brailsford, New Zealand author and wisdom carrier. As I was preparing for the interview and taking another look at some of Barry’s books, a whole piece of my own story came flooding back. I arrived in New Zealand in late 1994 from the UK. I was personally and politically disillusioned. Much as I loved Scotland where I had lived for nearly 20 years, I didn’t love the Trident missiles, nuclear power plants, fall-out from Chernobyl, nuclear dumping, or the conservative government which had just been re-elected for a third term. I had been working intensively with people to support change from the inside out and within organizations and institutions. I was soul weary and in need of renewal.

And then my path converged with Barry Brailsford and I heard him tell some of the stories of this land. He told of the People of Peace who had lived in the ways of peace for a thousand years, and the way he spoke connected me with the Earth and the stars and the heart. He inspired me to set out on my own journey to discover what it means to be a person of peace. I know he has inspired many thousands of people all over the world. The same thing happened yesterday when I spoke with him in our interview, I could feel the truth of his words rippling through my being.

Over the last few years it has become apparent to me that a part of my calling or soul work is to spread some of these seeds of inspiration through my enterprise A Whole New World. This started with my book, Living Your Passion: How Love-in-action is seeding a Whole New World, where I interviewed 20+ New Zealanders who I came to know as the new culture makers: people who are creating communities and businesses, or working sustainably with the land, in alignment with whole-person values. I then became a radio show host, first on internet radio in the States and this year with the Passionate Women Show on Fresh FM. In doing the interviews I discovered it’s something I love to do and I have a gift for it. I love creating a space for others to talk about what is most important to them and when we speak from that place of passion and authenticity it is always inspiring to others.

Awaken the Whole New Human grew from this desire to spread seeds of inspiration for growing a whole new world by sharing the gifts I have been given and supporting others to share their gifts. The first series flowed in as much as I lined up a wonderful group of speakers for the New Zealand launch of the journey: Makuini Ruth Tai, Maori spiritual teacher, will talk about Aroha Light Language on September 13th; John Broomfield, author and shamanic/integral teacher will speak on Other Ways of Knowing, September 15th; Anahata Ishaya, Ishaya monk and Oneness Blessing Trainer will speak about her own process of awakening, September 17th; Margaret Jefferies, visionary grassroots leader will talk about her community in Port Lyttelton after the earthquakes, September 19th; Richard Oswald of the Eden Foundation will talk about awakening practical solutions to some of our common problems, September 23rd, and I will do a session on September 21st on Empower your Creative Genius, with collage Joey Walters from Scotland. There’s also a bonus recording with co-creator of A Whole New World, Woods Elliott, on the process of awakening, and an introductory session with Joey and me.

So I had an inspiring vision, and a plan, and I’d already spent several years building the infrastructure for A Whole New World as an internet based enterprise. Now all I had to do was build the next piece of technical infrastructure to support this series of interviews. Well! This is where it started to get interesting in terms of process. I think you would need to have an internet based enterprise yourself to fully understand what goes on behind the scenes. I am not a “techie” person. I’m more of an intuitive, visionary, big picture thinker and when I spend too much time around precision and details I start to feel cramped and eventually ungrounded and even unwell. Having said that, I’ve been amazed how much I’ve learned over the last six years which I never would have dreamed I could have mastered. And the learning goes on; it seems to be never ending, there is always more.

Anyway, having set out on this mission to take A Whole New World to its next level and do justice to a wonderful group of speakers by creating some fine, inspiring interviews to share, I have been tested over the last few weeks every step of the way. I won’t enumerate all the technical hitches and obstructions that have arisen, suffice it to say there have been many. And I have been doing all of this on a budget so tiny you can barely see it! Oftentimes I have felt like a spider weaving the threads of life from my being and launching across the void on my fine thread. How do those spiders do it? What holds them up as they spin the threads from their being? And what holds us up as we lay the tracks into the future from our passion?
Before I tell you some of the things I have learned from this process of overcoming obstructions, I’d like to tell you the last piece, which happened yesterday. I’ve been living for the last two months in an amazing sustainable adobe house, or actually a group of houses, on top of a hill, on the wild side of Golden Bay, with only wind and solar power and internet via satellite. Everything works fine as long as it’s sunny! When the clouds come in the internet becomes unreliable and I need internet in order to manage the calls. So, launch day arrived yesterday and it was pouring with rain! For almost the entire previous two months it had been mostly sunny and bright, today rain and low lying cloud. Ok. I got up early, tested the internet, tested the phone, went and started up the generator, prayed to the weather gods to lift the cloud and calmly prepared myself for the interview at 11am. At 9.45 my house mate came in and said, “Rose I think you need to go and do the interview somewhere else, the internet isn’t working and I know how important this is to you. “ I considered. To drive to my friend’s house on the other side of the Bay would take 45 minutes, that meant I had to leave right now, this minute. She was insistent and I realized she was right, grabbed my computer and my notebook, hurtled through the mists and down the hill in the 4WD, jumped into my car and set off at breakneck speed through the pouring rain, past the fast rising rivers, into the howling winds. I made it to Maggies’ just in time and did the interview with Barry. With a little help from my friends I’d managed to find within myself what it took to be present at the starting line.

