By Stormy Peterson

A fresh, new year is finally upon us! 
  I know a lot of us have spent the dwindling days of the previous year ruminating on our lives and loves, or even love-lives (for some); we take stock of where we are, and look ahead with hopeful eyes.
  We remain hopeful that this year will be better than the last, hopeful that we’ve learned the lessons we were supposed to learn, and hopeful we’ll be strong enough to face whatever comes. It’s a time for intentions, and a time to let our day-dreaming hearts run wild across three hundred sixty-five empty spaces longing for the color of life to be splashed across them. 
  But more than organizing the year ahead, and making resolutions we’ll break by mid-January, it’s the perfect time to recognize that where we are at any given moment, isn’t actually a place where we are forced to stay.

 The truth about nature is that it’s much more fluid than we’re often conditioned to believe, and as disconnected as we may think we’ve become, we can’t ever truly be apart from it. Therefore, our lives, our understanding; how we relate to ourselves and one another, and all things human are also a lot less rigid than we have managed to convince ourselves. 
  And so it is, we’re never absolutely stuck anywhere. I don’t mean physically. . . of course, there can be circumstances beyond our control in the material world that limit the action some people would prefer to take, and it reeks of ableism to pretend otherwise. 
  No, I’m talking stuck in one attitude, stuck in unhealthy relationships, stuck at a soul-crushing job, stuck with a cramped perspective; that kind of stuck (the one that doesn’t necessarily depend on a person’s geography). A lot of these things can feel pretty permanent at one time or another, and frankly, we’re met with enough well-intended adages, and mixed messages that make it seem that way, but it doesn’t have to be so. 
  And, just like in nature, a little nudge can significantly improve your immediate circumstances. 
  Rainstorms are natural, but you don’t have to stand there getting drenched when nearby there’s a massive tree to duck under, or a welcoming cave to shelter you. Those options are both “natural” as well, but it takes a little bit of work (albeit, minimal effort) to connect the dots, consider the benefits, and act on it. 
  There is nothing enlightened about sitting around waiting for divine intervention to fix things that we are more than capable of handling on our own, yet we let ourselves get so insecure about the decisions we make, we allow ourselves to lose touch with our true essence.
  We can easily find ourselves trudging along in these unfulfilling, shallow existences so completely preoccupied with the wrong things that we are, oftentimes, clueless as to how we even got here in the first place.  What’s especially sad is that, even though it’s conceivably wholly temporary, this lack of depth pervades every aspect of our lives.
  Author Matt Kahn tells us, “Despite how open, peaceful, and loving you attempt to be, people can only meet you, as deeply as they’ve met themselves.”  That’s how folks are meeting you, that’s how you’re meeting them, and it’s how all of us are showing up and greeting the world.  It’s all a choice, however, we can decide at any moment if we’re splashing around in the paddling pool, to take a lesson, get stronger, and move to the deep end. 
  Perhaps you slide in as effortlessly glamorous as Esther Williams, but if you don’t, there’s no shame in needing a life vest, water wings, goggles, or a nose plug, and it’s not important if you arrive flailing, and sputtering, the point is that you’re willing to do the work. 
  You may, indeed, lose touch with those who prefer stomping aimlessly through mud puddles, but you’ll find yourself swimming toward the person you’re meant to be, engulfed in purpose, and creating ripples that affect everyone around you.

© 2019 Stormy Peterson

Stormy Peterson is a fine artist cultivated in the foothills of the Olympic Peninsula, believer of Bigfoot with a background in apparel and textiles merchandising, and design.  Visit The Longshoreman’s Daughter herself, at http://stormaculus.blogspot.com/

By Lisette Kiene

I feel deep grief about “humans”, including myself.
I feel loss, I miss the human race.
I know these words are deep…
but where do we stand as humans?
I always have one sentence on my mind,
‘do not leave anyone behind’
I still haven’t figured out what exactly
the meaning is of that sentence.

