A Better Way

A few weeks ago, I read a blog post by Leonie of the Goddess Guidebook that got to the very heart of something I have been struggling with lately.  The title of the post is “How to Change the World Your Way,” and in it she retells the story of how she created her business, which is her true calling.

This story is about how she wanted to be Prime Minister of Australia, and she was on an ambitious track to get there. Then one day she realized that wasn’t the only way for her to change the world, and that she was not meant for being a public servant or the Prime Minister. She was meant to be an artist, and to change the world in a different way. And so she changed course, just like that. She became an artist instead, and found the path that she is on. She has reached tens of thousands of women so far, and has plans to reach many more. She is changing the world in a different way, in her way. By following her heart, her instincts

The reason this speaks to me so strongly is because as long as I can remember I have wanted to change the world for the better. I thought that the best way to do that was as an environmental advocate and organizer and to work to change policy. So I followed that path in college, in my career, and have invested more than a decade into this work. I have an established career I have helped achieve some important policy changes. 

But…my heart is telling me that maybe there is something else. Maybe there is something more I can do. 

Maybe I can change the world in a better way.

I feel a calling to do something different, or to do something more. For one, being an advocate has meant acting professional and hiding the less mainstream sides of myself, and really the less "feminine," creative, intuitive, and emotional sides of myself. Meaning, I feel like I have to "man" it up sometimes. The professional/policy world is so full of masculine energy, which makes sense after the hundreds of years of males dominating our societies and making the rules. I want to break free of those constraints, and find a more powerful and full way to communicate and make positive change.

We certainly need major policy changes, and I plan to keep working for those. We also need more. It is becoming clear to me that more needs to be done than policy alone can achieve. Or perhaps it is that more needs to be done SO that the big policy change we need can be achieved. The problems we are facing as a society are enormous, and require major shifts in our way of life. We need people creating a positive vision of a new way of living that stops damaging our planet and starts healing it.  

For a few years my gut, my inner voice, has been telling me that there is another path for me. It is time I started to explore it. Leonie's post gave me the permission I was looking for to find another way, perhaps even a better way, to change the world.