Sniffles & Occupied Wall Street

Since I was little, I've always had a knack for knowing when people were lying (including myself). This strange knack has evolved over the years and now I can actually feel if there is a lie in a situation or event that's happening. You know like if I see an advertisement, a campaign, or a group of people working together, for better or worse, I can usually feel if that energy is based in dishonesty or not.

It also works in reverse as well. If there is truth in a situation (and I'm talking about anything stemming from our open, compassionate hearts) I have a very specific and consistent experience in my body. The weird thing is, whenever I feel truth, it is always tinged by a bit of sadness. Not like 'I want to kill myself' sadness but a raw, honest, and heartfelt kind. So, when I see, hear, feel, or experience truth, I almost always cry. But it's not a miserable cry, or a poor-me cry, or a weak cry. On the contrary, it feels inspiring, real, powerful and full of unbelievable strength.

And I don't generally bawl either (thank god). No, truth from the heart incites more of a subtle, yet uncontrollable sniffle of sorts that's followed by a unique tingling sensation in my body and a short precision-like clarity of thought. And I know it sounds crazy, but I follow that sniffle thing, full-on. I never question it. Ever. And if you know me well, you know that is super uncommon because I also have a knack for annoyingly questioning everything to death.

Okay, why am talking about this? I know I'm not the only one who can feel truth, so it's not that I want to brag about my ability to have snifflly-thing experiences (not that it sounds even remotely cool enough to be bragged about anyway). I know we all have this gift, because our very essential nature comes from a place of compassionate honesty. We just have to listen to it.

I'm sharing this because I've been getting this sniffle-thing a lot lately, especially when I watch documentaries about current issues and videos from the Occupy Wall St. protests. These protests are important because people are peacefully working together to create a new Earth.

We can't live this way anymore. Greed and separation cannot be our general modes of living anymore. We've used them all up. The story of a tiny portion of the world population having almost all of it's wealth is outdated. People are over it. We're getting tired. These protests are proof that we are getting tired.

But we're not worn-out tired, we're fed-up tired and that kind of tired has an innate strength about it. It's like the day when you finally pull yourself out of bed in the morning and start doing that thing you always say you're going to do but you don't do. You reach a limit. Lying in bed eventually becomes more painful than lacing up your running shoes and hitting the streets, or getting up earlier to write the manuscript for your first book, or sitting your ass down on the meditation mat. You get so fed-up that you miraculously break a boundary, you make a change, you tap into some kind of inner power. We've all done this at some point, on some level in our lives and now on Wall Street, we're doing it on a bigger scale. And my sniffles say that these protests are cool.

However, A LOT of people don't think they're cool. People are afraid of change, especially when they can't imagine alternatives or when they think their own seemingly comfortable bubbles are going to be popped. But, we've now collectively plotted ourselves in a position to be fed-up with every major system in place in our world. In a way, creating a new Earth seems almost like part of our destiny, like we set ourselves up for this, knowing that this unsustainable way of life would finally get so uncomfortable on so many fronts that we'd literally have to make huge change.

I know in my heart that we have the ability to evolve into something better, into a more raw, open-hearted, natural, generous, and harmonious species. In this time of great transition, I think we have to be severely honest with ourselves and open to and involved in the peaceful movements that are cropping up. But we also have to remember:

Change happens within first. 

We surrender to our hearts which thrive in the present moment-
We open them wide-even if it hurts-and from that place of rawness, compassion, and clarity-- we take action.


It's a loop.


Surrender to the heart. 
Take Action. 
Surrender to the heart. 
Take Action.

Trust your sniffles. They know whats up.