We want a better world for everyone. So where do we begin?

We want a better world for everyone. So where do we begin?

I have been writing about creating a world where everyone is supported and nurtured - physically and emotionally - where we don't have so much healing to do in order to be brave and go after our dreams with wild abandon.

But that's such a huge thing, it's like - where do we even begin?

In a sense, this is why I created the Creative Dream Incubator.

I struggled with my creative dreams all through my 20s. Once I gained some traction with my creative dreams, of course I wanted to share what I had learned with others.

I created the Creative Dream Incubator so that LOTS OF dreams could be born.

However, due to everything I wrote about in The New Age Has A Lot Of Shadow Work To Do, I wasn't recognizing that I was mostly just helping other similarly-privileged people make their dreams real.

In a very vague sense, all dreams come true can serve as a light to inspire others.

But I wasn't looking at where I, and my work, were plugged into systems of oppression.

And when I thought about doing more to actually help change the world so we're all free to pursue our dreams - it felt too big. So I told myself that my pursuing my dreams, and supporting my clients and followers was enough.

I told myself that I was helping to shift consciousness in a direction where real change would be possible... one day.

We need to stop thinking that changing the world is "too big" of a problem and just get to work.

It's only "too big" of a problem if you think that you need to already have all the answers and do everything on your own.

I mean OF COURSE I don't have all the answers and OF COURSE you don't have all the answers. It's not on either of us to do it on our own.

Everyone has a role to play because everyone is a part of the world.

While getting ready for Dreams + Art + Activism conversation I did with Mindy Tsonas Choi, Mindy spoke of how much power artists have to influence culture.

We can do this. NOW.

The same way we work with any dream - by following our inspiration.

BUT we need to make sure our efforts include everyone.

When we talk about society and privilege, most people tend to be in their own perspective, and facing towards those with MORE power, wealth and privilege.

So we see all of the power, wealth and privilege we DON'T have, in comparison to everyone who has more.

We need to face the other way, at all of the people with LESS power, wealth and privilege than we do.

More and more privileged people have been doing this the last few years and that's great. But you can't just name your privileges and leave it there. You need to look for ways to USE your privilege to help help dismantle privilege and level the playing field.

It's not true that a rising tide raises all boats.

This reminds me of about 12 years ago, at a Canadian New Thought Conference.

I was in a meeting with ministers and practitioners and I asked "What about people who have nothing? How are we helping them?"

The head of the organization looked at me with this amazingly smug expression and said "A rising tide raises all boats" and then changed the subject.

That's the blind white privilege that is so pervasive in the New Age community.

Going on about your business and pursuing your own dreams while ignoring systemic injustice is one of the things that allows systemic injustice to flourish in our culture. We need to take responsibility for this.

Figuring out how to address the issues that the people with the least privilege, wealth, and power are facing DOES help ALL PEOPLE.

This is how we create a culture that nourishes and supports everyone.

This is a culture that will actively nourish EVERYONE'S dreams.

I think the answer is to stay open.

Keep listening to people, especially people with different life experiences than yours.

For me - my thinking around this shifted as I began to read and follow more Black and Indigenous people (political leaders, artists, healers, writers) than white people. And more chronically ill and disabled people, more trans people.

We need to build a new culture, from the ground up, that takes into account EVERYONE'S needs.

I definitely don't know everything about how to do this. But I have become a LOT more willing to listen, and consider a lot of different perspectives now, not just my own. And that helps me learn.

I believe we can practice our way into having a more intersectional lens through which we look at the world. And that this will help serve everyone and their dreams immensely.

And we need to get out of our comfort zones with it.

In the 2019 federal election in Canada, I volunteered for Leah Gazan's campaign in my riding, Winnipeg Center.

I hate politics.

Everyone who knows me was surprised that I was doing this. My father was a politician when I was a kid, and I did volunteer on his campaigns (or can it be called volunteer when this is what your family is doing and you aren't given another option?) but I have not participated in any political activities since his last campaign, when I was 14.

My sister though it was particularly hilarious that I made my step-sons volunteer every week as well. It's surprising how quickly we become our parents.

The thing is, because of everything I'd been doing to see the world from a more intersectional perspective, I knew how important it is that we put the people with the least privilege into positions of power.

I mean - our political institutions should be filled with Indigenous women, not white men like they are now.

Leah is also an exceptional person and I knew she would make a big difference if she won, so I wanted to help. I'm lucky that my step-kids' mom's family is very close with Leah and I got to spend a lot of time with her. Leah taught me so much and made me feel HOPEFUL for our future.

The big thing I learned from Leah is that even here in our riding, which has the 3rd highest poverty rates of any riding in Canada, with poverty, violent crime and meth addiction spiralling out of control, the answers to all of the problems we face already exist, right here in the community.

The answers already exist.

We just need to support/fund them better.

We need to take care of each other.

We need to follow our inspiration about how to DO SOMETHING about the things that matter most to us. Little tiny baby steps DO create movement towards larger possibilities.

Remember that your creativity is powerful. We can do this. It's already happening.

Where do YOU feel inspired to take action?

Journal about your ideas and map out some baby steps you can start taking.

We want a better world for everyone. So where do we begin?
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