Keep Watching The Stars

Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, 3/5/09.

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple
short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, clean, shivering, startling, and graceful." Boy, no pressure there.

Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mindboggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute
that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air,
and don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken.

Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a
million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in the coach, and really good food, but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't afford to send any recruiters to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets,
ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. Forget that this task of planet saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same:
If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand data. But if you meet the people who are
working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are
ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.

The poet Adrienne Rich wrote:
"So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world."

There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.

Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. It works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people. Its clout resides in ideas, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving
Christians, street musicians, President of the USA and as David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, re-imagine, and
reconsider.

"One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific 18th century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to
defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity.

Conservatives ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant!!! We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet.

At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it! In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all:
First can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end.
Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside
you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television!

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation.

You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They
didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to
be on her side. You couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Paul Hawken is a renowned visionary environmental activist, author of many books, most recently "Blessed Unrest" http://www.paulhawken.com/

Hoop Teacher Journey August 09

Hoopn Dentata

Tonight I walked into my local Quicki-Mart rounding up a few choklat treats for dessert when somebody said from behind - "You're the hulahoop girl aren't you?" It was an interesting moment and there was a pregnant pause for sure. Part of me wanted to really disappear right then and there or at the very least be able to deny it and simply be some anonymous chick buying choklat on a Sunday night looking perhaps a tad wrecked from a hyperactive weekend of no particular description. There was no defense within me, I admitted the truth with a smile, humility and eternal gratitude for this role that I have conjured but which seems to have overtaken my life... and I got out of that Quicki-Mart back to my clifftop cave as quickly as possible! Why? Because the gaps are too few, hooping has fully consumed my all and has taken me to some pretty challenging spaces recently. You wouldn't imagine it with all the love and the light that is THE HOOP. It's fun yeh, always has been always will be. What I find most fascinating in this particular story is the formation of a pattern - this was not the not the first time I have noted the overdose factor and it seems to spin into my awareness around about the time of the teacher training weekends, which at this stage are a biannual occurrence. Is it a seasonal crescendo in the hoop schedule or is it that this is the perfect opportunity to step back and observe? A little bit of this and a whole lotta that... Bring on the witness.

Is a name change of the name change the first step?

Tonight I considered putting on weight. For the shape more than anything.

My paradigms are shifting I can feel it on a cellular level.

On the weekend I ate olives. I will admit it now. And I enjoyed them (kinda). Don't tell The Scorpion!

Change. A self confessed Transformer / Shape Shifter.

Some reflections on the Hoop Teacher Journey:

We questioned - what's with this addiction to the hoop anyway?

It's circular and so reflects life. It's versatile - you can take it anywhere. It's fun and childlike what's not to love about that. It's ability to facilitate movement - physical, emotional and energetic - and release is second to none. Well maybe dancing... but hoopdancing takes dance to another level. It's about circular and spiral dynamics.

Spinning into a four hoop split. Naming it, activating it, feeling it, knowing it as nothing else but microcosmic bliss. Watching Jo, Asha and Julez all go there on the 4 too... just WOW. It's magickal. It's really difficult to describe the feeling of a 4 in spin. It's different to a 4 circus style. Circus hooping is beautiful, it's elegant and graceful and very controlled... but it doesn't take me to the zone I crave to be in which is about full movement, powerful propelling, a wild energy that is both explosive and contained and that allows you to just SPIN in a vortex that seems so connected to all that is. 4 splits are my new favourite. I have had my eye on them to take to the States at the end of September. Consider them packed. Now for the acquisition. WILD Kickups (thank you Blaze for putting me onto those cowboy style lifts!) or bust.

Did I just change my tune?

This is the problem. What happened is this - Deanne dreams I am in a prison and yes I see it and feel it. I am IN THE HOOP. Locked in Love with The Hoop. There is no escape. So, the planning for this year's desert trip started around May. There was very little else but planning for the instructional video, training for the video (which thankfully included a whole lot of yoga - i.e significant respite), a bunch of hoop classes along the way, some gigs, traveling to Central Australia to shoot the video in the desert (my choice), busting some balls to make it happen, returning for a short breath before diving into editing the video ... I guess I'm up to at least 4 months of intense focus and then the final shoot this past Friday night at a seaside clifftop. The final daze were upon us but so were technical difficulties and hormonal interception, burnout, fadeout, wipeout. There was simply no energy left in me. NONE. But wait, there was no time for that because the very next day I had to get up at 5.30am to pack for the teacher training weekend down at the stunning Govinda Valley Spiritual Retreat in the National Park south of Sydney. Hm... putting the pieces together. Add to that the decision to kick a newly acquired coffee addiction (discovered in the epic mission that was the desert) and an oncoming Lady in Red moon cycle... time to download and reboot the system.

