When the 'Force" Is Disturbed: What Do I/We Do?

When the world is in chaos and our hopes and dreams seem to be tumbling down, to what (and where) do we turn?  

After I had written and posted my last “Zones of Peace” blog, “A Making Violence Obsolete Holiday Reflection”, I rather thought my work was done for the year.  I had found my peace, after the horrific, just past, campaign cycle and election, and felt rather settled as to how I would manage the fear and threatening disorder it had brought about. Donald Trump’s election was, as our next president, not unexpectedly bringing a strong sense of dis-ease into my life and to those around me; a fearfulness such as no one I know had ever felt after a presidential election.

Read about Anastasia --
Finding Light In The
Darkness

From this newly resolved – or is that “resigned” ?? – position I had decided that a paradigm shift was in order, if I was to let go of the threatened stance I had adopted during the campaign – and—immediately after, once the outcome of the presidential election race had been determined. This, it seemed, had to be the only sane way to go in this incredibly insane world within which we were now living in the United States as it was also around the globe.

It was from this position that I eagerly and confidently approached my radio show planning meeting with my honorary daughter, Terry, yesterday. Assured that that last blog of mine could give Terry and I a relatively easy template from which to create our show for tomorrow, I found myself in for a surprise. No slam dunk, this one!

Yes, Terry, definitely agreed with me that, as I had written --

These are challenging times, no doubt about it.

But was she settled about the situation? She was not!

Listen to Terry and myself tomorrow on the Anastasia The Storyteller Radio Show titled –

When the 'Force" Is Disturbed: What Do I/We Do?

Friday, December 30

11:30 a.m.

Hear how this “honorary” mother and daughter come to grips with their different perspectives on living through these troubled times.

Are Peace and Unity Overrated?

These are challenging times, no doubt about it.

I don’t know about you, but times of stress and distress, such as these, lead me, now and then, to just sit back and reassess perspectives. Given how 2016 has turned out, with our horrendous election campaign as a backdrop for almost anything and everything else that has happened this year, I am going back over the premises with which I began 2016 to see if and how they still hold true.

A significant paradigm shift seems to be in the offing. Where shall it take me; from what and where to a different what and  where?

In particular I feel drawn to contemplating my commitment to peace and unity and to building these wherever I can. Akin to this theme is my considering, once again, where the necessity for polarization and the upheaval and chaos this can breed fits in.

I have long believed that periods of polarization, inevitable as they are, need, on occasion, to precede true peace and unity, if we as a species are to function at our optimum levels. Such times are essential to the creative process that fosters growth and improvements, serving as balancing agents.

Might I have, however, been off in my thinking that peace and unity should hold such a high priority as they have in my value system?

Have I, in prioritizing these, as I have, overlooked other essentials in how best to run my life?

Have I significantly disregarded viewpoints that are markedly different than mine in my quest for this idealistic state?

In doing so, did I cut myself off from the caring and compassion I might have been more generous in giving had I been heedful of people who are distinctly different than me?

I/we did pay close attention to the issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement. But in doing so were there others, perhaps less vocal, in need that I/we ignored?

These are questions I feel called to consider right now as we head into the holidays in the midst of the divisiveness and polarization that Donald Trump has successfully fomented. Even with the abundance of commentary by wise and thoughtful others that I read, especially those of such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, I still feel mystified and, of course, concerned about where we Americans are now as a country and where we are headed.

One of the things I am going to be closely examining in the weeks ahead is what New Horizons Possible Human, Possible Society study data, to date, can help me see and how best to proceed, now, with it to aid my settling things, currently troubling my mind. Look for updates on our study as we move into 2017. Today we are already beginning this review, as intended after the election regardless of how it would turn out, 

Since my final years in under graduate school in the mid-1980s I have been a devotee of Marilyn Ferguson’s Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal And Social Transformation In Our Time which I first read at that time. One of the most helpful pieces of information introduced in that book was the Nobel prize winning work of Ilya Prigogine in the field of chemistry. Since I learned of it, Prigogine’s theory of disipative structures, more than any other theory has provided me with a viable way of viewing times of high stress, such as this year, has been without totally freaking out! 

The main point I found useful, to apply to my life and those who I have guided, is the notion that when an organism is overloaded with stimuli it will fragment and then re-organize at a higher level!! We humans are organisms that fit into this theory. And, to the person, we are grossly overloaded! Does this signal that we are now on the brink of personal as well as societal transformation – and not on the “Eve of Destruction” as many fear that we are?

I sure hope so!

“The Morning After,” the theme song from the movie “The Poseidon Adventure” has also been a companion to me in times of volatility such as these. Future Shock by Alvin Toffler, at an earlier time, decades ago, gave me a way to look at monumental societal changes and make some modicum of sense of it all. It did help!

