One of the last things I said before bed last night while Deiadora and I were smoking our dream blends was, “I wonder what is in the future for the internet?”. When I awoke this morning to no internet connection and no facebook home page to scroll down, I found myself immediately diving into other creative projects. It’s amazing what one can get done without the distraction of the internet. I remember first connecting to this awareness last January when I wrote my first book (see, The Spirit of the Gift: A Storymap to Living in the Gift) and camped in an arroyos in Baja, Mexico with no internet. It never seems like much – those few seconds to check on a link or read a new message – but it adds up. Not only does it add up, but it also breaks up.

I often read of people ‘taking a break’ from sites like facebook, feeling like it is the cause of one’s inability to focus. Accounts may deactivate for a week or two, but they always seem to return. A friend once called this type of behaviour ‘spiritual bypassing’ – removing one’s self from a situation, temptation, or desire in order to not have to experience the discontent of observing it. Whether or not that is a useful way to approach changing one’s life, I personally find it to be way more empowering to create change through acts of will and exercise my personal sovereignty of choice. It’s knowing that I could go on facebook if I wanted, but instead choosing not to. Taking it a step further, it is when I finally realize that all lasting change actually comes as a result of my ‘stepping aside’ and relaxing into the change that I discover the power of heart boldness.

Heart boldness is when one relinquishes the dominance of the mind in favour of the truth of the heart. From this place, will power and discipline serve as tools with the art of feeling into your deepest present moment truth and acting from that place. This is the powerful synergy of the mind in service to the heart, the masculine in service to the feminine (note: I am not referring to gender, rather, magnetic poles of expression for creative energy). The heart, with its repressed nature of over-sentimentality and reactive side of cruelty, has been viewed as weak through the masculine dominated historical lens. Our species no longer requires the brute strength of muscle or the reasoning intellect of mind to survive. This is causing a shift in, and rebalancing of, our perceptions of the heart.

As we learn to observe our perceptions of weakness within the heart we begin to break down the illusion of such a story. We can integrate and release our belief that the heart cannot be bold in action and requires the mind to make things happen. This is stepping more fully into the unknown face of a crumbling of certainty. It requires a level of trust that few of us find the courage to open to. So long have we relied on the mind that we forget how the heart functions. We cannot see how the energies we give “around the corner” will return to us and we find it more challenging to trust the support of the whole, so we instead close ourselves off in favour of the comforts and certainty within the mind. As the environmental shifts call forth evolutionary changes within human beings, we are collectively experiencing a collapse of the mind’s certainty, on an individual level, in our own way.

The path of return to the heart is one that each of us is exploring in our own way, yet each and every version of it is just as important as the others. This is because the small, personal, and individual experiences in life are simply micro-versions, mini expressions, of the whole of humanity. The violence, war, and suffering we see on the news is a reflection of the daily encounters we have as individuals – some are just more subtle than others. I find this story empowering and whenever I reflect it to others in response to their personal story of truth they receive it with gratitude. An example would be to remind parents that every limiting pattern they break with their children, every opportunity they have to empower and free their child’s creativity, is healing the whole of humanity and the entire planet. We all play an integral part to the functioning of the whole, no matter how many of us are here on Earth.

Because of this common heart-path we are all able to connect into each other through equality – humanity as one family. It is through the support and trust of both our global and local families (glocal) that we open to the fullness of the flow of the gift. Our entire economic structure, including the hierarchies within governments and relationships, operates through barter consciousness – the focus of giving in order to get. The gift of equality is one that arises from the heart and always results in greater equality by invoking the truth that the more you give the more you receive. This receiving however, cannot arise through conditional giving of the mind, no matter how subtle. The open flow of amplified giving and receiving must be inspired through the unconditional love of the heart. This type of giving restores equality by breaking down divisions and treating others with respect. True gifts of the heart seem insane to the mind.

Giving to one’s self is to give the gift of unconditional love and support. It is through giving to one’s self that we then learn to be responsive to the needs and gifts of others. We have opened ourselves to unconditional love and to our individual, unique expression of truth.  How can you best support yourself? The answer to this question will give you the knowing of how to ensure both giver and receiver are fulfilled. The gift to yourself is the practice of trusting the wisdom of your heart. As you remember to trust yourself you will also grow into trust of the support from others.

The mind’s projection of weakness onto the heart is in fact the very mechanism that creates the weakness. When we are immersed in the thoughts of the mind or confuse our emotions with the will of the heart, we effectively sever our connection to the support of the glocal tribe of humanity and weakness results. The heart’s unconditional giving is what helps us to rediscover the strength and unifying inner force of tenderness. This quality of love is found externally within the family unit and we can embody it individually when we learn to face our fears and uncover the deep source of our creative energies. This occurs as we open to the transformative potential of trust in that which absolutely terrifies us. Humanity is terrified of itself.

When we become afraid of the unknown within others we are merely projecting fears of unknown aspects of ourselves onto others. How many stories did we receive from parents and how many stories do we hear in the news today that tell us to fear the world? We lock ourselves in our boxes, away from others, and forget our heart’s connection to each other. We forget how to trust by never giving ourselves the chance to try. The creative solutions required to pull humanity out of this man-made sink hole we have created are only going to manifest when we take the courage to enter our heart’s boldness and work together as one family. By facing our fears of uncertainty and engaging one another in tenderness we begin to build the bridges and tear down the walls between. This is how we unlock the creative energies of humanity – by facing our fear of our Self.

It is this fear of self that pushes many of us online. On the internet, behind the soft glow of the computer screen, we find such ease and freedom to express ourselves creatively. Without the usual fears of rejection that accompany real embarrassment and humiliation if our gifts are not received, we discover new expressive courage on the internet. What is happening to the internet as more of us crave a deeper connection that the computer screen can provide? What happens when we grow more tired of the bombardment of the advertisements and empty words? How can we repurpose our use of social media in a way that serves to build our glocal community and connect the family of humanity in celebration of our unique gifts? Can we find the courage to speak our heart’s truth and follow its boldness in our face-to-face interactions rather than rely solely on the more anonymous outlets of the internet? It’s all about balance. With the heart-mind combined, loving life is what you find!

This is a sneak peak of The Collective Tribe’s Foundational Strategies Series Part 3: Heart Boldness: Finding Security in Feeling Uncertain. Check out the TCT’s payhip page to find download links for the first two gifts (“It’s Not About the Money: A New Story of Philanthropy” and “Money, Sex, and Friendship: Creativity is the New Prosperity”) and for the third when it is released!