The Hummingbird Muse

There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say "It is yet more difficult than you thought." This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. — Wendell Berry

Hey Hive community,

An archetype that's been feeling true to my process these days is the Muse. In Greek mythology, the Nine Muses were considered goddesses of inspiration, freeing themselves to play in the worlds of literature, science, music, poetry, and the arts. As this year comes to a close, I feel deeply committed to my work as a media activist, integrating social-emotional intelligence and the best of critical thinking in the face of some of the most difficult and challenging societal topics. Engaging in this process with the energy of the Muse feels important.

The Muse is the manifestation of passionate, nurturing and creative life energy. I often experience her as a delightful, playful, hummingbird-like energy. Yet as I mature, moments of grief and sobering learning curves about the darkness of the world are informing me in ways that are breathtaking. Visiting the places in Oakland that I grew up in, I felt a sense of sadness and shock about the pain that's ravaging our urban cities. Crime, addiction, homelessness, and community violence are direct outcomes of a society designed to serve the rich and powerful, who happen to be the ones fueling war and conflict all over the world.

The pain I feel about the world deepens alongside my passion to take care of this world. I feel grateful to be alive, to have a chance to create beautiful things in a world that is so deeply whole: suffering, grace, violence, love, domination, collaboration. With the completion of our new Military-Intelligence Corruption Information Center, I am learning that anything, even the most disgusting and darkest of life's truths, can be transformed into something meaningful and powerful to awaken a slumbering humanity.

You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”― James Baldwin

When I first moved to Minneapolis several months ago and struggled for quite some time to establish a healthy work flow, I didn't have a full sense of my purpose, vision, or direction. Yet I'm finding it, slowly. And I know that things move at the speed of trust. As James Baldwin once said, "Trust life, and it will teach you, in joy and sorrow, all you need to know.”

Embodying the nurturing and creative archetype of the Muse, I strive to convene trustworthy spaces for those who have lost trust in our media systems, and who desire to seek views that go beyond mainstream political narratives. I seek to bring healing and empowerment to those navigating the complex media landscape. I feel compelled to create when I sense a need for The Third Force - the place beyond right and wrong, left and right, black and white. I create whenever I see human suffering or injustice not being talked about in mainstream dialogue. I create when I encounter ideas, stories, and people that inspire me and remind me of the greater good that keeps showing up despite the great challenges we face.

And I will continue to take care of my mind, body, and spirit. Many integrative pioneers in psychology believe that the body is a primary and powerful source of information, where it can serve as the vehicle for our deepest creative impulses. The information the body translates when expressing itself creatively may not be directly available through the cognitive processes of the mind. This may be true partly because so much of our social conditioning and patterned forms of expression are filtered through our thinking. Gestalt Therapy founder Fritz Perls often used the expression, Get out of your head and come to your senses! Assagioli believed that by expressing ourselves creatively, we enact that which we want to bring forth, that which is alive in us. This gives impulse to the growth process.

When the individual feels that she is giving form to her inner reality in ways which are congruent with her creative expression, she is able to make good contact with herself, with others, and with her world. — Daria Halprin Khalighi

When I find myself lost in my own darkness, I find deep healing and resilience through dancing. Learning how to shuffle dance has added a whole other level of flow and body engagement that feels deeply empowering. When I’m sweating and breathing hard from the physical exertion, I can’t think too much of all the stressful details and particulars of my life. I’m brought into the present moment and into my body. The music reminds me of my sensual body. The yummy body rolls, jumps, spins, arm waves, and stomps release stored up energy. The increased blood flow and chemicals released in my moving body awakens full body participation.

I dance to feel free. The future I believe worth aspiring for fosters social-emotional intelligence and sensemaking in how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the world. A way of being that invites us to undergo personal transformation, knowing ourselves outside the distress of oppression and fear to create the world we want to live in.

I believe in human goodness and our creative and collaborative instincts. I believe in freedom: the freedom to create constructive changes for myself and the world. The freedom to align with what is authentic to me, instead of pledge my allegiance to status quo norms.

Owning this inner freedom seems to be an important part of supporting the freedom of our collective existence: freedom from captured government agencies that put profits over public interest, endless wars, censorship, mass surveillance, and the increasing privatization of wealth. Freeing ourselves from these harmful systems starts from within, and what we do to grow and evolve ourselves in a world filled with groupthink and conformity.

Here's my last dance video of my brief time back home in California this past week. Thanks for tuning in, Hive community!