This time there were 8 of us. The Power of 8:

"8 is the number of POWER. It teaches us that power, in any form, cannot be maintained without BALANCE, and that balance cannot hold without ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING. 8 is associated with money, business, competition, and the incorporation of anything that is useful to it. It is widely believed that those are the principle means of gaining personal power in the world. The belief that ‘money is power’ sprang from this rather shortsighted point of view." Creative Numerology

Juie, Jo, Lisa, Mark, Satya, Danie, Asha and Me.

It was DIVINE.

As the firestorm that was the end of last week hurtled and hit I kept reminding myself, this weekend is going to be fun. It's going to be relaxing and amazing and beautiful and exactly what we all need. And it was.

The level of information and energy that facilitating such a program requires is usually so overwhelming and exhausting that most times I leave with a headache. So given all previously said conditions it was not surprising that one did in fact threaten to surface for almost a full day or more but... for the first time in as long as I can remember I managed to subdue it without painkillers and simply by going to bed as early as possible, sleeping for as long as possible and waking up for some delicious yoga and meditation on the lawn in honour of the sun and my body that is my temple. Interestingly enough, half of us were also were on the moon and painkillers were being shared around. It was a weekend of movement and release. As I was stretching out my body and sitting in stillness in the morning I felt just how energetically powerful that space is. I intend on returning. There is a level of clarity and dynamism in that valley that must be soaked up and explored further. Not to mention the ampitheatre...

7 women and one man. He anchored us all...

Bless Mark! What an amazing spirit. His energy is just so electric and yet Zen at the same time. Capricorn / Aquarius mix. Wired for sound? Wired for ground control on the hoop. Mark interprets the circle with such a distinctly unique presence. Such a gentle spirit yet solid in his determination and focus. Awesome laugh and beautiful smile. I often find myself watching for the wonderful surprises that this hoopi has to offer. Keep us guessing Mark!

JoJoMo - the triple horned Goddess. So beautiful! Those eyes and another noteworthy smile. I found myself following her around somewhat unconsciously if only to be within her peripheral space. I don't know what it was! Energetic? Pheremonal? Was she doing the same? She harnesses an energy that I truly admire - grounded focus and clarity. Practical and daring. That raised eyebrow, sharp wit and sparkle in the eye. Born to be a star. Thrill seeking hoop moves.

Jewelz - meOW! WOW! Imagine your favourite cat just turned human and realised it could talk! The level of conversation often astounds me. This girl loves to engage and play and intrigue. Those random fiery curls and awesome short shorts. I always take time to admire her considered choice of rokn outfits. And that offering in our closing hoop jam! I don't think i've ever seen anything quite like it. Truly captivating. Possibly the most graceful and explorative hoopdance I have ever seen.

Lisa - one of the three Capricorns in the house. Solid. Hilarious. Powerful teacher. Strong woman. Beautiful energy. So open to it all and then some... she took it beyond my limits, which is something that both bamboozles and yet totally intrigues. Lisa has an incredible sense of innovation with her moves and draws you in with the complexity and the magic. There are some tricks that are best watched rather than learned as I discovered today (nobody mention the Bunny tantrum OK!)

Danie - what an awesome teacher! Total natural. Wit, style, confidence, cuteness, dramatic edge. She has got the full package. I love Danie's directness and her ability to take the challenge on if only to tick off on the elaborate to do list but oh so much more. Stand up comedy? If you are lucky. A fine example of how most Geminis are actually Taureans (sidereal note). But there's so much more beneath that surface. I am loving coming to know more of Danie. Is this a more is more situation? I think it might be.

Asha - the hulahoop slasher? Too sweet for that kinda nastiness... Or is she? Another Capricorn. That lady is stylish. I dig her vibe. Straight to the point, stunning visage, incredible moves (around the body foot pass!), a sprite-filled spirit, hint of Sagitarrian mystique, another stunning laugh and smile, instant rapport with that girl. The connection with the 80s and museums and academia and kids. People who love teaching children win a place in my heart. It says to me their inner child is alive and happy and their outer adult is happy to guide the inner children of children themselves with the power of the hoop. But don't step on her toes OK! Shhhh!!

Satya - another WOW. What an energy. Beautiful ink on her skin. Big heart. HOT dance moves. Lyrical body movements. Gypsy lady of the South. Aquarius / Pisces energy. Mystical. Poetic. Eyes as deep as the ocean. It's been a long time coming this connection I can feel it already but finally we have hit the page of pages in the Open Book of Opening Your Heart to the Hoop. Reveal what you care to with the knowledge that you will be heard and received with unconditional love and absolute awe of your beauty. A channelled message.

