Are you living the life you came here to live? Are you giving ALL of yourself to this life? Or are you holding back? 

When you put aside all the propaganda, conditioning and marketing that tells you who to be, how to be and how to live your life …
What is it that is essentially you and that you are truly passionate about??

The corporate driven, capitalist culture of modern America, run by bankers and billionaire’s tell me that to be successful I have to buy into their understanding of money, wealth, business and success. I have to look successful in a certain way. I have to “fake it til I make it” with this success attitude. That wealth looks like designer clothing and shoes and living in a huge 3-car garage house and driving a luxury car.

Because it was drilled into me that this is what success and wealth was, I was always, to some degree, striving for this or judging myself for not having created it yet. This was imprisoning my mind, heart and creativity. Believing in this dominant cultural illusion of success was distracting me and depleting me of my vital force.

What is success in my book? What is true wealth for me? I had to look in the mirror and get real with myself. “Stop judging people with lots of money, Maria… you don’t even want that lifestyle! Get honest with yourself!”

What do I want??

Until each of us knows the answer to this question, we will not be free. We will be susceptible to propaganda and conditioning from the advertising industry. 

I VALUE LIVING CLOSE TO THE EARTH.
I VALUE A SIMPLE HOME THAT MEETS EVERY NEED, YET IS STILL SMALL ENOUGH THAT I CAN TEND IT HEART-FULLY.
I VALUE MAKING MY OWN MEDICINES FROM WILD-CRAFTED HERBS.
I VALUE BEING NATURAL – WITH ARM PIT AND LEG HAIR, AND NO MAKE UP.
I VALUE VEHICLES THAT WORK TOWARDS PETROLEUM REDUCTION AND ELIMINATION.
I VALUE CIRCLES WITHIN CIRCLES OF COMMUNITY.
I VALUE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY GARDENS.
I VALUE COMMUNITY HEALING CEREMONIES.
I VALUE EVERYONE’S GIFTS BEING RECOGNIZED AND RESOURCED – WITH NO EXCHANGE OF “MONEY”.

I VALUE MONEY. I VALUE THIS RESOURCE AS AN ALLY IN CHANGING THE WORLD! I RESPECT MONEY. BUT I DON’T VALUE IT MORE THAN ANY OTHER RESOURCE IN MY LIFE – SUCH AS RELATIONSHIPS, ECO-SYSTEMS, MY CONNECTION TO THE DIVINE…

I CALL ON MONEY AS ONE OF MY SUPPORTERS. I WORK WITH MONEY TO MANIFEST MY VISIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. 

I HONOR THE POWER OF MONEY. 

AND WHEN I DON’T RECOGNIZE THAT THE TRUE SOURCE OF WEALTH IS INSIDE ME; THAT I AM THE PRIMARY GENERATOR OF ABUNDANCE IN MY LIFE; THEN I TEND TO GIVE MONEY MORE POWER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE, AND MY LIFE CAREENS OFF TRACK…

I love my life. And part of my mission is to come into balance in all aspects of my life. Money has been a hard one for me. A real teacher. And I’ll be honest…
In my ideal world, my vision for the future, there is no money. There is no need for it. 
Similar to the stories Helena Norberg Hodge shared from her time living in Ladakh before globalization came in. Everyone was born into affluence of needs met – physically, spiritually and socially – with no banking systems… Just people giving generously of their gifts – all needs were met. When one got sick, the community tended to them. When one needed a home, the community built one for them. When one had a desire to learn a trade or craft, a mentor stepped up to teach them. This mirrors the ways of Nature. At the core of this community system is a KNOWING that all is provided for by Mother Earth and Community Love. Ladakh was systematically ravaged by globalization and these earth-based communities eventually dissolved, forcing people into apartment buildings in cities, forced to learn capitalist mindset. With no more initiations for the youth, they strayed away from self-value, and the shadow-ego was born in these beautiful people.

About Raymond:
My soul brother Raymond, a former homeless client of mine when I was getting my psychotherapy hours, is back on the streets. I worked with him to get SSI, to get housing, to get into doctors appointments, to stay sober. He did everything he could to get his life together and everything was working for him. Then, last year things started falling apart. Yesterday I talked to him on the phone. 
“Where are you staying?”
“Ahh… I’m outside…”
“No! Where are you sleeping?”
“Behind the Verizon in Santa Rosa…uh.. I don’t mean to be rude, but I gotta go. There’s a nice looking man coming out of the store and I’m gonna ask him for five dolla’. You know.. I gotta eat.”
“OK, Love you Ray!”

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in the system. 
That Ray, because he’s on SSI, because he has no teeth, because he’s illiterate – he has been turned down over and over again at low-income housing units. 
His circle of friends are brainstorming to get him shelter… but here’s what I want:

I WANT A PIECE OF LAND WITH A FARM AND COTTAGES AND A COMMUNAL HO– USE FOR THE HOMELESS! 
Where they can grow their own food and get off drugs and alcohol and be tended to; psychologically and physically.

(This should be government funded. But I don’t live in a country, currently, that values people lives. Human beings are expendable. Human hearts are value-less to the current shadow capitalist America.)

I AM AN ACTIVIST FOR THE RETURN OF THE WEB MIND! THE RETURN OF INDIGENOUS MIND! THE MOVING FORWARD INTO A NEW EARTH WHERE WE TAKE ALL THE TRAUMA OF THE PAST AND WEAVE IT INTO HEROINE STORIES TO INSPIRE US. 

May we have the courage to be REAL!!
May we have the courage to loosen our grip on illusion and to live in the DREAM Of the DIVINE – not just our selfish little empire dreams, but the true dream where everyone and all of Nature is taken care of!

Thank you Great Mother and Divine Father, Holy ONE.

Ashe.