On Monday night I went to the Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony.
If you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically the Oscars of the environmental movement, where frontline grassroots leaders from all over the world finally get some recognition (and a chunk of cash to go with it) for doing incredibly hard, often dangerous work to protect the Earth herself.
Because of my work in the environmental movement, I’ve been going to this event for years.
But this year, for the first time, all six awardees were women.
About time!
It was super moving to hear their acceptance speeches. They said things like:
“I'm pleased to accept the prize on behalf of the Weald Action Group and all communities everywhere that are fighting to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”
And
“I accept this award on behalf of our tribal leaders, the people of Bristol Bay.”
Or
“This is a collective fight for the future of our children and our children’s children.”
Every single one of them (women from completely different parts of the world, different fights, different circumstances) said the same thing: this isn't mine, this is ours.
They all centered community and collectivism. They were talking about how change actually happens, because they know from their own experience that you don’t create anything meaningful by yourself.
They were describing the same truth that applies to your life right now:
Transformation is collective.
That doesn't mean your individual work doesn't matter. It totally does. (That's why they were getting the award in the first place.)
But you are part of a system, and pretending like you’re not keeps you stuck pushing rocks uphill.
Telling yourself to meditate more, think better thoughts, stay positive, detach… that advice is pretty useless if that’s the only thing that’s actually changing.
Individual practices don't fix structural problems.
And this culture wants to keep us convinced that “I alone can do it” lol. We're taught to be independent. To handle our own shit. To not need anyone. To believe that if we just get our mindset right, or do enough inner work, or stay consistent enough with our practices, things will eventually work out.
But if that were the whole picture, it would have worked by now.
One of my favorite teachers says: "We either get there together, or we don't get there at all."
And by "there," he means whatever you want to call it: collective healing, elevated consciousness, the world we say we want to live in.
You don’t get to opt out of the collective and still expect your life to work.
If you’re trying to solve your life as if it exists in isolation, you’re going to keep hitting the same wall.
And once you see that clearly, you start working with reality instead of against it.
The question goes from “how do I fix myself?” to “where am I already part of something and how do I actually show up there?”
And see your life change.
Courage, truth, and infinite love,
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I don’t believe in magic, but I know that it works!
Magic is not a belief system, it’s a practice that works. Don’t believe me? Come try it out. If it doesn’t work, you lose nothing. But if it does… your dream life is about to begin!
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