Bunny Star - I am graceful, spicy, juicy, vibrant, intense and multidimensional.

I am surrounded by so many incredible beings who share the same light filled passion and want to connect at that centre. In doing so we choose to overcome our sorrows and shift focus to feelings of joy. We love to dance, spin our hoops, transform energy and perception of life, dress in colourful costumes, add major sparkle to life and laugh a lot. We laughed a lot this weekend. We explored our feelings. We shared something really special that went beyond understanding how to teach and execute certain tricks or what makes a hoop business tick... we shared our unique essence and made a collective energetic shape that included circles, stars, triangles and a pear shaped fruit of the Goddess. It was and is an offering to the Greater Being that is Gaia's Harmonic Universe

Depth Perception

Projection versus Connection, an interesting conundrum. Isn't it amazing how different people view same situations with different eyes. I believe (and hope) we all have the ability to see from many different perspectives. To do this we must set ourselves free from our individual and collective Egos. The Mind - A martyr A master A monkey A slave. The hologram - something to view from the outside within a space of freedom and the ability to see it all ... or as much as we perceive to be the limit.

I can project a certain image situation feeling or thought onto a white wall and it will appear clear but the moment I project it onto a person it will be difficult to see and confusing because there are too many colours and patterns intertwined. I prefer a clear image always.

I can connect with a sentient being but I can't connect with a wall. The choice is obvious.

This leads me to question what this word connection really means or is and why it should mean anything at all. To me it means a touching of energies or spirits which may or may not be exchanged in various forms within the self and with others although often masked as exclusively with others. Ultimately it ignites alchemical sparks which are wondrous mysterious cosmically aligned exceptional to the mundane and the reason why we even exist to ponder ourselves and life. How divine to watch creation on such a micro-energetic level and imagine how that might refract out into the expansive Universe that is. The question is, how magical do you want to make this experience?

The thing that frustrates me about humans is we make everything so complicated when in fact its all very simple.

Do you know how to (be) love?

Where's the mirror?


The Brilliance That is You - a mantra

The Brilliance That is You

Say it to your mirror See it beyond the ego Hear it in your soul

The Brilliance That is You

Until you own it those clouds are gonna keep on blowing over causing all kinds of havoc with the Bling shoot extraordinaire

That is your life

Or is that my life?

I get confused too many mirrors...

Doesn't everyone live in Bling? If they don't they should. There's that word again... should hmmm

The brilliance that is you. Know it. Work it. Own it. It's the only way. Without ego. With self love.


The Essence of Time - a delineation is required between circular and linear paradigms with depth perception as a distinguishing feature as is spiral dynamics. How much time do you have on your hands indeed. What do you carry? Can you put it down? Really put it down. Maybe take a good long look at it, identify it, wrap it up, tie a pretty bow and burn it until it is nothing but ashes to be swept and disposed of. For most people this is their body anchored in the lower chakras and weighed down by the consumption of death energy (meat), an obsession with sex and the heavy density consciousness that comes with being bound in the third dimensional material world and the consensus reality that I think therefore I am. For most people time is about A>Z. Then there are those who actively seek Days out of Time and the moments within moments within moments again that keep amplifying the BLISS that it is to be alive and shedding seasonly allowing wings to spread for some light hearted flight time.

My heart is not heavy and I refuse to eat death. I live in the light and let the dark dissolve as I see it, usually in a pool of tears in the shower where it all gets washed away leaving me feeling refreshed and ready to connect with the Sun energy again. It bathes me back into brilliance and I am free.

Create Your Own Reality

Create Your Own Karma

No one can tell you what you are or are not, what is right or wrong, who you should and shouldn't be... but you. Be careful what you tell yourself.

Create Your Own Reality

Create Your Own Karma

You can keep dragging around those old heavy bags full of photo album memories that you may or may not even fully remember but complexly have a sense of ... or you can get rid of them once and for all. They serve no purpose but to remind you to go forward and don't turn back. Why let them shackle you? Why give that power to the past which is nothing but a chapter that you have already read? Or did you not read it? If it makes you feel safe and familiar then you better change the way you think because time's are changing and it's time to meet your higher self fully truthfully honestly courageously happily in the mirror that is other beings human and otherwise. An 11:11 interception. Now THAT is a beautiful thing.

This is your destiny.

Open your heart and breathe.

Life is yours to enjoy.

Much love and starz

x0x

Post Desert Epiphany # 4

Beauty simply IS love is not an addiction EVERYTHING is positive BLISS outweighs trauma each and every time inside the CIRCLE we stand ready to activate LIGHT CONSCIOUSNESS

Post Desert Epiphany # 3

The Rainbow Warrior is within us all

Post Desert Epiphany # 2

Space babes need SPACE