Inspiration by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times.
I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered.
They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now.  Ours
is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the
latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired
to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday
people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge
you,  ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing
these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly
because, the fact is that we were made for these times.

Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and
just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement... I grew up on the
Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding
awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than
there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned  and
able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind...
Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on
the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in
this stormy
world, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder
come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand
storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.



In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much
is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency
too to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach,
by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without
raising the sails. We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we
meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us
and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn't you say you
were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater?
Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace means to
submit to the voice greater?...

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of
stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any
small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some
portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given
to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip
toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an
accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing.

We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and
peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the
first, second, or hundredth gale. One of the most calming and powerful
actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show
your
soul.  Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul
throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper
matters to catch fire.  To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like
these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of
immense bravery and
greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are
fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this
is one of the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt
despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it; I will not
entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is this: In
my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be  no
despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and   who
sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours:
They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. In that
spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall:

When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no
doubt.  But that is not what great ships are built for.

This comes with much love and a prayer that you remember who you came from,
and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D Author of Women Who Run with the Wolves