This blog is a departure from my decision\u00a0to not bring up politics in my weekly postings but we are in desperate times\u00a0and I have vowed to do everything I can to support the outspoken courageous
people who believe in our country. I strive to be one of them.<\/p>\n
For starters, can we talk about\u00a0being \u201cspiritual\u201d without having someone roll their eyes? I came of age in the\u00a0sixties when words like \u201cspiritual\u201d and \u201cnew age\u201d and \u201cthe Universe\u201d were in\u00a0our everyday conversations. They meant a great deal to us but unfortunately,\u00a0they ended up becoming cliches, overused and stripped of meaning. During these\u00a0days, however, I think being spiritual has great meaning. I see it a broader point\u00a0of view that doesn\u2019t source from material or physical things. It\u2019s unlimited.\u00a0It isn\u2019t all about \u201cme.\u201d It includes everyone, everything we can imagine and so\u00a0much more. It means understanding that we are all connected, we are fellow
travelers and even though we might differ on ideas and ideals, we respect each\u00a0other\u2019s beliefs . . . unless there is negativity and darkness involved.<\/p>\n
The above is a prelude to my belief\u00a0that this election cycle is a spiritual trial. What I mean is that we are being\u00a0challenged every day to stay focused on what we want to happen instead of what\u00a0we don\u2019t want to happen. Let\u2019s refuse to succumb to the darkness. Let\u2019s find compassion.\u00a0Let\u2019s stop living in fear and start trusting each other and ourselves. Let\u2019s choose\u00a0to do the right thing and vote for Kamala. We need to vote not only for ourselves\u00a0but for our country and everyone\u2019s freedom. Please don\u2019t decide to skip this one.\u00a0I\u2019m not suggesting that we can control what happens but we can choose how we\u00a0want to deal with it. And we can choose what we want to project into the world.<\/p>\n
This is a time to face this\u00a0spiritual trial with strength and mental discipline and put our attention where it can do some good. So many people I speak with say that they are afraid. I understand\u00a0but it is within our power to stop imagining the worst and start imagining the
best. I have decided stop fearing destruction and believe in renewal. The\u00a0choice is clear.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have a political guru, Simon Rosenberg,\u00a0who has a Stubstack account called the Hopium Chronicles. Check out his website
and join for five dollars a month. It\u2019ll give you courage and strength. His main\u00a0message is to stop worrying and start doing what you can. I don\u2019t want to send\u00a0postcards or make cold calls. I don\u2019t want to send texts. But I donate, I was given\u00a0an opportunity to speak on the radio show, \u201cThe Wave,\u201d and I\u2019m talking to\u00a0friends about what is at stake.<\/p>\n
I remember the programming I received\u00a0to expect the worst. When I was a kid, my mother kept telling me that I\u00a0shouldn\u2019t get excited about something because I might get disappointed. Is\u00a0disappointment a terminal disease? I\u2019ll survive whatever happens so why not\u00a0take the risk? Many people I know believe that sending out good vibes will\u00a0attract them right back. It\u2019s important to believe in what we feel and see, no\u00a0matter how off the beaten track it seems. I\u2019ve seen evidence of miracles. Have\u00a0you ever had a sudden vision of someone you know in your mind\u2019s eye and the\u00a0phone rings? Guess who it is. I see this kind of thing as spiritual, something
that has undeniably happened but there is no finite explanation.<\/p>\n
Kamala appeared suddenly as if by magic\u00a0and she brought with her joy and light. What I\u2019m about to say may not be\u00a0popular but I feel that the light will win out. I just heard a former Trump aide,\u00a0Alyssa Farah Griffin, talk about\u00a0stepping out of the darkness of an angry man and into the light of a joyful\u00a0woman, even though many of her beliefs are different. She talked about how\u00a0relieved she was when people from her opposing party accepted and welcomed her.\u00a0She is still a Republican, hardly someone who would call herself woo woo, so\u00a0she is a powerful demonstration of what choosing the spirit of joy is all\u00a0about. She is showing us how important it is to do whatever it takes to protect\u00a0what is most precious.<\/p>\n
For me, being spiritual requires a\u00a0lot of trust and faith. I\u2019m not referring religion. I don\u2019t see myself as a\u00a0religious person. I\u2019m talking about a leap of faith, turning away from what is\u00a0harmful, taking a dive into not knowing and trusting that something good is\u00a0waiting for you. I\u2019m talking about making a decision to believe in yourself and
trust that whatever obstacle you\u2019re facing, you\u2019ll get through it and come out\u00a0stronger on the other side if you remain true to yourself.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s stop complaining and start\u00a0doing. Let\u2019s stop being in fear and choosing hope. Let\u2019s use our mental discipline\u00a0to point ourselves in the right direction and embrace the good instead of the bad.\u00a0And let\u2019s help our friends do the same. We can do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This blog is a departure from my decision\u00a0to not bring up politics in my weekly postings but we are in desperate times\u00a0and I have vowed to do everything I can to support the outspoken courageouspeople who believe in our country. I strive to be one of them. For starters, can we talk about\u00a0being \u201cspiritual\u201d without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2557,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2556\/revisions\/2557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}