This article is already long so maybe I will share some of the learnings in the next article. You see, this isn’t just about me. I’m pretty sure that anybody setting out to be a new culture maker, to weave the new world from their own being, will be faced with challenges and obstacles along the way, just as I have been. Your challenges and obstacles will be different from mine but we will all be tested. It is said that the greater our commitment the greater the challenges we have to overcome. Sharing our stories creates a common understanding and a common language: community. That’s what this is all about for me: doing everything I can to bring a vision of community into reality. As Barry Brailsford said:
“”Remember the journey is everything. It is the destination.”
“ If we lose our story, we lose our dream and if we lose our dream, the spirit dies.”

It is time to weave the new stories of the Whole New Human from our being and stretch across the void, to create A Whole New World.
If you would like to sign up for the Awaken the Whole New Human series please go here to register: http://www.awholenewworld.net/awaken

The recorded interview with Barry will be available to listen to until Friday this week, and the other live interviews will be happening every other day until Friday 23rd September. Then there will be a second leg of the journey starting in October.

Rose Diamond September 12th 2011
P.S. Today the sun is shining. Dare I go back to my visioning place on the top of the hill on the wild side?

There’s a whole new world emerging all around us, within us and through us. Can you feel it? I’d love to know how the creative impulse to make the new is expressing through you, in your life right now.

One of the things I love most about being tuned into the new evolutionary consciousness is feeling part of a forward movement right at the unfolding edge of change. If you’re reading this then you are part of this movement of conscious change and transformation too. And if you’re a conscious change-maker like me, then you know there’s always more to learn; that life is a process of upgrading existing skills, learning new skills, pushing through limitations, stepping into the unknown, facing doubts and fears, and making sense of it all as you go.

To stay motivated with this often intense and demanding process of transformation, you have to have a big WHY. Why am I doing this? What is it for? Who does it serve?

What motivates me is, I know deep in my heart and soul there is a better way for us all to live together and share this still beautiful though sadly ravaged planet, our earthly home. I’ve known that ever since I was a little kid and that knowing has always been the flame burning at my core. And I know the only people who can create this better way of living are you and me, and all the other you’s and me’s around the world. This is a grassroots movement of evolutionary change, and there are millions of us each working in our own unique way, contributing our own unique gifts, to create a bigger and more magnificent whole together.

Just stop for a minute and really feel into that. Can you feel your connection with millions of like minded, creative change-makers all around the world? What does that do for you, when you remember to experience the power of our interconnectedness, and when you know you are part of a movement for positive change?

I’m living in a little paradise called Golden Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand, with friend and co-conspirator, Maggie Holling. We were laughing the other day because anyone looking at us from the outside might think we are just hanging out in a paradise rest home, not doing very much. Yet inside us, whole new universes are exploding, and for me personally this has been one of the most intense periods of creative work I can remember. I’ve always been hard working and I’m capable of sustained periods of focus and concentration, which I really enjoy, but recently I’ve been called to gather up the threads of the body of work I call A Whole New World and push through to a new birthing. I’ve been pulling out all the stops and really going for my big dream.

I’m recalling an image I had a couple of years back in one of my Deep Discovery sessions with soul friend and AWNW co-creator, Woods Elliott, in Virginia.  Imagine your life is a tapestry and you’re standing in front of it looking at the picture of your full potential. What do you see?

If you really allow yourself to see your full potential (or feel it if you’re a more kinesthetic person) you’ll see and feel someone pretty awesome and beautiful. You’ll see the Whole New Human, looking back at you.

Now imagine you’re walking to the back of the tapestry, what do you see now? The back looks quite dull in comparison, it’s a work in progress, there’s no clear picture and there are lots of knots where the loose ends have been tied together.  Get the picture? You are a work in progress, as a Whole New Human. And building a Whole New World is a work that is only just beginning, a creative project emerging through us collectively.

