Monster Storm Sandy

Watching the news and touching base with family on the East coast over the last few days, I'm reminded of the innate difficulty in watching the suffering of others and the natural human impulse to help. I recalled a poem I wrote the night before the huge earthquake and Tsunami in Japan. I woke the following morning after writing this poem with the lines echoing in my mind, gently challenging the surreal scenes unfolding across the TV screen:

Reality - state of things as they are or appear to be,
rather than how one might wish them to be
©Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com
March 10, 2011

Creation--pervasive,
omnipresent
and boundless.

Encompassing everything—
everything?
Creation interacts, there is no exception.

Nothing is exempt:
birthing, strengthening, celebrating,
decomposing, taking away, mourning.

Even sickness, catastrophe, tragedy….
honestly?
How might I respond if I lived Creator’s* reality?

*I have always felt that names such as God, etc, attempt to contain what is uncontainable. "Creator" is the closest I've come to finding an awkward fit.

Recovery After Paralysis--120%!

My job as a translator often gives me the opportunity to meet incredible people--one such person is speaker and author, Grant Korgan. My first introduction to him was comical. I sat on stage, off to the side, in a spotlight so the Deaf folks present could view my interpretation with ease. On the front half of the stage sat a lone stool, and within minutes of starting a kindly gentleman came over to me and explained that this section of the stage was about to be lowered below ground level. "Don't fall in," he playfully warned. Little did he know, I was about to do just that.

From my bird's eye view, I was able to see everything happening down in "the hole." A man strode out, using canes on either side of him. He deliberately sat down on the stool and arranged his suit and microphone.  Then, as if on cue, he looks up at me, sitting there curiously watching him. He beams an adoring smile, crosses his arms over his chest and mouths, "I love you," unabashedly! I, of course, grin back and throw him a kiss off my fingertips, but I must be honest, I'm thinking, "who is this guy?" He returns a few more air-kisses and then prepares himself to launch. The man's introduction proceeds as my hands lift and begin conveying the dialogue.

Grant Korgan was indeed launched that night--into the hearts and minds of all who had the great honor to hear him speak. Grant shared his story and spoke poignantly of a snowmobiling accident that resulted in an L1 burst fracture in his back. He had no feeling from his waist down and knew he was facing the most challenging journey of his young life thus far. Amazingly he knew, "there was no way, no way at all, I was gonna live in fear." Grant developed what he called, 3 Points of Possibility, the keys to meeting adversity head-on and overcoming it joyfully:

1. Decide What You Want in life (Sounds like the Inner Constellation "North Star" concept, huh?)
2. Focus on What IS Working
3. at all points, Choose Positivity Through Adversity

Grant introduced his team, the people who support him on his journey, and the monumental partner in his success--his wife, Shawna. All of them radiated a quality that helped me answer my initial question, "who is this guy?" Grant Korgan, his wife and his team are expressions of the Eternal, the celebration of this blog and everything Inner Constellation represents--they are all sparks of the Divine. As I study Grant's website, I see a little line written at the bottom of a webpage, an expression many of us desperately need to hear and take to heart:

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Mad Luv. --Korg

In my heart's work with survivors of trauma, I'm continually faced with the balance of acknowledging tragic events but ultimately finding ways to transform the challenge (Inner Constellation Truth #3). Unwavering gratitude is key; recognizing the gifts is a life practice. At the end of Grant's talk, he reminded the crowd of something dear to my heart--"we are all survivors." Thank you, Grant Korgan and team for a most excellent tribute to what is  lasting and true, and unbreakable. 

Malala Yusafzai: "There is this quality in me – I’m ready for all situations."

Malala Yusafzai, Pakistani Activist

I cannot get out of my mind (and heart) the 14 year old Pakistani girl shot in the head for speaking out against the Taliban. I've watched a 2009 documentary which profiled Malala and her family's struggle to educate young women in their village of Swat (warning, there are a few brief but disturbing images). This young woman is incredible, and her strength, bravery and courage is providing fuel for her recovery. I learned she's been a blogger for the BBC since the age of 11, writing under a pen name to avoid being targeted. A young Malala chronicled the two weeks of her life before the Taliban education ban was enforced in a diary which can be read online. In the years following, she gained momentum as she gave speeches in support of education for girls.

Her North Stars are clearly education for women and freedom for her people. There's an Urdi saying, "kis mitti kay banee ho?"--"from what clay were you fashioned?" What makes a child coming from the same soil as the Taliban, decide she will stand up for ideals precious to her: education and freedom, even though surrounding her is the constant expression of their opposites--degradation and oppression? These are my persistent ponderings when I hear Malala Yusafzai's story. What drives the girls in Malala's school to full attendance in the days following her murder attempt? These girls know an eternal truth--each human life is holy, precious and deserving, and this knowledge overshadows self-preservation. As the world responds with a wave of outcry to the brutal attempt to silence Malala Yusafzai, we lend voice to her recorded struggle:

"Sometimes I imagine I'm going along and the Taliban stop me. I take my sandal and hit them on the face and say what you're doing is wrong. Education is our right, don't take it from us. There is this quality in me--I'm ready for all situations. So even if (God let this not happen) they kill me, I'll first say to them, what you're doing is wrong."

Flipping the Switch from Pity to Power

This weekend I had the honor to work a convention for APRIL, a grass roots association dedicated to independent living for rural people with disabilities. I started my weekend at the youth convention. I left there with much to ponder but probably the biggest take-away was the human desire to be accepted for who one is, including one's quirks and disabilities. The kids spoke honestly of their greatest difficulties. Surprisingly I never heard a physical complaint all weekend (although many of them were physically challenged), nor was their focus lack of adaptive equipment or accommodations. Their unified hardship was a great desire to be accepted by their communities and loved ones. While the seasoned older folks with disabilities seemed busy lobbying congress and changing laws at the state and local level, the kids were asking for something that monetarily costs nothing to give, acceptance--the very foundation for achieving equal access. APRIL youth are wise beyond their years!

The APRIL youth steering committee suggested that inclusion takes a change in attitude, not just from society but from those seeking acceptance. The APRIL conference focused on empowering youth to take action steps towards what they wanted, thus their motto, "Flipping the Switch from Pity to Power." I met a beautiful young woman who used her Cerebral Palsy as a platform to educate youth in her former Middle School and High School about the history of people with disabilities. Another young man with Asperger Syndrome spoke eloquently of the body as simply being an illusion and the essence of people being good and worthy of recognition. Simply put, APRIL youth blew me away! I was challenged to look at what I can do in my influence as a teacher, educator and therapist to encourage acceptance and tolerance. The weekend was fuel for my personal North Star--Establish compassion as the #1 condition. Compassion = love in action. Go APRIL youth!!!!