[CAF Note: A subscriber sent the following comment from a friend. I publish it in the hopes it helps you understand and exercise your power daily.]
“Wow. Just got back into the US after an almost month long travel, media and FB free, and I see the election results and my FB feed gone on fire.
So much anger about the past, fear of the future, disbelief, irony, which all ultimately lead to separation and disconnection from one another, from friends and community.
It seems the spirit of the media coverage about this election, all the attacks, insults, fear-driven campaigns and anti-campaigns from both parties, has seeped into our collective consciousness and are now shaping how WE think and act as well.
I never followed any of the circus leading up to the election because 1) I can’t vote and 2) even if I could, I probably wouldn’t believe it’d make any noticeable difference in my life and the lives of people in the country and the world.
What I believe does make such a difference are our seemingly small individual daily choices, adding up as a collective vote.
We think we have control over how our tax dollars are spent by casting a vote once every 4 years, yet whether they are spent on a wall, or a war, it still perpetuates fear, hate and separation either way.
I’d rather think of how we can spend our non-tax dollars every day of every 4 years, because that’s what we have full control over and makes a true difference. Do I vote daily for the same fear-mongering media and for a worsening food supply chain adding up to a growing Sick care system ( because this country doesn’t have a true Healthcare system yet), or do I get radically honest with myself and vote daily for my beliefs, with every dollar I do have control over how to spend.
Do I live in the past with anger over other people’s political choices I have no control over, and fear and anxiety about the future because of political choices I also have no control over in the Now, or do I want to live in the present, connecting with friends and my community over beliefs and desires we do share (because we all ultimately want the same thing, to feel happy and free), and in that present cast my vote of that intention in my own little way, when I go to the grocery store and when I decide how to care for my body through food and everything else I buy.
Certain corporate interests will survive despite our fear and anger over them, yet they will never survive when they are collectively disowned.
We’ve been trained by mainstream media to pay attention to things that don’t matter, so we can be easily distracted from the things that do. The more we immerse ourselves in the conversation about the “choices” we are given on one day every 4 years, the more we forget about our choices we do have control over every day of every 4 years.”
