Following on from Part One,  I want to encourage us all to blow our own trumpets more. Sitting in that group last week listening to how amazing and talented we all are I marvelled, and I realised these things:

• We are not being arrogant or self-important when we blow our own trumpet if we are coming from a deep heartfelt understanding of ourselves; when we are heralding the announcement of who we are.

• We are saying “hey, listen, this is who I am, now tell me, who are you?”

• It’s time we stopped beating ourselves up for what we are not and instead started patting ourselves on the back for who we ARE.

• We also need to recognise the strengths, talents and accomplishments of others and learn to allow them to be who they are too, instead of expecting them to be someone else.

• By fostering humility and recognising how much our egos get in the way we can gracefully bow out and let others do the things that they are far better equipped to do.

• Equally we can step forward when our talents are needed, when we can offer something  others struggle or need guidance with, we must not be afraid of shining our light.

• We can learn from each other.

• And we don’t need to know it all, be or have it all because someone else can do some of it for us instead, as we will do for them.

• What we do for each other does not have to be reciprocated. If I help you with something because I have the skill and talent, you don’t owe me,  instead you can use your skills and talents to help someone else. It will eventually come back to me, when I need it.

• There is safety in knowing we are in this together. You need me and I need you.

• All this can only happen if we dare to blow our own trumpet a little more. I need to know who you are, what you can do, what talents, skills and attributes you bring to the world.

• If I know what you are capable of then I know who to turn to, it creates a safety inside me because I am not alone in the world trying to do it all on my own. I have you on my team and you have me on yours.

• The industrial growth model of economics still touted by most western countries is failing and we need to create a new fresh way of being so we can save the planet from our excesses and create a world of fairness, harmony and peace where all beings can thrive.

• Strength lies in recognising we are part of a whole, an energetic system of interrelatedness in which each part has an important role to play.

So by blowing our own trumpet I will hear about who you are and what you can do. I can celebrate your achievements and accomplishments and come to understand more about how we all fit together, where your bit of the jigsaw fits into mine. You may be able to fill my gap and I can fill yours or someone else’s and so on till we start to see a wonderful new picture of all our interdependence and interconnectedness.

In How Life Organizes Joanna Macy writes about interrelatedness and it seems clear to me that it is only by reconnecting with each other that we can turn things around. When we unite as one, each person shining their own unique light we are stronger, more resilient and robust, we can weather so much more if we are supported on all sides.

In Kelly Brogan MD’s fascinating article titled Sacred Activism – Moving Beyond the Ego she says,

“We have told ourselves, and been deeply conditioned by a Story. One that has many names, but that Charles Eisenstein refers to as the Story of Separation.”

This Story of Separation pervades our modern culture and it is creeping out across the globe destroying people, places and other living beings as it goes. What if we were to change the ending, write a few more chapters about Interbeing. As Charles Eisenstien explains;

“The state of interbeing is a vulnerable state. It is the vulnerability of the naive altruist, of the trusting lover, of the unguarded sharer. To enter it, one must leave behind the seeming shelter of a control-based life, protected by walls of cynicism, judgment, and blame.”

We must look around us, we must listen for and seek out the others who want to change the story, who are changing the story, and we must support each other and lean on each other when times are tough:

We are writing an ending, the beginning of something new.