I’ve been working at the back of the tapestry, tying up some loose ends, upgrading products and services, getting ready to move forward. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be introducing some of the exciting new things I’m preparing for you. I know they are all very timely.

I believe the world goes around most easily when we all do the things we love to do, and one of the things I most love to do is interview people who are living their passion. Some of you may have read my book, “Living your Passion: How Love-in-action is seeding A Whole New World”. If you haven’t, go and check it out here: www.awholenewworld.net/books.htm It’s based on interviews with 24 innovative New Zealanders who are making a difference by living their passion. The book starts with the journey: how do people discover what their passion is? What does it take to really live it? Even though the book was written in 2007 and published in 2008, it’s very timely and revealing of this moment. And even though it’s about New Zealanders, it could equally be about you, if you live in Scotland, or upstate New York, or Sydney, or the back of any beyond, because we’re all in this together! It’s full of inspirational tips about the process of transformation and the transition we’re all living through.

My latest extension of this love for interviewing is the Passionate Women Radio Show on FreshFM, and I’ll tell you more about that next week. I’m also putting together a programme with more well know global change-makers too, to start in August, and that’s about Becoming the Whole New Human.

As you can tell, I’m buzzing, and I hope you will join me soon so we can create an even bigger buzz together.

Namaste,

Rose Diamond

p.s. And I haven’t even started to tell you about the new poetry I’m writing, which is my deepest soul love!

May 30, 2011

The way things are unfolding in the world I’m finding it difficult to hold a clear focus at times. Living with the degree of uncertainty posed by the possibility of another earthquake and the devastating news of the tsunami in Japan, the  question keeps arising, what is the most important thing?  How can I best use my time, my love, my power? Indeed, what power do I, as an individual have, in the face of so much global chaos?

I came to my computer this morning with the intention of working on my own projects. I am preparing to launch two new initiatives into the world which are the culmination of many years work. That in itself is a big thing; exciting and challenging and requiring focus and commitment. However, when I opened up my inbox I was met by the latest news from Japan and the possible meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant; dire news.

Alongside the bad news was a message from the Oneness Movement, of which I am a part, encouraging us all to send blessings and prayers along with the following healing visualization:

Hold the Fukushima plant in your heart and consciousness and see the nuclear system cooling safely.

1: Visualize water being pumped into the reactor.

2: See the rods in the reactor totally submerged in water.

3. Know that cooling is happening in an enclosed system.

The most potent times to do this visualization joining with a global community are 11am and 10pm EST (4am and 3pm NZ Time). As well, the more often we individually focus and send healing love and intention during the day, the better.

This directive served to remind me that although these times are full of danger, we are powerful spiritual beings, and when we join together to focus and use our imagination, love and intent, our spiritual power increases exponentially. As I see it, this is the challenge being presented to us now. The Earth is erupting and people all over the world are being shaken from the familiar rhythms and holding spaces of daily life. One contribution we can each make is to hold the energy and vision for positive outcomes and to know that we are each part of something much bigger and more mysterious than any of us can understand.

So whilst here at Paradise Way (yes, this really is the name of the street where I live!) we are putting together our emergency kit for a possible earthquake yet I am not expecting another quake and I am choosing not to feed this prediction with my fear. Instead I am holding a vision for peace, healing and the birth of a whole new world.

It is important to do this not from a place of repressing or denying the fear, but to feel the fear when it comes, to face it, allow it and let its energy flow through the body mind to  be released.  Every emotion brings information and the information fear is bringing me is: stay open hearted, be alert and ready to respond to whatever happens, stay tuned and follow your intuition, don’t compromise your own truth, every moment is precious, drop the past and love one another.

Here are some simple ways to manage your energy when fear comes:

• Put both feet on the ground and feel your connection with the Earth.
• Bring all your awareness into your breathing. Follow the breath in and out with your awareness. As you breathe in imagine that you are breathing in love, breathe love right into your heart. As you breathe out imagine that you are breathing out fear, imagine your fear seeping into the ground and being transformed there.
• Be aware of any stories fear is telling you and let them go. (This may take some practice but the more you become aware of the stories the more easily you can free yourself from their hold on you.)
• Imagine you are embracing your fear, as a mother embraces a child.  Ask fear what it needs from you.
• Throughout your day, ask “what is the most important thing now ?”
• Stay empowered by sending out thoughts of healing, love and peace.

Namaste

Rose Diamond

March 12th 2010

For all of us living here in Aotearoa – New Zealand life took one of those irreversible shifts last Tuesday when we heard about the quake in Christchurch.

