Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ~ Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~ A Course In Miracles

It’s weeks like this that test my fortitude, strength, and faith that everything is going to work out for the best. Thank heaven for studying A Course In Miracles. Well actually I’m studying Pam Grout’s version of ACIM, The Course In Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind. 

If you’ve never heard of ACIM before, now might be a good time to check it out. There are lots of teachers with their own take on The Course. I really like Pam Grout’s no nonsense, down to earth way of interpreting the lessons. The actual course is written in rather stilted English. Don’t get me wrong, it’s filled with mind blowing challenges to our learned “truths”. I just like the lessons spelled out in more colloquial English.

Actually the first version of The Course I read was Marianne Williamson’s book A Return to Love, which was so inspiring and even healing. I read it in Greece while Barry and I were on on our trip circumnavigating the globe in 1996. One of my very favorite quotes comes from that book. It’s the one above, though many people attribute it to Nelson Mandela, he got it from Marianne’s book.

So, in my opinion, the Supreme Court made two really dumb decisions this week. The January 6th Committee shed light on The Big Lie, who perpetrated that, and the riots at The Capital Building. And one little victory this week with the passage of the bipartisan bill to protect Americans from gun violence. Okay, that bill might not be perfect, but WOW, it is way overdue. 

About gun violence, I may have written here that when the Uvalde tragedy happened, I was curious about when the first mass shootings took place in the U.S. I was shocked to learn that the year was 1891. There were two that year, both school shootings, one in Mississippi, and one in New York state. I found this information at a site called Behind the Tower, in an article, “A Brief History of Mass Shootings.”  They have lots of articles you can check out at that site. Reading the article and doing lots of soul searching, I think we need to amend the 2nd Amendment. I don’t think it’s valid any longer, or at least not in its current form.

This is the conclusion I’ve come to. Human beings hate change so much that we will do almost anything to prevent it. That and, we have a fantasized view of the past so we will do anything to take humanity back there. But we can never go back and the past wasn’t that great anyway. It was way more oppressive than it is now.

I think it was Gary Zukav who said in The Seat of the Soul, that humans learn through crisis. Well, we’ve been going through a lot of crises lately and I hope he’s right. I hope we learn from everything that has been going on these last four or five years because if we don’t then what’s the point of being on this planet? 

I guess it’s time for us to decide what kind of world we really want. I want to live in a world where every single person matters, can make decisions for their bodies and life paths. A world where everyone has meaningful work that supports all their needs and the freedom to pursue their passions and purpose for the betterment of humanity. I don’t think that’s too big a dream to hang my hopes on.

I’m off to pursue my creative passions and hopefully what I do will touch enough people that the world is just a little bit better.

I’m grateful for all of you who follow me. I see the creativity you share with the world. Let’s keep creating.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2022

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I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story. You may have seen my Story-Power posts here. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about your favorite stories, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.

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Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published

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As many of you know, I’ve been busy with my podcast, Story-Power, which I started in July of 2020. It was going great for about 10 months. I had lots of former students, colleagues, friends, and family to have as guests, but eventually I ran out of guest ideas. I was feeling a little bit of panic. My one year anniversary was approaching. I loved doing the podcast so much, but I needed guests. Fortunately, out of the blue, I received an email from PodMatch inviting me to join their podcasting “dating service” as I call it. I loved that they suggested matches for me and made it easy to schedule guests. Soon, I had so many guests lined up that I was working several months out. It’s been like that ever since. 

I also liked that I could sign up to be a guest on other people’s podcasts. I’m so happy to be a member of PodMatch that I want to share this wonderful platform with all of you. I love their mission to help promote conversations. I have been able to chat with people from all over the world, learning about their cultures, and points of view. 

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.