issue 9: Embrace for Impact
“Embrace for Impact” implies both the seriousness of the situation we’re currently in as a humanity and the solution that can save us. “Brace for impact” is the instruction given at the final moment before impending catastrophe. Just as a skillful flight attendant will calmly explain the reality of the situation at hand to those in her care and provide instructions and assistance for best chances of survival, so too are wise women elders and traditional wisdom keepers readying us for best outcomes in the unavoidable situations we now face.
Embrace for Impact is Grandmother Wisdom for turbulent times. It is about facing reality with courage, dignity and open-heartedness. It is about extending peace, support and confidence to others as we work together in collaborative and inclusive rather than competitive and exclusive ways.
Embrace means to hold (someone) closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of affection; to accept (a belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically; to include or contain (something) as a constituent part.
Impact is a marked effect or influence.
What exactly must we embrace? Change, challenges, diverse styles and contributions, uncomfortable truths, new approaches and ideas, and one another other in the spirit of collaboration.
And to what effect? For evolution, revolution, innovation, greater balance, peace and harmony, and to have more fun while fostering a more sustainable culture based on a service-to-the-whole over service-to-self mindset.
Why is it so necessary for our current time? We are witnessing a pronounced degree of manufactured divisiveness in our world, of socially and politically sanctioned abuses directed not just at other people groups but at individuals within our own communities. The wars we tend to hear about are violent and overtly destructive though there are also plenty of social wars waged against innocent people that are covert in their tactics of subtle faction-forming and manipulation of minds through social propaganda.
All war—whether overt or covert—is fueled by a scarcity and competition-based world-view that is unsustainable and ultimately destructive. This discord-by-design and strategic targeting of select persons will not cease until we call them out for what they are and consciously choose to abide by higher values starting with our small communities. The choice is ours. If we are willing to course correct, we may avert greater destruction. If we are unwilling to course correct, the impending impact will be devastating.
No matter what we’re confronted with, if we are willing to embody the spirit and mindset of embracing—as opposed to pushing away, stuffing down, cutting down or fighting against—we’ll naturally attune ourselves to the opportunities inherent within every challenge. This does not mean we don’t call a thing what it is, it means that we choose to relate to it differently so it no longer represents a problem or threat. In this way, enemies become secret allies, obstacles become hidden opportunities and frustrations become whispered invitations into a new way of seeing and being.
May we embrace it all as conscious co-creators of a more ecologically and socially sustainable world.
In Truth, Beauty and Goodness,
B. Monique
Find the full issue 9: Embrace for Impact newsletter here.
