The Togetherness Walk and Roll

i am imagining quiet power in the intention to walk together...a warm welcome, a walk and roll in silence, a celebration of each other.
tea and cake and emerging connection to ourselves and each other.
Simplicity.
Community.
Belonging.
Hope.
Love.
Kindness.
Solidarity.
Compassion

all can be expressed through silence.

There has been too much noise.

I long for a gentle togetherness - a kind of quiet magic in our shared being.

Andy

So the money has run out, now what?

A meeting on friday afternoon - I am told that the organisation I lead is percieved as excellent at bringing people together to imagine a better future for themeselves and for each other...that our work is viewed as radical and inspiring..i am relaxing in the sunshine as I hear this..then comes the sucker punch...but dont expect any work beacuse their isnt any money, the commissioner I am sitting with who I have deep respect for has been told to cut the budget by 20% - and he senses that is just the start. We have overconsumed and grown fat with our bloated lives, filled with stuff we dont need, lacking many of things we do - we dont know who we are, many of us are afraid and isolated....even within our own families.

My question is this - will this mean a retreat furthur into serviceland with all of the limiting beliefs and separatist furniture that is located there, or will there be an expansion of our hearts and our thinking and a letting go of power so that people will show their care for each other by meeting the needs of their own diverse communities through kindness, generosity and reciprocity?

in this moment it seems to me that it is foolish to think that power will be relinquished, and that the only way for power to move is for us (citizens who care enough to act) to claim it.

On friday myself and allies sat in Regents Park and we wondered what this power shift will take - we must place our energy on what we can change....how would it be to place value not on competition or on what we have but instead on what we give, the invites that we issue and the ways in which we express our solidarity with each other. We are designing the Togetherness Walk to place explicit value on these things - by choosing to walk together we express our belief in each other and in ourselves.

I need to know that I matter and I believe that, at a deep level I know only because I give and allow others to give to me. My true wealth is measured not in terms of money or things, but can be only be really known through the love that I feel, the caring I show and and the people who care about my life as it unfolds.

It is time for an explosion of giving - we have suppressed our need to give for too long.

Andy