We need astute, well-documented works such as Ferguson’s and Toffler’s to help us attain some worthy meaning of these troubled times. And music such as “The Morning After,” sung by Maureen McGovern, to helps lift our spirits and affirms our hope.

As we head, now, into the spiritually uplifting end of the year holidays of the Winter Solstice, Christmas, Chanukah, the Hadj and the New Year, I know I am going to be spending some of my time rethinking former perspectives. I know others will be doing similarly. Finding one’s center of gravity and holding onto to it is especially challenging this year with so much divisiveness surrounding us.

I am heading myself into the holiday season with an eye, most of all, to moving through the present upheaval surrounding us on every side.  And beyond into next year with some kind of paradigm shift that will help me update the inner map of my body, mind and spirit. I want, at this time, to continue to hold on to my belief in miracles.

I do believe in miracles. Right now I am praying for one or two.

The Spiritual Side Of Celebrating Fifty Years

I am waking up Saturday morning and yup its there!

Icey white covers everything outdoors.
OMG! 

It's gonna ice for my anniversary celebration!

Inclement weather: Emergency Plan B has gotta move into place!

Of course I call Sue, as planned, and as I do almost every morning; my devoted Spirit Sister and the occasion' s chief organizer. 

We are prepared for this eventuality; AccuWeather, our trusty weather advisor, has already fore warned us. We are prepared.

What next, we are asking each other?

Ummmmmm.  Pause. 

I'm calm, relaxed, at ease with life's ups and downs and turn arounds, like I would never have been fifty years ago.

Yup, the Icey mess is here, no doubt about it!

"Just checked the news online,” I tell Sue.

“Baltimore pileup on I 95 (one of our major highways), sixty-seven car pile-up, two dead.”

No one should be out on the roads in this.

Even if it clears, roads will remain slick in spots, black ice and fog would make for a dangerous return home, after dark, as it likely would be.

“Gotta cancel our celebration and reschedule. Let's look forward to a day in the future of sunshine and flowers.”

In the next moment, after we get that straight, I am asking Sue, “Who has confirmed, who needs to be called immediately, who second?”

We are into Plan B! 

Then --- the moment when it all turns around. 

Really turns round right!

Sue tells me she has news that is just gonna knock my sox off!

She sure is right!

Later, on Sunday afternoon, when our turning has come full circle, Sue and I are singing -- 

Tis the gift to be simple; 'Tis the gift to be free; 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be; And when we find ourselves in the place just right; It will be in the valley of love and delight.

Yup, our celebration has turned into that! 

We are “in the valley of love and delight!”

See our picture!  I am happily ensconced in the midst of my honorary daughter Terry and granddaughter Maggie.

Plan B has brought us, instead of Saturday's pre-planned event, to a quiet Sunday afternoon at home in my lovely mountains. In our picture Terry, Maggie and I are looking at pictures in my Beloved Father – Daughter scrapbook (the scrapbook itself worthy of many tales to come). 

Four generations celebrating ME! You realize how close the spirit level is, at times like this, when a deceased parent shows up for a celebration.

How totally lovely, warm and cozy. Just as this celebration was meant to be!

Of course, I am disappointed about what was dismantled from Saturday's planned occasion; especially the other people I care about and didn't get to see. But as an introvert, I love small groups. Maybe someday, before too far off, we can revisit the bigger plan. But today I am full on what I did have for my celebration.

Spirit Sister Sue, also an introvert, enjoyed our small, cozy gathering. There she sits, watching us on the couch, rejoicing in having orchestrated the –

BIGGEST, BEST SURPRISE IMAGINABLE OF MY 50th anniversary celebration!

My daughter Terry has flown clear across the country from California to be here to celebrate my 50th anniversary! OMG! OMG!

It almost doesn’t get any better than that!

Terry and Maggie not only have traveled three thousand miles to be here with me on this day; my wonderful, tiny “honorary family” has traveled throughout an afternoon of revisiting memorabilia with me and listening to my stories of adventures and years past, laughing especially at the funny ones. Along the way we even admire the bronze plague Terry made up for me for the day we celebrated my 25th!

Meanwhile another Spirit Sister, Joan, my BIG sister guide who continues to pass on the teachings of his culture that Murat would have us learn, has informed Sue that she and my Kebzeh family in Vernon was to also be celebrating a special occasion on December 17. Just about the same time as we had been scheduled to do. Their celebration would include some of their adepts "turning," the Dervish turn, based for them on Murat’s traditions being related to the roots of Sufism.

Whirling dervishes perform a meditative, prayer dance to express emotion and achieve the wisdom and love of God. The dance originated in Turkey, in the Islamic sect of Sufism, which was founded by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. Murat was influenced by these Sufi traditions as he grew up in an Abkhazian diasporo in Turkey, following the early twentieth century invasion of Abkhazia by Russia which sent his tribal mountain people there.