Those who have lost loved ones or whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed, it is too soon to talk about the opportunities loss brings. Grief and mourning are a sacred process which unfolds over time and can’t be hurried. Likewise shock and trauma need time to heal.

Those of us who have been shaken, but not physically affected, are going through our own process each in our own way. The first question on most people’s lips is, “Do you have family and friends in Christchurch?” then, “How can I help?” and then “What does this mean for Christchurch and for the country as a whole? And inevitably, “Will there be another quake?”

At some fundamental level our sense of security is shaken and I venture to suggest that although this is grave, grievous and scary, we can choose to see it as an opportunity.

Papatuanuku, our Earth Mother, is shaking us awake and touching our hearts. She is speaking to us and through us. She is showing up in all our interactions. What do you hear her saying?

These are some of the things I am hearing:

1. We are all connected and we are all in this together.

In so many practical ways this crisis reveals the infrastructure we depend upon and take for granted: power, water, sewage, telephone, workplaces, schools, food transportation and storage, protection for crime, the regular rhythm of our day which keeps the economy and the country running. When these services are interrupted we have an opportunity to step back and see how many people we depend upon, just how interconnected we all are and how blessed we are.

2. The most important thing is to love and take care of each other.

When we are made vulnerable by loss and disaster the heart opens and we are more aware of our own feelings and more available to each other. This is a wonderful opportunity to let go of old hurts, judgments and resentments that have been keeping us separated from each other and to see each other anew. Have you been noticing these opportunities arising in your daily life? Are you feeling called to take more risks with friends and family in a gentle way? To break free of old habits which have kept you captive? Are you expressing more appreciation and gratitude of those you love?

3. We need to stay awake and alert and follow our own heart and truth.

The animals know when danger is coming and they run for cover. We humans have our own psychic radar that tells us where we need to be and what we need to do in any moment. At the time of the quake on Tuesday I was at Pupu Springs, the sacred waters of Golden Bay, with an overseas visitor who had flown up from Christchurch the day before. It seems this is a time when we all need to stay very attuned to what is right for us, not to be ruled by should and ought tos but to be moved by the heart. It seems important also to stay open to joy and to acknowledge all the gifts life is constantly showering upon us, in whatever form they come wrapped in.

4. We are One Global Family.

Our interconnectedness starts here at home and spreads out to encompass the whole world. The Earth Mother is erupting everywhere. The small community of Cockermouth in the Lake District was devastated by flood in 2009,  floods came too to the people of Pakistan, Queensland, Europe, Bolivia; the people in the Gulf of Mexico suffered the most horrendous oil disaster; in Haiti a terrible quake took many lives; in Western Australia and California, fires raged; in Indonesia an awful volcanic eruption. The world is in chaos and sometimes there is just too much to respond to; we switch off, we go a little numb, we busy ourselves with what we can do. Yet right now is a moment to remember that we are all One Family. Despite all our different languages, cultures, ethnicities, colours of skin, religions, we are all more alike than different. As his Holiness the Dalai Lama has said, “All human beings have two things in common: we all long to be happy and we all suffer.” What would it really mean to live as one human family?   How would you live that on a daily basis?

5. This is an opportunity to rebuild in a new more humane and sustainable way.

One of my teachers, Joanna Macy, calls this the time of the Great Turning, others have called it the Great Awakening, or the Great Compassion. If we want a more humane world in which each one of us is honoured for who we are, living a whole and holy life together, it is up to each one of us to create that. It starts in the heart and we live it through all our relationships.

Namaste,

Rose Diamond.

P.S. If you are a woman living at the top of the SouthIsland of New Zealand, or indeed if you would like to come up from Christchurch, my one day Soul Sisters Retreats provide space for processing, connecting, deepening, community building and renewal. We will be meeting In Cable Bay, near Nelson on Sunday 13^th March and in Tukurua, Golden Bay on Sunday March 20^th. Genuine inquiries please leave a comment and your email address and I will contact you.

March 1st 2011

Last Saturday a group of women came together for the second Soul Sisters Retreat in beautiful Cable Bay, near Nelson. My friend’s house backs onto the tidal estuary. Both the house and the abundant rose filled garden have been created with lots of love and care and as soon as you walk through the door your whole being sighs with relief. Aah, a place where I can rest and be renewed!

A retreat is a space outside our challenging lives where we can switch off the busy mind and dive deeper into ourselves to remember what really matters. When we become very present with our experience we step into a space outside time, a state of pure being. When we share from this place we easily create a deep connection with others, a soul based community. It’s amazing how just one day can stretch into a timeless island of sanity and self nurturing.

