April 11th - It was at a Keller Williams show where this idea first came to light. The war had just begun and it felt terrible. In the distance was a promise of the We The Planet concert, something new and positive. From here to there didn't feel like something to be taken for granted. The idea to bridge them felt like a revelation - a piece of clarity and light within a mad darkness. To follow it has brought me through feelings of shame, doubt, terror, and humility. But from the beginning, there was an understanding deep inside - this was a path with heart, with life, with love, and with light. To not follow it would be to surrender a piece of what it means to fully be alive.

And so through all that, I walked it. And friends came and walked it also, feeling themselves like it brought more life. And that's it.

At every moment, we make decisions. Sometimes certain decisions that bring growth come only with feelings of deep discomfort and it's so tempting to keep away from them. But with that turning away comes a little death. Our culture has come to view this death as normal.

The world that surrounds us shapes and molds us far more than we realize. We are conditioned to think and behave in ways fully dependent on our surroundings. We take this world for granted as it just "is". But this world is composed of the decisions that we have all made for millenia and continue to make at every moment.

We have great influence over one another. To walk with the status quo is to perpetuate the myth of our times. And it is a myth. To walk with your heart, to dig deep into who we really are, and to have the courage to be real can be the hardest thing to do, but it changes the myth and makes the world a more harmonious place to be. There is a quote from Marriane Williamson (that was used by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural speech):

"We fear that we are inadequate, but 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 these things? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people around you won't feel insecure. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically releases others."

Be alive.