We got their spiritual vibe even if we were a day late, catching up to them on our end.

So my celebration day was all so very good! And so simple.

A day to remember when we, perhaps, find ourselves, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

I am aware of our oneness; the universality of our celebrating.

West coast has merged with the East. Jew has blended with Muslim.

G-d is good!

More than any other single element, the spiritual side of my celebrating fifty years brings me joy and a great sense of unity!

OMG! New Horizons Board of Directors Is Gonna Make A Fuss Over Me!

Board Members of the New Horizons Support Network, Inc. will honor Executive Director, Anastasia Rosen-Jones with an anniversary celebration Saturday, December 17, following this week's Making Violence Obsolete training group (see details below).

Read Anastasia's bio and about her courageous handling of threatened blindness and eight years of actual blindness and recovery from it. (As of this date, Anastasia has once again lost her eyesight in her right eye).

In the event of inclement weather, contact Sue deVeer at 240.367.4403 for rain date, tba

Exploring The Spiritual Side of Society And Politics And The Gift Of Elders

Listen to our podcast from yesterday's Anastasia The Storyteller Radio Show on 

The Spiritual Side of Society and Politics: 
A Personal Story

an inspiring exchange between Anastasia and her honorary daughter Terry on the gifts of elders during challenging times in our society and politics such as we are now experiencing.

Every young adult needs at least one good "Elder" to help light the way. 

Hear Terry's version of how she found her "Elder" in Anastasia and 
the New Horizons Support Network Community

More on  the "spiritual side" of Anastasia and Terry

Post Election Blues? Here Are Some Words For Living Well.

I am thinking today about the notion of Divine Chaos; how I see it playing out in my personal life and in the greater world around me. Having been completely opposed to Donald Trump as president although not too crazy about Hillary though I thought her extremely capable and “presidential,” I am now stuck, as are millions of others, with adjusting to our new, unwanted reality.

What to do? What to do?

Is this Divine Chaos from which we will all rise in time like the phoenix bird rising?

Or, is this simply the time of Armageddon, the end times awaiting?  Wait and see, wait and see!

One thing for New Horizons and myself to do was, of course, our “Overcoming The Polarization of Politics” conversation last Saturday. My board and myself were gratified with this occasion that permitted us to join with others, in our local community of Frederick, Maryland, to share our immediate thoughts and feelings, about the generally unforeseen election outcome. In addition to the open, non-threatening discussions we had, in both small and larger group formats, the outstanding takeaway for me was the opportunity the event gave me of experiencing the resiliency of attendees who were predominantly liberal leaning.

One woman in particular, one of our most dedicated local peace and social justice activists, touched my heart, echoing my own personal distress, of the “morning after” election results shock. Sitting quietly, more or less, next to her as she expressed her grave sense of personal loss and concern, my very spirit ached for hers. As she saw things in the aftermath of a Trump victory, all she has built her life upon, in terms of values and actions, could easily be swept now away by this new administration.  

What to do? What to do?

Yet in the midst of her sorrow, the steadfast resilience I have seen in her over the years was there too.  She would pursue what she held to be right in spite of apparent obstacles ahead. After all, these were a manifestation of who she is, at her core, and no election can alter that!

Across from this woman sat, in an intimate small group conversation, an African American man. In his profession as a lawyer, immigration law is one of the mainstays of his private practice. As I looked at him I also saw pain; a deep sorrow of what immigration law has apparently been for him up to this point. And, now?

He, too, showed a resilient character, touching my heart in a somewhat different way than the woman had.  His briefly recounted personal story told of him growing up as a Black man in Alabama, attending school in a two room schoolhouse, accommodating five grades. Was that before or after desegregation, I did not know?

Whatever his age, it was clear he had not been untouched, one iota, by the fight for African American civil rights, including, having, as he did, older cousins who had been on the front lines of that battle. 

Although I left that small group conversation to visit the others going on simultaneously, I took with me the impression that while this man had not been a Trump supporter there was a level of anticipated acceptance, predating November 8, that he had come to, that this election was only one more in an uphill battle for American civil liberties. 

As I contemplated his story Saturday evening and yesterday, along with all else I had heard at Saturday’s event, how dearly I wished it would not be that way in America for any of us.  Yet it seems this is how it will be now. 

In search of courage and endurance, I turn my mind, once again, to the words of Viktor Frankl, noted psychiatrist and survivor of Auschwitz as follows --

 “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

These are words at the center or resilience! 

I heard them, again and again on Saturday from our attendees, in search, somehow of “Overcoming “The Polarization of Politics: Healing The Wounds That Divide Us.”

What to do? What to do?

I hope  -- and – trust your post-election sorrows, if there are any, are similarly finding resolve.

And, if you are celebrating?

