What is She asking me to do? Conversations with Goddess

by Laura Paskell-Brown

My Higher Power and I have frequent conversations these days. She is inside of me and I choose to call her Goddess. She is the part of me that is eternally calm, patient, kind, wise and strong. She is the part of me I lost for so many years and am finally learning to listen to. One of my favourite ways to communicate is to write a question in my journal and to wait for an answer to come. When my pen starts to move again I know that she is answering me. Here is a recent conversation:

Dearest Goddess, I can feel myself tingling with anticipation. The world is an exciting place to be right now, and New York is a really exciting place to be. The Occupy Wall Street movement has caught my attention with its message of hope, and with its conviction that another world is possible and that we can build it together. I have been so inspired by the numerous ways Occupy has expressed itself and have felt so happy and proud to be involved in every second of it. But I’m still fearful. So many people are saying we need clear-cut goals, objectives – demands if you like. They say we are wasting space and time with our moanings, that we need to make clear exactly what we stand for and how we propose to move forward. I can feel their frustration and yet I don’t know what to do about it. What do you suggest?

Darling, take your time. Breathe. This is not all on your shoulders. The beauty of this moment, of this movement is that no individual is responsible for the process. You are but one in a multitude, and you are already doing your part. Your contribution – setting up the OWS women’s circle – is just one part of the mosaic that is currently being performed. You are an important grain of sand in the bucket, a beautiful snowflake in the avalanche; you need to be no more.

But what about those demands? We need some, surely?!?

There have been demands throughout history. Where exactly did that get you? You could demand all sorts of things right now, but might it not be better to show up, congregate, dream together and allow your collective imagination to broaden before you demand anything new? Remember that the most creative people are so creative precisely because not only do they know how to create, they also know how to rest. They know how to stand back and place space around an issue. The world has been acting for so long without any real idea of its mission but today you are pausing, you are inviting a parenthesis, and then you will begin again, more able to listen to each other and to your deep wisdom. The truth is that you all know the answer already, but you haven’t stood still in several millennia and so you haven’t been able to feel it. Stand still and you will know. And then you can do.

But what do I do today? Stay under the duvet?

Well of course not silly. You do as you have been doing already. You show up, you try things out, you listen to others, you practice being together. As you show up for one another with all the love and compassion that you know is already there, you cannot help but change the world. Practice this, one day at a time, and be joyful. This is not a race, not a battle, not an exam to be passed. It is the joy of creation, and it is your collective gift to yourselves.

Laura is a member of the Women of Spirit and Faith Young Leaders Council. Her research, political activism and spiritual work stem from her belief in the equality and interdependence of all beings.