Sometimes there comes an opportunity which feels right even though you may not know exactly where you are getting yourself into. Recently one of these oppportunities came along for me and I jumped right in, because intuitively I knew it was the right time and place. Some months before I had left Amsterdam to move to Glastonbury because I wanted to change my life and find out if I could live more in tune with my heart and with nature. Glastonbury was a good place to start and so off I went, leaving behind my children, my family and friends. Not an easy choice but one I knew I had to make.

Maybe I felt the call of times, asking me to follow my heart and live a more fulfilling life. Consciousness is changing, life is changing and the old way of living we thought was the only one, is starting to collapse. Around me I already saw the beginnings of a new era with people waking up to new ideas and to the realization that the Earth needs us to be aware that we can not keep taking from her. I felt her calling and I had never felt comfortable in the money oriented society we live in, where greed is bigger than need and where abundance only seems to be for the few. A society where people have to hide who they really are or sell their souls in order to be included in the system. A system that exists of other systems trying to maintain this society, but loosing the people who are stepping out of it so they can be who they really are.

Connecting

Coming to Glastonbury I still had to deal with the same issues that I dealt with in Amsterdam: making money in order to eat and have a roof over my head. But at least it was in a more friendly surrounding with beautiful landscape and like minded people, all looking for their grail. I knew that if I truly wanted to live a different life I would have to find a way together with others to be more self sufficient and less dependant on the system. Connecting is the magic word and so I came with the hope to connect to others and lead the way in finding new ways of being. Unfortunately Glastonbury is not so connected as you may think: it exists of many different groups and indviduals, all trying to live in accordance with their beliefs and sometimes traditions. The real challenge I believe is to rise above those beliefs in order to build the bridges that are needed now for us to step into a new time, a new dream.

Be the Change

Luckily something came along that for me fits the bill: it is called Be the Change and it orginated from the Pachamama Alliance, which came about through a call for help from the Achuar people in South America. Now when I heard about Be the Change, I did not know this, I just reacted instinctively on the name. I wanted to know more about it and I was in the right place for that: I work at a retreat centre near Glastonbury, Earth Spirit Centre, and we get some interesting groups there. It just so happened that the Facilitator training for the Be the Change Symposium was going to take place at our center. Something stirred in me, because up to that point in my life I had been working as a change coach, so to speak, for others and this sounded like an opportunity to do even more of that. When I talked to the organizer Diane Sharp, we immediately came to the conclusion that I would join their training and so I did.

The New Dream

I had little time to prepare and once into the training I found out why I needed to be there: the symposium is aimed to help people awaken, making them aware of the changes that are needed to live a more sustainable and thriving life on Earth. It combines the ancient wisdom of the indigenous people with modern knowledge, for instance in communication. The message: the old story has brought the Earth and ourselves in danger, it is time to change our story, to live a new dream. And the other message is: we are already living the new dream, we are in the time of the great turning where more people awake and start living more consciously. Each of us has the creativity and the power to make the changes we need and live the new dream. The Be the Change symposium can help make that happen and it can reach many more people with this message without speaking from dogma. It is aimed to anyone who wants to make a change, in whatever way he or she wants to make that happen: with small steps or big ones. For me this is what we need to connect more with each other, no matter what religion or belief you have. The Earth is for all of us and needs us now and our children need the Earth to survive and prosper.

Nicole Recourt – Reclycled Clothes Designer

Just do it

For me it is already happening: I am living my new dream and I would like to shout to everyone: Just Do It! Do not let your fears and old beliefs keep you from where your heart wants you to be. Listen to the call, act and if you do not know how, find us who are already doing it. Find someone in your own environment who is doing it, get connected and start with small steps if that is needed. Recycling is a good start, eating healthy and organic is another, spending more time in nature or meditation are other things that can be done. But most important of all: connect to the Earth! Rekindle your relation to her and you will rekindle the relation with your own nature. Life is too short to live it with restrictions: start living your dream.

 

Be the Change you wish to see in the world! Ghandi 

 

For more information:

www.pachamama.org  

www.bethechangeinitiative.org

http://vimeo.com/5162425#at=0