EMPassion Day

My most recent post, "The Day We Dream" was offered last November 8 as a tribute to the power we each hold as individuals and as communities, the power to choose, to envision, to connect. It was not a prayer for a particular outcome to the US presidential election, but a desire for empowerment of a greater movement of national, international and planetary community toward democracy, consensus, conscious evolution.

EMPassion Day is my response to the subsequent 7 months of angst and elation, crisis and opportunity, oblivion and persistence. Like the last one, this message is what I could offer regardless of what the outcome of that election had been. It's for all of us, no matter what.

EMPassion is a blending of the words empathy, compassion, empowerment, passion, and EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Picture a wave of healing love, cooperation and unity rolling over the face of the Earth throughout one 24-hour day, from each time zone to the next until fully encircling the planet, connecting us all.

This is my invitation to celebrate EMPassion Day on July 4, traditionally Independence Day in the US. Perhaps independence has been taken too far and we can safely swing back toward interdependence, and forward to harmonious partnership among all beings of Earth.

My deepest wish is an image of our wave of EMPassion sweeping over all the "trouble spots" in the world (virtually everywhere, even within ourselves), sending calming energy, slowing down hurtful impulses, gently welcoming people everywhere to open minds and hearts to consider alternatives to conflict. We can set our intentions to offer an invitation to every person alive to love and feel loved, to forgive and be forgiven, to feel appreciated and grateful, to facilitate healing together, to witness and hold space for our own and each other's experiences.

This is by no means an original idea, of course! I received the inspiration of the word EMPassion during one Wednesday morning Meditation of Compassion, admittedly several weeks ago. I am only now pursuing that impulse because I woke up this morning with it still smoldering in my mind, and I finally knew what had been holding me back, thanks to a video I saw yesterday about how women sell ourselves short, literally.

I had started out thinking, This could spread all over the world like 350.org did, starting with just a few people! Heck, I can easily contact people all around the planet just through my social media connections, and it will spread like wildfire! I mentioned it to a couple of people who agreed it was interesting but no one jumped up and down and offered to help me, which I admit I was hoping for so I wouldn't have to spearhead it on my own. Then one thing came up and then another, and a different focus that I'm committed to, and uncertainty about whether I'd use a website or a Facebook group, then wondering if the timing of it would conflict with other PR I might be doing, (what does that even mean?), etc., etc. Then came the squeeze of, oh no, there's only a week till July 4th, then a few days, then our local community celebration elicited my attention this weekend, which I am very happy support.

But now I'm doing it anyway, even though it's for tomorrow, because... I'm doing it. I'm not letting the opportunity go by entirely. I see that my waffling and procrastination and lack of clarity are symptoms of the oppression I've internalized that says it's not safe to put yourself out there, why bother because it won't go anywhere anyway, you always come up with too many ideas, who are you to initiate such a thing?

And that's exactly why I'm doing it. Because I'm learning again and again that we all have these doubts, these questions, these hesitations in going for our dreams, and if there's one thing that gets me fired up it's helping to liberate people from internalized oppression. That's how we end cultural and political oppression, not by "defeating the others."

So I invite you to join me - in pursuing a dream, in spreading the word - at noon your local time if possible, but anytime you can - in taking a moment or an hour or all day on July 4, Independence & EMPassion Day, to send a gentle shock wave of love and healing, empathy, compassion, empowerment and compassion around the world. Whether you do it in meditation, prayer, ritual, dance, poetry, silence, singing, healing touch, nursing a baby, holding a loved one, sharing a meal, listening to the birds... however love flows through you.

And if you want to do this again, just name the date! EMPassion Day doesn't belong to me, it belongs to all of us. This is how we create our world.