Blacksmiths of our ripples

Buried right under our noses, the Latvian language gives a nod to the power and strength of our words. The word burt or ‘to conjure’ is the root of: burti (alphabetic letters), burtot (to spell) and burtnīca (notebook - or the literal translation as ‘place of conjuring’).  Maybe you’ve just noticed the simple connection of ‘conjuring’ in English as well - ‘spelling’ words.  Words are an articulation of our thoughts, and it seems our ancestors had a pretty good handle on the power of the thoughts and words we choose to release into the world.

The Latvian word for ‘a lot of’ is daudz. From this root word we get the words daudzināt and daudzināšana which is the act of mentioning and praising something openly/widely/freely/often. This is the acknowledgement that what we speak of openly/widely/freely/often matters. Furthermore, gathering together for any ancient ritual is called a daudzinājums - a time and space of coming together to praise something openly/widely/freely/often - because of course there is power in togetherness.  The leader of the daudzinājums chooses the theme, and typically there is space for anyone and everyone who would like to add their perspective on the theme to say their piece out loud.  

In this time when it isn’t hard to feel like the world is swiftly going to hell in a handbasket (I suspect every generation experiences this sentiment in their own way), I keep my head above water by contemplating what I can actually do to make a difference.  Inevitably, I come back to the same notion that the small ripples matter as much as the grand gestures, and it matters greatly that I pay attention to my small ripples.

Today I share a few different passages from my word doodles.  I’m not going to attempt to seamlessly link them up, but each feels like it connects to this sentiment of becoming skilled blacksmiths of our own ripples.  

…This particular dream delivered both a beautiful life lesson and a window into my next steps all rolled into one.  And it literally was a lesson.  Our pastor was delivering her weekly sermon, but instead of standing behind the pulpit, she was on the altar with a giant chalkboard beside her, holding an old school teachers’ pointing stick.  Ah ha, she wasn’t delivering a sermon, she was delivering a lesson.  It is not one I will ever forget.  There was a game of pool drawn up on the chalkboard, and the message was that you are the cue ball and all the people who will cross your path are the colored balls.  You cannot change them.  You cannot move their position.  All you can do is change your own perspective.  Move this way or that way with your cue stick to decide your next move and your impact on the situation.  Years later, I always had a color photo of the game of pool on my office wall alongside the quote ‘You are responsible for the energy you bring into this space.’  A beautiful image and message delivered in a dream, never to be forgotten…

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…We are walking sieves, moving through life in a way that constantly filters our insides and outsides. As children we absorb all the implicit and explicit messages from our environments, and at some point, we slowly start to sift it all through our own souls.  If we’re honoring the richness of life and stay curious, this sifting continues well into adulthood.   …… Keep your eyes, ears and hearts peeled, because you never know when is going to be the day when the same world you’ve experienced over and over again is suddenly going to feel different because you’ll see it in a whole new light….  

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….The older we become, the more control and the more responsibility we have over our own conditions, both on the outside and the inside. Though we’ll never have complete control on the outside because we haven’t been plopped down on earth to float along in isolated bubbles, we do have an obligation to become familiar with our best growing conditions and be proactive in creating them. We are the custodians of our own petri dishes.   …. And as Latvians say ‘neesi sēne!’ (‘don’t be a mushroom!’) meaning we haven’t been planted into an exact set of coordinates here on earth - move around and get out! Go! Do! See things!  I’ll take that further to say while you are out and about, seek out ways of looking at the same thing from different angles and then don’t be afraid to sift this through your soul and readjust your perspective. We aren’t mushrooms!

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The real question for me was how to capture and maintain those moments of accomplishment - that is, not only to harvest the fruits of success, but to really understand what it is that made this fruit grow in the first place so I could duplicate such a harvest elsewhere.  We are in charge of monitoring our own outdoor and indoor conditions, and while we can regulate our outer conditions to an extent, our real power and also greatest responsibility in the stewardship of this one precious life we’ve been given is to understand the ins and outs of our indoor conditions and then to create an arena for systematically maintaining the best inside environment we can.  Taking ownership for cultivating our ripples.

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My formula for optimal growth in inner conditions is my own toolkit for ‘tuning’ myself.  Much like musical instruments need tuning, so do I.  This is 100% my responsibility, and mine alone, and I will always have a greater impact on my inside conditions than I do on my outside.

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I love my post-it notes - on mirrors, walls, closets, computers and in my daily planner - quotes and mantras that I choose to focus on, to re-tune myself over and over again.  Everywhere I look, I am diligently and strategically brainwashing myself.  In a world that’s constantly bombarding and sideswiping us with both desirable and undesirable messages, it feels important to become the boss of the messages that get the most airtime.  Brainwash yourself or let others do it for you…

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Which leads to accountability.  Part of the power of a community is accountability.  It’s a herculean skill of discipline to keep yourself accountable, which is why we rely on each other for scaffolding.  A student who I was mentoring through a rough and bumpy patch of studies helped me see this simple but poignant truth in that way only high schoolers can so precisely and bluntly comment on the world.  We had reviewed all the tools and strategies she could put into place to keep herself accountable for staying on top of her work.  At one point she said to me with such brutal honesty, “I know what I have to do, Ms Diana, sometimes I just can’t make myself do it.” Ain’t that the truth for all of us. 

#lettingjoyin is both an accountability tool and a warm invitation to join the daudzināšana of joy!  For anyone and everyone who would like to add their perspective on joy or share their stories of joy - welcome!