The Great Awakening!

My little furbaby's name is Dustin, he is 13 years old and is losing his hearing. Most of the time when I come home he does not hear me enter. I try not to startle him by being too loud but sometimes he still gets startled out of a deep sleep once he finally hears me. As a result, I have watched him go through four phases of an awakening process.

1.) The Startled Phase: Dustin hears me and gets startled awake.

2.) Bewildered & Figuring it Out Phase: Dustin looks a little bewildered for a couple seconds as his brain computes and tries to figure out what is going on, who is here and if there is any danger.

3.) The Realization or Awareness Phase: Dustin finishes transitioning from the unconscious state to the awakened/conscious state. He realizes it's just me, he relaxes and knows all is well.

4.) The Take Action Phase: Dustin gets up and greets me, receives my loving touches and kisses, and sometimes gives me a kiss. He smells me to figure out where I've been and who I've been with. He also smells any bags I might have brought home to see if they contain food, which he will expect to partake in.

So, consider the following which I am referring to as...The Great Awakening...

1.) The Startled Phase: Consider that the 2016 election and the results of the election may have startled you awake to a different reality than your brain could previously fathom.

2.) Bewildered & Figuring It Out Phase: Then what has come is the continued unfolding of sociopolitical upheavals, including debates and cultural wars around race, health-care, Russian election influence, divisive rhetoric, right versus left, alternative facts, first amendment rights, American values, the environment, and threats of war. It's also important to factor in the apocalyptic-like hurricanes, flooding, fires, and earthquakes that are contributing to the cultural shake-up.

Consider that all of those events may be causing you to feel bewildered, fearful, frustrated, angry, appalled, unsettled, uncertain, off-balance, etc... Your brain may be struggling to acclimate to this new reality.

You may be thinking about how you feel about all the various sociopolitical issues and how it impacts you personally or impacts our nation or our world.

3.) The Realization or Awareness Phase: You may be in this phase or have moments of being in this phase if you are having realizations about yourself, your relationships, your goals, your career, your behaviors, your dreams, or about our nation, or our world.

For example, one of the things the harsh political rhetoric has done is hold up a mirror to ways I engage in harsh rhetoric or harsh self-talk towards myself. This has caused me to realize that I need to focus on more self-love and self-care.

4.) Take Action Phase: If you are in this phase you may by now have decided to take some kind of action...to leave a divisive relationship, become a volunteer, donate money, spread more love, become an activist, run for political office, change your career, focus more on your children, create transformative art, write a book, change an industry, expose corruption, focus on your health, stand up for yourself, follow your heart....and more.

For example, I have been making sure to have more balance and pleasure in my life as a way of practicing more self-love and self-care. Also, as another act of self-care, I have been focusing more on utilizing the power of feminine flow and magnetism to help me move forward with my goals instead of pushing so hard like our patriarchal society often teaches us to do.

Final Comment: This awakening process is not necessarily a linear process, you might be repeatedly fluctuating into and out of various phases as events continue to unfold and as you open up to more realizations.

So, no matter what phase or phases you are in, you might find it helpful to allow yourself a little bit of time each day or each week to allow your emotions and thoughts about all the sociopolitical events and cultural wars to flow. You may want to meditate, vision-quest, pray, spend time in nature, write, draw, or dance to help you continue to compute what this all means for you personally.

Then, when it feels right, allow yourself to move into action to change your life, your nation, and your world.

A Great Awakening is most often accompanied by unrest and chaos. However, if we become aware of these phases of awakening, and then take action in some way, we will be contributing to waking up to an even greater level of empowerment and potential for ourselves and our world.

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