Well then I hope you will be patient with me – and the others – who are now intent on “leaning in” to learn and understand your views of the way things are so we can, somehow, stand together, united in “liberty and justice for all.”

Be The Leader YOU Want To Follow

I was struck, this morning, by a CNN headline titled “Baffled Dems Have No Leader, No Bench To Pull From.” Before half a minute I found myself reacting with indignation at the notion. Not long after the words of my esteemed mentor, Martin G. Groder, M.D., echoed in my mind, from years back in the days when I sought out guidance from his brand of wisdom to help me make sense of Watergate and Nixon’s betrayal of the American people. 

The lessons I learned from Marty have, of course, now become the primary foundation of all that New Horizons and myself have become since. I have written books and more books on what Marty taught me and what I have gone on to expand in my own thinking since. 

Aim High!

It’s been a long journey from there to here. So I can hardly summarize all of these gifts here for you. (See fruits of my labors on my three blog sites, especially Exploring Your Dark Side: The Adventure Of A Lifetime, for some of these).  

However there are one or two striking highlights to consider that I would like to offer you here to help uplift those who are particularly distressed with the outcome of our presidential election. 

These are lessons Watergate taught me with Marty as my mentor. This guidance became a central facet of Marty’s showing me a way out of the despair I felt after Watergate which robbed me of my youthful idealism for many long years. (I don't want this for you.) This support also lead me to discover my own eventual pathway -- and create extensive healing strategies to pass on to others -- for healing and transformation, based on formulae Marty provided initially. 

Our endeavors also brought both Marty and I into the position of being among the first clinicians in the world to identify and treat power addictions more than forty years ago. 

The lessons I went on to also learn from Murat Yagan, later on, and his Kebzeh traditions took me/us (New Horizons) to higher levels of consciousness and behavior beyond these earlier teachings. You can learn this way of successfully approaching today’s social and political challenges too, learning to live by “leadership as a lifestyle” is one of the keys. 

With this modus operandi you can develop into the kind of leader you would look up to. New Horizons and myself are here to assist you on your ascent. The way is far from easy. But the rewards are beyond imagining!

You are not stuck without a leader!  You have one living inside of you, learn to follow him/her and count on him/her to guide you on the best path for YOU, hopefully one of love, sincerity and integrity.

Here are a few guidelines and tips

1. “The selected  leader of a nation is elected to be “of the people, by the people” and instead of the people, serving as their representative to carry out what they only dream of doing themselves.”  

Guidance
That’s just the way people typically do ("instead of the people"), mindlessly! Be mindful instead!

Translation 1:  Leaders are typically our very own surrogates (to use a term getting much play in our recent election).  In this position many, perhaps even most of the masses live vicariously through their chosen leaders. 

Guidance
Have a life of your own! You will not regret it, I promise you.

Translation 2: Playing your game of life from this position is a surefire way of being co-dependent with said leader, a mindless way of being.

Guidance
Again, be mindful and guide your own life! If you are old enough to vote, you are old enough to live your life, for real, not through others!

Ask yourself: Do I really want someone else carrying the ball for me in deciding where my life is heading and running it for me?  And  ask, too, what do YOU truly think and value?

2. Above all, don’t give up your ship based on what the politicians show you.

• Marty’s and my studies, conducted over three decades, confirmed his premise that: High Leadership People (HLP) and convicts often  have essentially the same core personality traits; the latter (convicts), however, have different surface behaviors; convicts play their games of life in antisocial ways. 
• HLPs play their life games in ways the culture accepts, even extols. Yet they are often far removed from authenticity, sincerity and frequently integrity.
• Look at Hillary, even if you love her, Anthony Weiner, Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby etc. etc. for examples. Are they not all guilty of some "dark side" manuevering?
• Donald Trump may be an exception in that he shows his antisocial ways right up front, for better or worse. 

Ask yourself:

• Since this is what America has now chosen what does that tell you about Americans at this time?

Ask yourself: What are rules I am choosing for the “Game” of my life? 

And, who can I turn to for role models, now, to show me a way to travel the footpath of my life while I pick up the pieces of this election aftermath (if Trump was not your choice) and choose what is best for me, from here forth?

If you are still unsure of your footing, try on some of the post-election guidance of Tim Cook, CEO of Apple and Warren Buffet and other wise ones, including Yoda who is one of my favorites.  

There are many worthy leaders for you to choose from to assist you in creating your own inner composite picture of who best to follow. That’s what women of my generation did when we discovered that our “break the glass ceiling” dreams had no one to lead us there.  As it turned out, we looked to the goddesses of ancient mythology to help guide us.

For my mind, I hope you will remember that you do have a bona-fide leader living inside of you. 

Learn to follow him/her and count on him/her to guide you on the best path for you, hopefully one of love, sincerity and integrity.