Participating in a retreat is an opportunity to remember that simplicity is the key to fulfillment. Everything we need for life to be a deeply satisfying experience is here, now, in every moment. Much of the time we forget this simple fact because we are so busy running around searching and trying to create it somewhere else! It’s the mind which makes life complicated. When we succeed in stilling the mind, even for a few minutes, or for an hour, we enter the most delicious freedom.

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars going from workshop to workshop looking for the Holy Grail. Here are three simple practices you can use to make every day a treat.

• Take five minutes a day to be totally present with your breathing. Just follow the breath in and out and enjoy the sensations. As you do so everything else fades into the background and you experience oneness with life.
• Take another five minutes a day to connect with nature. I mean really connect. Go outside in a state of presence and come to your senses. Look, taste, smell, listen, touch. Allow yourself to drink deep of nature’s beauty. Give yourself this gift.
• Then take another five minutes each day to really listen to someone you love. Really listen from that place of silent stillness within you. Open yourself to hear, not only the other’s words but their emotional tone, listen to what they’re not saying, to the spaces between words, and to what wants to emerge. Don’t interrupt, and drop any ideas of wanting to fix, change, disagree with or judge them. Just listen with the intention of seeing the same perfect beauty in this person that you have witnessed in nature.

I guarantee that if you follow these three simple practices every day, your life will transform. Of course, it’s easier in a group because when we come together with a shared intention we co-create a more expanded energy field which amplifies the higher state of consciousness. Held in the loving embrace of the Now, healing happens spontaneously, everything magically shifts into a new perspective, we see that everything we’ve always wanted was here all along and we simply have to show up, open up, and allow ourselves to experience fully.

The next Soul Sister’s Retreats are in Cable Bay on Sunday 13^th March 10.30-5. And in Golden Bay on Sunday March 20^th, 11-6.  Since this is near the autumn equinox we will be focusing on Harvesting our Gifts.

Rose Diamond, February 19^th 2011

Twelve days ago, following a month when I felt unusually flat, I started a personal inquiry into how I could create more joy in my life. I talked to a couple of friends about it and we began the Joy Experiment with the intention of choosing one thing in our lives each day to bring us joy. I started posting each day on facebook and then Charlotte said why not start a group there for the Joy Experiment? And so the idea began to grow and spread.

One of the biggest sources of joy for me is discovery. Because the Universe is infinite, discovery is endless, there’s always more to learn, always another adventure to be had, in both the inner and the outer worlds. So I love inquiry and experiment because they lead to the joy of discovery.

Here are some of the things I’ve discovered so far through the Joy Experiment:

It is definitely possible to choose and create joy, we don’t have to sit and wait for it to happen. Joy is present all along; it’s our true nature only, like the sun, we can’t always see it. Joy is a beautiful lightness of being, our vibrating essence. All we need to do is open to it.

Intention is a powerful magic. As soon as we intend something our psychic antennae are out sensing for it, inviting it, magnetizing it. Only three days into my experiment, I no longer had to choose to do something, I started to see and experience joy in the most everyday things, even “chores” began to reveal hidden blessings.

It’s all in the way we see it. As soon as I started to feel more joy my energy lifted and my perception shifted, I could feel myself inhabiting a different state of consciousness. I was still aware of all the challenging things happening in the world and in my own life but in a state of joy there is no fear, only trust, so problems are only situations awaiting a solution, not anything to worry about or feel bad about.

Joy is contagious; when we share it, it multiplies. Once the joy had begun to surface more joy was spontaneously created, it started to spread.

Joy is a natural feeling of confidence and success. When we’re joyful, everything we want is right here and now. Nothing is missing. It’s like a natural bubbling up of our wholeness.

Here are some of the things that stop us feeling joy: worry, anxiety, self doubt, self consciousness, pushing to achieve, blocking our feelings, fear of limitation, judgments, focusing on obstacles or lack, habit, clinging to comfort, envy: in short that little thing we call ego.  But joy even loves ego!

And then there’s the power of community and co-creation. The morning I woke up tired and niggly, there was the Joy community waiting for me with music and beauty and meditations. I remembered, none of us has to do this alone, and simply by expressing ourselves and showing up we encourage each other.

I’m sure there’s more!  Yes, more and more joy to be revealed and more and more discovery. I’d love to hear you’re enjoying these days. Join us on facebook, http://facebook.com/rosediamond7

Here’s what the Bhagavad-Gita has to say about it:

But when a man finds delight

within himself and feels inner joy

and pure contentment in himself,

there is nothing more to be done.

Rose Diamond, February 6 2011