Humanity knows many different faces, along the line of history.
We slowly devalued ourselves.
I struggled with it quite a while,
the skeptical way we look at each other, other people’s
expectations and judgments.
We choose comfort over curiousness, to feel safe
in a group or way of life.
Humanity… We don’t feel oneness anymore.
Whatever the reason or problems people may have,
we set up a life we didn’t really want.
We define ourselves by our past instead of thinking
who we are now.
It makes me sad when people escape reality… at the end
we can’t escape what could have been.
Maybe we forgot to reach out,
to say, I love you…
Above the pain, what is the structure of love?

Love is increasingly becoming a commercial machine,
through fear, through war, through hatred and loneliness.
It is taken away and then used again,
to divide humans and to keep control.
Without love we cannot call ourselves “human”… Love
becomes a drug and we take it eagerly.
At the expense of what?
Our freedom to be human is classified, sold and
programmed.
The concept of love is full of rules,
and we buy it… even literally. We believe it.
They say ‘it is for humanity’s own good’, to feel loved
again, worthy, to feel safe… to feel human.
Words are not innocent.
When are we free again?
If we want love in this world, we should give it away,
without obligation and regardless the situation our
fellow human beings are involved in.
We should learn to change, to trust ourselves,
to trust humanity…
and there lies my hope, instead of misery we could
also see the joy in each other.

They say ‘you have to love yourself first’
and that saddens me the most.
I know it’s maybe strange of me to say, to feel like that
but with the sentence ‘you have to love yourself first’,
we are divided to the core.
Maybe we must learn to love humanity first, by that
you will find love for yourself, essentially we are all
human beings.
I admit, I tried to ‘love myself first’ as well.
I ended up feeling lonely. It’s a lonely one way to meet
yourself as an individual.
Who are we as individuals?

Isn’t it true, at the core ”the individual” is a human being too?
There I found a thin line between self love and humanity.
We hardly know what it means to be human anymore,
by systematic oppression of races, societies, ideas,
religions and beliefs.
Pay attention to what’s going on in the world, your country,
what your government is doing, what is coming from
societies, businesses, companies, authorities.
How close are they to humanity?
We get confused by fear and pressure, fight to survive,
it’s a downward spiral.

What kind of perspective do we have as human beings?
I always have one sentence on my mind,
‘do not leave anyone behind.’
Maybe that sentence is the spark that we need… to find our way
back to humanity.
Look out into the world… give
’love above fear’
and perhaps we have more in common then we already know…
Someday humanity will find its place in the world,
without leaving anyone behind.
what would be our future reality?
Where do you stand?

© 2019 Lisette Kiene

Lisette Kiene lives in Gouda, The Netherlands,
is a graphic designer & owner of a Creative Soul.
She is a believer of an endless destination, naturally.
She transforms thoughts and whisperings into writing.
She follows her own melody.

                            Above us
                                     open spaces.

                                       Limitations

              still.
                                     Voices carry
                                                      so far
                                                      you wonder.

                     Imagination,
                  not always truthful,
                  not always clear.

   Desire for something greater.
          Unchecked expectations,

          how can you know
                   where
                             you are?

      Shadows simply
        shade the past.

What illuminates your future?

Little by little
          infinite increments
          of
               your self,
                                of
              your soul

                              swallowed up in darkness,
                                  awaiting broad daylight.

© 2019 j.g. lewis

by Jennifer Hillman

The spiral notion of reflections
knowing the truth lives within the present essences
Seeing the country’s history revisiting…
From the Revolutionary war on sovereignty and freedom from oppression
to the Civil War about immigration and slavery…
individual rights of the states.
The equality of people and treatment…
being of race and women.

Wounds need healing upon knowing and acknowledgment
to change to another and different forms yet to be a comfort.

From where we are and where we would like to be.

Spinning the in and out of illusions and false words,
I continue to search for my part within these creations,
know the time is slowly changing all that is now.
Focus on the positive essences of truth I do see.
The increasing voices of the many seeking to be heard
with all the noise of the chaos.

Time magazine named Journalists as the people of the year…
looking for the truth and paying the price for it. 

