Shine Your Light: Our Country Needs Healing

“Action is the antidote to despair.” – Joan Baez

These are wild and dangerous times we’re in and despair is at the door for many. Multitudes of folks are trying to sort through the chaos and the confusion in our world. Steve Jobs said, “Don’t let noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” Shine Your Light. Anyone who discerns a sense of urgency to “repair the world” as Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen said is called to share her light and talents.

Shine Your Light

Repair the World.  Shining our light and joining with others in love, faith, justice and community make a difference in this time of misinformation and misguided leadership. An aspiring creative community is one of presence; being conscious moment to moment in the quality of our relationships, grateful for the fundamental threads that bind us. Connecting at the level of heart and spirit to a shared vision is transforming and when we participate, we begin to look at each other in new ways.

By their nature our creative energies challenge the status quo by questioning, seeking possibilities for new conversations and open spaces. But we must listen to one another. Throughout history “…artists have been cultural ‘shamans’ or canaries in the coal mines…,” Preeta Bansal, scholar and Seeder of Transformation said…”[they were] early seers of the brightest and darkest aspects of humanity.” All of us, too, must think of ourselves as individuals bestowed with the gift of imagination and the marvel of original ideas doing our best to create a different tomorrow. We must look for the light where ever we stand and work to define what might be possible between us.

Higher aspirations. My part in this changing world is not to lose heart. Writing for action  and change is my effort to strive for higher aspirations. Hammering out phrases helps me clarify what I care about and my place in it. I want to be loyal to my vision no matter how disturbing or immoral the messaging of the news. Rumi reminds  “We are the truth from foot to brow.” Each time I put my concerns and hopes on the page and send letters to Nebraska senators or call my Congress representatives inspires me to visualize a different future, a kinder one for all.

I believe there is a voice calling for me to remember the wisdom and courage of my forefathers and mothers and act upon what is needed. No longer am I the little girl who was afraid to raise her hand in class. But older having withstood hardships like others, deaths of loved ones, health issues, and seeing either the hope or promise leaders can bring to our world or the destruction, I know I must take steps.

No one can do it alone. A vision for positive change must be shared and agreed upon with many others. Again and again. All of us are doing our best to reach for a different and better world. I know together we can create a better tomorrow. Share Your Light. Shine Your Brilliant Light. — Becky Breed

Writing/Creativity Exercises:

1. Author Jan Phillips said “Art …is a critical complement to activism…it is our ability to inspire that will change the tides.” What art or writing has inspired you to join a movement or decide to act? Create a piece of writing, poster or painting that conveys your concerns, your hopes. Share with others.
2. Consider acting locally. Be the canary in your neighborhood/community. Work in partnership. What needs to be done? Examples include such ideas as cleaning up an empty lot, paying heating bills for a family, finding transportation for a student to get to school or work. Others? Or activate politically, writing, speaking or testifying for an important legislative bill. Get involved with the outreach efforts you support.
3. Listen to Woody Guthrie, American folk singer, who wrote during the Great Depression “This Land is Your Land” to capture the suffering he saw while hitchhiking back and forth across America. He witnessed laid-off factory workers, migrants and farmers who were struggling. https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/music/story-behind-the-song/the-story-behind-the-song/this-land-is-your-land/ Are there any similarities between his landscape in the 30”s and today? What song lyrics would you write for 2025? Generate and sing a few lines.
4. As impossible as it may sound, practice choosing joy as theologian Henry Nouwen said: “We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”