How to find true wealth within crisis

Welcome to A Whole New World 2012

One month ago, on December 14th, after 3 days of torrential rain, our beautiful small community of Golden Bay was overwhelmed by flood and the home I shared with my soul friend and co-evolutionary, Maggie, was damaged beyond repair by a landslide.

It had been a good day. I was excited about being very close to launching the next phase of  A Whole New World.  After supper Maggie was standing at the kitchen window washing dishes when she called out, “The ground is moving” and sure enough the steep bank directly behind the house was slipping and creeping fast across the lawn, bringing with it trees, bushes and rubble.   We grabbed our computers, stuffed a few things into a bag and within minutes we were outside seeking refuge in our cars. It was the kind of rain that drenched to the skin in minutes even through raincoats, and Maggie who has a heart condition was struggling to draw breath. The only thing to do was to be in a state of calm alert presence, right here, right now, taking the next step.

Our next door neighbors invited us in. Their driveway was thigh deep in water so we had to clamber across a high fence. There we found two others who had just fled their beach cottage wading through water up to their chins. Everybody was amazingly cheerful.  We were making up beds for the night and getting cups of tea when we realized we had to leave there too. The same steep bank backed their property and some big trees were swaying dangerously at the top of the hill. We drove down to the village hall through streets which were now rivers, covered in mud and boulders,  strewn with potholes and trenches. From the hall we were then billeted to the campsite for the night. This worried me as the camp is right behind the beach and it was high tide that night but everyone assured me we would be safe.

The torrential rain continued unabated all night. They called it “weather bombs”. To be at the mercy of such an uncompromising, unstoppable force of nature renders one intensely vulnerable and humble.   At 2am I was shouted out into the torrent to move my car. The water in the campsite was now knee high. I couldn’t hear what was being shouted at me above the din and visibility was negligible. I had to turn my car into the flood to get out. That was a terrifying moment. Back in the relative safety of my bed for the night, I surrendered to whatever might come, including the possibility we might lose all our possessions or even our lives.

I’ll share more of our story next time and how we learned to find the gifts within crisis. For now, I wonder how this strikes a chord in you? Maybe  you have been in a natural disaster yourself, or suffered other unexpected loss and upheaval? This is my particular story but it is not just my story, for we are a species in transition. Our old world is crumbling through natural disasters, economic crisis and political upheaval. Perhaps parts of your life are melting just as is happening in the world at large?  Maybe you can relate to the need to surrender and you’ve learned that surrender does not mean being powerless or passive. Like the snake shedding its skin or the butterfly emerging, the process of transformation and renewal renders us vulnerable. And being vulnerable is a good thing. Crisis, loss and sudden unexpected change rip open the veils of illusion with which we normally shroud ourselves, allowing us to see more deeply and clearly and sense into the  soulful interconnectedness of life and the mysterious intelligent, energetic web which holds and directs us.

I will be exploring over the next weeks both through the blog and a new series of tele-seminar interviews, or Deep Discovery Conversations, practical ways we can stay empowered and support each other through this exciting and perilous passage of transition.   As we create a whole new world we become the whole new human and as we become the whole new human we create a whole new world together. Please join me on this journey of discovery. To stay in touch and informed go to the home page at www.awholenewworld.net and sign up for our newsletter now.

Each one of us makes a difference and together we can do what seems impossible.