Artists, writers, and creative people have always
shown the truth to us. We all are looking for that truth,
within ourselves and the world. 
It is a scary place right now. 
America…the world is broken. 
America is the world leader is broken
in a fractured piece of its past 
that remained unhealed 
from the uncertainty of the Revolutionary War; 
to the immigration/slavery issues of the Civil War; 
to suffrage movement for women 
and the citizens wonder why? 
Every opportunity is available or is it? 

Choices, chances, and decisions create our individual paths 
with our beliefs pushing us forward or holding us back.
Yet I trust the processes the humanity must go through to
get itself heading for the betterment. 

I take time to witness, listen to the current of the times, 
knowing the waves may get heavy at times. 
Just hold on tight and allow the right actions to us 
learning the better way to go in this next round 
for Mother Earth and humanity.

Forward movement is the only way and I connect deeper with my heart and my truths; realigning beliefs which guided me through some strengthening experiences, discovering find my voice, my soul’s pathways and meaning of what I was told during a near death experience many years ago…

“You are love and loved. Don’t forget this.”


© 2019 Jennifer Hillman

Jennifer Hillman is an intuitive life coach/healer, podcast host, published writer and poet, podcast host. Her books, Embracing Souls, are available on Jennifer Hillman.com, where she is available for coaching sessions.

By Jamie Forget

The north wind, an unwelcome visitor, whips icy cold every time I open the door to the church. It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m working the door for Barrie Out of the Cold. I greet the guests as they stomp in to get out of the weather. That night we would serve food, provide lodging, and offer backpacks filled with necessities to approximately 40 people. The visitors are from very diverse backgrounds with one thing in common; they are all homeless.
Unfortunately, this scene is all too familiar in many of our communities. People are living on the street with very little, or no, support. Cold Canadian winters can become a death sentence to some if they can’t find shelter.
The homeless desperately need our help.
My priorities and perspectives on homelessness have changed over the years. Not that long ago I would avoid the issue. I didn’t go so far as to cross the street when approached by a homeless person; though I did quicken my pace, with hands in pockets, head down doing my best not to interact.
Caught up in the rat race of life, I used my busyness as an excuse not to get involved.
The more we can learn about the root causes of homelessness, the less likely we will be to make moral judgements. Education on the three main causes of homelessness is the first step in erasing the stigma.
Structural factors are economic and societal in nature and include poverty and access to affordable housing. Systems failures occur when our social services break down, in some way, and include lack of mental health and addiction services. Individual circumstances may include traumatic events, mental health and addiction challenges, as well as domestic violence.
The reasons for an individual ending up on the street are most likely a combination of these factors and is rarely as clear cut as the misconception that the homeless are lazy or drug addicts.
As I began to understand that structural factors and systemic failures of communities potentially carry more weight than individual circumstances and poor choices, my perspective on the issues changed.
Who was I to judge the person huddled in the storefront trying to keep warm? Was she there because of many bad decisions, or had the system failed?
I now make eye contact and conversation. Sometimes I buy coffee, sometimes I give change. I give out information on our shelters and the services offered.
In short, I offer my humanity.
Soup kitchens and shelters are stop-gaps and not solutions, but remain so important for those on the street. As a volunteer it is the easiest way to get involved, and a street level introduction to social justice.
You can help by cooking food for your local shelter, donating food or clothing, or donating money to organizations that aid the homeless in your community. For the ambitious, you could learn more about affordable housing organizations and volunteer to help tackle the problem from a structural perspective.
If your skills are more geared to a less physically active approach you could write letters to your local politicians, encouraging them to provide more affordable housing options and to increase the social services available for our most vulnerable.
Our uniqueness is our strength! By using our diverse talents, we can mount a three-prong attack on the systemic and individual causes of homelessness.
Many will say the problem of homelessness is too big to tackle. I say, how can we not try.

© 2019 Jamie Forget

Jamie Forget is an elementary school teacher in Barrie Ontario. Actively involved in social justice issues, locally and globally, Jamie regularly blogs at www.nomadikj.wordpress.com.